Guest Bio
Helen Wejkner Lundgren is the co-founder and administrator of Catch & Relax, a fishing guide company based in the Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden. With over 30 years of experience in the hospitality sector, Helen transitioned from a corporate career to embrace the “Archipelago way of life.” In 2005, she and her husband, Bo, established Catch & Relax, driven by their passion for sharing the unique fishing experiences of the region with others.
Show Summary
In this episode, Helen Lundgren discusses her journey from a corporate background to co-founding Catch & Relax. She shares insights into the challenges and rewards of operating a fishing guide company in the Stockholm Archipelago, the importance of sustainable tourism, and her dedication to providing authentic experiences for guests. Helen also reflects on memorable adventures and the evolving landscape of fishing tourism in Sweden.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ Passion-Driven Entrepreneurship: Transforming a personal passion into a successful business can lead to fulfilling career paths.
- ✓ Sustainable Tourism: Implementing eco-friendly practices is crucial for preserving natural habitats and ensuring the longevity of the fishing industry.
- ✓ Authentic Experiences: Providing genuine and immersive experiences enhances guest satisfaction and fosters lasting memories.
- ✓ Community Engagement: Collaborating with local communities enriches the travel experience and supports regional development.
- ✓ Adaptability: Embracing change and being open to new ideas are essential in the dynamic field of adventure tourism.
What You’ll Find on Catch & Relax’s Platform
- ✓ Guided Fishing Tours: Personalized fishing experiences in the Stockholm Archipelago, suitable for all skill levels.
- ✓ High-Quality Equipment: Access to top-quality fishing gear and well-equipped sport fishing boats.
- ✓ Customized Packages: Tailored itineraries that cater to individual preferences and group dynamics.
- ✓ Local Expertise: Guides with extensive knowledge of the region’s best fishing spots and techniques.
- ✓ Scenic Adventures: Opportunities to explore the picturesque landscapes of the Stockholm Archipelago.
👉 Visit Catch & Relax’s Official Website to explore their offerings and learn more about Helen Lundgren’s contributions to fishing tourism in Sweden.
Learn more about Catch & Relax Sweden and connect with Helen at:
http://www.catchrelax.se/
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Podcast Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated on recording, and has not been edited by a human. It may contain lots of mistakes, crazy words, and stuff that makes no sense. The host and the guest are not responsible for the accuracy of the transcript.
Jason Elkins (00:01.631)
Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Big World Made Small podcast for the adventure traveler. Super excited to have everyone back today and especially excited to have my guest. We’ve got Helen here, Helen Lundgren with Catch and Relax in Sweden. Helen is the founder and CEO of Catch and Relax. Helen, just such a pleasure to have you here with us today. Welcome to the show.
Helen Lundgren (00:25.334)
Thank you so much and thank you so much for having me. It has been a pleasure learning to know you and hearing about the business that you’re running and also hearing what you are doing for the world and the big world becoming smaller because that’s what we are all aiming for. So thank you. Thank you for having me.
Jason Elkins (00:46.411)
That’s, that is why we’re here. And thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for the kind words. I really, really appreciate that. And, uh, for our listeners, you and I have had, you know, kind of a couple exchanges and conversations and it’s been equally fascinating for me as well. It’s, which is why I asked you to come onto the show and you’re, you’re an interesting guest, one, because yes, you’re a tour operator and most of my guests are. And you’ve, you know, we’re going to discuss that and what got you into that, but you’ve taken it a step further than some of my guests.
to kind of help other people shift and transition their lives into doing something they’re passionate about. And that’s a, that’s a big thing for me as a, as a former coach myself and working with people like that. So thank you so much for bringing kind of an interesting, different perspective. And you just told me you’re in, where, let’s see, it’s early January. Yes. And you’re in Sweden. So how cold is it there right now?
Helen Lundgren (01:31.475)
Yes.
Helen Lundgren (01:41.678)
Okay, Sweden is a long, long country and up north it is about minus 42 Celsius, whatever that is in Fahrenheit and here in Stockholm it’s minus seven. It is like, it’s super tropical, it’s like the coldest it’s ever been up north and also in southern part of Sweden.
Jason Elkins (01:44.82)
Thanks.
Jason Elkins (01:55.707)
I don’t think Fahrenheit goes that low.
Helen Lundgren (02:12.834)
1800 kilometers. That’s how long Sweden is. So if we take Sweden like this, we end up with the north part of Sweden down in southern Italy. So that is how long Sweden is. So we have a very wide range of the nature and the kind of temperatures and the kind of weathers.
Jason Elkins (02:42.315)
Right. So what I hear you saying, if you were…
Helen Lundgren (02:42.698)
So but here in Stockholm, it’s.
Yes.
Jason Elkins (02:47.715)
All right. Well, I was going to say what I, what I hear you saying is if you took, if you took Sweden from the Southern part of Sweden, the distance from the Southern part of Sweden to the Southern tip of Italy is about how long the country is. Is that right? Okay. And I’m, and I’m just sharing that for our listeners that aren’t, that aren’t watching the hand and arm signals just to give them the help to make sure I understand it.
Helen Lundgren (02:49.047)
So if.
Helen Lundgren (03:02.942)
Yeah, yes, if you flip Sweden like this. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (03:12.623)
And help anybody that’s not, uh, that doesn’t have the advantage and pleasure of seeing your face and on the screen. So, okay. So it’s a big country, very diverse and your business is, is located in the, I guess the Stockholm archipelago, correct?
Helen Lundgren (03:13.07)
Thanks for watching!
Helen Lundgren (03:20.45)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Helen Lundgren (03:28.242)
Yes, yes. So Stockholm archipelago that is the area outside of Stockholm is east from Stockholm. It’s a world of island. It starts right downtown Stockholm and it is 50 kilometers deep and 150 kilometers from north to south. So if you drive that distance, it’s two hours from north to south and about an hour from east to Stockholm.
Jason Elkins (03:29.926)
Okay, which…
Helen Lundgren (03:57.142)
downtown Stockholm, but you cannot drive since it is water around the islands. But to understand the size of the area, and the area consists of about 25,000 islands, it’s the largest archipelago in the whole world. We have archipelagos in different places in the world, but this is the one with the most islands. And we live…
Jason Elkins (04:00.887)
I was good ass. That’s it. That was good.
Helen Lundgren (04:25.45)
on one of those islands. So we have to commute by boat, even in stormy weather like today. So I’ve actually went to the mainland by boat.
Jason Elkins (04:39.915)
So we’re going to, we’re definitely going to jump into that more. And I also want to just touch on real quick for any of our listeners is, you know, when we talk about what is your business, what are you doing out there? It’s a, it’s a fishing business. You know, just get that out right now. Cause anybody that’s listening, trying to figure out, well, what do you do on Stockholm market? Well, that’s a big part of it. And, but that’s also a small part of it.
Because there’s more to it. It’s not just about the fish, right? It’s, I always think it’s, you know, with adventure tourism, it’s not about the mountains, it’s not about the fish. It’s, it’s about the connections that we create and the meaning that we attach to things. So what I’d really like to do now is jump in to learn a little bit about you, how and what’s your story. And we can go back as far as you think is relevant, but how did you get from where you were and you can define what, what that means from where you were to where you are now.
Helen Lundgren (05:05.996)
No.
Helen Lundgren (05:15.448)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (05:31.119)
and just kind of give us an idea what happened.
Helen Lundgren (05:34.97)
Okay, so I am a downtown city girl from downtown Stockholm, born in the end of the 60s, meaning that I’m 55 plus. And we had a summer house, a vacation house, outside on one island in Stockholm archipelago. But we were not the family that went by boat or went fishing and things like that.
We just like the nature and being outside of the town in the weekends and the summertime. And I grew up there. And I always knew that either I will live in downtown Stockholm or out in the countryside if I stay in Sweden because I have had some years abroad as well.
So after high school, I went to Gaffenberg and got my business administration degree in service management. And I was done in the beginning of the 90s. And then I moved outside and I stayed outside of Sweden for five years and actually working both as a travel guide, but in within hospitality, mainly in Austria. But actually, I ended my outside of Sweden stay.
as a hotel manager for an Austrian hotel in Poland. And this was, you can imagine, this was just after the wall went down. So this was a time when everything in the free world to Polish people and to that country was, everything was new and also with Eastern and Western Germany being connected. But having this experience, coming back to Sweden,
I started to realize that I had great knowledge of the hospitality branch, of the travel industry, but I was kind of sick of the hospitality, so I went into the IT sector. And that is also where I met my husband. And we were working, I was working with marketing, mainly marketing and sales, but also HR questions. I also worked…
Helen Lundgren (07:46.922)
responsible for all customer events in this company that where I started to work because it was one of Scandinavia’s largest computer peripheral distributor In Sweden and we also worked very much with the states So I was together with my not yet husband introducing the palm pilot in Sweden and on one of those event trips and
And I early understood the importance of being able to use the IT tools in order to be able to make what we can do today. And then I went to Philips, the little Dutch company, and I worked as a business area manager for computer peripherals for the whole Nordic region. And during that time… Yeah, please.
Jason Elkins (08:41.815)
Wow.
Jason Elkins (08:46.548)
And your husband, who’s now your husband, who wasn’t at that time, what kind of work was he specifically in the IT stuff as well?
Helen Lundgren (08:49.451)
Yeah.
Helen Lundgren (08:57.194)
He was with on that trip when we introduced you the Palm Pilot in Sweden as a representative for US Robotics. So he was the supplier on this trip. We were the distributor and I was responsible over this whole weekend where we introduced the Palm Pilot. And I said to him, well, we have this program for…
Jason Elkins (09:01.719)
Mm-hmm.
Helen Lundgren (09:23.478)
this whole weekend instead of giving the all the purchaser Managers because that’s the people that we had with us on this trip. I said to him Why don’t we try to get this paper into this device because that’s what you do with this device you can have a program in here and my husband my Future husband came up to our office and he helped me to put in the whole program
into the Palm Pilot for this weekend. And so when all the participants came to the bus in Nice, because we were going to look at the Grand Prix in Monaco, it was in May, it was beautiful weather, the Palm Pilot was on their chairs with the program. So in order to be able to find out what was next on this trip, they had to use this device.
Jason Elkins (09:55.76)
Cool. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (10:22.071)
Ah, brilliant.
Helen Lundgren (10:23.855)
We didn’t have to do any further introduction of this product in Sweden, because they understood what it was after this introduction. This weekend was how I met my husband, because he was the only one who helped me over this trip and it was really, really fun. After some years, long story short, we moved out to our island. We found our absolutely…
dream house. It’s a big house that is today 120 years. It was built on an island with a sea, 270 degrees sea view, watching the citadel in Vaxong where the Russians were stopped 300 years ago. And at that time, the prices were really low. And so we flipped everything that we had.
And people thought we were crazy moving out on an island where we have to commute by boat and so on. My husband even had to sign papers for his two children from his former marriage in order for them not having a disadvantage at school living on an island because they were…
written with him on his address. That is how it works in Sweden. We always have half-half time with our children when we get divorced. Before we met, he had the divorce with his former wife. And well, we moved out. Everyone thought we were crazy. And but this life slowly took over.
And after we got my daughter, Fredrika, who’s going to Bali tomorrow, who is 22 years now, I was going to go back to my work at Philips as business area manager for the whole area. And they wanted me to also take over sales responsible and I didn’t want to travel so much with a little one.
Helen Lundgren (12:44.214)
So I said, no thank you, I quit.
And it was from a really good position, also well paid, and so on. And because I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want to be in the rat race. I didn’t feel fulfilled by selling computer peripherals, even though I understood what they can do and what kind of use. I introduced the video camera for Philips in the Nordic region also. And I understood
that when you’re selling products, commodities, you’re not just selling them, but you’re selling the use of the product. But I didn’t find this so fulfilling. And when we also saw what we learned, this was like four years after we moved out to the archipelago, to our new house. And I saw what other people were doing.
they had people coming to their homes and they were running their own businesses in order to have the lifestyle that they wanted to have. So they created a life on their own terms and that’s when they created their companies and I was starting to realize this and I
I had the belief that if they can do it, I can do it. And also while I was working, while I was staying in Vienna in Austria after my studies, I was working as an oral week teacher and I saw there was a need for a fitness bra, because that was not common at that time. So I actually founded my first company in Austria and that was an import company.
Helen Lundgren (14:38.562)
of a sports bra that was really common in Sweden and that I was using as a Swede. But when I came to Austria, I saw that there was nothing on the market like this and women were not using a bra doing sports and that hurt me physically. So I had a company and I knew it was possible.
But of course I didn’t have any coaches. I didn’t have any mentors. I just did everything on my own. So the first company that me and my husband created was a business improvement consultants where we went into different companies, helping them with marketing and sales on a very like not wanting to build a large business, but rather going into business or consultative basing, doing what they were not.
able to do or that they didn’t have time for. And it came to that my husband had been working with sales training. So I learned a lot from him and we created this program and this way of working. And I had talent in booking meetings. So I started to do this on a regular basis, helping customers with how to reach new customers and how to.
book meetings with them. And this was on a very high level. It was CEOs, it was SFOs, it was marketing manager, it was HR directors. And I had like an 80% hit rate and no one else had this. I don’t know what it was. It was just that I got meetings. I asked, I was really like, just doing it and I got meetings. And then after a while,
As I said, we saw a lot of things in our surroundings, what people were doing. Also, my husband went out with other fishing guys. He started to work within the boat industry. And we got our hands on a boat from Brazil. And we bought it. And then we started to slowly getting
Helen Lundgren (16:58.966)
questions from friends like well you have this boat and you have this house and I have some customers from the states Can we go out with you and can we have a dinner at your place because it’s so beautiful and it was just like You know one puzzle beat Piece came and then another one and another one and then we just let’s create a fishing guide company
that also offers something under our roof where we can combine with the fishing, but something that is not existing. And especially in this boat that we had, because in Sweden, we have, or in Stockholm archipelago, we have fishing that is very, it’s a narrow fishing. We don’t go out at sea.
We do sometimes or some periods of the year and you also have to have certain certificates in order to do so and also special equipment to fish salmon and so on and that is called trolling and that is in the out this space of Stockholm Archipelago but that is quite far from our area because we are more inshore.
Jason Elkins (18:07.703)
Mm-hmm.
Helen Lundgren (18:19.234)
So we do inshore fishing in our area. And when you do inshore fishing in Sweden, you use smaller boats. It’s more bay boats, like you have in the States as well. So this is the kind of fishing that we are doing. So it’s pike, perch, sea trout, also some sander. But sander has gone down very much in our area. So we. We.
Jason Elkins (18:30.162)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Helen Lundgren (18:47.498)
started to offer fishing tours but from a larger boat because no other of the fishing guides were having a larger boat with also a toilet. And since we wanted to approach corporate clients and doing events for corporates together with the meals at home that we wanted to and dinners and so on and we started
cooperation with a star chef that actually won the Olympic medal to Sweden once upon a time. It’s 10 years ago now or something like that. And so we took a niche that was not so common in the fishing guide industry because normally the fishing guides were only going out with private people that had an interest.
going out and catching a lot of fish. It was like more macho, whatever you call it. But we wanted to create adventure for corporate clients, having them to build relationship with the tool of going out in the nature. So that’s how we differentiated us, having a different boat and also turning towards
corporate clients. Over time, this has changed a bit.
Jason Elkins (20:18.651)
I’m curious, I’m curious real quick. With your background in the corporate world, both of you had quite an extensive background in the corporate world. And I’m curious, did you decide to go after that niche because you felt you already had the leads, you already knew the people, you already had the connections, you were comfortable in that world? I mean, what was it that really made you decide to go after the corporate audience?
Other than I heard you say you just saw it was a niche, nobody else was doing it.
Helen Lundgren (20:53.829)
I felt really comfortable because I have been working as a travel guide.
And first of all, I don’t go out fishing with the clients. I can drive the boat and driving people from A to B because I have the certificates now. I didn’t have that when we started. When we moved to the island, I didn’t even know how to drive a boat. My husband knew that, but I’ve learned. So now I have all the certificates. I can even drive a high speed boat, having customers on board.
So when we started, since I have the background, back office, front office, been working as a travel agent and a travel guide, I have had responsibility over incoming in Austria, taking care of clients, creating incentive trips, and also been working in the corporate world, doing events for our clients.
I said to my husband that if we’re going to do this, we are not only going to be a fishing guide company, but we are going to approach the corporate world with our services. And I felt really comfortable doing that because I knew that corporate clients did not go out fishing yet. So that was an empty market. Now the fishing guides…
are doing what we are doing also. Because now we were the pioneers within this. But this is also what I want to teach to people that are coming into this branch and coming into nature tourism or any tourism, how to create the business and how to be able to…
Helen Lundgren (22:56.226)
to approach both worlds in order to have a better economy in your business.
Jason Elkins (23:05.323)
Gotcha. So this is a great opportunity to discuss that. And I want to get into the why a little bit. Why did you decide that you wanted to help people kind of escape from the rat race, the nine to five and kind of create their own, I guess, their own, what, passion business, I guess is what you had mentioned to me before is the way you describe it. So why did you want to do that?
Helen Lundgren (23:24.738)
Mm.
Helen Lundgren (23:30.238)
It is why I wanted to do this. First of all, when we started Catch and Relax, we wanted to offer our clients what we have in front of our feet every day. Nature, water, the possibility to go out on a boat, living in a nice place. And we also wanted to show
the world Stockholm Archipelago because Stockholm Archipelago is the best kept secret. That is what we hear all the time. Over the years we have taken care of a lot of journalists. We have been representing Sweden on the world’s largest fair within nature tourism. We have now been invited again so we’re going to go.
on a fair in Germany for 10 days representing Sweden again within this niche. So I know because we have done that ourselves to escape the corporate rat race, to escape the nine to five and being able to live a life on our own terms. For me, I think that was always somehow.
my wish because I remember telling my father when I was quite young or in the young teens that I said I am going to become a successful entrepreneur. And I always wanted to have my own business and I’ve always wanting to own my own time. But when I became a mother, I felt
that I cannot, I’m not going to be able to last because being in the corporate job today, you are thrown into so many things that was it was my feeling. Someone else maybe likes this and can cope with it. But I felt if I’m going to stay in this rat race, I’m going to break. I’m not going to be able to.
Helen Lundgren (25:46.486)
I’m not going to be able to have a sustainable life because you are torn and you have so much responsibility towards an employer. And also you have the family tearing back and the child is waiting for you at the daycare center. And for example, I had one morning or often in the mornings, I…
I didn’t come into the office until 10 o’clock because I wanted to commute when it was not any traffic. So I left for Rydika like short before nine and then I went into this. Then it took me 40 minutes to get into the office. If I would have left her at 7.30 being able to be at the office at around quarter to nine nine, then it would have taken me one and a half hours to get into.
Well, instead of sitting in the queues, why should I waste my time? Why should I tear myself? Why should I wake up my little child earlier than necessarily and having this stress? So I just felt like, no, I’m not doing that. And also what we realized because I was kicked and I was not.
Jason Elkins (26:58.103)
Hmm.
Helen Lundgren (27:10.694)
able to come back to my position when I said no to having the sales responsible. And then actually between my two children, I took on a new job because I thought, we cannot be two employers. And I was kicked after one and a half year working, working very many hours. And I had
Helen Lundgren (27:38.406)
I was kicked because one part of that company that I was working for, and it was a large company that producing food. And I was product manager and export manager for pancakes. And I was kicked because they sold the division. And there was many people who didn’t want to follow along to the buying company. And then I was the latest in. So I was kicked.
Jason Elkins (27:52.844)
Bye.
Helen Lundgren (28:06.454)
because first in, first out, that’s how it works in Sweden. And because the community, the labor powers is very strong. And this is how the laws are here. And I said to my husband that, well, being employed today is not more secure than running your own business. So let’s try this. And that’s when we started Catch and Relax. So…
Business improvement consultant was started 2002. That’s when I didn’t want to go down back to Phillips. And then after being kicked in 2005, we started cash relax in 2005 to 2006. So the first tours we had, it was like in between, I was going to lay birth to my second child. And it was like, no, she is not allowed to come today because we have a booking.
that day she can come. And she came on first of July. We didn’t have a booking on that day. So it was really like, let’s try this. Let’s get it to work. And also with the knowledge I had from the hospitality branch and also with the knowledge of distribution, marketing and sales, and also combined with experiences with the States and outside of Sweden, we knew we had a very good infrastructure.
to be able to do this work. Because when you have a tourist, when you have travel or this kind of business, you cannot only rely on selling through one channel. You have to have different kinds of clients, different kinds of avatars. You have to distribute your tours in different ways in order to find the clients. And I just saw a report.
today actually in the morning that they’re expecting tourism worldwide to go up by nearly two percent this year because still even though the economy is going down people want to travel after Covid still.
Jason Elkins (30:21.459)
No, absolutely. And I love your story. It’s one that I think a lot of people can relate to, both men and women. We hear it a lot with women having the conversation about the, you know, I want to raise my kids, I want to spend time with my family, I want to do this, I want to try and do everything. I think there’s a lot of guys that feel that way as well. They maybe just keep their mouth shut and just try and run and are miserable. Where I think women sometimes are a little smarter and say, hey,
Helen Lundgren (30:27.223)
Mm. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (30:51.187)
This isn’t working very well for me, so I’m going to look for ways. And, and I’m curious with either the both men and women, but maybe specifically with the women that you have had conversations with, I’m interested in what is typically the biggest obstacle that you feel that gets in the way of them making a change and taking action, I guess is one part of the question.
And as I asked that question, I imagined somebody saying, well, sure, Helen, yeah, you made a bunch of money in the business world and then went out and bought a nice house and bought a nice boat. I’m just saying what they might hear, right? You have a nice boat, a nice house. You’ve got all these resources there. So it’s probably easy for you to say, oh, we should open a tourism business because you’re in a great place. So what do you say to the person that, that says that? So I guess it’s two questions.
What do you say to the person that brings that up? And what is the biggest thing that gets in the way of people picking action?
Helen Lundgren (31:55.082)
I think it’s everything. And this is also maybe thanks to that I have been doing a lot of training with the run mindset and personal development last five years. I’ve done quite a bit in the States with Honor Robbins and Dean Graziosi as well. And I think, and I know also research has shown this, that 80% is mindset.
and it’s 20% is what you do. And if you’re looking on, now I don’t find the word, not a growth mindset, but the difference between growth mindset and a narrow mindset, a poor mindset, then you can start to see the differences. Because you can always look on.
There is not enough time. There is not enough money. There I don’t have the knowledge. But then you can with all these questions that is the minor mindset. You can always because the coin always have two sides even three sides. Yes because the coin can also land on the third side. So you can always…
Shoes because you always have a choice and ever in any situation in life You have a choice either you go left or you go right And if you can actually decide Yeah, yeah, or you go nowhere But if you have a choice to be made in any situation in life And you can force yourself
Jason Elkins (33:34.679)
or you don’t go anywhere.
Jason Elkins (33:40.013)
Yeah.
Helen Lundgren (33:50.614)
to choose the growth mindset. We had the fortune to find this place that we are living at. And we sold everything what we had on mainland. And today, we will not.
be able to buy it because the prices has gone up so much. But Stockholm archipelago is very close to capital. That’s also why prices has gone up. And this is the same in New York, in Los Angeles, in Rome, in Singapore, wherever you go. If you are close to a main city, the prices have gone up. And you’re actually following. If you are in the market, you are following the market.
But what I see is that there are so many people having a hobby, an interest, it can be sewing and they have a lifestyle or they have a knowledge. And if you start to look at what you actually have inside of you, you can create something
from what you have inside of you and what you have. You can live far out in the countryside and you can create a nature tourism business. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It’s what you are able with your mind to create around what you have. And there are so much inspiration. And also now with AI, I mean, AI can be looked at, not good.
or but.
Helen Lundgren (35:51.114)
If you look at it, to be bad, you get scared. It’s the scarcity mindset.
But if you look at AI as the possibility to actually have a kind of an assistant, someone that you can ask, what kind of business can I create around these abilities, where I live, blah, blah. Because this is like a virtual intelligent that is actually able to help us. And it has happened so much the last year. It’s crazy.
Jason Elkins (36:23.647)
Yeah. And what’s it, what’s, yeah. And what I really like about it is it’s not so much that it’s going to tell me what to do, but holy cow, as far as a idea tool, an idea generator, because there’s been so many times I’ll just jump in and I’ll kind of have this thought and I’ll put it into like chat GPT. Let’s say, for example, I’m looking for a title for a
podcast or something. I don’t know. You know, and I go in there and say, give me 10 ideas for a podcast that’s, um, you know, targeted to listeners that want to go adventure, travel, dot, whatever it is. And it’ll give you 10 ideas. And, and inevitably what happens is I look at those and that spawns an idea, another idea. And it’s like, I don’t necessarily end up using exactly what I get from chat GPT, but it gives me ideas. It just gets the
Helen Lundgren (36:51.319)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (37:19.551)
Cool for that. Even if you never use anything cut and paste, you never take direct advice from it. It’s just such a great idea, Jenner. It’s like having somebody sitting in the room with you. That you just ask a question and they just start rambling with things that are relevant. And you listen to the rambling and you’re like, Ooh, I like that. I know this isn’t what you were saying, but I like that. I just got this idea based on listening to you. So it’s, it’s very cool. I’m happy you brought that up. And.
Helen Lundgren (37:37.398)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (37:49.319)
You’re right. It helps. It’s a tool to help people make the shift.
Helen Lundgren (37:54.286)
And I also think that if you understand this, I think it’s really, really important for people to not be so scared. You know, scarcity mindset and abundance mindset, a growth mindset. Because if you say, I’m not going to use it, I’m not going to take advantage of it, you will be behind. That is absolutely… I’m absolutely…
100% sure, because I see it myself. I use it as the white paper. When I’m sitting and I’m, for example, I’m going to write a post for Facebook or something like this, or I’m going to create something, maybe a work class or doing a live, and I’m just like, okay, I know I want to talk about this.
about this, I can ask for ideas. And why not? Because we are having these tools in order to be able to use it.
Jason Elkins (39:06.399)
Well, it’s interesting because if you go back, well, you probably know better than I do because of all your experience in the tech industry. Um, but I can also go back and remember, you know, when, when cell phones first really started becoming popular and then of course, smartphones and people are just like, no, it’s, this is dangerous. This is, I would never use that. I remember, you know, trying to teach my grandparents how to use email and computers and
Helen Lundgren (39:14.254)
Thanks for watching!
Jason Elkins (39:34.791)
And just some of the attitudes around that. And I get that. You know, nobody has to do anything they don’t want to do. You, you mentioned before we have choices in everything and, um, those people that thought, oh, this computer thing’s just a trend. It’s just, or it’s just, um, you know, a fad, a temporary thing. It’s going to go away. The internet’s, you know, what’s, what’s all this? I’m not going to bother learning that. I don’t believe in that. Do you know what, go back to when they, you know, Henry Ford’s first started making cars and.
Helen Lundgren (39:50.534)
Internet is a trend.
Jason Elkins (40:03.787)
There were people that made a living making horseshoes and shooing horses that said, oh, this is, you know, these cars are evil. They’re going to destroy the world and whatever. And, or the candle makers when Edison was inventing the light bulb, you know, so it’s kind of, yeah, whether we like it or not.
Helen Lundgren (40:21.53)
I’m saying, yeah, and I’m saying thank you for everyone that has been before me. Because it’s actually the people, the generations before me that has been giving me this possibility to do what I’m doing today. And Lidibot, I heard the story yesterday. No, absolutely. And it’s an evolution.
Jason Elkins (40:42.103)
Cause none of us could, none of us could do it on our own. You know, it’s yeah.
Helen Lundgren (40:49.738)
Now my daughter is going away. I had to say bye to her.
Jason Elkins (40:50.077)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (40:55.371)
She’s literally leaving right this minute to go to Bali. Oh, okay. Okay. That’s, that’s, uh, that’s pretty cool. Yeah, that is. And okay. You know what? Let’s, let’s chat about that for a minute because this is an important part of the conversation. And I don’t know the whole story. You and I didn’t really discuss very much her going to Bali.
Helen Lundgren (40:58.05)
No, no, no. She’s just going to see a friend tonight and I’m going to do some work and then she’s coming back and tomorrow she’s leaving for Bali. All by herself.
Helen Lundgren (41:16.939)
Mm.
Jason Elkins (41:24.127)
but I’ve learned enough about you. And we talk about, I don’t want to live that life. I want to spend time with my kids. I want to inspire people to follow their dreams and their passions. And I’m hearing you talk about your daughter going to Bali by herself for the first time and she’s 20, how old is she? 22?
Helen Lundgren (41:24.756)
No.
Helen Lundgren (41:44.462)
Me too, yes. And her mother is scared to death. No, not really.
Jason Elkins (41:46.331)
Yeah, okay. I can hear it. I can hear it in your voice and I can see it on your face. And I bet at the same time, you’re incredibly effing proud, aren’t you?
Helen Lundgren (42:00.102)
Yes, I’m so proud because this is the thing that as you have come to understand, I have a coaching program where I want to help people take the jump, to take the leap, to see that there is a future them waiting for them and I call my program Life on Your Terms. And I have seen what I have experienced through…
all these years that we have been our own bosses, is that we have had the possibility to be there for our kids. And actually, I was brought up with a mother that was also working from home, and she was always there when I came home, and it was nice. And I think somewhere I wanted to have this situation for our kids as well, that I wanted to be there.
But I didn’t want to be a housewife. I wanted to have a work. So having your own business was like the only option. And what I’ve seen is with my two daughters, Fredrika who’s 22 and Michaela who’s 17, is that the relationship is different between us than I can see in other kids. And also,
Being in all these groups and meeting all these people that I’m meeting, I see parents wanting to support kids, parents who want to be there for their kids when they’re coming home from school, also parents who are having organizations prohibiting that kids are taking suicide.
that our kids are going into drugs. So my extended why for having this program is to actually getting more balanced kids in the world. Because when you can build the balance in your parent life, you will have a better balance in your family life. And then the kids will also be more balanced. So this is like an outcome.
Helen Lundgren (44:28.206)
of my program and that’s also one of the reasons why I’m so passionate about helping parents to take the leap and create their own businesses because then we will have a more balanced world. It maybe sounds a little bit weird, a little bit strange, but I cannot change the whole world but I can at least do something.
Jason Elkins (44:47.615)
No, it sounds super cool.
Jason Elkins (44:54.295)
Wow, we did a great job getting to your why. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. That’s powerful.
Helen Lundgren (44:58.046)
Yeah, so, so.
So for her going away is a little bit like, I’m really proud about her going. I’m of course scared, but when I’m thinking about myself in her age, I was also doing the same, not maybe to Asia, but Asia is as close as Italy. Somehow the world has shrunk. But you know, she has a sense of…
Jason Elkins (45:26.505)
Uh huh.
Helen Lundgren (45:33.878)
being balanced and she has also been in some of the trainings that I’ve been doing. So I’ve been able to contribute to her life with the knowledge that I have required from all the trainings that I am doing. And that’s, I think, is how we can get more balanced kids out there.
Jason Elkins (45:58.635)
Very cool. You know what? It’s interesting because you and I had a call scheduled a few weeks ago. We were going to record this a month or so earlier and some things came up and we weren’t able to connect at that time. And as I listened to you and as I realized, wow, it’s pretty cool that we’re having this conversation on the eve of your daughter going to Bali because it really kind of drives home the point. I can, I sense the pride in you. I’ve got children as well. And
Helen Lundgren (46:00.437)
Mm.
Helen Lundgren (46:12.748)
Mm-hmm.
Helen Lundgren (46:21.461)
Mm.
Jason Elkins (46:28.667)
Um, I know what me following my, I’ve done a lot of the same programs you’ve done as well. And you and I kind of, maybe you’re cut from the same, the same ball of the fabric. And when I look at what that’s done for my children and other people around me that have done that, that work and really follow their dreams, it’s pretty cool. So I’m happy that we were able to, uh, to reconnect now instead of maybe a month ago. So that’s, uh, that’s very cool.
Helen Lundgren (46:34.417)
Yeah.
Helen Lundgren (46:53.986)
Because kids, they do what you do. They don’t do what you say, tell them to. But they see what you do and then they follow you.
Jason Elkins (46:57.589)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (47:04.339)
Yeah. You know, it’s, I did the corporate, I worked in adventure tourism for a long time because I was brought up, I traveled, I spent my summers traveling with my dad, going to balloon festivals and learning how to fly hot air balloons. And so I did that for quite a while. Then I got into a spot where I kind of was discouraged by some things, some, you know, whatever I let myself get off course a little bit. And I worked in real estate for a few years. And, and when I
Helen Lundgren (47:11.073)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (47:32.463)
And it got out of that and started following my dreams again. All of a sudden, my son started following as well. And I spent the last two summers, he’s 17, and the last two summers, he traveled with me. And the first summer we did Central America, Guatemala, Mexico, Belize. And this past summer, we had, you know, Southeast Asia. And yeah, it’s interesting how the more I follow my dreams and my passions, the more, you know, the more my children and other people around me.
are inspired to do the same. And my relationship with him now is so much better. And I’m still traveling, and I’m not maybe with him as many days of the month, if you just count the number of days. But I’ll tell you what, when we are together and when we have the comp, we do video calls just about every day. And it does make a big difference. OK, so Helen, we’ve discussed a few things. Definitely got to know you a bit and kind of your why.
connected with that. We talked a little bit about Catch and Relax, kind of how you started that. We covered a few things and I’m curious, what did I forget to ask or what should I have asked that you think our listeners should know? Either about you, your coaching program, Catch and Relax, Sweden, anything. What do you think?
Helen Lundgren (48:51.662)
Oh, you asked so many things and sometimes I find it difficult to come up with the questions myself. So I don’t really know. But of course if someone would be interested to book a call with me, I have on my profile in Facebook. You find me with a cap.
Jason Elkins (49:02.754)
Mm-hmm.
Helen Lundgren (49:17.982)
At C of course and it’s Helen Weikner Lundgren. Weikner is my maiden name and Lundgren is my married name. And my program is Life on Your Terms. Sometimes it’s registered so that sometimes it’s Life on Your Term. But my website is lifeonyourterm.se. And you can find me there otherwise people can find me through you.
Jason Elkins (49:37.344)
Mm-hmm, no test.
Helen Lundgren (49:47.686)
And of course, catch and relax. It’s just to look it up and combine with Sweden, and then you find us. So.
Jason Elkins (49:54.075)
Yeah. And we’ll have the link, right? We’ll have the link right to your website in the show notes. So I’m going to encourage anybody listening to this interested in learning more about Helen, Katrin, Lex, that’d be a great place to start. And obviously once they get through to your website, they can probably figure out how to find everything if, you know, with the internet, the way it is.
Helen Lundgren (49:59.116)
Yeah.
Helen Lundgren (50:13.222)
Yeah. But I think I think I think there I think there is one thing that is, you know, nature tourism. And this is also what you are talking a lot about in your podcast. Nature tourism is about showing people who are traveling and one
more experiences out of their travels and where also people Relationships are being Depend and also can grow is a fantastic way of showing our world through locals And I think this is something that we have not touched
Because what we experience in Catch and Relax, when people go fishing with us or come home to our home, they don’t really, sometimes, you know, they don’t really understand, well, is this your home? Wow! So you have opened up your home to me, because maybe they have booked through agents. But this is a way of creating relationship with
people and also for cultures to understand each other where we show how we are living. I mean maybe I don’t have a typical home. I’m living in a large house at the seaside and so on but I’m Swedish. I’m bringing people home to my home. I’m telling them stories about lower lives and through travel we can
experiences for people through our lives. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be that you’re living in a very exclusive place. It can be that you are maybe having some kind of… you’re good at cooking but you stay in a small flat somewhere.
Helen Lundgren (52:34.982)
I talked with a guy in Morocco the other day, and his sister has a grape planting. And we were talking about if he could maybe create an adventure around his sister’s place. And he said, I never thought about this.
Because this is what we want to experience when we travel. We don’t want to see these streets that are full of tourists. We want to go out. When I’m traveling, I want to meet the locals. I want to go on experiences, maybe just on a walk. And you can charge for a walk. And it doesn’t. You walk on streets that are not yours. You just know the city.
Jason Elkins (53:26.708)
Mm-hmm.
Helen Lundgren (53:31.498)
And you can create a story about this. Look at Airbnb, what they did. Of course, they are competing. Now they are so large that they are competing with hotels and things. But in some extent, they created the way of travelers coming to places, coming to homes, and see how it looks behind the curtains. And that is what we want.
the people that are coming to us to experience. We want the people to experience what we have in front of our feet every day. And this is, I think, this is something that, or we can see that in traveling trends after special COVID, that people want to travel in smaller groups and they want to meet the locals because that is why we are traveling.
So I think that is maybe one thing. And so I think there are… I know that there are many, many people out there who are ready to, as the fish in the bowl, take the jump to find their future themselves. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (54:28.349)
I love it.
Jason Elkins (54:48.576)
I love it. You just summarized my whole show, I think. The whole big world made small. The whole concept, you got every point there. This is about connecting with people. That’s why we don’t spend a lot of time talking about what time do you need to arrive? Do you need a SIM card to edit? We’re not talking about that stuff. It’s connecting with people like your cell phone. And I love that we’re able to do this virtually.
Helen Lundgren (54:51.662)
Yeah. Ha ha ha.
Jason Elkins (55:12.911)
I would love to just go visit all of these places and chat with you in person at your place and technology allows us the ability to create connections anyway this way. So that’s that. Yeah, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. Big world made small, right? You had mentioned that the world has gotten smaller because now your daughter can, you know, go to Bali where for you, you know, you were going to Poland maybe. The world has changed.
I actually came up with the name Big World Made Small when I was in Asia for the first time because I had this revelation that I always thought Asia was so far away. And once you get there and you start meeting the people, you realize it’s not. So that’s pretty cool. All right, Alan, wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing some of your time with us and kind of letting everybody kind of get a glimpse into who you are and kind of what your passions are.
Helen Lundgren (55:40.502)
Yeah, absolutely.
Jason Elkins (56:07.555)
And I want to real quick though, your coaching business is not just for people that want to get into tourism, correct?
Helen Lundgren (56:14.45)
No, it’s for anybody who has a hobby, an interest, a lifestyle, a passion, or knowledge that they want to create a business around. Of course, I know online coaching, I could teach that, but my coaching is business, is more for someone who wants to have a…
Jason Elkins (56:16.243)
Okay.
Jason Elkins (56:25.959)
That’s pretty much everybody.
Helen Lundgren (56:41.294)
normal business, a brick and mortar business, but of course, if someone wants also to learn how to do a coaching business or do a virtual business, I could coach them. But that is a byproduct. So my main focus is, and of course, my primary knowledge is within hospitality.
Jason Elkins (57:09.371)
I think the key word that you used earlier before I hit the record button was a passion business. Right? I mean, it’s almost the way to disc… that is the way to describe it. You help people change their lives through a passion business, right? Yeah. Yep.
Helen Lundgren (57:19.922)
But you may be passionate in law. Yeah, maybe you’re passionate in law and you want to create a law firm. But you feel like, I don’t know how to market. How do I sell? How do I create a company? I just know my law book. So then I can help you. And that can be a passion business.
Jason Elkins (57:41.991)
Yeah. I get very cool. That’s a yeah. No, I get it. As opposed to maybe somebody says, I don’t care what I do. I just want to make a bunch of money. And maybe that’s not the right fit. Right. I like it. I like it a lot.
Helen Lundgren (57:55.734)
No, because of course, the thing is the money, when we’re talking about money, because you have to have a money mindset. If I earn a lot of money, I can contribute more to the possibility that money gives me is to maybe pay more money to the child cancer fund here in Sweden, because we always pay
and we also support activities in schools, preventing drugs, trafficking and those things. We have always done that within Catch and Relax. We pay towards the children. We have always done that. That is what money gives me. The ability to be able to create this for others, but also for me to put back money into
being able to support me, more people, and also creating a life for my family. I want to build this coaching business because my husband is 62 years now. I don’t want him out on the cold waters in November. He has done that for many years now. I don’t want him to have to go out when it is cold.
He can go out fishing, we can have adventure throughout the nicer seasons. But when you are forced to go out in order to be able to put table on the food. So this is what I want to create. I want to be able to help people to create their own businesses and having a thriving life. I didn’t have any mentors. I want to be that holding hand.
Helen Lundgren (59:51.49)
how to pivot and get a thriving business. And who knows, someone can help someone else and you can always pay forward.
Jason Elkins (01:00:05.055)
Very cool. And I believe you just did because I believe somebody is going to listen to this and you know, I, I trust in. Would invite them obviously to reach out to you, but even if they’re just listening to this and get inspired a little bit, take some steps, some action, make something happen, then you and I have done our job today. So thank you so much, Helen. Appreciate you. Appreciate you joining me on the show.
Helen Lundgren (01:00:25.822)
Yeah, thank you so much. And it has been a pleasure. It has been a pleasure being here with you.
Jason Elkins (01:00:30.844)
Well, my pleasure. Thank you.
Thank you so much. I look forward to connecting and collaborating with you on more projects in the future. All right, thanks, Al.
Helen Lundgren (01:00:43.391)
Absolutely.
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