Accidental Entrepreneur with Katherine Mackenzie Smith
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode. Today, my guest is from Australia, and her name is Catherine Mackenzie Smith. Catherine is an award winning business coach and strategist for service based solopreneurs who want to create cozy businesses without the empire building pressure. The host of the emerge ex and expand podcast and business mastermind as well as the cozy community hub membership, Catherine recently won international coach of the year in 2023, Asia Pacific coach of the decade 2024, as well as being named a self help guru by L Magazine and being featured in publications and podcasts such as Cleo Magazine, Collective Hub, Inspire Coach, and The Introvert Entrepreneur. Everyone, let's welcome Catherine.
Speaker 1:Hi, Catherine. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm great. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me, Angel.
Speaker 1:You're welcome. Thank you so much for being here. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Speaker 2:I don't think so.
Speaker 1:And so Katharine, how long have you been an entrepreneur and how did you get started?
Speaker 2:So I kind of think of myself, I've often referred to myself as like an accidental entrepreneur because it was never something that I really thought that I was going to do. And my partner is really entrepreneurial, always has been like since he was a kid and I did the traditional go to school, get good grades, go to university. I started filming TV. And so my plan was to work in film and television. And yeah, it sort of just happened by accident because we moved to Sydney where a lot of the work was for working in TV.
Speaker 2:And I started a blog because it was, what was that 10 years ago? So 2014.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Oh my God. Even longer than that. Maybe I think 12 years. So 2012 started a blog.
Speaker 2:So it was like the heyday of blogging. And that was mostly just to keep in contact with my friends and family and, and document our adventures in Sydney. And then it sort of intersected with, oh my gosh, this online business thing and coaching and all of these amazing opportunities came out of there. And And I
Speaker 1:was feeling really unfulfilled in my TV career and yeah, it just sort of happened. Okay. Okay, cool. I love that. So did this happen for you in 20, 2014 or was it like a little after 20, 2014 when it happened?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it must have been, I'm so bad at dates, but I know that this year is 10 years that I've been in business. And I had my blog for about 2 years before that. So I was kind of blogging and working in TV, working crazy hours and yeah, then it sort of just started to transition. And because I was a freelancer, I just didn't take work on a train to be a coach and then sort of went, oh, I'll give this a go and see what happens.
Speaker 2:And that was, yeah, 2014. That was cause it's just 10 years gone past. And I still, because of like the early days of, you know, starting a business, had the ability and opportunity to take on little jobs when I needed extra money, that nobody ever talks about because everyone just sort
Speaker 3:of does the oh, and then all this magic happened. I made all
Speaker 2:this money and I was so successful. Right.
Speaker 1:You know, it all happened in 3 days or
Speaker 3:one week. Yeah. It was just 6 weeks.
Speaker 2:Right? In six months. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yes. Yes.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. Yes. Okay. And so you talked about in your bio, it says that, you know, you have a cozy business. So what is a cozy business and why did you build one?
Speaker 2:So this has kind of been a relatively new way of talking about it. I worked with introverted people in business for pretty much the whole time that I've been doing this work. And in the last 3 or 4 years when it's become so much in the online business space and the coaching space, and even like energy healing and well-being this, this focus on scaling quickly and building a massive team and all, and like building an empire. And that is so for some people, but I started to really realize that it was not why I started my business. I love getting to work on my own and I have clients and things, but managing a team is something that I've done before and not really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:I love working with people, but I don't like the logistical side of, of team managing and meetings and HR and doing all of those things. Okay. And also that I know that I can have a successful business that supports me. And so it does really impactful work in the world without it having to be this huge empire. And so it kind of became this idea of like a cozy business solopreneur sort of business and being like you make more money, you have to hire more people to help you.
Speaker 2:And then you have to make more money to pay those people. And by keeping it really low key, just hiring contractors and things when I need them for certain projects that enables me to keep my business really intimate and cozy because it doesn't need that much to run. And so that kind of year has evolved, I guess, over the last few years when I realized a lot of the messaging was about scaling quickly and exponential growth and every year has to be bigger and bigger than the year before and how unsustainable that is for me personally, for my nervous system, for the way my energy works and also for a lot of people out there. And I wanted to kind of create something that had a slightly different message for people that didn't wanna do that.
Speaker 1:Right. Yeah. That's not something that you really hear a lot. You know, everyone's like, you gotta scale. You gotta build a team.
Speaker 1:And I just think about that sometimes. And it's like, of course, I want my business to grow, but like I said, I don't wanna have to manage people. I don't wanna have to do the whole HR thing and all of that. That's just not what I would want to spend my time on. That's not even something that I think that I would want to have to hire out for is to have, like, get an HR person to to do this.
Speaker 1:Like, it just it sounds like a lot, and it just honestly depends on too much, and it sounds a little overwhelming. And so I like the idea of a cozy business and just hiring out people when you need to and hire them as contractors because I'm pretty sure that even though you don't always have a team when you do hire, you have those trusted people that you go to and that, you know, okay. I called on this person for that. And I know that they're gonna be okay and that they're legit.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Definitely.
Speaker 1:Okay. Cool. And so you said one of my favorite words, introvert. There are so many introverted business owners out there. So as an introvert, how can you build an introvert friendly business?
Speaker 2:Oh, this is one of my favorite questions and favorite things to talk about. And I think it is so much about actually understanding your own strengths and your capacity and your needs. So I have almost exclusively worked with introverts for the last 10 years and I've sort of expanded it out a little bit to include neurodivergent folks because that has become such a topic of conversation. And, and so many of the people that are in my community, myself included, are also neurodivergent and people who are living with chronic illnesses also come my way because so much of my bigger philosophy behind a cozy business behind an introvert friendly business is to know yourself so well to understand your energy and how it works best and your capacity. And to realize that most of the messaging that is out in the world does not align with our needs.
Speaker 2:It is focused on hustle. It is focused on, like I said, exponential growth and bigger and bigger and bigger. And for so many of us that isn't just not in alignment with maybe our values. It's also not necessarily taking care of us and sustainable in, in a way of what our capacity is, how well we can show up. If I joined the 4 am club and tried to get up at 4 am every day and get straight into work, I would still be unproductive until 10 am, except then in my most productive time of the day, which is between kind of 4 and 4 and 8 pm, I would be unable to do anything.
Speaker 2:And so I know that about myself and I can just shut out all of that messaging. Not because I think there's anything wrong with it, not because I, you know, I'm criticizing it, but just because I know that it doesn't work for me, it is not in alignment with how I work best. I am not a morning person. I am terrible. I don't wanna talk to anyone before 10 AM.
Speaker 3:Oh my god.
Speaker 1:Catherine, thank you. Like, please do not talk to me. Do not interact with me. Like, I want absolutely no conversations before 10 AM. And my husband is a get up at 5:30 AM, 7 days a week.
Speaker 1:And, you know, he'll come up there sometimes, and I'm like, dude, please leave me alone. Or if I'm taking a nap like, I think a couple of days ago, he was out or something like that. And I went and I was taking a nap. And my son came in the room and asked me something, and I'm like, no. You know?
Speaker 1:Whatever. Something about that I want something from the store or something like that. And I'm like, no. And then when I when my husband got home and I had, like, fully woken up, they were eating something. I said, oh, well, why didn't y'all get me some?
Speaker 1:And my son's like, mommy, I came in the room and asked you while you were asleep if you wanted something from a store, and you said no. I'm like, y'all should know better than ask me anything while I'm asleep. I am not I am not functioning at full capacity right there. So I and I have always told people, like, since I was little, I'm like, please do not talk to me before 10 AM. Like, just I can't be responsible for the person that comes out before 10 AM.
Speaker 3:Like, you can't. Like, I cannot. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:I don't know who she is, but she doesn't want to be bothered. So I did not. I love it. Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2:And so like for what, for most of us have done all of our lives is we have adapted ourselves to fit into the systems and structures and the way we're told we're supposed to do things. And so when we decide to start businesses, so often we then just take that and put that into our business. We take that mindset, that survival instinct that we've always done. And then we go, oh, all these people know better about how to run my business than I do. And so I'm going to pay this person.
Speaker 2:I'm going to buy this course. I'm going to join this program and I'm going to try and fit myself into their steps to success, into their framework, their business model. And what we really need to do is to know ourselves to know I don't do calls before 10 am. I, you know, I don't want to talk to anyone before 10 am, whatever that might be. No, all of those little pieces and, and, and keep record of them because we can't always just know straight away.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you do something and then go, oh, I'm never doing that again. Right.
Speaker 3:Right. Yep.
Speaker 2:And so then it's like, okay, make a list of that and know that my business needs to support me. My business needs to understand that I work a certain way and that isn't successful business owner should operate. And then once we know our strengths, we know our needs and our capacity and how our energy works, how we work best, then it's finding the systems and the strategies that we can survive in for so long in my business. And I see this so often as well, that we all go, oh, that person's successful. I'm going to join their thing.
Speaker 2:And then we try and, you know, shoehorn ourselves into that and then end up either not getting results or feeling really burnt out or just really hating the business we've created because it's built on somebody else's rules. And it's so important that we know ourselves, we can then say, Hey, I really need to do this for my business to support me. And then find the strategies, find the programs, find the people that can support us to do that. That's probably my biggest tip. There's so many tips on running an introvert friendly business, but that is like the core of everything, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah. No. I think that's great. And I've, like, been talking to other introvert business owners lately and that's what I've been hearing a lot of, you know, is that what works for us what works for other people doesn't necessarily work for us. And, you know, like you said, you're more productive between, like, 4 and 8 PM.
Speaker 1:That's how I'm more productive between, like, 7 and 10 PM. I'm ready to just, like, crank stuff out and do stuff and work on stuff. Necessarily, during the daytime, I have energy, but it's just not the energy. Like, I'll just sit in front of my computer sometimes and just stare at it, and it's just like, I don't feel like doing this. Like, earlier today, I took I took my son out to go hang out with one of his friends, and so they did that and they came back.
Speaker 1:And I was like, okay. I'm gonna get some work done. I'm gonna get some stuff done. And I was like, yeah. I think I'm just gonna take a nap because I don't I don't like, the motivation is not there.
Speaker 1:I sat in front of the computer. I had my list of things to do, and I was like, it's not it's not here. And if it's not there, then you're not gonna do a good job on it. And so we have to try to stop fitting trying to fit ourselves into this box and fit ourselves into everyone else's strategy. And like you said, figure out what works for us and how it works for us.
Speaker 1:And just because it's we work differently, that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with it, but it's the strategy that's best for us. And that's going to make us more productive.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yeah. It's, it's not going to be your best work if you're forcing it, if you're doing it when you're tired, it took, I still get that wrong all the time because the dish, the social conditioning of stop being lazy, you know, do some work, like do the thing you're supposed to be doing is so deeply ingrained in us that it's still there after all this time. But it took me, I think probably 5 years into my business to realize that I didn't need to be sitting at my desk at 9 am on Monday morning, ready to work If I don't want to.
Speaker 1:Exactly. Like always try. And I don't know if this is something that you do or that's happened to you, but I feel like if I'm not, I feel like if I have everything done, everything's good to go. It's finished. I will try to create something to do just because as you said, I feel like I need to be doing something.
Speaker 1:And then I'm just like, this is busy work. You're not actually accomplishing anything. You just created busy work for yourself for absolutely no reason. No reason. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yep. So why is even as, you know, introverts, it's still important in business or just in life in general to have a community and to have a support group. And so why is community so important? Why do we need that?
Speaker 2:I mean, humans. Right? We need that for our survival. And we've been sort of taught this individualism that says, like, you know, again, a lot of the messaging, if you're not first, you're last, if you know, dog eat dog world, all of these kind of hyper masculine super capitalist ways of of just just the messaging that we've kind of absorbed from everyone and from the world that we live in currently. And that makes community really hard if you've been taught that you're then competing against each other.
Speaker 2:And so what I have sort of realized in probably the past 12 months, more than ever, like I've always thought community is so important, especially in your business, having that community, having, you know, building a, an audience, but it was something we all know that we need to do and for more introverted people, what I realized is that as AI becomes so much more popular and so much more prevalent in content creation and the way that we operate in business and marketing And what's gonna happen and what is already happening is the amount of AI generated content that's going out onto all the platforms that's being seen by everybody that's adding to all the noise online means that for people who aren't that way inclined, who aren't shout out from the rooftops about their work and everything they do, it's gonna be even harder to cut through that noise because there's just gonna be volume. There's gonna be so much more noise than there ever has been before. And building a community, especially in a way where you've got this third space where you've got, you know, you're off the platforms, you're off the yelling into the void and hoping somebody sees your latest Instagram carousel.
Speaker 2:And you're actually in a space with your people who are bought into your vision, who, maybe working towards the thing that your guy you're supporting people in, or your you've created your community around like everyone's on this similar pathway because they're they're there. So obviously there there's something that you're sharing or holding space for or or helping people with that is a shared shared mission that that we're all on. Having that community means that you don't have to do so much yelling out into the void. You can create this little space where you all come together and you have these amazing conversations and you're all working towards this similar shared goal or similar values and that sort of thing. And then as the space holder, as the person who runs the community, using that as like an inside out approach.
Speaker 2:So instead of going outside and creating all of this external content and trying to get people to come into your community, actually creating a community where you're having these awesome conversations and, and these really thought provoking, you know, things that are coming up or you're sharing things and ideas and strategies and things. And then you say, you go out to your platforms and go, oh, we had this amazing conversation in the community the other day. So you're actually giving people a sneak peek of what they can expect when they join the community versus trying to pull people into that. You're actually sharing it from the inside
Speaker 3:out. Okay. I like that.
Speaker 1:And so how do you how do you build that community? How do you get started and get those people together as a community?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think it's really important to know why, why you're bringing them together. What is that shared goal, that shared vision that you can, you know, the, the Simon Sinek start with why, like, what is it not about you necessarily? I think we're kind of moving out of the influencer phase. It's still there, but I think it's actually more about like, what is the community working towards?
Speaker 2:What is that shared mission or that shared goal? So having a little bit of clarity around that and then finding opportunities where you get to connect with new people. So I love podcasting. I always have, I would say it's probably one of the first things I did in my business even 10 years ago when we didn't have stream yard and, you know, buzzsprout and private podcast feeds. And like, we literally had I I think I, I recorded it on Skype and then I had a SoundCloud account that I had to hook up my RSS feed to get it onto iTunes.
Speaker 2:Like, you don't have to do any of that now. No. No. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I haven't even heard I haven't even heard
Speaker 3:the word Skype. And I don't know when I. I
Speaker 2:used my iPhone headphones to record all my audio. And, it was one of the greatest things I did. It was a, on a whim idea that I had and it meant getting to connect with people. I don't know. I think podcasting is such an introvert friendly way to network and, and share audiences with other people where they get exposed to your audience.
Speaker 2:You get exposed to their audience. You get to have this really deep and meaningful conversation with each other. And then it's it is it's create again, that intimacy that you can't really get when you're just sort of shouting into the void. So I love things like podcasting, collaborative experiences or opportunities where you get to work together with other people, especially as a solopreneur, because it can get lonely and it kind of fuels that gap to have other people to work with without having to do things like manage stuff and that sort of, and yeah. And then finding places that are not even people who are doing the exact same thing to you as you, but who are maybe parallel to what you're doing, where they then have a similar audience who might be interested in your work as well, I think is a really good way to build that.
Speaker 2:I love content creation. So again, podcasting, blogging, sharing, you know, sharing those bigger pieces of content, breaking them down into smaller pieces to then share in different places. They're kind of my favorite ways to to find people and then make the invitation to come join the community.
Speaker 1:Okay. No. That's a really cool idea. And I think, you know, what you said about podcasting being great for introverts is so true because it's a 1 on 1 conversation. You're not making, you know, a bunch of small talk, which is something that introverts are not a fan of, like, a fan of.
Speaker 1:Like, we want something to talk about. Give us the topic to talk about. Give us something to go off of. And so podcasting, you're going in with your topic to talk about, and it feels natural and it feels, you know, conversational and not just scripted or anything like that. You're not trying to be like, oh, well, what do we say next?
Speaker 1:What do we talk about next? So I really do think that it's a great tool. I've met so many great people, so many great women through podcasting that I would have never connected with if I had to start it the doing this podcast, and it's been it's been really great.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Yeah. Same.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I definitely agree. Probably more than anything that I've done apart from people, I guess, who were in communities I'm already a part of. I would say it gives you an opportunity as the host to reach out to people that you would maybe be nervous to even reach out to because you're yes, you're asking for their time and energy, but like who doesn't want to be on a podcast? Everyone's looking for an opportunity to share their work as well. So, yeah, it's, it's really great.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It, it definitely is. It's being, you know, about like reaching out to people that you normally wouldn't reach out to. I actually reached out to one of my favorite podcast host one time and I was super nervous. I was like, would you be interested in being on my podcast?
Speaker 1:Because she has, like, a bigger podcast and, you know, she's been doing it since, like, 2018. And I was just like, I'm just gonna go for it. And I think I I told her, I was like, I just listened to your episode where it's like, you know, just go for it. All somebody could do is say, yes or no. And I was like, so here I am going for it.
Speaker 1:And she was on my show. And I was like, oh my gosh. Yes. But I would have never had the confidence or the courage to do that if I wasn't, you know, doing this in this, in this space.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I totally agree. I've done the same in a few times, a few different people as well. And it is, is you kind of just have to, I think if you can go into it going, this is an open ended invitation in case your, you know, busy right now, if you'd prefer to leave it to a time when you have something that you're launching and you want to get some more kind of reach in that way. And also knowing when you make the ask that there's a chance that they'll say no.
Speaker 2:And, and I always go in going, that's fine. You know, that's probably my default. And then if they say yes, it's amazing. And so you don't get upset because you're like, these people are busy.
Speaker 1:Right. Time. Yeah. Yeah. They have a life, so I'm definitely with you on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I I I'm a bit of a, what is it, a pessimist, so I'll go in, like, with my explanations set low. So if I get disappointed, I have nowhere to fall, but
Speaker 3:if it works you know, who Exactly. That's how I look. That's how I look at it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Keep those expectations really low, and then you you're always pleasantly surprised.
Speaker 1:Exactly. And then you can just always go up. And it's like, oh,
Speaker 3:great. Yeah. Can you see it's
Speaker 1:the introvert thing? We we can communicate. So how can you build a cozy community of your dream clients?
Speaker 2:So I have been doing this for a long time. And one thing that's always, you know, I think at me is that people forget how hard it is when you're first starting out, because once you've been doing it for a while, you know, it just kind of becomes, there becomes a bit of a process to it and it is. So I always try and remember, like, what was it like when I first starting and what would I do now if I was starting with, with no audience at all? So probably the best piece of advice similar. This might be a pessimist thing as well.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I never thought about it like this before, but I always think of it as like one person at a time.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:If you can go into it with a mindset that, especially if you are someone like if I went viral and suddenly had a 100,000 followers, I would freak out. My nervous system does not have the capacity to, to even like just suddenly have this huge amount of people there. And the, and the thing is that's a unicorn thing that happens, that happens to such a tiny percentage of people. So it was not freak out too much about it. Let's just understand that, you know, that could happen, but it probably won't.
Speaker 2:So I always think about it as like one person at a time. And so with that, and I have never realized this until I'm saying it right now, but because of that kind of mindset, that means that every person that I come into contact with, not from a place of like, I want something from you, or at some point I'm going to ask you to work with me, but always from a place of, if I was building my community, one person at a time, I want every person that comes into contact with my business to have an amazing experience, whether they just download my freebie and immediately unsubscribe. I still want them to have that freebie and get something out of it. Whether they see one video or listen to 1 podcast episode or see one post on social media, I want them to have a great experience. If I can, if I can manage that, you know, and sometimes things happen and we're, we're all doing the best we can as humans, messy humans in the world.
Speaker 2:But because I think of it as like a one person at a time, you don't know who that person is and what that connection or that relationship could lead to. And so I think sometimes what can happen is, you know, we get busy. We, we suddenly have then all of a sudden lots of people wanting something from us, which I have also experienced that that can be, it's really important to have boundaries on how much we're able to give and how quickly we're able to respond to people and how many people we respond to. If we, you know, respond to everybody, then what is that taking away from other things we need to be doing? It's that busy work that you mentioned.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. But thinking of it from a place of, like, how can I make this an amazing experience? If someone cancels their membership with me, how is it still sending them off and wishing them luck and, you know, letting them have, like leave with a good feeling instead of it being difficult, instead of it being, it took me 6 days to get back to you for that refund. You know, every single thing is that I'm just so humbled and honored for anybody to be interested in anything that I'm doing that I just want everyone to feel that way. Like just really appreciated when they're in my space.
Speaker 2:So one person at a time, again, it's really knowing that mission that you're on and then looking for ways that you can share that with people. That's really all we're doing. It's like, this is the thing that I help people with and how do I find the people who need that help? And so it's sharing our work. It's finding a way to, again, get in front of new people of nurturing the people that are there.
Speaker 2:Like so many people say to me, I haven't emailed my list in 6 months. It's like, but there's a whole heap of people there that are potential clients or who might be looking for something that you can support them with. How can we get into a kind of rhythm of remembering to take care of those people and also a method for bringing new people in whatever that might look like, whether it's creating content and, you know, really educational and valuable content that people find and they get a lot out of. And then having that invitation join my list or, you know, join my group or whatever that might be, whether it's paid advertising, which you have to outlay the money for, but the time efficiency is so much better and the targeting is so much better. And then you have to do a really good job at nurturing those people because they don't know who you are.
Speaker 2:And then it's it's the kind of referral and and and collaboration experiences that you can have with other people where again you get to share your message, you get to share your philosophy and what you do and then hope that maybe 1 or 2 people might like that. And that's doing things like guest posting, guest interviews, summits, bundles, you know, all of those things as well and just continuing to share your message. Like my job is to show up every day and share my message whether people are listening or not and just keep doing that. And then one person might come in and then just keep doing that and just keep doing that. And so that's what I try and do every single day.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I like that. Just focus on on one person or focus, like you mentioned, with the email list. And I know this was, something that I had to learn. Like, I'd be focusing on posting on social media, but then I realized, okay. You have this email list and these people actually took the time to sign up for your email list.
Speaker 1:So they want to they want to be there. Like, they're there for a reason. They're interested in what you have. So let's focus on nurturing those people and building a relationship with those people. And then even I've heard people say, you know, something similar to what you said as well is that, okay.
Speaker 1:If you have one client or one person that's really interested in what it Focus on nurturing those people instead of trying to go out and get the other 500 people that aren't paying you any attention. Because while you're trying to get those people, you're neglecting that one person or those 2 people that have showed that they're interested, that are like here, take my money. I want to listen to you. I'm there. So that's who you need to be focusing on and that's who you, who you need to be nurturing.
Speaker 1:So I think that's really good advice there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So Catherine, tell us about your podcast.
Speaker 2:So my podcast has been on hiatus for a while. I,
Speaker 1:I put it on
Speaker 2:hiatus in August last year for a month and that is obviously, 10 months ago. So my, my public podcast has been on hiatus. I'm currently doing interviews for season 3. So I'm sort of thinking of it. It's ended up being more of a, kind of short series that just is like 10 episodes a year, because that has felt more manageable for me in the current times of I've just been shaking up a lot of things in my business, moving a lot of things around and changing a lot of the foundational stuff.
Speaker 2:And so it is something that did go on pause and then it's been like, Oh yeah, I need to get back to that. So it's currently on a bit of a hiatus. So immersion expand is the podcast and I do solo episodes where I just sort of talk about things like this. And then I do interviews as well. I have a kind of the interview series in it is called do business differently where I just talk to people who are, I guess, just going against the grain a little bit in some way, depending on, you know, the industry that they're in and kind of work that they do, how they do their marketing and their values and beliefs as well.
Speaker 2:And then I also have currently a private podcast, which is called the journey to 100, where I'm documenting my process of, just built this cozy community hub, which is my membership and documenting that because the members are also building their communities. And so what I'm doing is each week I'm sharing with them. These are some things that I did this week. This worked really well. This is the lesson that came out of this week, and here are the things that I am trying for next week so that they can see in real time what someone is actually doing week to week to build their community in a way that I guess I wouldn't necessarily do publicly because it's a lot more behind the scenes than I usually share.
Speaker 3:Just for everybody.
Speaker 1:Okay. Yeah. No. That that makes sense. And there's nothing wrong with, like, a private podcast if it's for, you know, a specific group or, like, a membership or something like that.
Speaker 1:I think that that's a great way to, like, connect with members in your group or to connect with just, like, a small group of people who are all interested in something that's very specific and very, you know, similar to what's to each other. So, yeah. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I don't know if you've noticed this, but I feel like the, the, the landscape has changed. And so this year has been so much like experimenting and trying different things and seeing what works really well and what's changed. What used to always work really well seems to be not the same anymore. And so it's been that and that's what happens.
Speaker 2:You know, I've been doing this for 10 years and it's, it's just trying new things and seeing what's out there and, and the trends and things, seeing what people are more interested in as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Because things are always changing and always evolving. And some things you do have to change with and try it out and see, you know, what people are interested in, what they like, what you can leave the same, what you need to change up. So, yeah, things are always changing. I feel like I'm always changing something or something or something needs to be changed.
Speaker 3:So I'm like, what? What day?
Speaker 1:But today is today is not the day. I completely
Speaker 2:get it. I have a list. I have a list. I call it my ideas shelf and it's kind of like, I just pick one thing. I try and just to pick one thing to fix.
Speaker 2:And one thing that I'm currently working on, because it can, it can be this just thing that you tinker at forever. And I think it's, it's kind of finding a balance between fixing things and changing little bits, you know, as you realize like what's going to move the needle the most for me. And then also being really okay with the fact that nothing's going to ever be perfect and there's always going to be something that can be done. And so, like, where's the surrender in that as well? So we're not just working all the time and not really getting, getting out there or resting when we need to.
Speaker 1:Right. Just, you know, like I said earlier, creating stuff just to create some things you feel like you need to be busy. So, yeah, no, I I get it. Yeah. I have a notebook of stuff that I write down and keep it, then I'll go back to it and it's like, do I really need to do this right now?
Speaker 1:Is this really important? Probably not. It can it can go on the back burner for a while. So
Speaker 2:Such a great question to ask. Do I really need to do this right now?
Speaker 3:If the
Speaker 2:answer is no or maybe or I don't know, then don't do it.
Speaker 1:Don't do it. Just put it on the back burner, come back to it again a little later. And sometimes I'll come back to stuff and I'll be like, what was I thinking? Why is this even on here? I do I do not need to take that on.
Speaker 1:Not now. Not ever. So I'm just gonna completely cross that off the list right there. So it's all it's a balancing process that you have to kinda figure out there. Exactly.
Speaker 1:Well, Catherine, I have enjoyed this conversation so much. Is there anything else that you would like to share today?
Speaker 2:I don't think so. I've just loved chatting to you about this and I love the way the conversation went. So thank you so much.
Speaker 1:You're very welcome. I've enjoyed it as well. It was very, very nice and very fun and always, like I said, great to talk to a fellow introvert. So how can everyone connect with you?
Speaker 2:So this is something I learned from my friend, Alicia Galetti, who is also a podcast host and amazing person to connect with anyone who is interested in learning about podcasting too. She always says, recommend, always share your podcast when you're on another podcast, because people are already in the app. So my podcast is called emerge and expand. It is a little bit, it hasn't been updated in a little while, but I promise season 3 is on the way. And there are a whole bunch of really good episodes there to catch up on on social media.
Speaker 2:I am at miss underscore KMS everywhere. Instagram is probably my most sort of platform that I'm the most active on. And, yeah, I guess probably everything we've talked about today. If anyone's interested, I have my cozy community hub, which is a $7 a month membership. So it's really, really accessible for anyone who is looking to build a community of dream clients.
Speaker 2:That's something that I am super excited and passionate about at the moment. And you also get the journey to 100 podcast as a part of that as well. So, yeah, thank you so much for letting me share that.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah. No. Definitely. No problem at all. And I'll make sure to get everything linked into the show notes as well so that people can easily just click on it.
Speaker 1:Because like I said, they're already in the app, so they can just go ahead and click from it, click on it right there. So Exactly. Well, thank you, Catherine, and I hope that you enjoy the rest of your day.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Angel. It was so wonderful to finally get to connect with you, and I can't wait to connect with you again soon.
Speaker 1:Same for me. I can't wait to connect with you again.
