E85: The Tables Turn: Emma Gets Interviewed (And Nothing Is Off Limits!)

In this very special episode of Dream Business, Dream Life, the script flips completely...Emma hands over the mic (and the control) to her bestie and career-change strategist, Leanne Lorains, for a no-limits interview. What unfolds is a hilarious, heartfelt, and unexpectedly honest conversation that dives into friendship, business, secrets, quirks, mindset, and what really goes on behind the scenes of Emma’s world.

Expect laughter, a few emotional moments, plenty of banter, talk of Yorkshire puddings, and some big business reveals for the future. If you’ve ever wondered what Emma is really like off-camera, this is the episode you’ve been waiting for.

What We Cover

• Why Emma invited Leanne to take over the podcast (and how nervous she really was).
• A festive “Christmas This or That” warm-up...Baileys, Bublé, and jumpers included.
• The truth about their friendship, their unhinged voice notes, and their pact about their phones.
• Emma’s major red flag in business and why she’s not here to “do the do” for people.
• Food confessions, cabbage controversies, and why a children’s entertainer might be her alternative career.
• Emma’s superpower (warp-speed implementation) and how it sometimes terrifies people around her.
• A surprise reveal about a potential new offer coming in 2026.
• Leanne’s superpower, according to Emma and why it’s both comforting and mildly alarming.

Key Takeaways

• You can be brilliant and still not “have your **** together.”
• Friendship in business can be an anchor, a mirror, and a catalyst.
• Implementing fast is a superpower...if you learn to wield it with intention.
• The people closest to you often see what you can’t (yet).
• Emma is paving the way simply by showing what’s possible.

Want to connect? Find me here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamemmahine

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-hine

Website: https://www.emmahine.co.uk

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/@EmmaHineStrategy

Transcript

Hello and welcome to today's episode of Dream Business, Dream Life. Now today we're doing things a little bit differently and I'm going to be honest, I'm a little bit nervous. So I don't know if anybody has seen this, but I put a little announcement out on my social media recently to say that I wanted to do something slightly different. And I wanted to invite people to come and interview me on my podcast. Now, I should have known the person that was going to raise their hands first was going to be the one and only Leanne Lorraines. And of course it is. And so here we go. I am putting my life, quite frankly, that's how it feels right at this moment, in Leanne's hands because she has permission to ask me absolutely anything. Deep breath. Anyway, Leanne, over to you. 

Hello, thank you. I am so excited about this. But Emma, before we talk about you, because it's not all about you, let's just make sure your audience know exactly who I am. So can you tell your audience about me, but with A twist? If you were writing an advert to sell your bestie, that's me by the way, to someone else, what would it say? 

You know, you just knew she was going to make this really hard work for you. Does this need to be the professional or the bestie ad? Or is this completely in my hands? 

Completely in your hands. 

Okay, so I'll give you the professional stint first because There is a lot of professionalists about Leanne, but then I'm going to give you the bestie bit because there's a lot of that too. So Leanne is a career change in business strategist. She helps people to build fantastic careers and fantastic businesses. Her absolute expertise is knowing exactly what you need to say on a CV to get you the job of your dreams. I think that's the important bit to note. It's about getting the job of your dreams. not just any old job. She has the biggest foot, so she will kick your **** but she does it in an absolutely loving, loving way. She has more experience than I've got years of age, just saying. She's amazing. You need to invest in Leanne if you are looking for a change of career or if you're not happy in the job that you have got. She can help you with business stuff too, but careers is where she spends a lot of her time. So that's the professional stuff. When it comes to besties, I feel like I could get really emotional because Leanne came into my life unexpectedly. We didn't know that we were going to sort of bump into one another. Leanne perhaps knew before I did. But we became friends really, really quickly. We have a lot in common. we have a lot not in common too. Leanne has a horse and a dog, she goes outside, she eats food. I mean, come on, couldn't be further apart in that context. But honestly, she has held me at times over the last few years that I don't think anybody else could do. She is crazy, like crazier than you've ever seen. I can't wait for her to start showing more of that crazy online because I still think somewhere in there she's hiding behind her corporate corporate, I don't know, suit, not that you wear a suit, Leanne, but she is the craziest person. She is the best fun, and I am actually humbled that she's my bestie. 

Oh, Emma, thank you. Well, everybody, you saw a bit of crazy yesterday, though, Emma, I was dressed as sexy Santa singing. 

And you were very sexy, I'm going to say. A little bit early. 

It's in there somewhere. Anyway, sticking with the Christmas theme, I'm going to put my Christmas hat on. Have you got yours? Of course you haven't. 

I mean, I could dive down deep and find something, but I mean, I'd have to go off screen and be gone for probably 10 minutes. 

Well, no, we'll just go with this, because of course I didn't I didn't pre-warn you with this, but oh, we've got we've got a Halloween sparkly thing that will do. So, firstly, thank you, Emma. That was brilliant. This is perfect. Leave those on. Leave those on. So now that we have established who I am and as it is December, we're going to just do a quick, just to warm you up a little bit, Christmas, this or that. So please leave your glasses on, you're looking perfect. So don't overthink. Mulled wine or Bailey's? 

Bailey's. 

Love Actually or Elf? 

Love Actually. 

Christmas shopping, organised queen or last minute chaos? 

Last minute chaos. 

Christmas jumper, cute or a big fat Christmas no. 

I'm going to say for me a big fat Christmas no because I don't wear trousers so I find it hard to wear a jumper. 

Okay. That wasn't a problem. Mariah or Michael Buble. 

Michael Buble. 

Quality Street or Roses? 

Quality Street. 

And a biggie for in our house, wrappers in the tin or the bin. 

The bin. Oh my God, in the tin. That is frustrating. 

Well, I'm a tin person, so there you go. 

Can I take my glasses off because I can't see? 

You can take your glasses off now. Yeah. So that was just that was just a bit of a warm up. OK. So Emma, are you OK? I'm cool so far. OK, cool. 

We can do that. 

So as you know, and as you just alluded to, I spent a lot of time hiring people. And now as a career change strategist, I help people to land their dream roles. So now we're going to move into interviewing you for the role of you. I've got them written down just so that I get these on. So Emma, what 3 words would your friends or family use to describe you? 

Fun, kind and supportive, I hope. 

Brilliant. And that is actually an interview question that I ask and you'll be amazed at how many people cannot give me 3 words, so well done. So what's something people assume about you that's completely wrong? 

I think a lot of people assume that I've got my **** together. Why are you laughing? Because you know differently. 

I do know differently, yeah. 

I think a lot of people make the assumption that I have and quite frankly a lot of the time I haven't. 

That's okay. So when you are at your absolute best, what is happening around you? 

When I'm at my absolute best, I am probably with people, actually in person with people, having a bit of fun, talking about anything that happens to come along. But my absolute, absolute best, I'm going to have to say it's in that secret bar in Manchester with my bestie. 

We had fun, didn't we? 

Did. 

We really did have fun. Yeah. So can you tell me, Emma, what is your superpower? 

Oh, my superpower. My superpower. I think my superpower has to be to be able to do things really freaking quickly. If I get an idea, I can implement it really quickly. It might not be perfect, but you can go from idea to implement it quicker than warp speed. 

OK, and we're going to dig into that a little bit later. I've got a question on that. Of course you have. So when you are doing something new or scary, what motivates you? 

What motivates me? I would have to say the results that whatever it is I'm doing is going to get. I am very driven by doing things that are going to have an impact on other people or other things. So for me, when I'm doing something big and scary, I'm always thinking about the impact that thing is actually going to have rather than what it's going to give me. 

Brilliant. Yeah, I'd agree with that, just in case I needed to, you know. So if you weren't doing what you're doing now, if you didn't work in business, what random career do you think you would be brilliant at? 

I think I would be something like a children's rep doing silly things on stage, even though I hate doing things like that. Because, I'll tell you why that is, because I couldn't, I know I wouldn't want to do a job. I know I wouldn't want to, I don't think anybody would want to recruit me to be fair anymore. I think my days of being employed have long, gone. So I know I couldn't do a job and I just feel like something like a children's entertainer would give me freedom to just be silly. And who doesn't want more silliness in their life? Although, let's be honest, I hate being centre of attention. 

So I really hope that you give up your business or you start doing this. I just want to see. 

So I can be dressed in it. I don't know, some random costume. But yeah, I've never, I've never had, sorry, I know I'm not answering your question on what happens. That's what Emma does, isn't it? I've never actually had a, this is the job I would like to do. I've never had that. I don't know if it's. 

Because I have to talk offline. 

Or whatever, but so I think on the spot we're going children's entertainer or doctor. 

Children's entertainer, OK. 

Might be a doctor. Might be a doctor. 

I think we're sticking around the excitement of being a doctor. 

I mean, it's obviously not exciting for the people who are needing the doctor, but I better shut up now. Next question. 

Sure, Shema, we're going on to the next question. OK, so what is the question? People ask you a lot of questions, but what is the question you wish people asked you but they hardly ever do. 

Oh, what do I wish people would ask me? As in for them, for their business or? 

Just when you say ask me anything. People get to know you. 

What do you, what do I wish that people, oh, I haven't even thought this through. I just, you know, this was me all over, isn't it? I get an idea and I make it happen and I don't think through what's actually going to happen. What question do I wish people would ask me? And then whatever I say you're going to ask me next. 

No, I won't. 

So I'm like now overthinking this one, thinking she's going to ask me this question, so I need to be able to answer it. No. What question do I wish people would ask me? I don't know. I'm really struggling with that one. Okay, we can come back to it. Have I failed the interview? 

No, you've not failed. There's never a fail. I'm just, I'm just trying to get that whole holistic 360 view of who Emma Hine is. 

What do I wish people would ask me? Don't know. I need to think about that one. 

We'll come back to that one. 

Fail. 

No, don't apologise. So the next question is, what's the one red flag that would make you immediately not work with someone? 

As somebody who very clearly has the expectation that I'm going to do the do for them. Now, I love helping and supporting people and when people work with me, they will get my absolute everything. I'll give them all that I can, but I physically cannot do the do for people. So people that show me very clearly at the beginning that they are not going to take the action, that they are expecting me to make it magically happen for them, then that to me would be a red flag because I know I can't help those people. They need to go and do some mindset work something else first to work on their own, whatever it is, limiting beliefs that are causing them to think that somebody else can magically make them have this super successful business. So that for me would be my biggest red flag. 

Absolutely, absolutely. So this one's a little bit cheeky, but what is one thing that you do, Emma, that you think is completely normal, but would perhaps terrify the general public? 

I do a lot of things that I think are completely normal that I think would probably terrify the general public. What do I think that I do that's completely normal that I think, I mean, we've only got to think about what I eat straight away that, you know, for me to, you know, have a Sunday roast, for example, with no meat and no vegetables, I mean, is that normal? 

But to me, it's normal. 

It's absolutely normal to me. And I know other people would be like, where's my roast beef and where's my Brussels sprouts? But for me, that's completely, completely normal. Is that an answer? 

That's absolutely fine. Yeah. And this one I'm going to say with a straight face for anybody that is watching. If someone got hold of your phone right now, what's the first thing you desperately want to delete? 

All my messages to Leanne. We have a pact, me and Leanne. If either of us get run over, the other one has to get the phone. Has to get the phone. Nobody else will understand. There's nothing naughty or nasty or unkind or anything going on in our phones, but nobody else would get our humour or the sort of conversations we have. And there's about four going on in one place. We keep up, don't we? do. 

We do. We do. Absolutely. And we're loving our new Christmas songs that we sing to each other. 

We are. Leanne sings more than I sing, to be fair. 

Yes, Okay, so you may have seen this morning, because I'm not as organised as I like to be, I invited some questions on Instagram, Emma. So I told people that I was going to be interviewing you and did they want to ask a question. And the main theme that has come through is around food. No surprise there, you've just alluded to it. So a question from our mutual, one of our mutual friends is, to say this with a straight face and we're not going down a smutty route. When are you going to start trying different textures? i.e. cabbage, she mentioned. 

Cabbage? Is this our lovely Jill by any chance? 

It could be our lovely Jill, yes. It's our lovely Jill by any. 

Who else would ask me if I'm going to start eating cabbage? Probably never. Is that a fair enough answer? When I'm 102, when I've doubled my age. 

So a little top tip from our friend Jill. Apparently, if you try something 20 times, you get to like it. So there you go. 

So there we go. And one question you can't bring yourself to try it, Jill. Sorry. It's not a case of not making it. It's the fact that I can't physically try it in the 1st place. I know I'm going to get inundated now with people who can help me overcome that thing. 

Help you. We'll have some, maybe we could go for cocktails and have some pureed cabbage in the cocktail. My face is saying it all as I'm actually saying it out loud. 

I don't know what cabbage tastes like, but it to me. It's the best one you could have tastes like Trump's. Have you eaten Trump's? So this is like, are we having this conversation? Next question maybe? 

Next question. So another question, not food related, somebody that you don't know that well, but a very sensible question. What's the best thing about being a female business owner? 

Being a female business owner. Absolutely love that. What's the best thing about it? I think it's the fact that I get to show other females that they can be business owners too, that they can actually step into being whatever they want to be. And I think that stands whether they're female or anything else for that matter, because, you know, business owners get to show other people that you can do whatever you damn well like. So I don't think the fact that I'm, for me personally, I don't think the fact that I'm female makes any difference. I get to show people how amazing they can be because I'm amazing. 

Absolutely. Absolutely you are. So how are you feeling? 

Actually OK at the moment. I'm obviously skipped one question. 

I know you have, you have. So we're going to go into some kind of bestie questions now. So I want you to tell everyone, why was I the obvious choice for your first ever interview guest? 

I mean, you'd have probably shocked me there and then if you hadn't have been, to be fair, that, you know, that probably would have been the case. But why would it be anybody else? Let's be honest, why would I want anybody else to be my first ever? take over host. I don't want to be calling this. Why would I want anybody else? You're the obvious choice. You're going to make me feel comfortable. You're going to we're going to have a laugh. You will probably ask me questions that other people might want to ask, but don't. 

Yeah. I mean, I have been I've been quite kind. There are some questions that, you know, I thought, no, we won't go there today. But it, you know, obviously can't all be about you. I mean, that intro at the start was just beautiful. So I just want you to just tell me, when you think about me, what do you think my superpower is? 

You've got lots of superpowers. From a bestie perspective, I think it has to always be to know what's going on, even if I don't say what's going on, if that makes any sense at all. It's almost like. 

That's my woo side, isn't it? 

Is. It is. It's almost like you were inside my head and you tell me what's going to happen, even though it hasn't happened or I haven't told you that it's happened. So you definitely know exactly what's going on in my head, even though I think I'm really good at hiding what's going on in my head. but where you're concerned. So from a bestie perspective, I'd say that. You are inside my head probably more than I am, which I really am sorry for that. I apologise in advance for that. From a business perspective, your superpower, I would say, has to absolutely be, I'm going to say organisation, because you are, you're my yin and yang, I suppose that's where we are in terms of you, are everything in order, done a certain way, has to have a structure, has to have a plan, behind it has to have that, clarity, that understanding. So I love that for you. I love that for you. And that's why we work well together because I'm off doing all sorts of things and you're pulling me back. 

I'm always just running behind Emma trying to catch up, trying to catch up. Organising me. Let's get this organised, yeah. So this one made me giggle a little bit. So if someone overheard us in a coffee shop, what would they assume about us? 

They probably assumed we were bonkers, to be honest, because some of the conversations we have, that's even if they could understand them. Because sometimes our conversations, I mean, I hope we're not doing that in this podcast. 

No, we're not, we're not, we've got a script, we're doing well. 

Because we will be having a conversation, but only half the conversation, because we just know the other half, or we've had it three days ago, we've just picked it back up again. So I think they'd either think they were totally bonkers or they wouldn't have a clue what we were talking about. I certainly don't think they'd think they were business strategists or career strategists. 

No, I don't either. And the coffee shop made me smile because neither of us drink coffee. Oh yeah, never cooked. 

We'd be having Diet Coke or water or something, fizzy water in your case. 

We definitely would, yeah. So who's the sensible one and who's the, we'll figure it out. 

I think we've just answered that. Leanne is definitely the sensible one. Although she's not sensible. This is what's funny. She's sensible, but she's absolutely crazy with it. 

Yeah, I'm not sensible, but I am the sensible one. So that means you're really not sensible. And if we went to a restaurant tea, like we do, the restaurant, sorry, I've flipped into silliness already, restaurant tea, and I just had to then nip out somewhere. What would you pick for us to eat and drink? 

What would I pick for us to eat and drink? Are we on a good day or a naughty day? 

Well. 

Are we on a good day? I'm going to say we're going to our favourite restaurante, which isn't actually a restaurant, it's a hotel. And I am going to order, Leanne, Yorkshire pudding, stuffed with turkey, vegetables, chips and gravy. And I am going to order myself Now then, the debate, which one am I going to order? Which one am I going to order, Leanne? You tell me. 

You would maybe order a Yorkshire pudding with mashed potato and peas, which, you know, always looks interesting. Or the pie that you always have. And we would have a conversation about, I wish they did a cheese and onion pie. So hotel, if you are listening, please could you put cheese and onion pie on the menu? And then probably that's what we would both have. 

Exactly. And in that instance, we would probably have a Pepsi Max or a Diet Coke. But if we were heading to somewhere like Manchester or something for the day, we would definitely probably go for **** star martinis. 

Yep. 

And then I'd probably drag you into a pizza restaurant. 

Yep, but that's cool. It's all cool. Very good. See, we're aligned here. This is a bit like Mr. and Mrs., isn't it? 

When you have to do a job with you than Nate, to be fair. 

Me too, with Nathan. So what do you think is the most unhinged thing, Emma, that you have texted me this year? I mean, there's a lot to go with. 

Oh my goodness, what the most unhinged thing I have texted you with so far this year. Have I texted you unhinged things? my goodness, the most unhinged. Do you know what? My memory is shocking, isn't it? What have I texted you that's unhinged? Unhinged, unhinged. It'll be something to do with me coming up with some random idea, probably. 

I don't know. Oh. 

I don't know why classes are unhinged because I think I could I could literally just read. 

What do you think is the most outrageous, the craziest thing then that you've you've texted me this year? 

What's the craziest thing I've texted you this year? Oh my goodness. Might have I texted you? I think most of all text messages are pretty crazy, aren't they? To be fair, I think there's, you know, you've only got to look at the reels that go from phone to phone are pretty crazy at times. 

Yeah. 

What have I texted you that's crazy, crazy? This is the, you asked me a question a little bit ago about, you know, what do I think is normal versus what other people don't think is normal. I think our conversations are normal. 

And I know they're normal. The 2 things, there are a few things that jump, I mean, the reels that we send each other are just downright ridiculous. And then the more we send each other, the more they appear. And then you're like, where do you find these? I'm like, well, they just keep appearing every time I go on Instagram. So my Instagram feed is not about business stuff. It's about really crazy reels. I remember you sending me the one of the long boots that were actually horses hooves. 

Yes, I remember that one. I also remember sending you the one with the cake that I think you're a little bit traumatized about. 

I don't remember. 

Can't you remember the one where it was a, there was an animal, I can't remember, it was a cat or a parrot or something, and its owner was cutting a cake that was made to look like it. 

You know, I don't remember that. Did you send that to somebody else? 

No, definitely not. Yeah, because you were a bit like, are you okay? Because I had a little bit of a moment where I kept seeing these videos because the reactions of the animals were hilarious because they obviously thought it was one of them, but it was a cake. But I don't think you found it funny. 

I don't remember this. 

And you saw the love for the animal. 

Right, well, I'll have to go back and find that. I thought that was a really funny question when I wrote it, and now it's gone a bit like... 

I think it's because 90% of our conversations are probably a little bit unhinged. I think they are. To me, they're quite normal. 

Yeah. I remember the voice note that really got my attention was when you said, I've done something and I've committed, we're going to do something and we're going to deliver something in the next two weeks. We need to get a wiggle on. I was like, whoa. What was that? was SBS, Simplify Business Success. That was the you said we were going to launch something. Yeah. 

We did it though, didn't we? 

We did, we absolutely did. So as I say, sometimes we can have really short messages, sometimes the long messages, and that is going to take us into your next round of this or that, Emma. You don't need a hat for this. A few codes, just voice note or 57 tiny texts. 

Depends on where I am, voice note, but also I do like 57 pounds. I can't answer twice. 

You go with voice note. Victoria sponge or chocolate fudge cake? 

Victoria sponge. 

Arrive early or arrive with a story. 

I'm going to say arrive early. 

**** star martini or a pina colada? 

I'm going to pretend we're somewhere sunny and then it'd be a pina colada. 

Fancy dinner out or a picky tea at home? 

A picky tea at home. 

Dog or cat? Dog. Wild water swim or a 10 mile hike. 

I just swore, in case anybody's watching this on YouTube, but I just mimed it thinking nobody could see. Leanne knows I don't do either of these things. I'm going to say a 10 mile hike. 

Brilliant, because you know next year's my 50th and I've got a long list of things to do. You just signed up for a 10 mile hike. Of course, everybody as my evidence here. 

And you know what, anything for you, but can we please do it on a dry day? 

Well, we can try, yeah. So Emma, you can relax now a little. We've just got two more questions, but this one is a juicy one and this one came in from a mutual friend today and I just love it. So everyone knows that you are famous, brilliant at keeping secrets, but you always have something up your sleeve that you just thought of last night. You talked about it earlier that you get an idea and you can just deliver. So can you tell us just one of the secrets you are keeping for 2026? 

OK, I can. I have told one person about this. Sorry, Leanne, you look, I know her face is going to purely, purely. I'll tell you why afterwards, because we're not going to get into a debate on here. I am next year considering, and I'm putting the word considering there because I haven't yet made 100% this decision, adding in an additional service, which is going to involve me doing some done for you strategy in your business. 

Exciting everyone, watch this space. So the final question, Emma, and this is a serious question. What advice can you give me to be even half as brilliant as you? 

Are as brilliant as me. You are as brilliant as me. You absolutely are. And I think that has to be the advice. Stop telling yourself you're not brilliant because you absolutely are brilliant. But I think for me, if I'm putting my business strategy head on, I would want to see more Leanne. The Leanne I know. She's sneaking out. She's coming out. 

She is. She's sneaking out. She is. She's in there somewhere. So well done, Emma. And thank you. Thank you for having me on. I hope this has been fun for you. I hope it wasn't as bad as you thought maybe it was with all the voice notes I've been leaving you. 

She had me really nervous, I'm going to say. 

Yeah, and I hope everyone listening has enjoyed it as much as we have. And I hope they've learned some new things about you because it is hard to talk about yourself sometimes, isn't it? And I think you are such an open book and you are so much fun and so much love. But I know there's another side to the Emma that we see online as well. So, and I want everyone to know how wonderful you are. And because you've been totally out of your comfort zone, you've not been in control of this, Emma, but you are in control of the editing. So before we wrap, is there anything that you're going to edit out? No. 

Because I am totally open and honest. I know there's been a question I didn't answer. I can't even remember that question was now. I was just looking at it. I'll try and answer that and add it into the show notes afterwards. I need to think about that question. But no, I'm not going to edit any of that out, not even the bit where I mind something naughty with your question about the water swimming or the walking. So no, I'm not going to edit any of that out. I actually expected a much tougher time. I'm going to be honest. I really thought that I was going to get asked things that were going to make me feel really, really uncomfortable. So thank you. I hope you enjoyed that too. 

I did, yes. And I hope everyone listening has enjoyed it as well. 

I'm sure they absolutely have. Right, we will find out because this is coming out just in a couple of weeks time. If this goes really well, which I really hope it will do, we will be running a little mini series and maybe we'll get Leanne on for the final one when I run that mini series as well, because by then she'll be like full on going for it. Okay, thank you for listening. Thank you, Leanne. We will see you next time.