301: Finding your way back to yourself: Rediscovering your voice and values - with Jet Swain artwork
CRANK THE 3RD: Exploring the entrepreneurial + creative side of life post 50

301: Finding your way back to yourself: Rediscovering your voice and values - with Jet Swain

  • S10E301
  • 54:20
  • August 15th 2025

The path to fulfillment after 50 isn’t about playing small or fading away. According to this week's guest, it's about reclaiming your voice, living your values, and using your wisdom to uplift others and yourself.

In this episode, host Trevor Young sits down with Jet Swain - strategic advisor, speaker, and founder of the Affection Economy.

Jet’s story is anything but linear: from growing up on a sheep farm in rural Australia, studying fine arts, and braving the boisterous world of teaching, to carving out a dynamic career in advertising, innovation, and human-centered design.

Jet opens up about her eclectic journey, filled with zigzags, moments of reinvention, and lessons found in adversity, including her battle with breast cancer and navigating single motherhood. She shares how these experiences fueled her passion for the Affection Economy: a values-led movement that challenges traditional leadership and encourages bringing kindness, courage, and authenticity back to business and daily life.

Together, Trevor and Jet explore why now is the perfect time to dust off old dreams, get back in touch with your true self, and proudly claim your voice and vision - especially if you feel invisible in today’s workforce.

Whether you’re looking to transform your career, reconnect with your personal values, or simply hear an inspiring story of resilience and reinvention, this episode is packed with wisdom, practical insights, and the kind of warmth that only comes with lived experience.

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Key Takeaways from the Episode:

🟢 Embrace the Zigzags

Jet’s unconventional path is proof that paying attention to your instincts and interests can lead you somewhere remarkable, even - especially - if you don’t have a map.

🟢 Find (& Live) Your Values

Jet challenges us to identify our top three values - not buzzwords, but what truly matters and drives you. Kindness, courage, and curiosity are her guiding lights. What are yours?

🟢 Reclaim Your Voice

After years of being told she was “too much” or “too kind,” Jet discovered those were actually her strengths. Speaking up and standing out takes courage. Sometimes, as she puts it, “I am a lot, but I’m not too much.”

🟢 Building a One-Person Movement

From speaking and mentoring to creating practical tools (think: postcards, values cards, and a book), Jet is turning her philosophy into a platform and business - proof that you can design work to fit around your life and beliefs.

🟢 Why Connection (and Community) Matters

Kindness and connection aren’t soft business skills - they’re levers for real change. And sharing your story helps others find the courage to tell theirs.

Thanks for tuning in to CRANK THE 3RD —don’t forget to check out Jet Swain’s work, connect with her online, and keep an eye out for more inspiring stories and practical insights to help you find your voice, reconnect with your values, and keep cranking in your next chapter!

CRANK THE 3RD: Exploring the entrepreneurial + creative side of life post 50

CRANK THE 3RD is a weekly podcast in which we explore the entrepreneurial and creative side of life post 50.

You've survived the first two professional chapters of your lives - 20s to mid-30s (chapter 1) and mid-30s and through your 40s (chapter 2).

Welcome to the 3rd chapter! By this stage of your professional life, you've seen a lot, done most things, made some cash, expanded your horizons and probably are more comfortable in your skin than at any other time.

But it’s not necessarily all sunshine and roses either. At some stage, many of us reach a point where we ask: “Is that all there is?”

While we have oodles of experience under our belts and are a lot more sure of ourselves and confident in our own abilities, we also live in a fast-paced volatile world.

Technology is ever-changing, and the AI wave has only just begun. A sense of uncertainty is never far away. We know that if we stand still, we run the risk of losing relevance.

No matter how savvy, experienced and connected we are, certain challenges remain.

But on the upside, the number of opportunities staring us in the face is enormous, and unprecedented!

The goal of CRANK THE 3RD is to inspire energised, forward-thinking 50 and 60-somethings to continue to think expansively and creatively about their current situation, and to ponder, plot and plan the exciting road they have ahead of them.

You’ve put in the hard yards: now it’s time to capitalise!

Let’s dive in!

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