Finding your next level business friends with Kelly Noone

It can be really challenging finding business friends. In today’s episode, I talk to Kelly, the founder of Skin Queen, about how she has used retreats to really connect with inspiring and driven business owners on a much deeper level than what you can do at those awkward networking events. This episode shares why Kelly has chosen to invest in retreats, and the transformation it has created for her and her business.

Hello, and welcome to The Clare Wood Podcast, where myself and incredible guest share about money mindset, financial successes, and how to manage your money in a fun and practical way, to create wealth and abundance in both your business and your life. I’m your host, Clare Wood. I’m a business coach and a money mentor. I strongly believe that money has the power to positively change the world. I can’t wait to help you transform your mindset around money, create a love of numbers, and build the business of your dreams, so you can live a life of financial freedom, giving, and global impact.

CLARE:

Welcome to the podcast. Kelly, it’s so wonderful to have you here. How are you doing today?

KELLY:

I’m so excited to finally be on your podcast. It’s so exciting, because obviously I listen to it and then you get asked to be on it. It’s like, “Oh, I’ve made it.”

CLARE:

Well, Kelly, for anyone who doesn’t know who you are, can you please share a little bit about your business and how you help people?

KELLY:

Yes. So my business is Skin Queen. And it’s weird when people say like, “What’s your business?” Because that’s really like my second persona that I go by, Skin Queen, and I service the professional beauty industry. So those who work in the beauty industry as therapists, facialists, estheticians, who are wanting to learn more about skin. So I do online programs and online courses, to actually help therapists feel more confident and to grow in their career.

CLARE:

Yeah. And you’ve got a massive following. I know that you have been doing some influencer work as well, and it’s just wonderful to see how you’re able to attract people through the power of marketing, and particularly your reels, are where you really stand out online as well.

KELLY:

Yay. Thank you. And also too, niching down. I think I’ve nailed my niche pretty well, and I know it pretty well, and I’m quite well known in the industry and that always helps too.

CLARE:

Oh, a 100%. So before we dive into our chat, just to take that a little bit further, would you like to share a little bit about how you did become a specialist in skin?

KELLY:

Oh, yes. Okay. And I get kind of… not nervous or anxious, but I do, to answer this one, but my career started when I was like, “I’m not quite sure what I want to do,” which lots of people don’t after school. And so I decided to go and do my Advanced Diploma of Cosmetic Dermal Science, which usually the path when you’re getting into the industry, you’d actually go to a diploma in beauty. But I was like, “I don’t know if I want to wax private parts, and do nails, and waxing,” no offense to anybody who gets that done, it just wasn’t my jam. Instead, I wanted to laser private parts, very different. So that’s what I went and studied. And then I was a therapist for about a year, but then afterwards I actually got picked out by a really well known skincare company. And they said, “We’d love you to be our educator.” Something that I never really had considered before. Never even thought that was a career option for me. And from there, it was awesome because I spent the next six and a half years of my career, working with different skincare companies in Australia, actually educating clinics that actually stocked the product.

So I really fell in love with helping professionals, but I noticed a huge gap in what’s taught in beauty school, to what’s taught in product knowledge trainings. And there was just no filler in the industry. There was nobody actually teaching basic skin science and I would get people asking all the time, “What books do you recommend? Are there any short courses you’d recommend? Who can I watch on YouTube?” And even now I’m surprised, there’s probably maybe 10 or less people doing this, even on YouTube. There’s only three other podcasts that are for the professional beauty industry. So I was like, “Amazing. I’m going to fill that gap.” And that’s where I am.

CLARE:

Wonderful. And I know that you have helped so many people to up-level their knowledge, both when it comes to skin, but also when it actually comes to growing a skin business. And you’ve found your little spot in the market there, where you’re able to service people with both different things. So I brought you on the podcast today to talk about retreats because I love retreats. I’m a bit of a retreat addict and it’s funny that our journey actually started together at a retreat. So maybe you could share a little bit about where we met.

Why Kelly decided to invest in retreats

KELLY:

Yeah. And still, I told you this the other day, that when I saw you at the first retreat, I was like, “Oh, my God, there’s Clare Wood.” And it is the magic of retreat. So I had actually just gone all in with my business and I was freaking out. I literally went from earning 130-plus K a year in my corporate job, to not even doing a $1,000 in my business yet. And I saw Ruby Lee doing a retreat and I was like, “Okay, I think I need to be around this energy,” because she’s so high-vibe. And I know that the clients that she work with, is quite high-vibe. So I was like, “You know what? I’m just going to spend the money. I’m going to invest. And I’m going to go to this retreat.” And it was. You were there, Kelly Howard was there. There were some amazing people there, that were already 10 steps ahead of me. And that’s what you should be doing. You should be surrounding yourself with people who are a little bit ahead of you, because that’s what you want to aspire to be. And there was so many expansive conversations and I was learning so much. And from there, I went and I launched my first signature program and the first launch, it was like a 30K launch. So I honestly can hand on heart say that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the retreat.

And it’s interesting because it wasn’t even in the learnings that we were being taught, it was from the conversations with everybody at the retreat. And that’s why I love them as well. When you say you’re an addict, same. Because you can get a lot from learning from somebody, right? But when you can be around high-vibe people who are in business, who want to be achieving the same thing, it’s like a real life mastermind. And so you can continue to learn from everybody there. Everybody jumps in and coaches each other, and that’s the awesome part about it.

CLARE:

It was such a fun retreat. It was so nice to meet you and the other ladies at that retreat. And I wanted to ask you, because before I jumped into my first retreat, it was freaking scary spending the money. The first retreat I went on, was a five figure investment. And I remember at the time I’m like, “Oh, my gosh, is this going to be worth it?” So I don’t know if you had any of those kind of emotions when you jumped into Ruby’s retreat, but maybe you could share a bit about that.

KELLY:

Hell’s, yes. It’s so normal. And as I said, I just quit my corporate job. I’d saved up enough money for three months to sustain me. And then I was like, “By three months, I’m going to have it all going. It’s going to be good.” And from that little pool of savings, I was like to my partner, “I’m just taking money from the savings to go to this retreat.” And it was quite expensive. I think it was maybe three grand or just over. And I was like, “I know it’ll be worth it.” I know how much Ruby charges for coaching. And that was just a bit out of my reach at that time. So I was like, “This is the next best thing.” And honestly, I truly believe that the money that you spend, will always have a return on investment, and this is what I’ve learned from you, especially if it feels expansive too. If it doesn’t feel expansive to you and you’re like, “Oh, my gosh, I’ve just had to spend all this money and now I haven’t found value in it,” then of course you’re not. But if you’re like, “No, I know how amazing this experience is going to be. I know how much I’m going to learn from it. I know this is going to be worth the money.” And it was, because then literally, I think it was a Saturday night when we went out for dinner, I was like, “Okay, I’m going home early.” Because I was staying at my sister’s apartment and she was away for the weekend. So I had quiet. And I just brain dumped, I think until one in the morning, all these ideas as my signature program. Which I’ve launched twice and it’s been nearly a 75K launch in total and that wouldn’t have happened for the retreat. So yes, initially you’re like, “Oh,” but the return on investment is bloody huge.

CLARE:

And that’s, I think something that I found really unique about retreating, that’s hard to articulate to people, is the energetic shift that happens in you. So I know when I got back from the Denise Duffield-Thomas retreat that I went on, and everyone’s like, “What did you learn?” And I was like, “Uh…” And I’m like, “Well, I learnt that anyone can make money. And I learnt that really amazing, comfortable down-to-earth people are making crazy good money and if they can do it, then I can do it.” And that was the massive shift that happened for me, in my first retreat experience. And then from there, I have just been like, “I need to make this a priority for me, in terms of time, and also in terms of the money investment.” Because I think people think too that, it’s like the fear goes away of investing in time, but it’s still, every time I outlay money, to this day, it’s still like, “Oh, my gosh, it still hurts. It’s still a bit scary.”

KELLY:

I agree. Just no matter what you spend money on in your business, because it’s your business, it’s your soul. It’s what you’ve built up. But you’ve taught me very much so, that you’ve got to invest, and that’s what it is. And like I said, it’s having the right mindset going into it, because I do think if you went into there being like, “Oh, my gosh, I’ve just spent 10 grand on this bloody retreat and they didn’t even serve me coffee when I walked in.” And then you’re a bit cold towards everybody else, you wouldn’t have got the best experience out of it.

And it was the same with your retreat. Yes, we had a couple of things go wrong, but we were all so positive and we were like, “We’re going to get there. We’re all going to be there with each other. We cannot wait.” And the women there were amazing. We had so much fun and we really made the most of it. And once again, it was being in the energy of all those women, who are all learning and who are all sharing their experience. And like, “You can do this.” And they were like little breakout sessions without even realizing through lunch. Leah and Alisha were talking, and then I was talking to other people. It was really cute. It was really awesome. And that’s what I mean, I guess you can learn basic things too, but I do agree, you learn from lots of people.

CLARE:

So let’s backtrack a bit. Let’s go back to the time when you made the decision to go, “Cool, I’m going to go on Clare’s retreat,” because I saw your name pop up in my DMs. And I was so excited that we were going to get to hang out again. So what led you to say, because it wasn’t long after we’d actually done the retreat with Ruby, that my retreat popped up, so what led you to say, “Cool, I’m going to come along and I’m going to do another retreat”?

How retreats can be a way to be in the energy of your mentors

KELLY:

Okay. So hope this does empower people to go on this retreat because they’ll probably relate to me quite a lot. I’ve followed you on Instagram for years. And I know that you’re a high-level business coach, to the point where I still remember going to an industry beauty event, and I carpooled with a friend and we were talking about getting business coaches. She was like, “I’ve seen Clare Wood.” I was like, “Yeah, I’ve seen Clare Wood too.” And we saw on your website, it was like, “I only coached six figure businesses and above.” I don’t think it said exactly that, but something like that, we were like, “Yeah, I know. But she says this.” We’re like, “Yeah. Okay. We’ll wait till we get to six figures and then we’ll start coaching with her.” So that was always my goals. I had a second that ticks over to 1,000,0… “I’m going to start coaching with Clare.” But I was like, “I really want to get in your energy beforehand.” And also I know that you are so smart with money. And I was like, “That’s what I need to be around me.” Because if I want to become a 50K a month business, I need to know my numbers. I need to get on top of this stuff. It’s very important for me. And yes, I’ve had business coaches in the past, but I’ve never learnt that from anybody. And so I was like, “Do you know what? I’m going to go to this retreat because then I get to be in Clare’s energy. I get to see what she’s like as a coach, I get to learn golden nuggets from her. So either way, I’m going to get a lot of value from it.” I was like, “This is worth it.” I knew how much you were charging for coaching because I’d asked a few people. A bit cheeky. And I was like, “Oh, yeah, this is so well worth it.” So for me, I was like, “This is a well worth investment in my business. And I’m going to just learn so much from Clare in general.”

CLARE:

Ah, well, I was so excited when I saw that you’d signed up and that we’d get to spend the weekend together. So thank you for coming along. Thank you for choosing. This was the first time that I hosted a retreat and it sold out. I was so excited. I found a beautiful home. I had a great plan for the event. And as you alluded to earlier, things did not go to plan for this retreat. So would you like to maybe share a little bit about what was going on at the time, that the retreat happened?

KELLY:

Do you know what? I don’t think anybody could have predicted that. I mean maybe now when we look back, given how wet the weather has been in Queensland this year, full stop. But there was that extreme weather event and it was interesting because I drove up on a Friday. I was checking in. I was like, “I’m going to do a bit of shopping to get some new outfits,” and half the shops were closed. And I said to one of the shop assistants, “Is this from COVID?” And she’s like, “No, there’s an extreme weather event. There’s flooding all over the Sunny Coast. Everybody’s left early to get back to their homes.” I was like, “Ah.” She’s like, “Where are you from?” I’m like, “The Gold Coast.” She’s like, “Oh, well, you are going to be stuck here for the next week.” I was like, “Oh, it’s just drizzling. It’s not that bad.” And sure enough, there was all this flooding. We were all stranded there for a few days. So it was to the point where I’d even gone to pick up some of the girls because I was like, “Yeah, I’m five minutes away from you all, going to pick you up.” And there was flooding on the road. I was like, “I can’t get through.” And it was a bit panicky. But at the end of the day, there was a period where it stopped raining. I think the roads dried out for like an hour and we were there in a heartbeat.

CLARE:

You’re right. Honestly, it’s something that you couldn’t have predicted. I’d actually been in Sydney myself for a couple of days before, at another event. And when I was flying into the Sunshine Coast, it was one of the most scary flying experiences I’ve had, because all this rain happened, the plane was getting thrown around and they said it’s not safe for us to land. So we ended up circling in the air for about an hour and a half. And I remember the pilot going, “We’re going to attempt a landing, otherwise we’re going to have to divert the plane.” And I’m thinking, “Why are you attempting a landing if this is so risky?” So it was this horrific landing. Everyone was doing the crosses on their chest. When we landed, everyone clapped that the plane landed safely. And I thought, “This is not good. What is going on?” So get to the house and then I’m on the news, and it’s just like this flooding through the Sunshine Coast. And I just thought, “You are joking me. I have looked forward to this retreat for so, so long.” And my biggest priority was obviously everyone’s safety. And people were saying to me, “We’re driving up,” and people contact me, saying, “The roads are blocked. Should I go this way?” And on the Saturday morning, I made the really tough decision to say everyone’s safety is way, way more important.

We’re going to have to call the retreat off. The chef couldn’t come. He got flooded into his house. The videographer got flooded in. Half of the retreat attendees got flooded in various locations and were unable to attend. But there were a small group of us. There was five of us in the Sunshine Coast. And a few of you were messaging me, saying, “If there’s any way we can still do it, we’d love to.” And I said, “If there’s a way we can safely do it, let’s give it a shot.”

And then the weather, like you said, cleared for a little bit and I said, “Bring your clothes in case we all have to stay at the house,” because the house is quite high and dry. And yeah, you said exactly the right thing before. Out of a situation like that, everyone was so incredibly understanding, that we couldn’t have the chef in attendance, things weren’t quite the way that we wanted, but everyone who was there, was so committed to the process, they were so positive. And all of those things actually disappeared away, once we got going, didn’t they?

KELLY:

Once we got to the table and we introduced ourselves, and we started doing the activities that you were sharing with us, the vibe was raised immediately. We were like, “This is what we’re here for.” We were like, “Oh, my gosh, yes.” We just got into it.

CLARE:

Something really cool happened with both you and a couple of the other attendees, almost straight away. Talking about that energetic shift, remember your phone just kept binging?

KELLY:

Hope that you were referring to that, yeah, which was the most craziest thing. So I had made one Instagram reel and I posted it that morning. And from that reel, I think that day, I’d have to go back and have a look at numbers, but I believe it was over $2,000 worth of sales, just randomly, that came from that one Instagram reel. And yeah, it was like every two minutes. I was like, “Oh, there’s another sale. There’s another sale.” I was like, “What the hell is going on?” And I think it was just being in the energy of everybody. We were at the moneymakers retreat and we’re making money here. It was really cool. And I hadn’t experienced something like that before. So I was like, “Wow, this is awesome.”

CLARE:

And one of the other attendees was launching at the same time too, Jennifer. And I remember she was the same. She’s like, “I’ve just made another sale.” And she’s like, “I don’t even know how this is happening.” And I truly believe that sometimes when you put an intention out there and you say, “I am ready to level up,” and you say it to the universe and you take this big, bold action, that sometimes things just fall into place and you’re like, “Wow, isn’t it crazy how one thing led to working with-”

KELLY:

Magic of the retreat.

CLARE:

Yeah. I love it. I love it. So can we talk a little bit about some of the learnings that you had over our two days together?

What Kelly learnt at the retreat with Clare

KELLY:

Okay. So the biggest thing for me, is money mindset. And looking back now, I’m like, “Ah, good on you, Kelly.” I went in there being like, “Oh, yeah, I’ve got a clean money mindset. I know what I’m doing. I’ve had abundance hypnotherapy. I’m good.” And then all these other things came out and I was just like, “Oh, okay. I’ve only scratched the surface.” And now it’s something that I do believe, it is always going to be a work in progress and you do have to have a really clean money mindset, and consistently be learning on different elements that could be tugging different strings when it comes to earning money in your business. But that comes down to your mindset first and foremost. And I didn’t quite realize how much more stuff there still was to work on. I think we had gone through what’s our current money story, what has our money experience being with our parents? What do we believe to be true about money? And the biggest one, which even now, I’m still journaling now, is like, “What do I actually want in life? Why do I want to earn that amount of money? What do I want my life to look like?” But also true from there, you’ve really given me permission to be like, “Can you start doing some of those things now?” All of a sudden going to start earning your goal amount of income, and then all of a sudden you’re going to start living that life, like, “How can we start implementing little things now?” And that was the biggest takeaway for me because I was like, “Oh, yeah, hadn’t really given that much thought before.” But it’s true, because it makes it more within reach and more practical, and that makes owning a business more fun. And so that in itself, was worth going to the retreat for and fighting floods for, I mean, in the safest way possible.

CLARE:

That’s it, exactly. Yeah. I think there’s this conception that money mindset is work that you do once, and then it’s done in dusted. You read a book and everyone goes, “Yep, got money mindset down pat.” And I’m like, “Well, I am a money mindset mentor and I am constantly redoing this work.” Every time you break through a new, whether it’s a story or a new income level, new stuff pops up, and new fears, new anxieties. And so it’s almost like that every new level you reach, you then have to start that whole process again. Because even though you might have conquered your mindset to get you to one level, it’s then breaking through that next level of thinking. So I love that you’ve shared that. Another two things that I really intended to happen from the retreat experience, was connection.

So I’d love for you to share your experience at both of the retreats that you’ve attended, the power of meeting other business owners.

The power of meeting other business owners

KELLY:

Yes. That’s my favorite thing because I’m an online business owner and it can be a little bit lonely. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got a very connected community and I do have friends, but it’s sometimes… And I was thinking about this the other day, because I hosted a workshop on the weekend with a friend and now I’m in the middle of a launch, and I was talking to a friend who doesn’t own a business. And I was saying, “Oh, I’ll get back to you later. I’m so exhausted. I’ve just hosted an event. And now I’m in the middle of a launch.” She’s like, “Yeah, I saw the event. It looks fun. Oh, okay. Hope your launch goes well.” And people who just don’t own businesses, don’t get it. Because, yes, the event was fun, but I was bloody exhausted afterwards and yes, a launch, it will go well, but there’s so much that goes to it. It can be quite, not energetically draining, but it does take a lot of energy. And so it’s really hard sometimes when you’re explaining to friends and family, who aren’t in business, they’re just like, “You’ve got this. Yeah, look good. It looked cute.” And you’re like, “Oh, cool. There’s more to it than that though.” So to be able to connect with business owners who do get it, oh, there’s so much gold in that. So you’re like, “Yes, you understand it. Thank goodness.” And from there it’s been awesome, because we had Alisha from The Social Impact there and it was so great to be able to meet her, because obviously I’ve done Rise with Reels before. So to actually meet her in the flesh, and she was like, “Oh, my gosh, even I’m loving your reels. Your transitions catch me off guard.” I was like, “Oh, my gosh.” And then she’s given me lots of tips and tricks as well. But also, Leah from the Productivity Queen, I’d met her at drinks with you a couple of weeks earlier when we actually caught up with Mon from Rise with Reels, from the Social-lister. And she was like, “Oh, yeah, I’m a productivity coach. I just help business owners get shit done.” And I was like, “That’s what I need.” And then from there, she came to the retreat and I got to know her even more. I find out what she actually did more and now I’m about to work with her, so she can help to systemize a lot of things in my business. And I’m like, “This is going to help me to create more space and abundance in my business.” And it’s come from your retreat, because this is a long-winded story of it. First you’re like, “What do you want your most abundant life to look like?”

And I was like, “Okay.” And I said this to you the other day if one of it is to be able to have business friends, or friends who have more flexibility in their week, and then be able to dress up nice and go over nice lunch with their midweek and be boogie. If we want to get champagne, we can, if we want to drink cocktails, we can. And I can actually do that now. I don’t have to wait until I’m earning 50K, 70K, a 100K, in my business, I can do that now. But then I’m like, “Okay, do I actually have the space in my calendar to do that now?” And so Leah’s like, “So many business owners like you come to me, this is exactly what I can help you with.”

But at the same time I met Jen, from Skincare Business Foundations, and I’ve had her on my podcast and I’m now an affiliate for her program, and she’s an affiliate for my program. And we’re more or less in the same industry. I service the professional beauty industry. A lot of women in that industry want to create their own skincare lines. So I was like, “This is an awesome connection. I’ll add you into my Facebook group.” I’m in hers. And I wouldn’t have met these people if I didn’t go to a retreat.

CLARE:

The relationships, I think, that you’ve form over a retreat are so different to a networking event. There’s one thing of going and going “Hi,” and hanging out with someone for an hour at a networking event, as compared to actually spending a couple of days in someone’s energy. And you will either know that you click with someone on a level. Like you and I went and had drinks after Ruby’s retreat. If you just click with people, you’re like, “Hey, we should catch up.” And I don’t think you get that at the same level at a networking event.

KELLY:

Not at all. And even Michelle Gordon, met her at Ruby’s retreat. I know she was going to come to yours. We have phone calls every now and again. We’re total different age groups. She lives at a total different place and I’ll be like, “Hey, how are you going?” And she’s like, “Oh, I’m going through shit.” And I was like, “Let me know if you want to chat about it,” and we have a phone call. She’s like, “Thank you so much. Let me know when you want to do the same.” And I’ve done the same to her.

I’m like, “Hey, let me know when you’re free for a chat,” because we get it. And you wouldn’t do that to someone you’ve just met at a networking event. You just wouldn’t, because I’d be like, “I don’t care.” But I think, because you spend two days with somebody, you’re going through the same stuff and you’re quite vulnerable. They’re like, “I get it. I’m here for you.” It is a special thing. I can’t even explain it, but… Oh, you’ve been traveling. Did you ever go on a Contiki tour?

CLARE:

And people can’t really sometimes understand it. I met one of my boyfriends actually traveling, and people are like, “You’ve known the guy for two weeks.” And I’m like, “But we were together 24/7.” And I’m like, “I feel like I know more about him than I do about someone you date casually for six months.” It’s just such a different energy when you are immersed in time with someone. So totally understand.

And yes, I’m now working with Leah and this is one of the things that I spoke about on my money talk recently is, you actually are making money sometimes from the people inside the retreat, because you end up working together in different forms, or to your point, becoming affiliates and really building those relationships. And then the last thing that I wanted the retreat to be is, I called it relax, an opportunity to rejuvenate and to actually just stop being in the busyness of business and to take time out. So as much as there was a lot, I felt like particularly with ours, because we had to cram a lot of stuff into a short period of time, but did you feel like you got the chance to unwind, and disconnect, and chill?

KELLY:

Whenever I think of your retreat, I just think it was a beautiful rainy afternoon. We’re in that lounge room, we’re in the yoga mats. We had the crystals out, there was a nice smelling candle, might have been incense. And we did that beautiful meditation. When I think of your retreat, that’s what I think of. Of course, there was so many other amazing things, but I think that was the best part because, oh my gosh, that meditation was just insane. And to do that, to finish off the retreat, it pulled it all together. It was like tapping into your higher self, was really cool. So definitely felt relaxed.

And I think everybody said that there are a few other women there who were stressed, and busy, and working in it, and being in their business all the time, they actually didn’t have an opportunity to step out and we don’t. Because we want to do all the things and especially when you work for yourself, it’s so easy to just be like, “Oh, it’s okay. I can just open up the laptop and do some work now.” And I honestly, I did think that your retreat was going to just be go, go, go, go, go. So it was so nice to just be able to lie on the floor with everybody, and by that point we were all friends anyway, so it was like having a sleepover and it was just bliss.

CLARE:

Oh, I’m glad that you enjoyed that. And whether you come on my retreat or go on any retreat or not, there is so much power in meditating in a group. And it’s something even me and my hubby, I have such a different experience meditating next to him. There’s something energetic that happens. And every time I’ve meditated in a room, particularly a room full of women, it’s like this… I can’t even explain it. So I really do encourage you, if you’re listening, to go and have the opportunity to meditate in the presence of other people. It’s really, really beautiful and really transformative.

KELLY:

Very powerful. We all woke up feeling very refreshed. I think that was very needed after a little bit of a hectic weekend. It was just, yeah, very amazing.

CLARE:

And it was such a shame that everyone did get caught at the coast for another couple of days. But the one thing that I would say is that, after that retreat, I am sure my next retreat is going to be completely drama free. So I’m excited that the next one will run a lot smoother. So after the retreat, obviously that wasn’t where our journey together ended. After the retreat, Kelly reached out to me and has since become a private coaching client of mine, which is probably why throughout the episode, you’ve picked up that we’re talking to each other a lot and chatting to each other a lot. So it was really wonderful that you then chose to then leap in and take that experience to the next level as well.

KELLY:

Yeah. And from there, I’d said that like, “I wanted to work with you for ages,” but it can be scary even investing in a coach because you’re like, “Oh, are they even going to be the right one for me? Are they going to be able to help me?” And that’s why I was like, “I’m going to come to the retreat first,” because even if I decide that I don’t want to work with you, I’ve still got a slice of you. But from there I was like, “No, this lady who’s going to push me forward in my business.” I was like, “That’s the one.” So it was, yeah, a really good flow. It was always what I was planning to do. I don’t know if it was what you thought I was going to do. And I would always do that because I just love doing that because you get to know somebody a little bit first, and vibing with somebody’s really important, especially when you’re working with them closely in your business. So that was why that was important to me.

CLARE:

Well, I’m super excited to be working with you. And like I said, I’m going to have you back on the podcast when you’re hitting your $50,000 a month, to share a little bit about the journey and how we got there. So I’m really, really excited to be working with you. It’s wonderful to witness the growth that’s happening. Both at the retreat and in the time since then, and I have to take my hat off because I know how scary it is to invest. And also I know how scary it is to do this work. And it’s something that I opened without the retreat.

Change is uncomfortable and you don’t really want to… If you hang out with people that make you feel comfortable, you’re going to stay where you are. And doing the work, changing things. It is about getting uncomfortable. It’s about getting triggered. It’s about going, “Oh, that doesn’t feel comfortable to me because I’m so used to doing things the way I’ve always done them.” And I honor the way that you push through the discomfort, push through triggers, and keep doing the work because that’s where the growth really happens.

KELLY:

And it’s only been a short time. The retreat was what, end of January this year? And recording this, we’re at the end of May. When I think about it, yes, obviously a monetary goal is always amazing. But also when I think about all the other shifts and changes that have happened in my business, I’m like, “Oh,” I was meant to go to the retreat. Let’s just put it that way.

CLARE:

Well, it was wonderful to have you there and thank you so much for coming on today, and sharing a little bit about your journey. If you were listening and loving Kelly’s vibe, and if you are in the skin industry or anyone who is, Kelly, how can people connect with you?

KELLY:

Always on Instagram. I do have a couple of platforms. I’m not just on Instagram. So I am @SkinQueeen with three Es on Instagram. I have a closed Facebook group called the Skin Lovers Unite! Group. I’ve also got a podcast called the Skin Lovers Unite! Podcast where I just talk all things skin on all of those channels and mediums. So you can find me in all of those places.

CLARE:

And I will share all of those links, of course, in the show notes for today’s episode. So do make sure you reach out and connect with Kelly. Thanks so much for coming on. And if you do want to find out a little bit more about the retreat, of course, all the details will be in a link in the show notes for today’s episode. Thanks for joining us.

If you are interested in going on a retreat, I would love to invite you along to the Level Up Retreat happening on the 16th and 17th of July in the Gold Coast Hinterland. This is an immersive experience where we will spend two whole days working on your business. There’ll be powerful money mindset lessons, so that you can really set yourself up to step into your next level. There’ll be opportunities to relax, rejuvenate, and unwind, through group meditations and there’ll, of course, be opportunities to connect with other inspiring business owners. If you are interested to find out more about the retreat, make sure you click on the link in the show notes for today’s episode. I would love to invite you along for an indulgent and transformative two days.

Thanks so much for listening. If you love this episode, please share it with your audience. And don’t forget to tag me on Instagram at @clare_wood_coach. And also make sure you hit subscribe, so you never miss an episode. Have an abundant week and I look forward to talking to you again next week.