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Home / Lifestyle

Melbourne woman overhauls life to become an award-winning CEO in just two years

By Sophie Haslett
Daily Mail·
8 May, 2017 04:27 AM6 mins to read

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32-year-old CEO Kylie Travers went from being homeless to an award-winning CEO, motivational speaker and author within two years. Photo/Twitter/Kylie Travers

32-year-old CEO Kylie Travers went from being homeless to an award-winning CEO, motivational speaker and author within two years. Photo/Twitter/Kylie Travers

There are stories of triumph over adversity, and then there are stories like Kylie Travers'.

The 32-year-old CEO from Melbourne faced a marriage breakdown, homelessness and a rare bladder condition before she got to where she is today - an award-winning businesswoman, motivational speaker and writer, according to target="_blank">Daily Mail.

Travers shared her incredible story with FEMAIL, and explained why the habits of meditation and gratitude have seen her through even her darkest days.

Travers became homeless for the first time over the Christmas and New Year period in 2009-2010; she lived in a garage with her two daughters after leaving her partner following a marriage breakdown.

"Almost a year later I ended up back with my ex partner," Travers explained.

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"I became homeless for the second time in 2012 after we split a final time."

After couch-surfing for a period in Sydney, the 32-year-old moved back home to Canberra, when she made the decision to throw herself into what she had always done for a living - writing:

"I had my blog even before I became homeless," she said.

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"While I was in a period of huge disbelief as to what had happened to me, I knew that the only person who could get me out of this was me.

"I had the blog, I'd already written one book.

"It was difficult, but I was fortunate insofar as I lived in Australia and so was able to get financial help from Centrelink for my daughters.

"I worked really hard, buying and selling things on eBay."

While many might have felt desolate when Travers's two daughters, Mele and Halia, were diagnosed with learning difficulties in 2012, Travers said that practising gratitude and meditation through times of difficulty have proved immeasurably helpful:

"Even when the worst things have happened to me, I've written a list of why I was grateful for what had happened," she said.

"You can't change a situation, but you can change how you feel about it."

A year later, in 2014, Travers founded her own company - Occasio Enterprises - she remains its CEO, as well as being a writer and speaker.

"My company buys websites and monetises them. It also connects influencers with people and shares blogging and finance tips.

"It's totally self-taught," Travers added, when asked how she learned all of this.

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"I attended and spoke at a conference in 2011 on how to make money from blogs, and learned a lot from other mentors. I implemented that hugely when I set up my business in 2014."

The award-winning CEO said that even though life has thrown a lot at her - including a shock diagnosis of an extremely rare bladder condition in 2015 - she remains grateful:

"I'm not the homeless girl anymore. Finally, in the last year I've been starting to think things are going my way."

Speaking about her tips to help other people save money, Travers said that she has always 'rounded down' how much is in her bank account:

"If I have AUD $115.80 I'll say $110 and put that $5.80 straight into a savings account," she said.

"That money can accrue to hundreds over the course of just a month."

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The 32-year-old also said it pays to compare your services at least once a year, and go through everything you're spending cash on:

"I've always been interested in money. I remember at age 13 sitting down and asking my parents to give me $40,000 for a house. I'd figured out exactly how I was going to pay it back. Needless to say, they didn't give it to me."

These days, Travers has won awards for her business, and is regularly booked to speak at events on finance, blogging and domestic violence:

"I've learned that it's okay to ask for help," she said.

"I kept it all really hidden about what was happening to me for a long time, until I broke down one day and sent my siblings and parents an email asking for specific help with the school run and my children.

"I was determined to give off the impression that my life was fine from the outside, but you've got to ask for help."

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Travers's blog posts are often extremely popular and include lots of practical advice about making money from home, monetising a website and paying off huge amounts of debt:

"My most popular post ever was how to get the money to leave an abusive relationship," she said.

And while Travers explained that she will never be able to forget what happened to her - partly because her children ask her about it, and partly because she does talks on the subject - she also said that being grateful is her norm:

"There are moments when I struggle with aspects of my past, and there are definitely days when I can't cope," she said.

"But I know that on those days I won't be able to work and that's okay. For the most part now, I am grateful."

From homeless to CEO: how Kylie did it:

* Kylie Travers became homeless for the first time in 2009. She later went back to her partner after ending things, and ended up couch-surfing again when she finally left him in 2012.

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* She already had a website at the time, and had written a book. Rather than get a different job, Travers thought she would return to writing.

* She implemented knowledge from a talk she had attended in 2011 about how to monetise a blog, and slowly started to put this into practice with her website.

* The mother-of-two moved back to Canberra for a period in order to save money. She also got parenting help from Centrelink.

* Slowly, her blog began to develop. Posts like "How to find the money to leave an abusive relationship" and how to clear debt amassed thousands of readers. Meanwhile, Travers also had a business of acquiring websites, and selling them on for ten times the price.

* Now, the CEO speaks at numerous events about domestic violence. She also shares her finance tips.

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