Startup Life With Karen - Edition #1

Startup Life With Karen is your go-to for exploring transformative solutions, following Our Kinds’ journey to redefine reuse, and equipping sustainability leaders with tools to create lasting, regenerative impact.

Founders can feel like they need to know it all.?

Hungry teams aspire to — together.?

Founders come to start up life with limited experience from their lives/careers...

Experience and knowledge that grows as you settle into understanding complexities across concepts, sectors, cultures, finance, governance, and more.??

If you try to get and stay on top of it alone — you will fail.? But a fractional team approach will make you whole.?

Once you attract your fractional team — take their advice and grow.??

A few months ago,?Anf Chans ?suggested that I write a weekly newsletter.?

To be honest, even though I write a mini post most days on LinkedIn, writing a weekly ‘newsletter’ made me want to stick pins in my eyes (that’s slang for "I would rather do almost anything else, but this").??

Today, before starting my weekly newsletter draft, I had a look at my engagement on LinkedIn and discovered that — PEOPLE ARE READING MY NEWSLETTER!??

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Dammit. That means I better keep going.?? ?

Thanks for the winning advice, Anf !?

However, I reckon one of the problems with the newsletter for me, in terms of my own flow, is that it is too structured for me. I’m not really a structured person — actually, not structured at all.??

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I thrive on finding simplicity in chaos.?

Maybe that’s exactly what makes me a suitable candidate for a founder.

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So, my dear reader, the weekly ‘news’ will continue. The format will not. ?

We will find some middle ground that makes it easy for me to write and easy for you to read.??

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Huge appreciation to our super-smart CMO, Anf Chans , who keeps our communications firing in just a fraction of the time and is growing a dynamic fractional team with Advisor Chris Hewson , Growth Entrepreneur Renee Cheah , and our new RMIT student interns, Zac Wijesinha and Bella Chen .?

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Now, here is a fraction of the photos from a week in the life of Our Kinds...??

1. In both Melbourne and Ho Chi Minh City, the best cafes involve a journey of discovery.?

2. Starting the day slow — thanks Cafe Scene for the café tips in?District 3 of Ho Chi Minh City!

3. Harry and Larry, a local neighbourhood general store café, is tucked down in a lane in Footscray, Victoria.?

4. Regenerating your mind?sparks new ideas.

20 minutes of transcendental meditation twice a day and anything’s possible.

Even writing a newsletter!?

Post meditation — it's then about making complex simple.

5. Early morning coffee in a Ho Chi Minh City park.?

6. The signature iced latte at OKKIO Quan 3, Ho Chi Minh City.?

7. Networking in Brisbane with the Chinese business and investor community with — huge thanks to Cissy Ma , Robam Australia and OrangeBiz Pty Ltd .? ?

It was an amazing opportunity to connect Brisbane projects with our Asian community stakeholders here and there…??

Big ideas start with an open mind and grow through connections with people who share your spirit. From Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City, Our Kinds is creating a global network of change makers.

Let’s keep regenerating, collaborating, and transforming together.

JOIN THE OUR KINDS MOVEMENT

We’re not just talking about change — we’re making it happen together. Join us as we continue to build this movement and BE the change we want to see.

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