She stood at the front of the room in a sleek red dress, addressing the audience of awaiting women. She wasn’t fussy over how she walked up, fumbling a bit with the microphone and showing her humanness. Her confidence matched her human element—she was the keynote, a savvy businesswoman, success story and cancer survivor.
It was Kelsey Ramsden, Profit Magazine’s two-time Canadian Female Entrepreneur of the Year, a distinction that came while working in a predominantly male field. Kelsey’s accomplishments came in the face of challenges and obstacles; ultimately though, it was connecting in with her gifts and talents that catapulted her success.
Kelsey’s keynote was authentic and delivered from the heart, and this similar heart-centred approach was evident when she spoke about the hard questions and heart answers—a winning formula for success that equates to the elevating of both passion and profit.
Living the Unique Path
Kelsey was born to live the path of being a little different, and her stories not only display this fact, but honor it, showing ‘different’ not as a strange or weird way of discerning her, but as a trait she can wear with pride because it’s brought her where she is today. Her presence on stage was palpable and she showed up as ‘the real deal,’ speaking with humility and fervor, in equal measure.
She was speaking at the Women in Biz Network (WIBN), Passion to Profits Conference in Toronto, and she’s set to take the stage on the west coast October 20th, 2014 in Vancouver, B.C. With her strong grasp of the tools and tips that foster success, Kelsey shared not only what it takes to turn a strong profit, but also the value of being ‘real,’ that aspect of humanness maintained by a rare few while driving forward in business.
WIBN founder Leigh Mitchell is among those who keep the human factor in business. She’s a small business specialist who has dedicated herself to the professional development of women, and she’s full of drive, compassion and care. She works hard and smart to build community and provide resources for success.
Being Innovative
Kelsey Ramsden is one of those resources. As a top-rated international speaker, mentor, coach and consultant, Kelsey’s newest ventures of a thriving coaching services firm and children’s subscription company are poised to enjoy rapid profitability not from a necessarily ‘sensible’ approach, but from a grist-to-grill work ethic and innovative ways of working.
Her pioneer perspective began from an early age, once having a teacher tell her she did an art exercise ‘wrong,’ a statement later disproved by scientific fact, and one that helped Kelsey see infinite possibilities in a perceptively finite world.
Kelsey is deeply intuitive and insightful, and I learned this not only during her keynote but afterwards, when I had the pleasure of sitting down to interview her. Her manner and unique perspectives did more than impress; they enlightened and inspired.
“Why do we consider risk to be the possibility of failure,” she asks, “instead of the probability of success?” A simple question, yet deeply profound, and when I dug deeper in conversation, it was clear with her articulate language that Kelsey had thought deeply on the subject.
She’s right, I thought. Why the hell are we so afraid to fail? And why do we set our sights as though when taking a risk, failure must be the inevitable destination?
It isn’t, and Kelsey illuminated that in one lucid question, with a just as clear response. “The ‘what if’ question can be so debilitating,” she says. “It’s the place where people are afraid, but it doesn’t have to be. Given that you will never know the outcome, that you will never have a statistical probability of success or failure…”
Unshakable Self-Belief
Her voice intensified as she spoke and what became clear was her unshakable belief that she can accomplish anything. “As entrepreneurs,” she says, “we’re the ones signing the front of the cheque, not the back. So when it comes down to it, who am I going to bet on: them, or me?”
Her undeniable sense of self-worth and self-belief rung true with the last two words, ‘or me.’ It’s every entrepreneur’s self-reliance and reliability that creates results, and Kelsey is clearly a consummate example of courage and hard—and smart—work.
Kelsey gives herself an ‘A’ from the start, and shows up every day to live her ‘A’ (if you’re attending the Vancouver conference, I’ll let Kelsey fill you in on that one!). She spoke with resolve that she is the one to rely on, that she is her own best bet in ensuring her success; it’s this steadfast confidence that’s neither arrogant nor brassy, but rather that real belief that every entrepreneur needs to know to succeed: that she can.
Allowing for Opportunities
Kelsey’s innovative business styles, combined with her resolute self-belief, have given her a unique approach to both life and business. Some of her philosophies both inspire and surprise—Kelsey doesn’t believe in goals, for instance, and believes work-life balance is a sham.
Her trust in life though is just as robust as her trust in self, and she truly lives the life of ‘allowing,’ particularly in her non-goal setting ways. Kelsey sets her sights in a general direction, like a ship charting across the ocean, and she discovers valuable and incredible experiences along the way.
Life is about allowing, and we’re set to sail on a beautiful journey, navigating choppy waters, sometimes with such success as we’re meant to see—and the experiences that accompany and make all the more rich.
“It’s about moving to a realm of more infinite possibilities,” Kelsey says, and I think, she’s so right… it is.
Kelsey’s non-goal-setting compliance standard brought an abundance of opportunities for her, too. When she set her sights on doing more speaking, for example, she found herself being sought out by top organizations from around the world. She didn’t say she wanted to speak in Russia in particular, yet the opportunity arose and she found herself speaking to hundreds of people in a country where English isn’t even the first language.
“I had a moment of ‘OMG, what am I doing here?” she says, when looking at her top-name counterparts on the stage. “Then I looked around and felt underwhelmed, realizing I’m just like everyone else.” Kelsey’s humility, matched with her allowing spirit, provided an incredible opportunity and one she rose to with her innovative ways and strong self-belief.
To Kelsey though, it’s about being real. To hear her speak is to light a fire in you to live your most true self every day. Her belief in the infinite, and her innovative ways of seeing all that’s possible, are paired with such a real element: being human.
“Sure, I was featured in Chatelaine and on the cover of Profit magazine, but at the end of the day, I’m a human being,” she says. “Am I genuine? Am I being me? How about me crying on the floor when I found out I had cancer, or me wiping bums of a two year old?” she asks.
“If I’m not being me across all those spectrums, then the former doesn’t matter.”
