How to Strive For Nothing And Still Make a Big Impact, With Kim Palmer
Kim Palmer is the Founder of Clementine - a hypnotherapy app for busy women who want to find their inner calm, reduce anxiety, ditch self-doubt and get a great night's sleep.
🙏 Back when Kim worked in the corporate world, she started to realise that the things she thought would make her happy – money to spend on clothes and holidays – were not actually bringing her joy. As her mental health continued to deteriorate, Kim decided she needed meaningful change, which eventually led her to launch Clementine.
💥 Today on The Wallet:
1️⃣ Kim reveals how she struggled with her mental health and burnout, why she began wondering whether she was really happy, and how she eventually transitioned to being her own boss.
2️⃣ Quitting a well-paying job to launch your business is daunting, so Kim shares her experience of what worked for her, how she views raising funding, and why she is adamant on always asking ‘but why?’.
3️⃣ We’re always striving for something. Kim tells us why it’s paramount we learn how to stop the noise and create a path that works for you and you alone, as well as how to be more mindful about not falling back into old patterns.
Read the episode summary here
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You can listen (47 min) and subscribe here:
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don’t chase perfection
“I think I was chasing happiness, but I didn’t realise what made me happy and so I hung onto things like having nice clothes and going on holiday.”
Kim was initially very focussed on her corporate career and was subconsciously chasing happiness and perfection. In hindsight, she knows that the things she thought would make her happy — earning more money to spend on holidays and clothes — did not actually bring her any joy. Instead, she found herself trying to keep up with the Jones’.
It got to the point that even during her pregnancy, Kim felt she needed to quickly get a promotion before the baby arrived. All this led to her suffering from declining mental health and an increase in panic attacks. At this point, she knew something had to change.
After trying different types of therapy, Kim came across hypnotherapy, which she describes as feeling like ‘someone was sucking the poison out from me’.
When she went back to work, she began to open up more about her struggles with social and workplace anxiety. Kim was shocked to find that the vast majority of women she spoke to could relate to her mental health difficulties. This is when the idea for Clementine was first born.
It took a lot of bravery, soul-searching and honesty to come to the conclusion that the high-paid corporate world was simple not working for her. What she thought would be the source of her happiness came to be the opposite.
Clementine was initially a side hustle, a hobby that Kim describes as a tool that helped her own mental health. She continued to work her full-time job, but became increasingly absorbed by this passion project that was giving her purpose and making her happy. Eventually, in 2019, she quit her full-time job to pursue growing Clementine.
2. Always ask ‘why’
The idea of fundraising was initially terrifying for Kim. She decided to raise money after she used up all the tools in her toolbox. Luckily, she met someone who introduced her to investors and helped guide her through the process.
Kim says that although raising the first million was uncomfortable, it wasn’t especially difficult. Despite a lot of negative self talk, Clementine found incredible impact investors who were focused on the long-term goals rather than growth at all costs.
Finding investors that are supportive and nurturing is great, and Kim is also a fan of active investors because she loves working collaboratively.
While the mission for Clementine is the same as it was back when it first launched — to create a world where every woman can do anything they put their mind to — the way they approach it has changed.
The life and the noise that goes on around us is the biggest impediment to women’s ability to be happy and succeed. That’s why Clementine is now focused on helping businesses and organisations create products and services that help people feel better about themselves, not worse.
Kim is not a fan of following the herd and doing what everyone else is doing just because. One of the things she’s currently doing differently at Clementine is putting all their efforts into partnerships rather than paid media. She admits that is’s a gamble, but it feels like the right thing to do, and that she decided to just go with the energy.
Think creatively and try out different ways of solving problems. Learn to always ask ‘why’. This is important because it will help you do what feels right for you, and you only. This is especially essential for Kim because having an awareness and questioning everything is crucial if you’re the head of an impact business. For example, Kim is not keen on spending vast amounts of money on social media marketing because of what that money funds.
3. learn the art of pursuing nothing
The pursuit of nothing is the art of learning to just let go and detach yourself from the idea that you should always be striving for something. Remember that just because something looks like it’s the ‘right’ path, doesn’t mean that it’s the path that you should take.
Make sure that you’re always checking in with yourself throughout every part of your journey. Ask yourself, ‘does this feel right? Does it bring me joy?’. This will help keep you on the right path and prevent you from falling back into toxic old habits.
Instead of striving, just learn to be deliberate in everything you do, especially your mental health.
Pressure, Kim says, is the worst thing for her team and herself. Give yourself a longer runway and find more creative ways to grow sustainably. Try to accept that sometimes, great things simply take longer to achieve.
As Kim continues to grow Clementine, she says that she’s also embraced living a much simpler life with her partner and children. After all, true happiness doesn’t lie in material posessions.
RESOURCES:
You can follow and connect with Kim at:
Download Clementine: https://clementineapp.com/
Instagram: @Clementineappuk
LinkedIn: Kim Palmer
Resources mentioned in the episode:
Reframe: a virtual wellness festival from January 10th to January 31st 2022
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