We’re ending our rest season with one last replay of a popular episode. In this episode we chat about how to say that difficult word “no.” Saying no to new opportunities is so hard because we want to be helpful and to help others. However, we can’t say yes to everything. Saying yes to it all leaves us exhausted and unable to help in a positive way.…

We’re revisiting past podcasts as we take a rest break. We have so many questions about living in the UK in this episode we touch on what we’ve learned from living here. We’ve lived in the United Kingdom for six years and have experienced and learned so much from the culture here. There are things we have ingrained into our lives now or are at leas…

We are revisiting some of our most popular past podcasts and this business podcast on figuring out what to focus on in your business has been a favorite. These past two years have provided small businesses with ups and downs that have not followed normal trends. When you look back on your numbers to make informed decisions for the future, it’s hard…

We’re revising a past podcast on how we get our kids to help around the house. We’ve had so many questions on this topic and thought it’d a great episode to come back to again. It can be difficult to get your kids to be on board with helping around the house. You want to help them understand responsibilities but it just seems too hard to get anyone…

We revisit this episode of how we got rid of almost everything we owned when we moved to the UK from the states. In 2016, we moved from the states to London and had to go through every single item in our house. It was hard to look at every item in our house in a new way and make decisions on what to keep and what to sell or give away. In this episo…

We revisit one of our most popular podcast episodes about fostering creativity in your kids. Does it feel like you are battling technology in your house and you’d just love to see your kids do something creative? We talk with our eleven-year-old son about what he likes about being creative. He shares the types of things we have in our house that he…

We all need seasons of rest in our life and in our businesses. As we prepare to enter a season of rest, we thought we’d share why we make space for a more restful season. It’s about being intentional as you look ahead and realizing the areas you may need to pause for a season. A season of rest prepares you for new areas to step into and to come bac…

It’s important to teach your children about how to manage finances as it’s part of everyday life once they enter into the adult world. But how to teach them at the different stages of childhood can be confusing. We discuss a method we use to “pay” our children for work they do in the house. It’s a method of paying them their age in money but then p…

Inspired by Katherine May’s book “Enchantment,” we explore how stepping out of your past and into the present of creativity is beautiful. It’s an act of trust, uncertainty and stretching yourself. We chat about how we’ve had to let go of some of our past creations and step into the scary part of creating again. It’s worth every step into creating a…

Walking the United Kingdom is part of life here. Walking is important to people whether you live in a city and walking is your main means to get places, or whether you live in the suburbs or countryside, and walking is for pleasure. We found the idea of walking to be much different when we lived in the states than it is here in the UK. There are sy…

Family traditions provide something for everyone to look forward to but also serve as a time for bonding. Traditions don't have to be too complicated or be to a large scale, instead they can be simple and still be meaningful. We share some of our family's traditions and how these simple moments have become moments the whole family looks forward to …

Perfectionism is a struggle many creatives feel on a regular basis. If you can embrace imperfection in your creativity, it can break you through feeling stuck or getting caught up in a perfection loop. There are three questions you can ask to help you step out of perfection: - When do you find yourself getting caught up in perfection? - What are so…

Setting boundaries is essential for your well-being and relationships, but it can be hard to establish and maintain healthy boundaries. First you have to define what boundaries you want to put in place and then figure out how to implement them. Often boundaries need to be set in the areas of our life that are causing stress. We chat a bit about how…

As a business owner, you'll inevitably face tough situations and seasons that can be difficult to navigate. In this episode, we'll discuss strategies for overcoming challenges and thriving in the face of adversity. It's so important to identify challenges and to acknowledge them. We share how we're navigating some challenges and financial dips in o…

Traveling with children is just different and it's important to manage expectations. In this episode, we'll discuss the importance of setting realistic expectations when traveling with kids. There are some challenges when traveling with children but that doesn't mean you can't have fun and really enjoy exploring as a family. Traveling with kids can…

What do you do when you feel like your creativity has run dry? We chat about the importance of building creative stamina and how it can help fuel your creativity over the long term. We discuss how creative stamina can help you stay motivated and inspired, even when facing creative blocks or setbacks. We got through a set of questions to ask yoursel…

In this episode, we delve into the topic of making mistakes in parenting (because it will happen all too often.) We discuss the importance of acknowledging our mistakes as parents and making amends with our children when we fall short of our expectations. We share how we've navigated imperfect parenting from toddlers to teens. We've found it import…

AI seems to be everywhere right now and you might be wondering how you can start to use it in your small business. We've been testing out some different uses for AI to help increase efficiency, productivity, and profitability. In this episode, we chat about how we've tried out AI for SEO, Pinterest, creative ideas and for social media. We had some …

Do you have an area of your life that you never had the closure you hoped for? It's so hard to know how to navigate life without having the closure we desire. We discuss the benefits of forgiveness and how it can help individuals find closure and move forward. We also chat about some ways we found helpful even if we aren't able to directly communic…

Becoming a new parent is challenging, beautiful and confusing all mixed up together. When we became new parents we learned some things quickly that we wished someone had told us before bringing our baby home. Each family and each baby is different, but we're sharing what worked well for our family. In the podcast we chat about the five things we wi…

Do you get creative ideas in weird places? Maybe you think of ideas in the shower, when you're on a walk, in a dream or when you're working out. It's likely that many of those times you want to remember that creative idea. How do we remember these ideas to be able to come back to them later for inspiration? Whether it's a notebook, emailing yoursel…

Each day we get to wake up and start the new day with an intention, a reason for us to begin and get out of bed. What is that reason for you? Whether it's directly related to your work or something to do with your family, it's a bit of a motivating factor to put our feet to the ground, even on the hard days. It could be as simple as knowing you get…

We started the podcast because it was something we loved and wanted to try. It didn't have a really strong goal driving the creation of the podcast, but it was a love of creating and trying something new. What does it look like for you to do something because you love it? -------- We'd love to hear your thoughts and questions over @laurentcollectiv…

Renting in a big city like London can be a really different process than renting elsewhere. We've lived in three different homes since moving here over six years ago and we've learned a lot about the rental process. We share our experiences and things that would have been helpful for us to know before renting in the UK. If you're moving to the UK a…

What does it look like to show our kids how be healthy in work and life? It's not about balance, because it can never be perfectly balanced. However, we can show them how to be healthy in how much we work and how much we take on in our lives. Modeling health is not about being perfect, instead it's about showing your kids what works for you and wha…

As an artist and creative, there is nothing more frustrating than finding out that someone has ripped off your artwork. So how do you handle it when you find someone using your art? We've had this happen to us many times in different forms. We share about how best to handle the situation and point you in the direction of some helpful resources. Art…

It's hard to not want more of certain things in life like more to your home, more clothes, or more idyllic holidays. But what does this wanting of more do to our thinking? We chat about what we have found to be true when we find ourselves focusing on wanting more versus being grateful for what we currently have. It's not about cutting out dreams, i…

We decided as a couple early in our relationship to not celebrate Valentine's Day. It might seem strange to some why we wouldn't celebrate a holiday set aside for love when we're a couple who have been together for a long time. So why don't we celebrate this holiday? We go into this in our podcast and why we've made the decision. We also talk about…

Different seasons of life call for different types of learning curves. But do we ever come to a place when we should stop learning or slow it down? We talk about what this is looking like for us as we are in our "middle aged" years. Is it important to continue to push ourselves in learning new things? We're finding the answer is yes. We'll chat abo…

Being aware of the finances in your business is so important. It can feel overwhelming of how to step into understanding finances when you start your business, but it is worth the time. We cover some financial questions to ask yourself as you start the year in your business. This is just the beginning of financial awareness in your business to buil…

The idea of trusting your gut is either something you understand or something that seems strange to you. Many of us have been told it's just us overthinking things when we have a strong gut feeling. So how do we know when to trust our gut? We share a story that has gone on for years and how we're learning from it. We give some examples of ways we'v…

We often think big changes are the only way to have a big impact in our lives or our businesses. But really, it's the simple small changes that lead to the big impact. We talk through a simple change we made in the last few weeks that has had a bigger impact than we imagined. It's an example of how simple and small changes can often do more than we…

It's the new year which means we're bombarded with messages telling us what we need to change in our lives. We're told to change it all as the new year begins. What if we approached the new year in a different way and didn't give into all that pressure? We could ignore what the advertisements are telling us and instead decide what we'd like to be p…

British Christmas desserts seem to have one thing in common - dried fruit. So what do we as Americans think of the dried fruit combo in these holiday desserts? We give some of the common UK Christmas desserts a try from Christmas pudding to minced pies and we give our honest opinion. (Spoiler alert: we may not be fans of some of the options).…

Do you have a product or service you sell that has been successful in the past? Have you started to think you may need to adjust it? It's slightly scary to adjust a product that has been selling well but it's important to review it each year or season to see if it is still working for your business and for you. We chat about some ways to look at yo…

Making a decision can be hard if you're feeling a bit exhausted or busy. To make a clear decision, it's important to take some time to rest to look at things with a new view. We chat about how we approach making decisions by taking time to rest. It's made us be able to approach decisions in a new way and to feel confident in our choices.…

Celebrating Thanksgiving outside of the United States is strange, but also fun. People in the UK are fascinated by the American tradition and ask lots of questions, and want to experience it. We share how Thanksgiving has looked for us since moving to the United Kingdom. It's taken on all forms of a super full house to multiple Thanksgivings in a w…

We all have our unique interests, ways we like to express ourselves and things that make us light up. Sometimes we feel like we should hide these parts of ourselves. Our daughter had a recent experience that reminded us of the times we've hid parts of ourselves that make us unique. It was a learning lesson not only for her, but us as well. We share…

Disney World is a super fun trip for families but it can also be overwhelming. Our family recently visited Disney World in Orlando and we had a blast but we also learned a lot. We bring our kids on for this episode to share everything from their favorite rides, experiences and tips for anyone planning a visit to Disney World. We also share a few ti…

Holidays take on different forms in different cultures and Halloween is one we've noticed is celebrated differently in the United Kingdom than in the United States. Halloween tends to be more community minded and cute in the states versus a bit more dark and scary here in the UK. We share how we celebrated Halloween in the states and the other diff…

Social media was taking up a lot of our business time and we weren't seeing business growth as a result of our time commitment. So what are we focusing on instead of social media? We chat about the focus areas that are showing growth in our business. Some of those areas are longer term growth strategies but will help our business grow past the vani…

Resting is essential for our minds, our bodies and the growth of our businesses. So why do we feel guilty when we rest? Why can't we just enjoy the rest and the refreshment we feel afterwards? We talk about having a recent restful weekend and how the thoughts of guilt kept creeping in. We felt guilty for not doing more work or having plans. We felt…

The month of October is a popular time for prompts of all kinds on social media. The prompts range from organizing your house to creative ideas for drawing each day. These prompts can be a great way to expand your creativity (or organize your house) but you'll want to figure out what your purpose is for participating. You don't want to feel too muc…

Celebrating the simple things in life with your kids is not only fun, but it creates family memories. You don't have to spend lots of money or go crazy for each marker moment, but simple celebrations can make a big impression. In this episode we talk about the ways we celebrate simple moments with our kids and also some ways we've celebrated the bi…

You have probably seen all kinds of information and advertising about how to make money while you sleep. But is it true, can you really make money while you sleep? We talk about our definition of passive income versus what you may have been taught about it. Passive income can help you change your business and how you use your time, but it takes upf…

We both grew up in the states and experienced prom, the idea of a community cheering for high school sports and our senior year with graduation, open house and senior portraits. Our kids aren't growing up with these as the normal experience now and it's kind of strange for us. We talk about this in the podcast and how things that are part of the Am…

Trying new things in your business is scary. You have ideas and you want them to be successful, so putting those ideas into action can cause a lot of fear. We talk about how we've tried new things in our business throughout the years and how we've learned from when it's gone well and when it's not gone as we hoped. It's worth stepping past the fear…

London is a family friendly city to visit as there's so much to do for both kids and adults to enjoy. A bonus is that a majority of the museums are free! We bring our kids along for this episode to share the five things we love to do in London and a couple of tips that make the experiences fun for the whole family.…

For fifteen years we've been reading books to our kids and we've compiled our top five books in this episode. All five books are ones not only our kids have loved, but we've also loved as adults. Whether the book has a message we think is important, the illustrations are beautiful or the story will make you laugh, we think you should have these fiv…

In this episode of our five things summer series, we share the five ways we run our family. It's not perfect but doing these five things helps our family run a bit more smoothly. We share about our weekly family meeting, our weekly marriage check in, meal planning, keeping a dry erase board with our schedule and a chart for the kids' family tasks. …