Real Talk: Kim Palmer, CEO & Founder of Clementine
Kim Palmer is the CEO & Founder of Clementine - a confidence app to help working women who battle with anxiety and low self-esteem to feel confident, capable and on top of their game.
In this issue of “Real Talk”, Kim and I discussed building her startup whilst working full-time, the myth of work-life balance and much more!
Enjoy 😀
Zack
Hey Kim. How’s it going? Where are you right now and what are you feeling at this moment?
I’m ok. Feeling all the feels right now. It’s an hourly thing. I go from feeling grateful and privileged that I have a supportive family, living somewhere that is safe and that we are all healthy and happy. Oh and that my business Clementine is going well. Then I feel overwhelmed sometimes by stress and all the things I need to do. I feel guilty sometimes that we are happy and content. I feel a little unsettled as we are currently living at our inlaws during the coronavirus. All the feels.
You’ve been building Clementine for 3 years but only just started working on it full-time. Where did the inspiration for Clementine come from initially and how did you stay motivated to keep it going whilst also working full-time as a Strategy Director?
The inspiration came from a few different places. Firstly I experienced debilitating anxiety and panic attacks about 6 years ago. I basically did not look after my mental health for a very long time - I was stressed, worked too much, never gave myself credit for doing a good job and was a perfectionist who was always chasing the dream of happiness. It took an overwhelming crisis of confidence to help me to reset my entire life and part of my journey to recover was finding hypnotherapy.
Hypnotherapy was a game-changing tool that I used every day to help me get to work, cope at work and sleep. But it wasn’t until I started to share openly my struggles with anxiety and confidence that I realised so many other women felt and experienced the same feelings I did, it was just that no one spoke about it. It’s when I heard these stories that I started to form an idea that is now Clementine.
To be honest I never struggled with the motivation to build Clementine whilst I was working. I was also pregnant with our second son. I worked every night and weekends for a few years and I absolutely loved it. It gave me a new sense of purpose. The only thing I struggled with was the energy sometimes. The motivation was so clear - I was building something that was going to help people (massive win) and hopefully I was building a business that would allow me to live a more connected life with my family.
How did you take it from a side-hustle to a full-time job?
It took 2 years of me working on Clementine to get it to a point where I felt that I knew I had something that might be scaleable. But I knew that scaling would mean that I would need to focus on Clementine full time and give up my job. This was not an easy decision as I was earning a significant amount of money. My husband and I worked out how long we could survive without my income and I made the plunge.
We know that Clementine is dedicated to helping women build self-confidence, but where did your own self-belief come from?
I think this comes from my family. I grew up surrounded by a very big extended family - all my aunties and uncles and my Nana & Pop, they all helped to raise my sister and I. We went through some rough times when my parents got divorced but the love and support my sister and I had from our Mum and our extended family was unconditional and always there. They helped me believe I could do whatever I wanted, be whoever I wanted.
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Do you think a work/life balance is possible when it comes to building a business? How do you manage your own time?
I don’t believe in the concept of ‘work-life balance’. I prefer to not bother striving for this elusive concept and think about what I do every day that help me feel grounded, calm and content. It’s no secret that I am a self-confessed workaholic so I’ve really had to learn how to create boundaries for myself, for my family and for the business.
Simple things like not using social media at the weekends. Trying to not take my phone with me when I am with the family doing stuff together - these make me feel less distracted and more attentive.
How is Clementine adapting due to coronavirus?
For the most part, we are a digital-first business, but we had planned a number of events in 2020 and workshops. Clearly these aren’t going ahead so we are pivoting towards learning journals instead. Not digital either. We feel that it’s good to get a blend of multi-sensory experiences that aren’t always tech-focussed.
Where do you find inspiration?
Mostly I find new ideas when I’m not working. Walking is a good one. Or when I’m reading a book that has absolutely nothing to do with business. Or watching a movie. I love beautiful things so going to a book shop and flicking through photography books, craft books - all that sort of stuff. Oh and I love Courier magazine.
What’s one piece of creative content you’ve seen recently that has blown your mind?
Oh, good question. I haven’t seen much lately that has blown my mind. My feeling is that creatively, a lot of brands are finding this a difficult time. Thinking about the coronavirus, I did love how Brew Dog were so quick off the mark to create their hand sanitiser. I would say this was a genius use of ‘creative thinking’ to create a much-needed solution.
What’s your vision of the future both in general and for Clementine, based on where we are today?
We want to help create a world where women don’t feel like they need to keep rushing around. Don’t feel like they need to be perfectionists. Don’t feel like they aren’t good enough - because they are and are capable of achieving anything.
This means the future vision is massive, broad but focussed on helping women with their confidence.
Thanks again to Kim! You can learn more about Clementine here and connect with Kim on LinkedIn.
If you missed issue 8 of “The Weekly”…
We went behind the psychedelic scenes of new Netflix series ‘The Midnight Gospel’, learnt about a 16-year old writer taking the world by storm, checked out an AR/VR video chat tool, looked at Distance Disco’s pretty branding (teaser above)… and even more!
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BLUNT is a newsletter that takes you behind the scenes of creativity, with weekly interviews, news and stories. Read our previous issues and subscribe!