I have a wealth of business experience and am known for simply getting things done. With an early career in marketing and agency life, for the last 10 years, I have been growing and managing a successful franchise – The Passionate PA.

My client work has primarily focussed on helping businesses create powerful communications whilst embracing the power of outsourcing, as well as mentoring ambitious individuals to achieve their version of success.

I started my working life in London in 1999 doing work experience as a personal assistant for the TV celebrity and Interior Designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. I worked on tasks such as book launches, public appearances, office organisation, supplier management and even got to demonstrate my creative streak by hand painting china ready for a photo shoot. It was the experience that kicked off my passion for getting things done and working with entrepreneurial, inspirational people with very busy lives.

Whilst doing a degree at Bournemouth University in Advertising and Marketing Communications, I landed my first proper job in 2004 before the final exams had even begun. In true ‘Kate style’, the only option was to embrace all the opportunities and just ‘crack on’ with being a part-time Account Exec and full-time student.

At this full-service advertising agency in Southampton, I spent two years specialising in recruitment advertising for both local businesses and national household names. The experience was priceless as this was also where my love for business blossomed. With small businesses everybody mucks in, and that is exactly what I did – from the mandatory tea duty to the high-flying pitches to global brands, from getting the Director’s child to school to attending London award ceremonies – it was a job with a difference and a great time for learning. I even appeared in an ad campaign for Hertz Rent-a-Car when the model failed to show up!

I worked as an au pair in Queensland, a wine waitress in a ‘Mafia-style' Italian restaurant and a crew member on a river cruise ship. To this day however, I’m quite proud that I managed to steer well clear of any fruit picking! Whilst in Australia I also did all the travelling anyone could possibly do in a clapped-out VW camper, with a German girl called Nat.

After spending nearly a year travelling about the country putting new stores together for Toys R Us, I moved to one of the UK’s leading In-Store Promotions companies in Poole, Dorset, working on the Procter & Gamble account. With accountability for everything from creative briefings, to print management, to pan-European distribution of point-of-sale marketing materials, to the daily invoicing – making things happen was my job, on a fairly big scale.

However, as with all great things, there had to be an end. That end came in 2009 when I met Sarah Howells, the founder of The Passionate PA, and to be honest, fell in love… in love with the personality behind the brand, the idea that there was a way I could work as hard (if not harder!) than I was already but have much more fun and control over the financial and personal rewards. Joining The Passionate PA as a freelancer in July 2009 gave me the opportunity to bring together all of my experience and really make a difference to local business.

Just one month after giving up my secure, sensible employed job I inadvertently became the proud new sole owner of The Passionate PA - Sarah sadly and very unexpectedly lost her battle with Cancer. It wasn’t quite ‘the plan’, and the years that followed were more than character-forming, they were life-changing.

You can learn more about this experience through my appearance on Warren Munson’s Evolve to Succeed Podcast.

After trying various growth models, I stumbled upon franchising in 2012. Not caring much for its (then) grey-suited reputation, I decided the principles were sound for The Passionate PA and my own life plan so set about creating a franchise… from scratch… all by myself. Never one to shy away from a challenge, this chapter of my career was hands down the most fun, and the biggest learning curve.

After the groundwork and becoming established, the franchise took off. For the best part of a decade, my career centred around being the best franchisor I could be. I still worked with a handful of clients (because I do love a good project) but I spent 70% of my time recruiting, nurturing, mentoring and supporting my incredible team of Passionate PAs and building relationships with potential clients.

I was responsible for absolutely everything; from business strategy to brand marketing, franchisee training to crisis management. I led the business through a recession, a pandemic, and countless commercial challenges. It was incredibly hard work but so rewarding – the feeling of taking a new franchisee from £0 to £5k a month turnoverin 3-6 months was phenomenal. I loved every single moment, even the hard bits as that where I learned the most about myself, my business and people.

Life threw me some significant curveballs in 2023 and early 2024.

I lost my darling Mum to her fourth battle with Cancer in April 2023. She was only 73. It was one of the most humbling and extraordinary periods of my life to share her final chapter. Whilst I am very grateful to have had a business and team that enabled me to make that choice, providing end-of-life care for someone so special was a life-changing experience. I see now I returned to ‘normal’ far too soon and the relentless pressures I put on myself to be an extraordinary franchisor took their toll.

Couple my personal grief with a few too many other ‘difficult situations’ - both business and personal - and the result was significant burnout. Closing my business was one of the most heart-wrenching decisions I’ve ever had to make but I know it was the right one for my health, my family, my franchisees (who’ve all gone on to fly solo with my full and unwavering support) and indeed my future.

For the remainder of 2024, I am working with only a handful of clients but am still active in the business community. I will be taking on new clients, projects and adventures in 2025.

I live on a tiny farm on Dartmoor with my family. My personal mantra has always been to "create a life I don't need a holiday from" and slowly, I am getting back to that after the challenges of the last few years. This is just a peek inside my beautiful world:

Photos: 1) My husband (aka The Asset Finance Man), 2) My gorgeous labradors, 3) 'The Kids', 4) My love of baking and cheese, 5) Breath-taking holiday destinations, 6) My life-long bestie, 7) My rescue Dartmoor ponies, 8) Hands-on work on the farm, 9) Celebration cake making, 10) Fun in the sun.