We’re heading off on a wild adventure! Travel, business and expansive energy with Michael Poon

The audience has spoken and I’ve been listening! Back by popular demand, my incredible business partner and husband, Michael Poon, is here to talk all things travel, business, and the expansive energy we are carrying around our next wild adventure. For Michael and I, travelling is such an energising experience and when we embraced the digital nomadic lifestyle, our business expanded in ways we never could have imagined. 

So in this episode, we’re taking you back to where it all started. We chat about the incredible impact travel has made on our business, how we logistically made it happen, downsizing into a suitcase each and the playful energy that travel helps me tap into. Every time we travel, the business makes more money and it’s because people are magnetised to the incredible energy that it gives us.

On our first date, Michael told me that he wanted to have an endless summer one year. Fast forward a couple of years, and we made that dream a reality. We talk about the high vibes we created in our digital nomadic life, how we budget and what we did to create a lifestyle that is derived around seeing the world and building a wildly successful business.

If it wasn’t for the pandemic, we would still be overseas somewhere. Now, after a couple of years back in Australia, our next wild adventure is about to begin! We couldn’t be more excited for what’s about to unfold. Michael and I talk about our plans for this next travel season, the places and things we’re most looking forward to and how this luxurious and expansive energy will continue to flow into the business no matter where we are in the world. 

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Transcript

Ruby  00:00

Welcome back, everybody, we are jumping into a very juicy topic that both Michael and I get asked a lot about today. So we are welcoming Michael, back to the podcast. Yeah.

Michael Poon  00:13

Thank you for having me. Yes, I was surprised. I think I say this every podcast, I mean, surprised that people actually listen to that episode and want some more of me. So here I am.

Ruby  00:23

It's you know what, apart from the last little bit that you just said that they want more of me, it's very common that my podcast guests say that, like, they're really surprised that the episode did well, or that, you know, people wanted to hear what they had to say. And I just have to say you have a lot of value to add, and a lot of context to give outside of just me talking to the group. So I love I love having you here, babe. And today's discussion is going to be a fun one. Because we're going to be covering off some of the questions that the audience has asked us about. Travel, our relationship, and mostly lifestyle, aspirational type goals and, and what we did to create a lifestyle that is really derived around wealth and seeing the world and building an incredibly and wildly successful business. So couldn't have done this conversation without my business partner, and my husband, and let's take everyone back to the very beginning. Do you remember what you said to me on our very first date together?

Michael Poon  01:31

Yes, yes, I do. So I think

Ruby  01:34

This is not a test 

Michael Poon  01:37

shit. What did I say back then? Yeah. Now you asked me, Are you I think it was a question about you know what your hopes and dreams are on those lines. And I said, one year, I want to have an endless summer. So for a whole year, travelled the world and experience summer continuously as the season in different parts of the world, which I got that idea in high school. When I first watched the movie, the end of the summer, I thought, Well, what a great concept. But it was also in that moment, I remember thinking, well, I keep saying that's my dream to have an endless summer, but I'm actually doing nothing to achieve it. There I am stuck in a corporate job. Not really true, because one of my other dreams was to climb the corporate ladder and be a CEO of a public company. But that did conflict with also having an endless summer, that internal struggle. So to answer your question in a long winded way, I said to you I wanted to have an endless summer.

Ruby  02:35

I couldn't believe it. Honestly, when you said that Michael was the perfect corporate man image that you can think of where it was the blue suit, the brown shoes, the white shirt. And when you said that it was just such a complete shock to me, because I always thought you were going to be the CEO of a company as opposed to dreaming of leaving all of that behind and just living a humble lifestyle. Or I think you even went on to say I just want to live by a beach shack and you know, spend time by the water. And it was such a completely different view on you. And I think it was at that point. I was like, Let's get married. Together.

Michael Poon  03:16

That's good. I ran. You hadn't met me when I was rocking the corporate mullet. So if you saw that you would have no but you grew it back. Remember? You inspired me. I said this girl deserves a mullet.

Ruby  03:30

Oh my gosh, I wish that on nobody. I wish that on no one. But honestly, I think that was like really the beginnings of this dream that we had together. Because fast forward a few years. We've moved in together had Teddy had this beautiful blended family living in perfect suburbia in no less than a light blue house and a picket fence, right? Like we had all of that. And then we decided that we'd take this holiday to Bali one year. And when we travelled there, we had a chef and a driver and this beautiful villa with cleaners who would come and I remember we've taken the laptop with us because we were side hustling at the time and I thought I'd be really inspired to create things for the business. And do you remember I took a call from one of the businesses that wanted to collaborate with me. And I said, I'm currently in Bali, but we can do this thing called a zoom call. It was just it was so new. It was 2017 we do this thing called called a zoom call or we can FaceTime. And after I took that call, a light bulb just went off for the both of us. And we were like, Oh, we could do this. We could start an online business and travel all the time.

Michael Poon  04:47

Yeah. And then I think we read The Four Hour Workweek, which was all about that further proof that people were doing it. So we thought this is it. This is what we're going to aim for.

Ruby  04:58

You know, like thinking back on that it's so Incredible and so amazing because it wasn't like there were others who were readily examples for us to lean on. There was definitely a lot of travel vloggers and a lot of single people or just like couples, but Jim how hard it was to find a family who was doing this. And not just a family who travelled every now and again, like family who were a digital nomadic family, and also the families that we did find they were all trying to do it on a really tight budget and driving around in a van. And nothing against that. But it really wasn't our style. Like we wanted to do it luxuriously and really live it up. But it's amazing, don't you think that we just found the groove and we just took the plunge and did it anyway.

Michael Poon  05:49

Yeah. So I went off YouTube watching the digital nomad family, but because they, you know, had hundreds and 1000s of subscribers and are getting sponsorships and things, it was a bit easier for them. We've, we've we've travel, but I just figured, well, they had to start from somewhere they get to there, which is probably where we're at now. So let's just do it, let's say and to get our business fully online. But I think at the time we did, or you did a lot of in person workshops, so we had to really transition to become fully online. So we could travel. And we said let's just go travel for six months, see how it is. And that six months tended to almost two years. And it wasn't until the pandemic hit,

Ruby  06:29

the travelling component for us became a really big part of our focus. And we talked about this in our previous episode together, about setting up financial runway to begin our business. And then we began setting up our second runway, which included something so radical at the time, selling our house, and putting that amount of profit, which luckily, we did get a really nice profit on it. We did some really interesting things with that profit, and effectively began a new era in our life, which is now I guess, commonly referred to as leasing the lifestyle. Let's go into some detail on what we did exactly there. Because it's one thing to be like, oh, you know, they started the business and they started travelling, but what was the in between part for us that we had to kind of iron out and work through.

Michael Poon  07:23

First we sold our house. And with that, because we had a three bedroom house big garage, sold a lot of our possessions. So downsize. So then we moved to the city with an apartment, which was smaller, so we had to downsize, which was good. And then we lived in that apartment for what almost a month, at least 12 months. And once again, we had a debt if we're going to travel, we only had three suitcases, each one suitcase, each between, say three and total, I'm trying to say. So we had to downsize even further to have all our stuff in these three suitcases from that apartment. So some people that's daunting, but to what to me and probably yourself, as well as liberating is to get rid of all the material possessions. Yeah, or the clothes that you never wear and stuff like that. So that was a big step to get ready to travel if we're going to be on the road and not have a lease and not have all we've got this really Yeah, our suitcases, a lot of downsizing and selling of stuff to do.

Ruby  08:26

Someone has asked about how we budget for something like this, because it's really hard to know. And going back to the first time we did it. So to give context to everybody. And if you're new around here, always a massive Welcome and hello, you've kind of just come straight into the deep end with us. But we travelled from 2019 till 2020 and had to return to Australia because of the pandemic and there was no intention whatsoever to come back and settle at all. If the pandemic didn't happen, we would still likely be out there and living a very different type of lifestyle. But regardless that one year that we travelled, we had absolutely only the intention to keep going for as long as we could. And did it come across your mind a lot around what to budget and how to budget for that.

Michael Poon  09:15

First we need to afford the plane tickets and I think we bought them for the six months out.

Ruby  09:20

That was a big manifestation moment for us.

Michael Poon  09:24

Yeah, like you can't prepay or you know laybuy Or what's called instalments for plane tickets. So we paid them so once they're paid for that patch lock locked in, so we got the one way trip. It was first was to New Zealand and then to Hawaii, and then Los Angeles. So we had that locked in. And then we started booking Airbnb and things in advance. So you could pay even full when you book them or a deposit or whatever. So we started putting deposits. So then that that sort of forced you to budget because you've already sort of paid for it. So you know, three months, probably three months outside of doing that. So, you know, 25% to 50% of the trips already sort of paid for in full

Ruby  10:12

remember, like I said, I'd say things like, when I signed my next client, we're going to book, the place that we want to book in Orange County, when we click over that 20k month, we'll use that to buy the plane ticket. So they were we sort of gamified it in a sense to create that connection. And that fun, and that will, it was really playful for my energy to link whatever it was that I was earning in my business, to something that we were physically going to experience and receive, even if it was, you know, way down the track. It felt really so much better for me than to just put it into a savings account and you know, kind of one day do something cool with it on a rainy day.

Michael Poon  10:53

Yeah, no, we were very intentional with Okay, when we get this Yes, lump of money coming through. We're going to book this in. Everything was dedicated for us to travel and book stuff in. And then it was a question of like, that's when I said before, we're going to travel for at least six months, because I was confident we had enough money to travel for six months

Ruby  11:10

was that just because you done some projections, or just based on the bookings that we had had?

Michael Poon  11:16

Were on projections, because I think the last three to four months before we left, or we will make an consistent 10k months, I'm pretty sure. The funny thing is that the month we did believe was our lowest month ever, I think was like two grand or something that month, maybe three, it was really low. And I thought to myself, oh shit, what's happened with we, as our luck changed? About maybe it was because we were putting more work into clearing the house and especially in the business, maybe that was why but for whatever reason, we had a really low month, I probably I don't know if I ever told you that. 

Ruby  11:50

No, I knew I was crying about it. 

Michael Poon  11:53

I was like, Oh, this is gonna make it interesting. Fortunately, the next month, we it picked up again, actually, it picked up substantially. I think I think we made 17 grand next month. And ironically, you know, travel is expensive. But for us, the more we travelled, the more income we sent them a business income because I think people were more attracted to our story, particularly your story, because you're the one posting about how we could travel with a small kid or small kids and have an online business and our business just started to really, really grow. So I didn't see that coming. But as a pleasant surprise, that's for sure.

Ruby  12:31

Isn't that crazy? Because if that's the case, then by the time we landed, we lived a big portion of our time in the United States in Huntington Beach. Such a beautiful time. And both Michael and I is like favourite memory, I believe is like in HP. And I still remember that one week, not even maybe that one weekend. Remember I did $5,000.0 3 months to work with me and I signed like 10 people in a row. Yeah. And it was so nuts. So it was like 50k sales weekend or something. And I was on one call after another one discovery call option of that I still remember going upstairs to that bedroom, just going alright, another discovery call another discovery call. And it was like sale sale sale, one after the other. And, you know, I guess we all have really like humble beginnings because like, there's no way to charge five grand for three months now. But to me that was just a real combination of a belief in myself a belief that we could continue to make income whilst travelling. And not just that most of my audience were buying who were buying these services were non Australians. They were from America and from the UK. And it really opened up literally travelling opened up the world to us but opened up our coaching business as well. 

Michael Poon  14:37

when we left, I said we had our lowest month ever four months later, we're making 50 grand months

Ruby  14:43

minimum like it was and it was really consistent. And then there was some months where there would be like a massive jump and then you know so much happened travelling wise for the business where what happens is I know personally for me and then sort of speaking on behalf Have you Mike but we just get really expanded by what we see in what we feel and how we move through this world. That what came from that with things like red carpet days, like having one to one days with my clients. And I just think that was actually so bold for the both of us to just kind of put it out there and be like, let's run it and see what happens having no idea how to actually do a VIP red carpet day, but just putting it out there. So we held them in like Lisbon and London and Bulgaria intention to hold it in Bali, all these places. And I just think that was so fucking awesome. That one we were able to travel and do events. And then secondly, inner circle was really born out of our travels. Because before then I hadn't had like a super high level mastermind I'd only launched it once we began travelling and the first call we ever did for inner circle. We were in Vienna in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Michael Poon  16:03

I remember that. I took Teddy out we've made sure we clear the apartment. So you had a nice quiet space. I remember that. Yeah, I think for us travelling energises us. So we're about to travel in two months time. And because we just did a little trip to Adelaide. And now I'm starting to get really energised, just the anticipation of travelling, once we're over there. I think we get really energised, and we become really intentional with our time because we'll be in a new city. So we'll do work in the morning now, and we're gonna go sightseeing in the afternoon, or vice versa. For us, it really gives us an uplift. And I think that muscles come through in our business and you know, in the what you post, and people are attracted to that people want to jump on the momentum. When I say someone's got good momentum, they want to go well, what's going on them. I'm curious. So we got, we've got more and more inquiries.

Ruby  16:53

Every time we travel, the business makes more money. And I'd love to say that this was a belief that we put into it. But I honestly feel it really is this is where I feel like energy and design, Human Design plays a really big part in it, because we could have never had guessed that it would have happened until we did it. And then we realised the whole lens that we were looking through was so small, and having travelled it just become bigger, like. So really specific example of that is, you hear this a lot thinking small and feeling small, feeling trapped, and you're not quite sure what that is. So something as simple as the idea of, I can only do calls between nine to five, let's say, because that's the working day, once we started to travel, that seems like such a small, far away thought for our business, because we realised Hang on, there's someone awake all the time, at every hour of the day that if I were to just say I'm doing a call at 3am, which I wouldn't, but let's say it's local time Australia, 3am and something else overseas, my business is still running, it's still operating, no one's going to crack it, people aren't gonna get angry with the times. And that was when I started to realise I didn't have to worry about those small timetable issues anymore, because I have a global business. And there's always people who it is going to be the right time zone for it isn't, you know, I don't know if that makes sense to everybody. But that certainly was one example that comes to mind when I think about how travel has helped us expand the business and what

Michael Poon  18:27

blows my mind is that we have international clients, we have clients from so many different countries, like we literally are an international business I that just blows my mind that that can occur. But to the wonders of technology, such as Wi Fi and things. Yeah, you can you can reach humans from all across the globe, that just blows my mind and how natural it is for people just to connect, like you said, we've got a lot of American clients and UK and European clients and some from Asia say even a couple of from South America, even South Africa Africa now so we're almost every every continent, I'd say. So most of it, you know just want to do good by their family and, you know, by their partners and for themselves. So yeah, getting a bit mushy. But yeah, the human spirit, it's so so connected. It's it's a beautiful thing.

Ruby  19:19

Yeah, and I think that is a testament to so much of the work that we've done around setting up the boundaries and saying no to this type of client and yes to more of these types of clients and everything I you know, kind of say in my sales and marketing, but also the things that you helped me really articulate in sales pages and emails and even things like payment plans and being really intentional about that has helped us craft that business that you know, to what it is today, which is so amazing. So before we finish up and we you know, like I said we're gonna keep this episode much shorter than per usual. What are you looking forward to the most coming up to kind of like it feels like the second round of world travel. How do you think it will be different? What are you looking to recreate? Let's talk about this.

Michael Poon  20:09

Yeah, at the start, I was looking to recreate our experiences, but you're never going to recreate the same experience. I've I've let it go, I think I had that conversation with you.

Ruby  20:19

You really wanted to recreate Orange County,

Michael Poon  20:23

I had a great time because I made friends and I was watching sport and I was drinking beer. So yeah, I really want to experience that again. But it's not, it's never going to be the same as that. So I let that go. Last time, when we travelled, I would plan or we would tear stuff out at least a month ahead. So we'd sort of know where we'd be a month ahead. With flights and accommodation, this trip, all we've booked is the flights and one hotel night, when we get there.

Ruby  20:52

And your cousin offered us her New York home. So we've got that covered, we've

Michael Poon  20:56

got that as well. So we think we might be going there. But this one is going to be even more spontaneous. So you know, I know, we might have someone from Chicago or St. Louis that we go visit or maybe someone from Phoenix, we might go visit. And then we might just go across the pond and visit someone or watch a football game or two. So it's gonna be a bit more spontaneous, I got things I want to do mainly go to sporting games,

Ruby  21:18

and I just want to go to Mexico, I've never been, I just want to go to Mexico, chill out there for a few days, just scratch that itch and then be done with it.

Michael Poon  21:26

I want to go to Mexico, because we're going to be initially is going to be cold, and I want the summer summer guy. So it will probably be a bit warmer down there. But I'm getting over that. Everyone tells me why Christmas is magical. So I'm looking forward to that looking forward to a bit of code a bit of Winterfell action, but then you get to a warmer climate, maybe a month or two afterwards.

Ruby  21:48

And I don't you just have this like, I know, yeah, you just have this feeling that the business is going to go through another growth spurt. This time around.

Michael Poon  21:57

I feel really excited. I feel like there'll be some new opportunity that will present itself to us. I got no idea what it is yet, but I feel like there'll be something will happen. Either we'll have a aha moment or someone will approach us but I feel like something big is going to happen.

Ruby  22:13

Yes. And Michael and I actually we both go to two psychics, the same psychics and one of them's in person, one of them's on the phone. And the one that was phone based, he said to me, and he also said to Michael, in the same sense, when we're there in the United States, something will come to us an opportunity will unfold when we're on ground there will hear something we'll stumble across something and it's very specific. We won't know what it is unless we're there. So I think both of us are just like, what is it? What is it? What is it? So we'll be very excited to report that back for sure.

Michael Poon  22:51

Definitely. I can't wait. I feel like something's going to happen. And that was sort of validation or confirmation that something will happen. So for sure. I'm so excited. I can't wait to go travelling getting I'm not normally pretty calm before situations. But I'm starting to get

Ruby  23:05

very excited voice by the way. I'm so excited. I love it. That's that's the level. That's the level. But I love that so much.

Michael Poon  23:17

Very cool. Let me circle back here. Someone hold me back.

Ruby  23:23

Oh my gosh. I hope you all loved this episode. Like I mentioned, it feels like so many of you are just like bring Michael back. Bring mike back. So I will incorporate more of Michael's interviews into our upcoming lineup. Thank you so much again, baby, you are the best and we'll be sure to keep you updated on all of our travels as they as they unfold. All right. We'll catch you guys really soon. And any final parting words?

Michael Poon  23:51

Whether you think you can or you think you can't. You're right, Henry Ford.

Ruby  23:56

Love that. Love that. All right, my loves have an amazing rest of your day and we'll catch you soon. Bye.