Breaking cycles and building freedom: Nadine Muller’s shift from frontline health worker to life mentor

Nadine: Just because you're great at it doesn't mean you have to stay. And just because you've started doing it for decades, I, I've been doing this for a very long time. Again, it doesn't mean you have to stay.

Caitlin: Hello, hello. Welcome to the place for offbeat health professionals who have bravely swapped their healthcare hats for nonclinical creative caps. I'm Caitlin, a psychologist, turn copywriter, and this is healers with hustles.

Hi healers. So before I introduce my guest for today, I wanted to say that part of me found this conversation a little confronting as we explored ideas that are, outside my usual lens, so to speak. But, you know, I do love being challenged and I do enjoy having my world expanded by other people's perspectives and ideas and beliefs.

I'm really looking forward to introducing my guest to you today, and that is

nadine Muller, who is a life and business mentor, multi seven figure, CEO. And former Australia military officer and registered nurse. She leads some movement guiding women to be the one who reclaim their purpose and power, bridging strategy and intuition to create freedom, purpose, and legacy.

All the while living a nomadic life with her husband and two sons. Oh, I love, Nadine's Instagram and seeing all their travel posts, it's so heartwarming.

Caitlin: Beautiful. Well, welcome to the podcast, Nadine. Thank you so much for joining me here.

Nadine: Thank you so much, Caitlin. Such a pleasure. I'm excited for this conversation today.

Caitlin: Yeah, me too, me too. I really, curious to hear where we go in this conversation. But I guess a good place to start is at the beginning. And so particularly with you, I'm so curious to hear about your story. So tell me all about that, like your jump from healthcare professional to now, like entrepreneurship, like that.

Caitlin: It just, I'm, yeah. Tell me all about it.

Nadine: Yeah, look, we would be here for many of many episodes 'cause I, I, I've got quite an incredible expansive, also wildly topsy-turvy rollercoaster journey from. My emergency nursing career, my Australian military career. So many things that I did before now to now where I am. And that's leading beautifully impacting on a really purpose led mission where we lead and support so many men, women, couples, whole families, to freedom.

Nadine: Now, when I speak into freedom, you know, most people will go to financial freedom. Though I'm talking about the freedom that is actually priceless, and that is the freedom of. Self, the freedom from the mind, the freedom from the soul, from the heart that is often closed from past things, freedom of their time, freedom of their space, and the freedom to actually choose what your life looks like.

Nadine: And of course, that also includes wealth. You know, I'm, I'm about, I've led now so many women to their financial freedom and their generational wealth. Though that is merely, and I always speak into this really truthfully, that is merely a byproduct of the women and the people that we become. And that will just be in abundance once we tap into this part.

Nadine: And no doubt that will be a conversation that we speak into today.

Caitlin: Yes, definitely.

Nadine: Yeah. And I wrote a book about my life, and I think it's, it's really important that I share that because it's really difficult in one question to go, what has been your life tapestry from, you know, previous traumas to a, a profession that was riddled with traumas as in professionally

Caitlin: Yeah,

Nadine: nursing, a career in the military?

Caitlin: absolutely.

Nadine: And then, you know, in my own personal, beautiful, ugly pursuit of life, so many things. So, yeah, life, death a significant journey through motherhood and scent suicidal ideation, mental health, you name it. It's been a beautiful journey and

Caitlin: a wow.

Nadine: far.

Caitlin: And then you can help other people with that. Having that experience

Nadine: Yeah. And, you know, I get to do this alongside my life accomplice. So my husband and we, you know, we pinch ourselves on the daily as I'm speaking to you now, we've just finished up our couples retreat on the weekend. And and it really is a moment of, of gratitude for this work. I've always been one to serve the community, be part of organizations or you know, volunteer and or, you know, serve the country and, and serve the community in the emergency nursing space, though it was all leading me to here, my life was giving me clues the whole time.

Nadine: This is my purpose. That's what I love leading people to, and now I serve on a whole new global scale, which is incredible.

Caitlin: It's incredible. It is. It's so incredible what you're doing. Like how, what have been the big moments throughout that your, should you call it career, your journey? Like what are the key things that have, like when you look back, you're like, you can connect the dots.

Nadine: Yeah. You know, and, and many women that are listening to this could, could perhaps resonate. You know, I, I was one of those women who. Who was doing it all and doing it all from an empty cup, doing it all with the labels of pleasing everybody else and leaving myself behind doing it all in terms of I should do this, the, the societal program of what it means to be a woman and a mother, and a wife and a friend, and a sister and a daughter, and a somebody in the community that serves.

Nadine: I was hugely in my masculine, so I didn't know what it was like to actually stop and feel. Obviously those careers professionally meant that I saw life and death on a daily basis. I have seen what most people will never experience in their life professionally, let alone personally. I've seen people at their worst and I've also seen incredible feats at their best.

Nadine: And so, you know, there were some really pivotal moments for me where I went this. Ain't it. And, and I really wanna empower people listening to this. If you are in careers or jobs that are really starting to, you know, that you, you love them though, at the same time they're starting to steal your absolute joy or your lights, you get to shift.

Nadine: And it's, and it's a really scary thing. And a lot of the work that we do here, and I, I literally have a whole chapter in the book and it's called A Reason to Rise.One of our retreat experiences is called Rise. I've got a free Facebook community called Rise. Everything is actually about the woman who chooses to rise.

Nadine: And when I was in that space, I went, I am literally living my life for other people. And I've left myself behind and I've left the little girl in me, who many years ago was so excited to grow up and be a mother, so excited to go, what am I gonna be? When I grew up and when I grew up, I was, I was in spaces where I just went.

Nadine: This can't be what it all was supposed to be. This wasn't the fun that I envisioned it to be. I've lost myself and my identity and my being and my joy, and I'm just running in this ru race of life. And I, and I know that so many people can, can reason with that. And I'm here to show them a new way of what it gets to be.

Nadine: When you discover what you're here, really what you're meant to do, your ikigai and your purpose, and I'll tell you right now, it doesn't take you a lifetime to do it. I'm here to show people how to do a whole lot

Caitlin: Wow. And I love how you say that about like being in careers or being in a space where it's like doesn't feel right anymore. Like you're giving, you're giving, it's just not right. Like sure you get into a profession for one reason, but then all of a sudden there's just something in it that doesn't feel right.

Caitlin: But you can shift, you can change. And I think that's a lot, particularly with like myaudience. It's a lot of people earn that part now where they're like, I've studied for so long, I've become a healthcare professional. I'm doing this stuff. I really love it. But it's, there are parts in it, like you were saying, that it's just, it's draining.

Caitlin: And what do I do next?

Nadine: Absolutely. And you know, like I wanna share, especially for the mothers, if, if you are in this space where like, man, I love what I do and I am great at what I do because this was me too from every day in an emergency department in those crisis situations, you know, I would have people like that.

Nadine: Thank you. That fulfillment, that don't get me wrong, I also had people spit on my face and I was also, trying to find veins off people from their feet because they'd blown every other vein in their body. You know, I, I've seen it all though. Those moments where it's like. Thank you so much for being by my bedside or having this care and this, this, this ability to really transform my day, though the reason why I say this, just because you're great at it, just because the world absolutely needs you to be there.

Nadine: If you are getting, if you have come to a crossroad and you've loved it before or there's still pockets of of you that still love it though, you're like, you know what? This is stealing the parts of me that you know of a percentage of how much I love, you know, my career and what it actually provides for me and those around me.

Nadine: You get to also have the massive courage. And I get it, I get, I get goosebumps whenever I say this. Just because you're great at it doesn't mean you have to stay. And just because you've started doing it for decades, I, I've been doing this for a very long time. Again, it doesn't mean you have to stay.

Nadine: And what if the thing that you are in, because I'll say it till the cows come home, my military career. So I've spent, you know, a decade and a half in the Australian military as a, as a, you know, officer. So again, as I, I was from the ranks, you know, I went through to non-commissioned officer and then I ended up commissioning to a nursing officer.

Nadine: And then obviously as a nursing officer, I was also working in our emergency departments, our ICUs, our critical cares, our so many different units. So again, tho those two professions, if I'm just gonna talk about those two,

Caitlin: Yeah.

Nadine: they. Hugely shaped my entrepreneurship journey. They hugely shaped my work ethic journey.

Nadine: They hugely shaped my ability to have emotional intelligence with people. They hugely shaped my ability to have compassion and empathy and grace and resilience and tenacity, and the ability to go, I'm gonna find a way and I'm gonna keep on going. The amount of resources that I've been in that everyone around is like they are clinically dead and we go, let's just keep going.

Nadine: Let's just keep going. That is entrepreneurship. And so if you are from, if you are from any health profession, I, I've had so many beautiful people in my sphere that are in the multidisciplinary space in so many different spaces, not just, you know, critical care or any health profession, I really invite you to wonder what stepping stone this is giving you and gifting you, you know, and it.

Caitlin: Yep. I like when you say that you, you have that experience you canTake from what, what you need from your previous careers into entrepreneurship and you're, you're so right. Like, entrepreneurship was so hard. Like I never knew what it would be like and I was like, yeah, I'm gonna start a business and

Nadine: Oh my gosh, yes. It's full on guys. If you're listening to this and you think that business and entrepreneurship is gonna be easy, you've been sold a lie. We are here to tell you specifically me, I went from, I went from a safe salary for all of my life. I, I know what that safety is, though. The, the best that I ever did was step into being a business owner, a sole trader, then stepping into, you know, running multiple things.

Nadine: Then, you know, then turning into a company now having a global movement and company, we, you know, again, for me, it doesn't make sense for a past version of me that now millions is like normal for me. I come from someone that. That's not my, that's not my, my family's story. I became the one and I changed that.

Nadine: And I'll tell you right now that it was the absolute golden threads that not having it gifted me. And you can walk towards that. You can, I've said I now lead so many people to becoming that and having that for themselves. And it's not as hard as the world makes it out to think. However, however, you've gotta be willing to put that same amount of, of, of commitment and of dedication that you have to your health profession, to your studies, to your postgraduate studies.

Nadine: For those of you that you know are all about, you know, continuing to learn and expand. those same principles that you've got already can literally be mapped across to entrepreneurship. And once we change, you know, the mind that thinks it's gotta be logical, I'm telling you it, it's it was the easiest, hardest thing I've ever done.

Caitlin: yeah. Tell me, like, is it hard to think back to that decision? Like, because you've, you've done so much since then, like is it almost, is it hard to

Nadine: Love that question, Caitlyn. perhaps people can resonate with just this. You know, when I started to really go, this ain't it. It was no longer just myself. So I joined the military at 17. I, I, you know, my, my military career was really when I was on, on my own as a young kid, right?

Nadine: Like, even alone, you know, my, my friends and my circles from school were partying and traveling. I decided, you know, I come from nothing. I come from grassroots. So I knew in order to get ahead, I needed to get started. So I didn't stuff around. And I just got into work. I started my career and got into the military and the armed forces, and started to really shape myself as an adult, as a kid.

Nadine: And so though, when this started to, to really, you know, alarm bells were going off and they were for a long time, I'm not gonna lie. It's not like now I very much, people look at me and go, wow, you're such an action taken. You're someone that that moves. And I am, and again, as an emergency registered nurse in the

Caitlin: You got it.

Nadine: you cannot, right?

Nadine: You cannot hold off. You cannot wait.

Nadine: You

Caitlin: and wonder and like Yeah. Hypothesize and,

Nadine: Exactly, exactly. Well said. And so I have been someone like that though though, let me say the decision to depart an identity that was my identity. For those of you listening to health professions or health professionals, that role of yours, that job, that career, even the clients and those you serve in that it becomes who you are.

Nadine: And, and it is really, it is such a brave thing to do, to go, I have to let go of my identity and who I was in order to, to claim the next version of me. And though as I, as I am alluding to, I was no longer on my own at this point. Then I had two kids and I had my husband and I realized that my careers, while I love them, while I'm great at them, while people keep on telling me, Hey, this, you are amazing at this.

Nadine: It was actually costing me too much and it was costing me time with my children. It was costing me, it was costing me mental health and not even just my own, it was specifically my husband. So my own husband was dealing with his own mental health challenges. And now again, I was in the emergency nursing space.

Nadine: Mental health was one of my areas of expertise and I had this happening in my own home and I was taking care of the people in the community that. Required, you know, crisis support and mental health support. And I didn't have full utmost energetic capacity to even take care of my husband in the home.

Nadine: You know, like, and I did to the best of my ability, though, I was so zapped, it was costing me my, my energies, my levels, my time. And then, you know, I, I was missing some things because I was operating at such a high level in so many other areas of my life. I was leading teams,

Caitlin: You can't

Caitlin: do everything.

Nadine: people, I was leading units, I was doing so many things.

Nadine: And the reason why I wanna say that is for the women listening to this, maybe you've got, you're running many hats. Maybe you've got a hat of the career and the health professional. And then at the same time, my dad was dying. I was taking care of my dad.

Nadine: I was really the fortitude, the, the framework and the golden threads that were keeping my, my family together.

Nadine: And I went. My careers don't support this and I'm actually spending my time taking care of others. And what I really need is to take care of myself and take care of my family. I don't have the time to do that now and the space, and then I'm gonna say it, the money and the resources,

Caitlin: Yes.

Nadine: and I Yeah.

Nadine: wow. I'm absent from my children.

Nadine: I have not enough money to, to provide the support for my family to have the home support that we need. My husband's not able to work so suddenly now we're on one income. My income's not enough. Now I have to work those double shifts. Now I have to also, there was a lot riding. You can imagine the

Caitlin: so,

Nadine: of causing my marriage to be, which is why we do couples work now as well.

Nadine: It's a huge passion area for me. Again, can you see how every single area of, of life is when things are starting to go tits up? Everything was, was not supporting that.

Caitlin: that's something, everything is impacted. But how brave of you and courageous to go, I'm gonna take control. I'm gonna do something differently. And that was a question I had for you. Like, what were the people around you? Like, were people in business? Like, was that a common thing in your, like your family and your friends?

Caitlin: And what did that look like?

Nadine: Yes. No. So I was around, this is, this is a huge area of teaching and wisdom that I share with a lot of people. My inner circle and my whole world were people that were in the nine to five and were people that were health professionals, were people in in, you know, I, I work those hours, these are my days.

Nadine: I have four weeks of leave. That's it. You know, this is the money I, you know, maybe if someone dies, that position might come available. Maybe there might be a $3 pay rise after the fortnight. There was gonna be no, like, when I looked at the vision of what I wanted and I wanted time with my babies, I was like, I am never gonna get this back.

Nadine: My children, I also had, I'll mention this for context. I then had. A Premi child. We both nearly died at birth.

Caitlin: Oh,

Nadine: we had a significant experience as, as a young family. And so it's like the universe when this woman will not stop. So we're gonna make this woman

Caitlin: Make us, mm.

Nadine: because when she does, and I invite anyone listening.

Nadine: Where is actually the universe giving you? I called it, I was, I was, you know, there was a, a little feather that was like, Nadine, this, you're not, it's, it's gotta, you can't keep going like this. You're gonna run yourself into the ground. You are going to literally leave yourself hanging until there's nothing left.

Nadine: You know, there's gonna be starting to be mistakes. There's gonna be some things happen. You can't keep operating at this high tempo. My, my nervous system was shot. I would, I'd be drinking 10 coffees on shifts and it wouldn't even touch the sides. Like I was operating at this such, this high level, yet I was empty.

Nadine: Right? And I didn't have enough to even recognize what was happening in the home. I wasn't being the present mother that I knew I could be. And then I wasn't able to provide the support that my family needed. Now. The, the thing was, and, and going back to your question that actually fuses with this question is, I, I divinely, you know, that that feather happened.

Nadine: I didn't listen to it. I knew. Yeah. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I can hear you. Yep. I can hear the whispers. I know something has to stop, but I've gotta keep going for those listening. Is this you then, you know, there was a bit of a, there was literally a bit of a brick heine. I'd get a bit sick or something would happen, or someone would die or something.

Nadine: Like, literally my life was starting to give me all of these drop-ins or these things. And then the next thing, and I actually, it's a metaphor. I had the feather, I had the, I had the brick, and then I, and then it's, I call it a truck, and a m truck will come and hit you and it'll be a, it'll be a, you know, a, a, a mental, a, a diagnosis or a you know, a beautiful, for me, I had a pregnancy also that I had hyperemesis grab ader, so I was just sick my entire pregnancy.

Nadine: I, I'd be in hospital most weeks, or no, every week I'd be in hospital. I was gifted that, so I would slow down. Caitlin. I was given that so that I could, I couldn't work, I couldn't

Caitlin: You couldn't work?

Nadine: Health and fitness was a big part of my life. And I, and I would get up at stupid o'clock so that I could at least have my mental clarity of training.

Nadine: I also had a business on the side because we didn't have enough money. So I was, I was personal training people on the side to all this.

Caitlin: Huh?

Nadine: Again, I want you to notice how I've even, I'm even speaking this and there's so many women, I guide these women. They have multiple things. They're trying to build businesses.

Nadine: They're running households, they're doing this. Now I wanna mention this, 'cause it wasn't a metaphorical truck. I was looking after my dad at home. We were taking care of him in the home. There was actually not even enough capacity to put him in a facility. We didn't have space. We, we were literally. It was so wild to even think that the system of the Aged Care, you know, we we're very fortunate compared to a lot of other countries, though again, we're in a flawed system.

Nadine: The aged care facility was really struggling. We had, or, you know, for us to even have support. So we had support in the home though we were maxing that. I was literally paying nurses of mine cash in hand to come and give us a reprieve for a few hours so that my mom and I could sleep. My dad had dementia, very needed us all the time. And then had also had a stroke. So it was very high care needs. He was left sided paralysis, so he was in a wheelchair. We basically running a hospital in the home for my dad, and again, I was nursing, I'm, I'm painting the picture, right. There's a

Caitlin: Yeah, it's a lots

Nadine: Now I, this is on the Sunshine Coast. Yeah. If people know the distance between the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, I was taking care of my dad the best as I could using all the resources.

Nadine: Running dry? No, like credit card up to the eyeballs in debt. Trying to just stay afloat. And then I had had a shift, if you will, with my dad at home, so my mom could have some sleep. And I was driving home from the Sunshine, sunshine Coast to the Gold Coast, which is a two, two

Caitlin: Long. Yeah, it's a big dryer.

Nadine: Yeah.

Nadine: And I nearly had a head on collision with the truck. So that was my moment.

Caitlin: that was? Yeah. Hmm.

Nadine: 'cause I went home to see my babies and I went home to see my husband to make sure he wasn't dead.

Caitlin: New goosebumps.

Nadine: Yeah. And that is like when I went, you know what? It's you, Nadine.

Nadine: So what do you want it to be? 'cause this is starting to impact your career. This is impacting your job. This is impacting your health. This is impacting your marriage.

Nadine: This is impacting those that you're serving. This is impacting everything. So for me, I had no option, Caitlin. It was, and I never want someone to get to here because it nearly took my life and I had no other option except to go. This has to end and I'm my own problem because this is how it's got to here.

Caitlin: That's how it's got to here. Wow. And then, but then even like taking that next step. because you had your side business and everything like that, was that a okay step to then like, quit, like nursing, quit the military, do all of that? Like what

Nadine: Yeah. So I'll tell you what I did. I, I love this because a lot of people find this transition really difficult. And it is though, this is why I get people to start doing the work, and this is what we do early because you, you gotta recognize it early. The reason why I could jump then and I didn't jump

Caitlin: Hmm.

Nadine: in, you know, all balls in one court and that's it.

Nadine: I,

Caitlin: Yes.

Nadine: I started to hear that whisper before the truck and I actually started you know, creating and building, I was sharing a lot of my journey on social media at the time and just, I just started building a, a, a personal brand, if you will. And I used it as a, yeah, I used it as a stepping stone and actually a, an outlet for myself.

Nadine: 'cause I was like, man. I know a lot of, they were all my colleagues, they were all my, the people at my workplace that actually just needed a place to vent and to be held and to be supported. So I created spaces and then not as a, as a, a life coach or a life strategist or a business mentor, obviously that's now though then it was, I had a lot of skills and, and experience personally and professionally where, you know, I, I had learned a lot of things along the way that I could

Caitlin: mm.

Nadine: and I just would share very organically, very authentically.

Nadine: So, and I loved that I could come to a place in communities that I'd built and, and would just go, man, I'm having a shit ass day. Like, this is not okay. And I really started to share the wins, the, the, the losses, the trials, the tribulations, and really my journey. And through that, you know, people saw. They saw literally a woman rise and they saw a woman go, I can't keep doing this.

Nadine: And I impacted a lot of people just in them going shit, me either. And then, and then they would see me go, I'm gonna step down from my full-time career and I'm going to no longer do this. And I'm gonna, actually, I I, what I did for a while before leaving the nursing capacity was I actually started applying for jobs.

Nadine: That meant it was double the pay or sometimes triple the pay, though not in Queensland Health. So I started. Looking everywhere. Again, I wanna remind you, if you're a nurse, if you're a health, any health professional, you have resourcefulness up your wazoo. All right? So I got really resourceful and went, how can I do less hours though?

Nadine: Increase my capacity to earn? So in the nursing space, especially in the nursing space, there are so many options, so many things. If you are looking outside the zone of where you're at. So I started talking, I was getting paid sometimes double, triple, quadruple my hourly rate in Queensland Health by working on film sets as the nurse on

Caitlin: So clever. Wow,

Nadine: The nurse on duty. And I would sit there, now listen to this resourcefulness, my friends, mainly women, right? In your community. So I would then be on movie sets and, and again, I would have, you know, as a first aider and as a qualified emergency registered nurse. And again, though, if, if you're a nurse, you can upskill and you can do so many things in order to have this behind you.

Nadine: And, and there's, you don't have to be emergency registered. You know, you don't have to have a, have, you know, your clinical nursing space or your, you know, rural nursing postgrad. Just trust me when I say there are options available for you. And then I would sit there and just monitor and there'd be some days where it'd be a bandaid or it'd be, you know, Hey, come over here and I'll sort you out.

Nadine: And guess what I was doing in the meantime? 'cause I could, I'm, I'm sitting there and I'm watching. They don't need me. I was building my business on the side and I was earning four times as much. Get resourceful, my friends. I'm here to tell you. You can. And that was one of my first things that I did. I started, I, I put in my resignation into the military and I said, I'm gonna become a reservist, and that's it.

Nadine: And they were like, shock horror, like, what do you mean? I remember my boss at the time, like I was, I got, I'm, it was a male oriented, you know, career.

Caitlin: Hmm.

Nadine: was like, no, you can't do that. Like the military too. It was like, no, you can't do that. And I was like, yes, I can. It was starting to take the power back and go,

Caitlin: Yeah, that's so,

Nadine: Yes I can. I got a, no, I got multiple nos actually. And I kept on getting resourceful and I kept on looking and I kept on finding it until I found my yes. So then what did I do? Stepped down from that role, went into reservist. Now as a reservist, if you've got a career in the armed forces or any organization like that, and then you go into a capacity like that, I could earn double, triple and be on call. Now again wise, how can you start going behind and off what you know? And it does take initiative and it takes resourcefulness though. What I know about health professionals is you are willing to ask questions. You are willing to go outside the wire. You are willing to do what it takes. So start using the things that you know to your advantage.

Nadine: You are taking care of everybody else. Start taking care of you and your family.

Caitlin: Wow. That's so, so clever and to, to do that. But I love, love what you said about that is the more you did that, the more you took back your power and you're like confident in this. You're like, no, I can do what I want. Like this is,

Nadine: I think it's quite wordy to mention. So yeah. Then I decided obviously a career, you know, a decade and a half career in the military. So, leadership, management coaching, mentoring, people leading from the front, leading alongside people in my veins, in my, in my repertoire of, of identities and ways of being.

Nadine: So then I knew, and whenever, you know, I learned early that I my strengths and so I really invite people to go, what are my strengths? What are the things that people ask me for, you know, or, or talk to me for? And I've always been someone that people come to for guidance, that people come to for clarity, that people come to for support.

Nadine: And again, in my professions, that's what I was doing. So I then went and I loved it. That's the other thing. And I loved the feeling when someone left my presence. So I went. This is my ikigai and this is the work that I

Caitlin: hmm.

Nadine: here as part of my company. And the, the work that we do here for so many people, an ikigai, is a, a Japanese concept and philosophy around a way of life and my way of life and how I lead people is let's look at your strengths.

Nadine: Let's look at what you love doing. Let's look at what this world needs and what you can impact in a small scale, a large scale, whatever. And then what is this thing that can create and you be remunerated for? That's called your ikigai. And so I support people now to go, you know what? I love leading people.

Nadine: I love helping people. I've loved, you know, my nursing career or my OT career, or my teaching career, or my, you know, allied health career, whatever it is. And though this ain't it, I'm like, when I put my finger on the pulse, I'm not, this ain't the fulfillment and I want more flexibility. So I just started to shift what I was doing already and go, ah.

Nadine: I wanna, I wanna coach people through life. I wanna coach people through their mindset. I wanna coach people through their, their barriers. And that's how this was created,

Caitlin: how it was.

Nadine: right?

Caitlin: Incredible. Yeah, and, and like you said, it all makes sense now looking back, you're like, yeah, it's all, it's all there,

Nadine: Step by step.

Caitlin: Hmm. It's all there. Is that? Yeah. 'cause it there stuff, I remember doing that once and yeah, it was like something like so transformational.

Nadine: Yeah. so creating and discovering people's Ikigai is, is what I get to do and one of my zones of genius. And some people can spend their whole life never living out there. Rica guy, I've got a whole experience. It's called Expand and Elevate. And for three whole months, that's all we're doing.

Nadine: We are discovering your ikigai. So instead of, you know, this took me decades. I now have created bodies of work and pockets of learnings and, and, you know, educational processes. I've got a whole app on it that basically goes, I'm gonna together with you alongside you. We are gonna discover all your strengths.

Nadine: We're also gonna discover what you love doing, what gives you joy? What allows you to go, this freaking lights me up. This is what I love doing. And I'm telling you, you've been given clues your whole life. I'm telling you, okay? Because there's a whole process where we, where I go along the timeline and I go, tell me about this.

Nadine: Tell me about this, tell me about this. And sometimes your ika guy is actually on the other side of the worst thing you've ever experienced. Okay. It can be. And so for me, you know, I literally have had a number of experiences where I've nearly died and life for me and life force energy for me and, and birthing and rebirthing me through motherhood and through experiences.

Nadine: So I help a lot of women. I help a lot of women through motherhood. I help a lot of entrepreneurs that are just like, I'm, I'm not there yet. Then it's like, it's one thing to know your ikigai. It's another thing to actually walk and then do it. Okay.

Caitlin: Mm.

Nadine: Because some people will then spend the rest of their life at their deathbed going, I knew what my purpose was, but I never

Caitlin: Never did it.

Nadine: So that's the part. It is. It is. That's the part that I love helping people with.

Nadine: It's like, let's just, let's discover it first. And that's a journey of self. That's a journey of introspect. That's a journey of undoing. Learnt behaviors. That's a journey of truly transcending what you know about yourself. Learning the things that are unconscious and unconscious, learning about the things that are holding you back, your conscious mind, your unconscious things in the past that you believe are, are.

Nadine: You know, or knowingly or unknowingly are holding you back. And a lot of this is like, you know, it can be people pleasing, it can be past traumas, it can be repressed memories that you don't even know are present or that has happened. It can be you know, limiting beliefs like, I'm not good enough, I'm not worthy.

Nadine: Or you know, someone told you at seven or someone told you at 10 this, now we need to, is it okay? And it absolutely is. If you consider, if you're about to live a very purpose-led life, if you're about to build a Ika guy, if you are about to leave an identity in a career and you wanna go all into entrepreneurship, it makes complete sense that we have to eradicate things that are gonna hold you back in that have to remove the shit that is gonna make you go when you hit a hurdle.

Nadine: 'cause you're gonna hit many hurdles in entrepreneurship that you don't have the, I'm not worthy enough for this rhetoric. That you don't have the fuck, what are people gonna think? Rhetoric. So that's my job to work alongside, to go, yo, we're gonna go all in on this sicker guy, if we're gonna go all in on this purpose that you now know.

Nadine: Which is half the battle though. The other half is, are you willing?

Caitlin: the. Yeah. Willing and facing all those things. That's it's not for the faint hearted to face all of those things that your, your body's been doing so hard to shield you from, to go, actually, am I gonna, am I gonna sit? And

Nadine: we are gonna feel it. We're gonna

Caitlin: Mm, feel it. See. Yeah. Exactly. And that might be a good in, because I was really curious before we hit record about, you were telling me about like your retreats and you were doing like, what you were doing like, like primal screaming and things like that.

Caitlin: And I wonder like how that fits in

Nadine: Yeah. You know, if you, for those of you that are listening, you can just take one look at our socials and you'll either go, oh my gosh, or you'll go, I'm really curious about this and

Caitlin: Mm.

Nadine: for this. Now, I must say most people that come to our places and spaces are either past versions of me. So a lot of health professionals, a lot of military, a lot of police, a lot of emergency services, personnel, a lot of teachers, a lot of mothers, a lot of women that they just know they've got a fire in the belly.

Nadine: They know that they're here for more, that they know that they've got a lot of shit that they've gotta clear. A lot of that shit isn't even theirs. It's their parents and then their parents', parents. People around them. It's people that they've, they've, you know, around, as we mentioned before, it's their colleagues, it's their partners, even like they're around a lot of energy that keeps them really close to expansion.

Nadine: And then though I really wanna mention, and this is the same with men 'cause we work with men, women, couples, and then whole families. This is the same for, the other side. Then we are supporting high level entrepreneurs, business owners, that they've built wonderful businesses and careers and, and you know, futures.

Nadine: And they're in financial freedom though there's a void and they're like, I'm still unhappy and I'm living from a place of fear and I'm creating success only because we at seven, my dad or someone told me I wasn't good enough. So now I'm using that as ammo, but that doesn't feel safe and I hate that I'm running this, this business from a place of just force and fear

Caitlin: Yeah.

Nadine: versus just flow.

Nadine: They can't stop. They're on this hamster wheel. Like they're never home. They're never present. Their businesses are going great though. Their marriages are a mess and

Caitlin: The relationships, yeah, probably. Mm,

Nadine: Yeah. Their ability to be pre, they can't put their phone down and what is it? It's all a distraction and it's all just simply a, I'm not willing to face my shit.

Caitlin: yeah.

Nadine: And it gets to a point that they realize, oh my gosh, some I will never, that holiday, that new car, that new business idea, that divorce, there's always gonna be a void.

Nadine: And until we are willing to face that woman or that man in the mirror, and it is the hardest freaking work that you will ever do, though it is the most liberating experience of your life when you truly once and for all, put your armor and your swords and your masks away, and you face that person staring back at you.

Nadine: And it's so much more than that person. It ends up being that little version of you. The person that was born into this world before. All of the limiting beliefs, before all, before all of the shit, before all of the trauma though, then the world or people around you hardened you All right. Or experience it.

Nadine: And then when you're willing to brave that, and I hope everyone gets that experience.

Nadine: So we lead, we've got a men's retreat called Resolve Men's Retreat for Men. We have a women's retreat, which we are about to embark on this weekend called Rise Women's Transformational Retreat.

Nadine: And then we have our couple's retreat, which is called United Retreat. Now what they look like can be really confronting though. It's actually all liberation and we're very. We're very proud. Those things that we do are very sacred. So what we, what you see on social media will never be people's stories or personal, like they're sacred though you'll see and feel the release of these people.

Nadine: We utilize somatic, somatic work, so Soma being the body where we identify with our beautiful people that choose themselves on this retreat where stagnant emotions and, and feelings and areas of dis-ease and discomfort are actually evident in their physical and their soma body. And we're actually utilizing energetics, utilizing spirituality, utilizing beautiful processes and taking them down so many modalities that we also have under our belt now and continue to to support them, to rid themselves and remove what I call the backpack of bullshit.

Nadine: And we are there for three days and we are there. Doing the most beautiful work, and it is so sacred. We do it alongside each other. You'll realize the people that you do it with all want the same. You will realize, you'll realize how close people's desires in this lifetime are. You'll realize that someone on retreat that reminds you of someone that is the mirror that you needed to be connected back with, you'll learn how to put down the mask of being in the masculine doing.

Nadine: You'll learn to open your heart to receive from people that have hurt you in the past. You'll learn to look at yourself and start to go, wow, I've, I've, I've let this woman go. I've let this man not be seen. And, and within that is the liberation that I know everyone gets to deserve. And from that space, you are unfuckwithable, you are unstoppable, and you become the version of you that will go and build the business or the entrepreneurship journey where it is unbridled, unfreaking, tamed.

Nadine: And you will just walk towards everything that you want because you've cleared yourself up things that are no longer that you don't need to carry anymore.

Caitlin: Yeah, you can take the backpack off and,

Nadine: Generationally take the backpack off, create energetic space and capacity. Yes, there's some primal roaring, if you would like to call it that. These are practices from a long time ago. I, I have such a magical heritage and bloodline and lineage. Part of my lineage is Filipino, so my mom's Filipino Spanish, and then my dad's side is Scottish and Irish.

Nadine: So I bring such an Anglo-Saxon and European and Asian culture. We're big about people coming back to their roots. part of our facilitation team. We have a lot of Maori indigenous Fijian a lot of different cultures. We've had

Caitlin: so special.

Nadine: to us, yeah, from Egypt, from us. We, we really bridge the gap between just doing the work of, of here to doing the work of, you know, bring back culture again. And that is what I'm gonna say most people are missing. Remembering where they come

Caitlin: huge. Yeah,

Nadine: what they come from and, and the, their people's wisdom. So a lot of people are doing generational trauma work, and we are too. We're allowing spaces for people to release themselves and relinquish them and be the, be the one in their family to, to circuit breaks and big generational traumas.

Nadine: Though we're also about just as important, bringing through generational wisdom. And

Caitlin: Excellent.

Nadine: how can we do that when we don't know where we're from?

Caitlin: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Nadine: That's a huge part of our too.

Caitlin: part. That's so cool that you you say that and that's what is a big part of it. That's incredible. That would just be such. I could just imagine like the transformations that people would have or like the emotional experience people would have

Nadine: Yeah. You know, we've had people come onto retreat with, and, and I'm, I'm really open this open about this because again, I come from a science, health back background. I'm up to my in degrees and certificates in anatomy and physiology and how all of that works. So I, I have that science background. I wanna be

Caitlin: In the

Nadine: on that.

Nadine: People are like, what? Like, what do you mean? I have seen people with. Diagnoses and, and dis disease states and things that they have been labeled with no longer have that after some big release work and big generational trauma work. So we've had women that have been told, Hey you know, endo, you can't fall pregnant, or PCOS or whatever.

Nadine: We've had people that their blood work after, you know, going on the journey, not just retreat though after, after that as well and doing, putting some things into practice that after a few months, you know, that endo that was riddled is, is they're like, their doctors are like, what? Or their IVF doctor is like, how no, that's not possible.

Nadine: And their pregnant,

Caitlin: And the

Nadine: you know, after, after five losses and what, what they've beautifully done and had the space of is cleared their womb of generational hurts and pains of things that have happened in the past. Now, if you choose to believe it, you do though I can't unsee or unfeel what I've felt now and what I've seen.

Caitlin: No, and there's a lot of like more and more like, you know, kind evidence coming out about like how this body stores stress, like how that is all in the body. And so it sounds like you do, it's all body work and

Nadine: Yes,

Caitlin: yeah, it's a

Nadine: you know, there's a lot of, and I did for a long time, I had a, had a coaching business in the mindset space and, and you know, I was coaching people through, you know, their physical body as, as a, as a health professional, as a personal trainer and a group, you know, fitness instructor too. So that was my, a profession that I had and a, and a business that I also had before moving into the life coaching space and the business coaching space.

Nadine: You, you'll realize that your life is here for you to live out, for you to see. There are things that are happening on our retreats and, and again, there's a lot of people doing beautiful work. And, and as a former health professional of that nature. To now there is a place for all of it though.

Nadine: There's also a place for you to, if, if, if you are looking for more, start opening your, your spirituality and start opening modalities that don't make sense yet. And keep exploring. Keep exploring until you find the thing for you. Keep exploring.

Caitlin: What a beautiful permission slip. I think particularly like the healthcare professionals who, yeah, like you were saying, we come from the world of science and evidence and all these things, and sometimes it feels like a bit like, oh, I can't be doing these other things. I can't be, yeah. Showing that I'm like on the alternative or something like that.

Caitlin: And so what a beautiful thing that there are more and more people like yourself who are going, no, like you can do it if you want.

Nadine: And, and if you're open to it, we've had people that are like, you know what, I'm really skeptical about this though. I'm curious.

Caitlin: Curious is, and like you say, curiosity.

Nadine: Curiosity and, and for us, safety is a huge thing for us. So on our retreats, whilst it looks like you know, these people are going to town, it's once they feel safe, we don't actually open our spaces to do any of the what looks like bigger work in that space though it's really liberating work.

Nadine: It's actually, it's got nothing. It for some, it depends where people are at here that they go, ah, though then, you know, a lot of the things we are not even sharing our clients and people experience our work. They're like getting on their social medias, being like, holy shit guys, I've been in therapy for 30 years.

Nadine: I just did that for three days and it's done. You know, like, I think it's really important to hear it from people that have experienced it as well. So hence why I say just keep searching. Just keep looking and, and what I was saying before, you know, there's a whole, there's a whole movement of, you know, your mindset, but that's the issue.

Nadine: People are set in their mind. I'm about, Hey, come to your heart set, come to your soul set.

Caitlin: that's so good. That's good.

Nadine: Honestly, honestly, your mind is logical and it is beautiful and it is magical though. It is only in the space of what it knows. Your a logical mind, your soul, your heart, your intuition, your womb, like all of these incredible spaces.

Nadine: And then your, once you open and awaken your spirit self and then your higher self, and then those that are here to support you, and it's often your beautiful bloodline that are here to support you. People that have passed. You know, I had the unfortunate though, very fortunate experience of in the past losing two babies.

Nadine: They are now literally my two people that two beautiful presents that come on retreat with us and they support us, particularly through many women that are still holding the grief of loss, miscarriage, and child loss. And so my babies that are now not my physical babies on this earth come with me to do beautiful healing work on retreat.

Nadine: So like I wanna say, if you've gone through some big things and you wanna connect with people that are, are no longer here though, they're here and they're just waiting for you to connect with them and you will have direct access to them if you're open to it. And I, and that's what I love and it sounds really woowoo to some though.

Nadine: I am telling you as someone that was all science, that was someone that was all about, you know, that one beautiful, you know, one faith at that time. I now have a deepened expansion of what I believe my God and my creator is. And I also have such a beautiful view on all the ways that spirituality and faith get to be.

Nadine: And it all comes back to just everyone realizing we're all the same. We all want the

Caitlin: All the. That's

Nadine: of.

Caitlin: so beautiful. Oh, that's so beautiful.

Nadine: That's like, that's the thing that I hope, you know, listeners can, can really anchor into. And if you take, take away one thing, it's that, and it's the possibility of what's possible for you when you get out of here. And I want to transfer it to, to those that are like, you know what? I wanna live out my purpose.

Nadine: I wanna have uncapped wealth. I wanna have time with my family. I want to build the business that lights me up. I am telling you, with thousands of people that I help, that will literally scream from the top of the rooftops and go, it is possible though. There's some things to do and it's not as hard as everyone makes it out to be.

Caitlin: that's such a mic drop moment.

Nadine: Yeah. Yeah.

Caitlin: It's incredible what you're doing. I feel like I could talk to you for hours and hours. I just like looked at the time. I'm like, oh my gosh. Like this, the time's just flown. Like, I love what you've been saying and it's been really helpful, like for me personally as well.

Caitlin: So I wanna thank you so much for coming on, I feel like this is such a a bit of a, like 180, like I always ask guests, I have like three rapid fire questions that I always ask guests, like it ends on like kind of a fun note. And so I was very curious to hear what is your, like favorite film?

Nadine: Oh, I love that. You know, last night I took my guys my little, I've got two beautiful, incredible boys. And we also, you know, fun, joy, playing adventure for us is massive. As a someone that had a career in the military, I spent most of my years, especially with my eldest away from him, which now more than ever I'm all about creating memories because for a long time I didn't have that.

Nadine: So I'm, I'm about that. So last night we actually took them to the movies and saw Captain America. And let me tell you, I loved it more than my kids loved it. It was epic. Like, so good. So just, there were so many things in the space of just like. Courage and bravery that I really, really loved in it. And there's a, there's a specific woman in there that really just beautifully used like her, her feminine and masculine energy to really guide some things that happened in there.

Nadine: And it was just magic. So I'll say that. And we recently went to, and the reason I wanna say this one, I, I have to do too, is we recently

Caitlin: Yeah, go for it.

Nadine: Around the world trip. So we, and I wanna say this, but I want people to hear this. My, our company now, the way that we live out our Ikigai means I get to travel the world doing what I get to do.

Nadine: And I get to do that with my children. So, and I home, we homeschool our kids, though we call it world schooling 'cause we take them all around the world and we allow them to see this world and teach them things that I truly believe.

Caitlin: probably

Nadine: Yes, school. Yeah. Doesn't always provide. And, and it was one of my goals to do that as a mother.

Nadine: Now more than ever, we live in a very scary world and we have to impart with our children lessons and learnings and experiences so that they can tackle this beautiful world that they live in and pass that down. So anyway, we went to to the States. We've, we've been a lot of places though more recently, we, we were in the States for a while.

Nadine: We also were doing some work over there with, with some people in, in the space. And we took our kids to New York and we went to Broadway and saw the Lion King Now. And The Lion King is one of my favorite movies as a child, though, the Lion King as the Musical. And Mufasa, which is a more recent movie when you watch it, when you've done some deep inner work.

Nadine: It's a whole new experience. And so I really just invite, those of you, you may have seen a million times, like as a kid, I could,

Caitlin: Yeah, as a kid.

Nadine: recite the Lion King. So when I went to the musical, my kids were like, how did you know that mom? I can recite it. Basically though, the experience of Mufasa and the Lion King when you've got expansion just takes it to a whole new level.

Nadine: So I'd say Captain America for a bit of fun. The Lion King for actually the whole circle of life from what this life is all about and about firmly protecting, guiding, leading your people and passing that down, bringing through generational wisdoms and becoming the person or the one in your family that changes the story.

Caitlin: beautiful. And. What about a concert that you'll never forget?

Nadine: Ooh, a concert I recently, I'll leave. Actually, you know what I will say, as a kid, one of my first concerts were Blink 1 8 2, and I actually loved it because. And the reason why I wanna say that it was, I remember my, my friendships at the time, their ki their parents not letting them go. And I said to my dad and I had a really open conversation with my dad being like, dad.

Nadine: And I was, I was still in high school, dad, I really wanna go to this. I use my voice. And I said, dad. And I negotiated and I reasoned and I made, I made, not promises, but declarations of why I wanted to go, what it meant to me and how I could negotiate with my dad to go. And it was one of a pivotal moments for me to share to, to, to grow up and, and do and start using my voice because whilst everybody else in my, my friendship circle got a no, I got a yes because I was willing to, to talk and to seek a yes until it, do you know what I mean?

Nadine: So I'll say Blink 1, 8 2, because not only was it the concert, it was how I got there and made it really freaking resourceful. And then what negotiation, what negotiations I made to get there. My dad literally took me to the door, literally picked me up from that door, and that's okay. And I had the best time ever.

Nadine: Right. And still got what I wanted within the parameters. And it wasn't perfect though. And, and what I mean by that, it wasn't like I was able to just let go and I was at school. So it's not like I, my dad was just like, let loose though. I got what I wanted because I used my voice.

Caitlin: you use your voice. Yeah. That's, that's incredible. At such a young age. And what a beautiful, like a lesson to have as well.

Nadine: Yeah.

Caitlin: Oh, I love, I love this.

Nadine: I answer.

Caitlin: what's a, like an absurd fact about you or something that's like, like a little bit quirky that everyone knows about you?

Nadine: Oh cool. I'm a really bougie gypsy. So I mean by that is we traveled Australia for three years. We obviously make millions doing what we get to do. And I. I literally am this woman that I can have all the things, though I choose absolute simplicity. Again, I come from grassroots and I choose to never let that go.

Nadine: I am, I am my roots. So you'll see me get to be completely, I can have, you know, the go to the nicest places. We've just done Vegas. We've just done New York. We've just done the most magical experiences though you can also see me in jungles, you can see me in Africa, barefoot. You can see me traveling our great nation around Australia.

Nadine: We did that for three years in a van, and that's called behavioral flexibility and behavioral range to just go, I get to experience life in all of the ways and all of the money will never, you, there will always be a void if you are not happy in who you are and, and that the environment around you isn't what.

Nadine: Makes it. It's actually you and wherever you go and for those listening to this, I wonder if home isn't somewhere that you live. It's not somewhere that you go. It's not the bag that you bought, all of the car that you drive, it's actually the home within your vessel and within your body. And that is actually my favorite place to be and something that most people don't know about me fully until they meet me.

Caitlin: Huh. Wow. What a beautiful message. There's so many things that I've been like writing down and so I'm sure this conversation's gonna be so helpful for listeners and I, I'm sure everyone will gets so much out of it. So I thank you so, so much for taking the time to speak with me. How can people get in contact with you?

Caitlin: Like how can they connect with you?

Nadine: Yeah. And thank you Caitlyn. I love jumping on podcasts and just speaking my truth 'cause I know that when I do, it empowers others to do the same. And then it

Caitlin: Absolutely.

Nadine: podcasters also to know that there are people out there that are, that are willing to, to chat and speak and spend their time. I've created time freedom, so I get to do this whenever where people can find me.

Nadine: If you're listening to this right now, first of all, my book, A Reason to Rise, is Everywhere. So you can find it at airports, you can find it on Audible audiobooks Spotify. You can find it on Amazon. You can find it on Simon Schuster at qbd at you name it. The audio is amazing. It's me, it's me narrating it.

Nadine: You'll also see how there are actually beautiful if you choose to call them errors. I just choose to call it real life in it, and I love it. And I remember my publisher going, Hey, do you want me to fix up these errors? And I go, absolutely not. I want people to hear it. I want people to see, hear me cry in it.

Nadine: I want people to feel the book and feel me in the book. The audio is amazing.

Caitlin: I wanna, I'm gonna download it.

Nadine: Yeah, the audio was amazing. It's a pleasure. It's my, it has its own life force. It has its own heartbeat. It's a, it's not a book. It's an experience, and it is a movement and it's a rise movement. So definitely read that because you'll love it.

Nadine: And in fact, I would love for any listener if, if you wanna land on into me and just write, write book, and I'll send you something so that you can have even more to your book experience. Please do. Over in my Instagram, so at Nadine Muller, you'll see me there. That's probably the space where most people come and find us, though.

Nadine: We're also, obviously on TikTok. We're also over on, you know, on so many different other platforms and, and for the business owners, LinkedIn and things like that, though Instagram, definitely. And, and go and grab the book. Those two things will be, or, you know, those two spaces you'll feel into it very quickly.

Nadine: So I've got a free downloadable app on Google Play or on on Apple, completely free, free resources, free downloads.

Nadine: Go and grab it and you can see some other things there. And again, that's my gift for the world. That's part of my legacy. I get to the end of my life knowing that people that I'll never actually meet, that will never be clients of mine, can go and change their lives anyway. So please go and grab that.

Nadine: That's right there. And I look forward to your audience, like landing on in, if it's a, it's a calling to them.

Caitlin: absolutely. It's I love what you say about legacy. I think that's a beautiful thing to have. But thank you so much for this. I really, really appreciate your time and coming on.

Nadine: Thank you, Caitlin. Appreciate

Caitlin: Thank you.

Caitlin: All right. That's the end of another episode. Thank you so much for tuning into Healers with Hustles. If you've enjoyed today's episode, will you do me a tiny favor and subscribe to the show? Just tap the subscribe button on your favorite podcast platform, and you'll be the first to know as soon as the new episode drops.

Caitlin: Thanks so much for listening. Okay, for now.