Fun, fearlessness and founding a joyful business, with Harriet Kelsall

21 years ago Harriet Kelsall was making jewellery on the side of her day job in IT. Today she’s founder of her highly successful bespoke jewellery company (where she still finds time to design), as well as in-demand creative business mentor and Chairman of the British National Association of Jewellers. She’s been a driving force behind Fairtrade gold, and is the author of an award-winning book The Creative’s Guide to Starting a Business.

I adored talking to Harriet. She’s fun, bright and endlessly positive. She’s also dyslexic, which, she says has been a big advantage in her journey.

We talk about:

  • The formative, experimental early days of her business (and why her first ring had a rabbit on it), and how she found a niche which no-one else was in.
  • The most important question to ask if you want to launch or grow a creative business that’s fun and rewarding for you
  • Self-doubt, and why Harriet doesn’t give it a look-in (I love her approach to this!)
  • How dyslexia has given her a huge advantage in her life and business
  • Finding a vision that’s inspiring and realistic 
  • Harriet’s ‘embarrassing’ writing process (my tip: I suspect a lot of creatives will relate to this) and her unorthodox route to getting her book published

 

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