If you do something completely out of the ordinary, you don't know where it's going to take you. And for me, from that experience, I just started noticing more and more opportunities and then that's when everything started to come my way. It was one of those moments where I did wake up one day and I thought, no, this isn't me. I don't want to live for the materialistic liabilities. I want to live for the adventures and the experiences.
Welcome to the Sees the Yay Podcast. Busy and happy are not the same thing. We too rarely question what makes the heart seeing. We work, then we rest, but rarely we play and often don't realize there's more than one way. So this is a platform to hear and explore the stories of those who found lives They adore, the.
Good, bad and ugly.
The best and worst day will bear all the facets of seizing your yay. I'm Sarah Davidson or a spoonful of Sarah, a lawyer turned entrepreneur who swapped the suits and heels to co found matcha Maiden and matcham Milk bar Cza is a series of conversations on finding a life you love and exploring the self doubt, challenge, joy.
And fulfillment along the way.
Sometimes I regret using certain phrases so much, because when I really want to hammer something home, I've usually already overdone it. So, for example, I really wanted to emphasize what an incredible breath of fresh air today's guest is, but I've probably said that many times before, So thank goodness, you're about to hear from her yourself. As I know you'll agree, she's truly one in a billion. If anyone's Parthia could be said to truly veer off in totally
unexpected directions at every new chapter, it's Amy Stanton's. She has the most fascinating story so far, and she's not even thirty. If you've met her even once, she's someone you want to be around more and more, with the most energetic excess for life, for giving things a red
hot crack, and being who you truly are. You'd expect that she's always been a confident and self assured, but I was surprised to learn that most of her earlier years were spent not only thinking, but being told that she'd never amount to anything, culminating in an expulsion from school and many years following not knowing where her place was, but after finding her feet as an award winning plumber and shaking up the industry as a Lady Trady walking
on foot solo from Melbourne to Canberra simply because she could, competing on Survivor and House Rules, then starting an incredibly successful business, Tiny Stays, building tiny homes with her brother. Amy has well and truly proven her strength, talent and drive, and I bloody loved having her on the show. We've been in each other's orbit for a few years now through another regular podcast guest, Samatha Gash, and recently spent time together during our Northern Territory trip, getting to know
each other even more. I hope you guys enjoy her company as much as I did. Amy Stanton, Welcome to CEZ Yay.
Thank you for having me. I'm stoked to be here.
I'm so excited to see you guys.
We have literally gone from being such a tight knit little family on our NTA trip a couple of weeks ago to just having such separation anxiety.
I'm like, I miss your face so much.
When I saw your face, it just lit off. I'm like, oh my god, you were so warming on the trip, and I just want I love you, sir, I do.
I love you Aimes love so many special moments together. Well, you have such an amazing story, and I loved our little like random chats we'd have throughout the day, on how long walks we shared, a bushwhee or two. So much great stuff came out. So I'm so excited to dive into it. But before we kick off every episode, I start by asking people what the most down to earth thing is about them to break through the kind of often glossy surface of our digital lives.
But you are.
Pretty real and exactly who you are in every single con that I've ever seen you or known you, and I think that's what I love about you so much. But just in case people have only seen you on TV or only know you as a really successful businesswoman and speaker and all the wonderful things that you are, Like, what's the most down to earth thing about you?
You've definitely given me a big head. I could just feel it go, like bigger and bigger my head right now, You're talking about me the most down to earth thing about me. This is really random, you know, And I've been trying my hardest to do it so well lately, but I just can't. I take probably about three and a half weeks to transfer my washing from the washing machine to the dryer and then but by that time it's too late. So I don't really want to admit it,
but I'm going to. But I think there's been times where I've had to rewash it like four times because I've haven't transferred it. Is that.
So relatable?
No?
Absolutely not.
I am absolutely one of those people. And it's so weird that you said that because in literally the episode just before this one, I asked a psychiatry doctor what the most down to thing is about him and he was like, I think I take like five or six washes before I remember to get my clothes out of.
The washing machine. I was like, are you serious?
Yes, literally, literally yesterday we recorded it.
I was gonna say. I'm like, I haven't just heard your podcast and just copying the person before.
It came out like two hours ago. I'm like, Amy, mate, we need original content on the show.
I feel horrible now list if that one isn't good enough.
Well, your whole story is amazing, Like the way you tell it is just so beautiful and so like you just can instantly tell from the way you tell it.
How down to earth and lovely and relatable and just easy to be that you are.
So let's jump straight into that. The first section is your wayta where we kind of go through from you know, childhood Amy to now to remind everyone, particularly people who know you now, where you've got a really successful business and a clear passion for speaking and sharing stories. You know, people forget that most of us went through huge phases of our life where we had absolutely no idea where we were going.
And I know.
Parts of your schooling and earlier life were quite lost, and that you did struggle with where you were going to end up and what your purpose was. So maybe take us through all the chapters as you see your life having, you know, unraveled in those chapters, and starting with young Amy and what you were like as a kid and what your first idea of a career was and where you wanted to go.
Yeah, for sure. I think the funny thing is when I was really young, I was really shy, and I just never talked, and I was always a person standing back and like fully introverted, and I'd be like yeah, yeah, and then going on into high school, I started to form this thing in my head that I just had to impress people, and oh, to stand out, I have to be cool, I have to drink alcohol, I have
to do all this crazy stuff. And then literally when I was in about year ten, I was getting really depressed because I knew I just wasn't myself deep down inside, and I didn't know which direction I could head. And I was always trying to do things to either be in the cool group, fit in and all that, and it just kept getting me more depressed because like, for instance, i'd be on English too, so I would think, oh, I'm so stupid. I can't do anything. I'm not like
the cool kids. I'm good at nothing. I'm just kind of, you know, just floating around. And I just I'm never going to be anyone. And that is what kind of made me do all this really stuff that wasn't me. I turned into a really naughty girl in year ten. And like this explains when I say like I would just do whatever people told me. So I went to Luther College and I was in the science room. I think this was actually year nine. So it just started that I was trying to fit in and be that
cool person. You know, you're nine and you start kind of playing up a bit. And we had these big windows, and the windows look out to the whole courtyard of Luther College. And what happened was, do you know when parents take their kids on tours of schools to see if they want to go to those schools?
An amazing story coming on.
Well, So there was about I'm going to say twenty kids with their parents, so about twenty parents as well. There's probably about twenty teachers as well. Nearly one hundred people were walking along and I remember one of my friends in my class, a science teacher, had just walked out and she turned to me and said, oh, Amy wou you wouldn't moon them? Mooning like pulling your pants down. No one knows what mooning means, that's what it is. And I'm like, why would I do Why would I
do that? I'm not going to moon all these kids in their parents like And then someone came in and said the old Amy Wood And I'm like, oh, like, you can't be doing that. Yeah, it is their fault. So I pulled down my pants. I put my butt up against the window. The whole of these kids and their parents and everyone looked up at me. My science said, you came in kind of got dragged out of the class, and I had to go to her once a week to have meetings about how not to give into peer pressure.
So I aim, do.
You know what's so interesting?
You actually kind of touched on that a little bit when we were away, about how much you've gone through phases of your life where you've really felt pressure to conform to certain ideas of success or behaviors or identity, and even the fact that on your about me section of your website you're like, Hi, I'm Amy, I'm a hairdresser. Kidding, but that's what everyone has always assumed that you were. You know, you've always been the subject of such expectations.
But I see you as someone who represents such free spiritedness and such confidence in who you are, and such a strong passion for helping others not cave to those But it's really interesting that that usually comes from having experienced that pressure yourself, and people forget that.
I think, oh, that is so true. So like that and that was the stage I wasn't at, and I didn't know in my head that I would one day turn in to this amazing human being. I literally just thought of myself as nothing and going through a school that I can't even say the word academic, academic, like I'm so not good at that, and I know you're probably the complete but I am hopeless and that kind of thing. And I just had this brand that you know, you have to do well at school and you have
to go to UNI. And I thought, well, if I don't have that, I don't have anything. So I started getting naughtier and trying to probably express myself in a different way. I remember my mass teacher told me I was going to end up as being a prostitute and a stripper. No, and this is how I felt about myself at the time. I replied to her, and I'm like, oh, both of them, you have high hopes for me. And that was literally I'm all good now, Sam, I know.
I know, but that's even more of a testament to you that you have such a strong sense of self now. But knowing that, like I think people look at you and you're so personable and such a fun loving, like free spirit that people would go, oh, she just breezed through school, Like I imagine you being such a popular kid that just had such a is your time because you know what you want, you just go and do it. But I think it's maybe even more reassuring for people
listening that really people don't start that way. And most of the time that strength now comes from kind of challenge earlier on. I can't believe that you had to deal with that at school at such a young age.
Yeah, but I kind of think about it now and as you know, like all these things form your identity, they form your story. And without going through that struggle of trying to find my identity in high school and then thinking I'm hopeless, and then from there I went on to get expelled. So I got expelled about a year later. That stage Mum was real, real, real annoyed with me, to say the least. That was a big point in my life where I'm like, oh, I'm definitely
useless if I'm getting expelled from school. But from being at Luther College and knowing I was an academic and I didn't fit into going to a school which was Boux Hill Senior. That was all about, you know, trying your hardest but being more hands on. I started to slowly grow more and more each time being like, oh, maybe I'm all right at this life thing, like I'm.
Not too bad, but this life thing.
In the back of my mind, I'm still thinking, Oh, I'm still not good at anything. I don't know what I want to do, and I'm still trying to impress people all the time. After I got expelled, then I moved to Boux Hill Senior. My cruise teacher was said to me, Oh, I'm what do you want to do? And you know what, parents and teachers alike, it's the same question, what do you want to do? What do you want to do when you're older, and kids kind of think, oh, I've just got to do one thing
stick with it for the rest of my life. And I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I saw all my friends doing beauty therapy and I thought, oh, I don't I don't know. I think her name was Karen or something like, I don't know Karen.
I'm not saying it was because you got to call them by their first name.
So I just took advantage of that so much.
And Floody love you.
Karen was kind of looking at me like, what do you mean. You need to have this future? You need to have a goal all this stuff and when you're in you're eleven yearn I just don't know when secretly in my head, and people don't like to really believe me when I say I literally I wanted to be the Red Wiggle. Like I thought, if I'm not good at anything in life, I'm gonna be the Red Wiggle.
And I couldn't believe it.
Hasn't happened yet.
But there's still time. I believe there's still time.
Yeah, Look, Karen didn't believe that there was time for me to become the Red Wiggle. So I went down the road. I'm like, I'll just do beauty therapy. My mates are doing it. It will shut my parents up, it will shut my auntie up, it will shut everyone up. I'll do beer by therapy. And I was hopeless that I could not paint nails to save my life, Like just absolutely hopeless. And at this stage I'm thinking my head, I'm like, I'm not academic. I can't I'm not good
at beauty therapy. There's no point, there's nothing. Maybe I should be a prostitute. I didn't actually think that, but I thought, well, there's nothing I could do. No one has any hope I'm rd as stuck, and at that point I was still very depressed. I didn't really have a vision in life, and I remember I started thinking to myself, I'm like, well, maybe one day I could like do a business thing, do something in business. I
don't know. At that stage, Instagram wasn't around, but I think I would have had that feeling in my head of like, I want entrepreneur in my Instagram name. That is, that is what I want. I might have been my space back then, but I thought that was my God.
I can't even imagine what your MySpace would have looked like as a beauty therapist.
Like that just makes me laugh so much.
I can't even imagine you that did beauty therapy, which is what I love, because most people can't. And yeah, there's so much in people's stories that you just could
never imagine. But this formed who you were, and it just like it breaks my heart thinking about how if your intelligence or your particular type of intellect and talent is not the same as what everyone around you happens to be valuing at the time that you happen to go through school, people could literally spend their whole lives thinking they're stupid and just without you know, whatever comes next in your story, that did push you towards finding
what you are really good at you might never have known, and that just it hurts so much thinking of how many people would have just taken other people's opinions as final, as like, really, I will never amount to anything.
So you're such an inspiration for that.
Oh thank you. Yeah, And you're so right there. And I think back, well, maybe if I stayed at Luther College and I didn't get expced, I might have just ended up, you know, doing something, just working nine to five, doing something I hated, and I just never really got to find my true potential in life. So I'm so blessed that that journey did happen. And then that I went to box Hill and I started to realize maybe this business thing, maybe I should give it a crack.
And what I did. I started trying more at schools, and then literally within a year my report from Luther College when I was doing business there, it was, you know, E fail ff all that kind of thing, amy blah blah blah blah, Amy's basically crap. And then shifting my complete mindset of you know, maybe I could do this thing, maybe this could be me. It completely changed and within twelve months I was going from a's and a's pluses
in business management. I'm just absolutely loving it and I have those reports there and I love showing people that just if you completely change your perspective. And the same thing goes for when I was in math class, I thought I was really bad at mass and I'm like, nah, I'm hopeless at Mass. I can't do Mass. And I look back on it now, I'm like, well did you even go to mass class? I'm like, well, I didn't
even go to mass class. I didn't rock up. I didn't I didn't study, I didn't like try in classes. And then I go say, see, guys, look I'm hopeless. I'm crap at Mass. Look but really I wasn't trying in the class. So it's like, well, no, shit, Amy, that's why you weren't that good at it.
And so how do you did you end up from beauty being the first kind of career pathway you'd settled on it as like a goal, how did you then go, actually, I'm going to be a plumber. I am going to be a lady Trady. What a like?
What a twist of events. How did that happen?
Well, one way that happened that I've only just realized over the last few months. So my dad he used to take me to the servo and asked after we went camping and to get an ice cream, and I picked out a Magnum once, you know, like the expensive ice creams. I'm like, I get a Magnum, fancy, and I remember distinctly my dad turning and looking at me. He's like, Amy, you can't get a Magnum. And I'm like, what do you mean. He's like, they're plumbers ice creams,
and I'm like, what does that mean. He's like, only plumbers can afford magnums. In this house we eat frosty fruits. And I'm like, so, I feel like, always in the back of my head I had this thing like, oh, plumbers can afford magnums. But I think that's the reason, well, that's half the reason that I think I went down the road of plumbing. But the other half was so like doing things with my hands. And I remember someone kind of turned to me once and we were talking about,
you know, women being trades and me being stubborn. They were like, oh, women can't be traders. I'm like, yo can like and from there I was like, maybe I could go down this path. So I started. I started. I had a spark inside of me. I'm like, you know what, I'm going to give it a crack. And I applied for over one hundred and twenty jobs, like yeah, I got this, I've got this, and basically I heard back from one out of one hundred and twenty and I'm like oh, And I kept thinking my head, Oh,
it's because people don't want women as trades. And I was all real spite full of my head. But then I looked back on my resume a few years ago. I had about twenty thousand spelling mistakes. I'm like, yeah, that was probably.
No magnumbe, no magnetum.
So I got the job as a plumber, and I was like so excited. I was so excited to do something new. I'm like, I don't know, maybe I could be good at this. And then within my first week, I got my head stuck in a scaffold. I crashed my car through the job site fence. This is the first week, like, and then I fell for a roof and I landed on some guy eating a sandwich and no, yeah, and then I got a piece of metals stuck in my butt. Literally that happened in the first week.
I was like, fuck, that's amazing.
I love you so much because you're just like, I'm still gonna do it. Nah, I'm still gonna do it like whatever. I'm just gonna push through.
And that's what it's all about. And that's why I'm so big on failing, because if I just called the quit zera, who knows where I would be. But I kind of thought to myself, this makes me more determined that I've had such a horrible first week. No one believes in me. I rock up on site with pink socks, the blonde hair extensions, and then they hear me talk and I'm like, hey, you mate. They're like, all right, I see where she's coming from. We'll give her a crack.
And it just made me more and more determined to, you know, keep going, and as anything happens when you try hard and you persist day and day and day. By the end of it, I turned out an alright plumber. So that was a really good for like just doing my apprenticeship. It was really good for me. But I kind of got to the end of my apprenticeship and I kind of looked at the older guys I was working with, and they were grumpy. They just didn't look like they were enjoying life as much as they might
have used to be. And I thought, you know what, I don't want to turn out like them. I know plumbing is an awesome job, but I think I can take this and do something else with it and go in a do a different direction.
Oh my gosh, I think like, there's just so many parts of your story that I think are so important for people to hear, because so many other people are kind of like, Oh, I ended up in plumbing because I woke up when I was five and I was passionate about plumbing, and I followed my dad around to his plumbing job. You know, Like, but you just kind of stumbled into it after a few false starts and then made the most of it and then just kept going until the next chapter sort of arrived on your lap.
And I love that about you because it doesn't have to be like you wake up with a lightning strike of purpose and then you love every minute of your career and the surest side that maybe it is time for a new chapter is when you do look at someone more senior than you and you don't want to be them. And I like that you took that as like, hmm, maybe like I don't need magnum, maybe I can go do something else. And you're just such a great role
model for like giving things a red hot crack. If you don't know what you're gonna you know what you really want to do, You've got to do something in the meantime. And I love that you just kept trying stuff and doing different things, and even now you still continue to do that. But you back then could never have imagined what you would end up achieving. And that's like I love that this is almost a way for you to talk to people who are at old you stage in their life and remind them like you can
get there. It just takes a lot of patience, a lot of like growing a thick skin and living through some really shit bits where you're like, wow, I've got metal on my butt and everyone already thinks that a lady trade is going to suck. And I like drove through the fence in my first week.
I got a lot of women drivers. I know a lot of that on site that day.
So was it something that you kind of loved when you were there, but then got to the point where, like, what drew.
You out of that chapter? Even if you had.
Fallen into something that you were good at, because I know you were really good at it. You became like an award winning plumber, You won awards for your skills. What made you think, actually, I'm agitating for something new.
Yeah, and that's a great question. I think a few years after I started, I kind of thought to myself, look, I'm going to get an apprenticeship under my belt and then go out and chase my dreams. And as bad as it as is, and I know people don't like saying, at least you have something to fall back on, my mindset at the time was like, at least I can do the walk of shame back to plumbing if all else fails. And I've only done it twice, but I don't think I'm going back ever again now. So, and
that's the whole thing about growing and learning. It's like, well, sometimes you start up something and you do have to go back for a solid income to you know, get a house, sloan or something like that. In your first years which is completely fine. It doesn't mean it's the end of the day journey. It just means don't get comfortable in that job. And for me, after I finished my apprenticeship, I was still very materialistic. I was still
trying and that was to impress people. And I thought, you know, being a plumber earning good money, and you know, I was getting magnums every day, and I I was like, I had a parlo like a forty grad car loan, which obviously came with a forty grad you know car. And then it got so bad, like I think I was twenty one at the time when I bought my first house with my ex partner, and I literally bought it because I thought, in my head, oh, people are going to think, oh, look at Amy's She's so cool.
She has a house. No one once said that, No one must say that because she has a house, I said.
Everyone was finding like, holy shit, she's twenty one with a mortgage, Like where is no more magnums for you?
And then yeah, and it was kind of at that stage of my is this the end? Like what now? Kids, Like I've got you know, what do I do now? I had, you know, a beautiful car house. I haven't had a pet pig named Constable crackles.
I was like, you had it made And people.
Would have looked at me and been like, she's living the ideal life. But really, deep down I was. I was unfulfilled. I was not fulfilled. And it was one of those moments where I did wake up one day and I thought, no, this isn't me. I don't want to live for the materialistic liabilities. I want to live for the adventures and the experiences. And it was such an aha moment that I just something inside me. I
sold everything I rocked up to sold. So the house of the car, I wropped up to Mom and dads with the pet pig and Dad's like no, no, no, no, no no. And I'm like, what, Like we lived in like suburbia, And I gave the pet pig to a guy from work. He has a farm. And normally when I tell people that I gave the pet pig to a farm, they're like, so you killed him. I'm like, no, like an actual farm, not the farm your parents tell you.
The rainbow farm at the end of the pot of Gold where all the animals lived together in harmony.
Oh my gosh, that was just the beginning of where I really felt myself. I felt, this is me, this is my life, this is what I'm going to do now, I'm just free to go do what I want. And I know that's when I started believing whatever happens happens, everything will fall into place eventually.
Oh oh my gosh, absolutely, And I just think, like, how crazy that you had everything that you had ever dreamed of and all the things that most people still measure success by so young, and all it did was create stress and unhappiness and restriction for you.
But walking away from it all and.
Also having the balls to do that, because that's incredibly scary, and to give away your pig, I mean, mate, that's huge. Like you took a huge risk and absolutely changed your life and started peeling back all the layers to reveal like who Amy actually is underneath. And now that Amy that I know that makes so much sense to me now, but probably at the time it didn't make sense to anyone, which is also even more impressive that you were like,
I'm going to do it. I am going to walk from Melbourne to Canberra tomorrow because I want to with my alda bag of goods and no change of clothes tell us about that.
I feel like this is a great chapter.
Come Next is my favorite one. It's logical, you know, it's what you expect would come.
Next, obviously, like how would it not come next? And it actually started kind of how the whole plumbing thing started and the whole ars in the window mooning started. It kind of started by someone saying, oh, you couldn't walk to Canberra.
You couldn't do that. I don't even remember how we kind of got on the subject. We're at the pub a few lemonades later, and I don't know it, just I started doing some hiking and someone kind of said you couldn't do it, And another moment in my life was just like why shouldn't I do it? Like what why can't I do something crazy? And then I just literally I it might have been two days later. I
packed my bag. I'm like, I'm just gonna I'm just going to go for it, and I'm gonna post it on Facebook that I'm walking to Camber because then I have to Then I have to do it. And so I remember walking down the driveway and my parents were looking at me so worried about me, and I remember turning to them and looking in their eyes and saying, Mom, Dad, at least I'm not on drugs. I'm just walking.
Good perspective very important.
And they were like, oh, you know that supposed is right. But within that experience, and it wasn't long after I sold all my stuff, I did a bit of traveling. But then within that experience it completely completely made me realize and built me up to I can literally do anything. I was walking, you know, in forty degree heat, sleeping on the side of the road. I was by myself. I think I was twenty twenty three at the time. I would sleep on the side of the road. My
bag got stolen. I had to walk three days in my thongs. Literally no, that was so my actual bag got stolen, so I had to use an Audi bag and I couldn't even count. I would be so rich now if the amount of people that pulled over on the side of the road and be like are you okay? Like are you lost? And they thought I was a Swedish backpacker or a homeless person, and I'm like, I'm oh good, I'm just gone for a walk. Like where
you're from, Like I'm from Lilida. I'm doing this for fun and pop like and just the amount doing something by yourself where you get to think a lot and so hard. Like remember I would have like a solar panel on my head to charge my phone and just all this crazy stuff. One time I got lost in the forest. I was going on a walk and then I got lost in the forest and I thought I was gonna die. I was only point in life I've
literally felt like I'm going to die in here. It was Australia day at home, and I'm just picturing all my friends getting drunk having fun, and I'm like, I'm in a fucking forest. I've got hands of tuna, I've got a couple of pudding cups, and I have no idea where I am. And I could laugh about it now, but I cried since three days straight, like I'm a goner.
Yeah that was three days, wasn't it, Like you were fully didn't see anyone again until three days later.
And then on the third day, I was like, Okay, if I just walk one way, if I just walk straight, I'm sure to come out somewhere. And then this treelopper came and they it was getting dark and they had their headlights on and they're like, what are you doing. I'm like, oh my god. It was like a movie. I'm like, I'm also been in it for three days. I've had three cans of tuna. It was just like crazy. And then he took me back to his house and
then talk about the kindness of a stranger. I literally got in the car with some treelopper that could have been a murderer.
I'm like, this is a murder podcast, and I'm making why did you go into podcasting?
But I had no other options, and you know, they made me dinner and then I was on my way and it was just such an experience of like I can do anything and it doesn't have to make sense why I do it. And that's why I kind of tell everyone and get everyone out there. Just do something crazy. Take your annual leave, go on or walk, go camping by yourself. Just do something that is completely out of your comfort zone and you won't even know how fi. You could just change. You could wake up with a
completely new perspective on everything. And that's what happened to me. And once I finally got to Canberra, I was kind of got there and I'm like, there's not much going on here. There's nothing happening in Camebra. Why did I choose camera?
Why did you choose camera? I'm like, why did you choose something? Like, I don't know.
Why didn't you walk back in the other direction, like fly to camera, walk back to Melbourne.
Look, I don't know, I don't know. I just wanted to go and I'm like, camera, I'm heading towards you. Cindy's a bit far. Cambra will do hands. From that point on, like, I was just constantly building my strength and it just truly shows that if you do something completely out of the ordinary, you don't know where it's going to take you. And for me, from that experience,
I just started noticing more and more opportunities. And instead of being so down on myself that I was stupid and I can't do anything, it's like, did I can? If I can do this, I can do anything, and I'm just going to look out for opportunities find them. And then that's when everything started to come my way because I was so much more confident in my own skin.
And you are such an amazing example that you can actually change your entire narrative at any time in your life, like you didn't intrinsically have this thirst for risk and adventure when you were younger, like you were shy, you were racked with self doubt. And I think people really silo themselves into personality types and think, oh, well, I could never be like that because look how adventurous amy is. But you didn't start that way, like until this trip.
You were so like you said, down on yourself and you had like I imagine, more imposter syndrome than the average person has ever had and still now are absolutely living your dreams because that changed the way that you see.
Yourself and your life path.
And I think that's just it should spark like a fire and everyone listening that anyone can do it anytime, Like what's the worst that will happen. You've got nothing to lose, improving to yourself that you can do something you didn't think you could do.
Yeah yeah, and just take that step out of just your ordinary day of going to work and doing this. A lot of people think if they, you know, skip a day of work, or they God help us go on a holiday for a month or something, that the whole world is going to explain. It's like, these are the staff These are the adventures that you're going to remember for the rest of your life. You just need to take the plunge, get out there and do something different, no matter what it is.
Oh my gosh, that's just such good advice.
This is why I think you need to speak to like every school and in every platform, like you need to live in a soapbox to just spread this message because like everyone needs to hear more of it and.
To see what you've done.
Even in the short time since that walk, Like I can't even imagine what lies ahead. There's just so much excitement coming your way now that you have kind of changed your mindset towards abundance and confidence that you'll make at work. So I mean, you've since been on survivor on house rules, You've started a business that is booming, Like not many businesses came out of COVID booming, but tiny days. You're how many different places do you have?
Now?
Is you and your brother?
Yes, me and my brother, So we're we're on our fourth and yeah, completely loving, loving the journey. But as you know, and what I've realized, so many things go wrong and then you just start to realize, I'm just going to bloody, enjoy this ride is the moment you're like, all right, who cares kind of me?
So how did that start? Firstly, how did you get back from camera?
And then how did you start to translate all of those big revelations too. I'm going to start a business, I'm going to go on reality TV. I'm going to change my life become a business owner, and then I'm going to be a speaker.
Well, I actually when I was on the Walk, I applied for Survivor because a lot of my mates are like, oh, you have to go on this show, and I hadn't watched it before, and I just pulled out the camera and I swear I just had to say, I'm a plumber, i haven't showered in three weeks, and I'm on the side of the road walking to Canberra and they're like, she's on She's on the show.
Easy. Easy.
So when I got home, oh, well, I had choked a lot of the way home, and then I met up with my partner at the time and we went up to Cosiosco and then I got home and then from there I did a bit of traveling around in the verre and then I went on Survivor I remember actually I was in the middle of doing like all
the auditions and I didn't want to tell anyone. I thought I'd curse myself if I told people that I was in the auditions, and my parents and stuff thought I was like traveling around Australia and for no joke, two and a half weeks I was like hiding in my van down at Phillip Island and traveling around just Victoria because I had to go over these auditions and my mom would call me and be like, oh, where are you, and I I suppose I was getting me ready for Survivor I because I didn't want to tell
her because I thought I'd curse myself. I was like, oh, I'm just at this spot. I'd look at a man like near one hundred k's out of Adelaide, and I said this spot and I was like, I forgot where it was. He's like, oh, you're not there, are You'm like, why, what's wrong with this? He's like and he told me this story about how this young girl got raped and murdered there like twenty years ago. And I'm like, oh, no, I'll be fine, and I'm leaving tomorrow. And really I was like twenty k's from home.
Just hiding it around the corner.
It was such a stupid thing to do, but I just had it in my head. If I tell people, it might not happen. And then I got on and I went to SAMO. I had no idea about the show. If anyone watches it, I just had no idea about it. I rocked up in like half a T shirt, literally in short cho I'm like, hey, guys, like, ayy, where's your joper? I'm like, why would I need a jumper? And it was full on like you you're sleeping in the mud. Everyone's talking about you, like if you're not
mentally strong. The game is just insane. And as you kind of might know, I'm the type of person who goes i'd do something. I'd do the adventure. And then I move on and I'm like, all right, what's next? That was fun. I don't dwell on it that I got. I think I got eliminated fifth and it was funny. I'm best friends with guy now who got me boot who you no ideas?
Like?
I remember this. These two guys were on the beach talking obviously about how they're going to get me out. I walked up to them and I'm like like, hey, guys, what are you talking about? And I'm like, oh, weather, And I'm like, oh sleep, yeah, the weather.
Yeah, I didn't bring a jumper. Yeah.
And I think half my reason that I knew people wanted that so bad. They it was their dream to go on Survivor, and for me it was just another adventure. And I probably mucked my game up because I kept telling people. I'm like, I'm just here so I can get drunk in Jury Villa, and They're all looking at.
I love you.
I'm like, now, especially now that I know you better, like I didn't know you before you went on. Now, I'm like, oh my god. She just like there's no game. I'd be exactly the same. I have no poker face. I just tell everyone everything. I can't keep a secret to say my life, Like, I can keep secrets, but I can't like pretend that I'm feeling something I'm not.
I'd be so bad. I'd just be like, hi, I voted you out.
I don't so like that. And it just you. I think people have to go into that show and you have to be a bloody good actor because you have to turn on and but you're constantly paranoid. So when I got I'm not a victored. Sorry, I've been wanting to be started to go. When I got brooded, I was like, it was all good. It was honestly, I'm like, oh, sweet, that's awesome. That means a bigger opportunity is coming for me, or I'm huge on this happens for a reason that
didn't go that way. I didn't win for a reason. I got to go to the Philippines for six weeks after that and drink coconuts on the beach. But I got to like actually eat and sleep in a hotel. So I wasn't disappointed. I wasn't. I was like, oh, it was more like that was an awesome journey. What's next? And I think in anything like that where you might be so excited to achieve a goal or well whatever, getting on reality TV or starting a business, but as you know, so when you get the goal, yeah you're
excited about it. It might be a week or two weeks or two months, but then it's like it just becomes your day to day life and it goes down and it fizzits a bit. So it's always for me, what's the next thing I can do, and after I'd travel with my brother and the Philippines after I got booted from Survivor. We both He was actually an ex accountant and kind of the same pathways you. He was so smart and he was so good at what he did,
being a chry to account it. But he was like me, He's like, nah, this isn't me, Like, I want to do something else. I think there's more to life for me. So he quit and he did the whole traveling for four years, and we realized our passions areligned, and one
night we sat down. At the time, I was running how to adult courses for like just teenagers and stuff, just workshops to teach them the skills that they don't learn in high school and things like that, because I didn't learn that much in high school of life skills.
I did not know you did that.
Did you teach a lot the moon in their science classes? Here is how you get expelled?
And not many people did not. I did it for a couple of years, just purely out of it. I didn't want to make any money out of it. I just purely wanted to show kids that there's more to life than the textbooks. And there's more skills that are going to get you a lot further in life than knowing algebra. So one week it might be just like no talking about drugs and alcohol like And I never said, oh I'm a genius, I'm a psychiatrist. It was just so the kids could relate to me. I'm not their mom,
I'm not their teacher. Let's just have a chat, talk about things, talk about the outside world after school. And one of my classes was like out your passions in life and how you're going to turn them into your purpose.
And it wasn't the whole thing of, oh, you need to turn your skateboarding passion into a job, because we all know then you'll probably end up hating skateboarding after that, absolutely, But it was what are you good at and what do you like doing, what do you get up and like doing, and how can you turn it into more than yourself. I wasn't going to get up in the morning and be like, yes, I get to build a
tiny house today. It's more like, yes, I get to create these amazing places where people can come unwind, get away from their bosses, spend time with their loved ones. And that's what got me up in the morning and how man Ben created that. We kind of we just sat down and we wrote, all right, what are we
good at? What are our passions? And it was you know, the environment, doing things with our hands, building holidays, and from that it eventually into why don't we build tiny houses We've got the skill set for it and then rent them out as B and b's And that's how Tiny Stay started. And yeah, we're just growing and growing every day. So it's such a beautiful thing to look back on from where I was, you know, ten fifteen years ago. I never would have dreamed this would be my life now.
Oh my gosh, but isn't that the best?
I mean, this is why I take time to go through all the earlier parts that sometimes people are like, that's not what I do now, Like why do you need to talk about it so much? And it's because I'm like, people need to be reminded that you didn't know that you would end up here.
That's the point.
That's why it's so exciting that you didn't wake up one day and go, I want to build tiny houses. And that's what makes me excited every day. It's like you had to grow into figuring out where your passions and your skills and your talents kind of you know, merged in the middle. And you're so right to about the fact that sometimes if you do just look for purely what you're passionate about and you make that a job, that does kill the joy for some people. So maybe
it's not just things that you purely love. Maybe it is also like something you can offer someone else. And I love that you framed it around like you love not the physical bit that's your job. We don't have to love our job every day. You love the experience you create for someone else. And it's more about the connection side of thing that I think makes people really happy.
Because if you are just tying it to things, like you know, monetary goals or tangible things, then you're right, you get over it really quickly and it doesn't last. So I love that so much, and I'm so so excited for you that this is where you are and that it's booming and growing and everything's just unraveling exactly as it should.
Yeah, and it's so true. And as I was kind of saying before, you do face challenges every day with it. But I think if you think more about why you're doing it rather than the challenges can It completely changes it. And one small thing I did, and I only started doing this, probably a few weeks ago, to be a very to do list. I would wake up in the morning, wake up at three thirty in the morning. It's ridiculous, do not try it. But I would write down on my in my diary. I'd be like, Okay, what do
I need to do today? And then yeah, then I started changing it to how do I want to feel today? What do I what gets me excited? And it has I've only been doing it for a few weeks, but it's completely changed. It's more like my life isn't just a to do list. I want to feel motivated, energized, to feel energized, I want to go to the gym in the morning, I want to do this, And it was kind of I don't know. It completely changes your
perspective of the day ahead. Rather than just like, oh, crap, I've got a message you know so and so from PR and do this and do that. You're just growing every day, like no one really knows what they're doing, no one has no idea. But if you enjoy it, you're halfway there.
Oh, that's so true, and you're right, like, we do treat our lives very much as a to do list and then wonder why there's no joy at the end of it. And you look back, I can think I sacrificed so much of the important things in life for that to do list that you know, decades later you're like, I don't even care.
About that to do list.
Really, it's you have to enjoy the journey and all those little moments of joy in between. So that leads really nicely into like the middle section is n Ata, which is the challenges you face along the way, and I think you've really beautifully kind of acknowledged all of those in among all the highlights, which is not the way most people tell their stories. So I really appreciate that you're really upfront about that. But the last section is your playta, which is the part where you do
acknowledge that you can't just work and die. Even if you love your job, there has to be a part of you that's reserved for just pure fun and enjoyment and energy and excitement that makes you, you know, what are the things you do that aren't related to your work that let your brain switch off so you don't burn out from your work and that just you do even if they might feel like a waste of time, but because you enjoy them.
Yeah, that's so not like that just makes me smile thinking about like all the beautiful things we have in our life that we can do that isn't completely to do with the grinds, And one of them for me
is definitely hiking, and but being by myself hiking. You know, I love my partner or my friends and my family, but I just I love spending time by myself, you know, switching the throne to do not disturb and just going for a hike, and kind of having days instead of constantly you know, six days a week or whatever it is as a business owner. It used to be seven. But being like I don't have to do this every day, maybe some days I won't put it on my alum
and I'll just go with the flow. If I want to sit there and watch Netflix for six hours, I'll do it. Like my life doesn't have to be like that.
And so it's kind of having the freedom to be like, I don't know what I want to do today, I'll go for a hike, I'll watch Netflix and then something that kind of used to be a real passion of mine, which was doing DIY and fixing things, but then it slowly started to turn and kind of talking about the whole skateboarding thing turned into another side of my career for me and constantly filming content for it. So it was great, but it took the joy out a little
bit because I wasn't just doing it freely. So sometimes I just like to take the time. As much as I love filming it and creating videos, it's good to just put the phone away and do things that I don't have to post on social media and make things that are purely just for me, rather than doing it with someone else or for someone else or for the world to see. Oh, I don't have to show them my whole life and everything I do.
Totally.
And I think that's something that can be a bit confusing for some people when they do have a passion that they really love, and then they do make it their job because they think you have to be passionate about your job all the time, and then it does kill the joy when they have a deadline or a brief or someone else's creative idea, you know, super imposed
over the top of it. And I think that's one thing I probably went really hard on when I first started CZA and now try and scale back a little bit, is that the joy you find, it's wonderful if you can find that in your job, but it doesn't have to be at work. Like for some people it will never be at work. And it's okay if you do your job nine to five because it pays bills and that's it. As long as it doesn't make you unhappy. You can find your joy outside of work, and maybe
that's just where it belongs for you. Like the balance is going to look different for everyone, but some things are really precious and you do want to keep them where.
They are joyful for you.
And like it's okay to be like, I don't want to do that as a job today or any time, but I love that you do still do your DIY projects, but you do some that are just for you because that's so important for you to keep that alive.
Yeah, yeah, and it's so true. Everyone needs to create time in their schedules for just doing what makes life life and makes them happy. And yeah, that's so true.
I think one of the things I loved so much about our trip recently was that even though there were eight women and then two guys and then the guides, we spent like big chunks of that day walking really separate from each other. Like we had wonderful conversations at points like at lunchtime, or if we kind of broke off into different clusters of who was feeling faster or slower on particular days. But we also spent hours in silence.
And I don't do that very often, but I think learning to appreciate your own company inside your own head is one of the most valuable things you can do. It's really uncomfortable to begin with, Like the first few days you spend by yourself, I can imagine when you started walking, you're just like, without the noise and distraction of people and conversation, it's like a lot of shit in your brain that starts to come to the surface. But it's good for you to process that.
Yeah, it's so true. And at the start of anything spending time by yourself, you constantly got stuff going on in your head. But the more you do it, and the more you take the time to be by yourself and reflect on the day or reflect on everything, show your gratitude. It just puts you at peace and that I never thought one of my favorite things to do in the world that I'd be passionate about would be just be alone and by myself and like go for a walk.
But here we are, and I think that's really healthy because a lot of people are scared of their own company or like scared of what they'll feel if they slow down for a second. But that kind of need for just momentum and constant distraction is actually where people burn out. Like that's how people get sick and overworked because there's.
Just too much adrenaline all the time. But sitting with your own stuff is like it's so.
Important, so so so good.
Well, to finish up, second last question is three interesting things about you that don't normally come up in conversation. And you're like a pretty open share which I love about you, so it's probably harder for people who share, like who are pretty chill about being open. But what are three things that like people don't normally know about you?
Oh my god, that's a good question. I tell everyone everything.
I know when they're saying, but like, what's something that someone who like, maybe we would after having spent like five or six days in really close quarters, like little habits or funny quirks or like party tricks or allergies, you know, all those.
I'm going to think it's so many after we get off the podcast, I should have looked at that question. I think one of the things is, as much as I'm kind of out there and love talking and all this this kind of thing, I love listening, And when I'm in a bigger setting, it's always like I would much prefer to listen to someone else and listen to what someone else is doing with their life. And then instead of talking about me, like my mum is she's
like my biggest fan ever. Everywhere we go, it's like, oh my god, and it's always like no, like I don't I don't know, just talking to other people about what they're doing. I wouldn't care if no one knew anything about me, But if I could talk to someone else and hear their stories and what they're up to, and what you do is a podcast, so it's just amazing. And that's one of my things. I do like being just you know, turning off for a bit and listening to other people and then oh, I like as much
as I've been on reality TV. I actually hate watching TV. I've just started watching Big Brother. But I think in my head, I'm like, oh my god, how many hours of am I wasting watching this? But I don't watch movies that much. I'll do it because Kate Kate does it. I don't watch TV that much. I'm like, I don't know what do I do with my life? I don't know. I don't know, like even movies and stuff. I just don't.
Is it because you get fidgety? Like do you want to do stuff?
Yeah? It's just like oh god. I always like I walk into a movie theater be like, Okay, how long does this go for? And then I don't.
It's You're like me, He's like, this is like prison. I can't do it because the same time, I'm like, that's the point. You're already doing one activity. You don't need to do three. It's like, nah, we're leaving, let's just watch it. We can download it.
It's fine, So true, so true.
So what do you do do you do?
Like?
Do you like board games or do you read?
I've just started getting onto board games. I'm trying to read more. I've started your book. I love it. Yeah, I started on the trip and I've been slowly reading it. I tell you. The funniest thing actually take off my third thing that I completely don't know now. I was on the phone to my mom before and she's like, what are you doing this stuff to do? And I'm like, oh, I'm just got this podcast. She's like, oh, yeah, what's it called. I'm like, oh, sees the Yay. And she's like,
Seize the Day. And I'm like, no, seize the yay. And she's like, what do you mean. I'm like, seize the yay. She's like the day. I'm like the yay. And when on the LA five minutes, she's like I don't understand. I'm like, oh my god, like yay and she's like, gay, it sees the game.
I'm not even gonna try, Mom, I can't even do you know what happens Actually quite often that I have to spell it because people like they think I'm it's cease like cease the ya, like end the joy. I'm like no, no, like see the day, but yay.
It takes me a really long time to get it out there.
I'm like, you know what, I should just wear it on me, just so I can just even have to explain just like this is it.
And I've started getting.
From like automated email chains and stuff emails that are like dear ces or like dear the ya.
All the time with tiny stage I got dear Tiny.
I get it all the time.
Sure, But then I'm like, you know, there's some really quirky names out there, Like I don't blame them.
It makes sense. You never know these days.
Oh my god, after this podcast is going to be like the biggest baby name of twenty twenty one because no one's got any names for us but haven't been used like a million times.
It's not actually that bad seas.
I mean, it's kind of like a medical condition if you see. So it's like not great.
I don't think it's like the most loving nice. The very last question, since I love quotes so much as you know, what is your favorite quote?
My favorite quote? I have it in front of it. It's literally on my thing. You are the author of your own life. And as much as it's quite simple, it really puts into my perspective of like, no matter what happens to me every day, I can't live in reaction to if something goes wrong, and that's huge for me. And I used to always live in reaction and the moment, I kind of shift my perspective of like I control
how I feel. And it even comes down to things like, oh, you know, if your partner doesn't say something that you know you don't like and you go have you cry or you start a fight or whatever, It's like, what is the point of that? Like what are you achieving in any situation about anything? It's like if the car crashes into me, I'm literally I'll be like hah, Like I remember when I was driving around Australia, but I actually made it to Adelaide and I wasn't just in
my backyard. I got to Adelaide finally, and then this car crashed into me and my van was written off and that was going to be the start to this huge journey. And as much as it's crazy, it didn't bother me. I was like, oh, well, like that sucks, but why would I What is the point? Yes, I get angry and I get frustrated, get sad, but I've learned to kind of teach myself to snap out of it and be like Amy, that's not going to serve you. So constantly thinking, I write my own story, I'm responsible
for everything. It's yeah, it's been. It's been an absolute life changes for me.
Oh that's such a good one and something I think about all the time that I think you can clearly see people who haven't grasped how much control they have, because obviously there are things in life you can't control. I mean, like the last eighteen months have shown us more than ever that there are uncertainties that will always be there. But that's only ever half the picture, Like how much it affects you that half of the equation is up to you. And I think until you actually
grasp that, you can't change it. But I love that that's your reminder that actually, every day I choose, I don't choose this side, but I choose that side. And yeah, you know that that other quote, the way that people say life is ten percent what happens to you, ninety percent what you make of it.
I think that's so true.
And the more you remind yourself of that, the more you don't sit back and think, oh, I'll just let it all wash over me. It'd be like, I'm not going to let that wreck my day.
And yeah, there's people out there with there's lots worse situations than you. And that quote you just said. It's funny because I say that all the time as well. But I change the percentages every time because I never know what the quote is. I'm like, yeah, it's ninety five. Then other times I'm like it's eighty three point two percent. I got that off, And it always constantly changes a percentage.
I even say the wrong way around my life is ninety percent what happens to you and it's only ten percent. Fuck, that's not the right one. What a great ad for the show, Aims. Thank you so so much for sharing your amazing story. Every time I leave your company, I feel so uplifted and joyful and excited about life. You're just such a bundle of energy and an absolute little powerhouse. And I'm so glad to have you as a friend.
Oh, thank you so much. I'm so glad to have viewers. I feel like we're just after that trip, We're just it's amazing, how like what we spent a week together, and I feel I have known you my whole life.
I mean, wants to take a shit on a mountain together, just kind of go back from that.
You and that it's so true and when you put yourself in those experiences with people is yeah, it's amazing. I'm so glad to have you as a friend. Now. I can't wait to meet Paul one day soon.
Oh my gosh, I know he's looking at he like.
We thought we were going to do this in person, guys, and Paul got really excited and it was like, yeah, I'll come in your podcast. Not for the podcast, it's because I get to meet Paul. And then we had to do it online.
I was like, shit, sorry, I think I would have got so distracted though you would have lost you halfway my phone.
Nothing would happen.
Well, thank you so much, love, and I will make sure to put links to tiny stays in the show notes, even though I know it's probably they're all booked out like weekdays and weekends, aren't they for ages?
It's amazing. Yeah, we're so stoked, but sure someone can get in somewhere ahead.
Thank you so much love, No way, sir, have a good day.
Am I right? The freshest of breath of air and legend of a human who truly makes the most of every opportunity in life and brings joy to all those around her in the process. I hope you guys loved Amy as much as I do, and if you did, please let her know by sharing the episode with some reflections or takeaways, tagging at Amy Kate Stanton. I've popped a link to her business, Tiny Stays in the show notes too. I highly recommend you check them out for
a beautiful little escape. Have an amazing week, and hope you're all seizing your ya.