First, she battled an island wildfire, then she built an empire

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If you’ve never seen the Smokies in late October, you should know… the air smells like woodsmoke and apple peel. The ridgelines go copper and plum. Every gust of wind shakes a thousand leaves loose, and they fall like slow-motion confetti.

It’s the season when the land feels alive, and the Wi-Fi barely does.

Today is Halloween, and the mountains are showing off, a little wild, a little spooky, entirely irresistible. It’s the perfect time to step outside, take a long breath, and remember you’re part of something bigger than your inbox.

If you’re new here (and there are a lot of you, welcome!), this movement started because I believe entrepreneurs do their best thinking outdoors. That belief may have gotten me in trouble with the algorithmic gods. A couple of weeks ago, Facebook kicked me off the platform with no warning, no explanation, and no appeal.

Maybe my “get off your screen and go outside” message was too much of an existential threat to Meta?

Luckily, the forest doesn’t care about terms of service.

So I’m doubling down. The digital detox is happening - in person. We’re opening Wild Woods Retreat here in Greeneville, Tennessee: thirty acres of trees, creek, stars, and the kind of quiet that rewires your brain. You can grab early access here if you’d like to be among the first to experience it:
👉 wildwoodsretreat.com/early-access

And because this newsletter is where I highlight people living proof that adventure and business belong together…

Meet Sophie Foote. She once fought a wildfire with a palm leaf on a remote Indonesian island, then came home and built her fortune from scratch. Her story is a masterclass in resilience and a reminder that courage compounds.

The Fire That Changed Everything

Picture this: You’re alone on a remote Indonesian island. Your husband’s out diving. Your baby’s napping. And the jungle that surrounds your hand-built scuba resort just caught fire.

The kind of fire that eats everything it touches.

Sophie Foote didn’t freeze. She didn’t cry. She grabbed a palm frond and started whacking at the flames until help arrived. Locals rowed in from neighboring beaches; they were friends she’d trained and fed and laughed with for years. Together, they saved the resort.

When it was over, she realized something. If she could survive that… a wildfire, isolation, newborn in arms, and no emergency services within miles, she could handle anything.

And she was right.

The Island That Built a Leader

Sophie hadn’t planned to buy a beach. But adventure has a funny way of hijacking plans.

After teaching English in Borneo, falling in love with diving, and marrying another ocean-lover, she and her husband did the obvious thing: they bought a slice of paradise in North Sulawesi and built a dive resort from scratch.

No blueprint. No investors. No permits. Just a jungle, a dream, and a team of locals who spoke zero English.

They figured it out anyway. She handled sales, marketing, logistics, staffing, guest experience, supply chains, and emergencies, all while raising babies in an off-grid paradise. Guests came from all over the world, fell in love with the place, and kept coming back.

It was hard. Beautiful. Exhausting.

And when they finally sold the business after five years, they walked away with something more valuable than money: the unshakable proof that they could build, fix, and lead anything.

From Palms to Property

Fast-forward a few years, and Sophie’s now on the south coast of England. Still surrounded by water, but this time she’s investing in property. It’s the kind that turns grim student housing into bright, happy homes for young professionals.

It’s the same muscle she built on the island: find something broken, improve it, and make it thrive.

“We take the most disgusting houses,” she laughs, “and make them beautiful.”

Her company now manages nearly thirty shared homes. But she didn’t stop there. The property game led her to learn about investing in stocks, index funds, and Forex, the whole world of making money work for you instead of the other way around.

And that’s where she found her next mission.

Women + Wealth = Revolution

Investing, Sophie noticed, is still mostly a boys’ club. Suits shouting into phones. Acronyms. Charts that look like cardiograms. It all feels exclusive by design.

But she saw through the illusion. “Anyone can do it,” she says. “You can start with one pound, one dollar. The trick is consistency and education, not luck.”

She started teaching other women what she’d learned. How to buy property, how to analyze deals, how to invest safely without needing a finance degree.

Her favorite quote? You can’t be what you can’t see.

So she’s being it. Sophie’s visible proof that women can lead, invest, and adventure without asking permission.

How to Make Money Without Losing Your Mind

Sophie’s approach is refreshingly practical. She’s not chasing crypto unicorns or get-rich-quick hacks.

She teaches index funds… “one decision, hundreds of companies” and low-risk trading strategies that take about twenty minutes a day. She even mentors inside a trading education company called Star Trading, helping beginners build confidence.

Her philosophy: “It’s not about being the smartest. It’s about being consistent. Most people fail because they stop too soon.”

That’s how she’s built her own freedom, the ability to take her kids to school, go to their plays, travel when she wants, and still grow wealth in the background.

And of course, she’s still plotting her next big adventure. (An American road trip might be on deck.)

What She Wants Women to Know

You don’t have to know everything before you start. You don’t need permission, a business degree, or a perfect plan.

You just need to do what Sophie did: start. Learn. Adjust. Keep going.

“I used to think investing was for men in suits,” she says. “Now I know better. It’s for anyone who wants a freer life.”

Whether it’s taming a wildfire in Indonesia or teaching a room full of new investors how to buy their first property, Sophie’s message is the same:

Courage compounds.

So does wealth.

Connect with Sophie Foote:
Learn more about her investing and property mentoring on LinkedIn or on Instagram at @sophieinvest.

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