Pauline Nguyen’s story is that of survival first. Escaping war-torn Vietnam as a toddler, Pauline eventually made it to Australian shores after a year in a Thai refugee camp. She went on to suffer tremendous physical and emotional abuse until she was a young woman.

It’s this adversity that Pauline now refers to as her ‘training’ to have since become one of Australia’s most sought after development coaches, a leading entrepreneur, an award-winning author and an international keynote speaker. She is also the co-founder of the world’s most awarded Vietnamese restaurant, Red Lantern.

Described by Huffington Post as, “The most grounded spiritual entrepreneur on the planet”, I caught up with Pauline to discuss her latest book, ‘The Way of the Spiritual Entrepreneur: The 7 Secrets to Becoming Fearless, Stress Free and Unshakable in Business and in Life’.

We discussed the unconventional strategies that saw her restaurant survive the Global Financial Crisis (this can teach us all a lot); how she is helping her clients’ businesses – and her own – navigate Covid 19; what being a spiritual entrepreneur really means – and why it’s not what we think; plus why you should be making money; why work-life balance is BS; and what she wish she could go back in time and tell herself as a seven year old working in her parent’s businesses… this made us both tear up.

Find Pauline’s books online or in bookstores and find out more about working with Pauline at paulinenguyen.com.au.

I learnt a lot from this conversation and I’m sure you will too. Be sure to screenshot while you’re listening and tag me on Instagram @emilyosmond. I’d love to see.