How To Make Business Feel Easy AND Successful - With Katrina Widener
Jan 10, 2022Tom Bailey, founder of Succeed Through Speaking, interviews Katrina Widener.
Katrina Widener is a business coach, podcast host, and community leader. She helps badass entrepreneurs get lit up in business through her custom group coaching community.
Resources / Links
https://www.instagram.com/katrina.widener/
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Transcript
Tom Bailey 00:07
Hello and welcome to succeed through speaking the place for experts and entrepreneurs who want high value ideas to boost business results. Hello, I'm Tom Bailey. And in today's episode, I'll be getting to know Katrina Widener, who is a business coach, a podcast host, and of course, a community leader. So Katrina Hello, and a very warm welcome to today's episode.
Katrina Widener 00:40
Thank you so much for having me.
Tom Bailey 00:42
I really appreciate it. And just out of interest for all of our listeners, whereabouts in the world are you right now.
Katrina Widener 00:48
I am in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the US. So
Tom Bailey 00:52
I love it. And for those of you watching on YouTube, you can see Katrina's got a lovely Christmas tree in the back. So we are at that time of year. And incredible. I just want to share just a little bit more about you before we do get started. So Katrina helps bad ass entrepreneurs get lit up in business through her custom group coaching community. And you can find her on Instagram on at Katrina dot Weidner. The title for today's episode is how to make business feel easy and successful. And Katrina's gonna show us how to do it in just seven minutes. So question, one for you today is who are your ideal clients?
Katrina Widener 01:29
So for me, my ideal clients are like those, I would call maybe like mid tier entrepreneurs, so people who are not beginners, but are making like around that, like 50,000 to $115,000. Honestly, the people that I work with, are genuinely like, the type of people who are I love what I do. I love my business. But why does it feel so difficult all the time? Why do I feel alone? Can you just give me a roadmap on how to grow it? Like I know, some things that work, but I haven't been able to really just like, feel 100% Confident in every decision that I'm making along the way. Yeah. And that's like where I love to dive in.
Tom Bailey 02:15
Perfect. And, and I guess at that 50 to $115,000. You know, you don't yet have a big team around you. So yeah, that feeling of loneliness. Who do I lean on? Yeah, I can definitely resonate with that. So when you think of your clients, and the people you typically work with, what's the biggest challenge that they normally face?
Katrina Widener 02:34
It's consistent income, that doesn't feel like a struggle, right? It's like, like, basically, we at that point of time know how to bring some clients in, we know how to like, Okay, I'm doing this like it's going, okay, like I'm, I'm, I'm able to live off of my business. Now. I'm full time I know what I'm doing. But I want to reach that next level, I want to make it feel that much easier. And I want it to be fun again. Normally, those clients are the people who have been in business a couple of years. And they're like, I've tried this, and I've tried that, I've tried that, I've tried that. And they're like, and I'm getting a little burnt out and feel a little overwhelmed. And it would just be so nice to have someone do this with me. Who else like, also can guide me to that place that I want to end up at? Yeah,
Tom Bailey 03:23
absolutely. And the word consistency I hear a lot. And the lack of consistency, because it may be you have a $10,000 month but the next one do you don't get any clients? And then after you get a few, so how do we create that consistency? That's a really good problem to solve. So I guess a lack of consistency, what impact does that typically have on the business owner?
Katrina Widener 03:46
Honestly, it's, it's twofold. It's when we look at the business, right? It means that hey, like, I don't have that consistency. I don't know where my money is coming from. I don't know how to recreate my sales process every single time I want to go out and bring in new income. Like that's a big, big impact that that inconsistent income has. But it's also that mental side. So it's the like, Oh, I get a little bit of imposter syndrome. And then the next week, I feel really great. And then the next week, I'm like, Well, why can't I recreate what I just did. And so it's very much this like up and down roller coaster. And that leads to those feelings of burnout or overwhelm or frustration or again, just like Can somebody please just come and show me what I need to do? Yeah,
Tom Bailey 04:31
yeah, I completely understand. So for those people listening that resonate with this, which I'm sure will be a lot of people. What would you say is that one piece of valuable advice that you can give them to really help them get started in solving this problem.
Katrina Widener 04:45
So the real trick to like making it feel easy, is something that I talk about all the time, and that's alignment. Yep. And so we want to make sure that we're aligned with ourselves but we also want to be aligned with our goals. And we want to be aligned with the industry within, that we're working within. Or we want to choose to be aligned with ourselves at the expense of the industry working and right, like maybe doing things a little bit differently breaking away from the norms. And so one of the big things that I tell people is like, it's time to get really curious about yourself, and how you operate and how you've been operating, what works, what doesn't work, what you like doing what you hate doing, but also get aligned with your clients. So what is their biggest need? Where are they feeling like they are? Where are they? Where are they feeling that they're not worthy? What are the things that you can do to uniquely help them? And it's really that combination of the three of them, that allows you to solve that problem. Yeah, but people don't always know exactly how to get aligned
Tom Bailey 05:48
without help. Yeah, that all makes a lot of sense to me. So a lot of that around consistency alignment, really getting to know the clients, you know, what we can do for them their problems? Yeah, it makes makes complete sense. And I guess for anyone who wants that, and wants to find out more, where would you point them so they can get some resources or something to help them on this journey.
Katrina Widener 06:11
So the first thing that I normally do to point like, where I point people is a free session, I do 45 minute free sessions with literally anyone. Yeah, it's one thing that I really love doing. But it's also kind of that like, Okay, I know that I need help, but I have no idea what to do. And we've all downloaded 35 million PDFs and joined 85, like email courses. Yeah. And actually getting like someone on a call and be most said, This is my problem. Where do we even begin? That's like, huge. Yeah.
Tom Bailey 06:45
And how would they book that session? So
Katrina Widener 06:49
if you go to my website, or you go to my Instagram, I have, like a link for the free session there. So super, super easy, super straightforward.
Tom Bailey 06:59
Great. And that website is Catrina weidner.com. What I'll do is I'll post a link to that in the show notes. So people can just click on that book that session and have that conversation with you about how they can move forward in their business. Yes. So next question for me is when you think of your business, and how you've been operating, what would you say is one of your greatest mistakes, failures or lessons learned and in life or in business? And what did you learn from it?
Katrina Widener 07:24
So this is what I'm like, I'm gonna have to keep this short. I am a people person, I'm an extrovert. I love working with people. I am a co leader of a local community here, I founded another community. And when I first started my business, I did one on one coaching exclusively, which like, if you look at who I am, and we talk about alignment that's not aligned with me, what's aligned with me is group business coaching. It's really that community forward approach. And so I tried for the first three years of my business to get it up and off the ground with just one on one coaching, and doing community in like different areas. And it wasn't until I was like, No, this is not aligned, that I started, like, Oh, this is what it feels like to get traction. This is what it feels like to get that consistent income. And it's all because I just like looked at myself and said, What do I enjoy doing? How do I want to move forward in my business, and figured it out from there.
Tom Bailey 08:24
So you're not only having more impact in the world, but you're also having more fun and, you know, feeding off the energy of the community as well. So it's a win win win? For you in that respect? Yeah. Amazing. And, okay, great. And I'm wanting to ask you one more question on the back of that, because I speak to a lot of introverts with a lot of extroverts. And, you know, I know that shifting from one to one to group coaching is actually a really good business strategy for leveraging your time. What about would you speak to an introvert? And would you still give them that advice? Or would you sometimes say, stick with the one to one coaching?
Katrina Widener 08:58
Oh, it's, this is where the alignment factor comes in, right? Like, if you're an introvert, you need to be making different, like business decisions than an extrovert would. And what I find often happens when you work with a business coach, and granted, there are many, many amazing business coaches out there that do not do this. But there are a lot of business coaches out there who say, either, this is what I've done, I'll help you replicate it. That's what a lot of courses do. Or they say, I'm just going to give the same exact cookie cutter advice to every single person that comes through my door. Yeah. And that doesn't work either leads to massive financial success and incredible burnout and hating every single thing you're doing, or it leads to I can't get consistent income because I'm working against my natural strengths, my natural abilities. And that is why that alignment factor is so important and why I'm talking about like, consistent income that also feels easy and fun. Yeah, because if I'm an extrovert, I'm going To make one choice, if you're an introvert, you're going to make another choice. And it's that ability to look past the shoulds. To pass the comparison and to tune into yourself instead that is really, really difficult. Yeah. Very stubborn.
Tom Bailey 10:13
Yeah, no, I love that. And I guess for any course creators out there, anyone building communities, if you can bring in that personalization of, it's not just a one size fits all approach. I'm gonna treat you all as individuals, even if we're in a group. Yeah, that's a great mindset to go into this with. So yeah, I love that. And then the last question for me today is what is the one question that I should have asked you today that will also bring some great value to our audience?
Katrina Widener 10:39
I think the main question that I normally have people ask me is just really that, like, how do I get aligned? How do I actually make that happen? And if you're doing this, like at home DIY style, it's getting curious about yourself. It's asking yourself a lot of questions. Why do I do things this way? Naturally? When do I feel the most of myself? When do I not like myself so much within my business? And when you start asking the right questions, that's when you can get the right answers that will lead you in the direction you want to go. It's really just like approaching yourself with curiosity. No shame, no blaming, but just like, What do I like to do? Oh, that's interesting. How can I incorporate that more.
Tom Bailey 11:25
And that time, time for self reflection is so important, and I love that thought of being more curious. And I put that as the subtitle to this episode. And I love it. So Katrina, thank you so much, again, for your timestamp. I really appreciate you coming along and sharing such great value with our audience.
Katrina Widener 11:43
Thank you so much for having me.
