2022 - a review.
Can we just take a moment and see, this is the last email of 2022! And wow - I think I truly fell back in love with blogging. I’m feeling nostalgic today, so let’s walk through 2022, what worked, what didn’t work and what I learnt from my second year of being an educator.
Learning and leaning into my role.
I think this year, I truly found my feet and place in this industry. 2021 I was a mentor to 6. 2022 saw me step into the mentorship role for thousands. I love every second of it and really do not take this privilege for granted. I think I found my feet a lot, my confidence and my mission. I became even more obsessed with what I do, and along the way, because of this wonderful community - found the encouragement and strength to keep doing it. It has been a learning curve, I still do makeup, but I have been learning about my own personal capacity for this and for mentoring in general. I am learning how to navigate this role at a higher level, how to manage a team, how to communicate and sometimes - I don’t get it right. But that’s OK. We are all learning and I’m learning with you. 2022 for me, was about navigating that and settling into that role.
Innovating.
I love learning. I probably try to learn something every single day from podcasts or books or just my own self development. I’ve really enjoyed looking at my own business, at this website, at my courses and what I offer here on By Kayleigh, and trying to innovate that and create something new. I have loved emailing and connecting with industries that maybe I wouldn’t have before, and trying to break barriers and create a more inclusive culture within our industry. I have really enjoyed all of that, and know that is where I am going even further into 2023. I want to continue having conversations with doors that are typically closed and keep assessing my own business and further pushing it beyond what we typically see.
My biggest programme yet.
Over the summer, I saw Season 3 of the By Kayleigh mentorship, take on its biggest season yet. I ended up with 13 mentees at one point, with 2 not in the group and 11 in the original group. It was huge, and impactful and awesome. But it was also tiring, and a learning curve in itself. I learnt a lot about the ways I could serve, the people I could serve and the people who I didn’t. I learnt about how I can improve the programme (innovate it!) as well as how I am transitioning into these role full time. It was a blessing, it was exciting and it was tough. I worked bloody hard.
The realisation that work isn’t everything.
One thing my mentees taught me this year - is the power of life. That we don’t live to work. That work is not everything. At the time, I was so absorbed in work, that it really opened my eyes to the fact that I was indeed, living to work! I have since taken a step back. My boundaries are so airtight, that I do feel truly rested and not overworked. I am learning this delicate balance between scaling a fast growing business, but also, still living for me, my family and enjoying the small things. I have become better with my phone, mindless scrolling and social media. I have instilled better personal boundaries in my work, such as not letting clients have my phone number and knowing what my capacity is. I am still learning some things, but I am ending the year brighter.
And more than anything, I have learnt that my mission is stronger than ever. The more people I speak to, the more DM’s I receive and the more I mentor, I find myself seeking new ways to level up this industry and a more powerful need for it than ever. I want to help women, I want to empower them, help them find their passion and spark, help them become financially free. Help them find independence and self love. And 2023 is going full force with that. And I can’t bloody wait.