Becoming Fearless
Welcome to Becoming Fearless, the personal growth podcast for YOU if you are ready to overcome fear and step into your greatness.
Our purpose is to help you overcome your limits and have loads of fun along the way, unlocking your fullest potential in life, business, health and relationships every single day.
I'm your host Charlotte Carter, a high performance coach and entrepreneur, with over 20 years experience. I've supported many highly driven talented people like you who dream big and are ready to take action to overcome what’s holding them back.
Each week my guests and I will be sharing hacks and habits on how to build self belief, courage and confidence to master your mindset and navigate your emotions - so that you reach your human potential in a way that feels light, fun and easeful and help you become fearless.
Let’s go!
Becoming Fearless
44. Property Investment And Gut Decisions with Kristina Castellina
What if you could trust your gut to lead you to financial freedom?
Join me on this episode of Becoming Fearless as I sit down with Kristina Castellina, who transformed her life from a financially unstable singing career to a prosperous property investor.
Christina’s journey is nothing short of inspiring, as she shares her transition into property investment, her entrepreneurial spirit, and the crucial role that intuition played in her remarkable success. Tune in to hear how she went from living paycheck to paycheck to amassing a multi-million pound portfolio.
CONNECT WITH KRISTINA
Website: www.kristinacastellina.co.uk
Instagram: www.instagram.com/thegoodlife_propertyinvestor
Property site: www.fyldecoastandcountrystays.com
Kristina's book recommendation: The Unexpected Joy Of Being Sober by Catherine Gray
CONNECT WITH CHARLOTTE
Website: https://www.idaretoleap.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charlotte_highperformancecoach
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/idaretoleap
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Welcome to Becoming Fearless, the personal growth podcast for you if you are ready to overcome fear and step into your greatness. Our purpose is to help you overcome your limits, have loads of fun along the way, unlocking your fullest potential in life, business, health and relationships every single day. I'm your host, charlotte Carter, a high performance coach and entrepreneur with over 20 years experience. I'm your host, charlotte Carter, a high-performance coach and entrepreneur with over 20 years experience. I've supported many highly driven, talented people like you who dream big and are ready to take action to overcome what's holding them back. Each week, my guests and I will be sharing hacks and habits on how to build self-belief, courage and confidence, to master your mindset and navigate your emotions so that you can reach your human potential in a way that feels light, fun and easeful and helps you become fearless. Let's go. Hello there and welcome to another episode of Becoming Fearless.
Speaker 1:I am excited to bring to the ears of you all this guest episode that I have for today, which is all about a connection. I want to just talk a little bit about intuition before we go into me introducing the guest. So I was at an event possibly I don't know maybe about six or eight weeks ago, listening to lots of different speakers. I'd been to this event a couple of times. I'm speaking at this event next time and I always take something different away from different people. And Christina I'd never heard her name. I never look up the people who are speaking or anything like that. I always go totally without any preconceived ideas. And Christina came on and it was like whoa, this is somebody that I want to talk to about fear, for certain. I want to talk to about energy, for certain. So it was like, without a doubt, somebody that I would invite on to the Becoming Fearless podcast. So, Christina, do you want to introduce yourself and let people know a little bit about who you are and what you do and how you help people?
Speaker 2:who you are and what you do and how you help people. Yeah, sure. So first of all, thanks for having me. My name's Christina Castellina, which I realise is a mouthful and it rhymes. So I am a property investor. I'm 37, nearly 38. Mum of two, started with nothing 10 years ago and have built a multi-million pound portfolio and still invest um still very much in the market buying um, but I also now, after all my years of experience, help other people to get involved in property and build um solid, recession-proof portfolios which is so, so exciting for so many people listening, because I know a lot of people are into this.
Speaker 1:But it's not like a walk in the park, is it on some levels? Let's talk about your journey sort of in your early 20s. Then when did you start off? What was kind of like the story pre what you're doing now?
Speaker 2:So when I was in my 20s, I was very much living like I would describe it as a free life, in that I was a singer, so I had a lot of what would I say like flexibility almost in. You know, I was kind of here, there and everywhere. So one year I would be working singing in a production show on a cruise ship and I'd be traveling around the world, and then the next year I would be back in Blackpool, which at the time was home, and I'd be working in a show in Blackpool and then I'd maybe travel and do another you know, travel for Christmas and I'd do panto somewhere, and then I'd come back home again. So I had quite I would say quite an exciting lifestyle, which is what I definitely need as an individual. I love variety. I can't stand the mundane like just everything being the same. It's just not. It's just not the way I'm built. So in terms of lifestyle, I loved the excitement of different things, different contracts, but as I got sort of in my mid-20s, what I craved more than anything actually was security, financial security, because I just had no stability with my income and I actually, when I look back, I always had money. I always had enough money. So it's not that you know, I would go months without work. I was always in work but what I realized is that my voice was my income and that's a risky place to be. And I also, annoyingly, I'm one of those people that always, always gets a chest infection at Christmas. And one of those people always gets a chest infection at Christmas and it will last for six weeks and that is hell. If you're a singer it's awful, and I'd be going out doing gigs with a chest infection, like singing, and then turning away from the mic and coughing like this rattling chesty cough, and I kind of thought, right, this is all fun now, but is it going to be fun in my 40s, when I've got a family? Probably not. It's not going to be ideal. So I knew that there was kind of a timer on it and some people do have this career forever. But I knew for me that I needed, I just craved financial security and I was, I guess, without knowing.
Speaker 2:I was quite entrepreneurial and I was switched on and I've always been that person. Like'd go and see a show and then I'd look at the audience and try and work out how many people were there, how much they'd paid for the ticket, how much the cast had been paid, and I was always working out what profits people were making on their businesses. So I just had that mind that was constantly ticking over of like how do people make money? How do people make money? And, to cut a very long story short, in my very early 20s I was living in London and I got approached by a friend. I didn't know her very well, actually, but she had a network marketing business. The company was really new to the UK. She was doing really well and I'd never heard of it. I had no idea what it was, what it entailed. She was doing really well and I'd never heard of it, had no idea what it was, what it entailed.
Speaker 2:There was a lot of negativity around network marketing. It wasn't called network marketing, everyone just called it pyramid selling. At the time there was no like Instagram and online shopping. It was very clunky. You know they were quite. Really. When I look back, they were quite innovative as a company. It was everything was like vegan protein. You know it was such an innovative. You know, um, and I remember them saying back then you know, we're gonna go green, everything's gonna go green, and it just seemed like such a mad concept. You know, this is. This is 17 years ago.
Speaker 2:Some time ago, um, and she started to talk to me about passive income and earning money while you sleep and having leverage, and it blew my mind. So I didn't really know what I was signing up for, but I was like I'm in, yeah, let's do it, let's go. And the greatest gift that actually came from all of that is I started reading personal development books and business books and basically understanding what wealthy people do. And they leverage. They have leverage, so they own assets, they own big businesses with staff underneath them and they take the profit at the top. Or they own property, again, where they've got rental income coming in, you know, day in, day out. Or you know businesses such as network marketing. They have leverage, and that really I got obsessed with the concept.
Speaker 2:Really I got obsessed with the concept. I got obsessed with the idea and, um, I thought that to be a property investor, you had to have already made your money. So my mindset was once I've made lots of money in network marketing, then I'll go into property. I thought it was something that rich footballers did. I didn't realize it was something that rich footballers did, I didn't realize it was something that normal people could do. And then I went to a free Rich Dad, poor Dad seminar and the whole two hours was all about investing in property.
Speaker 2:But being really creative and raising finance and, you know, working with private investors and giving them 10% on their money and, like you know, buying really run down houses and adding value Again blew my mind and I just knew I had to do it. I just had this feeling of like this is exactly the thing I've been looking for. If I can raise finance to do property deals, this will set me up for life. And this is 10 years ago. And I ended up investing, like my life savings to go on their proper course, where you get a mentor, and the cost of the training was 18,000 and I only had 16,000. So talk about facing your fears. So I handed over all my money. I put two thousand pound on a credit card and then thought, sod it, let's do it then. And everyone thought it was mad. Everyone thought it was crazy.
Speaker 2:I was living in Blackpool and I didn't know anyone that was in property. My mum and dad thought it was crazy. I just had this, I don't know. I guess a bit of a risk taker, but I also understood the importance of education. I understood the importance of investing in your mind and personal growth and I just thought, well, if these people can show me how to do it, I'm willing to work hard. And yeah, the rest, as they say, is history. It's definitely not as straightforward as they said it would be. You know, they make everything just sound so easy and you just go and find investors and you find these deals and you renovate them and it sounded so easy and the reality is that it was a lot harder, but it's been the best thing I've ever done and it's totally changed my life.
Speaker 1:And would you say that thank you for sharing that story. And would you say that when you've admitted you're a risk taker, you're admitted you're an action taker and you work hard. Would you say that there's any part of you that has, like you're in tune with your intuition and inner knowing and the energy side of things, like when you said I just knew I had to do it. Was that like an internal yes? Was that like a you know, like a hard moment in your life or yeah?
Speaker 2:no, it was an absolute gut. I can't sleep because I'm so like, just it. It just overtook my life in that, yeah, I just loved the concept and I still love the concept. I loved it and I just had this absolute gut feeling and knowing that it was the right thing for me to do so so good, isn't it?
Speaker 1:and have you had any like anything else like that since in different guises? Or do you think like that's like been your biggest one in your life so far? Or have you had like mini versions, like personal ones in different guises that have had that same depth of feeling?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, I have. I get it most when it's time to leave something, when it's time to walk away, when it's time when a relationship oh yeah, I had it, had it actually um with um, a mentor that I'd had for years and I had this, this like gut feeling of I need to move, I need to find my own way now and and it was a really difficult decision and it was a painful decision, it was a scary decision actually and but I had this gut knowing and as soon as I did it, so much more took off for me, so much more happened. So I do have it and often I want to ignore it, because a lot of the time you've got instincts you don't want to follow it, because it involves doing something that you don't really want to do or just facing something that you don't want to face. A lot of the time, that's where I get mine the most, is where I've got a gut feeling and I'm like, oh no, don't make me do it, but then when I do something, better happens.
Speaker 1:And I think just on that point and it's a really big branch in terms of becoming fearless there's a lot of people that have this kind of like feeling where they're finding their courage and they're like they want to make a change.
Speaker 1:Like you said, either leave a relationship or move on from a mentor or an ending of something. That's going to open up all of this space and with that, brings a lot of sadness and a lot of loss, and I think sometimes people get lost in that piece and don't actually go and do the thing. They get trapped into that bit of because there's their immediate aha moment. So well, actually, I'm going to lose this, this, this and this, and the fear of lack of scarcity comes in rather than yeah, but what am I going to gain on the other side? I know this bit's going to be uncomfortable, but what I'm going to gain on the other side is going to blow my mind and it's going to be way more expansive than it ever has been. Do you think you've always led with your gut or do you think, in hindsight, there's been times in your life where you're like do you know what? That was a sign then? And I just didn't pick it up because I wasn't as attuned in oh, 100%, yeah, especially especially when I was younger.
Speaker 2:Um, I would always I would always seek validation externally and I would always want everyone to tell me what to do. Because I didn't want to. I didn't want to make the decisions myself, and that's something I've had to learn as a property investor. When I first started property, my gut, you know, worked with builders and in my gut I knew that they weren't right, but I didn't want to. I didn't want to have an awkward conversation. So I'd go along with it and hope that I was wrong, because it was the easy thing to do, but it ended up being a nightmare because they did a terrible job and we fell out anyway.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, there's been lots of times I've ignored my gut and it has not worked out for me. And also, I think it's easier to trust your gut when you're in a space of calm. But if I ever get where I'm kind of like in my head too much and I haven't been doing the stuff that I know is good for me, I haven't been meditating, I've not been kind to myself and I've got myself into a place of like anxiety. I definitely, as I've got older, since having kids, I go through bouts of anxiety and it's where I haven't given myself time to switch off, I haven't given my brain enough downtime. I get myself, I get I get anxiety. And it's those moments where I'm I'm not in sync anymore, I'm not aligned, and that's when I start asking people what do you think? What do you think when actually I know, but I'm just not in sync with myself?
Speaker 1:and I think there is so much wisdom in that for people listening, if people are thinking, if people are in that space of actually just feeling a little bit unsettled, feeling a bit anxious and can't quite put the finger on it.
Speaker 1:It's about seeking the answers within, isn't it? And understanding that actually there's a in. A lot of times, once you can create some space in your head, for a lot of high performers, a lot of high achievers I work with, it's get out of your head, because that's where you you're fueling some of the anxieties, because you're in your head too much and overthinking and analysing and you know what, if, what, if, what, if, playing out in your head, whereas when you drop into your body or drop into anything completely different in your life, then you start to be more present, be more able to navigate some of the stuff and get yourself realigned and re-centred and ready to go again. So what would you say is the focus now let's talk about? So you're here and you've made this investment and you've learnt from the mentors, and what was the first property you bought? What was the first sort of leap into that business?
Speaker 2:Well, I actually bought two properties on the same day, so I never had the. What was your first property? Mine was. What were your first two? Um, I bought, and they were quite big properties as well. I bought a license a six bed licensed HMO, which is where they rent out by the room, and a block of five flats. When I say block, it's basically a terraced house that had been converted into five studio apartments. So they were quite big deals for someone that was brand new and didn't really know what they were doing. They were my first two jumped in with both feet. I worked with a joint venture partner on this, so I found the deals and negotiated them. I picked them up so cheap and the person I was working with financed it, so he put in all the money. I worked with the builders, the letting agent got them rented out and then we split the profits 50-50. So they were my first two.
Speaker 2:Can you hear that helicopter, by the way? Yeah, yeah, it's like it's circling. It is literally circling. Is there something going on outside? Well, we live near a woods, so it must be usually when something's going on outside. I don't. Well, we live near a woods, so it must be usually, when someone something's going on, they go around and around the woods, but I feel like it's literally going around my house, just coming back and dead loud, um, and I've got the window closed as well. Sorry, um, what was the question? Oh yeah, my first deals, yeah, so, so I started, jumped in with both feet with big deals, really and so where and how did you find that?
Speaker 1:how did you find, was it like? What you thought were you? Were you? Was there any element of fear in all of that process, or were you a full-on excited?
Speaker 2:um, a mixture of both. I think I was quite naive in a way. Um, I was nervous and I definitely had some sleepless nights. Well, a mixture, a good, healthy combination of excitement and fear with it, I would say and what?
Speaker 1:where would you, where did you snowball next?
Speaker 2:so from there, I, we went on, the same person, we went on and we did another four back-to-back HMOs, six-bed HMOs, and then I'd made a mistake where I, we were buying in the same area and we were acquiring property quickly without testing the model, and what actually transpired is there wasn't a huge demand for HMOs and it was, it was. It was a bit of a pain really. There were, there wasn't a very good. None of the letting agents wanted to manage HMOs because it's a lot more hands-on, there's not more turnover. So we ended up with one letting agent and she's she's not, she wasn't overly friendly with tenants and she would ring me with all these problems and I would say for the first few years I actually hated property and I got to a point where I wanted to quit because it felt so stressful in comparison to the life I'd been living as a singer and even in marketing. You know there's no, there's no risk. You're not, you're not dealing with solicitors and interest rates and finance, and you know it. Just, it felt very, very heavy and I felt like I'd spent a couple of years working really, really hard to end up buying properties that stressed me out. That's how I felt, and I'd had run-ins with builders. I just felt really naive and gullible and a bit stupid. I've had a lot of self, yeah, a lot of self-hatred. Really. It sounds horrible to say that, but that is true. I felt really embarrassed for myself and really like, oh my gosh, I can't. You know, I've got all these houses but I actually hate. You know, I'm not enjoying it. So that's when it was a real turning point. So I was part of this property community and we'd meet up once a month. It was really supportive, really amazing.
Speaker 2:And the guy that had done my original mentorship it was only a three-day mentorship he'd really helped me. But then he'd'd gone and then I was doing all this on my own and I felt so alone, so isolated, so lonely, um, and he, just as I was feeling like I actually don't feel like I can do this, I've not got the heart to do this anymore, he messaged me and said, um, I'm starting one-to-one coaching. Um, you know, do you want any help? And it was quite. I remember thinking it was quite expensive as well. At the time I thought, well, it's this, so I'm gonna quit. So I said, yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 2:And we had our first meeting and I literally cried my heart out to him, sobbed, sobbed and sobbed and sobbed and just told him all the things I felt had gone wrong. And, um, you know, we, he, he let me cry and then he said well, actually, you're incredible at finding property deals, so don't because. I was like I'm an awful investor, I'm rubbish, you know. He was like, well, let me just stop you there. You're actually an amazing investor. What you need is a bit of self-belief and you need a backbone. You need to start standing up for yourself.
Speaker 2:And we took it right back to basics and they and the person I'd been working with. I sent him an email and we had a talk on the phone and I just said there's not enough in this business for both of us. And he bought me out, which I, honestly, I would have walked away for free, to be honest. But he bought me out and I felt the relief. But then I also felt like, oh, I'm back to square one, I'm back to zero. I've got no property again.
Speaker 2:But then we set a strategy with my mentor and he said go back to basics, go small, go to what works, buy to let work a dream in your area and you're good at finding deals. Let's go back that, and that's what I did. I then built a portfolio in my own name, working with private investors. So I would work with private investors and say I'll offer you 10% per annum on your money, I'd do a deal, give them their money back plus their interest, and then find another deal and we'd do it again. And I literally did that over and over and over and over again until I ended up with about 15 buy to lets and then felt and then was like, oh then it worked so well, so simple. If I've got too many plates spinning, I get overwhelmed and nothing happens. So I just kept it so simple I just get buy to lets and I do the odd flip.
Speaker 1:And that is all I did for years until I got to a place where I felt quite financially secure and then I started going on to do bigger deals and when was it that you decided that you had this, this kind of like, saw the branch out where you're like actually, now I've got this experience, now I want to help people. I want to help people actually who want to get themselves in it like, in your words, financially secure and want to jump into this, this property space when was it?
Speaker 2:people just kept asking me um. So once I'd been in property for about four or five years, I actually got asked to be a speaker for Rich Dad, poor Dad and um Martin Roberts from Homes under the hammock. He had a property academy. So I became a speaker teaching people um how to invest in properties, like a two-hour kind of preview of what's possible. So I did that, which I loved, and it was so fun and, again, it gave me the variety in life that I need. So I'd be like half the week I'd be investing and the other half I'd be, you know, in London speaking in these gorgeous hotels, inspiring people, and it was just a gorgeous, perfect mix. So I did that up until um, my first born, so Grace and Six, and I think I did it until he was about one and a half um, and at that point it was too much traveling. I wanted to be at home with my baby, um, and so I was just doing the odd, odd date here and there, but I was like actually no, like that's again had to trust my gut, this has run its course. I've done this for a long time and I'm a mum now and my priorities have totally changed. So, yeah, I trusted my gut and I had this really, really strong emotional experience where I was actually speaking at an event and I was a two-hour preview speaker, which basically my role was to educate people on what's possible in property but then sell them onto the three-day training that I did. So it was really powerful because I was, like you know, a few years ago I was sat in your seat and now I've done this.
Speaker 2:But the last time I spoke, when it got to that point for me to say to do essentially a sales pitch, I had this unbelievable feeling of I don't want to do this anymore and it was almost like a panic attack. And at the end I walked to the back of the room. Um, you know, the event closed, I got in my car, I phoned the the organizer of all the events and I said I can't do this anymore, I don't want to do it anymore. It was that quick, it was that instant, that quick, and I just said I'm not enjoying it. Now I feel like I was going to have a panic attack. My body doesn't want me to do this anymore. And I stopped and I literally never went back. It was that sudden and, again. I never looked back. I was literally like I'm done, I've had an amazing time, I'm done, I don't want to do it anymore. And it's so interesting.
Speaker 2:It was a year later. The company went bust. So I would have been selling people onto this, yeah, but I just had this feeling and I stopped doing it and it's really, really interesting as well. I kind of walked away and then, a year later, there's so many people that were owed lots of money and the company went bankrupt. There's all this stuff that unraveled. But I left way before any of that happened and I just followed my gut instinct. Um, so, to answer your question about coaching, it's just something that naturally, I left way before any of that happened and I just followed my gut instinct.
Speaker 2:So, to answer your question about coaching, it's just something that naturally happened. People would say can you teach me, can you help me? And they started reaching out. So it wasn't planned, it was kind of accidental, where people need support, and I get it because I was exactly the same. And sometimes, if you are just, you know, hobbling along on your own, it's really hard. Sometimes you just need someone that's done it that can say no, you, you know, spot any mistakes. Look, you know, see any, any holes in a deal and say, actually that's not a good deal. Or just support you and say that's brilliant, crack on with it, you know, just give you that support that you need. So I would say that the set that side has just naturally organically grown where people need the support and I've thought well, actually I can help. It was just a natural occurrence really and so what changed?
Speaker 1:um? And that that's just a fascinating story, isn't it just to just to sit with that space about how this whole, like whole body reaction when you were going to talk about, you know, um, selling people into that three-day program where you were just in this like panic riddled state and you knew without, without a shadow of a doubt, that you were going to then make the decision to jump from that. Um, just listeners as you're listening in. Have you had moments in your life where there's been times like that? Because it is your intuition, it is your energy, it's powers outside of you that are saying look, hang on a minute. You know, I want to just give you this heads up. This is something that actually this is much greater things, much happier things, much easier things.
Speaker 1:For a lot of high performers sometimes there's easier things around the corner, um, and we've built up this pretense of things having to be hard and difficult. So once you've made that step now and you've got your family, um, how's life now? Where do you get your variety now? Because I know you've got your two young boys life's very different, isn't it from when you have that freedom of being a singer? How does life look like now and what are the kind of. Where do you get your variety now?
Speaker 2:such a great question because life has changed since having children, um, so I get my variety from doing I'll do a lot more speaking gigs, which is how we met. So going to different things and being asked to speak and doing podcasts, um, I feel like I have to take full responsibility for it because the way that my life is set up now, you know, there's the school run every day and the weekends are with the kids and you know, my youngest has only just turned four. He's still a baby and he's still this. You know the weekends. I know this is awful to say, but sometimes I say to my husband, the weekends can be so boring because everything is about, you know, keeping them happy and you spend a lot of the time doing things you don't really want to do but you're just doing it to keep the kids happy. So I'm definitely I wouldn't say now that my life is as exciting as it used to be, simply because it can't be, because I'm taking the kids to school in the morning, picking them up, and that that's the reality. So I kind of have to make peace with that and I get my um enjoyment. It definitely more of a peaceful way, and actually a lot of it is.
Speaker 2:You know, if someone said to me, do you want to go out tonight? And say, oh no, I actually, you know, I'm quite happy, um, living a more calm life, and but again, I have to listen to myself when I know that my life has been too mundane. I know that, right, I need to get my diary out and I need to book in some nights at the theatre and I need to book, um, some things with some friends, and I have to take ownership of it, because as soon as I've got those little things in, those little rewards, those treats, I'm such a better mother, I'm such a better person, I'm a better wife. So it's about I think it's just about discipline. I've been in charge of my diary and not getting lazy and letting that slip.
Speaker 1:And I think life is very, very different, isn't it? We lead these chapters in our lives, don't we? And yours has been so fruitful and so colourful, hasn't it? That, like the mum and the family chapter is, you know, fruitful and fulfilling in very, very different ways, but it does has that element of routine. Um, it has that element of you know, the mundane in some of the tasks, because that is what what it is to raise a family, and then when you come out of that, you're in a different place again.
Speaker 1:So it's like finding I'm talking to my clients this week about finding the magic in the mundane. Sometimes it's one of the things that people high performers have to find their courage to like, find the magic in the mundane, which is what you've just highlighted, that you do. So you're like, okay, in this moment, I know I've got to have some time with friends. I know I've got to go do some speaking gigs. I know I've got to do some things for me on my own, and then I'll be able to come back and be in this space and be able to create this harmonized family because I've filled my own cup, which I think is one of the biggest things yeah for a lot of moms.
Speaker 1:I think they drop that and it's so funny.
Speaker 2:Like before kids, I didn't you know coffee, I could take it or leave it. But now, like a coffee is just like almost like a spiritual ritual where I'll take the dog out and I'll go to my favorite coffee shop and they just do the most delicious oat milk lattes. It's the smoothest coffee in Liverpool and I walk around the woods with that coffee and it is it like it's just so simple, but it makes me feel spoiled. It makes me feel like this. It's just like a symbolization of this is my time. I'm going to enjoy this. No one's, no one's pulling at me, no one's got dirty fingers, fingers, and you know, like it's just, I'm just on my own, it's peaceful. So I try and do that and my husband's the same. Like we try and do that every day.
Speaker 2:It's obviously a bit more difficult at the weekends when we've got the boys, and also sometimes as well. I say to my husband I'm like I just need an hour Like the kids are in bed. I just need an hour Like the kids are in bed. We've had our tea. You know, I'm like I just need to zone out. Leave me alone. Let me watch Bridgerton, because that is my. That's me filling my own cup and it makes the world of difference for me to just turn my brain off. And he's like you want to zone out? And I'm like, yeah, no, I do zone out, I want to zone out, and I want to just because I've noticed that I'm so much happier for it well, it's a release, isn't it?
Speaker 1:and I see this for many, many high performers and high achievers. Their brain is like they're one of their biggest assets, but it's also you've got to create that time where it is zoned out of, where it is zoned out of in a pleasurable way, so like you can go, like on the walks, you can be more present, like when you're going walking with your coffee, or you can go and watch something that totally absorbs you and you're taken out of your space. Um, in terms of the pattern interrupters of life, they're very, very powerful, and I think when you can get to a sweet spot, like you've got, where you've got this richness in life in all of the guises, and then you've got this awareness within yourself, then you're in a really great place, aren't you to teach the boys more about life, be more present with them and then also know that once that chapter and once they're older, you'll be back doing a completely different variety.
Speaker 2:And then I think I'll miss it and I'll be like, oh you, you know, miss my babies and so, and I am aware of that, and you know when, as soon as we're not with them, me and my husband go to walk and then what we do is talk about them, you know. So I, I know that you know my little one's starting school in September and I'm I know I'm gonna be a wreck, I'm gonna cry my eyes out, um, so it's just, yeah, it's kind of. It's just. I think it's acceptance and and just knowing that it is a chapter and it's very different to the chapters I've had previously, but it's still rich and it's, it's fulfilling and it's real and it's, you know, the extreme emotion of like wonder and amazement and but also frustration. It's just a big ball of all this emotion, but at least you will. It makes you feel you're alive. You know you're alive with it and you're.
Speaker 1:You've had the fortune and the opportunity to create it, haven't you? So there's always, you know, an appreciation of that.
Speaker 2:Whatever way, wherever we are in life, we get to choose where we're going to go next wherever we are in life, we get to choose where we're going to go next and so much of yeah and I still I'm sorry, I was just gonna say I still love what I do as a property investor, so I still get such a buzz from buying houses so that you know I find I still I still get excitement from that as well, which is great, because when you have that big moment where you're like, this is annoying, that's stood its test of time, hasn't it?
Speaker 1:it wasn't just like a flit flashing the pan. It's like you've carried it and built um wealth around you and you still love it, you know, in a different guise than what you did. So it's a real test to you, tuning into yourself for certain. So, yeah, I just always ask my guests, um, a little bit about, uh, how people can get hold of them if they want to work with you. So what, I know we've got all the details. We'll put them all on the show notes, but what are the ways that you work with people if people are in that space? Would you know what? I'd love to get into this? How?
Speaker 1:can they get hold of you and what are the things that you offer now?
Speaker 2:okay. So I'm actually launching an online training program, um, on how to be a successful. There's so much to property people don't realize that there's so much opportunity. But if you don't know what you're doing, it's also very easy to lose money. You don't want to fall in that category. So, um, I've got an online course which I'm launching the end of this month and that takes people through all the different strategies how to find deals, how to raise finance if they feel that their you know investment pot isn't quite where it needs to be, to to do the amount of deals they want to do. So there's that.
Speaker 2:If that's, if you kind of want to learn on your own and you're doing it in the background, that is perfect for you.
Speaker 2:If you want more of a hands-on approach, then I've got one-to-one mentorship and I've also got packages where I'll actually come to your investment area and spend two days with you viewing houses, raising finance, putting offers out, getting your systems in place, doing like doing the do, like being productive, getting stuff done, and then after that, you've got me, you know, for a year one-to-one coaching.
Speaker 2:That's the most powerful thing because it's, you know, we're going to do it, because we're together. You've got me there holding your hand. That's a a really. That's your people that are like I want to get a portfolio, whether it's you want to buy two houses or 20 houses, it's like I'm gonna. You know you want to do it um. Or even for those people that are like you've got, um, potentially, a pot and it's sat in the bank getting, say, four percent interest and you're thinking, actually, you, you don't want to, you don't want to own property but you want to get good returns, potentially, that you know an option for being a private investor and getting those set returns from me, um, like a lot of my investors do yeah, so are all of those ways to get hold of you.
Speaker 1:Are they all on your website?
Speaker 2:yes, so, my, you can go onto my website, but if you want to chat more directly, um, my instagram is at the good life underscore property investor, or you can get hold of me on facebook as well. Send me a message, um, I'm trying to think about you know. I don't know if my email is on my website. There is a way that you can book a 30-minute call, so you can always book a call with me on through my website, um, but yeah, I'm quite active on Instagram, so you can send me a message there so that's probably the best way.
Speaker 1:If people are listening, just go and find Christina on Instagram. Her link will be below the show notes so you can literally listen to this. Pick her up from there and send her a message from there and let her know that you know, you know, found out about from the podcast.
Speaker 1:So the last question that I always ask everybody is about a book that they have read or listened to, that has made an impact in their life and allow them to navigate fear or be brave or courageous or something like that okay, I'm just looking at the books.
Speaker 2:I've got them all around me and they've all had such an impact, but actually this is probably a different one. It's something quirky that maybe you won't have had before the Unexpected Joy of being Sober. So this, yeah, this book is so powerful. So I used to binge drink.
Speaker 2:I've never been a person that sits at home drinking a glass of wine every night, but I certainly, I'd say two, two to three weekends of the month would always have a social occasion in my diary where I would go and I would drink, even if it was four glasses enough to feel hungover the next day, and it was really battering my immune system and I lost so much time to brain fog, um, the you know post-drink anxiety, and I felt my product, my productivity, was lower after I'd had a night out, and it's something I always wanted to do. It was to be like I wish I could just stop drinking. And then I made a decision and I read this book and it absolutely changed my relationship with alcohol and I went nine months totally dry and now I could take it or leave it. So I'll have you know, if I'm at something and there's a glass of Prosecco going around, I'll have a glass or half a glass and I'm not bothered to put it down, leave it, don't care.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, it's just. It's just totally changed my relationship and my health. I cannot tell you the difference in my health I used to be. I used to get ill at least once every couple of months and I actually I didn't get ill this winter. You, like I say, used to get chest infections. I've not had a chest infection now since, actually since I stopped drinking, I've not had a chest infection, touch wood. Um, yeah, it's been such a change to my mental health, physical health, productivity, everything yeah, very, very powerful.
Speaker 1:I love sharing that book, so that book will also be in the notes for people and anybody that again has got that has started to notice that actually for their health they are, you know, maybe having a few glasses more than they'd like to, or feeling the effects of it or wanting to make the changes. Then go and read that book because it sounds like it's super, super powerful and it's definitely helped you make a change. So there's no co-dependence with the drink, you can just take it or leave it, which is a great powerful place to be, isn't it? So thank you so so much. Thank you so so much for your time. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:We've created a longer episode than normal, but that is because there was a lot to share and we have talked about many, many things and I hope that people have listened to like Christina's journey in terms of, like, um, an inner knowing. We talk about fear a lot. I talk about courage and bravery, which are all in that journey, but there's also this episode talks a lot about inner knowing and trust and the connection between the mind and body, and then body will definitely send you signals to make you aware of changes. That would really help and benefit your life. So thank you so so much, christina. I really really enjoyed you being on the Becoming Fearless podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning into this week's episode. I hope that you're feeling energised, fearless and inspired to take action today to stand in your greatness. I share even more tools and resources on my I Dare to Leap email newsletter. By signing up, you not only get early access to the I Dare to Leap email newsletter. By signing up, you not only get early access to the I Dare to Leap products and services, but you also get brand new podcast episodes delivered straight to your inbox every Monday, meaning you'll never miss your weekly dose of becoming fearless energy. Sign up now at wwwidaretoleapcom. Forward slash newsletter or click the link in the show notes below.
