October 23, 2025 • 26 mins
Join us as we dive into the inspiring journey of Kelly Ryan Bailey, who transformed her life from burnout to brilliance. Kelly shares how her overwhelming workload and personal challenges led her to a breaking point, forcing her to reassess her priorities and redefine success. With a wealth of experience as an entrepreneur, speaker, and mother of three, she offers invaluable insights on finding balance and fulfillment in life. We explore the importance of asking for help and the power of creating a supportive community. Tune in for tips on how to build a life that excites you and fosters genuine happiness, all while staying true to yourself.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Calimera Future
- Mel Robbins
- Rachel Hollis
Links referenced in this episode:
Takeaways:
- In this episode, we discuss how to navigate the journey from burnout to personal success while maintaining a balance between work and family life.
- Kelly shares her personal experience of hitting rock bottom and how it pushed her to redefine her career goals and personal happiness.
- The importance of seeking help and support from others when you're feeling overwhelmed cannot be overstated; it's a game changer.
- Through her journey, Kelly emphasizes the significance of focusing on self-care to model healthy behaviors for her children and family.
- We explore the concept of transforming not just businesses but also personal lives through innovation and teamwork in the workplace.
- Finally, the episode highlights how asking for help can lead to greater success and fulfillment, both professionally and personally.
The Unstoppable Success podcast dives deep into the inspiring journey of Kelly Ryan Bailey, a remarkable entrepreneur and speaker who transformed her life from burnout to success. Kelly shares her candid experiences of working over 80 hours a week while managing the complexities of motherhood, especially when her young child was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. This episode highlights the critical moment when Kelly's body finally said 'no more', forcing her to confront the unsustainable lifestyle she was leading. From her rock bottom, she began to reassess her life choices, ultimately leading her to prioritize happiness and well-being over mere financial success. Listeners will gain invaluable insights as Kelly discusses the importance of asking for help, setting boundaries, and embracing self-care as vital components of a fulfilling life. This episode is filled with practical tips and heartfelt advice for anyone feeling overwhelmed, offering a roadmap to rediscovering one's passion and purpose in both personal and professional realms.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:40):
Well, hello everybody, andwelcome to another amazing episode
of the Unstoppable Success podcast.
And here we hear from amazingleaders, influential people in the
world and in society who helpus be unstoppable.
We will hear their stories,how they themselves have been unstoppable,
(01:01):
and they will leave tips,information, and great insights.
So today I have an amazingguest, Kelly Ryan Bailey.
And let me give you a littleinformation about Kelly, because
she is a true rock star.
So, and I love to say this,like, literally, she has gone from
the burnout to bust in her career.
(01:23):
So, you know, you're going toget some tips about tips and great
insight.
So in.
So anyway, so Kelly is anentrepreneur, a speaker, advisor,
investor, a model.
She's a mama of three.
In 2016, she experienced adebilitating burnout.
She has been, she had beenworking over 80 hours a week, we
all know that, traveling threedays a week trying to parent three
(01:45):
children at the same time.
Her five year old wasdiagnosed with dyslexia, ADHD and
high anxiety.
So prior to this burnoutexperience, she had spent her professional
career facilitating skillsbased hiring and learning through
data emerge and emerging technology.
That focus was always onfinancial success, best return on
your educational investment,and moving up the career ladder.
(02:07):
So no one ever talked aboutwhat hap, what makes you happy in
life.
So with all of that determinedto make her, you know, to make her
daughter live a happy life andhave a great life for herself, she
has gone to bust in a new career.
Well, now it's not so new, butso welcome, Kelly.
(02:28):
Thank you so much, Jacqueline.
That's so kind of you.
It is wonderful to be here.
Thank you again.
You're welcome.
So, okay, so first of all, Imean, we all know, like, we all experience,
I mean, at least I would thinka lot of us have experience.
The overwork, the burnout.
Some of us go on vacation.
(02:50):
Or.
Don'T actually, because that'sactually part of that whole burnout.
So, so.
And you know, what was thesign for you?
You know, that was like, oh, Iam, I'm done.
Like, what was your done?
Yeah, yeah.
Surprisingly enough, it was.
I had to hit true.
What I would have said rockbottom at the time to even recognize
(03:13):
it.
Now that I look back, I cantell you in retrospect that there
were signs, but at the time, I.
One day my body just shut down.
I was like a type Apersonality as you, you, you know,
you mentioned working way toomuch, the whole thing, taking care
of it all.
I'm the oldest of seven in aModern Family.
So besides being a mother, Iwas always, like, helping with my
(03:35):
brothers and sisters in some way.
So all of a sudden, one day,my body just stopped and I actually
couldn't get out of bed.
And I can't tell you.
I mean, someone who is like,you know, exercises, like, everything.
I was like, okay, get up.
And my body.
My body was like, no.
Like, I just couldn't function.
And it took me a while toeven, like, my body was just like,
(03:59):
you needed rest.
I told you you needed rest,and now you're.
I'm forcing you to rest.
And it just.
It felt like I was sick and,you know, all the things.
And I just felt like I couldnot get up and move.
And that's what happened.
Now I can look back inretrospect and say, well, I worked.
I was working way too much.
My third child had just been born.
(04:21):
I was traveling the entire time.
You know, I was trying to pumpin airport bathrooms.
This is before all of thethings, right?
Like, I was in those.
The offices with the doorsthat didn't lock and, like, people
coming in, like, all thosehorrible stories.
But I was trying to do all of that.
And I think I noticed now thatI was like.
I took three weeks ofmaternity leave.
(04:43):
You know, like, I just did.
And I had a C section.
I just didn't let myself recover.
And for whatever reason, thatthird baby knocked me sideways.
You know, it's funny, like, two.
Two parents, there's some sort of.
It feels like you can handle it.
Yeah, but the third is, like,off balance, right?
Yeah, the third just knockedit way off.
(05:03):
And I just didn't give myselfenough time to really get used to
it.
And that's where I landed.
Okay, so.
So what.
What happened after that?
I mean, where did you.
Like, so you're in bed, you'resick, whatever, you're recovering.
And then.
What?
(05:25):
Well, right before this allhappened, I had decided.
I just.
Again, it was one of thosemoments where I was like, this is
not the life that I want to lead.
I don't see my kids, I don'tsee my family.
I feel like I'm not participating.
My brain is always somewhere,even when I'm here.
I knew that I wanted tochange, and I made this huge decision
that I was like, I'm going toleave the job that I, at the time,
(05:45):
I had had for 10 years.
I was like, I'm going to leave.
I had no plans in placebecause I couldn't even think outside
of that moment.
It was just so overwhelming.
Decided to leave that role.
And it was really the firsttime that I hadn't been overdoing
it in so long.
And so it was more just tryingto rediscover how I could live a
(06:09):
life.
Like, I wanted to wake upexcited every day, not like, oh God,
the email, you know, I wantedto wake up excited, I wanted to enjoy.
I wanted to create thelifestyle, but not the lifestyle
where I was working a thousandhours all the time.
One that I could actually bethere and do the things and have
fun and.
And I just didn't know how todo that yet.
So as I was laying in bed, thenumber one thing was for me, you
(06:34):
know, like I said, I mean, theburnout had a lot of other.
I had some health issues goingon that, you know, autoimmunes that
had developed and things.
So there was a number ofreasons of why it led to this bad
moment.
I always want to clarify thatalthough I wasn't in a good mindset,
I was not suicidal or anything.
I just was like, I have nothing.
(06:55):
Like, I just felt like, whatis this about?
You know, like, how can I notfigure this out?
And there was this one moment,and I say this because, you know,
my mother is amazing and she'sa great, like, she's always been
like a tough love kind of mother.
And you know, I was justprobably crying over not getting
the kids to school yet againbecause I was barely hanging on.
(07:16):
And she's holding my baby onher hip and I mean I'm.
And I'm just bawling and sheslapped me across the face so hard
and she was like, you're AMother, you're 35 years old at the
time, right?
Like, get yourself together.
You've.
You have this whole life,like, what is your problem?
(07:37):
And it wasn't until thatmoment that I was like, all right,
I gotta figure this out.
And my figure.
It was a slow process at first.
It was like the basics.
How do I take care of myself?
How do I build the life?
How do I do the things?
And then I just started slowlydoing and one step at a time and
(07:58):
one thing.
And I had always wanted to ownmy own business and I had actually
owned my own businesses anumber of times, but I just really
never thought of that as myfull time thing, right.
I wanted to figure out how togrow that business.
Not because I just wanted somebillion dollar tech business, but
because I wanted the lifestyleand I had no idea how to do that.
So it was just the littlethings at the beginning to say, okay,
(08:20):
this is the Goal, this is whatI want.
I'm gonna do it and I'm gonnafigure it out and I'm gonna take
whatever steps it will to getme there and move forward.
And I also say this because alot of people think, although I do,
I'm very lucky in life.
I wasn't in a position that Icouldn't work.
You know, like I had to work,I had to help provide for the family.
(08:42):
And so it wasn't, I mean thiswas a, it was so stressful at the
time.
I, I'm so glad that I did it.
But there were so many thingsthat did not make sense.
You know, it was like, how canyou stop and not work and try to
figure this out?
But that's just where I was,mindset wise.
And I knew I had to change.
I had to change and I knewthat I had to focus there and I,
(09:03):
I'm so grateful that thathappened again.
Silver lining of a crazymoment, right?
No, it's really great.
So did you get a sit down andlike start writing what you wanted?
Kind of like create thatvision and mission and purpose statement?
Yeah, it was almost that.
It was like.
It started with, I think I hadbeen reading a lot of self help books
(09:26):
and one, I think there was oneby Mel Robbins that, that, that was
the one that helped me get outof bed.
The five second rule.
And then there was, I think abook, one of the Rachel Hollis books
that had a journal.
And that was, I think when Istart, because I just didn't know
how to write it out yet.
And that was the first guided journal.
(09:47):
It sort of prompted you tothink through like, what's that big
picture?
What is the life that you wantto lead and how do you then.
And then it was like, okay,how do I like reverse steps from
there and what do I do first,what do I do next?
What do I, you know, and it's.
There is a lot I've workedwith, I work with a lot of coaches.
You know, I asked for helptoo, because it is.
(10:09):
Feels a little daunting whenyou sit down by yourself and say,
okay, how do I figure this out?
Sometimes it's helpful whensomeone else can hear and give you
their outside perspective andkind of say, oh, well, these are
the things that you're reallygood at.
And you might not necessarilythink those are the things and you
start to piece it all together.
(10:29):
What can I do that will makeme happy, make me enough money and
you know, fulfill me in that way?
And that's.
But you know, key Thing thatyou asked, that you.
You just said.
And I listeners, I kind ofreally want you to hone in.
You asked for help.
Right.
And so I think that's one thing.
(10:50):
It's.
It's actually been a littlebit of a theme in a lot of ways.
I feel like with, you know,people that I've been speaking to
is that the, you know, to bethat unstoppable success, you know,
you can't do it just yourself.
No, that is honestly the biggest.
My one.
One of the biggest revelationsfor me in this process.
Again, someone who was so usedto helping others, I very rarely
(11:14):
asked for help.
And I learned, you know,almost the hard way that it's impossible
to do it by yourself.
You know, it's very importantto ask for help.
And now I think of all the things.
I mean, there's.
I could never do any of thiswithout the amazing family and team
around me that make it all possible.
Right, right.
And so was there a moment whenyou were where, you know, obviously
(11:38):
where you said, like, beforeI, you know, like you said, like,
I didn't ask for help.
And I'm like, ooh, like now I really.
I need to ask for help.
Was there a moment that mademe think, should I ask for help?
Yeah, I wish I had this.
This shining moment.
I think it felt more.
(11:59):
I tried by myself.
And then it just was a momentof, I don't think I can do this by
myself.
And I was afraid.
Again, not in a financiallystable position at the time.
The thought of paying foranything additional at that moment
felt so strange.
And now I think of it very differently.
(12:21):
Investing in yourself asopposed to thinking of it like an
expense.
Investing in yourself, the onewho needs to be able to do all of
the most amazing things tomake your life possible, is the best
money you will ever spend.
Right on your.
Right on yourself.
Darren Hardy shares about howhe had heard or sat and went to a
(12:47):
Jim Rohn event.
And it was at that event that he.
I think Jim Rohn had said, youknow, in 10 of your income needs
to go into yourself.
I don't know, I mean,important, right?
Like, and that was.
That was like a number thathas kind of like stuck in my head,
like, you know, re.
(13:10):
Always be.
Always be learning andinvesting in yourself.
Mm.
So true.
So, and, and, and honestly, we think.
That's why I laugh all thetime, because we think of education
in the formal sense.
Right.
We go and we pay for ourdegrees, our additional certificates,
but for whatever reason, itdidn't resonate with me.
Until this happened that, oh,I can invest in myself in other ways.
(13:32):
You know, I can take actingclasses after I started a podcast.
And then someone was like, oh,why don't you try singing lessons?
Because that helps you withyour voice control when you're speaking
at events and speaking on camera.
And so there were just little things.
So it started with littlethings, but coaches, by far, when
you find an amazing coach.
And I've worked with alldifferent types of coaches, so it
(13:55):
kind of depends on where youare in your life.
At the beginning, I neededthat life coach to help me build
my confidence because I wasjust kind of in this broken state.
And now these days I'll, youknow, depending on what I'm, the
next step that I'm trying to take.
That will depend on the typeof coach that I might reach out to.
I work with a lot of businesscoaches, but therapists are important.
Again, it's like that teamaround you to make you the strongest
(14:18):
that you possibly can be.
Mind, body, the whole thing, right?
So, so you have this whole,you've got, you've gone on this journey.
How is it, how now thatyou've, you've kind of stepped out
of like I'm going to say the10 year career and you're, and you're
doing your own, your own thing.
(14:39):
How has it transformed likeyour family?
Oh, it's so huge.
It's hard to put one, onething because there's been so many
different steps.
You know, I think the, thebiggest trend, if you asked one of
my, my kids, they might saysomething different, right?
(15:01):
But the biggest transformationfrom my perspective is they really
see that it's important totake care of yourself first.
And I really wasn't showingthem that.
And to be honest, I didn'tactually grow up.
My mother was amazing, but sheput us first all the time.
She didn't take care of herself.
(15:21):
You know, she only slept fourhours a night so that she could fit
all the things in.
Right.
And you hear that a lot withworking moms.
And she also owned her own business.
You know, it's like all thethings, but I just, I was like, that's
how I broke myself.
And so I want to teach thesekids and model for these kids and
my husband that I am more thanjust these roles that I play, that
(15:46):
it's really important to focuson yourself first, to focus on your
happiness first.
And the other is a bonus andit changes the way that we all focus
in the household.
So everything I never again, Ididn't even ask for help at home
either.
So I'm just like, you know,passive aggressively washing the
dishes like at 10 o' clock at night.
(16:06):
And you know, never said toanyone, you know what, I don't like
to do this.
Everybody's sitting therewatching tv.
Yeah.
And I'm like, hey guys, like,and now it's like we're a team too.
And that truly has helped meprofessionally as well.
Because it's the things thatyou learn in a professional context
actually makes so much moresense at home as well.
(16:28):
And so that I think was thebiggest transformation.
Just the dynamic of how wewere working together, how potentially
maybe it's not changed theirview of me.
Right.
But it's to me, I just thinkthey'll go out into the world knowing
that a lot of things are possible.
It's great to have boundaries.
It's great to say no.
It's great to take care of yourself.
(16:48):
And I just don't think a lotof, I mean, I just wish for every
woman on the face of thisearth that they have the opportunity
to be able to do that forthemselves and show their families
that because strong women, youjust, it changes everything.
So it does.
You know what?
I think that is so important.
(17:09):
You know, having being therole model for our family is so important.
So talk to me about how youcame up with the business that you're
doing now.
Like where did, where did thatpiece come into it?
And it's been a journeybecause this is actually I'm in the
process of we just launchingthis new business and I'm a serial
(17:31):
entrepreneur.
So I've had so many differentbusinesses, but at the time I was,
you know, I had been trying tothink of it, what I was working on
in the moment and what wouldmake the most sense in that time.
And at that time I had spentthe majority of my career working
on facilitating skills based hiring.
(17:52):
And so most of the hiring,even still a little bit to this day,
although I think it's changedsignificantly in the amount of time
that I've had this greatopportunity to work on it.
But people were really onlymeasured off of their formal education
and maybe the job titles they had.
And I believed that there's alot, if you like lift the hood of
(18:14):
the car of every person, rightunderneath it all, there's so much
that we do that is neveraccounted for in a professional context.
And I really wanted to change that.
And so at the time it madesense to build the business around
all of this work that I hadbeen doing.
I'd been Working with so manycompanies and I realized, you know,
I'm actually, even though I'mnot consulting with them directly,
(18:36):
the relationship seemed very similar.
So it seemed like an easynavigation to say, hey, I'll keep
doing what I'm doing, I'llmake it into my own business and
we'll go from there.
And then over time, I realizedI wanted to evolve from there too.
And that's the beauty of whenyou go and you figure out that there's
no limits in the way that youlive your life, right?
(18:57):
You have the chance to say,much like you were describing with
the podcast, guess what?
I'm ready to take this next step.
I'm ready to incorporate thisportion of my life or something's
changed and it's opened myeyes to this new possibility.
And that's where I landed.
I just realized skills was too small.
(19:18):
The backbone of all of thatwork was really innovation and transformation.
And the way that I was able tostep in and help these businesses
transform and help, you know,small, like even startups and medium
sized businesses look totallydifferent than the way they looked
before, that felt like abigger, a bigger thing.
(19:39):
The way that I could helpleaders evolve and find themselves
and, you know, move on, youknow, be the best they can in their
life.
And how that helped thosebusinesses just felt like there was
so much more to it.
And I also wanted to bringother people in.
So at the time, the businesswas so focused on me as an expert
in this particular space.
And not that my expertisestill doesn't come into the new business,
(20:02):
but I really wanted to inviteother experts and thought leaders
into the business so that wecould go out and sometimes work in
team efforts or just giveother solopreneurs a space where
they could run their businesses.
Because I know how difficultit is to run your own business and
keeping up with the books andall those things.
And so that idea of an agency,you know, having an agency, an innovation
(20:27):
agency, is really what came to that.
So the name of the business isCalimera Future.
And again, this is like whenif someone looked back into my past,
they'd be like, where did thiscome from?
But in fact, it actually makescomplete sense.
It's just all the work I'vebeen doing just, you know, skills
is still there.
It's just not the main focusof the business.
(20:51):
That's so, I love that.
And you know, bringing peopletogether and being able to offer
things, you know, it's notjust, it's not you, it's, I mean,
you're part of it, but ittakes the business away from, as
you said, the focus off ofyou, but of really what you can do
for so many people.
(21:11):
Exactly.
And bringing people intogether to do that.
So what, so what is thebiggest thing that you.
That you feel that the agencycan do and that you like that?
You know, where do you.
Where do you want to see it?
Yeah.
So I part.
Part of the reason why theidea for this business came around
is I read a book called Let.
(21:35):
I think it is called Let It Go.
And it's a book by a.
Well, I want to say she's a.
She's a.
She was a refugee to Englandduring world World War II and she
was also a mother that built a business.
She ended up building a techconsultancy business that she then
(21:57):
the employees actually ownedall the shares in.
And eventually when she soldthe business, they all did very well,
but they shared in the revenue.
And so this concept of thiscommunity, as opposed to a standard
business format was part ofthe reason why I wanted to create
the space for this.
(22:18):
And part of what, againmentioning, we have other thought
leaders and experts that workwith us and so they can go out and
of course they can do theirconsulting work through the business.
And we continue to do that.
A lot of innovation andtransformation work.
A couple of us also dofractional executive work.
But my favorite part about allof this is the workshops.
(22:39):
And so the workshops and Iwould also say, I guess the retreats,
because we do a lot ofinnovation retreats.
It's probably not the forefront.
I love the retreats.
Don't get me wrong.
I love to get together with agroup of people over a period of
time and kind of create.
Build something new, birthsomething new at the end of it.
It's delightful.
(23:01):
But the workshops are myfavorite part because it ingests
just the right bit of, youknow, transformation and innovation
perspective at a bit with abusiness at the right time.
It's not just a one and donekind of moment.
It's a like, let's come in,let's do a se.
A series, a quick, rapid.
It's almost like a, you know,what do we call this in the.
(23:23):
It's almost like a sprint.
This quick little.
Yeah, this quick little sprint.
You're in this moment like amerger has happened, an acquisition
has happened.
You know, you're reducing abusiness unit.
Like something is happeningmajor in the business and you need
to get your team ready for amajor change.
And it's like.
But we're not ready to like,bring in a Whole crew to do this
(23:45):
work.
We want our internal team todo this work.
But how do you get them ready?
Most people, when they've beenworking at a business, have been
in an operational mindset, achange in innovation, a transformation
mindset is very different.
And so it just, like I wassaying, just with the coaching work
that I've done, it's very similar.
I love to.
We love to just come in andgive these teams this moment to go
(24:07):
to the next level and build upthese skills that they thought they
probably had, but they forgotabout, you know, and it's like just
how to bring it into thiscontext and take you guys to the
next level.
And then they go off and theydo amazing things.
I absolutely.
I absolutely love that.
I love the whole idea ofcreating that transformation for
people and helping them,because you're also helping them
(24:27):
almost like, rediscover theirsuperpowers in a way to help them
elevate to their greatest success.
Yes.
Kelly, you are so remarkable.
How can people connect with you?
Learn more about the retreats,the workshops.
Oh, thank you.
Well, anyone can, of course,follow me on LinkedIn or Instagram
@ Kelly Ryan Bailey.
(24:49):
And all of my information,contact information is available
on the website Kelly Ryan bailey.com.
Awesome.
Well, Kelly, thank you so muchfor being an amazing guest and listeners.
Please do me a favor.
Go to her, go to LinkedIn,follow her, connect with her, go
to her website.
I will put all of those thingsin the show notes.
And then I have one more favor.
Please hit subscribe and thenshare this podcast with your, your
(25:12):
business colleagues, anybodythat you feel that is important in
your life.
Friends again, Friends,parents, anybody.
They need to hear this message.
We want more people to go fromburnout to bust in greatness.
So thank you so much, Kelly,and thank you, everyone for listening.
This is unstoppable success.
Well, hello everybody, andwelcome to another amazing episode
of the Unstoppable Success podcast.
And here we hear from amazingleaders, influential people in the
world and in society who helpus be unstoppable.
We will hear their stories,how they themselves have been unstoppable,
(01:01):
and they will leave tips,information, and great insights.
So today I have an amazingguest, Kelly Ryan Bailey.
And let me give you a littleinformation about Kelly, because
she is a true rock star.
So, and I love to say this,like, literally, she has gone from
the burnout to bust in her career.
(01:23):
So, you know, you're going toget some tips about tips and great
insight.
So in.
So anyway, so Kelly is anentrepreneur, a speaker, advisor,
investor, a model.
She's a mama of three.
In 2016, she experienced adebilitating burnout.
She has been, she had beenworking over 80 hours a week, we
all know that, traveling threedays a week trying to parent three
(01:45):
children at the same time.
Her five year old wasdiagnosed with dyslexia, ADHD and
high anxiety.
So prior to this burnoutexperience, she had spent her professional
career facilitating skillsbased hiring and learning through
data emerge and emerging technology.
That focus was always onfinancial success, best return on
your educational investment,and moving up the career ladder.
(02:07):
So no one ever talked aboutwhat hap, what makes you happy in
life.
So with all of that determinedto make her, you know, to make her
daughter live a happy life andhave a great life for herself, she
has gone to bust in a new career.
Well, now it's not so new, butso welcome, Kelly.
(02:28):
Thank you so much, Jacqueline.
That's so kind of you.
It is wonderful to be here.
Thank you again.
You're welcome.
So, okay, so first of all, Imean, we all know, like, we all experience,
I mean, at least I would thinka lot of us have experience.
The overwork, the burnout.
Some of us go on vacation.
(02:50):
Or.
Don'T actually, because that'sactually part of that whole burnout.
So, so.
And you know, what was thesign for you?
You know, that was like, oh, Iam, I'm done.
Like, what was your done?
Yeah, yeah.
Surprisingly enough, it was.
I had to hit true.
What I would have said rockbottom at the time to even recognize
(03:13):
it.
Now that I look back, I cantell you in retrospect that there
were signs, but at the time, I.
One day my body just shut down.
I was like a type Apersonality as you, you, you know,
you mentioned working way toomuch, the whole thing, taking care
of it all.
I'm the oldest of seven in aModern Family.
So besides being a mother, Iwas always, like, helping with my
(03:35):
brothers and sisters in some way.
So all of a sudden, one day,my body just stopped and I actually
couldn't get out of bed.
And I can't tell you.
I mean, someone who is like,you know, exercises, like, everything.
I was like, okay, get up.
And my body.
My body was like, no.
Like, I just couldn't function.
And it took me a while toeven, like, my body was just like,
(03:59):
you needed rest.
I told you you needed rest,and now you're.
I'm forcing you to rest.
And it just.
It felt like I was sick and,you know, all the things.
And I just felt like I couldnot get up and move.
And that's what happened.
Now I can look back inretrospect and say, well, I worked.
I was working way too much.
My third child had just been born.
(04:21):
I was traveling the entire time.
You know, I was trying to pumpin airport bathrooms.
This is before all of thethings, right?
Like, I was in those.
The offices with the doorsthat didn't lock and, like, people
coming in, like, all thosehorrible stories.
But I was trying to do all of that.
And I think I noticed now thatI was like.
I took three weeks ofmaternity leave.
(04:43):
You know, like, I just did.
And I had a C section.
I just didn't let myself recover.
And for whatever reason, thatthird baby knocked me sideways.
You know, it's funny, like, two.
Two parents, there's some sort of.
It feels like you can handle it.
Yeah, but the third is, like,off balance, right?
Yeah, the third just knockedit way off.
(05:03):
And I just didn't give myselfenough time to really get used to
it.
And that's where I landed.
Okay, so.
So what.
What happened after that?
I mean, where did you.
Like, so you're in bed, you'resick, whatever, you're recovering.
And then.
What?
(05:25):
Well, right before this allhappened, I had decided.
I just.
Again, it was one of thosemoments where I was like, this is
not the life that I want to lead.
I don't see my kids, I don'tsee my family.
I feel like I'm not participating.
My brain is always somewhere,even when I'm here.
I knew that I wanted tochange, and I made this huge decision
that I was like, I'm going toleave the job that I, at the time,
(05:45):
I had had for 10 years.
I was like, I'm going to leave.
I had no plans in placebecause I couldn't even think outside
of that moment.
It was just so overwhelming.
Decided to leave that role.
And it was really the firsttime that I hadn't been overdoing
it in so long.
And so it was more just tryingto rediscover how I could live a
(06:09):
life.
Like, I wanted to wake upexcited every day, not like, oh God,
the email, you know, I wantedto wake up excited, I wanted to enjoy.
I wanted to create thelifestyle, but not the lifestyle
where I was working a thousandhours all the time.
One that I could actually bethere and do the things and have
fun and.
And I just didn't know how todo that yet.
So as I was laying in bed, thenumber one thing was for me, you
(06:34):
know, like I said, I mean, theburnout had a lot of other.
I had some health issues goingon that, you know, autoimmunes that
had developed and things.
So there was a number ofreasons of why it led to this bad
moment.
I always want to clarify thatalthough I wasn't in a good mindset,
I was not suicidal or anything.
I just was like, I have nothing.
(06:55):
Like, I just felt like, whatis this about?
You know, like, how can I notfigure this out?
And there was this one moment,and I say this because, you know,
my mother is amazing and she'sa great, like, she's always been
like a tough love kind of mother.
And you know, I was justprobably crying over not getting
the kids to school yet againbecause I was barely hanging on.
(07:16):
And she's holding my baby onher hip and I mean I'm.
And I'm just bawling and sheslapped me across the face so hard
and she was like, you're AMother, you're 35 years old at the
time, right?
Like, get yourself together.
You've.
You have this whole life,like, what is your problem?
(07:37):
And it wasn't until thatmoment that I was like, all right,
I gotta figure this out.
And my figure.
It was a slow process at first.
It was like the basics.
How do I take care of myself?
How do I build the life?
How do I do the things?
And then I just started slowlydoing and one step at a time and
(07:58):
one thing.
And I had always wanted to ownmy own business and I had actually
owned my own businesses anumber of times, but I just really
never thought of that as myfull time thing, right.
I wanted to figure out how togrow that business.
Not because I just wanted somebillion dollar tech business, but
because I wanted the lifestyleand I had no idea how to do that.
So it was just the littlethings at the beginning to say, okay,
(08:20):
this is the Goal, this is whatI want.
I'm gonna do it and I'm gonnafigure it out and I'm gonna take
whatever steps it will to getme there and move forward.
And I also say this because alot of people think, although I do,
I'm very lucky in life.
I wasn't in a position that Icouldn't work.
You know, like I had to work,I had to help provide for the family.
(08:42):
And so it wasn't, I mean thiswas a, it was so stressful at the
time.
I, I'm so glad that I did it.
But there were so many thingsthat did not make sense.
You know, it was like, how canyou stop and not work and try to
figure this out?
But that's just where I was,mindset wise.
And I knew I had to change.
I had to change and I knewthat I had to focus there and I,
(09:03):
I'm so grateful that thathappened again.
Silver lining of a crazymoment, right?
No, it's really great.
So did you get a sit down andlike start writing what you wanted?
Kind of like create thatvision and mission and purpose statement?
Yeah, it was almost that.
It was like.
It started with, I think I hadbeen reading a lot of self help books
(09:26):
and one, I think there was oneby Mel Robbins that, that, that was
the one that helped me get outof bed.
The five second rule.
And then there was, I think abook, one of the Rachel Hollis books
that had a journal.
And that was, I think when Istart, because I just didn't know
how to write it out yet.
And that was the first guided journal.
(09:47):
It sort of prompted you tothink through like, what's that big
picture?
What is the life that you wantto lead and how do you then.
And then it was like, okay,how do I like reverse steps from
there and what do I do first,what do I do next?
What do I, you know, and it's.
There is a lot I've workedwith, I work with a lot of coaches.
You know, I asked for helptoo, because it is.
(10:09):
Feels a little daunting whenyou sit down by yourself and say,
okay, how do I figure this out?
Sometimes it's helpful whensomeone else can hear and give you
their outside perspective andkind of say, oh, well, these are
the things that you're reallygood at.
And you might not necessarilythink those are the things and you
start to piece it all together.
(10:29):
What can I do that will makeme happy, make me enough money and
you know, fulfill me in that way?
And that's.
But you know, key Thing thatyou asked, that you.
You just said.
And I listeners, I kind ofreally want you to hone in.
You asked for help.
Right.
And so I think that's one thing.
(10:50):
It's.
It's actually been a littlebit of a theme in a lot of ways.
I feel like with, you know,people that I've been speaking to
is that the, you know, to bethat unstoppable success, you know,
you can't do it just yourself.
No, that is honestly the biggest.
My one.
One of the biggest revelationsfor me in this process.
Again, someone who was so usedto helping others, I very rarely
(11:14):
asked for help.
And I learned, you know,almost the hard way that it's impossible
to do it by yourself.
You know, it's very importantto ask for help.
And now I think of all the things.
I mean, there's.
I could never do any of thiswithout the amazing family and team
around me that make it all possible.
Right, right.
And so was there a moment whenyou were where, you know, obviously
(11:38):
where you said, like, beforeI, you know, like you said, like,
I didn't ask for help.
And I'm like, ooh, like now I really.
I need to ask for help.
Was there a moment that mademe think, should I ask for help?
Yeah, I wish I had this.
This shining moment.
I think it felt more.
(11:59):
I tried by myself.
And then it just was a momentof, I don't think I can do this by
myself.
And I was afraid.
Again, not in a financiallystable position at the time.
The thought of paying foranything additional at that moment
felt so strange.
And now I think of it very differently.
(12:21):
Investing in yourself asopposed to thinking of it like an
expense.
Investing in yourself, the onewho needs to be able to do all of
the most amazing things tomake your life possible, is the best
money you will ever spend.
Right on your.
Right on yourself.
Darren Hardy shares about howhe had heard or sat and went to a
(12:47):
Jim Rohn event.
And it was at that event that he.
I think Jim Rohn had said, youknow, in 10 of your income needs
to go into yourself.
I don't know, I mean,important, right?
Like, and that was.
That was like a number thathas kind of like stuck in my head,
like, you know, re.
(13:10):
Always be.
Always be learning andinvesting in yourself.
Mm.
So true.
So, and, and, and honestly, we think.
That's why I laugh all thetime, because we think of education
in the formal sense.
Right.
We go and we pay for ourdegrees, our additional certificates,
but for whatever reason, itdidn't resonate with me.
Until this happened that, oh,I can invest in myself in other ways.
(13:32):
You know, I can take actingclasses after I started a podcast.
And then someone was like, oh,why don't you try singing lessons?
Because that helps you withyour voice control when you're speaking
at events and speaking on camera.
And so there were just little things.
So it started with littlethings, but coaches, by far, when
you find an amazing coach.
And I've worked with alldifferent types of coaches, so it
(13:55):
kind of depends on where youare in your life.
At the beginning, I neededthat life coach to help me build
my confidence because I wasjust kind of in this broken state.
And now these days I'll, youknow, depending on what I'm, the
next step that I'm trying to take.
That will depend on the typeof coach that I might reach out to.
I work with a lot of businesscoaches, but therapists are important.
Again, it's like that teamaround you to make you the strongest
(14:18):
that you possibly can be.
Mind, body, the whole thing, right?
So, so you have this whole,you've got, you've gone on this journey.
How is it, how now thatyou've, you've kind of stepped out
of like I'm going to say the10 year career and you're, and you're
doing your own, your own thing.
(14:39):
How has it transformed likeyour family?
Oh, it's so huge.
It's hard to put one, onething because there's been so many
different steps.
You know, I think the, thebiggest trend, if you asked one of
my, my kids, they might saysomething different, right?
(15:01):
But the biggest transformationfrom my perspective is they really
see that it's important totake care of yourself first.
And I really wasn't showingthem that.
And to be honest, I didn'tactually grow up.
My mother was amazing, but sheput us first all the time.
She didn't take care of herself.
(15:21):
You know, she only slept fourhours a night so that she could fit
all the things in.
Right.
And you hear that a lot withworking moms.
And she also owned her own business.
You know, it's like all thethings, but I just, I was like, that's
how I broke myself.
And so I want to teach thesekids and model for these kids and
my husband that I am more thanjust these roles that I play, that
(15:46):
it's really important to focuson yourself first, to focus on your
happiness first.
And the other is a bonus andit changes the way that we all focus
in the household.
So everything I never again, Ididn't even ask for help at home
either.
So I'm just like, you know,passive aggressively washing the
dishes like at 10 o' clock at night.
(16:06):
And you know, never said toanyone, you know what, I don't like
to do this.
Everybody's sitting therewatching tv.
Yeah.
And I'm like, hey guys, like,and now it's like we're a team too.
And that truly has helped meprofessionally as well.
Because it's the things thatyou learn in a professional context
actually makes so much moresense at home as well.
(16:28):
And so that I think was thebiggest transformation.
Just the dynamic of how wewere working together, how potentially
maybe it's not changed theirview of me.
Right.
But it's to me, I just thinkthey'll go out into the world knowing
that a lot of things are possible.
It's great to have boundaries.
It's great to say no.
It's great to take care of yourself.
(16:48):
And I just don't think a lotof, I mean, I just wish for every
woman on the face of thisearth that they have the opportunity
to be able to do that forthemselves and show their families
that because strong women, youjust, it changes everything.
So it does.
You know what?
I think that is so important.
(17:09):
You know, having being therole model for our family is so important.
So talk to me about how youcame up with the business that you're
doing now.
Like where did, where did thatpiece come into it?
And it's been a journeybecause this is actually I'm in the
process of we just launchingthis new business and I'm a serial
(17:31):
entrepreneur.
So I've had so many differentbusinesses, but at the time I was,
you know, I had been trying tothink of it, what I was working on
in the moment and what wouldmake the most sense in that time.
And at that time I had spentthe majority of my career working
on facilitating skills based hiring.
(17:52):
And so most of the hiring,even still a little bit to this day,
although I think it's changedsignificantly in the amount of time
that I've had this greatopportunity to work on it.
But people were really onlymeasured off of their formal education
and maybe the job titles they had.
And I believed that there's alot, if you like lift the hood of
(18:14):
the car of every person, rightunderneath it all, there's so much
that we do that is neveraccounted for in a professional context.
And I really wanted to change that.
And so at the time it madesense to build the business around
all of this work that I hadbeen doing.
I'd been Working with so manycompanies and I realized, you know,
I'm actually, even though I'mnot consulting with them directly,
(18:36):
the relationship seemed very similar.
So it seemed like an easynavigation to say, hey, I'll keep
doing what I'm doing, I'llmake it into my own business and
we'll go from there.
And then over time, I realizedI wanted to evolve from there too.
And that's the beauty of whenyou go and you figure out that there's
no limits in the way that youlive your life, right?
(18:57):
You have the chance to say,much like you were describing with
the podcast, guess what?
I'm ready to take this next step.
I'm ready to incorporate thisportion of my life or something's
changed and it's opened myeyes to this new possibility.
And that's where I landed.
I just realized skills was too small.
(19:18):
The backbone of all of thatwork was really innovation and transformation.
And the way that I was able tostep in and help these businesses
transform and help, you know,small, like even startups and medium
sized businesses look totallydifferent than the way they looked
before, that felt like abigger, a bigger thing.
(19:39):
The way that I could helpleaders evolve and find themselves
and, you know, move on, youknow, be the best they can in their
life.
And how that helped thosebusinesses just felt like there was
so much more to it.
And I also wanted to bringother people in.
So at the time, the businesswas so focused on me as an expert
in this particular space.
And not that my expertisestill doesn't come into the new business,
(20:02):
but I really wanted to inviteother experts and thought leaders
into the business so that wecould go out and sometimes work in
team efforts or just giveother solopreneurs a space where
they could run their businesses.
Because I know how difficultit is to run your own business and
keeping up with the books andall those things.
And so that idea of an agency,you know, having an agency, an innovation
(20:27):
agency, is really what came to that.
So the name of the business isCalimera Future.
And again, this is like whenif someone looked back into my past,
they'd be like, where did thiscome from?
But in fact, it actually makescomplete sense.
It's just all the work I'vebeen doing just, you know, skills
is still there.
It's just not the main focusof the business.
(20:51):
That's so, I love that.
And you know, bringing peopletogether and being able to offer
things, you know, it's notjust, it's not you, it's, I mean,
you're part of it, but ittakes the business away from, as
you said, the focus off ofyou, but of really what you can do
for so many people.
(21:11):
Exactly.
And bringing people intogether to do that.
So what, so what is thebiggest thing that you.
That you feel that the agencycan do and that you like that?
You know, where do you.
Where do you want to see it?
Yeah.
So I part.
Part of the reason why theidea for this business came around
is I read a book called Let.
(21:35):
I think it is called Let It Go.
And it's a book by a.
Well, I want to say she's a.
She's a.
She was a refugee to Englandduring world World War II and she
was also a mother that built a business.
She ended up building a techconsultancy business that she then
(21:57):
the employees actually ownedall the shares in.
And eventually when she soldthe business, they all did very well,
but they shared in the revenue.
And so this concept of thiscommunity, as opposed to a standard
business format was part ofthe reason why I wanted to create
the space for this.
(22:18):
And part of what, againmentioning, we have other thought
leaders and experts that workwith us and so they can go out and
of course they can do theirconsulting work through the business.
And we continue to do that.
A lot of innovation andtransformation work.
A couple of us also dofractional executive work.
But my favorite part about allof this is the workshops.
(22:39):
And so the workshops and Iwould also say, I guess the retreats,
because we do a lot ofinnovation retreats.
It's probably not the forefront.
I love the retreats.
Don't get me wrong.
I love to get together with agroup of people over a period of
time and kind of create.
Build something new, birthsomething new at the end of it.
It's delightful.
(23:01):
But the workshops are myfavorite part because it ingests
just the right bit of, youknow, transformation and innovation
perspective at a bit with abusiness at the right time.
It's not just a one and donekind of moment.
It's a like, let's come in,let's do a se.
A series, a quick, rapid.
It's almost like a, you know,what do we call this in the.
(23:23):
It's almost like a sprint.
This quick little.
Yeah, this quick little sprint.
You're in this moment like amerger has happened, an acquisition
has happened.
You know, you're reducing abusiness unit.
Like something is happeningmajor in the business and you need
to get your team ready for amajor change.
And it's like.
But we're not ready to like,bring in a Whole crew to do this
(23:45):
work.
We want our internal team todo this work.
But how do you get them ready?
Most people, when they've beenworking at a business, have been
in an operational mindset, achange in innovation, a transformation
mindset is very different.
And so it just, like I wassaying, just with the coaching work
that I've done, it's very similar.
I love to.
We love to just come in andgive these teams this moment to go
(24:07):
to the next level and build upthese skills that they thought they
probably had, but they forgotabout, you know, and it's like just
how to bring it into thiscontext and take you guys to the
next level.
And then they go off and theydo amazing things.
I absolutely.
I absolutely love that.
I love the whole idea ofcreating that transformation for
people and helping them,because you're also helping them
(24:27):
almost like, rediscover theirsuperpowers in a way to help them
elevate to their greatest success.
Yes.
Kelly, you are so remarkable.
How can people connect with you?
Learn more about the retreats,the workshops.
Oh, thank you.
Well, anyone can, of course,follow me on LinkedIn or Instagram
@ Kelly Ryan Bailey.
(24:49):
And all of my information,contact information is available
on the website Kelly Ryan bailey.com.
Awesome.
Well, Kelly, thank you so muchfor being an amazing guest and listeners.
Please do me a favor.
Go to her, go to LinkedIn,follow her, connect with her, go
to her website.
I will put all of those thingsin the show notes.
And then I have one more favor.
Please hit subscribe and thenshare this podcast with your, your
(25:12):
business colleagues, anybodythat you feel that is important in
your life.
Friends again, Friends,parents, anybody.
They need to hear this message.
We want more people to go fromburnout to bust in greatness.
So thank you so much, Kelly,and thank you, everyone for listening.
This is unstoppable success.
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