Creating the Wellbeing Career(s) of Your Dreams

Interviews

Mar 20

“I REALISED I WAS IN CONTROL OF MY DESTINY…”

There’s an unspoken assumption that when it comes to our careers, everyone will find their “one thing” and (if we’re lucky and work smart), then we’ll thrive. Considering the investment of time and effort it takes to craft a successful and fulfilling working life, it’s not too surprising that most people focus solely on one role at a time. But what about those of us who have passions in several different areas? Is it possible to follow both, or all of them? You. bet. Kate Mosley, Co-founder of The Garden and an incredible Yoga Teacher, is a beautiful example of why not all careers have to be singular. She was one of the amazing speakers on the panel of the Story By “Inspiring the Vision” workshop where she shared her inspirational journey….

“I REALISED, I WAS ACTUALLY IN CONTROL OF MY DESTINY…“

Leaving education can be daunting, especially if you don’t have your career path set in stone. So, what do you do next? Like many of us, Kate went into a role that matched her degree. Having studied Marketing at university, she started working at her dad’s telecommunications business in a marketing role, but quickly realised that it was not bringing her joy. In fact, she hated it. “The office was in an area of Manchester with a high crime rate and there were bars at the windows. I was in prison! It was a ten month sentence of stress, guilt and unfulfillment.” On noticing his daughter’s unhappiness, Kate’s supportive dad suggested she pursue something different, and sat down to give some life-changing advice. “My dad asked me what the three things I loved most in the world were, and he then wrote them on a piece of paper and circled each. Children, animals, and health & fitness. We then literally made a mind map of career ideas together around those three big passions. It was a huge turning point.” This was the moment that Kate realised not only did she have a choice, but also that she could do anything she wanted and was in control of her own destiny. With that in mind, Kate hit the ground running and contacted local schools to pursue a career in primary school teaching.

A UNIVERSAL PULL, AN OVERWHELMING URGE, AND AN UNWAVERING FAITH

Committing to her passions of working with children (“As a child I loved babies! I would always want to hold them, play with them, feed them, help out with them. My dad told me I’d own a nursery one day and it really stuck with me!”), Kate completed her second round of studies and crafted a career as a primary school teacher. But, after a few years, she realised that the bureaucracy surrounding the education system was not nurturing the role she wanted to pursue forever, and in 2014, Kate built up the courage to hand in her notice. “Even when I was teaching, I had this pull to open up (what later became) The Garden. As scary as it was to move away from a career I’d just built, I had unshakable belief in myself, the idea and the universal powers that would help make it a reality.” Along with her best friend and Co-founder, Amy, a business plan was created for The Garden (“Always be open to evolving as a business, our plan was originally a raw food bar, and now we’re a health food cafe and juicery, as well as a holistic wellbeing hub!”) which secured them their dream location on the beautiful Hale high street.

”IT’S SO MUCH EASIER TO WORK HARD WHEN YOU LOVE WHAT YOU DO.”

After opening and working around the clock at The Garden, Kate took on any role that was needed of her to move the business forward, and still does today. Whether she’s playing chef, waitress, cleaner, barista, or anything between, she goes all in. “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life - what absolute bullshit! Find a job you love, and you will work harder and longer hours than you have ever worked in your life before. But it is so much easier to work hard when you love what you do.” The force behind Kate’s will to succeed is so obvious when hearing her talk about The Garden, I was curious… what gave her the drive to make it work? “Both my parents are such hard workers, and I saw the reality of entrepreneurship through my dad growing up, which was my norm really. My mum and dad instilled an appreciation for quality, graft and perfectionism in me that has stuck with me massively.” As Kate shares the desire she had to train as a yoga teacher on her journey to opening The Garden, it’s clear that whilst her passions had a holistic tie that complimented the other, they were in fact very different roles. Whilst she didn’t love some of the elements of working in a primary school, Kate really loved the teaching and it was something she missed, so teaching yoga seemed like a natural route to take to support her passion in health & fitness.

“I AM A CONSTANT WORK IN PROGRESS.”

As Kate established her yoga career, whilst also continuing to run and grow The Garden with her business partner, she steered towards serving mums-to-be in her classes following the birth of her own twin babies. “I wanted to share with others who were pregnant the importance of appreciating a slower pace of life in the run up to giving birth, and holding space for anyone who may need it.” It's another amazing example of how Kate listened to her passions and took action on them by making slight adjustments to her career in order to grow in areas that lit her up. These little (or big!) tweaks are often what help bring us so much joy in our career, because they’re guided by our experiences and what we learn that we love along the way. It was clear that Kate was especially good at this! Kate later explained her dedication to personal development, and her commitment to growth which seemed to go hand in hand with constantly evolving both personally and professionally. “I am a constant work in progress. If I have one skill that trumps my others, it’s a commitment to bettering myself. You have to be able to understand what you’re good at and what you need to improve in your life to up-level in all areas.”

“FAILURE IS THE ONLY OPTION.”

So, did Kate’s awareness and commitment to following her passions in her career make it pretty challenge free? “Absolutely not. Failure is part of the process! You will make so many mistakes regardless of your path, but it’s about how you deal with it. As long as you don’t dwell on it and pick yourself up and get back on track, you’ll take one step backwards and ten forwards.” As Kate continued to explain her strength in having incredible patience (which she realised since having her twins!) and being able to bounce back from a challenge, it was inspiring to hear the constant action that Kate had taken to get to where she is today. Whilst it can be so tempting to get caught up in the planning, mind-maps and personal development work, Kate beautifully demonstrates the importance of balancing all of the theory work with taking action. Dedicating time to either is an important task, but it’s when the planning and action is combined that the real magic begins.

“YOU CANNOT POUR FROM AN EMPTY CUP.”

As we start to talk about goals for the future, Kate’s focus lies around continuing to grow and look after herself in order to be the best she can in all areas of life, including her career. “Self care matters. You matter. You cannot pour from an empty cup. If you want to be the best person you can every day, do something you love - whatever it is!”. Kate has also shared her exciting hopes for holding space for more self care movements for others in the future, including the likes of meditation. If there’s one thing you take away from Kate’s story - I hope it’s the permission that we need to allow ourselves to lead a life that from passion. Passion for ourselves, passion for others, and passion for our careers (no matter what these roles look like and how they evolve). As we learn from Kate, a successful career doesn’t have to look a certain singular or traditional way. In fact, the more authentic, explorational and passion focussed, the better.

Story by Kate. The advice;

You can be and do more than one thing, as long as you’re passionate about it
If you’re stuck on where to start your career journey, list your top 3 passions and mind-map around them
Be prepared to work harder and longer hours when you do a job you love - it will be worth it
Let your passions guide your career journey and learn from your experience
Progress = happiness (a great quote from Tony Robbins!) so dedicate yourself to personal & career development
Do something you love every day, fill yourself up, and everything else will follow

Thank you so much to Kate for sharing her incredible story and wisdom with us all and being a panelist at the Inspiring the Vision workshop (and thank you to The Garden for being such a gorgeous venue!). You can find out about all of the incredible upcoming events and latest delicious offerings at The Garden over on their website, and check out the gorgeous artwork and menu design when you visit, which is all beautifully created by Kate’s sister, Alex! Follow Kate’s yoga journey and learn more about her classes over on her Instagram.