THE year’s first Swan Chamber of Commerce Hour of Power featured two leaders in health and wellness businesses sharing stories about their business origins and how they overcame personal challenges.

Wellness Unleashed owner Kylie Moore first shared her experiences growing up in remote WA after being born in Dalwallinu.

She said her love of riding horses helped build her competitive spirit which she said she brought into the business world with her.

“That competitive side is huge for running a business,” she said.

Ms Moore started her first business with her ex-husband which is a remote contract firefighting company that did prescribed burning and mitigation work and is still running today.

However, she eventually sold it to her ex-husband and began to use audiobooks as a way to educate herself in how to start a business as a single mother.

“I had to get creative because I was a single mum,” she said.

“You cannot get money from the bank because it just isn’t there, so I had to learn and I started listening to a lot of audiobooks, met lots of people and joined business groups where I could learn from others.

“I began to implement what I learned, and that became one of my superpowers.

“If they’ve already done it, I don’t need to go research it and I just do it.”

Ms Moore said after the breakup with her former husband, she travelled Australia with her sons and learned how to be happy.

“On the road, the boys and I met a lot of unhappy people,” she said.

“It was incredible – you’d think you go on the road and find adventurous people that are out there just having a bit of fun.

“It wasn’t like that at all.

“The majority of them were leaving something, trying to find themselves again, and in that, as well as travelling with my children and listening to my audiobooks, it made me start thinking about what I wanted to do next.

“I decided it was to implement what I’d learned from business and life to help people, to put it simply.”

Ms Moore decided she wanted to do what made her happy and focus on health, which laid the foundation for the vision of Wellness Unleashed.

Manna Wellness director Greg Chaine spoke about battling through moments of doubt, learning to pare back the unnecessary and finding humility by recognising it was impossible to do everything.

Mr Chaine said his journey into wellness came from witnessing his wife Lauren’s struggle with an autoimmune condition that developed from the stress of working as a lawyer for a top-tier firm.

“She developed chronic idiopathic urticaria and would be clawing at her skin with terrible rashes and fatigue,” he said.

“Eventually we figured out that at least one component was this internal pressure on Lauren to continue to drive herself in an unsustainable way.

“One of the things at a psychological or existential level was Lauren learning to slow down and not drive herself so hard and not to feel guilt if she stopped.”

Mr Chaine said the experience humbled both him and his wife, leading them to recognise their limits and the importance of sustainable wellness practices.

He said Manna Wellness was founded on the principle of laying deep roots rather than seeking quick fixes, which he symbolised through the company’s tree logo.

“We don’t want quick fixes and there’s a lot of quick fixes that get offered in our current culture,” he said.

“Our logo symbolises the idea of laying deep roots, doing things that are wise and not particularly flashy but will lead to sustainable growth.”

When questioned by Echo News, both speakers shared their views on finding the balance between health and business.

“For us, it’s been actually a discipline to cut things off, to stop, to rest,” Mr Chaine said.

“We implement almost like a Jewish Sabbath period, 5.30pm Friday to 5.30pm Saturday, where we’re not allowed to work and we don’t chat about work.

“That containment has been the game changer for us.”

“I take time to look after my health where I can,” Ms Moore said.

“Yes, it’s terrifying with a great big debt, and my two boys renting and that sort of stuff but I’m really, really happy with where I’m at mentally.

“I’ve learned a lot from many places, and I look at my own team sometimes to inspire discipline.

“They use the health machines on their breaks sometimes, and when they do that, I try to mirror them.”

The speakers also shared advice on decision-making in business, with Mr Chaine emphasising the importance of accepting limits and taking leaps of faith despite uncertainty, while Ms Moore encouraged business owners to trust their instincts and act quickly when things weren’t working.