Kaylene Langford, the founder and resident business coach at StartUp Creative, has been helping folks start successful businesses for nearly a decade. It’s no surprise then that she’s a rich source of mind-shifting advice for those of us who want to break free from the nine-to-five and pursue our own creative projects. So, we asked Kay to spill the tea on how to move from stagnant to starting, the reality of morning routines, and what advice she would give to side-hustlers who want to take their biz full-time.

Hiya Kay! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your business? I’m a proud Guringay woman, author of How to Start a Side Hustle, podcast host and coffee lover based in Sydney. StartUp Creative is an online platform, podcast, magazine and community for creative entrepreneurs who are looking to turn their passions into viable businesses. I started it off the back of some corporate burnout in 2014. I had no business experience but had built a not-for-profit program that had many similarities to starting and scaling a business.

I had a little health scare that landed me in an MRI machine, wondering to myself, “WTF am I doing with my life?” After the results came back clear, I was forced to face my circumstances: I had been floating down the stream of life with no real direction, getting washed up against the banks and thrown about in the current. This painful wake-up call made me realise that no one was coming to save me, and that if I wanted my life to improve then I would have to do something about it.

One self-help book led to personal-development courses, mentors, coaches, a therapist and a meditation practice that created the space for me to imagine my dream job: coaching, running workshops, writing and speaking to fellow creatives, small-business owners and freelancers to help them learn the ins and outs of business so that they could make money doing what they love. Almost 10 years later, I’ve had the privilege of working with people from all around the world to help them start and scale successful businesses.

There’s heaps of advice out there, but you stick to simple, strong messaging, like your “just start” mantra. Where does this come from and how can creatives apply it? Starting, in my opinion, is the hardest part. But what most people don’t realise is that no matter how small, something is better than nothing. There’s a lot of motivational research that shows that when we set out to achieve a task, no matter how insignificant it may seem, it can have profound benefits. Completing a task triggers the brain to release dopamine, which is responsible for pleasure and satisfaction. We seek more of that reward chemical and it serves as a motivator to keep going.

You can sit on the sidelines and plan all you want, but the longer you sit waiting for the right time, the more likely you are to talk yourself out of it. No matter where you are and what stage you’re at in your life, career and business, just start. Take one step at a time. Keep your eyes on the end goal and try not to compare yourself to other people’s progress. Do what you can with what you have and watch what happens when you start to believe in yourself.

What are the biggest struggles you witness for creatives who are trying to turn their side hustle into a full-time biz? Comfort and comparison. Starting a side hustle is not an easy feat. It requires a new set of skills, learning on the fly, sometimes failing in front of others, admitting that you don’t know it all and riding the highs and lows of progress. It’s full of uncertainty and humans crave certainty. Our brains are literally wired to find and store known patterns as a way to conserve energy and automate behaviour patterns.

Starting a side hustle, freelancing or working for yourself are still pretty revolutionary career paths. Many of us have been taught to play by the rules so that you can follow the predictable and expected trajectory of adulthood: get a good job, buy a house, settle down and save for retirement. That may work for some, but for many, the thought of neglecting your passion, purpose and creative expression is not conducive to a happy and healthy life.

Going out on your own, creating something that’s never been created before, taking risks and sharing your art and passions with others is going to be uncomfortable and at times unpredictable. You’ll need to determine the level of risk and uncertainty that you are willing to take, but nothing new and exciting comes from staying the same. You just have to ask yourself: how badly do you want it? To put it in a blunter way, in the words of author Karen Lamb, “A year from now you’ll wish you started today.”

You’re a big believer in having some kind of morning routine. What are the benefits of having an AM ritual for busy entrepreneurs? To be honest, I’m not sure I can categorically say that it’s for everyone. In my book, I wrote about setting up routines to help you manage your time and get through a multitude of tasks. There is a lot of evidence about how building habits and routines is conducive to time-management which often leads to success (Atomic Habits is a really good book on it). But when it came to why morning routines work, it was really hard to find concrete proof in the many articles and advice columns that merely recommend to “use this successful person’s routine and you’ll be a millionaire”.

The closest thing I found was that for a typically healthy person, the body produces more dopamine in the morning to inspire them to get up and be active. So, by building a few habits on top of that naturally occurring process, you can kick-start your motivation for the day. For example, you often hear people talk about making their bed first thing in the morning. This can be a really simple and achievable task that, once completed, adds to the dopamine levels and inspires more action.

Mel Robbins, in her book The 5 Second Rule, covers a lot of research on the benefits of not snoozing your alarm, getting up straight away and undertaking one action. Whether it’s putting on exercise gear, meditating or picking up your journal, it snaps you into action, stops you from re-entering another broken REM cycle (which causes sluggishness) and starts your day with proof that you kept a promise you made to yourself the night before.

For me, a morning routine is simply the time I set aside to do things that make me feel grounded and clear. I hated having to rush out the door to my 9-5 with no time for myself, and once the day got started, it felt like there was no stopping. Starting my day with at least enough time to sit and have my morning coffee hot and uninterrupted is enough to give me the headspace to start my day with clarity, focus and intention for how I want it to go, not based on what everyone else needs from me.

Morning routines can sometimes seem aspirational rather than achievable. What are some practical ways that readers can implement them IRL? You do you! We all have different circumstances, commitments and environments that we juggle. A morning routine isn’t meant to be an unachievable standard that you set yourself – it should be based on what you need. Sometimes for me, it’s as simple as a 10-minute breathing practice with my eyes closed in bed and thinking of a word that describes how I want to feel in the day. The trick is to not be hard on yourself. Find what lights you up and add one thing that’s solely for you.

We tend to get up and repeat who and what we were the day before, regardless of how it made us feel, but when we take time to reflect on our thoughts and emotions, we can start to direct who we want to be rather than being dragged along for the ride.

What about the rest of the day? Are there any other habits that help you stay the course in your own business? Taking time off is a must. Set boundaries early on and get comfortable with saying no or responding to messages in your own time.

I’d also highly recommend lists! Research shows that writing physical lists with pen and paper and crossing off tasks as you go helps with focus and motivation. We live in a very digital world that is constantly demanding our attention and connection so having some good old-fashioned to-do lists, goals and brainstorming time off-screen is a good way to give your brain and eyes rest and tap into your creativity.

Finally, just be kind to yourself and spend time with people and in places that fill your cup and inspire you.  

For more small-business stories like this, visit frankie.com.au/strictly-business, or sign up to our monthly e-newsletter. Have a small-business story you’d like to share? Pitch it to us.