The Ultimate Guide to Nurturing a Lifelong Passion
Kelly Exeter is the owner of Swish Design, a website and graphic design company based in Perth, Western Australia. Alongside Swish Design, Kelly has published four books, hosts two podcasts and runs a successful blog.
Who is Kelly Exeter
Kelly Exeter considers herself a “slashy”. Not only is she a writer and designer, but she’s also a podcaster, business owner, mother, wife and runner.
Take a breath. I sure need to.
But yeah, you get the picture. Kelly has self-published five books, her most popular book being Practical Perfection.
Kelly has been a big reader ever since she was a child. Through reading, she learnt that writing is her preferred form of communication. This realisation ignited Kelly’s passion for writing and has influenced the shape of her career. Now, Kelly owns and runs a small business in Perth Western Australia called Swish Design.
The Hoax of ‘Having It Made’
People who are employed have the perception that business owners only need to work a few hours a week. Whether your business is six-months-old or 10-years-old your business needs some tender love and care. There’s no such thing as “taking a break”.
The main overarching problem business owners face is the feeling of uncertainty. With uncertainty comes anxiety, and dread that you’re not doing enough to grow the business. It is problematic and unsustainable for a business if the owner is in operations.
Kelly struggles to be creative when she’s stressed about the business or finances. For her to write, or be creative in other aspects of her work she needs to set up her life right. To resolve this issue, her husband Ant took over the business so that Kelly could take three months off to recover and write. Ideally, Kelly would support the family by writing books in the future.
‘Having it made’ isn’t as shiny as one may think. When you own a business there is no off switch. Kelly was fortunate enough to have Ant step in whilst she recovered mentally, and was given the space to write. Often we see on social media how glamorous the business owner life is. But the truth is we only share what we want people to see.
The Reality for Business Owners
There is no off-switch when you own a business. For Kelly, her work continued from the hospital bed right after giving birth to her son.
After Kelly quit her job to run her business, she was solely focused on getting the work done. The issue was that there was no one to step in when she stepped out. So from the hospital bed the day after giving birth to her son she was sending out invoices.
This life isn’t sustainable by any means. Kelly struggled to keep up, and the stress slowly began to mount up. During this period she lost a friend to suicide and suffered from three miscarriages. Something had to change in her life, she needed an outlet.
The answer was simple for Kelly. She loved to write, but she needed something with no pressure. So she started her blog. Through writing, she found an outlet for her stress and used the medium to kick start her drive and passion for life and business.
The importance of escaping
Finding an outlet or escape for stress is crucial for business owners. It’s not sustainable to not care for your mental and physical health. No matter how time poor you are – there is time to take a break.
Check out what Kelly does to escape stress:
- Writing
- Read every day
- Long hot showers
- Running
Through trial and error, Kelly found an outlet for stress. To grow a business, you need to grow yourself. Take some time to understand what you need to be able to function at your best. Then… it’s time to crush it.
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