971: Optimizing OPERATIONS and scaling with INTENTION (rather than figuring it out as we go!) w/ Kat Oldershaw

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Hey, what is up?

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Welcome to this episode of the Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

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As always, I'm your host, brian LoFermento, and I am so excited for today's episode because I remember way back in the day when I first started my business and I would hear people talk about the importance of operations in business, I thought to myself what operations?

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I'm a one man operation, what do I have to worry about operations?

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Well, today's guest runs an agency and a consultancy that does so much incredible work to help other businesses actually have strategic and intentional operations.

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So, no matter where you are in your business journey, today's guest is going to be really insightful in showing you how to be considerate and thoughtful in all of the ways that your business operates, from client onboarding to invoicing, to all this stuff that we all like to forget about, and the craziness and the excitement of actually doing the things that we like to do.

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So let me tell you all about today's guest.

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Her name is Kat Oldershaw.

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Kat is the founder of Kat Co, which was founded in 2020.

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She's a California native, she's a creative, she's an operations specialist, together in good company.

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She started Kat Co to respond to the growing need of design operations support in her community.

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Now her company, like I said, it's a business operations consultancy that provides full-service support, strategy and partnership to creative businesses.

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We'll talk about all the cool businesses and industries that she works within.

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She believes in empowering your creativity through intuitive business support, and you'll see that she really serves her clients on different depth levels.

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If you want to work with someone one-on-one, kat has solutions there.

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If you want templates for all the things that we don't like to think about, like contracts and things that we like to ignore, she's got solutions there.

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We're going to learn a lot from her, so I'm not going to say anything else.

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Let's dive straight into my interview with Kat Bouldershaw.

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All right, kat, I'm really excited for this one today.

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First things first.

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Welcome to the show.

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Thank you so much, Brian.

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What a great intro I'm excited to talk with you Likewise, because honestly I mean it.

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We throw a lot of words around in the world of entrepreneurship and business, and operations I feel like is one of them where we talk about having streamlined operations and the importance of it, but you're going to take us there today.

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But before we do walk us beyond the bio, who the heck is Kat?

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How'd you even start doing all these cool things?

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Awesome.

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Well, I have a background in psychology.

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I received my degree at UC Berkeley and you know the human experience has always been a big interest of mine for as long as I can remember and I think that really has a big play in my work now.

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After graduating, I actually got my start in biotech, but very quickly I decided to make the jump to a more creative industry.

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I actually started as an executive assistant at an interior design firm in Napa.

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I don't have a design degree, so I was really just hitting the ground, running kind of by my bootstraps and figuring it out as I went along.

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From there I quickly grew into more operations, focused roles.

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You know everything from managing the office, managing the shop if it was a design build, client experience and, you know, being that first point of contact for the client presentations, installations you know I was there actually installing the furniture on site logistics, everything, basically anything besides the actual schematic work of, you know, doing the designs in AutoCAD.

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I wanted to get my hands into everything and you know I relocated down to Los Angeles where I am now here.

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I managed within a variety of firms from custom furniture, fine art and again, of course, interior design.

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I began providing business operations consulting about two years ago and you know, since then I've been taking on more and more clients, growing my business and I'm 100% full time consulting now, which is really awesome, as I'm sure you can relate to the growth as an entrepreneur and how exciting that is to see it kind of grow time over time.

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So, yeah, like what you said earlier, I really enjoy tapping into what makes each business that I work with different, what makes them unique, and creating tailored support systems for them to improve their business efficiency, the quality of the output that they are delivering to their clients and the team's success overall.

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Is your team happy?

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Are you happy?

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Are you still doing what you set out to do?

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Um, yeah, I think everyone deserves a unique and tailored system created just for them.

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Yeah, I really love that overview, kat, especially because you even talked about at the beginning of your career, when you entered a new industry you were figuring things out.

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I would argue that what you do now, as an operations agency that helps others navigate those waters, having real operations, is the opposite of figuring things out.

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And it's so funny because within the entrepreneurial community, we pride ourselves on just figuring things out as we go.

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But of course, we're better set up for success when we take operations seriously and when we have a strategy and an intention behind those operations.

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So, kat, for all those listeners at all different stages of their business journeys, what the heck are operations?

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What are all the things that fall under that umbrella?

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Well, great question.

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Your operations is really okay.

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Let's break it down.

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So, like you said, as an entrepreneur and you're working just by yourself in your business, you know how to do all of the things.

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You're figuring it out in live time, like you said, and you keep that information within your brain and kind of work through the processes as they come at you, very reactive.

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But as you're growing, as you're bringing people onto your team, you start to realize okay, how can I get this information out of my brain and into the brains of my employees and make sure that it's effectively communicated so that they're operating at the level that I would hope them to?

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Um, they are feeling success and pride in their own work and you're getting the results that you want you know for from your company.

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So I think a lot of the breakdowns within operations happen by still maintaining to kind of operate in that same solo entrepreneur way, without putting to paper or putting to practice all of these processes within your company that can then be used by other people.

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Yeah, I'll tell you what, kat, I'm going to call myself out here on the air.

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You obviously didn't know this or expect this, but I'll never forget.

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Back in 2012, when I started my marketing agency back in Boston, I'll never forget the first client that I got, because I walked into I was 22 years old with my business partner.

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We walked into a local sandwich company and we said we'd like to speak to the owner.

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And this huge Italian guy looked down at us and he said I'm the owner, what do you want?

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And we made our pitch and Kat, at the end of our pitch, he actually said to us he goes yeah, I'm in.

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What are the next steps?

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And we had no idea.

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We did not plan for that, yes, and so the best we could come up with is we will email you a contract in the next steps.

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Yeah, exactly.

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So talk to us about that, because it is a real experience for so many entrepreneurs, whether they're starting out or even if they're more seasoned.

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I think the bigger point is that there's things that happen on the fly and the first time we're figuring it out, but then we should have those repeatable operations to actually have workflows that happen from there.

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So, for so many entrepreneurs who probably don't have these operations in place, how do you start planning for these things?

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What are the aspects of the business, whether it's onboarding or sales or marketing or customer service?

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How do we even begin to start planning for things that we may or may not have experienced yet?

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I think it's as simple as putting pen to paper or however you like to be in flow, whether it's typing, whether it's paper, whether it's making a mood board, whatever gets your creative juices flowing is right is how you should start and break it down into manageable things.

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Don't just say today I'm going to plan the processes of my entire company, not going to work.

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Break it down into smaller, actionable steps and really think through, like you said, your example.

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You get a client or someone says I'm interested in working with you.

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Okay, what happens next?

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What would you like to happen next?

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I guess is a better question.

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Would you like to then send them information about your company and your pricing and your structure and then let them tell you if they're still interested after that?

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Or have they already seen that information and then they're coming to you still wanting to work with you?

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What does the first call look like?

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Is it virtual?

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Is it over the phone?

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Is it in person?

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What questions are you asking them to assess if they are an appropriate client for you, for your process, once they are ready to dive in and start?

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Okay, do you have an agreement?

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What is that agreement?

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What are the terms that you need to kind of.

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You know what I mean.

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It just kind of goes down and down and down.

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It's very granular but it's as simple as just putting down what you envision or what you would like to happen and how the process would like to be, and you can really kind of create and develop it from there and it's a living document.

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It's going to change and I think allowing for room, maybe quarterly.

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However you know big your team is, however long you can or however often you can bake in time for assessment to allow yourself to look back and say all right, what does my process look like and is it actually working for me?

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Are there ways that I need to adjust it?

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Yeah, which keyword right there that you've already brought up in today's conversation, that P word of process is.

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We have to imagine what that process is going to look like.

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I'm a big fan For me it's post-it notes.

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I will map out an entire flow with post-it notes on the wall or even on my desk and I think it's so important to ask ourselves that question which, thinking about the work that you do in the business that you've built.

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I think it's so cool that you work in these creative industries, because I would imagine those types of businesses, those types of entrepreneurs and owners and people within those businesses.

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They have no shortage of ideas, kat, so give us some insights from within those industries of where are they falling short?

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These are creative people with all these ideas.

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What's so difficult about operations that, fortunately, you're able to help them with?

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About?

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operations that, fortunately, you're able to help them with?

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That's a great question.

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I like to joke that my psychology degree helps me work with creative people.

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I'm a creative person myself.

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I understand the roller coaster of emotions that happens within the creative process and I would say the thing that's coming up for me as number one for creative industries is the pressure to adjust your process when you're getting pushback from a client.

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I think that comes up for me number one, wanting to make sure that your clients are happy.

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Of course, number one is top priority, I'm sure, for a lot of business owners, but I feel that within the creative industries there can be a big pressure to if something's not working out, let me adjust my process, I'll make concessions to you and I'll change this around around and I'll make this happen for you no matter what.

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But the problem that happens when you do that is you're not creating a repeatable process and it's then, in turn, even more challenging for your employees or anyone that's helping you with these projects to know how to efficiently run the next project.

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Are we running it like the previous one or are we running it like the one that we established the process for?

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Yeah, it's real stuff.

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I would actually argue all of us face this in our own businesses as well.

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It's a question of flexibility versus rigidity and I remember earlier on in my entrepreneurial journey, Kat, quite honestly, I would take any job that was presented to me.

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If someone had a website project, if someone had an SEO project, I was saying yes to all of these things.

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So I had no standardized processes, but I was getting revenue and that was important to me at the time.

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But what I didn't realize is that it was holding me back from scalability.

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It was holding me back from real revenue trajectory and a growth pattern that I could actually repeat, which I think repeatability.

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It's probably one of the most underrated things about entrepreneurial journeys.

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So talk to us about that.

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Rigidity versus flexibility.

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Obviously there's a balance there, but how do you navigate those waters with your clients?

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And also, if you've got some personal anecdotes, because you are a full-time entrepreneur these days so, as you've grown your business as well, what has that looked like?

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To figure that out for your own business?

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Okay, well, rigidity versus flexibility, I would say when you're faced in that situation.

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I would say, when you're faced in that situation, one hopefully you have the ability or the past communication with your client that explains what your process is.

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But if you don't, and you're hoping to just stick to what you feel needs to be right, I would say bring in maybe your employees or maybe a sounding board partner, if you have one or just have a talk with yourself.

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Is this worth it for this project in the long run if I make this change?

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Is it going to be a successful project for me in the long run if I make this change?

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And if yes, then you can come to a compromise and make some flexibility.

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But I would urge you to make sure you notate that in your internal process or notes so that when the project is done and you're doing an assessment, you can kind of look back and say did it work for me when I made that change?

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If it did, perhaps that's something that you can roll out into more of your processes moving forward and if not, you have it documented that this is something that we want to avoid to do in the future.

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As far as an anecdote, I would also say that it can be challenging to narrow down which clients you take on, but over time, I think with the understanding of, like you said, scalability and repeatability for your business, it's good to narrow down those that are really eager to work with you for the services that you offer and really trying to recognize is this person working with me to, in turn, benefit themselves and are they going to really want to implement these changes into their life?

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That, for me, has been something that I have to ask myself if I'm in a rock or a hard place.

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Yeah, I love how candidly you talk about that topic, because I think we all learn early on in our entrepreneurial journeys the meaning of a PETA client, those pain in the butt clients that we take, because we do love instant gratification, but it's important, it is part of our growth journeys as we mature as entrepreneurs and as business owners to think more strategically, and you pointed out so articulately there is think long-term, don't just chase those immediate answers.

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And, kat, I will say I feel like you spilled a few of your secrets right there, because you talk about documentation and I feel like that alludes to the fact and it's something that I came across as I looked into all the cool things that you've done with your company is that obviously you're an organized person.

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So talk to us about some of those tools, because, hearing you talk about documentation, I can only imagine you have a lot of documentation for your clients as well as for your own business.

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What are some of your favorite organizational tools that you use either internally or with your clients?

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I'm a big fan of the Google Suite, so for me, I love being able to link to documents that live within an ultimate project folder.

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I'm going to get really nerdy on this for a bit, but you know, let's just say, if you're using something like the Google Suite to organize your company's documents, you can have a very clearly laid out folders and subfolders of everything that you need to reference for your company.

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There can be a section for new employees to onboard where you can have your standard operating procedures or your employee workbook or manual, or you know everything as far as here's how you use the kitchen don't microwave fish, please or you know whatever the rules are for the office.

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It's all very clearly laid out.

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There can be a document that shows where everything is for someone that might not be as familiar with your file nomenclature or where things are located.

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So it really goes.

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For me, a good tool is something that you can one organize your files and your documents and you know your day to day usages effectively, but also that can be visually useful for someone who might not know where things are located.

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Yeah, I really appreciate those insights.

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As someone who gosh do, I love tools that make my life easy.

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It's always cool to see the tech stack behind the scenes of other entrepreneurs, and I do wanna switch gears a little bit and speak not just as the subject matter expert that you are, but also entrepreneur to entrepreneur, since you are one of us and we so celebrate the fact that you've had your own growth journey up to this point, that you've grown an awesome team doing really cool work in the world.

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But I will say, from the outside, looking in, I don't often see this word pop up publicly in the work that entrepreneurs do, and I love digging into it with people, because right on your website it says empowering creativity through intuitive business support.

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I want to talk about that word, intuition, because it's clear to me.

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You actually said it a little bit earlier and one of your answers is sometimes maybe we need to look inside, we need to trust that voice and, in that, those, that energy inside of us to follow that intuition.

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Talk to us about the importance of intuition, because clearly you feel strongly about it.

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It's something that you tap into in the work that you do, so I'd love for you to share some of that with listeners who maybe aren't as confident in their intuition or sometimes ignore it a little more than we should.

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I'm so glad you brought that up.

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I am really passionate about this.

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I think there's a lot of noise out there.

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Right, if you're looking for business support, there are a million and one ways you're going to find on this.

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Use this program, use this program, talk to this person.

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You should be doing it like this and it can get confusing, it can get hard, it can kind of lead to decision fatigue, I think, over time and worrying if you're not making the right decisions or doing the right thing for your business or doing the right thing for your business.

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I don't believe in one size fits all solutions.

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I believe in really taking the time to learn about my business owners and their team and their mission and their passion and why they started this and how do they like to think, how do they like to work, how do they like their tasks organized, how do they like things you know visually appeal to them, because that in turn affects how their processes will be outlined, what programs they're going to use, how they communicate with their team, how their team communicates with their clients.

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It's all connected.

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Not to sound too California woo-woo over here, but I do believe that there are enough programs out there and there are enough ways to solve the solution that you can, in turn, provide a unique solution that works for that business owner and for how their brain works.

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Yeah, for sure.

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I love the way that you say that and, as someone who lived in LA for quite some time, it's all good to get California woo, woo.

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That's very much welcome here on the show.

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Kat.

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I want to ask you this, though, because a lot of people, when they do go to your website we're going to talk about the link at the end of today's episode.

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It's katandcoorg.

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There's a total spoiler alert, but we will talk more about your links and all of that at the end of today's episode.

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But, to me, one thing that I really admire is the way that your brand shows up in the world and I know we've talked about you being a creative person and you love sinking your teeth into that, but it just seems to me, looking at your website, that the fonts are so particular and so beautiful the words that you underline and that you circle.

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There's so much intention behind all of the things that you do on your website.

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Talk to us about that brand, because I feel like when we hear people come on shows like this one, we think, oh my gosh, kat's so lucky.

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It's the finished product.

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Kat.

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Give us some real and raw insights into the evolution of Kat Co along the way.

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I don't really know where to start.

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I mean, I made it myself, so it's just straight from my brain.

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I'm a very visual person.

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When I am trying to solve a problem, even as analytical and logistical that I get in providing solutions for my clients, I'm still very visual about it and before I put words to paper or words to a document, I am visually thinking about what the end product looks like and that helps me get to that end product.

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So for me, when I was starting my, I actually just remembered how I built my website was.

00:23:06.280 --> 00:23:14.013
We were driving home from Napa and I built it under five hours while driving in a car.

00:23:14.013 --> 00:23:15.603
I wasn't driving, but I was in a car.

00:23:15.603 --> 00:23:45.505
It just kind of came to me and I and I really feel that if you are, if you are putting enough and going back to intention, putting enough intention behind how you want your brand to feel and the types of services that you want to offer, then when you start communicating that to your designer, or if you're building it yourself, really tap back into that and say is this decision aligning with that?

00:23:45.505 --> 00:23:49.212
Is this decision going to make it feel the same way that it feels in my head?

00:23:49.212 --> 00:23:51.626
I'm not sure if I answered your question.

00:23:52.220 --> 00:24:02.267
Yes, you did, and actually I'm going to say, in almost a thousand episodes, you are for sure the first guest and first entrepreneur we've had on the air that built their website while in a moving car.

00:24:02.406 --> 00:24:03.509
So huge kudos to you.

00:24:03.509 --> 00:24:23.083
I'm actually glad that I asked that question as a follow up to the intuition question, because it really comes down to that is hearing the fact that you sat down and, with your hands and with your mind and your mind's eye, you put this stuff together because you tapped into what you knew you wanted to put into the world and it so shows in the way that your brand shows up.

00:24:23.083 --> 00:24:42.182
Which leads me to ask you about your packages themselves, because, kat, obviously here on the show we don't sell things, but I think that there's so many lessons to be learned in the way that you, even the way that you serve your clients I mean, your packages are laid out right on your website owner to owner sessions where they work with you one-on-one.

00:24:42.182 --> 00:24:46.157
That's really cool to get that human feedback, as well as ready to use templates.

00:24:46.157 --> 00:24:49.815
Talk to us for listeners who obviously they haven't seen your packages like I have.

00:24:49.815 --> 00:24:55.067
Talk to us about the way that you've structured your services, knowing the types of clients that you want to serve.

00:25:03.539 --> 00:25:04.561
Also, I want to go back to how building my website.

00:25:04.561 --> 00:25:05.844
I just want to point out that was not the only draft.

00:25:05.844 --> 00:25:08.388
It has changed so many times since that time.

00:25:08.388 --> 00:25:14.911
So just allow your process to evolve over time and when you need to change it, change it, and there's nothing wrong with that.

00:25:14.911 --> 00:25:18.493
To evolve over time, and when you need to change it, change it, and there's nothing wrong with that.

00:25:18.513 --> 00:25:31.377
Okay, so, going to packages, that idea for me, I think maybe ties back to my time in custom furniture, where the idea of I can help you create anything you want.

00:25:31.377 --> 00:25:35.905
You know, if you're making a custom furniture, maybe you're making a custom bed, let's say.

00:25:35.905 --> 00:25:42.635
It can be any size, any color, any material, any type of storage solution, anything.

00:25:42.635 --> 00:25:56.769
And I realized while working in that industry it can be really challenging for the purchaser or the buyer to wrap their head around that and actually make a selection.

00:25:56.769 --> 00:26:10.686
So I realized that, you know, through all of the different types of services I offer and my company offers, I wanted to provide a secondary solution that was more to the point, right?

00:26:10.686 --> 00:26:17.521
So there's yes, of course we can, you know, sign on, be an agreement, be your consultant, be your thought partner.

00:26:17.662 --> 00:26:20.147
However our agreement wants to look like.

00:26:20.147 --> 00:26:41.722
That can be one side of it, and then the other side is maybe you know what you want and you just need a really quick solution or someone to work it through with you in live time, someone to you know, provide thoughtful questions back to your thought processes and help you kind of assess it.

00:26:41.722 --> 00:26:55.542
That's my idea was for the one on one, you know, the owner to owner session, or maybe you you know you need a type of template created for you, you just don't really know how to do it.

00:26:55.542 --> 00:26:58.715
So you know, that's kind of where I came to that.

00:26:58.715 --> 00:27:14.099
So the packages for me were just more of a direct, quick and easy solution for people that might not be able to engage in a larger agreement or might not be able to wrap their heads around that.

00:27:14.099 --> 00:27:19.452
So, yeah, I just wanted to provide options for different tiers.

00:27:20.035 --> 00:27:33.041
Yeah, and I think that's such a thoughtful way of going about this is thinking about the people on the other side of it, which, obviously, when you're building out processes and workflows, that's exactly what you do is you think about the human beings on the other side of that table?

00:27:33.041 --> 00:27:47.576
So I'll say this actually here on the AirCat is that one thing I'm always fascinated by when I talk to fellow entrepreneurs is the catalyst, the decision point for so many of their clients working with these types of creative businesses and in the industries that you operate in.

00:27:47.576 --> 00:27:49.780
I'm curious what is that catalyst?

00:27:49.780 --> 00:27:58.181
Or maybe it's a pain point that makes them say and we've experienced this myself and you, as we've grown our own businesses as well that makes us say wait, hold on a second.

00:27:58.181 --> 00:28:03.136
I need help, I need to actually put operations and workflows together.

00:28:03.136 --> 00:28:04.701
What's usually that thing?

00:28:04.701 --> 00:28:07.311
Is it a certain point in their revenue growth?

00:28:07.311 --> 00:28:09.919
Is it when they start running into scalability issues?

00:28:09.919 --> 00:28:12.711
I'd love to hear some insights from the companies that you work with.

00:28:15.075 --> 00:28:28.699
I'll say for, specifically for interior designers, a lot of the times it's either we, our systems, are not working for us and I'm scared to take on a new client.

00:28:28.699 --> 00:28:30.221
That's one part of it.

00:28:30.221 --> 00:28:36.144
Like I know we could be doing this better and I don't want to bring on someone new.

00:28:36.144 --> 00:28:44.996
You know, for interior designers, I'll point out, an average project length is at least a couple years, so it's a big deal to bring on a new client.

00:28:44.996 --> 00:28:54.359
Start working with a new client, especially if you feel like your systems might not be working as top tier as they could.

00:28:54.359 --> 00:29:10.624
And another thing that sticks out to me is perhaps when they are trying to grow their team and they realize you know, I work with a lot of very small companies, which I think is my bread and butter.

00:29:10.710 --> 00:29:24.244
I love working with smaller companies, usually under 10 people, but perhaps it's just the owner and they're ready to bring on their first employee, or it's them and another employee and they're ready to bring on the third.

00:29:24.244 --> 00:29:45.236
And it's really that moment of realization of, oh, we don't know how to explain what we do to someone else and how do we make sure that they're coming in and they know how to do their job effectively and can hit the ground running and feel proud of the work they're doing.

00:29:46.179 --> 00:29:49.951
Yes, just a few examples of real life inflection points.

00:29:49.951 --> 00:29:59.465
You're bringing up all my scars and past traumas of realizing all the things in my 16 year entrepreneurial journey that I was definitely unprepared to tackle.

00:29:59.465 --> 00:30:05.071
But fortunately, there's amazing people like you that are providing these services, that are giving value on shows like this one.

00:30:05.071 --> 00:30:18.758
So I so appreciate firsthand the work that you do, because it is incredibly important work, and I do want to ask you I want to put you on the spot for a second, kat, because you're also doing this for yourself, and I know that there's that phrase of the cobbler's son has no shoes.

00:30:18.758 --> 00:30:25.190
When I was running my SEO agency, I never took the time to search engine optimize my own website because I was doing it for all of my clients.

00:30:25.190 --> 00:30:32.155
Talk to us about your realizations and revelations of doing all of this stuff within the context of your own business.

00:30:32.155 --> 00:30:33.496
Have you found the time?

00:30:33.496 --> 00:30:36.820
Is it something that surprised you, the workload of being an entrepreneur?

00:30:36.950 --> 00:30:41.025
Give us some insights there the workload of being an entrepreneur.

00:30:41.025 --> 00:30:42.150
Give us some insights there.

00:30:42.150 --> 00:30:53.096
Yeah Well, I will say that it can be challenging to context switch a lot when you have multiple clients and you're working.

00:30:53.096 --> 00:30:54.701
As I said earlier, people use different programs.

00:30:54.701 --> 00:31:15.470
So you might be doing task management for someone in Asana, for someone in a sauna, and then you have to jump over to base camp, and then you have to jump over to Monday, and then you have to jump over to studio designer, which is specific to the interiors industry, and there's a whole host of programs and everyone uses a different login and everyone has the different way of how they like things represented.

00:31:16.131 --> 00:31:27.778
So when it comes to my own tasks, I was feeling, quite honestly, a little burnt out and not wanting to put my tasks into an actual task management processor.

00:31:27.778 --> 00:31:36.603
So I have since changed that, but I did notice that was something that was not working as effectively for myself.

00:31:36.603 --> 00:31:40.746
You know, ironically doing it for others but not for myself.

00:31:40.746 --> 00:31:56.180
So I've since switched to a program it's called Notion and I keep all of my tasks per client and all my notes and everything there, and what's handy about that is none of my other clients use it.

00:31:56.180 --> 00:32:06.540
So it's unique to me and it's a unique program that only my thoughts are in there, and I found that to be helpful for me in order to keep things separate.

00:32:07.269 --> 00:32:10.817
Yes, notion is my love language in business.

00:32:10.817 --> 00:32:14.431
I think Notion is the most underrated tool out there.

00:32:14.431 --> 00:32:17.321
Pretty much all of my businesses live inside of Notion.

00:32:17.321 --> 00:32:20.957
So, yeah, it's fun because you can also be creative in there.

00:32:20.957 --> 00:32:23.998
You can color code things, you can create tables and different views.

00:32:23.998 --> 00:32:25.421
Gosh, I love Notion.

00:32:25.421 --> 00:32:28.436
It's a really cool place to operate our businesses out of.

00:32:28.436 --> 00:32:31.352
So very cool hearing the real life tools that you use.

00:32:31.352 --> 00:32:38.598
And, kat, at the end of these episodes, I always love to ask this broad question because I have no idea which direction you're going to take this answer in.

00:32:38.598 --> 00:32:45.011
And that is what's the one takeaway.

00:32:45.011 --> 00:32:49.613
You've shared so many nuggets of knowledge as a subject matter expert when it comes to business operations, but also, with your entrepreneurial hat on, as a fellow entrepreneur.

00:32:49.613 --> 00:32:59.280
So, with all of that in mind, and knowing that our listeners are at various stages of their growth journeys, what's the one thing that you want to leave every listener with in today's episode?

00:33:02.451 --> 00:33:03.372
No pressure, right?

00:33:03.372 --> 00:33:34.186
Um, I would say, if there's something in your business that is causing you or your employees continued headache, just break it down into tangible steps, whether it's just you doing this as an exercise together, and if, or together with yourself, I should say, if that's the case, leave your office and do it somewhere else and allow your brain to kind of have a different way of functioning.

00:33:34.186 --> 00:33:44.096
If you're doing it with your team, make it a special exercise where you guys are kind of promote open communication and work through these things together.

00:33:44.096 --> 00:34:07.542
But, just as I said earlier, start it from the very smallest first step and work through those steps together, and I really think that it allows you to see different perspectives of your process that you might not have considered earlier, and see the perspective of the process from the side of your client or perhaps your employees.

00:34:10.010 --> 00:34:23.014
I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but, for example, if your client is continually getting frustrated about your pricing structure, really think down and think back to when was the first time that I shared this with them?

00:34:23.014 --> 00:34:25.599
Have I shared it with them since?

00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:27.592
Have I discussed it with them since?

00:34:27.592 --> 00:34:31.927
And when I did discuss it with them, was it clear, was it concise?

00:34:31.927 --> 00:34:35.755
Was it branded with my company's branding?

00:34:35.755 --> 00:34:39.103
Was it in alignment with how I want my deliverables to look?

00:34:39.103 --> 00:34:41.170
Was it in alignment with how I want my deliverables to look?

00:34:41.170 --> 00:34:43.731
That's kind of where you can start to find.

00:34:43.731 --> 00:34:52.896
Oh, maybe I should have educated my client a little bit more in the beginning, and here's where I would like to fit that education in into my process.

00:34:52.896 --> 00:35:02.302
And really, yeah, start from start from small, small tasks, and then you'll start finding ways to implement solutions.

00:35:03.021 --> 00:35:05.103
Yes, really powerful advice.

00:35:05.103 --> 00:35:11.407
I've always loved that Martin Luther King Jr quote, which is you don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

00:35:11.407 --> 00:35:22.394
And, kat, it fits in so well with the type of the work that you do, and also you're making my job easy here today, because it's also a natural segue for if listeners want to reach out to you and do this in partnership with you.

00:35:22.394 --> 00:35:26.913
You have a very collaborative and supportive approach to the way that you serve your clients.

00:35:26.913 --> 00:35:30.510
You've shared some of it with us here today, so drop those links on us.

00:35:30.510 --> 00:35:32.112
Where should listeners go from here?

00:35:33.572 --> 00:35:39.559
yeah, um, you can find me on my website which is katandcoorg.

00:35:39.559 --> 00:35:45.045
It's spelled out in the website, so that's katandcoorg.

00:35:45.045 --> 00:35:52.226
There you can request or book, I should say, a complimentary discovery call.

00:35:52.226 --> 00:36:09.543
You can submit any inquiries for working together, and I also want to note that I love networking with other like-minded business owners, so I'm always down to have a coffee chat or meet you or just chat business.

00:36:09.543 --> 00:36:15.461
So feel free to shoot me an email which is at kat K-A-T at katandcoorg.

00:36:16.063 --> 00:36:18.197
Yes, listeners, you already know the drill.

00:36:18.197 --> 00:36:22.793
We are making it as easy as possible for you to find all of Kat's links down below in the show notes.

00:36:22.793 --> 00:36:28.878
Wherever it is that you're tuning into today's episode, you'll find her business website at katandcoorg.

00:36:28.878 --> 00:36:33.742
That's Kat with a K, k-a-t-a-n-d-c-oorg, but you don't have to remember that.

00:36:33.742 --> 00:36:36.724
You can click right on through down below in the show notes.

00:36:36.784 --> 00:36:47.831
And also I'm going to further echo what you just shared, kat, is that way too few people take the big step of reaching out and having amazing entrepreneurs in their network.

00:36:47.831 --> 00:36:55.726
We always, every entrepreneurial conversation that I have, it gives me fresh insights into the way I see the world, into the way that I see my own business.

00:36:55.726 --> 00:36:57.311
I always leave with ideas.

00:36:57.311 --> 00:37:01.331
So huge kudos to you for making that open invite to your fellow entrepreneurs.

00:37:01.331 --> 00:37:08.795
So, listeners, less than 1% of people who tune into podcasts or YouTube videos or read a business book ever take action.

00:37:08.795 --> 00:37:12.132
So you'll also find Kat's personal LinkedIn link down below.

00:37:12.132 --> 00:37:13.438
We're going to include that in the show notes.

00:37:13.438 --> 00:37:18.817
So, kat, on behalf of myself and all the listeners worldwide, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:21.282
Thank you, brian, it was a pleasure.

00:37:22.911 --> 00:37:28.472
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

00:37:28.472 --> 00:37:32.422
If you haven't checked us out online, there's so much good stuff there.

00:37:32.422 --> 00:37:41.661
Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at thewantrepreneurshowcom, and I just want to give a shout out to our amazing guests.

00:37:41.661 --> 00:37:50.438
There's a reason why we are ad-free and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate.

00:37:50.550 --> 00:37:52.498
These are not sponsored episodes.

00:37:52.498 --> 00:37:54.076
These are not infomercials.

00:37:54.076 --> 00:37:57.581
Our guests help us cover the costs of our productions.

00:37:57.581 --> 00:38:08.536
They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you, awesome entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible.

00:38:08.536 --> 00:38:17.030
So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just want to invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.

00:38:17.030 --> 00:38:18.394
We also have live chat.

00:38:18.394 --> 00:38:22.215
If you want to interact directly with me, go to thewantrepreneurshowcom.

00:38:22.215 --> 00:38:24.394
Initiate a live chat.

00:38:24.394 --> 00:38:33.822
It's for real me, and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.