108 - Jodie McQueen on establishing a serene and sustainable farm stay in the hills of northern Tasmania

My guest today on Hosting With Heart is Jodie McQueen, owner and operator of Paradise Road Farm, a two-cabin farm stay in Sheffield, the gateway to Tasmania's Cradle Mountain world heritage area. With a diverse professional background including time spent working in Japan and Australia in a variety of communications, tourism and sustainability-focused roles, in 2016 Jodie and her then-partner determined it was time for a tree change and went on to purchase a 100 acre property in Tasmania. By 2019 and then newly single, she embarked on a permanent move to the property and soon after got the wheels in motion on the build of two modest, sustainably-constructed cabins, supporting the small-scale, regenerative farm she had already established. Having opened the doors to Paradise Road Farm to the public in October of 2020, she has since built a highly successful, adults-only accommodation business, all the while maintaining an operational ethos that prioritises the planet and encourages guests to leave their stay with an enhanced level of respect for the natural environment.

Vince Hunt and partner Angela Brickwell truly do personify what it means to be a heartful host. After purchasing a 120 acre block of land in the idyllic town of Billinudgel on the northern New South Wales coast some years ago, they went on to construct two cabins - one of which is fully accessible - on the land, all the while indulging their passion for permaculture, regenerative farming and a philosophy that places the therapeutic value of getaways at the centre. With a personal background in landscape design and art, complimented by Ange's skills as a kinesiologist, this hardworking and empathetic couple have experienced great success as short-term accommodation hosts in the four years they've been managing their property, now known as Rosalita's Rest. It was an absolute pleasure speaking with Vince about their journey to date a few days ago and I think you'll really enjoy this episode today.

In this first episode of Hosting With Heart for 2024, host Jen Clark provides an update on the recent equity crowdfunding campaign for Heartful, a new short-term accommodation booking platform focusing on sustainability and inclusion, helmed by Jen, that will launch mid-year. She also discusses her plans for season 8 of the podcast, which will move to a more flexible fortnightly format and have a focus on featuring guests who exemplify the ‘heartful hosting’ ethos, based both here in the Australia / NZ region and overseas. It’s set to be another incredibly big and exciting year!

It’s the FINAL DAY of the Heartful equity crowdfunding campaign, with our public investment offer closing at 10pm AEDT on Thursday 2nd November, 2023. As of 8pm AEDT on Wednesday 1st November, Heartful had welcomed 109 new investors, with a total of $119,392.00 raised, something Jen is extraordinarily proud of and of course, very excited about. She touches on some of the recent successes of the campaign in this episode, delivered a little bit later than planned due to the extreme busyness of the past fortnight. To ensure you don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to invest in a purpose-driven, female-founded startup that aims to transform the Australian and New Zealand short-term accommodation sector into one that is more inclusive and sustainable, visit the Heartful Birchal campaign page at Heartful Group Pty Ltd - Reimagining the way we stay. Once 10pm AEDT rolls around, sadly there will be no further opportunities to invest at this early stage. It’s time to seize the moment and put your hard-earned dollars where your values are! Please follow Heartful on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn via the links below: Instagram -Instagram (@heartful.travel) Facebook - Heartful LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/company/heartful.travel

Well, it’s CRUNCH time in the Heartful equity crowdfunding campaign, with EOIs closing on Monday October 16th at 10pm AEDT and Jen needing to raise $50K during the private offer period (that’s just 48 short hours!) in order for the public offer to go ahead. The private offer period opens at 12pm on Tuesday October 17th and will run until 12pm on Thursday October 19th, following which the public offer will open if Jen meets that ambitious target. If you didn’t manage to submit an EOI but still want to invest in the private offer period and take advantage of Birchal’s delayed payment terms, meaning you don’t have to pay for your investment until the public offer ends on November 2nd, please shoot an email to Jen at [email protected] and she’ll ensure you get sent an invite to the private offer. To express your interest in investing in Heartful, request an invite to the private offer OR to invest now, visit the Birchal campaign page at Heartful Group Pty Ltd - Reimagining the way we stay. Please follow Heartful on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn via the links below: Instagram -Instagram (@heartful.travel) Facebook - Heartful LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/company/heartful.travel

This third instalment in our equity crowdfunding campaign mini-series is a re-recording of Jen’s recent presentation at the Heartful Investor Webinar held on October 4th, 2023. It contains a wealth of info about Jen and her personal / professional background, the backstory of Hosting With Heart, an insight into how the idea for Heartful originated, the many reasons the platform is needed and what Jen’s incredibly ambitious yet exciting plans are for building, launching and growing the platform over the coming months and into the longer-term future. To express your interest in investing in Heartful, visit the Birchal campaign page at Heartful Group Pty Ltd - Reimagining the way we stay. Expressions of Interest will close on Wednesday October 11th and the no of EOIs we receive will determine if the investment offer goes ahead, so please get your EOIs in ASAP if you’d like to own a part of this groundbreaking new platform. Please follow Heartful on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn via the links below: Instagram -Instagram (@heartful.travel) Facebook - Heartful LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/company/heartful.travel Check out the Startup Daily TV interview with Jen here at the 43min mark. Or have a read of Jen’s recent interview about all things Heartful on the Peppermint Magazine website.

This second short and sweet episode of our Heartful crowdfunding campaign mini-series sees Jen talk about some recent wins in the press, reaching over 115 Expressions of Interest from potential investors in Heartful and her thoughts on why now is the time you need to embrace accessibility as a host. To express your interest in investing in Heartful or register for our forthcoming Investor Webinar on Tuesday 3rd October at 1pm AEST, visit the Birchal campaign page at Heartful Group Pty Ltd - Reimagining the way we stay. Please follow Heartful on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn via the links below: Instagram -Instagram (@heartful.travel) Facebook - Heartful LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/company/heartful.travel Check out the Startup Daily TV interview with Jen here at the 43min mark. Or have a read of Jen’s recent interview about all things Heartful on the Peppermint Magazine website.

In this first episode of our 6-week podcast mini series documenting the equity crowdfunding campaign for the new ethical accommodation booking platform Jen is proudly launching in 2024, she talks about how the idea for Heartful was realised, gives an overview of what equity crowdfunding is and how it all works, and provides a general update on how things are progressing 30 hours after the campaign launch. To express your interest in investing in Heartful, visit the Birchal campaign page at  Heartful Group Pty Ltd - Reimagining the way we stay.   Please follow Heartful on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn via the links below: Instagram -   Instagram (@heartful.travel) Facebook - Heartful LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/heartful.travel  

In this milestone 100th episode of Hosting With Heart, Jen Clark and partner Kirstie Innes-Will reflect on almost four years of what has become a dearly-loved, phenomenally successful podcast and all they’ve learned along the way, along with Jen’s incredibly exciting plans to launch a new, ethical accommodation booking platform, Heartful. For those who’ve followed the Hosting With Heart journey since day dot to those who’ve only recently discovered the podcast, online community and website, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in helping make the short-term accommodation sector more inclusive, sustainable and community-focused.

My guest on today's penultimate episode of season 7 of Hosting With Heart is author, travel writer and environmentalist Nina Karnikowski. Having worked as a travel writer for the past decade, Nina now writes about travel that conserves, educates and uplifts more than it destroys, and aims to demonstrate how travel can help solve societal and environmental problems. The author of three hugely successful titles, Nina has just released her fourth book, The Mindful Traveller, a stunningly written memoir about the ethics of modern travel. In this unique and inspiring book, Nina takes an expedition to the very essence of travel, reflecting on the profound and transformative experiences to be had heading into the wild or just staying put, and demonstrating how to travel in a way that is as nourishing for the places we visit as they are for us. Nina’s travel writing appears regularly in The Sydney Morning Herald’s Traveller, The AFR’s Life & Leisure, Condé Nast Traveller and more. Nina mentors writers, teaches writing and creativity workshops and is also a mentor at The Conscious Travel Foundation. It was an absolute pleasure discussing all things ethical travel with Nina a few weeks back and I have no doubts that you'll find this conversation an energising and inspiring one.