When I sat down with Kelly Bethel in 2023, I began by asking her a simple question:
“What’s been your dream?”
Her answer was immediate.
“Build an empire that will benefit our community and generations to come.”
Kelly told me she had held that vision since she was 16 years old.
She and her husband Kelvin live and work in rural Far North Queensland, where they have built their life around family, cattle, property and community. Kelly had always had a bigger vision; to build wealth independently of the family farm, create a significant asset base and eventually, build generational wealth for their three children.
The desire was there. The challenge was something I see in very capable people all the time: How?
Kelly described how they would talk about ideas, sometimes over and over again, but nothing would happen. They would get caught in the how. There was procrastination. Things seemed too difficult. Underneath all of that was another question: “Who do you think you are to do anything like this?”
That is where this conversation becomes about much more than Kelly’s business or property portfolio. It becomes a conversation about self-image.
Your results can only grow as far as you do
When Kelly first began studying this work around 2015-2016, her first C-Type Goal was to purchase an investment property. At the time, it was a genuinely big idea for her. She became very clear about what she wanted and eventually she and Kelvin purchased a property in Charters Towers and established what Kelly describes as the first Airbnb there.
Six or seven years later, she laughed as she reflected on that original goal: “Looking back now, that’s nothing.”
I love that. Not because the original achievement was insignificant – it wasn’t. But because Kelly had grown. Something that had once required her to stretch her thinking had become normal.
That’s one of the most important things to understand about growth. We often think the goal is there simply so we can acquire the property, grow the company, earn the money or achieve the result. But the real value of a worthwhile goal is the person you become in the process of pursuing it.
Your idea of what is possible expands. Your self-belief changes. You make different decisions. Eventually, something that once felt enormous becomes normal because you’ve become the person who can hold it.
The next opportunity may not arrive the way you expect
Years later, Kelly and Kelvin set another goal: to expand their properties and create a pathway for Kelvin’s parents to exit the existing family business. They achieved that, and then another opportunity appeared.
Kelly described it as coming completely “left field”. The timing wasn’t convenient. They were incredibly busy, there were cattle in the yards, people everywhere and deadlines that needed to be met quickly. They went to look at the property anyway and suddenly the vision became much bigger.
Kelly remembers sitting Kelvin down and asking, “Are we right? Can you do this?”
He said yes.
Her response was, “All right, well, let’s do it.”
Then she called me.
I actually remember exactly where I was when that call came through – sitting in the car park at childcare. We spent about 40 minutes talking through what she needed to do next, but interestingly, it wasn’t a 40-minute conversation about logistics.
Kelly already had lawyers, brokers and the right people around her to take care of those things. What she needed was to stay connected to the vision, trust the team, visualise owning the property and stop trying to mentally solve every part of the how before allowing herself to move.
Kelly put it beautifully in our conversation: “That is the how. It’s not the logistical part of it. It’s so much bigger than that.”
There’s an important distinction here. This isn’t about ignoring practical action. Kelly and Kelvin absolutely took practical action and surrounded themselves with capable people. It’s about understanding that strategy works very differently when you believe in the result you’re creating and have developed the self-image to move towards it with confidence.
You may need to become the person first
By the time Kelly and I had this conversation, their operation had grown enormously. They were running almost 10,000 head of cattle – itself another C-Type Goal that Kelly admits she had once said out loud without really believing it could happen.
And it had happened within six or seven years.
When we spoke about the significant increase in their asset and wealth base, I asked Kelly whether she’d been ready for it. Her answer was telling: “I think I was already there.”
By the time the external result arrived, internally she had already become the person for whom that result made sense. It was no longer extraordinary to her. As she said in the interview, it was simply “what we do.”
This is why I talk so much about self-image. We have a tendency to look at somebody else’s result and ask, How did they do that? But the more useful question is often: Who did they become before they could do that?
You can have the strategy, the opportunity and the advisers, but if your internal image of yourself hasn’t caught up with the result you say you want, you’ll often find yourself hesitating, procrastinating, overthinking or retreating to what feels familiar.
Success changes more than your balance sheet
What I also love about Kelly’s story is that the growth didn’t remain confined to business. She talks openly in this interview about the change in her attitude, the quality of her relationships, the way she leads their team and even the way she parents.
As their operation expanded from essentially themselves and one other person to a team of five, Kelly consciously changed the way she thought about employing people. Rather than worrying that they’d invest in somebody only for them to leave, Kelly and Kelvin focused on creating an environment where people enjoyed their work, developed new skills, were rewarded well and would speak positively about their experience.
Kelly described their goal as becoming an employer of choice. At the time of our conversation, she said they had never needed to advertise for staff. People were coming to them.
There’s another lesson in that. Rather than continually asking, How do I find better people?, sometimes the better question is: Who do we need to become so the right people want to be here?
Kelly also spoke about becoming much more deliberate about her time and the community groups she chooses to be part of. Living in a rural community, contributing matters enormously to her, but growth has helped her become clearer about where she is best placed to contribute rather than believing she has to be involved in everything.
Again, the external growth is being matched by greater awareness internally: How do I want to show up? What matters to me? Where is my time and energy best invested?
The bigger legacy
Perhaps my favourite part of our conversation came towards the end when Kelly talked about how this work had changed the way she parents.
Her son had decided he wanted to complete his pilot’s licence, becoming the first pilot on either side of their family. Instead of immediately focusing on all the reasons it might be difficult, Kelly helped him explore the desire. Why do you want to do it? What interests you about it? Do you think you can?
Yes?
Go and do it.
When the inevitable question came – How am I going to pay for it?, the answer wasn’t a detailed roadmap.
“I don’t know. We’ll just figure it out.”
And they did.
I think that’s such a beautiful example of how paradigms can change across generations. We don’t teach the next generation to dream bigger simply by telling them they can. We teach them through the way we live, the questions we ask, the possibilities we’re willing to entertain and the example we become.
I finished our conversation by asking Kelly what idea or legacy she most wanted to leave with her children and her community.
Her answer was simple:
“If you’ve got an idea or a dream, there’s no reason why it can’t happen.”
No matter where you live, what your background is or where you’ve come from, there are different ways to find the help and resources you need to move towards it.
Perhaps that’s the idea to take with you from Kelly’s story.
You don’t have to know every part of the how before you begin. You do need to become willing to see yourself differently, hold the bigger image and make decisions that are in harmony with the person you’re choosing to become.
Because sometimes the biggest gap between where you are and where you want to go isn’t the strategy.
It’s becoming the person who can hold the bigger vision.
Watch the full interview with Kelly below:
Ready to Work on Your Own Bigger Vision?
Kelly’s story is a wonderful reminder that you don’t need to know every part of the how before you begin. You need a clear direction, a willingness to think differently and the right ideas to help you grow into the person capable of creating the result.
If you’re thinking about what’s next for you, I’ve created a collection of complimentary trainings, workbooks and resources to help you work on your goals, self-image, decision-making and the thinking behind extraordinary results.
Visit: www.karenbrook.com/free-trainings
