Transcript

Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
You’re listening to the Sigrun Show episode number 429. In this episode, I talk to Natalie Sisson about her latest book, Suck It Up Princess, and how you can get over yourself and achieve all your goals.
Today, I speak with Natalie Sisson, an entrepreneur, three times best-selling author, speaker, and host of the Untapped Podcast. After quitting her successful corporate career, Natalie turned her blog into a multiple six-figure education platform known as The Suitcase Entrepreneur. Now, no longer a digital nomad, but a farm owner in New Zealand and an expecting mom, she’s on a mission to help 1000 women earn 10,000 per month and contribute at least 1% of the revenue to causes they care about.
In this episode, we talk about Natalie’s latest book, Suck It Up Princess, and how you can get over yourself and achieve all your goals. Do you want to get a copy of the book, Suck It Up Princess? All you have to do is to leave a review for this episode on Apple Podcast, send us a screenshot of your review and your address to info@sigrun.com. And we’ll send you a copy of the book. Go to the show notes at sigrun.com/429, where you will find all the links to Natalie Sisson and her latest book.
I am so excited to be here with my friend, Natalie Sisson. We are in totally different parts of the world, 12 hour difference, exactly. I’m in Reykjavik, Iceland, and you are in Wellington, New Zealand. So it’s fantastic that we’re still able to connect. It’s 8:30 AM for me. So if anyone knows me, it’s not my favorite time, but it’s also quite late for Natalie who is-
Natalie Sisson:
Pregnant.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
… pregnant right now.
Natalie Sisson:
Yeah.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
So 08:30 in the evening, is it okay for you energy-wise?
Natalie Sisson:
Yeah, it’s good. I’ve been eating super healthy, but I had a little bit of chocolate mousse. So we’ll see if that works, as a treat.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
So you have just brought out a book called, Suck It Up Princess. And the title itself makes you very curious of what the topic of the book is. But since I know Natalie, I knew it was something about business or life or moving forward. And we want to talk about the book, but this is not your first book. So can you talk about how this book is somehow different from your other books and how you have, let’s say develop as an author? You say that?
Natalie Sisson:
Yeah, I’d like to think so. It’s so different from my first two books, which you probably know. So the first two books were definitely business books. The Suitcase Entrepreneur was for all the digital nomads wanting to break free from the nine to five, start an online business and travel the world. And it was a very heavy book in terms of tools, tactics, strategies, case studies. The second book, The Freedom Plan was kind of the next step up. So how do you work less, earn more and have more freedom? So there’s always a freedom thing. And that was again, it was a real framework that I had there. There’s kind of a three-step framework as part of a program that I ran and again, heavy on the tools, strategy, advice, tips.
And so when it came to writing this book, it’s actually part personal memoir, part self-help and a really much more of a motivational pep talk, kind of like a friend to friend guide that you can just pick up at any point with no structure. You don’t need to read it from start to finish. And it just should be like a motivational pep talk or just something that can help you through something. There’s a lot of storytelling in it. So it was actually really fun to write. There are no tools in the book, there’s no references. I really just wanted it to be easy to read, but also to give people that motivation on that kick or something that they could take away tangibly and go, okay, I’ve got this today, or I really needed to hear that, or I’m on the right track or maybe just laugh, cry at my expense.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
And I did. I’ve read the book. Thank you for the advanced copy. I felt, I got to know you a lot better in this book. So do you feel, this is somehow part of your personal development that you were able to write a book like this now versus a few years ago when you were more focused on the tools and the how-tos?
Natalie Sisson:
Yeah, I realize I didn’t answer that. Definitely. It is quite a personal book and it’s quite raw and it’s very honest in places. And I know one of my friends said, “Natalie, I didn’t know that about you.” There’s a section in there about romance on the road and they’re like, “Ooh.” I think maybe you get to that age, I’m 44 now, and I was like, I’m happy to tell some of these stories. I’ve had some grand experiences and amazing life experiences and some things that I’m proud of and not so proud of and some screw ups and some awesome accomplishments. And I just think all of that makes you who you are. And I’m all about embracing who you are and helping you tap into your potential and get paid to be you.
So it was really fun to share some of those stories like cycling down Africa or body sculpting and silly… Like stuff that is a different part of me, as you said, not all business and travel. And I think it was quite difficult in that respect to write initially, because I was like, how open do I want to be? How honest, how real? You never know how’s this going to land with people, but I actually really enjoyed the experience. It’s quite cathartic. I actually highly recommend if somebody wants to write a book or even just for their own purposes to write it at any stage of your life and reflect back on those moments that made you, or that defined you, or that made you more resilient, or that brought out your best, or maybe sometimes your worst and what it taught you after. So yeah, it was actually a very cathartic journey.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
So I was following you, what, 2012. When did The Suitcase Entrepreneur come out?
Natalie Sisson:
2013, the book came out, but I had the brand since 2010.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
This has been like over a decade. And in some ways you’re obviously the same person, but in other ways you’re not. Can you share how you’re no longer the nomad entrepreneur, quite the opposite, having a baby, two dogs and a farm in New Zealand? How? Why?
Natalie Sisson:
That’s such a 180 degree flip from when we met and knew each other. Yeah. I think just growth, right? Like different stages of life. I think there is a time limit to being a digital nomad, if I’m really honest. And a lot of my digital nomad friends at the time are now also buying houses, settling down. Maybe not quite as much as me, but I think there’s sort of a time limit to that nomadic way of life, that full on adventure, the constant change, the constant moving. And I look back now and some people used to say, “You’re crazy, that must be exhausting.” And I was like, “No, it’s great.” And then you get a little older and you’re like, yeah, actually it might be nice to slow down, especially at the manic pace that I was doing it.
But I would say, and I have written about this in the book about rebranding yourself a bit like Madonna, because it was a really hard time when I got back to New Zealand. I wanted to be here to build community in-person. I felt like coming home because my dad had got sick. And I think it just prioritized me being closer to family. I’d been away for over a decade. And it was a real, as you said, like just going from this super casual, carefree suitcase to my life kind of person to finding this amazing partner, buying this big house that fitted like 10,000 of my suitcases and finding myself a home with this new puppy and suddenly going, oh my god, I’m like a stay-at-home mom. How did I get from freedompreneur to this? And just having this real realization moment of, I can’t do this.
I remember saying to my partner at the time, because he said, “Oh, I love this place.” This is a different house to where we’re in now, but one valley over. And he said, “How long do you think you want to live here Nat?” He said, “I’m thinking 10 years.” And I was like, “Three months,” because I hadn’t thought ahead three months for so long. And he just looked at me like what? And now we’re in this beautiful, new place with more land and more trees. And I definitely see this as… Which is crazy for me. I’m like, ooh, I just want to be here.
So it was a real shock to the system and something that took at least 18 months for me to actually really climatize. And I know I’m not alone in that. So I think that in itself is something really important to your growth and just finding out who you really are and what makes you tick when the sense of your identity, which was for me so tied up in The Suitcase Entrepreneur, you kind of remove it, which I did. What are you left with? It really got me very introspective and thinking deeply.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
On one hand, you have this internal growth and let’s say acceptance and moving on, but also your brand. If people know you as one thing and suddenly you’re a different one, that takes time to people. Many people just want to have you the way you were.
Natalie Sisson:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, who is Sigrun if she’s not Sigrun? But I think a lot comes out of there, right? Like it takes lady balls, as I like to call it to do that and courage to step away from something you’ve put your heart and soul into and get out of that comfort zone and take the next step. It does. It takes that. And now it’s really cool because one thing I didn’t appreciate is you might lose some people in that space who are like, “Oh, you’re not doing that anymore.” But there’s still people who just know me as that.
And then there’s all these other people that you open up to because I realized when I was a digital nomad, there were a lot of people who couldn’t relate. They’re like, “That looks great. I’ll live vicariously through you, but I don’t understand what you’re really doing. You’re a bit crazy. You don’t have kids. You don’t have…” Now I feel I relate more to other people, especially coming into this new stage of being a mama. It’s a whole other audience that you open yourself up to. So I think there’s always pros and cons, right, when you make changes and most importantly is to make sure you feel aligned with what you’re doing and don’t make decisions on behalf of other people. Do it for yourself.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Absolutely. So coming back to the book, Suck It Up Princess, that’s quite a ballsy title. Can you explain the title and the concept of the book? What made you want to write it?
Natalie Sisson:
It is a ballsy title and it’s so not… Well, I mean, I can be ballsy, but it was probably pretty much out there for me. It is something very much that Down Under, we say, suck it up buttercup. There’s ruder versions as well, which I won’t say. But to me, it’s a real statement piece. Sometimes you need to actually jolt yourself out of being in a funk or being upset or being in the doldrums. And then there’s other times where you need massive amounts of self-compassion.
So how the book title came about, and I do talk about this in the first chapter is I was literally having this down day, which I don’t have many of. And I was just in a funk for no reason. I had everything to be grateful for. And I was in a park with my dogs in the rain crying, going, what is the matter with you? Why have you been in this funk for several weeks? And I’m like feeling a bit sorry for myself. And then out of nowhere, honestly, this internal voice so loud and clear, which was clearly me, but really gave me a hiding and it just said, “Oh, suck it up princess.” And I just remember being like, wow, did I just say that to myself? Like, who is… How rude? And then I remember just laughing because I was like, that’s totally what I need to do. Literally, what are you moping about? There wasn’t anything. Had there been something I might’ve been more compassionate. But in that moment I was like, that’s exactly what I need to do.
And so I wouldn’t recommend it, but I told a friend later that day and they said, “That’s such a great book title.” And I was like, “Ooh, you’re right.” So then I had to reverse-engineer writing a book to fit the title. But in some ways that was a really cool challenge because then I had to go deeper into, well, what is suck it up princess. What’s the phrase, where did it come from? Turns out it is used a lot in Australia, New Zealand, UK. And what does it mean? And it’s actually, I was speaking to a psychologist who was on my podcast and he said, it’s actually a device that we sometimes use as psychologists. If we’re not having a breakthrough with the client, sometimes we actually have to get them to use that tool on themselves to show a bit of tough love, or in some ways you’re being more compassionate to yourself by calling yourself on things, take responsibility, take action, get over it, maybe stop dwelling on things.
So I was quite intrigued by that, but definitely I reverse-engineered the book title to write the book. And that was a cool challenge and adventure to think about, well, what does it mean to live life on your own terms and to be your best self, to get over yourself, get past the excuses of something that you don’t ever seem to have any… to take action and really move towards what you want in life, rather than being held back by fears and critics and all those things.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
And that’s really what we’re talking about here. Like get over yourself. I am a huge fan of tough love. Anyone who’s worked with me has gotten a touch of that. Sometimes I seem to scare people. I don’t understand why, but it’s because I’m direct. And I just, I have a hard time tolerating excuses, especially when I feel it’s excuses. I was recently sick for several weeks and I don’t think that’s an excuse. You can honestly be sick and not able to work, but in many times we’re just, I don’t know. We’re just trying to come up with some excuses because we don’t want to move forward. What is it, like do you have some tools or steps as an advice for those who find themselves in that situation?
Natalie Sisson:
Yeah. I mean, there are definitely times of self-compassion right? And going easy on yourself, but I’m a bit the same as you. My mom’s German and she’s always been super direct. And I think there’s something really empowering about being direct with yourself and taking control and responsibility for how you’re feeling and steps you can take. And the biggest thing that seems so simple is just taking one small action step towards what you want. It doesn’t have to be big, but just taking action and getting out of the doldrums or getting out of your head and just going, okay, I’m just going to do this one thing today. Maybe it’s write one email. Maybe it’s make one call. Maybe it’s do one five-minute yoga class.
Just being in a state of taking action and making a positive step is something that gets you out of almost anything within reason. If you have clinical depression, I’m not talking about that, it’s not my area of expertise, but for most of us, I do think we have become a bit soft and we have become a little entitled, which is why princess isn’t the title because when people think about princesses, they are often a little entitled. And I think we need to do a better job of being our own motivator, of being our own north star, of being our own permission slip.
And I do think that, even looking at COVID and how some people handled that, not withstanding the trauma and loss and everything, there were some people who were just like, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I have to be at home all day every day. I can only Zoom with people and watch Netflix.” And I was like, think about the people who’ve been through previous pandemics who had no outside contact with the world. No mail, family were dying around. They didn’t know, they were all by themselves, such hardship and, well, we don’t know, but I’m pretty sure they weren’t sitting around feeling sorry for themselves. So it’s slightly different. But I do think in some ways we’ve become a little soft with all the access we have to everything these days. And I think it’s really good to develop resilience and inner strength and courage and responsibility for your actions and feelings.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Yeah. And those with positive attitude, I would say too. I’ve been in several quarantines for the last months because I live since a few months in Iceland, but my husband is in Switzerland and he comes and visits. So every time he comes for a visit, we together go in a five-day quarantine. And I don’t feel sorry for myself. Actually, I’m like, I’m looking forward to five days and I cannot go anywhere. And I’m just with my husband. Of course, we go out for a walk, but that’s it. And then other people are like, “I have to be in quarantine. That’s so bad.” I’m like, it’s all about how you look at it.
Natalie Sisson:
Yeah.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
It’s maybe a privilege.
Natalie Sisson:
Yeah. I mean, for people who have been in lockdown for a whole year, I feel for them. Over in New Zealand where like free. It’s amazing. Well, we are now and I know some people sometimes go, “Oh, normalcy,” or, “Oh, you’re so lucky.” And I’m like, “Yeah, we are really, really lucky. But we also chose to be a team of five million and nip it in the bud.” We are a small island, so we have advantages, but still, we made a really considered effort. We were hard from the beginning. We were really strict and it paid off. And now we’re just opening up the bubble here. And I’m curious to see for sure, we’re going to have lapses. Right? So people are going to have to probably suck it up again and go, “Oh, just when we had that freedom to travel, we have to go back.”
But I think you just need to be prepared for that. And some people are doing it harder for sure, which is why I’m very grateful to be here. But also, with it has come so many opportunities. I’m sure you’re seeing lots of your clients and a lot of mine have had their best year in business yet. They’ve prioritized their family and relationships over and above anything. They’ve relooked at their life and figured out what’s important to them. So all of these things might not have happened had we been forced to slow down and take a really good, hard look at what we’ve got.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Yeah. And that’s why I feel your book and your concept comes so well into play. I think it’s a part of like, it’s not the tactics and the tools. It’s really like, how do we feel, how we take responsibility and how do we just move forward with whatever we have got right now?
Natalie Sisson:
Yeah. And lots of life experience and advice and there are strategies and tools and they’re free to use, but it’s kind of in a way that you can take them on board and how you want to use them and when you need them as well, which I think is really cool. It’s less prescriptive. It’s more like here’s what worked and here’s what I know works for others. And here’s how you can apply it. So whatever mood you’re in or whatever place you’re in, reach into it, grab a chapter and just dive in and just feel better about yourself or feel like you’ve got some sort of positive action you can take to move forward.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
There was a lot of sport mentioned in your book. Can you talk about that? Because we’re Facebook friends, and I know you do sports, but I wasn’t aware that it goes way back and all the things that you have done. So can you talk about your passion for sports?
Natalie Sisson:
Yeah. I love sport. Ever since I was a kid I’ve enjoyed being in team sports, competing, pushing myself. And I think it’s a big part of what’s made my character. And it wasn’t until I wrote the book, Sigrun, actually that I realized how much it’s informed my life, how much it’s helped me to be disciplined, to be spirited, to push through your boundaries, to not accept limits that are placed on you. And I think it was really cool to write the book because in some ways I thought, ooh, have I lost a little bit of that, or do I need to bring a bit of that back into my life or, oh, wow, I forgot that I achieved that. That’s pretty cool. I should celebrate that. I’m all about celebrating the small wins and the big wins.
So sport has been huge for me, especially for example, triathlons and Ultimate Frisbee. I think the reason why people are particularly drawn to something like the Ironman, which just seems ludicrous to most people, this crazy race… I’m just trying to remember the metrics now, but it’s like a three K swim, 180 K bike, and a marathon, which I haven’t done. I’ve done the half, but there’s a certain thing that comes out in you when you push yourself that much, when you stretch yourself to limits, when you go through the boundaries of I can’t do this anymore and realize your body is far more capable than you think. It’s usually your mind. So I know a lot of entrepreneurs who are athletes, because it really makes you resilient. It really pushes you in ways that you don’t realize. And then you can apply that in your business and your life and just see what you’re capable of, which is usually far more than you’re even giving yourself just as it is for right now.
So I think that’s why I love sports so much. Plus when you’re traveling the world, you just have an instant community of like-minded people who love it as well. And that is something I’m really grateful for, especially in my travels that wherever I went, I found my Frisbee community because they’re very much a community all about the spirit. And I’m super grateful for that. I’ve got some amazing friends around the world because we’re brought together by this team, comradery and love for the sport. Plus it’s moving your body. It’s keeping strong. It’s thinking strategically. It’s looking for tactics. There’s so much involved in it. That’s why I love it, I think.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Yeah. It was very inspiring, even if I’m not an athlete. I would even say I’m an anti-sport person. Maybe that’s not a good thing to say because you’re supposed to move. But I still saw this being combined, Suck It Up Princess connected with sports and what we’re able to do. So I have asthma and I even didn’t have to do sports in school. I guess that’s a little bit related and why I started to resent sports in some ways. I also couldn’t stand on my head as a child. So I guess I was just then like, oh, then sports is not for me. But you can push yourself. And in 2007, I ran a 10 K under 60 minutes and I’m still today proud of it.
Natalie Sisson:
Yeah, that’s a really good result.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
It just shows that despite my asthma, despite my anti-sport attitude, I just wanted to prove to myself. But then I stopped running. It’s something about actually having a goal and wanting to achieve something. So I guess that’s a part of it too. So I might do it again.
Natalie Sisson:
You know what? You’re so right on the goal thing, because I didn’t like running either until I started training for triathlons. I had a real love-hate relationship. But when you have an end date in mind, like an event, it’s so much easier to work backwards from that and train in increments and get better and stronger. Once you start to see the results, it’s really inspiring. And it’s very much like business, right? You set this big goal and then you work backwards from it to the small step to what you need to do today. Without those goals, even if they move or if they change or morph, you don’t have the drive, you don’t have the momentum or that north star to go for. And I think that’s why it translates so well with sports, even if it’s something small, or dancing, or whatever it may be. So I think you can really use the parallels there to your advantage.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Absolutely. And as you said, Suck It Up Princess or get over yourself is about that first little step.
Natalie Sisson:
Step. Yeah. I don’t know why we complicate it so much. I’m sure you talk about it in your coaching as well. Like have the big dream, but start with the small thing today. Start with the five minutes of yoga, start with the one press up. Take the one step. Make the one contact with somebody, go to one event, try the first language in a different… Like try speaking this line in a first language. It’s not your first language. It’s all these little things. And suddenly before you know it you’ve rolled into three months, six months and you’re feeling more confident. And it’s, you look back… If I think back to when I first started my business, I didn’t know what an email provider was, I didn’t know how to create a blog post, I didn’t know of interviews. And then you look back a year later and you’re like, oh, it’s just so easy.
So I’m always telling my clients, I know this seems hard right now, but you’re learning something new. And so many people pull out of learning something new too early, because as we get older, we think we should know it or it should come easy. But if you think about how long it took you to learn to drive, or when you’re a kid, how long it took you to learn to walk. And I think we don’t allow ourselves to be in that uncomfortable space of learning and growing as much as we used to. We want everything now rather than embracing, okay, this is going to suck for a while, literally. And then I’m going to be awesome at it. And then I’m going to get better and then it’s going to be easy and then I can teach others and I can make a difference in their lives.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Absolutely. That’s a perfect final sentence to learning all about how to get over yourself. And I highly recommend people get the book, Suck It Up Princess. I’m assuming you get it on Amazon or anywhere else you can get books.
Natalie Sisson:
Amazon [crosstalk 00:25:26]. Yeah, definitely. It’s a pretty unique title-
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Perfect, we’ll link so-
Natalie Sisson:
So hopefully they’ll find it.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Exactly. There’s no one else with the same title and we’ll link it up in the show notes for you for your ease. Thank you so much for coming on the show, Natalie. This was not the first time and it will not be your last time either.
Natalie Sisson:
And thank you so much for genuinely reading my book and giving me feedback and enjoying it. It was such a delight to see that you did. I mean, it’s just such an honor as an author, so thank you.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Do you want to get your hands on a copy of Natalie Sisson’s latest book, Suck It Up Princess? All you have to do is to leave a review for this episode on Apple Podcasts, send us a screenshot of your review and your address to info@sigrun.com. And we’ll send you a copy of the book. Go through the show notes at sigrun.com/429, where you will find all the links to Natalie Sisson and her latest book. Thank you for listening to this episode. I’ll see you in the next one.