WELCOME TO THE GOLDEN LENS, Real conversations with real women who work at the intersection of their intuition and intellect.
We had the pleasure of connecting with Kylie Clayborne Business Coach for soul- centered & secretly ambitious women based in Austin TX. We love Kylie's vision of helping people celebrate the things that make life worth living—spending time with those you love; enjoying good food, drinks and music; and creating a business that refreshes and reflects who you are. The following images were shot virtually in Kylie's home.
Virtual photoshoot with Kylie Clayborne, at her home in Austin, Texas. Photo credit Lisa Haukom, The Goldenbrand Studio.
Welcome to The Golden Lens, Kylie! Where do you live?
Austin, TX with my husband and our two boys.
Do you know your human design type and/or astrological sign?
Pices.
How do you describe your work?
I work with women who want to go from 0-$5k months in their business.
Virtual photoshoot with Kylie Clayborne, at her home in Austin, Texas. Photo credit Lisa Haukom, The Goldenbrand Studio.
Were your parents entrepreneurs? Did you have examples growing up of people following their passion and dreams or were you raised in a more traditional home?
Yes! I grew up around entrepreneurs (my Dad & my grandfather). My Dad started and grew a large business. He was very successful. I feel like what I learned about taking risks and money was from him. I know the ups and downs of growing a business because I lived it — in truth, it’s all I’ve ever known.
Especially as I’ve grown my business I feel grateful for this experience growing up! Even though the way I’m building my business is very different from the way my Dad built his, I have a lot of respect for his experience and how it has influenced me.
Tell us more about taking risks and learning from failure.
I’ve come a long way with failure! I’ve had to redefine what it means to me.
For years, I wouldn’t go after things because I was afraid to fail (I now call this failing ahead of time). I made failure mean things about me that it didn’t mean. I took it personally & it felt like a personal attack every time I came up short, so I stopped going after things I really wanted.
When I look back, what I see is that I was avoiding all the feelings that come along with failure — guilt, shame, inadequacy. But feelings are — vibrations in our body caused by our thoughts. What if I wasn’t taking failure personally? What if missing the mark didn’t have to mean that I was flawed in some way, just that there were skills I needed to learn or adjustments I needed to make?
This perspective shift changed things a lot for me.
Our brains are designed to seek out pleasure and avoid pain so it’s normal that we don’t want to feel the negative stuff, but when we live this way we end up with a half experience and half the amount of growth we want.
We don’t do the hard things because we are scared of how we will feel when we miss the mark. I learned that failure didn’t mean anything about me and if I was willing to feel all the “negative “ feelings that come along with going for my goals, then there wouldn’t be much that could get in my way.
My motto now is: I’m always learning or growing. Because even if I miss the mark, I’m going to learn what I need to learn from that experience — so I never lose.
What's something that you're still working on when it comes to understanding
yourself and how to work with your natural areas of genius or areas of opportunity?
I feel like this is never-ending journey, honestly, but lately this has looked like working with my brain rather than against it. Releasing all the ways I think building a biz should be and trusting myself to do it my way! Which can include naps and walks with the dogs in the middle of the day!
Did you always feel connected to your intuition or was it something you had to learn to trust and use in your business?
No, I haven’t. We don’t get taught how to do this. In fact, a lot of the messaging we get in the world steers us away from listening to intuition. We get told its woo-woo and unreliable, and therefore not as valuable. We value strategic decision making. I feel like listening to my intuition has been trial and error. I’m still learning to distinguish between my ego voice, because it’s sneaky, and my intuitive whispers. I think when you are willing to get it wrong and figure it out, you will figure it out. I’m definitely getting better at this.
"Even if I miss the mark I’m going to learn what I needed to learn from that experience, so I never lose."
Virtual photoshoot with Kylie Clayborne, at her home in Austin, Texas. Photo credit Lisa Haukom, The Goldenbrand Studio.
If you do, how do you strike a balance between intuition and strategy (intellect)? Maybe this is something you are working toward?
I do strike a balance because I truly believe that you can’t have transformation without structure and structure needs some creativity and flow. I see them as the dance of masculine and feminine energies in business. You need both! When I feel like they’re out of balance, I ask myself which I think I need more of today.
Most days I feel like I need a little bit of both — looking at the facts, looking at the numbers, and tapping and tuning into inspiration and creativity. When I feel off, I look at which I feel like I need more of. If I’m gripping I need to release resistance and drop into inspiration. If I’m all over the place, starting with the facts and going from there is what I need. So I think just knowing that you need both and seeing which you think will serve you best is important.
What are you most proud of?
That I’m just getting started and so excited for what’s ahead, and my willingness to bet on myself and my growth. The courage I’ve had to figure it out and get out of my own way. I’m really grateful to all the past versions of myself, no matter what hot-mess versions they were. They all belong!
If you could send your younger self a tweet, what would it say?
There’s more from where that came from!
Where do you find inspiration and motivation on the days you are not feeling it?
In everyday things — the things my brain might speed past. I slow things down and dial up the gratitude. What also helps is asking myself, "what would I be thinking if I were inspired?"
Best advice for someone struggling to trust themselves in their business?
There’s no right way to build a business. There’s just the way that you decide to make right for you!
Virtual photoshoot with Kylie Clayborne, at her home in Austin, Texas. Photo credit Lisa Haukom, The Goldenbrand Studio.
What did you enjoy most about our virtual photoshoot?
I loved working with you and the the open energy and sense of fun you brought to our photoshoot. Your ease and sense of certainty with the whole process felt effortless and I think that comfort helped me. It shows and shines through in our photos!
This interview has been edited for clarity.
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