How to Live Life on Your Terms with Rachel Smets

In this episode, we’re joined by Rachel Smets. Rachel is a clarity coach, two-time TEDx speaker, course creator, and author. She’s dedicated to helping unfulfilled mid-career corporates confidently turn their passion into income so they can plan their escape and live life on their terms.

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On this episode of the Live. Love. Engage. podcast:

• How Rachel ended up in Portugal.
• Rachel’s biggest value and how she lives by it.
• What she found all confident people have in common.
• How Rachel learned to be more comfortable on stage.
• Why fear is actually a positive thing.
• Helpful ways you can go about studying the mind.
• Why Rachel decided to leave her 9-5 job.
• The importance of knowing what you find meaningful.
• What to do if your family doesn’t approve of following your passion.
• The shifts it takes to become an entrepreneur.
• How Rachel finds free accommodations along her travels.
• The biggest benefit of living a nomadic lifestyle.
• How minimalism has been brought into her life through her lifestyle.
• Where to start if becoming a digital nomad appeals to you.
• How Rachel helps her clients deal with overwhelm.
• Why you don’t need to get stuck in a niche online

Connect with Rachel

Website: https://www.rachelsmets.com
Crab Mentality video: https://youtu.be/XoKxjJb7f1w

Quick Links:

• Join the Live. Love. Engage. Community
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• The Live. Love. Engage. Book
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TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to the live love engage podcast on today’s show how to gain confidence to leave a nine to five job to live life on your terms. Stay tuned. I am Gloria Grace Rand, founder of the love method and author of the number one, Amazon Best seller live love, engage – how to stop doubting yourself and start being yourself. In this podcast we share practical advice from a spiritual perspective on how to live fully love, deeply and engage authentically so you can create a life and business with more impact, influence, and income. Welcome to live love, engage

Namaste and, and welcome, welcome again to another episode of live love, engage, and I am delighted to welcome Rachel Smets to the show who is coming to us all the way from Portugal. So we’re gonna talk about that in a minute, a little bit more about that, how you ended up there, but first off, I just wanna welcome you to the show, Rachel.

Thank you. Thank you for having me Gloria. It’s a pleasure. Yeah. Well, I’m really excited. I’ve been reading up on all about you and I wanna share with our audience, those of you listening and those of you watching and YouTube, just who this lovely lady is. She’s a clarity coach. Two-time TEDx speaker, not just once, but twice.

I loved that, YouTuber, author, and online course creator. And what she does is help unfulfilled mid-career corporates confidently plan their nine to five escape and turn their passion into income so they can have more freedom and live life on their terms. And as she says, something I agree with, life is short – start living, and that is right in alignment with this podcast, cuz it’s all about living fully.

That’s where part of that, the live love engage comes from. So I, I thought let’s, let’s talk a little bit about how you ended up in Portugal, cuz I know, I think that’s part of your overall story on how you became, you know, this, this clarity coach, but so yeah.

What brought you to Portugal? Why are you there? Yeah, thank you. and great question. Just to be clear, this is not my end destination. This is me traveling, the world. So this is just where I’m at right now during this recording. So how I ended up, traveling full time. Let’s put it that way is because I quit my corporate job a few years ago and, I wanted to become a digital nomad, basically.

I just wanted to be location independent so that I could work from where I wanted, because I never have a specific destination in mind. but I just wanted to be free of a boss and be my own boss and have the possibility to work when I want, where I want, how much I want really. And. Really not having to ask for permission for a day off and, and being able to, yeah, just freedom.

Freedom is really my biggest value. And obviously it’s something I talk about a lot because it doesn’t happen overnight and it’s not just luck because people see me travel now and Ooh, these beautiful locations everywhere I post. And, oh, you’re so lucky, Rachel. And I’m like, no, it’s not luck. It’s not luck.

It’s something that I have created. And even, you know, and even, past 40, you know, I just, I just didn’t wanna be in a job anymore. And we can definitely talk about that, that, that journey, but really it is not luck and it takes effort. And, and it’s, if I can do it really with no technical skills or background or any of that, if I can do it, then, then really you can do it too.

So yeah, that’s very encouraging and, and it. It’s something my daughter is doing as well. She’s, she’s a web designer and she decided that she wanted to be able to travel the world. And she, as long as she’s got internet connection, she can do that. Exactly. Yeah. So exactly. How, how do you, and again, we’ll kind of get back a little bit to your journey in a moment, but I wanted to talk about how did you…

I guess number one, gain the confidence to be able to do this, because I know for a lot of people, it’s like the thought of, you know, uprooting themselves and, and just traveling around. Yes, it sounds nice in theory, but then when you try to put it into practice it’s like, whoa, I don’t know. I’m not sure, especially yes.

For women. yes. You know, so what would you, it’s a say that’s question it’s yes. It’s a great question. And you said it exactly like I’m a woman alone, and I’m traveling the world. So. Are there, you know, moments that I’m in fear? Yes. Is it challenging? Yes, absolutely. Did I have the confidence from the start?

No, not at all. and to be bluntly honest years ago, I, I mean, for the longest time, until in my adult told I, I had no confidence, I can honestly say I’m a, I’m a full. Full introvert and no confidence. And so I was always like, what are people gonna say? And, and how am I dressed? And Ooh, and somebody’s looking at me and they’re smiling and oh my God, they’re, they’re making fun of me.

And, and I’m not looking good and my day was destroyed. and so I was a big people pleaser. I was a perfectionist. I was, you know, no confidence. So I know exactly what you’re talking about. So how did you… whoops! I’m not seeing you all of a sudden here. Where did you go? We’ve lost your video. Ok. I’m just going to pause this for a second.

And we’re back. We had a little hiccup with internet. But everything is working again. So go ahead Rachel, you were saying..

Ok. I’m going to back up about the confidence. I had zero confidence. I had. I became passionate about studying confidence. And so my first book that I wrote, was about confidence, awaken your confidence.

And I interviewed a whole series of people with that are very successful and success is of course the definition that, you know, it could be money. It could be a big public speaker. It was a bestselling author. It was like very different backgrounds because success is really a personal definition. But what I found. And what, what, what I found fascinating is that all of them said, but Rachel, I wasn’t born with confidence. I had to learn confidence when I’m standing on the stage. I have, I have fears. I have anxiety. I have, you know, my heart palpitations.

And so I, I, I was like, wow, these people are like, you know, on TV and stages. And they look so successful and so confident, but yet they were not born with it and they had to learn it. So I really became fascinated. Like, wait, you know, I can learn it just like going to the gym. It’s a muscle that you don’t go into the gym once and come out full of confidence and skilled and tone.

No, you have to go back and back and back. And so. What you have to do to learn and grow that confidence is really taking these small steps out of your comfort zone. And, and when I say fear, it could be tiny fears, like, Ooh, talk to a stranger. And, and or if you want to speak in public the other day, somebody was asking me, but you know, your TEDx talk, did you feel confident?

You seem so confident on stage. I’m like no way, you know, but I started practicing in front of the mirror and that in itself was out of my comfort zone just to do a speech in front of me. And it was uncomfortable. And then in front of my brother, my brother, who I trust and love still, it was uncomfortable.

And then in front of him and his girlfriend, and then in front of three people, and then at the gym, in front of a few friends. And so, you know, it’s always, you know, stepping out of your comfort zone and just, facing fears and the same goes for when I travel, you know, I travel, I arrive in a new destination.

I don’t know the language. I don’t know anything. I get lost so often even now, like I always pick destination, but the thing is Gloria is. I learned that fear is not negative. Fear is positive and fear. The emotion of fear is the same emotion as excitement. And so when I think about, wait a minute, I’m not scared.

I’m excited. I’m excited to face this. I’m excited to grow. I’m excited to learn. And I, I can talk about this for hours, but really it’s, it’s, it’s confidence grows by Taking action, taking small steps, not trying to get to the top of the mountain, but just a hill and another hill and another hill. And so for everything I do for my business, for my travels, for, you know, everything I do, it’s really about small steps.

And now I’m traveling full time and I sold my home and all my belongings, but years ago I was in corporate. I traveled for one week. I traveled for a weekend. I pick my destinations. I’m a woman alone. I’m not gonna go to Peru in the middle of nowhere. Be smart. You know it, you know, I, I, I just, you know, I pick a destination where I know it’s a civilized world and I, and there’s people.

And I, I, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s small steps Gloria and confidence grows when you practice it. It’s not just practicing, getting out of your comfort zone and overcoming some fears, but it’s a lot, a lot, a lot of mindset. And if you want to, I can talk a little bit more about that because the mindset is superb. And just to give you one example, if you wanna dive deeper, we can, but just to give you one example, years ago, If I was walking the street and anybody can just picture this, okay, you’re walking down the street or you’re sitting in a party or at an event or something, and across the room, there’s two people chit-chatting and they look at you and they start really laughing.

The first thing I thought was, oh no, they’re laughing at me. And they’re making fun of me and I’m looking awful. And my day, even my week was ruined. Right. Why? Because I thought immediately they’re talking about me. And so when I switched the story, Oh, they’re just having a good time. And you know, they’re just laughing about their night yesterday, or they’re just making a joke or cracking a joke.

And I just go about with my day. It’s not about me, but it’s the story I tell my mind. So if I had come into a new country or I, I wanna talk to somebody or on a stage or anything, and I just tell myself, this is scary. This is scary. I’m, I’m lost and I’m not getting know. And people are laughing at me and all of these worst case scenarios, I’m not gonna make it.

I’m gonna fail. I’m never gonna, you know, All of these stories. If I switch that and that’s the trick, like, you know, you have to be aware of it. And I train myself so much to be aware of that and then switch it like the best-case scenario. I am gonna make it. I am gonna be successful. I am gonna find my way.

I am gonna make money online. The, they are making fun of their themselves. It’s not about me. It’s like, so it’s it’s mindset is. I study the mind every single day, Gloria, because without that I would be depressed, lost, and lonely, really. Honestly, I, I, I can so relate to so much of what you’re talking about, cuz I, yes, I have been there in a lot of respects and, and I know one of the things I’ve that I learned too is not only asking, you know, like what’s the, the best that could happen.

What’s the worst that can happen because. Okay, you you’ve, you fail or you don’t get to, you know, people don’t listen to you, but you’re not gonna be, it’s not gonna be fatal. You’re not gonna die up on stage. Odds are, I mean, the, the chances of that happening are extremely, extremely small. And, and I love how you also, you know, decided that when people are laughing and realizing that it’s not about you. And that’s one of the things you’ve probably read the book, the four agreements, maybe by Don Miguel Ruiz, he talks about, you know, don’t take anything personally. Cause when we do, that’s just our ego rearing up. And if we can, yes. Remember we have no idea what’s going on in their minds.

We have no idea what they’re talking about unless we were actually sitting right next to them. So yeah. To jump to conclusions is oh, futile, that’s the word I’m looking for. it really doesn’t do you any good at all. so thank you for sharing all of that. And I love it. I love studying the mind as well, but can I, can I just say really quickly, Gloria?

Yeah, go for it. I really don’t wanna interrupt you, but you know, you just mentioned the four agreements and. That is one of the books, but I just wanna add that when I say study the mind, it’s it really also started with reading books, you know, self development and self improvement and self, you know, and one of those was the four agreements, but there’s so many others.

Oh yeah. And, and, and, and, one of them that I’m thinking about now in the back of my mind, you know, especially keeping your audience in mind is, ask and it is given, you know, that was one of the big key books for me as well. Like, oh, wait a. You can manifest the anything you want. And I come from an upbringing that’s very logical rational.

You have to work hard in earn money and work, and then, you know, and, and every hour, and, and, and there’s no such thing as, as, as spirituality or any of that. And I’m not a woo woo person at all, but still I learned like, wait, if you ask the universe and you focus your mind on something that you really want, you can receive it.

And, and that’s also a shift. So that was one of the books that I. Wow. Even getting another job, you know, go into an interview and see yourself succeed in that job, you know? Yes. Yes. It’s, it’s possible. Absolutely. And it, and it really is. Self-fulfilling I, I, I, sometimes I, I have, I know people like, you know, friends of mine and, and even family members when they focus so much on all the things that do go wrong.

And then those things go wrong. It, it does become this self-fulfilling prophecy. And then of course they’re, they’re, they’re proven Right? Because see, I knew this was gonna go, I’m gonna go wrong. Yeah. And at the same time, if they can switch that, because obviously that works. If you switch it to thinking what could go right.

And then amazing things start happening in that respect as well. So it’s so much better. I wonder if you could share with us just a little bit about, a little bit more about what really sparked you to leave that job, because I know, you know, a lot of people are very, you know, well, maybe not necessarily happy in their jobs, but maybe they they’re starting to think about maybe is this all there is?

So what, what prompted you to really do that? Oh, beautiful question. And, by the way, I just made a video about, you know, nine signs that it’s time to leave your job. And it, you know, if, you know, if you look at my YouTube channel and you know, my name just type, Rachel Smets, you’ll find it. But I do wanna talk about this because it is, It is really important to recognize these signs.

And for me, I was really heading to a burnout, but, you know, is it a burnout? Is it not? It was for me, I, I never really liked working for a boss. So I always thought, Ooh, I’m an entrepreneur in my heart and soul, but it’s more than that. It’s it was. Not just like, you know, how they talk a lot about, oh, you know, you’re, you’re dreading Monday, right?

Yes. That’s part of it. You know, you, you wake up in the morning and you just wanna hit the snooze button over and over and over again. Whereas now I wake up in the morning, like I’m excited for every day. I’m excited. Today’s Saturday. I’m like, oh wait, you know, is it’s weekend. What’s a difference. You know, it’s, there is no difference, but it used to be like, oh, you know, finally it’s Friday and then come Saturday.

But then Sunday, I already felt bad because I knew Monday was gonna come around. And so yes, those are signs. But for me, it was also the fact of not feeling fulfilled and not feeling I was doing something meaningful. You know, I was working and giving away my freedom, my time, my effort to a boss, you know, I was actually making a company rich, I suppose.

You know, and I was, I was, I didn’t feel like I was helping someone. I was doing spreadsheets and Excel sheets and meetings and deadlines and all of those projects. But. And beautiful. I was just climbing the corporate ladder, you know, and, and, but I, I was climbing the wrong ladder, so I would like, everybody’s listening to, I hope this is not too noisy.

There’s just a plane crossing here to think for themselves, like, is this what you find meaningful and rewarding? And for me, what really made a huge difference was when I started picturing myself. In my final days of life, you know, just picture yourself at 80, 90 years old, looking back upon your life and thinking, have I lived the life that I wanted or have I lived the life that others wanted for me?

And that’s when I’m like, oh my goodness, I wanna be able to grow old and say, I’ve lived the life that I wanted. At least I tried and not, I regret because I have never tried. Right. Yeah. And so, yeah, I mean, for me, that’s really, even now, today, sometimes I like, you know, when I talk to my parents, they like, you sold your house, your belongings.

You’re crazy. Rachel, what you doing? I’m like, I’m healthy. I’m fit. I’m I’m, I’m, I’m still, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m in my forties. So what I wanna live this life. You know? Yes. Maybe I’m crazy, but you know, so yeah. Is, is your life meaningful? Do you feel fulfilled? I know deep down, you know, the answer you just, you know, whoever’s watching and listening, you know, the answer and if, if you feel like there’s more to life than this.

Then it’s time to start changing. And that Gloria, I have one more thing to say. It does not mean you have to quit tomorrow because that’s the fear that people have. Like, yes, I know it’s not meaningful. Yes. I know there’s more out there for me, but I can’t quit tomorrow. I’m not saying you have to quit tomorrow.

I’m saying maybe you can build a plan. So that next year you can start thinking about resigning. yeah, this just occurred to me. And I wanted to ask you about it. What happens if you make that decision and the people in your life are not happy with it? yes. What, what do you, what do you counsel your clients when that happens?

Yeah. Cause it frequently does happen. Oh, for sure. For sure. And it’s one of the steps within your plan and it’s one of the steps within confidence and it’s definitely something. I, I also made a video about supporting family. so I called him your you. Okay. There’s two things I wanna say. One is, I changed.

My tribe. So if you want to grow confidence, if you want to live a different life and you stick to the people that are around you, I’m gonna say something else about family though. But cause your family, you can’t choose, but the people around you are so, so, so important. So the, the more I kept talking to let’s say colleagues, they were happy with the job.

They were happy with everything. So where was that gonna lead me nowhere. Right. So when I started shifting. People that I was inspired by, by people that were living the life that I wanted. you know, if I wanted to write my first bestselling book, I started surrounding myself with authors. Same goes for my TEDx talk.

Same goes for YouTube. Same goes for coaching business. You know, I started working with coaches. I started talking to these people and so that. Gave me inspiration to go that direction. The more I listened to the people that were in these fixed jobs and fixed mindsets that wasn’t gonna get me anywhere.

So that was a big shift for me. It also meant that some friends who didn’t understand that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I had to let go of them. You know, like, oh, come on and party. No, I wanted to work because in the beginning, like I said, it takes effort to, to live this lifestyle. In the beginning, I had to work my job, build my online business.

And so I was working all the time, evenings and weekends, you know, I’m not gonna lie about that. It takes effort in the beginning. And those who didn’t understand that. I had no time for them. I had no time to parties and chit chats and all of that. Right. So, right. I shifted my tribe. And also that was also big move into growing confidence because it really changed like, oh, I was inspired.

They were pulling me. They were motivating me and people with confidence gave me more confidence. So having said that Family is something you cannot choose, but you can choose to spend less time listening to them or talking to them. So for me, and I know exactly what I’m talking about because I love my family.

I love my parents, but the more I talk to my mom, the more she brings me down and she just wants to keep me safe. And here’s the, the story about crabs, which I have a video on that as well. And you have to share that because it’s so it’s, it’s so true. And it, it really made a. An awareness in me that you know how to catch crabs Gloria.

With me, it’s really simple. It’s a short story. They catch crabs in a bucket and they never put a lid on top of the bucket. Why? Because the crabs is like a family. And if one crab tries to escape out of the bucket, all the others are like pulling them back. Like, no, no, no, you don’t escape. So that’s the crab mentality.

Like, Hey, you’re not. You know, we’re not leaving, you’re not going. Right. Right. So it’s kinda that crab mentality to, to keep you there. And it’s just, our family is also trying to keep us safe. They mean, well, our loved ones, they try to keep us safe. Stay here. It’s safe. You know, you have a good paycheck. You have a good, you know, it’s safe.

So, if you want to escape, you know, you, you gotta do it and look at other people and not. So I try sometimes to not call my mom for a week and then she’d be like, oh, I haven’t heard you. It’s fine. You know, I had these traditions with family that I just let go of. It’s not because, you know, I mean, yeah. It takes a while for them to adjust, but now they’re like, okay, well that’s Rachel.

she just, you know, that’s her life. And, you know, they kind of eventually turn around anyway. So it is, it is a choice. It is a selection. Yeah. and it’s yeah. And I also see that it, it does, this is where that confidence comes in, because you do have to be able to learn to stand in your power and just say, this is the life I want to lead.

And you know, I love you and I’m still gonna pursue this life that I want to lead. And so you can be supportive or, or not, it’s learning to say no and saying no to somebody else is saying yes to yourself. And trust me, Gloria, when I said. After 20, 30 years, I don’t even know how many years of spending New Year’s Eve, was the tradition of the family, the really extended family and suddenly Rachel was not there.

She was traveling and having to say, no, I can’t be there the very first time. Oh my God. It took me months to rehearse that, you know, saying like, but then I did it. And that’s the thing that, you know, everybody has like the first time is hard, but then you like actually the world doesn’t go. I mean, like, you know, I’m still here, everybody’s still alive.

I mean, it’s just, we it’s, it’s a story again. It’s like, oh my gosh, it’s a big drama, but nobody makes a drama of it, you know? Yeah. And then the next time it’s easier. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. It’s like ripping that band aid off, you know, sometimes it’s, I mean, if you do it slow, it, it actually hurts more sometimes.

And if you just kinda like yank it off and just yeah. Be done with it. So, what are you curious about right now? Oh, what a wonderful question. Oh, that’s what am I curious about? I’m curious. Well, I’m curious about my future. I’m curious how long I’m gonna be doing this or how long I’m gonna be able to do this.

Having said that, now that I hear myself say that it is just my own decision, because if I decide to do this long or not long, and when I decide to stop, I’ll stop, you know, and I’ll find a place. And, because you know what, Gloria, I never know, like a month ahead. I don’t know where I’m gonna be.

You know, I mean, I’ve been living abroad for more than 20 years and I always had a home base. And since last year, even when it was still COVID, I decided to sell everything and travel full time, which means that every month I have to look for an accommodation and look for a place. And, and I’ll never know, you know, if I find something or not, but the moment I worry.

I switch it. I’m like, no, I’ll find something. I’ll find something. And what I do is I, I do house and pet sitting, maybe people are wondering, so I’m just gonna say it. I do house and pet sitting around the world. So I always look for, so that’s why my accommodation is free. And that’s why it’s so, so, so affordable because if you start paying for hotels and, you know, Airbnbs, it’s, it gets really expensive.

So, but yeah, it is always, you know, applying and searching. And so I never know ahead of time. I love that, but it’s a challenge that excites me. So yeah, and, and I would also, you know, tell people, you, you do have to have the right type of personality for that. You do have to be someone who’s willing to be able to…

Because not, not, not have to know every second of the day, you know what what’s gonna happen. And so I, I, you know, I, what do you think about that? That you have to be a little bit, willing to be flexible and to be, be surprised. Maybe sometimes it’s funny that you mention that because here I am and if you’d know me, I’m like, I love knowing like, exactly how my day’s gonna be like really like planning and structure.

And I, I absolutely love that. So having, having you hear, I mean, hearing you say that is like, is that me you’re talking about, but I guess in a way it is, yeah. I mean, I’m, I’m happy to hear that because it’s, I guess I learned that along the way, you know, to be more flexible and to, to be more open minded.

And I think Gloria, to be honest, it’s more that I’ve learned over the past few years through studying the mind that I trust it’s gonna be okay. And I keep telling myself it’s gonna be okay when I started online. Yes. It’s gonna be okay. And cuz here I am, I have zero patience, you know, and I always want to know things ahead of time, but it’s, it’s the trust and the faith.

And it’s a process. It’s a study. It’s a, you know, I study books daily, daily, daily. I study the mindset. I mean a little book club. I study daily, daily, daily, and we remind ourselves like if we lose faith for a little bit, if we lose trust for a little bit. No, no, no. It’s gonna be fine. It’s gonna be fine.

And every time you say that it is gonna be fine, it really is. Yeah. But it’s because we always think like, what if and what if and what if, and boom, it goes wrong. Yeah, absolutely. What, what would you say is the biggest benefit you’ve found from having this type of a lifestyle? Oh, my goodness so much. I, I really feel like I’ve grown.

I’ve learned, I’ve learned to be more flexible. Just what you said. I’ve learned to overcome so many more fears because every day is, you know, again, like. A week ago, I was in Lisbon and in some streets that I got lost and I’m like, oh, where am I? And it’s like, but I just kept telling myself, no, I’ll be fine.

And, and I was fine, but it’s just, I meet amazing people around the world. I. I learn new things all the time. Like literally there’s this, I there’s a fruit tree right behind me that I’d never ate before. Like, you know, just silly things sometimes, you know, but it’s, it, it teaches me a lot. I’m learning Portuguese now while I’m here.

I mean, I always wanna learn, learn some of the local language. yeah. It’s Learning to be flexible with, you know, I don’t know, booking flights, finding things, just, yeah. Also with, with, oh, here’s the thing be more minimalist. That is something that I found that I became, like, I am wearing the same things.

A lot. I don’t buy anything new. I’m just, you know why? the beauty is that, of course, nobody knows me every time I come in a new country. So, so who knows that I’m wearing the same shirt for so long. but at the end of the day with one suitcase. Oh my goodness. Really? You don’t need more. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. And. That’s what my daughter did too. It was like, she, she packed when she decided to do something similar to this, this digital nomad type of life. She, she, everything had to fit into her backpack. So yeah. You know, I mean, she’s got a big one, but still, it was like she had, and for the longest time we were, she was in a place where it was.

You know, it would snow and we’re like, you sure you don’t need to buy boots. And she’s like, no, I don’t want boots because then I have to take them with me. It said, no, I’m fine. so it’s interesting. It’s, it’s funny because I do, I mean, I have to say that I think the age difference, because I’m over 40. I do like some luxury.

I would never travel with a backpack. You know, I would always make sure that I have some really good accommodation and places to stay. And, so yeah, so I definitely, I’m not a backpacker, but, yeah, it’s different it’s and like, and that’s the beauty everybody’s different, you know?

And, yeah. I love that. We have covered, we’ve covered a lot in a very short amount of time, which is quite amazing. Is, is there anything that I should have asked, you know, related to anything, either confidence or the mindset or anything that you think would be important for our listeners to hear?

Well, I think if they’re, if your listeners are still in a job, I mean, what I talk mostly about is how to escape your job and, and live the life of freedom. Right. And so I think. I think I would like to say something about how I really started. and of course you can find that on my YouTube channel as well, but I think it’s important to know that again, it’s small steps, but I would like to give.

Some of these steps, you know, like yeah. If you’re now in a job and it is, you know, we see so much out there like, oh, you know, you, you have to start online and, and just buy this affiliate program or, or buy this webinar or buy this course, or you need a website or you need, you know, buy this, buy that.

And I fell in that trap in the beginning, you know, I was looking like, how can I make money online? And, because that’s what I wanted. I thought if, if I’m stopping with my job, there’s gotta be money coming in. So I was looking for all of that. And I thought, oh, I need to start affiliate. I need to do, but then in the very beginning, who are you?

You’re not, you don’t have a big following, so who’s gonna buy your product, you know? And then, and then, yeah, I mean, I wrote this bestselling books. Is that bringing that much money? No, not at all. It’s peanuts, you know, start an online course, but then what about like, it it’s it’s so it’s very, very overwhelming and I just hated that overwhelm and that’s what I want from my clients is just take away that overwhelm and taking it step by steps.

And so. I did put my feet into the online world slowly without investing without, you know, a website without any of that. But I would say start small and start using the skills that you have. And that’s an important message that I have because still people think, oh, if I start online, I need to learn something new, learn new skill.

Come on guys. We’re. We have a, a life of experience. We have a backpack of skills in us. We have experience. So in my case, I, I speak a lot of languages and I started tutoring languages. So those were my very first toes that I was dipping into the online world to make money online. There’s a ton of websites.

Trust me. I have no degree teaching, no degree languages, not none of that. ELT, SCLC, whatever it’s called, none of that, but I was teaching English, conversational, French Dutch. And so, then I started, cuz I, I love traveling and I, and I studied cultural differences. I started tutoring in cultural differences and I actually still give webinars in that.

So what I’m saying is I use my own experience, no investment, zero technical skills, zero money, but I started going into that online world. Then I was writing my book all while I was still in that job. Right. So I want, I want people to know like, look while you’re still in your job, explore things, take actions, try out things.

And then now I’m no longer teaching languages, but I tried all of that and I learned what I liked, what I didn’t like and I, and I, and I kind of tweaked along the way. So. The thing is Glori. That also what we learn when we start digging into the, the searches on Google and online is that it’s like, oh, you need one niche and you need this and you need this one thing.

And, and, and I would say, no, I would say, try out different things. Take action. See what works and tweak along the way, because it’s, it’s not, it’s never gonna be set in stone. One thing. You know, because then some people, I find it like, oh my God, they’re investing in all these products or investing in launching something big and then it’s flops and then you have nothing.

So I I’m like, I’m all for like no investment, no money. Just try and use your own skills and expertise and then, you know, try it out. And then, and you can tweak along the way. It’s not forever. You know, we change, we grow, we learn. Absolutely. Yeah, I I’ve been, I was having this discussion with a client of mine this week as well.

And because she’s kind of in that same boat, trying to figure out what she wants to do. And I’m like, yeah, lean into what you know, and, and as long as you know more than your clients, you’re gonna be able to help them. And, and I also love how you said you didn’t, you know, this feeling that you have to have a website.

I started my business as an SEO copywriter. So writing copy for businesses for their websites. And you didn’t have a website? Yeah. It took… I got my first, yeah. I didn’t have a website until about maybe six months. Yeah. after, after I did it, because I, you know, I had to get clear really on, on who I was serving and I had to get some experience under my belt.

Yeah. And so you don’t have to have all these wonderful tools. Exactly. But yeah. I love your advice. I think it’s spot on. Thank you so much for doing that. For those of, our listeners and our viewers on YouTube, if they wanna know more about you and, and wanna be able to maybe check out your, you know, Ted talks and things, what’s, where’s the best place for people to learn more about you.

the best place is if you can spell my name, Rachel Smets, S M E T S. You can find me on YouTube. You can find my website, Rachelsmets.com. I think, and below every video on YouTube, there’s a ton of resources and, and, you know, free stuff and other links to connect on LinkedIn, Facebook, but everything is really Rachel Smets.

So, and I’m happy to share more and answer questions and. Really happy to. So thank you so much, Gloria. Well, thank you for taking time out of your Saturday, to be with us and in this beautiful location. I’m very jealous. It looks gorgeous. I don’t mind sitting here. I know, I can tell. So thank you so much for being with us and.

And thank all of you. Who’ve been watching and listening. I really do appreciate you as well. And, if you liked this episode and got some value out of it, I hope that you will share it with a friend and, and, you know, tell them that you’ve been listening and watching our, our show as well. So I appreciate that. And until next time as always, I encourage you to go out and Live fully. Love deeply and engage authentically.

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