Intro (00:00:01) - Hi, and welcome to the Scenic Root Podcast. This is the show for building a successful and sustainable business on your terms. My name is Jen, and I'm a rebranding sociologist with a soft spot for Ruber Pie. Each week I'll strive to expand your branding, business expertise, and mindset capacity. I'm so excited you're here. And now, let's get into today's episode,
Jennifer Walter (00:00:24) - Georgia St John-Smith is the founder and c e O of Sancti Retreats. Georgia is a highly-rated motivational speaker, qualified mindset coach at group facilitator who shares her unique seven-step balance method with the world. She works with firm thinking leaders who are ready to say goodbye to burnout, and also are ready to dig the dress that is woven through society and are ready to embrace a new way of working at Achieves Balance and Success. Georgia, welcome to the CD Group podcast. I'm so excited you're here.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:00:56) - Hello. Thank you so much for helping me.
Jennifer Walter (00:00:59) - I'm sure this is gonna be a really, a really great conversation, or we're really gonna go deep into what it takes to kinda trust yourself and to actually like, take the plunge. And I'm sure it's gotta be super valuable for anyone who is kinda like, has a decision, kind of like pushing in front of them where they're like, no, I'm not really sure. Doing pros and con lists, or if you're still in corporate and thinking of starting your own business, this episode's also gonna be super, super valuable. So Georgia, for anyone who doesn't know you yet, like give us some idea of who you are. Like walk us through your story. What were your like big crossroads and pivotal moments?
Georgia St John-Smith (00:01:45) - Yeah, so I am the sort of person who I've always been a dreamer
Jennifer Walter (00:01:52) - Head in the clouds type dreamer or,
Georgia St John-Smith (00:01:55) - Um, you know what, some people, some people can say that. And I think it's really interesting actually, the way that we look, the way that society looks at Dreamer. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and it's actually like head in the cloud mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> puts it in a way as like, oh, don't be a dreamer. You are not on planet earth if you have big dreams. Whereas actually, if you look at anyone who's ever done anything significant with their life, like they've always been called crazy. They've always been called, you know, how dare you create electric? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> cars, they said to, yeah, now look like. And so, yeah, I've always just admired dreamers. I've been a dreamer myself. And so I guess that's helped me to be a little bit optimistic about life. Um mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I went to university and went straight into the corporate world just because I thought that's what I was supposed to do. Like, I followed the narrative of like, go to school, get good grade. Yeah. Go to university, get a good degree.
Jennifer Walter (00:02:52) - Was it also parents, like your parents were also like, oh, you should do something smart, you go get a good degree and go work in corporate?
Georgia St John-Smith (00:03:01) - Yeah, yeah. Or it, although actually, to be honest, my parents were all for like, they're both business owners. Yeah. So they were all for like, you know, start a business. But yeah, they did say, you know, start in a job first so that you know what you're doing.
Jennifer Walter (00:03:15) - Yeah. Like do is smart. Yeah.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:03:17) - Which in hindsight, I wouldn't do that again, but <laugh>.
Jennifer Walter (00:03:22) - So you would skip, what, what would, what would you skip? Would you skip school or would you skip? Um, starting out in corporate,
Georgia St John-Smith (00:03:29) - I would skip starting out in corporate. Hmm. I honestly, if I could go all over again, I'd start my business during university. Hmm. However, if I would've done that, I probably wouldn't be do well. I definitely wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now because long story short, I got really burnt out and decided I wanted to help the corporate world not create, not be structured in a way that burns people out and treats people like machines. So my thing is like, look after yourself, take a step back, retreat back, go somewhere new, go to a new environment and slow the heck down. And that wouldn't be my whole thing if I hadn't of experienced that. Yeah. So,
Jennifer Walter (00:04:11) - Yeah. That is so true, right? Like, all our stories, good or bad shape who we are and shape what we do. And I mean, especially the whole like changing scenery, I mean, you've done that quite a bit. <laugh>, do you wanna tell us some tidbits about that?
Georgia St John-Smith (00:04:28) - Yeah, so I mean, when I was in my corporate role and I was in like, whatever, what a lot of people would say is like a dream role, a dream opportunity. And I was earning a lot of money, but I was like, I have no time. Like my time is the company's time. Like, I don't have time to spend this money that I'm making or do what I want to do. And it was the freedom aspect that really got to me. Um, and I would just be scrolling on Instagram and I got into the world of yoga and I would see these yogis, like these girls living in Bali, and I'd be there and all these beautiful places and be like, how do they do that?
Jennifer Walter (00:05:09) - What am I doing here? <laugh>,
Georgia St John-Smith (00:05:12) - I was at my desk scrolling on, I was like, no, really? Like, this looks like a really good life. And I think sometimes people get envious of those things, but for me it was just in inspiration. Like, I was like, I wanna be like,
Jennifer Walter (00:05:25) - What was possible and not just like, oh, I like, yeah, I get that.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:05:29) - Yeah. That was a dream of mine for a while before anything happened, but it was just after the pandemic when I had started my business already. I had that, I guess, freedom to be able to move that I did, I took the leap and I moved my whole life to iha.
Jennifer Walter (00:05:48) - Yeah. So kind of like, walk us through the, the bits of like, you were in corporate, uh, you were scrolling all these yogi images of I pray love retreats in Bali and ik everywhere. And how did you end up going to ibida yourself? Like what were kind of like your thoughts or your steps or your, your kind of like, mental chatter from Yeah. Okay. I wanna leave corporate, I'm doom scrolling, I wanna leave corporate, holy fuck, I'm actually doing it.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:06:24) - Mm-hmm. Honestly, like this is a thing. People think, oh, you know, how, how did that happen with it an accident? Are you lucky? Like, no, it was very strategic <laugh>. I was like, right, this is my, this is my plan and I'm gonna do it. So <laugh>, like, honestly, an amazing thing that started me off was listening to podcasts because I done to a podcast, it's called Creative Rebels, actually. Really good. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Jennifer Walter (00:06:50) - Yeah, I know. Yeah.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:06:52) - You know it mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Oh, cool. Yeah. And they honestly, like, I just was listening to it and I was like, these people are giving me strategies on how to leave my job, basically. And so I used those strategies. I started off with a self-discovery process of, okay, what do I really enjoy? Took myself back through that. I, I did a lot of discovery work on what I used to like in my childhood and what I'm passionate about so that I could get some direction mm-hmm. <affirmative> and that took me towards fashion. So I was working my job and then at night I would go home and I would sketch and I was sketching handbags because I wanted to create a luxury fashion brand that was sustainable. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Cause I thought, okay, what do I like fashion? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, what do I care about sustainability? Yeah.
Jennifer Walter (00:07:45) - How can I combine those two?
Georgia St John-Smith (00:07:47) - Yeah. And I was doing that and I did that for a while. Like I had, look, I found the sketchbook the other day. I did that for a long time and it was, I turned my free time into something that was getting me towards my goal. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> into something was turning me, turning my dreams into a reality. And then it got to the point where I felt like I was kind of forcing the fashion stuff. I was like, oh, do I love it that much to enter the fashion industry? Like, is that industry I really wanna be in? And there was so much that I looked around and didn't like about the fashion industry. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, how they treat their models, how they treat people in general, the sustainability aspect. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> documentary called The True Cost, which really opened my
Jennifer Walter (00:08:39) - Is brutal. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
Georgia St John-Smith (00:08:40) - Like how even sustainable business, it's like you're putting more products into as well. And I was like, I don't wanna do that. Like, I don't wanna churn out handbags, <laugh>, so mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Then I was like, okay, I'll just leave it. And I was getting into yoga at the time and my friend said, okay, there's, um, there's this, this class is on, it's in London, it's in like a sky view play and it combines yoga with boing and dance. And I was like, oh, this sounds fun. They were like, okay, we'll go. And then I went, I loved it. And they said they've got training course coming up to train in this fitness class mm-hmm. <affirmative> like, okay, I'm gonna do that. And so I trained in Boga, it's full. And I started just entering this world of creative income and mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like doing it on the side of my job, like my work loved it because they were like, yeah, like you can do these classes at work if you want.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:09:45) - And it just worked really, really well just to introduce me to the idea that I could create some mm-hmm. <affirmative> and get, and then I got really into yoga so much so that I was like, okay, I'm gonna do this. And I, I planned out in this time, I was like, okay, what, this is what I'm passionate about. I'm really burnt out and what is helping me? Yoga is really helping them. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I wanna know more about this, and then I wanna bring it to the corporate world. Mm-hmm. Because that was, that was a real problem that I was solving for myself and that I wanted to solve for everyone, and I still do mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So it took me a while, I saved up a lot of my income to create myself like a redundancy package. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I knew that like for a solid six months I'd have income mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, it took me a while. Like I procrastinated, I wasn't doing it, but then finally I did it and I booked my yoga training course and I quit my job at the same time.
Jennifer Walter (00:10:48) - Oh, I, I I love this. Okay. I love so many things about this, about your story. A okay, let's unravel the bit where you're like, I'm super passionate about sketch, about fashion and sketching. And the moment you realize like, I love this, I still love this, but it's not, I'm not passionate enough to go pursue this. Like, I feel this is such a big permission slip to give yourself to kind of like, I still love this. Mm-hmm. But something is not clicking and it's not what I want to do as a profession. And like your business e even if it feels fun and light, it's still like a profession. It's still what you do. Right. And you're still allowed to have hobbies that don't bring in income if you're just doing something for the sake of it. So I really like that you said like, Hey, I did that until I realized it's actually not enough to bring me into action and actually like, go out and do things. And the other part is that you were really Yeah. Strategic and like, okay, how much money do I need? How much do I need to save up to kind of like gain the liberty of starting afresh without immediate financial pressure? Which again, also is a privilege. Not everyone has that, but it just allows you to approach decisions with a much more long-term focus as when you're like, oh, at this needs to make money. This needs to make money. So I, yeah, this is like super smart <laugh> super smart of you.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:12:29) - I got that from like, just diving in and like, honestly, every single day driving to work, I listened to a podcast, driving home from work, I listening to a podcast, driving to meetings, I was listening to a podcast and just educating myself and other people who'd done this sort of thing before. Yeah. What they've done, how they've done it. And I promised myself to implement it cuz I wasn't happy with what I had. Right. Yeah. And like my life, I was like, this isn't me. I'm not in this, I need to change it, think I can to change it.
Jennifer Walter (00:13:03) - Yeah. This is it. Right. And that's where a lot of people stop, right? It's, there's so much knowledge, there's so much out there. A lot of it is bullshit, but there's also so much wisdom and truth out there that is really able to transform people's lives. But the thing, you gotta find the one podcast, the one book, the one blog, whatever it is that puts you into action mode and it's gonna be different for, for everyone. What is kinda like the one that kinda like makes you like, oh, I get it now. I now go and implement, I now go do and go do the thing instead of just keep on listening to episodes and episodes of podcasts, unless it's this one, then you just keep on listening. But <laugh>, but it's like, really, you gotta, at one point you got, you've done all the planning, you got all the knowledge, you actually have to go out and do shit. And you said one day after listening to podcasts on your commutes and all, you booked a retreat, you quit your job. Was there kinda like a defining moment where you're like, switch flipped, here's my resignation, or what was going on? George, at the time,
Georgia St John-Smith (00:14:31) - There were a few defining moments, but honestly it was a buildup. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it was hon honestly, like I was actually quite happy in my job. Um, I wasn't as aware until it started getting bad mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, the company was growing. I was part of really the team that, that made the company go from a small company to a medium size company. And so it was a big, like, I had quite an influential role on mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, I knew I was making them a lot of money and the vibe fell off. I wasn't getting on with how I was being treated as an employee. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, especially given I knew how valuable I was. Mm-hmm. It was like, come on man. Like, yeah.
Jennifer Walter (00:15:17) - Like, no,
Georgia St John-Smith (00:15:18) - You are changing my pay. Like, and I'm like, all I've ever done is like put my heart and soul into this mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it just wasn't, it wasn't aligned and yeah.
Jennifer Walter (00:15:28) - There was no reciprocity in the, in it.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:15:30) - Yeah. There started to be moments as well like that I'd experienced in the corporate world that I didn't like. Especially as like, just the, just as a woman, I think as well being spoken to derogatory is, is quite normal in corporate. Oh
Jennifer Walter (00:15:46) - God. Yeah. I was like, please dear Lord, there gotta be a story because Right. Like, you're like a blonde attractive woman. <laugh>, there gotta be like these stories where I'm like, I mean, I remember my corporate days, I was like, seriously, like just bugger off. Right? Like, there were these like, yeah, like you're like a little doll or it's just like, oh one. I don't know, in a, like in a lit, liberal translated way of like, oh, once you've grown up, you know, how, how we do things in corporate. It's like, well, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry to hear you also had, um, like similar experiences in corporate.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:16:29) - I think it, um, it's just very interesting. I have a lot more compassion now now that I know from doing the deep inner work on myself that I have done and making personal development and coaching and all of the tools that I've experienced in healing. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I know that hurt people. Hurt people. Yes. And so I know that those men who were in powerful positions in the corporate world that I'd experienced were making my life uncomfortable because there was something very uncomfortable about their life. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I just triggered that for them. I was just a person that they Yeah. Or one of many that they may have taken that out on or whatever you wanna say. Yeah.
Jennifer Walter (00:17:18) - And it's nothing personal per se.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:17:20) - Yeah. And that's it. And I, and there was definitely standout moments where it felt personal and it was designed to, to feel personal and mm. There was an attack. Uh, but having said that, I, now, I'm in a place where I don't blame anyone who acts like that. So anyone in a powerful role or not who act like that, I don't actually blame them. I think Okay. What has happened to them? What experiences have they had that have taught Yeah. That they need to do that. Yeah. You know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but yeah, having experienced that in corporate, it made me, it made me wanna get out first of all, but it also makes me want to change that narrative and change that script mm-hmm. <affirmative> and ultimately if people who have been hurt are then hurting people, and this is happening in corporate, like we are not machines. Yeah. We're human. If, if there's this slam culture and this culture of like hardnosed, cutthroat all of this in business still today, like right now mm-hmm. <affirmative>, then there's a reason behind that. And if I can be a part of like, changing that narrative behind that mm-hmm. <affirmative> and working with the top people to make that switch, then it'll be a positive trickle down effect. Yeah.
Jennifer Walter (00:18:46) - Absolutely. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yes. I love this. So there were a couple of defining moments that all kind of like piled up. I always think of, like I always say of like, okay, if you take a leap into the unknown, you don't know what's gonna happen, but it's also doesn't really matter because you know yourself and you trust yourself enough to know I wanna deal with whatever is coming my way. So I I, I dunno, I it's maybe we can say the bigger the leap, the, the more self-trust you got. I don't know, maybe that's a hypothesis. So what do you, what would you say are you, were you're always someone who put a lot of trust in yourself or was this something you also like honed in on during all the work you did? Or how, how you see that?
Georgia St John-Smith (00:19:36) - Yeah, that's a really interesting one and it's, I would say I definitely had that trust in myself when I made the leap to quit mm-hmm. <affirmative> and thing, you have to mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you have something like mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you don't just do it, you have to have trust in yourself to do that. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But having now, but then like I feel like right now, like that was a low risk thing for me to do. Like to quit my job and start a business. Cuz ultimately, like I had a skillset that I knew would be re employable. Yeah. So like it was actually quite, in my opinion, low risk mm-hmm. <affirmative> compared to, to the other things that I've done now and I do today that are higher risk. And I think that is a result of Yeah. 100% cultivating mm-hmm. <affirmative> a strong, a sense of trust in self. And really for me it's when I know I'm in tune with my intuition mm-hmm. <affirmative> and my gut feeling and I trust so, so much. Like I just know that it, it'll be fine. Mm. When you do scary things, like the more you do scary things, you get
Jennifer Walter (00:20:44) - You, you're building a muscle. Yeah. Oh, I love this. Okay. So I mean that was a perfect segue into what, what are the big leaps you're doing now that feel scarier than leaving corporate at the time?
Georgia St John-Smith (00:20:58) - Um, so I've taken some quite big leaps very recently and learned a lot in the past year because for me now, I mean, I, I took that leap. I started working for myself and doing all this and then I was like, okay, my vision really is to, is to build a business mm-hmm. <affirmative> that is scalable. Yeah. And so I turned that into last year, it was when I was like, right, this is a retreats business. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I turned it into a business and um, started to create plans to scale that. Cause I'd been running retreats and I was like, okay, this is great, this is fun. But like, there is no reliable retreat company out there, especially none that actually serve corporates and serve CEOs and lead.
Jennifer Walter (00:21:46) - Okay. So more focused on individuals to, I dunno, do a yoga retreat as a vacation sort of, and then go back. But not kind of like as a business team building focus, but really actually kind of like as a c level app, as an approach to kinda like shift sea level's perspective through a yoga retreat. Am I getting this right?
Georgia St John-Smith (00:22:09) - Yeah. So first of all, if the leaders of a business or the founder or even like a startup, you know, if they're, if they're starting right, that is bloody amazing that they're gonna be incredible. Yeah. But if they can then have these shifts in perspective mm-hmm. <affirmative> that show that they can have an even more profitable and even more successful business Yes. If they put people first Yes. If they look after wellbeing, if they take time off to take perspective. Because without faith you can't have innovation. You can't have faith. No.
Jennifer Walter (00:22:48) - Yeah. You're just on repeat of what you're doing every day. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> your routines little invention are com are coming from that. Yeah.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:22:58) - So it's bold and the corporate world probably isn't quite ready for it yet, but they need it. So, or
Jennifer Walter (00:23:06) - I probably some industries more than others, and I mean, they're bigger companies who are doing it quite well. And I mean it's really, I feel, I mean I, my background is in like mechanical engineer, like I worked in firm mechanical engineering company, so they were really far away <laugh> from any of all of that. But yeah, maybe some industries are definitely pushing ahead there. Yeah. Okay. So what was kind of like the one leap that took the most, shall we say, self-trust or the most believe in yourself to actually do it, to actually decide the way it decided?
Georgia St John-Smith (00:23:50) - So last year I had a deal with an investor mm-hmm. <affirmative> and it was worth around 4 million. And I turned it down and I said no. And there was a massive buildup before, um, I'd found this property that was perfect for hosting retreat that hosted mm-hmm. <affirmative> there before, um, it was for sale. We put an offer in, there was investment ready to go to support the business, to, to start my own retreat center, which is still my biggest goal, but something within me during that process, even though money was there ready for me
Jennifer Walter (00:24:36) - Yeah.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:24:37) - That I could only ever have dreamed of to support my dream and my business mm-hmm. <affirmative>, there was something in me saying, no, no, this isn't it. Don't do it, you'll regret it. And it annoyed me. I was like, no, no. In my meditation, like, tell me it's right. Tell me
Jennifer Walter (00:24:57) - <laugh>. Okay. I'm trying to, uh, influence my unconscious in agreeing with my, with my consciousness <laugh>.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:25:03) - Yeah. Um, and what I was getting, it was just solid. No. And yeah. Very interesting. I see you have a Rebecca Campbell card deck.
Jennifer Walter (00:25:12) - Yeah, I have both. I have to star seat and work your light.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:25:16) - Yeah. So I had the work your light deck and I was like, okay, just tell me <laugh> no. Yeah,
Jennifer Walter (00:25:23) - Yeah. And then they actually have a note card. Yeah.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:25:26) - Yeah. And that was the card that came out and it kept coming out. No.
Jennifer Walter (00:25:30) - Wow. Okay. Mm-hmm.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:25:32) - Trust the niel, like, there's something wrong. And I was like, journaling about it and every single thing was
Jennifer Walter (00:25:41) - Yeah. Or you're like, oh no, let's just try another card deck to see what's going on, <laugh>. Yeah.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:25:47) - And just in general, like I knew something was off and then mm-hmm. <affirmative>, something actually happened that really confirmed that for me mm-hmm. <affirmative> at end, I turned it down. And people, a lot of people I think I thought would, you know, they were saying just take the money, like Yeah.
Jennifer Walter (00:26:04) - Deal with the rest later or whatever. Yeah.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:26:06) - But then, yeah. When I actually shared my story about that, a lot of people who were experienced founders and CEOs were like, you did well turning that down because it would've caused you such headache. So actually afterwards, after I'd said no, after I've done the hard thing and the scary thing mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that was when I realized, okay, I'm, it's definitely the right thing to do. But at the time I felt sick, like saying I can't, I can't accept it. Yeah. Like, I felt really thick <laugh>.
Jennifer Walter (00:26:36) - Yeah. I mean this is, here it is to ticket to what I want to do with my business. Mm-hmm. And you're saying now something's off listening to your intuition and let it guide you. Although Yeah. You're physically feeling sick almost, right. Because you're like, no, I actually No. And still doing it. This is really, really strong.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:27:03) - Yeah. And I think since I've done that, that has like leveled up my ability to, to keep mm-hmm. <affirmative> Yes. Decisions. Cause I'm like, well I turned around up down all that money and that beautiful retreat center Yeah. Thing <laugh> like, and it actually like, has been really positive since, and I noticed myself getting a little bit comfortable, so I'm now, and I've be there and it honestly, it was so challenging to me mm-hmm. <affirmative>, unless you've moved your life to another country, like it's hard to understand what it, what it's like, especially when you're doing, it was very challenging. I was doing it all actually just fresh out of a breakup. So I'm heartbroken moving out of my old flat with my eggs. I'm just like crying all and I'm just taking everything to my breather, like trusting that everything is gonna be fine.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:27:57) - And now I'm at a point where I'm like so happy and I be there. Like I have my community, I have my home, I have friends, my work is great here. And I was driving along, like looking at the hill, so grateful and then I was like, I'm too comfortable here right now, so I've gotta change that <laugh>. And so I book myself. Yeah. I book myself a, a ticket to Mexico City and I'm just gonna go there and see what happens. Like, I have no plan just other than to just be, be there, work there, maybe go to, to South America, Costa Rica, those areas mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, because I know that by changing my environment I will grow. And by taking risks I will grow. And good things always come from that. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. So I'm like making myself practice what I preach. I think that's really important.
Jennifer Walter (00:28:49) - Oh, okay. So when are you, um, starting out in me from Mexico?
Georgia St John-Smith (00:28:54) - Uh, I fly in 11 days.
Jennifer Walter (00:28:59) - Oh my god, this is so exciting.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:29:01) - <laugh>. I'm not moving though. I'm just going for like five minutes.
Jennifer Walter (00:29:04) - Yeah, okay. Okay.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:29:06) - Yeah, because I've never done solo traveling that way before. Like I remember. Okay. Yeah. I drove, I drove from London to IB there with all my things in the back of my car, which was like a big solo travel experience.
Jennifer Walter (00:29:19) - Yeah, that's amazing. I love a good road trip.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:29:22) - Yeah. And it was just the first time I'd ever done solo travel, but now I feel so comfortable with Europe that I was like, I need to go somewhere that's so new and that I know I'm like scared, like mm-hmm. <affirmative> comfortable to go to. So. Mm.
Jennifer Walter (00:29:37) - Yeah. And I mean there's this, I dunno, I feel like all some of my best stories are come from like solo travels. I dunno. I feel they're always Yeah. Making such good stories. Like it's because you're just open and you're like, I don't know, no plans just kind of like see what's coming and kind of like, let yourself be blown in two different directions. And I don't know, I always felt that were really great stories. Yeah.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:30:01) - Where's your favorite place that you went to for traveling?
Jennifer Walter (00:30:05) - Uh, solo traveling. Ooh, I gotta say Japan.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:30:10) - Ooh.
Jennifer Walter (00:30:10) - Mm. Because it was just so, ugh. I mean the culture and the food, it was everything. It was like amazing. Um, and it was just like a super comfortable travel experience.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:30:26) - Oh.
Jennifer Walter (00:30:26) - It was just really like, you could go anywhere by train. They had these, they have these like really cool like luggage services. Like this is a simple, with a black hat and they, you could just drop, you can at the hotel. You just tell them this back has to go, I don't know, to Tokyo and to this hotel and they can't pick it up and deliver it to that hotel. And you don't have to like schlep your big luggage around everywhere. It's like amazing. I'm like, ah, got it. Like, just like all these kind of things where I'm like, I love it here. <laugh>.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:31:03) - That's amazing. Yeah. That's like, I'm not gonna get that in in South America
Jennifer Walter (00:31:08) - Probably. I know. Probably not <laugh>, but Yeah. I mean, yeah. Oh, that makes me wanna go. My
Georgia St John-Smith (00:31:17) - Best friend actually, she's going in March.
Jennifer Walter (00:31:20) - Oh,
Georgia St John-Smith (00:31:20) - Is she on her own? Yeah. So I'll tell her that you went
Jennifer Walter (00:31:23) - Yeah, yeah. Tell her to, to look for that black cat thingy because that's really, I was really a game changer. <laugh>. And like, I didn't know about that because I, I always do, I do some things when I travel. Some we're getting slightly off topic, but anyway, that's fine. When I travel, I do some prep work. Like, so I mean some things require some planning ahead and, but I didn't really plan all and much how to get from A to B. And I remember I was on the ENT on the fast bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto. It was almost the only, like, me and all the other tourists had these massive suitcases and everyone else just had like no suitcase. And I'm like, people gotta have suitcases. What is going on? And then I met, um, I met someone, um, at a cafe where I went the couple of times and then I just, I dunno, I just asked her like, what's going on? Where is the luggage? Like, do Japanese people all just have like teeny tiny things? They put in teeny tiny suitcases and she's like, no, we have that, whatever it's name was service. And I'm like, oh, that is super smart <laugh>.
Jennifer Walter (00:32:39) - So yeah. I was like, ah, okay. So, so way back from Kyoto to Tokyo. I was, I was booking that tr luggage transportation service too. Cause I'm like, and then it was so comfortable you were just like, with your teeny tiny back, you were just there like, oh yes, I know how to travel in Japan.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:32:59) - It's a good fit. And you know what? I don't think it is off topic because that's something that like, honestly, we're
Jennifer Walter (00:33:05) - On the scenic route. Nothing is ever off topic.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:33:07) - And it's just been like travel and like changing your environment is something that's been so pivotal like in every move that I've made. Like yeah. If I can change my environment, like something good happens from it. Like being able to broaden your mind just by changing your location is
Jennifer Walter (00:33:25) - Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:33:26) - Like I even, cause I'm quite geeky on this sort of stuff, I even did some research and there's so much research to show that like changing your environment actually changes the neurons in your brain. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> your brain actually create more neurons if you're in a new environment than you were yesterday. Yeah. And so you're actually, of course, inspiration's gonna hit when you go for a walk. Yeah. You know, of course that's gonna happen. Yeah, of
Jennifer Walter (00:33:51) - Course. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:33:53) - Yes.
Jennifer Walter (00:33:54) - Like traveling to Mexico or to Japan is one way of doing it. But you can also, like next time you go, you go to local shop, maybe you always go right and then maybe you turn left and do a little detour, a little silly group to the shop. Like just small things to kind of like break the frog are incredibly helpful to kind of like s your, in your brain be like, oh, ooh, something new is going on. I gotta pay attention. <laugh>.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:34:21) - Yeah.
Jennifer Walter (00:34:22) - So I'm kinda like, I thought, like you mentioned, you kinda like the geeky bit. That brings me to, um, something that you, um, have for our listeners to share is, um, your decision making framework. Do you wanna tell us a bit about it? Because I, I love it. I'm like, yes, gotta run that next time I go, <laugh> gotta add that to my tools of how, how should I make this decision?
Georgia St John-Smith (00:34:46) - Yeah. Well, so this is it. And it was inspired by these big decisions that I've made mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but you can actually use them in like smaller decision making throughout your life, like anything mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it does is it's really created to make sure that your decisions are allowing you to grow and go towards a direction that you want to go. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, so yeah, it's, it's essentially a framework where, you know how in magazines you could see those like little yes, no.
Jennifer Walter (00:35:17) - Yeah, yeah. These flow charts, fingers.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:35:18) - Yeah. It's like, it's a flow chart. So it's either saying, go for it or maybe don't do that and, and you can choose. And so I, yeah, I would say just like print it out and have it by your got some
Jennifer Walter (00:35:31) - Or like print it out in like a postcard, laminated and have it in your purse <laugh>
Georgia St John-Smith (00:35:35) - To, but like, just having it out like, and just look at it and refer to it. Like, you'd be surprised how many times, like in daily life you're like, what do I do about that? And then you can look at it and, you know, and it's a way to build up trust with yourself as well.
Jennifer Walter (00:35:52) - Yeah. And to like, especially if you're new and really leaning on intuition, it can help you guide like guide like guide yourself, right? Like, you have prompts and you're like, oh, okay. Prompt listening in, tuning in. Oh, actually, yeah, no. Okay. Do you wanna know what One of my favorite tools to make a decision is I flip a coin, but here's a twist I say well head is I do it. Tales is I don't do it, then I flip it and then I see what's coming up. If it's like the tales, I'm not gonna do it and I feel relieved or disappointed I know what to do. Mm. That's one of my favorite tools. But yeah, it's always kinda like flip a corner, feel silly, but just that action that you have of, of like the decision that has been made for you. That's the cue.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:36:47) - Yeah. I really like that. I've done, I've done a similar thing. Another thing I love to do is, um, pick a card. Yeah. Good. Really good decision making.
Jennifer Walter (00:36:56) - Like classic. Yeah. What do
Georgia St John-Smith (00:36:58) - I do? What do I do? <laugh>
Jennifer Walter (00:36:59) - Classic. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Just kind of like give, give you an idea of what is coming. Yes. And pull a card is a classic, never underestimated classic.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:37:09) - Hmm. Mm-hmm. And this is the thing I think like, I don't understand why we feel like all our decisions should be made by other people so much. Like, you are the one that knows like, we are more intelligent than, than we know. And when we are constantly asking other people's advice and asking what other people think we should do, like honestly notice that that's something that I keep practicing now is like, am I like, am I asking what someone else would do and doing what they do because I can't make my own decision. Mm-hmm. So yeah, there can be value, there can be value in asking what other people have done and gathering up your evidence and so on. But even though don't take that as gospel, like think about what you do. You know, I think too many people spend their lives like making decisions based on what the room is saying, based on what they know.
Jennifer Walter (00:38:07) - Yeah. Uh, this is generally such good advice in the online business world as well. I think like whatever guru you listen to, or uh, Instagram famous business coach, you listen to whatever, like listen to them, listen what they, what they learn what they teach, but never, it's, it's not gospel. I love, I love that. And it worked for them. It was their story. It was their way of doing things. And I love that you said like, be honest with yourself and look at where, what, what is your intention? Is your intention of like, oh, I'm curious how this, how this person did it just like story. Like, oh, I'm curious. Like how did I do that? That sounds cool. Or like, oh, I hired this coach so she can tell me what I should do. It's most likely not gonna work ever. Yeah. Ooh, okay. Oh God, I feel there's, yeah. I mean that was, that was so much. Um, Ooh, I'm still marinating in that. Like it's really just trust yourself enough to know everything will be all right. That you got this and be open to learn along the way. Right. Like it's, it sounds so simple, <laugh> and we can be really hard.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:39:28) - Yeah. It can be challenging of course. But then where's the fun in that? Yeah,
Jennifer Walter (00:39:32) - Exactly. Exactly. Where's the fun in dad?
Georgia St John-Smith (00:39:35) - I think like, it comes easier, this whole trusting in yourself thing. If you're giving yourself the space and the time each day Yes. Cultivate that, you know, like, yeah. Learn how to meditate. Go take your class. Go do something that you haven't done before. Yeah. Like try new things. Create time for you, do things you enjoy whatever it is you enjoy. Yeah. You have the space to trust yourself.
Jennifer Walter (00:39:58) - Yes. Agreed. That's, yeah, that's a very lovely word to, to end it because this is really true. Trust. Try new thing. If we can leave you with one message, try new things. Georgia, where can people find you online, where you hang out? So can, so people can reach out.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:40:18) - Um, so the main ways to find me is through my business, which just Sancti, which is S A N C T I. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which, uh, that's the easiest way to find me. It's just Google LinkedIn retreat or my name Georgia St. John Smith on LinkedIn, on Instagram. It's the same and yeah, YouTube as well.
Jennifer Walter (00:40:41) - Oh, very good. They're gonna link them all, uh, in the show notes so you can have a look and go hang out with Georgia online and also download the decision making framework. And before I let you go, one last question. What book are you currently reading? Georgia?
Georgia St John-Smith (00:40:57) - Oh, I'm currently reading for <laugh>
Jennifer Walter (00:41:02) - Hit Me
Georgia St John-Smith (00:41:03) - <laugh>. Um, I'm Reading Hero, which is by Rhonda, but who wrote The Secret?
Jennifer Walter (00:41:10) - Yeah. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Okay.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:41:11) - I dunno how to say her name. Um, yeah, neither. But, um, it's got the word Fucking it <laugh>. I'm not giving a Fuck, but Oh
Jennifer Walter (00:41:23) - Yeah, that's, that's, that's a goodie.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:41:26) - Yeah. So they're my, they're my two main ones. Um, I can't off the top of my head, remember the other two that
Jennifer Walter (00:41:32) - I'm reading. That's fine. That's fine. I'm saying uncomfortable right now. I'm like, oh, Jesus. Like what a what like the one, just the recent one I opened. Yeah.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:41:41) - Hero and the Subtle Art of Not Giving a book.
Jennifer Walter (00:41:44) - Yes. The su that's a good one.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:41:47) - I recently read The Alchemist as well, which was amazing.
Jennifer Walter (00:41:50) - We're gonna add all of those to the C group, book list, book recommendations, site. So have a look. Um, well, Georgia, thank you so much for spending time with us here in the Cgroup podcast. It was an absolute joy.
Georgia St John-Smith (00:42:04) - You're welcome. And thank you for having me.
Intro (00:42:07) - Thank you so much for listening to the C Group podcast. I hope you've enjoyed today's episode and that you can take something from it that feels bright to you. I'd be so grateful if you could share the Cini Group podcast with others. As always, you can head over to cini group podcast.com to check out all links and resources from today's episode. Oh. And while you're there, don't forget to download my free email course Intuitive branding invitation to teach you how you can successfully tune into your own brand frequency and rediscover your brand's unique gifts, strength and talents. So thanks again. Talk soon.