September 14, 2025 • 26 mins
What happens when losing everything you've worked for becomes the best thing that ever happened to you?
Kim Speed spent 20 years building her dream career as a creative director for global brands like Coca-Cola, Ford, and Toyota. She had the title, the salary, the recognition - everything she thought she wanted.
Then 2008 hit. The recession destroyed her agency. Her corporate identity vanished overnight.
But something shocking happened in the wreckage: "There was this new calm. Calmness and joy," Kim admits. "For the first time in a very long time, there was no more crazy mornings and crazy nights."
The woman who thought she was living her dream suddenly realized she'd been trapped in a nightmare of her own making. No more screaming at kids to get ready. No more flipping switches between "corporate Kim" and "mom Kim." No more performing a life that looked successful but felt suffocating.
"It was my identity, right? It was what I had worked up to. It was where I had wanted to be," she explains. But when that identity died, she discovered something terrifying: she didn't know who she was underneath the corporate costume.
The recession didn't just destroy her career - it revealed that what she called success was actually a prison. And for the first time in decades, she could finally breathe.
Discover how Kim transformed from corporate prisoner to authentic entrepreneur, and why sometimes losing everything is exactly what you need to find yourself.
Timestamps:
[00:00] Introduction and Guest Welcome
[00:33] Kim's Background and Career Transition
[01:59] The Impact of the 2008 Recession
[03:32] Finding Peace and New Opportunities
[07:44] Starting a Business Without a Plan
[09:21] Navigating Entrepreneurial Challenges
[13:35] The Power of Networking
[21:04] Realizing Self-Worth and Value
[24:13] Conclusion and Teaser for Part Two
If You’ve Been Hooked on These Episodes… This Is for You
If this podcast has been landing deep… if each story feels like it’s peeling back something raw and real in you… then don’t ignore that.
Every guest you’ve heard made the same decision: to stop performing and start healing.
Now it’s your turn.
Take the Silent Collapse Diagnostic. It’s not a quiz. It’s a wake-up tool for women who are done pretending they’re fine.
No fluff. No journaling prompts. Just a straight-up mirror into where you’re silently collapsing behind the mask of success.
If you're serious about reclaiming your energy, your clarity, your life start there.
Because breakthrough doesn’t begin with doing more. It begins with finally seeing what’s been stealing your power.
Learn more about Baz Porter at www.bazporter.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, good day, hello and welcome to
another episode of Rise from theAshes podcast.
I'm your host, baz Bors,privileged to welcome my next
guest today.
Her name is Kim Speed.
How are you doing today andwhere in the world are you?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I'm doing fabulous, baz, and I am in Toronto in
Canada.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
So what's the weather like up there these days?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
It's beautiful, it's 24.
I don't know what you guys callthat, like 75.
Yeah.
So tell the world about you,what you do now, and then we go
into where you came from and howyou ended up doing what you do
and serving the amazing peoplethat you serve so I help
(00:47):
entrepreneurs to leverage theiryears of experience, of
knowledge, skills, talents,passions and turn that into a
brand that actually starts tocreate awareness, visibility and
attract their ideal client sothey can make money with that.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I love that.
So you didn't always do this.
Obviously, you were in adifferent life a few years ago.
How did you evolve into servingentrepreneurs and creating
amazing businesses for people?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
It's actually been 16 years now that I've had my own
business, but before that I wasin advertising and I was
creative director, working onglobal brands like Coca-Cola,
ford, toyota, td Bank all kindsof fun stuff.
We had a great time and I guessat that time it was my dream
(01:46):
career.
That's what I had worked up for, even though my parents thought
it was crazy that I went to artschool and they thought I'll
never get a job.
But I did.
I was making money, yeah, upuntil 2008, 2009, when we had a
huge recession.
And then, yeah, I found myselfin a position.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
So what was that transition?
Like Recession affectedeverybody globally, but it must
have affected you in a differentway, because it was your
livelihood, everything that youheld to be sane, so to was yeah,
it was my identity, right, itwas what I had worked up to.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
It was where I had wanted to be and having a great
time.
But, yeah, so we had one hugeclient that we lost and then a
couple other other clients, sofortunately, I was able to get
out with a bit of cash, so I hada bit of breathing room and so
(02:52):
I went home and in advertisingyou're always changing places
and positions, so that wasn't abig deal.
If you wanted to work ondifferent things, you went to a
different agency, so that wasn'ta big problem.
But it was a recession, so Iwas a little bit concerned about
that.
So I just started reaching out,networking with all the people
(03:15):
that were in my industry.
I'd been in the industry for alot of years almost 20 years at
that point and I knew a lot ofpeople.
So I was chatting with them,figuring out what was out there,
what was availableopportunities and catching up
with people.
But at the same time, there wasa really interesting thing that
(03:37):
happened in my life.
There was this new calm,calmness and joy.
It felt like I was at home.
I had two young children athome and, for the first time in
a very long time there was nomore crazy mornings and crazy
(03:59):
nights.
There was no more yelling andscreaming to get ready in the
morning and get out of the houseand get to babysitters and
school and get your clothes onand you can't wear that and
everybody's disagreeing.
And then at night, at the endof the day from work, all of a
sudden flipping the switch andtrying to rush home and be the
(04:20):
perfect mom and get dinner onthe table and get kids to
activities and do homework andthen get to bed at a decent time
.
So it was like five days ofcrazy and then two days of
maintenance and all of a suddenthat it changed completely and I
was able to take my kids toschool and have their friends
(04:43):
over and not feel like I wasgoing insane, enjoying it and
having actually walking toschool with them instead of
driving them.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
What you're speaking to now is amazing because a lot
of entrepreneurs and alsobusiness CEOs business owners
are always on the go.
Ceos, business owners arealways on the go.
They're forever rushing to getsomewhere that there's no really
substance or purpose.
And then what you discoveredwas oh, I have space.
Yeah, what was that feelinglike?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It was like I didn't understand.
I didn't what is this?
And I almost felt at first youfeel like there's something
strange, I feel guilty, I shouldbe rushing.
And then I was like why I don'thave to?
And I'm actually havingconversations with my kids, I'm
actually having conversationswith my friends again.
(05:39):
I could go and grab a coffeeafter in the morning and
actually sit down and readsomething that I felt like
reading.
There was these moments.
Now, it didn't mean that Ididn't want to make money
anymore.
I still needed to do that butthere was a breath to think
(06:00):
about it.
But there was a breath to thinkabout it.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
When that breath.
It's interesting because whenpeople come to this space of
that peace after running so fastfor so long, and you have to
remember too that you don't evenrealize you're doing it.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
No, it's just crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
But that becomes normality and it becomes a habit
, a way of life.
But that void of uncertainty,confusion, I'm assuming what
this is.
I don't know, I'm not speaking,I don't want to speak for you.
Was there any fear in thetransition of I don't know what
I'm doing?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Oh yeah, it was more confusion of okay, I know
there's opportunities out therethat were very much the same as
what I had, some greatopportunities in that, things
that I was so used to doing,going back in and having those
creative moments and thatbrainstorming and using those
(07:07):
skills and the things that Ienjoyed doing.
The whole I was so confused on.
I don't want to go back to thatlifestyle.
So how do you make thatdecision?
What will I do?
Speaker 1 (07:21):
So what did you decide to do from there?
The rat race, the hustle, thebustle, it's peace, but you've
tied everything to this personthat has to go.
Yeah, and all of a sudden youdon't have to do that.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
But I also don't have that label anymore.
So then I feel odd about it.
But you know what?
I took a leap of faith and Idon't actually advise this to
everybody.
I just hung out a shingle andsaid, hey, I'm in business by
myself and I didn't really makea plan.
You literally planned all thebridges and you just went I'm in
business by myself and I didn'treally make a plan Literally
planned all the bridges and youjust went.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
I'm doing this here.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I am Hi.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
That was pretty courageous.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, courageous, maybe a little dumb, but in the
beginning it went fabulousbecause I had so many people in
my network that they needed help.
There was a lot of peopledownsizing at that time, but the
work, you know, the work neverdownsizes.
So there was a lot of projectsthat I could go and help with
(08:27):
and consult with, whether it wasfor the actual company or for
an agency.
I had people in all kinds ofareas that needed help.
So I got projects right awayand said this is fantastic, I
love this life, wonderful, andthis is what I was meant to do,
and I was able to still managethat and be at home and have
(08:52):
family time, and it was so funny.
One of the biggest things wasto be able to go grocery
shopping in the middle of theweek, in the middle of the day.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I just put that on pause.
I'm going to, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, so simple things like that.
That just made life morebearable and made the time when
everyone was off my partner andmy kids when we could enjoy
activities and we weren'trunning around trying to do life
maintenance.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
So in this transition you ended up landing on your
feet by the sounds of things,but there was still some sort of
I'm assuming some sort ofidentity shift.
From in the rat race run all ofa sudden, oh I'm doing this and
I don't.
That shift into oh, who am Inow?
(09:42):
What?
If that was the case, what wasthat journey like for you?
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I actually have to say it was like a couple year
euphoria that I was working, Ihad projects, I still had some
connection to those people thatI used to work with.
They looked at me and thoughtthat looks pretty good.
My big sort of issue came acouple of years in.
(10:09):
When people start to inbusiness, people start to move
on and change positions, movecompanies.
So those people that I reliedon in certain factors in
businesses giving me workstarted to change and then new
people would come in and Ididn't have the relationships
with those people.
(10:29):
The work wasn't as plentiful,my pockets weren't as full, but
my bills were coming in stillthat always.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
That sometimes happens, though, and it's an
entrepreneurial flow where youjust have to trust the roller
coaster, yeah, and we go intothis oh my god, panic mode.
Humans always do it, I do it.
Someone says something, theydon't do it, they're lying but
they go into this sort of likepanic mode oh my god, I haven't
(11:00):
got it or this is going tohappen and they start
scenarioing things in theirheads.
But when you've got kids,partner bills, responsibility
yeah, entrepreneur for thosepeople who've never done any
entrepreneurial work maybe won'tunderstand this fully, but your
(11:21):
dependence, your kids, thebusiness, the bills is depending
on you to do the thing that yousaid to do and provide for the
rest of everybody else under thehousehold.
And if it doesn't work, thereisn't usually a plan B.
And as entrepreneurs and Kim, Iwanted you to go into this is
(11:43):
how do you muddle through whenthere isn't a plan B and you've
got the water bill in East Payne, the gas bill, the electric's
about to be turned off, andthese are real maybe not for you
, but scenarios in real people's, in entrepreneurs, like
entrepreneurs lives yeah, therewas some sleepless nights of
what do I do if I don't have thecash and you're starting to
(12:06):
live on the credit in betweenthose and I have to say that the
valleys come in and before thepeaks.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Sometimes they're wide, those valleys where you're
not getting paid, and assomebody that's worked as an
employee all the time all mylife, where the paycheck just
landed in your bank account,this was really new to me.
The other thing that was newwas that I was a marketer.
Right, I wasn't.
I was cool, I was a creativedirector.
(12:36):
I knew things.
I knew shit best.
It took me a while to realizethat, or admit it, but there
were like I didn't know anythingabout running the business it's
a whole different concept andthis is what I love about you,
because you went into trial byfire.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I go, I know everything, but all of a sudden
there was this clip.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
I don't actually know anything about running a
business no, and you know what,maybe it's best that I went in
without knowing, because if Idid know, it probably would have
scared me.
But yeah, I just went in blind,no plans and, like I said, I
don't always advise this way.
But yeah, when it started torun dry, oh my God, you start
(13:21):
panicking again.
And there was that moment ofokay, I think I have to go get a
job.
And that's really disappointing, because life was good and
liked what it had become.
I liked who I had become, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
And then so the big epiphany somebody invited me to
a networking group okay now thisis fun because there's an old
saying I know you've heard itand many listeners probably have
your network is your net worth.
But it's not entirely true.
(13:57):
Hear me out because I'mcontroversial in a lot of ways.
Oh yes you are, but it's notentirely true, because you can
have a network but you don'tknow how to utilize them or
leverage them.
The people connections couldjust be sat there and you don't
(14:18):
know how to have a conversationwith them to deliver value.
It's not that's so true.
However, if you can learn tounderstand the people in your
circle, understand what theirdesires, wants, fears, et cetera
, et cetera all are, then youcan start to serve them and
(14:41):
actually build realrelationships.
How did you find that network?
You don't have to name thenetwork.
How did you find it and whatwas the experience like when you
came into it?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
So I found it through a friend.
A friend invited me and saidhey, come to this meeting.
It's a breakfast meeting andit's a bunch of small business
owners and entrepreneurs thatget together and I think you'll
really like it.
And I said oh, ok, and then shetold me it's seven in the
(15:15):
morning.
I'm like what?
Speaker 1 (15:17):
There was two sevens in the daytime.
Come on.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
What.
So, anyway, I went and a newworld opened to me that there
was a lot of business ownerssmall business owners, people
that were running their own showlike myself, or people that had
really small teams show likemyself, or people that had
(15:42):
really small teams and they wereactually talking about things
that stressed them out andsharing ways to deal with bill
or like invoicing and financesand things that I didn't have a
clue about.
But also what was really funnyis they were talking and they
were a community that they weresharing.
When you worked in corporate,you could be.
(16:05):
You and your team could berunning around with your hair on
fire and trying to get thingsdone for the client, and as soon
as the client arrives, it waslike everything's fine, we're so
good, everything's just peachykeen.
But yeah, so to actually talkabout things that weren't
(16:26):
perfect or that you werestruggling with was new for me,
and that's where I actually metmy first coach.
I didn't even know there wassuch a thing as a business coach
Like coach.
I didn't even know there wassuch a thing as a business coach
Like what People that help youwith this, and between meeting
the community and meeting acoach that helped me from not
(16:47):
having to go back and find a job.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
So a lot of the coaching I'm going to come into
the coaching in a bit.
But the network dynamic thereare levels of network and I love
what you're touching on now,because people don't realize and
they're not sometimes awarethat they may be in the wrong
rooms.
Now you started off in abreakfast meeting that went into
(17:15):
something else, into somethingelse, and then you had a coach
accelerate into.
Oh my God, I've got all thisstuff and knowledge and I don't
know what to do with it now andI've got all these people I want
to serve.
Did you build a team or did youdo it on your own?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
So I used the community.
I couldn't afford a team atthat point, okay, or I didn't
really know what I needed.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, I can relate.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
And I was still out there serving corporations,
large corporations and agenciesand it wasn't until somebody
said to me I think there'ssomebody that you should meet.
She's got some problems, she'strying to get her business up
and going and she could probablyuse some of your advice.
(18:04):
And I said, okay, fine, and Inever at that point thought
about working with a smallbusiness owner.
But she and I chatted and she'dactually gone to an agency to
get help An agency.
I actually knew the agency andI was surprised, like thinking
they took you on as a clientbecause there were two people in
(18:26):
her company and she had a fewcontract staff, and so I didn't
say anything.
I let her talk and she said,yeah, she went, they took her on
and they took her money, butthey didn't give her enough
attention.
She was always waiting to whenis the next thing going to be
that they're going to help herwith.
(18:46):
And she said it just was astruggle.
So that's why she was lookingfor an alternate route, because
she didn't know what to do.
She knew she had this great newfitness idea and she wanted to
open up a studio, and so Iworked with her and I helped her
and it was a lot of fun.
(19:08):
We had a great time.
We built her brand.
I helped her with somemarketing ideas and introduced
her to some people and helpedher launch her business, which
was something I'd never beenpart of as a small business that
was launching, and she did sowell.
After a few months, she openedanother location and then, after
(19:30):
a few more months, she openedanother location and that was my
.
This is amazing and that's whyI say I did not choose my ideal
client.
My ideal client came to me andsmacked me on the face and said,
hey, sometimes it happens likethat though.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
It didn't, for me certainly, but I'm a different,
I'm not a marketeer, but whatyou did as well, you found your
passion, you went fire throughtrial.
Yeah, that one.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
And then the uncertainty for a couple of
years testing the waters, theworry, the exchange, the
financial burden, which isincredibly hard to sometimes
navigate, especially with allthe other responsibilities that
families have.
And we all, you've got kids,you've got spouses, business
(20:24):
roles, other commitments, carpayments, but this can go on.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, and we had just rebuilt a home.
So there was like this newmassive mortgage.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Oh, okay, just for the icing on the cake.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
And then out of somewhat out of the blue.
But there's a pattern here.
You trusted, you had faith insomething you couldn't see and
that wasn't quite tangible yet.
But there was something biggerat play.
I believe here, and tell me ifI'm wrong or I'm off.
Was that belief in an externalthing or was the belief within
(21:02):
yourself?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
The belief was realizing that I could believe
in myself.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
So it was a self-worth thing.
Is that correct?
Yes, I don't know.
That's interesting.
The reason I mention this isnot to put Kim on the spot.
It's actually to address thisarea of self-worth and knowing
what your value is.
There's many people go aroundin life, not just entrepreneurs,
(21:31):
but business owners, corporateexecutives the list can go on
School teachers and they dosomething because they want to
get validated initiatives thelist can go on school teachers,
and they do something becausethey get one to get validated.
The only person truly is goingto come and save you, as kim
experienced, is yourself, and itstarts at that knowing or
realizing point of I'm actuallyworth this.
(21:54):
Whatever this bit is, whatshe's about to say to you now
will surprise you, because Iknow what's going to happen.
She doesn't know yet.
I do because I'm thinking what.
But when you realize that, kim,what was the knock-on effect?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
funny enough, when I started working with this woman,
the small business owner, someof this stuff that I was working
with her on, I just assumedeverybody knew Everybody does
this and because you've done itfor so long and it just comes
naturally to you, I just assumedthat, like, even it comes out
(22:34):
in the language that you speakto them and you find this out
when you have theseconversations, live with people
and you're listening to them andthey're not.
They don't.
I don't know what you'retalking about.
Oh, let me explain.
And to realize that I hadknowledge that other people
didn't have, that could be ofvalue.
I had value that I didn't know.
(22:58):
I had the answer you're lookingfor.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
It's not the answer.
It is the answer, but it's notabout my answer.
It's not about.
It's about your realization.
Why I touch on that, kim, isbecause there's people out there
right now maybe the personlistening to this now going oh
my God, that's me, I've got allwhat she has, and this is where
I'm at right now.
Take a leaf out of Kim's bookTrust in what you know, trust in
(23:25):
yourself, because no one trulyis going to come and rescue you
unless you start believing inyourself.
Get a coach, get someone whocan guide you through it, but
make sure you do your research,because there's a lot of people
out there who say they can dothings and I know this because I
spent $2.1 million with thisvery painful thing I'm just
(23:48):
about to talk to you about, andthat is investing in the wrong
people, being gullible basically, yes, I was gullible, I
completely admit that.
But then I meet people like Kim, who have similar stories, that
have trusted in themselves.
They've ventured into the fireand they've come out the other
(24:09):
side, but it starts withrealizing your own worth.
If you could turn back the timetoday, kim, and go back until
2008 and change one thing aboutthe journey going forward from
then.
What would that be?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I would tell myself you are good enough.
You're just as good as otherpeople.
Stop worrying about it so much.
There's always going to besomebody that knows more.
It's not even better, butthere's people that know more.
Watch and learn rather thanthink about what you don't have
(24:47):
and what knowledge you don'thave, because there's people
that do need what you have.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I love that advice and it's very true, kim.
Thank you very much for thisconversation.
This is part one.
Stay tuned for part two.
We're going to delve into a bitof inspiration with artificial
intelligence and what it is in,what Kim's world is and how it's
helped her.
From myself, I'm Baz.
(25:13):
Thank you, kim, and I'll seeyou on the next episode.
Good morning, good day, hello and welcome to
another episode of Rise from theAshes podcast.
I'm your host, baz Bors,privileged to welcome my next
guest today.
Her name is Kim Speed.
How are you doing today andwhere in the world are you?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I'm doing fabulous, baz, and I am in Toronto in
Canada.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
So what's the weather like up there these days?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
It's beautiful, it's 24.
I don't know what you guys callthat, like 75.
Yeah.
So tell the world about you,what you do now, and then we go
into where you came from and howyou ended up doing what you do
and serving the amazing peoplethat you serve so I help
(00:47):
entrepreneurs to leverage theiryears of experience, of
knowledge, skills, talents,passions and turn that into a
brand that actually starts tocreate awareness, visibility and
attract their ideal client sothey can make money with that.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I love that.
So you didn't always do this.
Obviously, you were in adifferent life a few years ago.
How did you evolve into servingentrepreneurs and creating
amazing businesses for people?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
It's actually been 16 years now that I've had my own
business, but before that I wasin advertising and I was
creative director, working onglobal brands like Coca-Cola,
ford, toyota, td Bank all kindsof fun stuff.
We had a great time and I guessat that time it was my dream
(01:46):
career.
That's what I had worked up for, even though my parents thought
it was crazy that I went to artschool and they thought I'll
never get a job.
But I did.
I was making money, yeah, upuntil 2008, 2009, when we had a
huge recession.
And then, yeah, I found myselfin a position.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
So what was that transition?
Like Recession affectedeverybody globally, but it must
have affected you in a differentway, because it was your
livelihood, everything that youheld to be sane, so to was yeah,
it was my identity, right, itwas what I had worked up to.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
It was where I had wanted to be and having a great
time.
But, yeah, so we had one hugeclient that we lost and then a
couple other other clients, sofortunately, I was able to get
out with a bit of cash, so I hada bit of breathing room and so
(02:52):
I went home and in advertisingyou're always changing places
and positions, so that wasn't abig deal.
If you wanted to work ondifferent things, you went to a
different agency, so that wasn'ta big problem.
But it was a recession, so Iwas a little bit concerned about
that.
So I just started reaching out,networking with all the people
(03:15):
that were in my industry.
I'd been in the industry for alot of years almost 20 years at
that point and I knew a lot ofpeople.
So I was chatting with them,figuring out what was out there,
what was availableopportunities and catching up
with people.
But at the same time, there wasa really interesting thing that
(03:37):
happened in my life.
There was this new calm,calmness and joy.
It felt like I was at home.
I had two young children athome and, for the first time in
a very long time there was nomore crazy mornings and crazy
(03:59):
nights.
There was no more yelling andscreaming to get ready in the
morning and get out of the houseand get to babysitters and
school and get your clothes onand you can't wear that and
everybody's disagreeing.
And then at night, at the endof the day from work, all of a
sudden flipping the switch andtrying to rush home and be the
(04:20):
perfect mom and get dinner onthe table and get kids to
activities and do homework andthen get to bed at a decent time
.
So it was like five days ofcrazy and then two days of
maintenance and all of a suddenthat it changed completely and I
was able to take my kids toschool and have their friends
(04:43):
over and not feel like I wasgoing insane, enjoying it and
having actually walking toschool with them instead of
driving them.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
What you're speaking to now is amazing because a lot
of entrepreneurs and alsobusiness CEOs business owners
are always on the go.
Ceos, business owners arealways on the go.
They're forever rushing to getsomewhere that there's no really
substance or purpose.
And then what you discoveredwas oh, I have space.
Yeah, what was that feelinglike?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It was like I didn't understand.
I didn't what is this?
And I almost felt at first youfeel like there's something
strange, I feel guilty, I shouldbe rushing.
And then I was like why I don'thave to?
And I'm actually havingconversations with my kids, I'm
actually having conversationswith my friends again.
(05:39):
I could go and grab a coffeeafter in the morning and
actually sit down and readsomething that I felt like
reading.
There was these moments.
Now, it didn't mean that Ididn't want to make money
anymore.
I still needed to do that butthere was a breath to think
(06:00):
about it.
But there was a breath to thinkabout it.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
When that breath.
It's interesting because whenpeople come to this space of
that peace after running so fastfor so long, and you have to
remember too that you don't evenrealize you're doing it.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
No, it's just crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
But that becomes normality and it becomes a habit
, a way of life.
But that void of uncertainty,confusion, I'm assuming what
this is.
I don't know, I'm not speaking,I don't want to speak for you.
Was there any fear in thetransition of I don't know what
I'm doing?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Oh yeah, it was more confusion of okay, I know
there's opportunities out therethat were very much the same as
what I had, some greatopportunities in that, things
that I was so used to doing,going back in and having those
creative moments and thatbrainstorming and using those
(07:07):
skills and the things that Ienjoyed doing.
The whole I was so confused on.
I don't want to go back to thatlifestyle.
So how do you make thatdecision?
What will I do?
Speaker 1 (07:21):
So what did you decide to do from there?
The rat race, the hustle, thebustle, it's peace, but you've
tied everything to this personthat has to go.
Yeah, and all of a sudden youdon't have to do that.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
But I also don't have that label anymore.
So then I feel odd about it.
But you know what?
I took a leap of faith and Idon't actually advise this to
everybody.
I just hung out a shingle andsaid, hey, I'm in business by
myself and I didn't really makea plan.
You literally planned all thebridges and you just went I'm in
business by myself and I didn'treally make a plan Literally
planned all the bridges and youjust went.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
I'm doing this here.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I am Hi.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
That was pretty courageous.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, courageous, maybe a little dumb, but in the
beginning it went fabulousbecause I had so many people in
my network that they needed help.
There was a lot of peopledownsizing at that time, but the
work, you know, the work neverdownsizes.
So there was a lot of projectsthat I could go and help with
(08:27):
and consult with, whether it wasfor the actual company or for
an agency.
I had people in all kinds ofareas that needed help.
So I got projects right awayand said this is fantastic, I
love this life, wonderful, andthis is what I was meant to do,
and I was able to still managethat and be at home and have
(08:52):
family time, and it was so funny.
One of the biggest things wasto be able to go grocery
shopping in the middle of theweek, in the middle of the day.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I just put that on pause.
I'm going to, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, so simple things like that.
That just made life morebearable and made the time when
everyone was off my partner andmy kids when we could enjoy
activities and we weren'trunning around trying to do life
maintenance.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
So in this transition you ended up landing on your
feet by the sounds of things,but there was still some sort of
I'm assuming some sort ofidentity shift.
From in the rat race run all ofa sudden, oh I'm doing this and
I don't.
That shift into oh, who am Inow?
(09:42):
What?
If that was the case, what wasthat journey like for you?
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I actually have to say it was like a couple year
euphoria that I was working, Ihad projects, I still had some
connection to those people thatI used to work with.
They looked at me and thoughtthat looks pretty good.
My big sort of issue came acouple of years in.
(10:09):
When people start to inbusiness, people start to move
on and change positions, movecompanies.
So those people that I reliedon in certain factors in
businesses giving me workstarted to change and then new
people would come in and Ididn't have the relationships
with those people.
(10:29):
The work wasn't as plentiful,my pockets weren't as full, but
my bills were coming in stillthat always.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
That sometimes happens, though, and it's an
entrepreneurial flow where youjust have to trust the roller
coaster, yeah, and we go intothis oh my god, panic mode.
Humans always do it, I do it.
Someone says something, theydon't do it, they're lying but
they go into this sort of likepanic mode oh my god, I haven't
(11:00):
got it or this is going tohappen and they start
scenarioing things in theirheads.
But when you've got kids,partner bills, responsibility
yeah, entrepreneur for thosepeople who've never done any
entrepreneurial work maybe won'tunderstand this fully, but your
(11:21):
dependence, your kids, thebusiness, the bills is depending
on you to do the thing that yousaid to do and provide for the
rest of everybody else under thehousehold.
And if it doesn't work, thereisn't usually a plan B.
And as entrepreneurs and Kim, Iwanted you to go into this is
(11:43):
how do you muddle through whenthere isn't a plan B and you've
got the water bill in East Payne, the gas bill, the electric's
about to be turned off, andthese are real maybe not for you
, but scenarios in real people's, in entrepreneurs, like
entrepreneurs lives yeah, therewas some sleepless nights of
what do I do if I don't have thecash and you're starting to
(12:06):
live on the credit in betweenthose and I have to say that the
valleys come in and before thepeaks.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Sometimes they're wide, those valleys where you're
not getting paid, and assomebody that's worked as an
employee all the time all mylife, where the paycheck just
landed in your bank account,this was really new to me.
The other thing that was newwas that I was a marketer.
Right, I wasn't.
I was cool, I was a creativedirector.
(12:36):
I knew things.
I knew shit best.
It took me a while to realizethat, or admit it, but there
were like I didn't know anythingabout running the business it's
a whole different concept andthis is what I love about you,
because you went into trial byfire.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I go, I know everything, but all of a sudden
there was this clip.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
I don't actually know anything about running a
business no, and you know what,maybe it's best that I went in
without knowing, because if Idid know, it probably would have
scared me.
But yeah, I just went in blind,no plans and, like I said, I
don't always advise this way.
But yeah, when it started torun dry, oh my God, you start
(13:21):
panicking again.
And there was that moment ofokay, I think I have to go get a
job.
And that's really disappointing, because life was good and
liked what it had become.
I liked who I had become, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
And then so the big epiphany somebody invited me to
a networking group okay now thisis fun because there's an old
saying I know you've heard itand many listeners probably have
your network is your net worth.
But it's not entirely true.
(13:57):
Hear me out because I'mcontroversial in a lot of ways.
Oh yes you are, but it's notentirely true, because you can
have a network but you don'tknow how to utilize them or
leverage them.
The people connections couldjust be sat there and you don't
(14:18):
know how to have a conversationwith them to deliver value.
It's not that's so true.
However, if you can learn tounderstand the people in your
circle, understand what theirdesires, wants, fears, et cetera
, et cetera all are, then youcan start to serve them and
(14:41):
actually build realrelationships.
How did you find that network?
You don't have to name thenetwork.
How did you find it and whatwas the experience like when you
came into it?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
So I found it through a friend.
A friend invited me and saidhey, come to this meeting.
It's a breakfast meeting andit's a bunch of small business
owners and entrepreneurs thatget together and I think you'll
really like it.
And I said oh, ok, and then shetold me it's seven in the
(15:15):
morning.
I'm like what?
Speaker 1 (15:17):
There was two sevens in the daytime.
Come on.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
What.
So, anyway, I went and a newworld opened to me that there
was a lot of business ownerssmall business owners, people
that were running their own showlike myself, or people that had
really small teams show likemyself, or people that had
(15:42):
really small teams and they wereactually talking about things
that stressed them out andsharing ways to deal with bill
or like invoicing and financesand things that I didn't have a
clue about.
But also what was really funnyis they were talking and they
were a community that they weresharing.
When you worked in corporate,you could be.
(16:05):
You and your team could berunning around with your hair on
fire and trying to get thingsdone for the client, and as soon
as the client arrives, it waslike everything's fine, we're so
good, everything's just peachykeen.
But yeah, so to actually talkabout things that weren't
(16:26):
perfect or that you werestruggling with was new for me,
and that's where I actually metmy first coach.
I didn't even know there wassuch a thing as a business coach
Like coach.
I didn't even know there wassuch a thing as a business coach
Like what People that help youwith this, and between meeting
the community and meeting acoach that helped me from not
(16:47):
having to go back and find a job.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
So a lot of the coaching I'm going to come into
the coaching in a bit.
But the network dynamic thereare levels of network and I love
what you're touching on now,because people don't realize and
they're not sometimes awarethat they may be in the wrong
rooms.
Now you started off in abreakfast meeting that went into
(17:15):
something else, into somethingelse, and then you had a coach
accelerate into.
Oh my God, I've got all thisstuff and knowledge and I don't
know what to do with it now andI've got all these people I want
to serve.
Did you build a team or did youdo it on your own?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
So I used the community.
I couldn't afford a team atthat point, okay, or I didn't
really know what I needed.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, I can relate.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
And I was still out there serving corporations,
large corporations and agenciesand it wasn't until somebody
said to me I think there'ssomebody that you should meet.
She's got some problems, she'strying to get her business up
and going and she could probablyuse some of your advice.
(18:04):
And I said, okay, fine, and Inever at that point thought
about working with a smallbusiness owner.
But she and I chatted and she'dactually gone to an agency to
get help An agency.
I actually knew the agency andI was surprised, like thinking
they took you on as a clientbecause there were two people in
(18:26):
her company and she had a fewcontract staff, and so I didn't
say anything.
I let her talk and she said,yeah, she went, they took her on
and they took her money, butthey didn't give her enough
attention.
She was always waiting to whenis the next thing going to be
that they're going to help herwith.
(18:46):
And she said it just was astruggle.
So that's why she was lookingfor an alternate route, because
she didn't know what to do.
She knew she had this great newfitness idea and she wanted to
open up a studio, and so Iworked with her and I helped her
and it was a lot of fun.
(19:08):
We had a great time.
We built her brand.
I helped her with somemarketing ideas and introduced
her to some people and helpedher launch her business, which
was something I'd never beenpart of as a small business that
was launching, and she did sowell.
After a few months, she openedanother location and then, after
(19:30):
a few more months, she openedanother location and that was my
.
This is amazing and that's whyI say I did not choose my ideal
client.
My ideal client came to me andsmacked me on the face and said,
hey, sometimes it happens likethat though.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
It didn't, for me certainly, but I'm a different,
I'm not a marketeer, but whatyou did as well, you found your
passion, you went fire throughtrial.
Yeah, that one.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
And then the uncertainty for a couple of
years testing the waters, theworry, the exchange, the
financial burden, which isincredibly hard to sometimes
navigate, especially with allthe other responsibilities that
families have.
And we all, you've got kids,you've got spouses, business
(20:24):
roles, other commitments, carpayments, but this can go on.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, and we had just rebuilt a home.
So there was like this newmassive mortgage.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Oh, okay, just for the icing on the cake.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
And then out of somewhat out of the blue.
But there's a pattern here.
You trusted, you had faith insomething you couldn't see and
that wasn't quite tangible yet.
But there was something biggerat play.
I believe here, and tell me ifI'm wrong or I'm off.
Was that belief in an externalthing or was the belief within
(21:02):
yourself?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
The belief was realizing that I could believe
in myself.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
So it was a self-worth thing.
Is that correct?
Yes, I don't know.
That's interesting.
The reason I mention this isnot to put Kim on the spot.
It's actually to address thisarea of self-worth and knowing
what your value is.
There's many people go aroundin life, not just entrepreneurs,
(21:31):
but business owners, corporateexecutives the list can go on
School teachers and they dosomething because they want to
get validated initiatives thelist can go on school teachers,
and they do something becausethey get one to get validated.
The only person truly is goingto come and save you, as kim
experienced, is yourself, and itstarts at that knowing or
realizing point of I'm actuallyworth this.
(21:54):
Whatever this bit is, whatshe's about to say to you now
will surprise you, because Iknow what's going to happen.
She doesn't know yet.
I do because I'm thinking what.
But when you realize that, kim,what was the knock-on effect?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
funny enough, when I started working with this woman,
the small business owner, someof this stuff that I was working
with her on, I just assumedeverybody knew Everybody does
this and because you've done itfor so long and it just comes
naturally to you, I just assumedthat, like, even it comes out
(22:34):
in the language that you speakto them and you find this out
when you have theseconversations, live with people
and you're listening to them andthey're not.
They don't.
I don't know what you'retalking about.
Oh, let me explain.
And to realize that I hadknowledge that other people
didn't have, that could be ofvalue.
I had value that I didn't know.
(22:58):
I had the answer you're lookingfor.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
It's not the answer.
It is the answer, but it's notabout my answer.
It's not about.
It's about your realization.
Why I touch on that, kim, isbecause there's people out there
right now maybe the personlistening to this now going oh
my God, that's me, I've got allwhat she has, and this is where
I'm at right now.
Take a leaf out of Kim's bookTrust in what you know, trust in
(23:25):
yourself, because no one trulyis going to come and rescue you
unless you start believing inyourself.
Get a coach, get someone whocan guide you through it, but
make sure you do your research,because there's a lot of people
out there who say they can dothings and I know this because I
spent $2.1 million with thisvery painful thing I'm just
(23:48):
about to talk to you about, andthat is investing in the wrong
people, being gullible basically, yes, I was gullible, I
completely admit that.
But then I meet people like Kim, who have similar stories, that
have trusted in themselves.
They've ventured into the fireand they've come out the other
(24:09):
side, but it starts withrealizing your own worth.
If you could turn back the timetoday, kim, and go back until
2008 and change one thing aboutthe journey going forward from
then.
What would that be?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I would tell myself you are good enough.
You're just as good as otherpeople.
Stop worrying about it so much.
There's always going to besomebody that knows more.
It's not even better, butthere's people that know more.
Watch and learn rather thanthink about what you don't have
(24:47):
and what knowledge you don'thave, because there's people
that do need what you have.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I love that advice and it's very true, kim.
Thank you very much for thisconversation.
This is part one.
Stay tuned for part two.
We're going to delve into a bitof inspiration with artificial
intelligence and what it is in,what Kim's world is and how it's
helped her.
From myself, I'm Baz.
(25:13):
Thank you, kim, and I'll seeyou on the next episode.
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