Harmonizing Ambition and Personal Joy - Lezly Kaye

What if you could build a $60 million empire without sacrificing personal happiness? Join us on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life as we explore this possibility with Lezly Kaye, an inspiring CEO architect who has mastered the art of balancing business success with personal fulfillment. Lezly Kaye challenges the conventional narrative that ambition requires personal sacrifice, offering a refreshing perspective on integrating pleasure with professional growth. Through insightful strategies like outsourcing and leadership development, Lezly Kaye emphasizes the importance of aligning your personal and professional goals, ensuring that your pursuit of success is both meaningful and transformative.

Drawing inspiration from Tantra, we also discuss the delicate balance between ambition, inner harmony, and authenticity. As your host, I share how these principles guide my own life, promoting genuine alignment over toxic hustle culture. Personal practices such as breathwork help keep motivations rooted in pleasure, rather than stress. Together, Leslie and I highlight the transformative power of human connection and the potential for joy and resilience in your journey toward a healthier mind and life. Connect with Lezly Kaye on major platforms, and continue this enlightening conversation as we redefine what it means to lead authentically in today's business world.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Navigating Success and Pleasure in Business
• 9:53 Balancing Pleasure and Purpose in Business
• 19:38 Connecting for Health and Impact

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Sensuality is an enriching experience that transcends mere physical touch. It invites us to explore openness and vulnerability, creating deeper connections with others. By engaging in mindful touch, we enhance our awareness of each other's desires and boundaries. This practice cultivates intimacy, as it encourages honest communication and emotional safety. Each caress becomes a dialogue between bodies, transcending words and allowing us to connect on a profound level. Embracing the art of sensuality fosters trust, reigniting passion and curiosity in relationships. It's a journey of discovery, inviting us to celebrate the beauty of human connection through the transformative power of touch.

Speaker 2: 0:59

Hello and welcome to Healthy Mind, healthy Life. I'm your host, avik, and today we have an episode that's all about building a wildly successful business without losing yourself along the way. Our guest today is Leslie Kai, so welcome to the show, leslie.

Speaker 3: 1:17

Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2: 1:19

Lovely, lovely. So, leslie, before we start our conversation, I'd quickly love to introduce you to all of our listeners. Dear listeners, leslie isn't just any business mentor, so she is a leading CEO, architect in Australia, a powerhouse who's built a $60 million empire, and a guide for high achieving women who want it all. So growth, purpose, fulfillment, everything. So leslie has mastered the art of scaling the businesses while also staying grounded in personal alignment and developing. So get ready to dive into the power of resilience, redefining the success and leading with the pleasure, because Leslie's here to show us it's all possible. So welcome to the show, leslie.

Speaker 3: 2:16

Thank you so much. I'm so excited.

Speaker 2: 2:18

Lovely, lovely. So, leslie, to start with, let's start big. So how do you see the pleasure and business, business success working all together? I mean, are they truly compatible?

Speaker 3: 2:34

or, if you can share, yeah, I think everything is compatible if you want it. Bad enough, I think it's quite easy to. I almost want to say, like, put your blinkers on and pretend that the world isn't based in this, like hedonistic desire for pleasure. Now, some people, when you say the word pleasure, think of sex. Some people, when you say the word pleasure, think of food. Some people, when you say the word pleasure, think of a massage. When you say the word pleasure, think of a massage.

Speaker 3: 3:08

And I think you know, combining the world of business and pleasure for me is just about combining your business goals with your personal goals and ensuring you're operating from a place of desire, so you're operating from a place of, like, deeply understanding who you are and moving in the direction of a life that feels more pleasurable. Now, what I mean by that? I mean, if you want to go as far as pleasurable in the bedroom, then yes, by all means. I think all entrepreneurs should be. I was going to say, well, fucked. But you said not to swear. But I did. I had to, I had to say it. It wouldn't have had the same effect if I didn't.

Speaker 3: 3:41

But pleasure actually goes deeper than that. That is kind of surface level level pleasure. So pleasure could be walking barefoot on the grass and actually spending the time to feel the sensations that are running through your body as you walk barefoot on the grass. Pleasure could be walking along the beach and feeling the wind like caress your skin and having the capacity to be present in that moment to feel the sensations that are rippling across your body. For me, it's like success with fulfillment and true purpose, and not just the desire to have something because we feel a lack of something else, like I need to be successful to prove that I'm worthy, or I need to build bigger, more faster, because I'm not fulfilled with what I currently have. So yeah, for me this principle of pleasure in business is almost the luxury of being present in your life. And I say that because for a lot of entrepreneurs, presence tends to feel like a luxury because a lot of people are so busy like focusing on what's next, they're not truly with what's right here, right now.

Speaker 2: 4:55

Exactly, I totally agree, yeah, definitely. So I mean you talk a lot about scaling without losing yourself. So if you can share a key strategy to help entrepreneurs find that balance, yeah, outsourcing.

Speaker 3: 5:14

So one of the systems that we use is looking at where entrepreneurs specifically especially as they're wanting to grow are potentially holding on to control, aren't trusting people to support them along their journey, and where they need to implement systems, processes, people, structures inside of their business that are going to free up more time for them to focus working on the business rather than in the business and inside of that process, also working on the mindset and the self-awareness and the internal growth that they need to step into becoming the leaders that can actually lead multi-seven or eight-figure businesses okay, got it and um like, uh, many of us believe that building an empire which requires sacrificing personal happiness as well.

Speaker 2: 6:11

So how do you respond to that?

Speaker 3: 6:15

Bullshit. I'm on my way to having two seven-figure companies and my intention is to take them to multi-seven figures and I'm the happiest I've ever been. I think it is more of this illusion. Or if your desire for success or your desire for money comes from a place of lack inside of yourself and that's sort of the catalyst. It's like I don't sacrifice anything. In fact, I use my business as a catalyst of transformation to ensure that I'm not sacrificing. I use it to reflect the way I relate, the way that I love myself, the way that I treat myself, the relationship that I have with myself. So, from that lens and from that place, it's actually the only way that I can build a life that doesn't feel like I'm sacrificing.

Speaker 3: 7:10

And truly, you know, there was actually a part of me that that, for a period of time, that shamed this desire for success, that shamed this hunger for more, that shamed the entrepreneur and the like, the badass businesswoman in me. And it was actually from that place that I felt like I was sacrificing, because it's like I felt like I wasn't truly feminine or woman enough or, you know, wasn't following these rules of yeah, like polarity or femininity, and it's like I had to give up a part of me, or I felt like I had to give up a part of me to fit into a mold of what society deems to be acceptable for a feminine woman. So actually it's been the biggest catalyst for me to realize that my power is in my, my, the full spectrum of what makes me the woman that I am.

Speaker 2: 8:09

Okay, okay, that's great. And so, as someone who's overcome the intense adversity, how do you think that your personal journey shapes the way you lead today?

Speaker 3: 8:29

It has definitely instilled a level of resilience and a level of gratitude and and at the same time I want to say, anyone can access this, but I think people specifically that come from adversity tend to access it a little bit easier or they can use their circumstances to build excuses and to not create the life of their dreams. But, yeah, I want to say what I realized actually was even, you know, in all the moments that were scary or confronting, that I have kind of realized over the years that I was always there, I always had my back, I was always in my corner, I was always making sure that I got out of whatever situations I got myself in. So, yeah, I think it actually reinforced my self-trust, even if sometimes it took me on like the long road to get there wow lovely.

Speaker 2: 9:27

So, uh, that's lovely, yeah, and uh huh. So for, uh, all the listeners like who may feel trapped in that hustle mindset, what's the first step towards redefining success and pleasure? What would you say?

Speaker 3: 9:51

I actually think it's getting so. I play in the world of Tantra. I'm a badass business coach, but I you know, I would say, my hobby. The lens in which I view the world and the principles that I live by are based on this game or desire for inner harmony. Oftentimes, what I see in women that yeah, like struggling to find the balance is that internal relationship is out of harmony okay because, you know, sometimes I work 10 hours a day but I don't shame myself when I do that.

Speaker 3: 10:31

I don't say that I'm hustling, I don't even feel like I'm hustling. I'm just so in service to the mission that I'm here to deliver, that I'm in like a flow state of like, fully immersed in what I'm doing and the lives I'm going to change. On the other side, I think what happens is we sort of look at what everyone else says we should be or shouldn't be, or have or shouldn't have, or, you know, I even talk about hustle culture and I don't condone it, but for me it's again it's the motivation and the energy of where it's coming from versus the it's like. To me, hustle is often I need to be busy all of the time, even if I have nothing to do. I need to find something to do and I need to constantly be in motion or movement. Now I'm in a building like I'm building at the moment. I've got like a lot of life force, I've got a lot of energy behind me, I've got a lot of momentum. So I'm working a lot.

Speaker 3: 11:31

But inside of that relationship, I'll go and like lay in the sun for two hours a day and just be.

Speaker 3: 11:38

I will feel where I'm overworking, or I'll feel where I've, you know, dropped out of aligned action and maybe into just action for action's sake.

Speaker 3: 11:48

And when I catch myself in that moment I'm like, all right, pause, and I'll go lay in the sun and I'll meditate, or I'll literally just lay in the sun and I will like intentionally create space to then find the like, find out where my motivation is coming from.

Speaker 3: 12:08

And if I lay there and I'm like, no, actually I know what aligned action I need to take and there's more that I want to be doing right now, I'll come back to my computer and I'll get more things done. But if that pause, if that time out of my focus and devotion to what I'm doing helps me to uncover an unhealthy belief, like I need to be busy in order to be successful, or I'm pushing because I feel like I need to achieve something, I'll like call it quits on the day and intentionally pour more into, like my rest and receivership. So you know, I'll go to the beach or go get a facial or go get a massage and because my business is set up to be so flexible, I don't need to be rigid in the ways in which I grow.

Speaker 2: 12:59

Okay, got it Okay. Rigid in the ways in which I grow? Okay, got it okay. So, uh, like, is there any specific somatic practice? Or maybe the ritual, the self-care ritual, that you use to keep grounded in both your life and the business, if you want to?

Speaker 3: 13:16

breathwork. Um, so I do. I'm a breath work facilitator. Breath work is what I call my gateway drug. Breath work was the first thing that I did that actually brought me into this awareness in all the ways that I was disconnected from myself and disconnected from my pleasure and disconnected from my life. And so, you know, when I go lay in the sun, if I notice myself, you know mindlessly being busy, I will drop into a breathwork practice. I'll breathe all the way down into my womb for men, all the way down into your lower abdomen, and I will just breathe here for at least 30 minutes and empty out my mind and really intentionally drop back into my body and continue to ask myself I want to say, like deepening questions as to where my motivation is coming from, what my intentions are.

Speaker 2: 14:11

Yeah, I really just use it as a method to connect back to myself in deeper ways wow, wow, it's, it's, uh, it's more about I mean connecting with yourself, your uh inner self, basically, where you are trying to uh um, disconnect with all the uh maybe, issues, thinkings or uh the stress everything. Yes, that's a great way. Yeah, yeah, and like from the perspective of pleasure, right, is there ever a point where ambition can backfire? What do you say?

Speaker 3: 14:58

Yeah, if you're not building a connection with your body along the way, you know, if we're all mind, no body, we're actually disconnected from our pleasure. Because we feel our pleasure, we don't think about pleasure, any growth or ambition that makes it okay to sacrifice ourselves in the process.

Speaker 2: 15:20

Okay, it okay to sacrifice ourselves in the process.

Speaker 3: 15:28

okay, yeah, okay, so um so how can someone recognize that before it's too late? Yeah, um, numbness. So if you want to talk about pleasure specifically and specifically for women, a lot of women that are disconnected from their body and disconnected from themselves have a lot of sexual numbness. Even anxiety can be forms of pushing too hard and not actually allowing pleasure in your life. Stress is huge and you know stress, especially the cortisol spikes that can come from stressing, can actually also counteract pleasure hormones or remove sex drives, if you're going to relate it again to sexuality. But you know, anything that disconnects you from the somatic feeling of being in your body and being present and being able to feel Wow, that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 16:24

Thanks for sharing this and also, like for everyone, for the listeners who feel torn between growth and staying authentic. So how do you help leaders integrate both?

Speaker 3: 16:40

Yeah, I use their business as a tool to reflect back to them who they actually are and who they need to become to hold the next level of their business. Now I don't just do semantics, I don't just do breathwork. You know my work is deeply steeped in strategy and I have the capacity to systemize, outsource, implement marketing and growth strategies in businesses. It's what I've done time and time again in my own businesses for all of my clients. But I don't only operate in the mind.

Speaker 2: 17:14

Okay.

Speaker 3: 17:15

And I use our businesses or overwhelm, or shut down or stress as a deep self-reflection tool to actually help leaders be introspective in all the ways in which they're not truly showing up for their lives in a way that feels good. Oftentimes I see leaders that have lives that look good, like I've got the multi-million dollar business or this multi-six-figure business and their you know Instagram looks great, but they're so disconnected and they don't understand joy or happiness, not even pleasure, even just like happiness. But I also understand the fear around losing success and I have the capacity to hold leaders in. We don't. We're not sacrificing here.

Speaker 3: 18:00

I'm not saying that you can't have a multi-million dollar business. In fact, I want you to have a multi-million dollar business and I know the ways to help you get there. But it's also, you know, one of my pillars is mastery, and the mastery in itself is actually understanding what you're doing it for. Why do you want the big business, why do you want the success, and how can you master your self-relationship whilst building the business of your dreams, and it can be really supportive to have someone hold your hand in that process who's done it all before.

Speaker 2: 18:36

Exactly, that's very true, great. So, leslie, thank you so much for such an inspiring and honest and eye-opening conversation. So, like you have actually shown us, like that pleasure and the purpose can coexist and that real success includes thriving both personally and professionally. So thank you so much for this and for the listeners I would love to mention. I hope, that this episode leaves you feeling empowered to redefine what it means to succeed without compromising who you are today. So, yeah, and before we wrap, leslie, if someone wants to connect with you, uh, wants to have a discussion about uh, uh, maybe for uh, in any, any of any of the topics that we have discussed today, so how they can connect with you yeah, um, jump across to my instagram.

Speaker 3: 19:38

Check the show notes for how to spell my name, because Leslie spelt with a Z, leslie K on all major platforms. Slide into my DMs. I would be honored to start a conversation and see if there's any way I can help.

Speaker 2: 19:50

Okay, perfect. So, dear listeners, what I'll do, I'll put the Instagram link into the show notes so that it is much easier for all of you to reach out to her. And yeah, so until next time to reach out to her. And uh, yeah, so until next time. Remember that your journey, or to a healthy mind and healthy life can be one filled with joy, resilience and the impact. So, thank you so much thank you.