Get Booked LIVE SHOW – Marie Hall Empowerment Blogger

Hello, I'm Hazel Butterfield and this is Get Booked for Women's Radio Station. I hope you're all well and ready to get booked. Today we do not have any book reviews, we have a guest Next on the line, we are going to be speaking to the inspirational Marie Hall from Liverpool. Hello! Hi, how are you doing? I'm fine, thank you, Hazel. How are you? You know what, I'm all right actually. It's a bit chilly outside, but it's really sunny. Yeah, yeah, a bit chilly down here as well. Yeah, well, it's up there, isn't it? Up? Oh yeah, it's up. We're Liverpool, yeah. Yeah, I always get confused because I'm actually originally from Huddersfield, so I was always like, oh yeah, oh, I love it. That's fantastic. Sorry? That's fantastic. Our CEO of where I work, he's actually from Huddersfield, and a lot of our board are from there as well. Crazy small world. It is a very small world indeed. But we're now in our studio in Covent Garden. I've been here for about 17, 18 years, so my accent goes all over the place, although it does occasionally go into Liverpudlian. Uh, so please don't. I'm in good company then. Yeah, it was a nightmare for me when Rebecca Ferguson was on X Factor. Seriously. Anyway, I digress, I digress. I'm so happy to have you on the show today. Oh, thank you. So I'm going to tell everybody, so you basically have an empowerment blog, don't you? Yeah, yeah. So, uh, it's all about changing the narrative, what you write about empowerment, um, and It's all motivational positivity, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, basically, yeah. Now, just so people can find out where they can get hold of you, if you let us know some, your website, your Twitter handle, Instagram, you've got all of it, haven't you? Yeah, my website is mariehallempowerment.co.uk. Yeah, you'll find me on Twitter, just search for Marie Hall. I am, I'm not absolutely sure what my actual Twitter handle is, but most people do tend to find me straight away. Oh, shall I have a look? I can, I can do it. I'm like, I'm like, it's @mariehaule. It's @marie and then a load of numbers. I'm sure the first one's 8. I wonder, do we follow each other? Oh, I follow you. I definitely follow you, Hazel. Oh, I follow you too. I'm a fan. Oh, thanks, honey. Uh, yeah, you are Marie H-A-U-L-E. 87066307. That's the one. That is the one. I don't know what those numbers mean. Oh, so you just, you just like randomly generated something then. I need to, I need to fix that, don't I? I don't think you can once you've started. Oh, really? Okay. Anyway, we're just chatting away. I feel like we should be sitting there with a nice glass of Sauvignon or something. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, totally. But there's so much I want to find out because actually you are an empowerment blogger, but you blog like nearly daily, don't you? Yeah, yeah, I love it. Absolutely love it. How do you find the time? I think, see, I don't need to sleep, honestly. Like, I wake up at 4 AM and that's it. I think there's no point staying in bed now I'm awake. And then I'm up and then there's nothing on the telly at that time. I haven't got the attention span to sit in front of the telly and watch programmes anyway. So it's straight onto the computer, whatever's in me mind. And just, it's funny because a thousand words can happen in like 2 hours. Do you know what? When it's, I mean, obviously I blog as well, and sometimes you're just in the mood and obviously 4 AM is when you are in the mood, but something just like an idea or someone says a line and then before you know it, you've kind of regurgitated these words that have just kind of, some of my best blogs where there's no planning and you just kind of write constantly. Absolutely, yeah, comes from the heart. Yeah, well, that's the thing, isn't it? It's— yes, it's too much planning sometimes kind of messes it up a little bit, although you are doing a bit of a series at the moment, so there is a bit of planning involved, aren't you? You're doing the Paradigms and Perspective series. Yeah, yeah, that's come kind of, you know, that just came out of nothing. What I was finding was, um, you know, when you're around people and you hear them speaking See, I tend to sit and listen. I love to listen. I'm a people watcher and I'm listening to things and I'm listening to language. And you know when you can hear people and you're thinking, if you could record yourself and listen back, what you're actually saying is, I'm the one standing in front of myself and this is because I've got this belief. When actually it's like, where did that even come from? And do you really believe that? And if you was to scratch it, move it to the side, would you still hold yourself? Do you know what I mean? So that's where the paradigms and perspectives one came from. I think it's a case of, you know, things like this occur so we can, you know, get back together, discuss old paradigms and perspectives, and then progress and, you know, move forward. Do you know, that's where that— that's quite interesting that you say that because I came across a situation. I read— do you know Robert Webb and the book that he brought out? Yeah, no. And he basically, he's a very clever bloke, but he— Really? It was very similar how he basically brought to attention, it was called "About How to Be a Boy," and he brought to attention about all the kind of negative gender phrases that we use, and like what you were saying, where we just automatically say things that we don't necessarily think about what we're saying, we're just used to it, or it's just a cultural norm or whatever, and it was a bit, he brought to attention that, I mean, we are quite a liberal household, but the amount of times I've turned around to my kids when they've been gossiping away to their friends and taking forever to get out of the playground, like, "Oh my God, they're such a girl. They're such a girl sometimes." I'm like, how appalling is that to say? And you don't think about it. And there's no malice meant in it, but it's loaded with preconceived ideas. And you're just like, Dude, and I remember like for a couple of weeks afterwards, every time I did it, I was like kind of emotionally punching myself going, gotta stop this. Yeah, it's where we've been. It's how we've been raised. It's what we know because that's kind of our community. So we all said it growing up, or maybe, you know, some members of the family used to say it. And so it's kind of just part of your natural make up. And then when you grow up and you kind of like, actually, I don't even agree, or I don't think that. It's, it's just a narrative that we have inbred in us that we're not constantly reassessing, which a lot of your blogs about reassessing our narrative and reassessing, you know, reprogramming our brains to be what you want them to be. But actually, yeah, a bit like what you said about the whole kind of the 2 A3 sheets of paper and figuring out your dreams and what's stopping them, and writing stuff down. Yeah. Is what helps you realize things. Sometimes you'll be like, I have no idea what's stopping my dreams, and then you suddenly start doing a spider diagram and you're like, yeah, I do that. Absolutely. Oh my God, I've been doing that for 10 years. What's wrong with me? It's crazy, isn't it? Just absolutely crazy. But it's so true. And how many people around us are doing it? We're conscious of it, so we can, you know, be We can be, we can empower ourselves to kind of address it, change it. But what about those guys around us that haven't become conscious of it yet? And that's, you know, how do we make them conscious of it? Do you know what I mean? And that is what your empowerment blogs are about, though, isn't it? It's about kind of opening our eyes to these things. And it's not, it's not, they're not lecture. They're just, hey, have you done this? And people go, yeah. Oh yeah, I have. Yeah, but these are girly chats, a lot of them. They're not, they're not just girly chats. The blogs that I've read, I think, go across the genders. Yeah, yeah, a few people have said that. I mean, just because you're talking about maybe the paradigm of girls can't play football, it's the same as, you know, you don't— it's not necessarily about the girl not playing football, it's about the boy thinking that he can't do this, or 'Oh, do that,' or whatever the gender enforcements have been. Yeah, absolutely. It's like, it's not okay for a boy to not like football. All boys should like football and all boys should be good at football. But why? Who said? Well, do you know what? It was quite funny actually, because although I kind of try not to use the gender-specific terms, I was playing football with my youngest son and A bit of tongue in cheek. I mean, I am, I'm better than him. I love it. He doesn't agree. And I was like, honey, one day you will be as good as a girl at football, but you just need to try a little bit harder. Now I think that's kind of tongue in cheek and sarcasm, and obviously he knows Mummy's Northern. So I think it's kind of, I don't know, is that okay when it's the other way round? Yeah, I know what you mean. It's crazy, isn't it? If we worry too much about what we can and can't say, we'll end up driving ourselves crazy and then we'll, you know, it's— Yeah. It is a bit silly, but at the same time, you know, my kids will come back with the same sort of comments. Yeah. But I think it's all right as long as it's kind of, I don't know. I'm trying to make sure I don't get in trouble now. I am good though. I am good. Mind my daughter. She's 10, fantastic at football. My son, he's 16 and he couldn't really care less. He could give or take football. Do you know what I mean? He's, he's done. But will he play with his sister? Will he play football with his sister? No, he's just like, I could be doing something so much more fun than this. Where does Olivia? She's kicking it around the house. We're telling her, get outside with that football. She's got about 5 pairs of football boots. She's got all the Liverpool kits. She's totally there. A little fan, but Taylor's just like, "I don't get it. I don't get it at all." He's into a book, you know, straight into a book, practicing his acting and stuff. Oh yeah. Football, no way. So, did you say your boy's a 12-year-old? My son is 16. Oh, 16, sorry. I don't know where I got 12 from. Yeah, so my son, my eldest son, he's completely into his books, absolutely loves it. He's quite academic. I love that. And yeah, my youngest, who is 9, yeah, loves football. I mean, the amount of times I have to shout at him on a night— well, not shout at him, but I'm like, stop banging the door! It's like, oh, I'm trying to do burpees because I want to be fit enough for football. I'm like, do it another time, I'm watching Emmerdale. Oh, I can relate so much. And but, you know, but they're, they're bundle. They like to do lots of different things. They both like to read. They do a little bit of everything. I think, you know, that's variety. That is the spice of life, isn't it? Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Do it all. Yes, exactly. And, well, what we're going to do is we're going to go over to a quick break. We are going to be back chatting with you very, very shortly. I've got about 20 different questions that I want to ask you and I've got through about 3. So, we'll be back in 3 minutes. Fantastic. See you soon. Women's Radio Station, the voice of women worldwide. I'm Sarah Louise Ryan and welcome to Love Lessons Live on Women's Radio Station. Hello and welcome to Future Classic Women Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Women's Radio Station. Hello and welcome to Judy May Is Listening. Hello, this is Anna Kennedy at Women's Radio Station Live, voice of women worldwide, talking about all things autism, women, the possibilities are endless. That's what makes us different. 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If you are interested in sponsoring or advertising, please contact me on 07956 371483, or alternatively zm@womensradiostation.com. Welcome back to GetBooked and the second section of today's show. I've got a bit of a thing where I start dancing away to that jingle and I make sure I don't get in trouble for hitting the microphone, but I love it, love it. But in the first section, we were chatting to Marie Hall, who's still on the line. Hi. Hi. Now, we were talking about your kids actually beforehand, weren't we? Yeah. Now, do they read your blogs? Olivia does, Taylor not so much. Sienna, she's only 6, so she's not, she's not really there yet. But Olivia, she's into it. You've got 3 kids? Yeah, yeah. And you still get up at 4 AM and write a blog nearly every day? Yeah, yeah. What's wrong with you? Wow. Do you like go to bed at about 6 PM or something? Yeah, I am. I'm usually in bed between 9 and 10, so like most people's evening begins at 9, that's when I'm going to bed. Fair enough. So basically you just make your eldest son turn all the lights off and do everything else then? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mummy's off to bed, do the washing up, darling. Yeah, everyone's silent now, Mummy's in bed. Yesterday, like, that's fine. That is the thing though, isn't it? We're getting into the summer and 9 o'clock is going to be light. Yeah. Yeah. And the kids recognise it straight away, don't they? Oh, don't they just? Why do we have to go to bed now? It's so light. Shh. Yeah. This is when Mummy gets an extra bit of daytime. Yes, that's it. I love them to pieces. But so she does read them. And what does she think? Does she comment on them? Does she act on them? Olivia will question me. She'll ask me outwardly, like, so for example, the fear, the fear articles that I do, that is where she's at at the moment. So she's like, so you're saying, you know, it's okay to feel scared but do it anyway? And it's like, yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying. Yeah. So she's like, how do you do that, Mum? Because if you're too scared, you're not going to do it, are you? And it's— she's put me on the spot, do you know what I mean? But I kind of love that because then I'm thinking, if she's thinking that, she's 10 years of age, are the people reading it thinking that? So then I'm thinking, okay, this is, this isn't a little exercise on the side of, you know, the article, um, identify the fear, you know, acknowledge it, allow it to be there. I'm not saying hide your fears and stuff, but, you know, then learn to deal with it, work with it, harness it, be in charge of it rather than it being in charge of you. So for Olivia, what I tell Olivia is Fear is informing ya. It's not there to stop ya. So fear is, hello, I'm here. You know, you're afraid. Let's acknowledge it. But it's not there to say, oh, I'm afraid, don't do this. But fear normally is an indicator that it's something that matters as well, something that matters to you. And, and I guess the whole reason behind your empowering blogs is, you know, The more you embrace something that scares you, the more it will become less scary, the more you do it. I love that. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's it, isn't it? Feel the fear and do it anyway. Yeah. Yeah. And then afterwards, kind of celebrate yourself. Feel good. You know, I did that. I was terrified and I did that. And look now what's coming off the back of it. So then it's kind of like, ooh, what next? You know, what can I face next? One of the good things though about fear is that if you do try something and you succeed, succeed, the euphoria afterwards, the adrenaline rush, it's fantastic. And you know what, if you fail, the point is, is that you go, do you know what, at least I tried, at least I knew, at least I know how it was gonna go. It's the not knowing that kind of plagues on your mind and goes, ah. Yeah, I think that's the empowering part, what you've just said. So at least you know, I still tried. And then it's like, now we can sit and pick the lessons out of what that fail was. Why did that go wrong? What have I learned from it? And we go again. Yeah. I mean, I was— Do you know what? I was looking at some of the topics you covered, which I'm not going to mention all of them because it's only an hour-long show. But inspiration, going for it, get your mindset set right, motivation, making it happen. As we were discussing before, paradigms and perspective. Positive vibes only, striving. The incredible This Girl Can, I love that. And ooh, top 10 empowering books. Oh yeah. I haven't had a chance to see that. Oh, go on then, tell me what you, this was only in December you wrote this one. Yeah, but my top 3 pretty much stays the same. I'm kind of loyal to those top 3. You know, when you just, those books that you just keep going back to when you get something different from them every time. Yeah. Do you know, my, I think me number one would have to be The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Have you ever read it? No, but you know what? When it was World Book Day the other day, my work husband at another job sent it to me on WhatsApp and said, I'm not a huge reader, Hazel, but this is the one book that I love and please read it. Absolutely, Hazel. And I was like, what? Wow. Tell me about it. What, I don't, sometimes I don't actually find out about a book before I read it. If somebody recommends it, I just do it 'cause I wanna be surprised. But go on, tell me what it's about. It's, do you know what, it's the only way I could describe this is beautiful. It's a beautiful story, right? So it's one of those books where it's about a journey. So, oh, where can I start? I don't know where to start. So it's a novel by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. It was first published back in 1988, and it was originally written in Portuguese. It became translated then to like English, and apparently, you know, there was pictures of Madonna holding it and all these famous people. I've even heard Will Smith refer to it. Apparently, it was an overnight success, or no, it wasn't an overnight success. It then became a worldwide thing. So, this is a book that was written in the '80s, and I've only just got it in front of me in, say, the last 5 years. Yeah, I've only had it, I've seen pictures of it over the last few years. That's it. Yeah, and I think you can tell when you read the story. So it's the, the main character in the story is Santiago, and he's a shepherd, and basically he wants to travel. He wants to go and search the world for this treasure. And when, when he does go on his journey to find this treasure, because he keeps having these dreams and they're about— there's a part of the desert and he dreams about like the pyramids and stuff, but He's never seen them in his life, so he's like, there's just something forcing him, you know, like pushing him, willing him, like a passion and inner kind of spirit, you know, saying, just do it, go for it, try. So he goes on this journey and goes through all kinds of crazy ups and downs, challenges, and, you know, he gets beaten up, he loses his sheep, and just, it makes some parts of it make you want to cry. Really, really, it's emotional. So it's an emotional journey, and that's why, and it takes you somewhere. Yeah, it's full of ups and downs, um, what he goes through. And then at the very end, the riches that he falls upon, that's the twist. I'm not going to tell you. So what he comes to find at the very end is not what you'd expect, because right the way through I'm thinking he's going to go and find a big bucket of gold and he's going to be rich forever. But actually it's the journey and all the lessons upon it. They're like the riches and the treasures that he gets. And then at the very end, it's such a twist what he actually finds. But then you go, oh my goodness. And it tells you about looking out for the signs, you know, looking out for the omens and stuff around you that are happening every day. These are the things that you should be, you know, paying attention to, learning from, using as opportunities. I suppose we'd describe them as opportunities. So when these opportunities come before you, don't be afraid, take it. Because it's, it's, you're being passed it, you know what I mean? So then it's like, at the end of it, you're just like, wow. Like, honestly, it's a, it's a wow, it's a wow book. But like I said, I've read it so many times, and every time I read it, I get something completely, absolutely new from it. Oh, it's, it's one of those wisdom, it's one of those I like to term like the Bible of life. Yeah. Oh wow, seriously, I'm, I'll definitely read it then. Yeah, definitely. I'd definitely— absolutely, if I was going to recommend any, that would be the top one. I've seen that you've got on there The Chimp Paradox as well. Yeah, that one blew my mind. That is heavy reading. You see, I've not read it because I basically got told to read The Chimp Paradox and— oh, what was the other one? I've nearly forgotten it. The 21 Chapters— oh, what's it called? I can't remember. There was two basically self-help books. What was the one that they kept on going on about in Orange Is the New Black? Did you watch it? I've never ever watched it, no. You've never watched it? I know, everybody says this. I haven't got the attention span to sit and watch TV. I miss out. Everyone talks about these fantastic films. You're not missing out, seriously. No, because like the amount of Netflix I watch, I could probably write 12 blogs a day with the extra time I potentially have. It's absolutely ridiculous. But no, I came across, it was The Chimp Paradox and the other book that I will, I'll come across in a second while I'm chatting about it. It's, I kind of, I couldn't decide which one to watch and I've put it out to, to read, sorry. And I put it out to Twitter and say, which one shall I read? And everyone, they came out with a 50-50% result and it was just, it was one of the, it was one of those ones. Oh God, I wanna find it. And then, oh, that's it. "Eat That Frog" by Brian Tracy, I found it. And that's the one I ended up reading. You've gotta read it. It's just about getting rid of stuff. Yeah. Who is this, Brian Tracy? Yeah, Brian Tracy. Crap, I should have written it down. I basically then eventually just went into the library and I decided whichever book is available first, that's the one I'll read and ended up being that "Eat That Frog," but it was so close to being "The Chimp Paradox." But the thing is I can't read too many books like that in succession because it just, it goes so deeply into your mind that I kind of need a nice— I need a comedy. Yeah. Or a nice little beach read. I think The Twin Paradox is definitely heavy reading. You're going to come out of it exhausted. Like, wow. I'm exhausted at the best of times. I mean, you've got 3 kids. Try having 2 kids, a beagle, and a cat. Seriously, they drive you crazy. Not to mention the dating. Anyway, that's another show completely. But I will, I will definitely, I'll put it on my list, but have a go at Eat That Frog, 'cause that's very much about the whole motivational elements of, you know, getting on with things a little bit. He does a lot of exercises, a little bit like what you've done with the sheets of paper on like trying to figure out what you want in life, what's stopping you. You can actually get an Eat That Frog activity book book so that you can work through the book and do— I love stuff like that. I love it. It's great. He's absolutely murdering it though. Right, we're gonna go over to another quick break. We'll have some messages and then when we've got through one more question— I've still got so many questions to ask you, Marie, so stick with us. And can't wait. Brilliant, brilliant. Let's bring it on, bring it on. Right, back in a second. Oh, wait a minute, we're not going just yet. We are going to be going over to our adverts very, very shortly. Now we're going to do it. There we go. Women's Radio Station is a fresh new broadcasting platform driven by love and passion, connecting women around the world in a global network. Is all about diversity from opinions, career, ethnicity, education. 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Moreover, our sponsorship and advertising packages can be tailored to your needs, whether it be a product or brand service you are looking to promote. If you are interested in sponsoring or advertising, please contact me on 07956 371483, or alternatively zm@womensradiostation.com. Welcome back to the second half of today's Get Booked here at Women's Radio Station. I'm Hazel and I've been chatting away to Marie Hall, empowerment blogger, who is still on the line. Hiya! Hello! Hello! I feel like, uh, I said before, I feel like we should just be sitting here and having a nice glass of something. Uh, yeah, me too. Chatting away, shooting the breeze, chatting about Just everything. And it's, we're predominantly talking about your blogs, but books that you like as well. And you know, what's important to you. Yeah. Now, something that I do wanna know, 'cause I was saying, I had like 10 questions I wanted to ask you. We've got through maybe 2 and a half. Chine away. Yeah. But I wanna know, how did you start blogging? What made you just go, oh, I'm gonna get this website, I'm gonna do it? It's funny because every time I have a birthday, I like to do something different. So the first blog was actually the 21st of November, which was my 38th birthday. And for a few days before, I was thinking, what can I do? What can I do different? It's coming. I haven't decided. And then it was just like, I don't even know where the idea came from. It was just one of those really, you know, a kind of wow moment where you just go, okay, a blog, literally just like that. So I was like, so how do I do it? I had to look into it myself. I haven't got any idea with all that kind of stuff. Ended up Googling the life out of how do I blog, where do I start, all in like one day, and then it was all done and ready to go. Now luckily, I always write anyway, you know, just write things randomly. So I had all this content from like over the past year or so. And it was just like, let's start it. There's the content, just edit it all and make it into and then post. And it was literally, that was where it came from. Oh, were you a little bit like me then when you get an idea in your head and you put it in your notes section of your iPad or whatever, and then you're like, I'm going to come back to that. Yeah, yeah. Why is it too? Actually, you've not been doing the blog that long, but there's just reams, Page, pages and pages of blogs. You have just gone to town on it, haven't you? Yeah, I love it. It's just that, you know, when you're passionate about something and you've got so much to kind of share. So it's kind of, it's that. Well, that is the thing though, isn't it? When you've got passion for something, it's, I mean, I started a podcast recently and me and a friend decided on a topic and we were both so passionate about it that, and I don't want to feel like there's a common theme here, but we basically sat with a bottle of wine by the end of it, set up the Twitter account. We'd already written the first 3 shows. We'd already planned when we were going to record the first one, and we'd already got a load of celebrities involved and everything. And when, when you're fired up and you know it's right, you can, you can just churn it out, right? Yeah, yeah. I think passion is contagious, and if you go to somebody and you tell them your idea and you're passionate about it, they're going to want to be a part of that because it's the energy of it, isn't it? Yeah, completely. But where do you get your inspiration from? I think it's just everyday situations, you know, everyday things that you either experience yourself or you see someone else kind of growing through, and you're interacting, you know, with those guys, and it's just like, oh, I need to write about this, I've got my own thoughts on this. And also, if I'm, you know, finding something a bit difficult I find writing it, you know, getting it out there, almost writing a letter to yourself, that kind of works. And a lot of these things you keep and then you can kind of turn into— it's an article, isn't it? It's cathartic. Oh, absolutely. Do you know what? Absolutely. Sometimes when, say, when something rubbish has happened or someone's disappointed you or something, something just horrible's happened, sometimes I write an email as if I'm gonna write it to that person, even if that person, the reason that you're upset about them is because they've died, you write the email. Occasionally you go back to it and you go, actually, because maybe the person isn't dead, you send that email anyway. And it's putting something down and kind of rationalizing and processing your thoughts and then reading it back later because sometimes when we're angry or upset, you write things down and then you go, yeah, that can never go anywhere, but I'm glad I wrote it down. Yeah, it's a way of venting, isn't it? It's a way of not keeping it bottled up, not ignoring it. You're actually— this happened, I felt like this, and I'm going to acknowledge that, and I'm going to kind of share that, even if it's with yourself, but you're still letting it out. Do you know what? One of the best presents I got actually this Christmas from both my kids, they both individually went and got very similar presents. On top of other things, they've both got me just really cute, pretty notebooks because they're like, we know you like to write stuff, you know, you know. Oh, lovely. And I thought it's really, really sweet. But you know what? Sometimes they'll come downstairs when they're supposed to be sleeping and they'll have just written a story and they want me to read it and assess it and see what they think. And we are big fans of writing and just, you know. That's gorgeous. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I do get a bit, scared sometimes. There's some blogs that I write that I don't necessarily put on my website. I write for other companies and I do it under a pseudonym because I'm not quite sure whether I want certain information to be out there. Yeah, I know what you mean. And then every now and again I'll just go, actually, I'm really proud of that, or it will have done quite well under the pseudonym. So I'll be like, do you know what, I'll share it. And people don't necessarily know it's me, or they might figure out it's me or whatever, because I do write on a variety of different topics. It's not It's not all just vegan blogs, books, and how to make an espresso martini. Although those are very important topics. Very important. Are you an espresso martini fan? I need to know. Absolutely. But the only thing is, once you start, you're not going home. No, you're not going to bed at 9, right? No. Nope. This is going to be a long one. As soon as they come out, that's it. We're out for the night. I know. It's like when 2 o'clock passes, like, coffee? You're on the bench. Espresso Martini, you're up. You're up, dude. Take over the reins. Absolutely. But talking about how, you know, certain blogs and how well they do, what's been your most successful blog? Do you have analytics? Can you tell? No, I haven't been checking anything. But what I do find is, I know, I don't, I just don't. I don't have any, I'm not analyzing anything, I'm not checking on anything. It's literally, I just want it to be out there, and if it reaches one person and it makes It takes someone do something that day, job done. Do you know what I mean? Well, do you get responses from people though on social media or anything? Yeah. All right, okay. That's probably a good indicator. Yeah, it's usually, they'll either email me to my email address or I'll get a DM on Twitter or somewhere like that. And you know what? It's so positive. It's such positive stuff. And that means so much because I think, fantastic. It'll even be someone saying, I needed to read that today. And I just think, well, that's what it's all about, isn't it? That's— sometimes it's just, it's the simple, the simple things. But I've had— what I have noticed is quite a few people coming back saying to me, will you make this into a workshop? Is this going to be some, you know, you should do this and you should do that. And I'm thinking, I've been thinking that myself anyway. So you are going to start doing workshops? Yeah, well, I've started working with the women's organization to basically turn it into a program. So the program I'm looking to create is Empowerment House, and this is aimed predominantly towards 30 to 55-year-old women, but all females are welcome. Anybody's welcome, males as well. Kind of those ladies who are in that moment in their career or in their change of career, and it's like, I've kind of hit the wall, so what next? And I want the Empowerment House program to kind of make them go, okay, why have I stopped? I still have ambition. Let's do it. Like, what is stopping you? Are you holding yourself back? Is it a fear of something? You know, are you— what is it? You know, that empowerment to take them to the next level and kind of workshopping and just being around people who all want to do the same thing. And sometimes it's just kind of like group mentality, isn't it? Absolutely. I believe if you get a group of 20 women in one room, they are all each other's biggest cheerleaders. That is your tribe right there. That's brilliant. And just, and people who want to be there as well. Yeah, absolutely. And we can all learn off each other, can't we? There's something that you're really strong at that I'm really weak at, but being in your presence, it's like I'll be, you know, more confident in that because you've just showed me. And you don't even know I'm learning from you. It's like people can inspire people without even realizing, just by, you know, being their most authentic self and kind of you know, being the best version of them. There's someone watching who isn't as confident in that what you, what you're confident in, and they're learning from you. So that is kind of, that's your duty to other people. You must shine, you must be your most amazing self because someone else is going to learn something from you. So don't hide, don't dim your light, you know, go and be you at your best because someone else needs to see that, that day or in that moment, you know what I mean? Do you know what? I mean, it's a slight segue, but I had a question this morning from my youngest. He said, "Why is RE important?" I went, "Because you're finding out about other people and cultures and help to understand them." He goes, "Okay, but we're not religious." I was like, "No, we're not religious doesn't mean we shouldn't want to understand and help other people." He goes, "But if I find out about other people's cultures and find out about them so I can understand them, 'Well, they're not gonna wanna find out about me because I don't have a religion.' I said, 'No, but you will, they hopefully will because that's the essence of a lot of religions. However, you will have the knowledge and the power to be able to help people to understand you because you'll understand them more.' I love that. And he's like, 'Oh, okay.' I think he was hoping for me to just say, 'Yeah, Ari's rubbish, babe. Just sit in the corner and mess around.' It's like, 'No, Ari's really important. It's all about culture.' and just understanding people in the world. If we understand people and if we are open and inclusive. Absolutely. And, you know, if all mums and dads told their kids that, could you imagine what you're kind of taking out of the equation? If, if all mums just said that, you know, to their kids, that's just amazing. I love it. I was quite surprised. I think it was just because I had coffee. So sometimes I'm at my best when I've just had a coffee. But don't get me wrong, I'm no super mum. Occasionally I'm just like, oh, shut up asking questions. We're just trying to get to school in one piece. Yeah, be me. Oh, be me. I do, I do have, I do have my moments. Uh, we are going to be shortly coming up to our final section. We're going to go over and have a few more messages from everybody who's involved with Women's Radio Station, and then, and then hopefully I can get through the last of these questions. I'm determined, Marie, we are going to do this. Are you ready? Welcome to Women's Radio Station, the voice of women worldwide. I'm Sarah Louise Ryan, and welcome to Love Lessons Live on Women's Radio Station. Hello and welcome to Future Classic Women Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Women's Radio Station. Hello and welcome to Judy May Is Listening. Hello, this is Anna Kennedy at Women's Radio Station Live, voice of women worldwide, talking about all things autism, women, the The possibilities are endless. That's what makes us different. I'm Saskia at Sable Forex, and we specialize in saving individuals and companies money on their international money transfers or foreign exchange. So when money's crossing currencies, whether it's euros to yen or rands to pounds, that's where we can add value. 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To find out more, head to womensradiostation.com or thea project.co.uk. Women's Radio Station can give a voice to your brand with a wide range of sponsorship opportunities, including individual programs we can tailor your experience to you. For more information on how you can sponsor a show, go to womensradiostation.com. Women, the possibilities are endless. That's what makes us different. Hi, I'm Zena Mosconi, Head of Business Development at Women's Radio Station. Radio advertising is the most cost-effective way of reaching a huge audience globally. Moreover, our sponsorship and advertising packages can be tailored to your needs, whether it be a product or brand service you're looking to promote. If you are interested in sponsoring or advertising, please contact me on 07956 371483, or alternately zm@womensradiostation.com. Welcome back to the final section of today's Get Booked here at Women's Radio Station. I'm Hazel and I've been chatting away to Marie Hall of mariehallempowerment.co.uk, the empowering blog, and we have been discussing all elements to do with Marie's writing and, and your life as well. Hey Marie, yeah, yeah, we've been discussing everything. Yeah, I love it. Um, we've— so we've been on— this is the fourth section. Now, if anybody who's listening has just joined us, make sure that you can listen in every day at 5 PM, or you can go on to Women's Radio Station's SoundCloud channel, or you can go on to Women's Radio Station's website and just type in 'get booked' and all my shows come up there. So there's no excuse to miss anything, and you can listen again and again, but we'll put it all up on the socials as well. Um, so just a quick reminder there that it's Marie Hall www.womenempowerment.co.uk, so you can go and check out all the blogs that we've been discussing. One thing that I do want to know, Marie, is what kind of blogs can we expect in the next few weeks? What can we look out for? I'm currently working on— I haven't got the title yet, but I'm currently working on language, you know, your own language and recognising what do we mean by language, not like swear words and stuff, but as in the language that you use to yourself, the language that you use to others. Have you read the book, The Power of I Am? No, but I've had a look at quite a few of the quotes in that one. It's— yeah, tell us a bit more about it. So I haven't read it myself, but it's definitely one I'm going to read. But it's other people's discussions around that book that kind of— and also Steve Covey in The 7 Habits when they discuss about, you know, the language. Now, The power of I am is whatever word you use, whatever words you use after I am are really powerful. It's like you're inviting that in. So if you say I am lazy, or I am rubbish at this, or I am sorry, yeah, yeah, this is what you're bringing in. Now if you say I am ready, I am brave, I am confident, automatically there's a bit of a switch in your energy. You'll feel, you know, a little bit more, you'll feel confident, you'll feel a bit more, you know, happy or whatever. So the language article that I'm working on is all kind of around that language. So be careful what you're saying about yourself because that's what you're inviting in, you know, that's what you're making true in that moment. So if you're saying, if you're putting yourself down, being a bit negative about yourself, beating yourself up maybe, that's what you're bringing in. At the same time, if you're being a bit positive about yourself, letting yourself off the hook a little bit, going a bit easy, then again, you know, you're not, you're not going to keep yourself down. So that is what's to come. It's all about language. I can't wait for that. I mean, one of the things that I hugely like in some of my blogs is positive attribution. Yeah. And seeing the positive side of everything. And another thing I do, this is feels like it's a bit too drink-related too often. But what I tend to do, like, some of my friends will be like, "How do you feel fine after last night?" I'm like, "Because I'm not thinking about it and I'm telling myself I'm feeling fine. You're sitting there going, 'Oh, I feel terrible,' and you're putting that on yourself." That is so true. I just try, I just, you know, go out for a run and I'm like, "I feel fine." And the more you say it, you start feeling it. And if you stop saying it, that's when you suddenly go, "I really don't feel fine." I love it, Hazel. It's absolutely that, isn't it? It's the placebo effect, isn't it? It is, and it's the language you use in your head and the kind of the positive attribution of, you know, dating and things like that, you know, instead of, oh, my life is ruined if he doesn't like me or whatever. No, do you know what? If he doesn't like, it means you've got more time to read that book, you've got more time to spend with your kids, you got more time to actually, you know, Maybe do an extra, you know, if he doesn't wanna, I know it sounds really silly and blokes don't, you know, dating does not rule the world, but it's just an example of how to use positive attribution. If that doesn't work out, it means you have more time to do that or to see your friends. And quite frankly, your friends bring you up a lot better. They, you know, they build you up and everything. And— Absolutely. I'm a huge, you know, if I don't get that job, it meant that they didn't like what I had to say, which means the job would never be right anyway. It's just— Yes. It's— you've got to put the right language in your head. And absolutely. And I find the less you care about something, or the less of an onus you put on something, more likely you're going to get it. Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. You've got less desperation. Yeah, that's it. Kind of shrug your shoulders. It's fine, you know, it didn't make this time, but there is always next time. You know, you're not dead, you're not gone, do you know what I mean? Exactly. Yeah, I love it. Oh, I do. I do love empowerment. Don't get me wrong, I do have my dates where I'm just like, shut up, leave me alone. Yeah, absolutely. But we all have those, right? Yeah. But I think it's okay to have those days, otherwise you don't appreciate the other days. Yeah, definitely. I love it when you just feel like, oh, I am on point today, you know what I mean? But then again, you still have to love yourself when it's like, oh, everything's going wrong, I feel like rubbish, I don't even want to get out of bed this morning, you know? You've got to still, you know, give yourself that kind of, you've got to give yourself a break, haven't you? You have, and some people just don't know how to necessarily do that sometimes, which is why we have bloggers like you and people follow bloggers like you because you say the things that they need and, you know, and you also, you have different sections as well so people can kind of read what they need at that moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pick into what, what is going to help that day. You know, what is it that you're looking for today? Are you scared of failure? Are you trying to get a, you know, a dream into a plan of actions? You know, what's your thing right now? And do you know what, something I've got— so I'm not going to get any more, hardly any of these questions out. You've just been chatting away so much. We should have made this into a 2-hour show. But one thing that I am quite intrigued by, You come across definitely as quite a positive person. And do you feed off other people quite often? Yeah. So who admire— who do you admire, um, in the media? Or maybe, you know, it's Bob who runs the shop at the end of the road or whatever. Who do you admire? Who, who kind of is the person where you just go, it kind of gives you that little bit of a twinkle in your eye? Um, I've got, I've got So many. I think if we're talking Liverpool, I would have to say Maggie O'Carroll. So she's the CEO of the women's organisation, and I just think her story is amazing. And, you know, what they do for women, you know, in and around the North West and more beyond, I just think that, that is really empowering, kind of, to read their story and stuff. But then I'm lucky because where I work, there's, you know, there's a woman, a woman there, she'll kill me for mentioning her name, but her name is Jen Shaw. Now she's on the board, she's younger than me, she's on the board, she's younger than me, but she is this force, you know, she's so driven and it's like everything she touches, it just works, she's just fantastic, you know, when there's an energy. So she's another one, she's kind of like, you know, that person that you look up to, it's like almost like a mentor without her being a mentor. Do you know what I mean? And you just want to kind of drink up their vibes and their positivity. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Brilliant. Absolutely. I could do, I could do an article on this woman, and it's just like, that would empower so many people, do you know what I mean, with that story. But it's just like, you know, that, that's one for the future, isn't it? It is, it is indeed. Oh, I'm glad you've got people like Jen in your life. Yeah, I love it. We are lucky. We're lucky to have those people around us, aren't we, who kind of motivate us and empower us to, you know, strive and stuff. I think it's essential. Obviously, you know, your mom and your grandmother and all that. My mom and grandmother are the most strongest empowering women, you know. You can do everything and anything, and who said no, and why can't you, you know, them kinds of women. Yeah, I did actually do a, there's a jeweler that I know and she does a hashtag, a strong yet feminine vibe of jewelry. And she interviews people that she thinks are strong and feminine and what it means to them and who she admires and who shaped who they are. And she interviewed me and I did quite a bit on my mum and my grandma. I mean, my grandma, she's 94 now. She's got Alzheimer's dementia. She's still more, you know, with it than me most days. And she used to row in the Oxford and Cambridge race that's coming up. So it's on the, it's in April, isn't it? And it's just, you know, she did that back in the 1940s, 1950s. Wow. She was a magistrate and a working mum with 4 kids back when working mums— It was difficult. Yeah. I mean, yeah, she, you know, when she wasn't a magistrate, she was a psychiatric nurse. She was everything. I mean, if she did what she was doing then, now she'd still be classed as being a pioneer. Yeah. And yeah, it's just absolutely— she is unbelievable. And then, you know, the 3 girls and a boy that she got to raise as well, and they're all— none of them are the same. Yeah, yeah, they are all funny, isn't it? Yeah, completely. Um, and I admire my mum and blame my mum in equal measure for the person that I am today. I love it. She'll kill me for saying that, but it's all right. It's absolutely fine. I'll tell her my show's on at 6 o'clock next week. Oh, bless her heart. But yeah, no, I do love— on the jewellery as well, it's fantastic. It's Sally Lane jewellery and it's just— it is really feminine pieces, but with, you know, sharp edges and there's meaning behind it and it's just— it's absolutely fantastic. Sounds fab. It really, really is. Now, I'm obviously gonna keep on reading all of your blogs. I wanna, I'm gonna be sharing them. We all need to share each other's. That's, do you know what? I found the blogging community to be quite collaborative. Yeah, excellent. It's quite, yeah, 'cause it's not like we're selling books somewhere and we, you know, it's a money element. It's, you know, all work together and we've all got different perspectives 'cause we're writing from the heart on possibly similar subjects, but you know. Um, but I've absolutely loved having you chatting to us, and I hope you come in. Thank you. Oh, definitely. Maybe, absolutely. Maybe on your next birthday when you decide to write a book or do some workshops, or, you know, you decide to take on another challenge. Yes. Wow, it's incredible. Uh, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. And just remember, everybody, if you want to have a bit of a chat with me here at Women's Radio Station, get in touch at presenters@womensradiostation.com. Or if you maybe have a book review you want to send in, you can send in a minute clip, and you can get in touch with me also on Twitter @NuttyButty. 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