Dearests,

It’s raining. Thank fuck, I say. Thank FUCK.

I always feel relieved when it’s raining. There’s no need to go outside. There’s all the reasons to stay inside, be cosy, go gently and read.

And yes, that’s what it looks like when it’s raining here. Things are just so vividly green.

Spot that extra verdant stretch of green at the top there?

That’s where the end of our eco sewerage system flows into.

That lush green is being pushed up by my poop!

What a miracle!

In other news, we survived the first week of school. Well, almost. My youngest came down with a head cold and was too floppy and snotty to go to school today.

Otherwise, we’ve managed to uphold some good new reading habits with the kids.

They’ve continued with a daily Reading Eggs lesson, 20 minutes of reading to me and 20+ minutes of me reading to them.

I finished up reading Famous Five’s Five On A Treasure Island book to them. Both of my kids loved it and were begging for “just one more chapter!” each night. My big kid thought the ending was slightly unsatisfying. Still, I’m so glad I got to fulfil that childhood wish of mine to one day share it with my kids! We still have four more in the set to read. In the meantime however, it’s my big kid’s turn to choose our next read. She went with the new Lauren Child illustrated version of Mary Poppins, and decided spontaneously that it will be a shared read – she’ll read one page aloud, then I’ll read the next. It’s so exciting to see!

My little kid has been reading to me with a bunch of different readers including Meet Ella, School of Monsters, the ubiquitous Bob Books, the Reading Eggs series and Reading Eggs Storylands series (I used to buy these from Blake Education, but I haven’t been able to find now – perhaps discontinued?). I’ve had the Reading Eggs collections since we homeschooled a few years ago. They do come in handy, and can be used separately, but are awesome when used with the Reading Eggs software too.

My big kid has continued her informal book group with her friend, and she’s just reading all over the place now. Five minutes before she has to go to school? She’ll read a couple of pages. For hours after going to bed? She reads a book. It’s been amazing what a difference there’s been just from having this daily applied focus.

One of my kid’s reading age has increased by 6 months in the space of 3 weeks. Her teacher has noticed a huge improvement. We’re all thrilled! Again: what a difference!

In other news, I’ve fallen down another learning rabbit hole. This time about investments!

I’m already a self made multi-millionaire… but I’m always excited to learn even more. And I’m not in any rush to retire… I love what I do far too much for that! I’m just excited to get to a point where our investments make working completely optional. We’re probably not that far off it already if we lived more frugally, but I’m not too keen on that for these reasons. Anyways, I’ve started dreaming up some fun philanthropic projects I can do once I’m over the investment line I want to hit (on top of the philanthropy we already do now).

Anyways, I’m going to do some more research on low-cost index funds that only invest in ethical companies (no mining, gambling, tobacco, warfare, environmental fuckery). Is that a thing? Or am I just wishful thinking it? I already have ethical managed funds which I love, but I’m thinking of adding more eggs to the basket. That, or I just keep it simple.

What next?

I’ve been writing a plan for the next year. I’ve been thinking of possibly producing more smaller workshops like Marketing Without Social Media instead of longer 4 week e-courses. I can create more of the workshops on a bigger range of topics for those who need deep dives on certain subjects. Thoughts?

Neurodiverse Team FTW!

I have two part-time assistants now (they only work a combined 25-ish hours a week). Since having a large team and discovering I hated managing people, I swore off having more than one staff member again. One is the sweet spot for me.

Until this year when my usual assistant needed a break, and one of my old team members who has always been bloody wonderful came back temporarily to replace her. And the three of us together got along so well, and loved working together so much that we decided to make it permanent. And we’ve become quite the merry trio, mixing friendship and life and work in one big puppy bundle of gladness.

Anyways, I was wondering why I tend to annoy them less than I have other staff in the past. Not only do I not annoy them, they actually rather seem quite amused and excited by working with me. If I come up with a new idea and totally change their day/week/month’s priorities, they are like WOO BRING IT! Instead of the grumpiness I’d cop from some staff I’ve had previously.

Is it because we’ve got matching neurodiversities? I’m sure I would shit neurotypicals four ways to the moon with my constant mind-changing, coming up with new ideas, changing business models and launching things off the top of my head. I don’t plan much, instead I CREATE! But that’s also kind of my genius right? It’s the thing that brings me the most joy! The thing that brings so many successes in my life! So I think instead of trying to fit in a neurotypical square, it’s just been useful to find other neurodiverse ovals are the right fit for me.

Anyways, it’s a fucking delight to be in this happy little trio. And guess what? We’re profitable AF!

That’s me… gotta do school run now!

Let me know your thoughts on shorter masterclasses over longer e-courses, yeah?

Love yas big heaps,

FREE GOODIES:

✏️  Daily-ish writings
????  Weekly love letters
????  Podcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised
????  A library of free treasures

COURSES:

????   Sales Star
💥.  Marketing Without Social Media
????   Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income
????   40 Days To A Finished Book
????   40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-Course