Reinventing Life in Midlife: It’s Both Courageous & Empowering

 

MAZ (00:00)

My name is Maz Maz O’Connor and I’m so excited to be on this podcast with you Di. Thank you so much for inviting me to speak. I’m in my third act and I’m absolutely loving what I’m doing. Reinvention to me is everything and how do we redefine retirement. I took an incredibly bold leap and I packed everything up in my beautiful hometown in summers just over a year ago now. It had been stewing on my mind about where I’m going and what’s happening in this third act.

 

I was a solo mum for over 20 years and I loved that part of my life. I love talking about everything to do with parenting and what I raised was really incredible independent children. So I’m 30 years in the wellness space. I’m very passionate about affiliate marketing and network marketing and particularly for women in our third act. We have so much to offer and how do we wrap that up and what do we do in our third act? So I’m excited with where we’re going, Diane.

 

DI (00:57)

Welcome to the Power Of Women Podcast and I’m Di Gillett. We’re a platform that showcases and celebrates the strength, resilience and achievements of women from all walks of life. And Today, as Maz has already suggested, we’re going to talk about mid-life reinvention. That feeling that it’s time to shift gears and prioritise wellness, purpose and maybe even launch something of your own.

 

And It takes bravery and it takes courage and it takes clarity on who you are and what matters most. And Maz knows that and I know that having walked away after 30 years from a lucrative career that sustained my lifestyle to launching Power Of Women 18 months ago. But what’s really the most fantastic part of that is I am doing things on my own terms.

 

So whether it’s a career pivot, a lifestyle change, or just a quiet voice saying, this just isn’t working anymore. This episode is about what it really takes to start again. And joining me from a tropical paradise in a much warmer space than the grips of winter in Melbourne is Maz O’Connor. Maz, welcome to the Power of Women podcast.

 

MAZ (02:21)

Thank you so much, Di I’ve been looking forward to talking to you and speaking into your audience.

 

DI (02:27)

Fabulous and you and I met about I think it’s about two years ago in a little rudimentary studio when Disrupt Radio was getting off the ground and we were both there with Moe Hope and and online with Alison Shamir who I interviewed very recently and and we were talking about imposter syndrome.

 

MAZ (02:51)

Yes. And even Di being in that room with you and Alison and Mo, like I had that moment of imposter syndrome, like what am I doing here? And it was reminding to take our space, to sit in the circle. And what I love about women is that we hold each other’s hand, we lift each other up.

 

DI (03:16)

And look behind me on my pedestal is Women Holding Space, which is a beautiful book given to me by the amazing Hima Prakash after she was on the podcast only a few weeks ago.

 

MAZ (03:30)

Yes, incredible. I started to listen to Hamer’s interview yesterday. I look forward to ⁓ finishing that off today.

 

DI (03:39)

So, so much has shifted since we sat in that room. But I can remember you were a bit mesmerised by my shiny pants. So, I’ve worn shiny pants again today. They’re not quite as shiny and tactile as those ones. But I thought I should revisit that today.

 

MAZ (03:58)

I appreciate that, I can still remember seeing you getting out of your car and just going, what? This is going to be fun.

 

DI (04:09)

Yeah, Midlife reinvention. Haven’t got the message of the midlife bit in the wardrobe yet! but there we have it. So let’s talk about your midlife reinvention if we could first. I think that’s a great starting point because you’ve had a monumental shift since we sat together last.

 

MAZ (04:30)

Exactly where your introduction is, is I had a 20 year very successful career with ⁓ an Australian business. I was a solo mum during that time. I raised my children. It was very intentional the way that I raised my children. We were very fortunate. My business was successful. I helped a lot of women in during my time there. My children.

 

Now at the time were about 20, 22 independent looking after themselves and for me it became what now? What do I do now? So I left the organization that I was in and I didn’t know what I was going to do next. So I gave myself the breathing space. I was fortunate financially I could do that. I gave myself time to breathe and to fear and literally to breathe like doing breath work, doing yoga.

 

time on the beach. What does it look like? What? And I would pray and I would ask like, what’s coming in next? And things didn’t move too quickly. Very, what came through one day was around sharing my voice on radio. So similar to what you’re doing with the podcast, it was called you first and it was all about women and it was what happens when we put ourselves first. And what I found in that period of time is

 

When we put ourselves first, we are always of more service to other people. And that was magical. So the radio show became a podcast. Now, none of that was income producing. So it was like, what’s happening next? So I also knew that I loved where I lived in Australia, but I didn’t want to stay there for the next 30 years. I live in a beautiful suburb and some of your audience may know of Summers. It’s down by the water.

 

There is dolphins, there is koalas, there is this beautiful supportive network and I loved being there but I also knew that that wasn’t going to be for me for the next 30 years. So sitting around the pool with the group of women in Bali last May, so we’re now 18 months ago, sitting around and they’re all saying what would it be like to live and again that moment of oh this is where I’m coming next.

 

So then I rang my partner, I rang my children and I said this is what’s happening, this is what I’m doing, I’m going to wrap everything up and I’m coming to Bali to live. And what I chose not to listen to with a naysayer is how could you leave, you live in a beautiful place, you’ve got a great business.

 

DI (07:11)

What were the people around you saying? What was the reaction?

 

MAZ (07:16)

What it was is we all see through our own lens. So for those people, was, we will miss you. And my home was an Airbnb, it was an event space, it was a yoga studio, I read yoga classes, we did a lot of weekend workshops. So it was closing those things down. And what people do is they see it through their own eyes, what they will miss. And for me, was, and you know, what you’re doing, Di, is like, how can we be a vision for other people? How can they see?

 

DI (07:36)

What I’ll miss.

 

MAZ (07:45)

what we’re doing and even if it’s that little bit of courage where she chooses to get up at 6 instead of 6.30 and take half an hour to walk or half an hour to read something that’s going to shift her mindset or that she moves in the morning to make her body feel better. That’s what I want to be. So if someone’s looking at me and I know it’s happening and thinking, well, if Maz can do that, maybe I can too.

 

do this little thing too.

 

DI (08:16)

Yeah and I think that’s right, it’s and that word and I know it’s played around but it’s so valid of giving yourself permission to do that but it doesn’t, it’s not a snap decision and it does take courage and it absolutely takes a sense of self that we probably didn’t have 20 years ago.

 

to do that and I appreciate there’s a generation coming through now who might be starting this journey earlier than us. However, know, different time, different landscape than perhaps what we were facing into at that stage.

 

MAZ (09:01)

One of the things in I’ve been writing a lot since I’ve been in Bali and I do spend a lot of time on my own here as I’m building this new brand globally is when I was 14 I met some girls that went to boarding school and I lived in a beautiful family regional area as well and I went boarding school that’s a great idea.

 

So at 14 I went to my went back to my parents and said I want to go to boarding school for a year 11 and 12 and the same thing my family were like I think probably my family were like see you later

 

DI (09:37)

People

 

say I want to leave boarding school.

 

MAZ (09:39)

Yeah,

 

so I went to boarding school and I went away to do what I needed to do and then I did it again. I moved from Melbourne to Queensland and that’s when I started to work in the health retreats in Queensland and then I did it again when I moved to Sydney. So the big thing just looking at what was happening in my life is that I backed myself. So when I left my husband,

 

Sydney and I moved back to Melbourne, I was in fully commission based business and I backed myself entirely and then I supported other women and it was a direct to market business and I supported other women to do the same and I would believe in them until they believed in themselves and then that’s how they supported their families. So where we are, where you and I are now is

 

The reinvention of this third act, like what does this look like? And redefining retirement. And you and I know that The highest level of homeless people now are women post 50 that are not prepared for what’s coming. So this is who I’m speaking into daily and globally is let’s do exactly what you’re talking about. Let’s hold hands. Let’s raise each other.

 

DI (11:07)

Yeah, and in actual fact, I’m going to challenge that statistic. and we’ve been talking about the, and not to lessen the impact of the over 50 homeless, but I have recently had on the podcast, Michelle Phillips, who is the CEO of YWCA Australia. And that’s actually shifted to the 25 to 34 year olds because of domestic violence, because of the housing crisis.

 

and that has actually, that has usurped the 50 plus cohort. So, ⁓ however, I look around me, I can see in the streets and I walk around my local area, there are clearly women, mature age women living in cars. So it’s just, it’s incredible. But you raised a really interesting point if I… ⁓

 

start to join the dots. So you said you worked in a commission-based industry and I come from the world of recruitment and executive search where over the years you would have a retainer but your real income was generated by what what revenue you brought in for for the business and and you shared in a percentage of that revenue. Now there’s a mindset that goes with that.

 

because there are a lot of people who could not live on an income stream like that because they needed the job security and the income security of a set salary. Where you and I from a career perspective had to back ourselves from day dot to do what we did and I know I worked for

 

you know, industry doy in the recruitment space and reported to Andrew Banks for many years. And probably more entrepreneurs were born out of the stable of the Morgan & Banks stable than probably any other business stable I can think of in this country. And there is a mindset and a character trait that plays out in what you and I are doing now.

 

So I think that’s it. It’s an interesting profile.

 

MAZ (13:31)

Thank you, Di. It was something, and it was seeing my, you know, someone reflected me back to me saying like as a solo mum, the 100 % commission based business, what I loved was it’s the paying it forward. So I helped other women find, like, and as I said before, like to believe in them, I would believe in them until they’d believe in themselves. And then they’d be up and running and I provided them a framework to be able to create an income.

 

And the vehicle at the time that I was using was an Australian based business ⁓ in women’s fashion. And it was incredible. my boys and I, we went overseas every year. We chose where we lived. We lived by the beach. We chose the car. And education was really important to me. The schools I put my children through. So we were able to create a lifestyle, not based on what our bank balance is, but what our dreams are.

 

And then I met that with how clever we worked. And it’s the same thing now with Women, 50 plus going into, you know, we sort of talk about retirement. I want to redefine that. We have so much that we can bring, but often we’re not considered for those traditional jobs anymore as the youth are coming through. So that’s what I love about affiliate marketing and network marketing and commission-based businesses is that

 

You Use all of the network, you use all of your skills and you bring that to market. Pairing with AI, pairing with digital marketing, social media, there’s so much that’s there.

 

DI (15:13)

It was interesting. I recorded a show with Wade Kingsley, radio guy the other day who lives down in your old neck of the woods. and he made an interesting point because ageism is something that, you know, we’re right in the heart of. And I don’t, I have to put my hand up and say I personally haven’t experienced it. but it’s all

 

but it is absolutely all around us. And I probably had more approaches for employment in my post 50 years and I’m now post 60 ⁓ than I had in my earlier career. I’d note that that is the exception, not the norm. But Wade made a really interesting point in the world coming through of ageism and AI,

 

that maybe our cohort are going to be really valuable because we’re the guys who knew the world before AI. We knew how to get on the tools and do all the manual labor. And maybe that is going to keep us longer because people are going to come looking for our skills because we know how to do things when the wheels fall off.

 

MAZ (16:31)

Yes and those of us that are willing to embrace AI. So I think yes and. So AI fascinates me. It fascinates me particularly in the wellbeing space. What’s happening in the wellbeing space, how we’re using the data to improve our own wellness and how

 

DI (16:53)

Everybody’s got a device on. Yeah, yeah.

 

MAZ (16:56)

the

 

wearing device which is one thing but then also how does that device, how does that information then get interpreted? You know what apps are coming out and even the interpretation like then how do we improve our wellness based on that? That’s the space that I’m in that’s super exciting me. So I think yes, Di, us that have been the manual learners and the unique thing about you, Di, is that you are so willing to embrace technology.

 

You are so willing, you have a learner’s mindset, so you are willing.

 

DI (17:29)

I’ve done two YouTube videos this morning to help me maximise my YouTube channel and learn how to work with the algorithm. I love it.

 

MAZ (17:38)

Yes,

 

so for those that are willing to embrace AI, to have the beginner’s or the learner’s mindset and to bring that and also to make a difference, how do we amplify others? In me, that’s the formula for success and that’s what you’re doing, that’s what you’re bringing.

 

DI (17:57)

Yeah and that’s what you’ve been doing for so long. So tell us a little bit before we move on, tell us a little bit about the business you’re building now.

 

MAZ (18:06)

Thank you, Di. So for me, moving to Bali was again like when I left home and I went to boarding school. It was I to remove myself from everything that I knew. And if I’m talking about a global business, I’m going to do it from a space and not use the networks, the face-to-face, the one-to-one networks that I know. So the organization that I’m working with, it’s a 40-year-old well-being organization.

 

they have embraced AI in such a way because they’ve been gathering data for over 20 years. So what’s coming is AI combining it with DNA testing, microbiome testing and antioxidant scanning, so a bio-photonic scanner. You’re smiling, Diet. I feel

 

DI (18:55)

I am because this is my world. If I watch any podcast it’s about, I mean I didn’t know what microbiome was two years ago and now it’s every second day it’s in my world.

 

MAZ (19:07)

So this organisation that I’m with ⁓ is leading in this. They are spending almost 2 billion Australian dollars in the development. ⁓ It is coming out over stages. Stage one has just been released, which is a biophotonic scanner ⁓ that will be available for anybody in the wellness space, for consumers to use as well. ⁓ It will give you an antioxidant reading. We know when our antioxidant levels are high,

 

free radicals that are doing the damage in our

 

DI (19:40)

These are personal tracking devices,

 

MAZ (19:43)

It is a personal tracking device at the moment. It’ll be limited to what’s available in the marketplace. It’ll use, ⁓ where it’s going to, it’ll use the wearables that a lot of us have, the Aura rings and the wearables. But the first stage is this biophotonic scanner. And that just excites me no end I is that you can be at home, you can scan, or you could go to your gym where they have a scanner or your.

 

allied health professional where they’ve got a scanner, you scan and it’ll go die, your health rating is at 420, which is around halfway. 850 is maximum. Would you like to improve your wellbeing? Of course, die 60, wanting to live younger, longer. And we all know that we are living longer anyway. Let’s live longer, better.

 

DI (20:36)

Let’s

 

live longer and better. Yes.

 

MAZ (20:39)

So then you then like these are the protocols so there’ll be personalized protocols that’ll be just for you there will be recommendations of nootropics and nutraceuticals as well for you and then they’ll be attached to apps which might be like Mindvalley or DMRT or where you know other apps will be associated with so it’s exciting.

 

DI (21:04)

And I can see you’re excited about that. How fantastic to get your head around and be involved in something at this point in your career that is so motivating. Well done you.

 

MAZ (21:18)

The reason I’m doing it as well is that the platform enables me to invite other people to be part of this too and globally. So there is another wave where this particular organisation is opening up in India. So come later this year I’m moving to India for a period of time as well. So again 100 % backing and a brand new market.

 

DI (21:42)

wow. So you are way not done yet. You’ve got loads, loads more to do, Matt. That’s very exciting. Yeah. That’s absolutely brilliant. What a third act. It’s going to be your best. Yes.

 

MAZ (21:56)

that’s what we’re planning and also how can I bring other people along with me? What does that look like? What does that feel like? And being global as well die. Living in this beautiful place in Bali has has taught me a lot. It has simplified my life incredibly and allowed me to focus on what’s important and what’s important is yes my own health, yes the well-being of my family, yes leaving a legacy.

 

but also how can I help others to be well, to live longer, better, to leave a legacy for their families too? And how much are we willing to let go of? So when I left Australia, I sold pretty much everything. I’ve got a real passion for chairs, so I didn’t sell all of my chairs, but I sold my car, the rest of my furniture. I have no kitchenware left at all.

 

all my linen, I love linen, all my linen went and I was so incredible. I tell you the challenge, the most challenged person, so I told my partner, he was on board, I told my children, my beautiful community and you may have heard of my best friend is Jane McCann who’s on Instagram as the middle-aged goddess and I was so nervous about telling Jane so I didn’t ring her and tell her I went home and I said

 

Jane, I’ve got something to tell you. I think I’m going to wrap up and I’m going to leave.” And she said, ⁓ I was so nervous to tell you. She said, because I’m going to leave the peninsula and move somewhere else as well, but I didn’t know how to tell you.

 

DI (23:35)

Have you ended up in the same place?

 

MAZ (23:37)

No, we haven’t. So I’ve ended up in Bali. She’s ended up down the alt ways. But what’s happened in there, and it’s been really interesting that I’m spending more quality time with those people that I love than I would have if we lived together and we lived in the same town. the quality time with my loved ones, so my son, like my younger son, I spent three weeks with him. Now that would just never happen in Australia.

 

So three weeks with him, my youngest brother, who is a father and a husband now, I spent 10 days with him. Now that just would never happen. 10 days.

 

DI (24:16)

Because

 

it’s with intention.

 

MAZ (24:18)

Yeah, and my beautiful partner, he does fly-in, fly-out work, but my love language is quality time. So his love language is acts of service. So him going back out to work, that’s his love language. And then he comes back with me and we have quality time. And then the same with Jane. So Jane, again, they came for Christmas. Now that would never happen that we would have two weeks together.

 

Then we just did a retreat in Bali with her crew and we’re about to go to Morocco together as well and she’s about to announce another trip to a destination that I can’t speak about that is covered by many people and we often don’t get to go. yeah, that’s been really interesting, the quality time.

 

DI (25:08)

Fantastic. And I always think it takes a village to keep us going and as we get older that village gets a little bit more extensive. For somebody listening to this podcast and saying, okay, I’m going to pack up and move, what do you do in terms of doctors and all your support networks and for me a hairdresser and a colorist and you know, how does one do all of that?

 

MAZ (25:37)

That’s such a great question. I will say that I found myself in Australia for a couple of, in Melbourne actually, for a couple of nights and I found a dermal therapist in Albert Park of all places, gorgeous woman, Cammie. So was interesting. So I went home and I got a lot of the things done at home.

 

DI (25:39)

Ought to

 

MAZ (26:03)

I use an incredible skincare but those facials are really important. So yes I have a natural colour in my hair and I went for a walk this morning before we met and so it was pouring with rain so then my hair got pulled back. Getting my nails done I did that when I was in Melbourne but it’s yeah they’re like

 

DI (26:27)

It’s a little bit flying by.

 

MAZ (26:29)

but

 

also in Bali, like there is some phenomenal expats and also locals that run great businesses here. I live on the other side of Bali, so it’s the east side, which is not busy. It’s not highly populated by expats. And again, I chose this because I wanted to focus on there. How do we make the decision to go?

 

So it was the quiet time, it was the journaling. Some people might use prayer or intention. The stillness is uber important to have the quiet, to let the information come in for me. And I know I distract myself still. What does it look like? What does it feel like? To our listener, take the breath, do the exhale, feel the feels, back yourself.

 

If you don’t have the capabilities of backing yourself, listen to podcasts that Di, these incredible women, the Power Of Women. Listen to these women that have backed themselves. Surround yourself with people. Reading the book, you’ve got Hema’s book behind you. Read about incredible women that have backed themselves. And even if you just take that moment and use that little bit

 

of courage that someone else has used Follow those inspirational women on social media. Follow Dai, follow me, follow Dai’s previous interviews as well. Yeah, and back yourself, listen to that little voice and know that we’re never too, you’re never too old. You are enough just as you are.

 

You’ve got this, and for those of us that are 50 plus, you’ve got this vast amount of experience. Like, use that. Trust yourself.

 

DI (28:32)

Beautiful. So coming up, we’re going to dive into more stories about courage and reinvention. If you’re loving the Power of Women podcast, be sure to jump onto our YouTube channel and hit that subscribe button to ensure you never miss an episode.

 

So Maz, we said we’re going to talk about courage and reinvention and I know that you have spoken to many midlife women in our time of life. What are they telling you?

 

MAZ (29:05)

Courage is that quiet voice that whispers, that whispers and that we ignore it. And when we’re choosing to find the stillness and listen to the whisper it gets louder. The other thing that I know is that there will be the pothole that trips you up. There will be, in Hindu philosophy we talk about Ganesha.

 

And Ganesha is the remover of obstacles and he’s also the placer of obstacles. So we can see obstacles as I got retrenched, ⁓ my car broke down, ⁓ my husband and I aren’t getting on well. Courage is that little voice that’s in the background that’s believing that you’ve got what you need and taking that small step.

 

Shanna Kennedy was an incredible woman that I interviewed and she has a roadmap for people and I loved her roadmap. One of the big things that I’ve used is vision boards. Shanna speaks about that a lot. You interviewed Colin Callender, who’s co-written a book with her. The vision boards have been so important for me and now on a digital platform, I use it on my phone. So courage is taking that step, listening to that voice.

 

having a vision of where we’re going and just taking it step by step. I took a massive step and I sold everything up. It doesn’t need to be that big and that dramatic.

 

DI (30:36)

That’s a big step.

 

MAZ (30:40)

I just want to share this one thing with you as well, Di. To those listeners that are younger, when I had a three-year-old and a one-year-old, I opened up my own bank account. I was married to a guy at the time. I opened up my own bank account and I just started to put a little bit of money in the bank account.

 

DI (31:00)

This is a powerful message.

 

MAZ (31:03)

And it was not attached. I got the statement sent. In those days it wasn’t digital. It was sent to a different address. And I just started to put money away. It was my just-in-case money. And then I started to build my business. I had a small business at the time. And I started to earn. It was $5,000 a month. And I remember thinking, at $5,000 a month, now I can support my family and myself with this money.

 

And I took a moment and was like, do I want to stay in this marriage? He was well known in media at the time in Sydney. And he was well known and it was, if I leave, I’m going to leave this entire lifestyle. I’ve got the money. And so I sat there quietly and it was, do I stay because I’m safe or do I trust that I can do this? So.

 

And that was a moment where I then created a strategy for me to go forward and to leave. So that one, it took courage to do that little thing, set up that bank account. I was putting little bits of money in. When I got to a point of earning $5,000 a month, I was like, I can look after my boys and I on that. And then I didn’t leave then, I created a strategy so that I could leave. And the other thing I did die and for the listeners, I bought land.

 

I bought land, I needed to borrow, but I bought land in regional Victoria. And I went back home to my husband at the time and I told him what I did and he goes, where are you going to get the money from? Yeah. And why? And I said, well, I’m just going to get the money from the bank account because it was a pretty fat bank account. He goes, no, you’re not. And at that point he goes, you need to get a job. And at that point there was another point where I went, I’m not going to get a job. I’m going to be a full-time mom, but I’m going to create an income. And that’s when I went into network marketing.

 

because I knew that I could be a full-time mum and I could earn what I needed to earn and I could, I’ve got the, I’m excited, I’ve got the shakes talking about this and I could help other women in my position to do the same and that’s what I did die.

 

DI (33:12)

You created financial independence and set up your security strategy looking forward. And that’s a fantastic message for anybody listening. I’ve said, I’ve harked on about it so many times on this podcast and over the years in talking with friends. My relationship with money was

 

developed from observing my mother and my father, which would, and this story is generational, so it’s nothing unusual about it, but my relationship with money was informed by my mother asking my father for the weekly check for her cash flow. Now, it’s not that she didn’t have her own money, she’d given it over at the time, and she was the daughter of a bank manager, you’d think she would have known better. However,

 

I listened to that from as I can remember hearing it as young as eight and deciding at that young age that I was not going to be in that position and I was never going to ask anybody for money ever and I never have.

 

MAZ (34:25)

eight. I have a similar story when I was younger and I wanted to, when people would say what do want to be when you grow up and I would say I want to be my own boss.

 

DI (34:40)

Yeah, we set our intentions earlier than perhaps we perhaps we realize. Yeah

 

MAZ (34:46)

Yes. Yeah. want to be my own boss and I didn’t know what that meant but be my own boss. Yeah.

 

DI (34:54)

So by contrast to the women that you’ve been talking to and over the years that I’ve interviewed, not so much for power of women because these are women like us who are moving forward and doing some great work. ⁓ But What is it that you are hearing that is holding so many women back from stepping up and moving forward with their own journeys?

 

MAZ (35:22)

It’s fear. It is fear. It is fear of financial. If ⁓ I’m not in this marriage, how do I manage financially? And I haven’t been working for X amount of time. Here’s another big one, Di I’m sure you’ve spoken about this superannuation. I don’t have any superannuation. I don’t own property on my own. Or the other thing more recently is

 

people being property owners and having debt on their property in excess of 600, 800,000.

 

DI (35:58)

Frightening. Frightening.

 

MAZ (36:00)

Not being able to service the mortgage, going backwards, the husband either ill health is happening or the bonuses are not happening or the work’s not there. So fear would be the big one. So that’s why I always talk about strategy, have a strategy, start your strategy now. What does it look like? Is there a side hustle that you can do? Is there someone already doing what you want? Watch what they’re doing, like the steps are there.

 

Watch what they’re doing. Reach out to someone that’s already doing what you want to do. Clean up your social media. it’s not making you feel great of things that you’re looking at, clear it up. Don’t follow those people that are there as well. Believe in yourself. Even if it is that you keep a contract with yourself, even if it is that, as I said earlier in in our chat, even if it’s your promise to yourself that you wake at 6.30 in the morning and you spend some time journaling.

 

You spend some time writing, what does my dream life look like? You spend some time vision boarding what your world is going to be. You what we speak it like you die. I’m never going to be asking for money. You know, you can create your life. Let’s start to speak intention into that. Let’s let go of the fear. Yeah.

 

DI (37:21)

Yeah, thanks, Maz. On reflection now, as you look back, what do you actually wish you’d learnt sooner?

 

MAZ (37:31)

I can feel this in my body. To trust myself earlier, there was times and then it was gone. There was times and then was gone. To align with people that had a big vision, to align with people with a global vision, to follow the breadcrumbs. So success leaves clues. Who’s doing?

 

and living the life that I want to live and align myself with those people.

 

DI (38:00)

But you jumped on board pretty early in hindsight. So I might ask that of somebody else and they’re still getting there. I think you found yourself and set yourself up much earlier than many of us might do.

 

MAZ (38:22)

What I’ll also say is success doesn’t look like this. it’s not linear. And also success is different. One of the things that I’m so proud of is choosing to sole parent my boys. Because the guy that I was married to, he was a lovely fella. There was stuff that was going on there that he couldn’t control and we couldn’t be part of. So…

 

Choosing to sole parent was bit of a this sort of a as well but that was an intentional parenting. I was really conscious of what we did. Now did I always get it right? Probably not. Did I do my best? Absolutely. Are we great friends now and do we like just adore each other and they’re incredible human beings.

 

So knowing that success is not linear, knowing that success for one person is different to success for you. So success may be having cohesive family, what’s our part in this? Success may be supporting yourself and your family. What’s your part in this? And knowing that success is not this, it goes like this. And that’s okay as long as the trajectory is going up.

 

DI (39:43)

That’s brilliant. So if I was to ask you, what would you say to the woman who feels she is looking for change but doesn’t know where to begin? What would be that one salient point of advice you’d have to offer to the listeners today?

 

MAZ (40:02)

Success leaves clues. Look at those women that are doing what you want to do. Follow them. I read Michelle Obama’s book Becoming and what she did is that she had interactions with people and she asked them, what’s my next step? Who’s the next person you can introduce me to? Have conversations with those people. Reach out to those people.

 

Social media is incredible for that. Success leaves clues. Follow those that have the success that you want.

 

DI (40:40)

Thank you so much, Maz. What an absolute joy to reconnect, even though we’re worlds apart on this occasion. And thank you so much for joining the Dots. And I know you have also suggested a raft of fabulous women that I still need to have conversations with.

 

I love hearing what you’re doing and looking forward to being the beneficiary of some of this fabulous tech and some of this great innovative work that you’re part of and part of taking to market. good luck with that. Moes, where can somebody find you if they’re looking to follow specifically what you’re doing? Where do we catch you?

 

MAZ (41:28)

Instagram’s still my best place so at Mas O’Connor, still my best, that’s where I show up most most often. I’m also on Facebook, Mas O’Connor on Facebook.

 

DI (41:39)

And I ⁓ play with Facebook and Instagram, but most of my conversations because of my corporate background are still held on LinkedIn. So please follow me there if you’re interested in what I’m doing. And look, as Maz has already touched on, we have spoken to so many inspiring women over the last 18 months on the power of women. Some of the stories and their experiences have been born out of adversity.

 

Some of them have been born out of entrepreneurialism and some of them have been born out of social justice. So there’s a raft of individuals that are worth listening to and you can find all of the episodes on my website under the podcast tab on powerofwomen.com.au. Again, Maz, lovely to see you. Best luck with what you’re doing. It’s brilliant. Until next time.