My guest on this episode is Gemma Went: introvert, deep thinker, sage, and maverick. She is an award-winning online business mentor, certified mindset coach, hypnotherapist, and founder of the Lighthouse Business Academy. And behind that are over two decades of very high-level business experience in PR and branding and marketing.

We discuss topics including:

· How she loves the online world, creating courses, scaling with programmes etc. A world that gives us so many opportunities and - especially for women - to grow, to make money, to break down paradigms around wealth.

· Yet it is a world that can pull you into what she calls ‘the online race’. And it's a race that you don't really want to be in. As women get dragged into it and it makes them come from a place of comparison that triggers unhealthy thoughts and imposter syndrome.

· That in 2019 she got caught up in this race and nothing was ever enough. This constant pressure took its toll on her nervous system, resulting in stress and feeling ‘out of sorts’. So, she cancelled her profitable revenue streams, took time, stepped back, and worked out what was right for her. Then the pandemic hit so she dived even deeper via journaling, working with therapists and nutritionists to get back in balance.

· Gemma’s big realisation was that she was the boss. That what she had learned was expected from the boss – from her high adrenalin agency days – wasn’t how she wanted her life to look anymore. So, she set about redesigning her business to give her joy and to help other women who fall into the same trap.

· Why two of her core values are integrity and intimacy and what this means in business.

· We look back nine years to the start of her business when she had nothing, was pregnant, jobless, and working from a friend’s kitchen table and the lessons learned along the way.

· What success on her terms today, drawing on her spiritual side and using self-compassion as her guide, looks like and also why the spirited and rebellious side of her personality means that she gives herself permission to do other things or make mistakes without guilt.

· That a ‘six-month bucket’ spreadsheet allows her to capture her maverick ideas without losing focus, becoming overwhelmed or fearful that the fun and spontaneity will go out of her work.

· To end the interview, we look at why there is often so much negative and toxic messaging on social media, especially from women to women, and how this could be healed for all our good.

· Finally, Gemma leaves us with this gem of advice: That the only mentor you really need to really help you navigate this online world is you. If you start with you for everything and drown out all the other noise that surrounds you, get to know your own inner wisdom and make decisions from that space then everything changes for the best.

Gemma Went - https://gemmawent.co.uk

Instagram - https://instagram.com/gemmawent 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/gemmacwent