I've been keeping a secret...

At the beginning of the year I wrote a blog post about change. I knew that 2017 was going to be a year of uncertainty, transition and letting go, and even though it scared me I also knew that it was necessary. My roots got unsettled and it’s been a year filled with confusion, but today I can finally say that the direction is set and the journey forward is clear.

So, let me start at the beginning. All through our 20’s Johan and I have dreamed of living and working abroad, and so, at the start of 2017 we decided that we were going to make that dream happen. This decision propelled a series of changes that sent us into limbo.

Change # 1: I left the wedding industry

What started out as a casual wedding stationery studio 4 years ago, has evolved into a respected name for branding and teaching creative entrepreneurs. Wedding stationery didn’t fit into the mix anymore, and felt completely out of place in a studio that was all about building successful small businesses. On the other hand, wedding stationery was tying me to producers, printers and clients in a specific location. I could no longer accept wedding work if I didn’t know if I would be available to see it through. So out the window wedding stationery went, and in came a fresh new strategy for making White Kite a booming branding hub!

Change # 2: I started a side-career

Moving a business to a new location meant that I was going to take a financial knock at some stage, and I realised that I needed to diversify my skills. Also, I’m a firm believer in “do more of makes you happy”, and yoga makes me REALLY happy. It gave me balance and joy, and I wanted to share that and make it a bigger part of my life. So, in April I did my first teachers training course, and I’ve been a side-hustling yoga teacher ever-since. This decision has given me the opportunity to explore a new talent, but also to experiment with a new sort of mobile business.

Change # 3: I took 3 months off

It was about more than just going on an epic 3 month adventure (you can read all about that here). Finding work and moving overseas was proving to be harder than we thought. Initially we believed that it would be quick to find a great job for Johan in the right location, but that didn’t happen. After about 6 months of relentless looking and hoping, we kind of hit a wall. We were so tired of keeping secrets and I was stressed out because I’d already cut out 50% of my business and income, without any indication of when the big move would happen… Change and uncertainty was starting to take it’s toll on us, so we left on a 3 month sabbatical to figure out what we wanted from life, but also to go and search for an opportunity in person…

Change # 4: I became a vegan

A rather unexpected thing to come from our travels was that I could no longer bring myself to buy, consume or support animal products. I won’t dwell on this for too long, but during our 3 months away my heart and eyes opened wide, and I realised that each one of us need to take responsibility for the kind of world that we want to live in. A big lifestyle change like this obviously comes with challenges, but it’s actually been one of the things that’s brought me the most peace and contentment.

Change # 5: I’m moving to Sydney

And there you have it. After a full year, we really did make it happen. I can officially announce that WKS will be based in Sydney from February 2018! I actually had my eyes set on Sydney right from the start… I love the weather, it’s beautiful and the creative industry in Australia will most certainly keep me on my toes! South Africa will forever be where I’m from, but to be honest, I never felt like SA’s the only place on earth where we could be at home or happy. For now, I’m just going with the flow, happy for a dream that came true, and excited for the new challenges and adventures that lie ahead. I trust the timing of our lives, and I know that we will be taken care of in this new chapter.

So what now?

The great thing about 12 months is that it really gave me the opportunity to prepare and work through all the emotions. WKS is now a full service branding studio that offers everything from strategy, design, content creation, copy writing and websites. I’ve also devised 8 new online courses for 2018 and I’ll be producing an exciting new stationery range for the online store. Our online store goodies will still be available in South Africa, since I’ll be setting up a little team to run things for me over here. I also still have the opportunity to work with my South African clients in exactly the same way as before, no matter where I find myself in the world (thanks Internet). The only thing that changes is that I now have a more holistic service to offer and better systems to make the process even smoother.

And that’s it my friends. C-H-A-N-G-E. The growth we get from it, makes all the pain worth it. I look forward to sharing my new life and adventure with all of you over on Instagram and Facebook, and all of the wonderful new clients and projects that await. Please reach out to me if you have any questions, or if you’d like to take advantage of my new services. I’m now booking projects from March 2018.