Kylee Leota is the Lead Coach, Chief Visionary Officer, and Founder of Elements 4 Success – a global organisation delivering transformational experiences to individuals, teams, and businesses.
After 20 years in the education sector, including leadership roles at both school and regional levels, Kylee discovered her purpose to empower people of all ages so that they can develop the confidence, skills, and tools that they require to live a life of their design and purpose and to have a positive impact further reaching than the education sector.
Through her own experiences both personally and professionally, Kylee is a passionate change-maker for leadership transformation.
Kylee strives to encourage others to Be Authentic, Be Courageous, Be Impactful, Be Your Best Self, and believes that each of us has the knowledge within ourselves to create success and to transform our goals and ideals, into a reality. By offering a supportive, safe and nurturing environment, Kylee has the unique ability to develop strong relationships and rapport with others and provides the tools that enable individuals and teams, a level of self-awareness and independence, to succeed on their own and achieve their personal and professional goals.
Her experience and knowledge of working with diverse learners to support others, develop their skills to live, and to learn and create the life they desire both personally and professionally.
In the current climate, Kylee’s ability as a high-performance change catalyst experience is a value add to any organisation wanting to lead the way, as her foundational understanding of how people think and process helps to create high impact, transformational and sustainable change.
For more details visit their website here.
Here we sit down with Kylee, to know a bit more about her journey as a leadership and high-performance team coach.
Q. What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
Kylee: My whole life I have wanted to help, support, and empower others. I wanted to value add to people’s lives. I grew up in a fairly traditional household (as did most of my generation) where security was key. Having a good and stable job, a house, etc were the hallmarks of success.
I didn’t recognise it at the time as entrepreneurial, but I do remember that feeling of restlessness if I felt I got stuck doing the same thing for a long period of time. Or if I thought there was a more effective way of doing things, but whoever I was working for wasn’t interested in making changes, because they liked the certainty.
Throughout my university studies, I always had a number of jobs going, I think at some point I had 6 different jobs at one time, whilst studying full time. Whilst they were widely varied, the common theme of all of these was connection, relationships, empowerment, and improving lives.
When I graduated I started teaching in one of the most complex schools at the time, Complex behaviour, disability, and trauma. What was highlighted for me during this time was that where I had the most impact and success with the young people I was working with was when I was creative and creating out-of-the-box solutions.
Seeing people succeed that society has written off has been a huge motivational driver for me. I don’t like being told that anything is impossible. I have seen that what can happen with passion, belief, and out-of-the-box thinking.
I have seen the power of truly understanding the “function of behaviour” to have a positive and impactful change at both individual and team levels.
I am inspired to support individuals and organisations to facilitate this change so they can be the leaders they wish to be and create the positive impact they seek.
Q. How did you get started?
Kylee: The universe really does work in mysterious ways. I never actually set out to become an entrepreneur. I was an accidental entrepreneur. The previous years leading up to my decision to leave a “safe” job were rough. I escaped a domestic violence relationship and was a single mother to three children. I was lucky, I lived to tell my story (so many do not), but it left scars and a lot of work to do on myself.
Through this self-discovery journey, I noticed that as I did the work on myself, I was struggling with feeling stuck. Stuck and missed those things that filled my cup, helping, supporting, and empowering others to the level that I believed I was capable of doing.
The final straw came when I injured myself (which at the time was devastating, but I now see it as the greatest gift) which led to me reevaluating myself and everything I was doing. I realised that what I was doing was no longer sustainable for me, my health or my children. I had to reassess.
I looked at my “WHY” and realised that I had viewed myself through what I did, rather that why I did things. I shifted my lens to how I could take everything that I loved to do to create a role for myself that enabled me to purposefully, consciously, and intentionally live my “Why” every day.
Creating this shift was huge and opened my eyes up to see possibilities and opportunities where I had been seeing limitations and restrictions.
This pivot was the beginning of me having my own back and choosing courage over comfort.
One of the biggest motivations for leaving my abusive relationship was I recognised that I NEVER wanted my daughter to think it was ok for a man (or anyone) to treat her like that, and I NEVER wanted my sons to think it was ok to treat a woman ( or anyone like that).
I had a similar epiphany with starting my business. I wanted my children to know that they had the power to change their circumstances. They could be the change, they didn’t have to accept the status quo if it no longer served them.
Glennon Doyle in Untamed says ” My children don’t need me to save them, they need to watch me save myself”.
By doing the work on myself and the work I do to empower others, I am empowering my children to see possibilities and opportunities and that you do not have to be defined by your circumstances.
I have never looked back.
Q. What was your biggest startup challenge? What steps did you take to overcome it? What did you learn?
Kylee: Coming from a non-business background, I believe my biggest startup challenge has been the self-limiting beliefs at times of “what were you thinking? You know nothing about business!”
I am a lifelong learner and a knowledge seeker, so this has been powerful for me to overcome these beliefs. Researching, checking in and, having my own coaches to navigate my thoughts has been fundamental to challenge my perceptions and courageously lean in.
I also recognised that I was pretty institutionalised into a structure, from working in the same industry for 20+ years, so having a mobile business with no set start or finish times was pretty challenging at the time.
I realised that I have to create my own routine, as there wasn’t one already established and when you are a passionate and enthusiastic person, this structure is essential to save you from yourself. Otherwise, you can burn out pretty quickly.
Q. What is the Most Memorable Thing You’ve Done Since you Started your Business?
Kylee: There have been so many moments already even though I am relatively new in my business.
But the client wins for sure!! The “aha” moments that they share are always memorable. I love watching them grow into themselves and achieve things they never imagined. Having the privilege to be a part of their journey is something that I am always grateful for and never take for granted.
I have also just contributed a chapter to a book about to be released in January. It is called “She Is” and it is a collection of 30 women’s stories from around the world and how they have come into their own power and that is something I am super excited about. I loved this opportunity for a number of reasons. It is a collection of stories of people’s lived experiences. My hope is that we can learn from our collective experiences. I love the fact that is about building each other up, rather than comparing and tearing each other down in order to succeed. There is too much unkindness in the world. Now more than ever we need hope, kindness, and compassion to see our way through these times.
My big passion project has been taking my self-reflection and learnings of overcoming adversity, moving from survivor to thriver after Domestic Violence and to encapsulate this into lessons of how to Lead yourself and others impactfully, through my I.N.F.I.N.I.T.E Leadership program ready to launch in early in 2022. In the last few years, we have all had to face adversity in some way, shape, or form. These lessons are universal to help us thrive.
And I am so proud to have secured a physical space in Brisbane to run my coaching from as well as workshops and bespoke training. I am grateful to the people in my life that form my support network. Without them, I would not be where I am.
Q. What is one book you recommend, and why?
Kylee: Only ONE book…. hhhmmmmm
I adore reading, so this is tough.
On a personal impact level: Untamed by Glennon Doyle was life-changing for me. It was perfect timing on my self-discovery journey and gave me permission to be true to myself, and reminded me that self-care is not selfish but rather selfless. In order to be the mother I want to be, I need to do the work on myself and normalise for my children that this is a good thing.
On a professional level: Anything by Brene Brown, In particular Dare to Lead. I completed the Dare to Lead training as well as reading and rereading the book.
My takeaway has been this:
In order to lead others effectively, we must first learn to lead ourselves. In order to lead ourselves, we must first know ourselves.
Doing this work will be some of the hardest you will ever do, but it will also be the most powerful and impactful.
Q. What are your top 3 favourite online apps, tools, or resources and what do you love about them?
Kylee: My favourite Apps currently are:
- Canva – I love creativity but am more creative with my ideas than my artistic skills, so Canva is fantastic.
- OtterAi – Coming from an educational background I can talk, often faster than I type. OtterAi has been fantastic for me to record my ideas and transcribe them into usable content for media and my books and programs. I do a lot of work also in the Deaf community, so accessibility is exceptionally important to me. OtterAi also allows me to create transcripts from the Radio segments I do every week so it is accessible t a wider community.
- Zoom – I love Zoom although I am mindful of Zoom fatigue. The primary reason I love it is once again accessibility. It increases options for my clients to interact with me, and also improves accessibility for those that need video conferencing options.
Q. In terms of legacy, what is the mark you’d like to leave on the world?
Kylee: I want my legacy to be one of hope and possibility. To see that you can be the author of your own story and not just a character in someone else’s.
That you always have a choice, even if they are hard at times. You can walk into your power and do not have to be defined by your circumstances. And you can always, always be kind in that process.
I want those that I connect with, my children, my clients, my greater community to see that there is opportunity and possibility in the world and that each of us has the ability to be the change we wish to see in the world.
Q. In one sentence, what’s the best advice you’d give to someone just starting out on their entrepreneurial journey
Kylee: Ordinary things done consistently, create extraordinarily.
To keep up to date with Kylee, connect with her on LinkedIn and Instagram.
