090: [Soulpreneur 411] How I got into blogging, business development and marketing

Kate Kordsmeier 0:04

Welcome, welcome, welcome. We are back with the Success with Soul podcast. I'm your host, Kate Kordsmeier. And we are officially in season two of the show now. And I'm excited because we're doing something a little different. We've just released a brand new series called Soulpreneur 411, where entrepreneurs just like you can send in questions if you want some personalized laser coaching. And I will answer each week. So if you want to leave me a message and be featured on the show and get some free coaching for yourself, which is usually only available inside the incubator, head on over to Kate kordsmeier.com/Ask, and you can be featured and get coached as well. So with that, let's dive into today's question.

Alicia 0:52

Hey, Kate, my name is Alicia, my question for you is how did you get into this business development world? How did you figure out that that was what really, you were great at?

Kate Kordsmeier 1:06

Hey, Alicia, I love this question. Thank you so much for asking it. And I think there's a couple different ways I'm trying to decide to start here, as you guys have probably been able to tell, I don't have notes prepared in front of me before I do these 411 calls. So I literally am just listening to your question and kind of speaking off the cuff about what comes up and trying to keep it more organic and natural, like a traditional coaching call might be. So with that, you have to be a little bit patient with me as I sort of organize my thoughts here. So I think where I'll start with this is to say that, while I've probably told my story many times on this podcast and in different iterations and kind of, you know, my origin story and how I got started and all of this, I probably haven't told it exactly through the lens of this question. So I'm going to just give you like a very quick and dirty version of how I got started in the business development world. So as you might know, I was a journalism major in school, and I wanted to be a freelance writer, I interned with a freelance writer when I was in college, and she wrote for all of these cool national magazines and had these amazing assignments. And she worked from home for herself. And she just like, seemed like she had the life and I wanted it. So I very much went into college graduation thinking I want to be a freelance writer, but everybody that I knew got real jobs, and were going into offices and doing all the quote unquote, right things. And that just kind of felt like too scary and out there. And nobody really understood what I meant when I said freelance writer. So I decided to get a real job too. And I was a copywriter for a big fashion Corporation. And I hated it. It was the definition of soul sucking nine to five cube life. And I lasted for months until I decided Screw this, I'm going to do what I originally set out to do, which is be a freelance writer. And of course, everybody that I knew, thought I was insane. This was in 2010. So the recession was kind of still going on and dwindling a little bit at least. So the fact that I had a job and was choosing to leave it at my own volition was like, You're crazy. But honestly, for me, I think that kind of fueled me to make it work because I wanted to prove everybody wrong. And I knew that this was possible. So fast forward a couple months, I had already earned more in my freelance career than I was earning at this big ritzy, you know, seemingly glamorous job at a fashion company. And I was hooked. It was like, this is the thing. So I say this as a precursor to like, the message that you will hear me say from all of these stories is that I just kind of followed my gut and my intuition, and I trusted where it was leading to me and let the process unfold. So there was this level of faith that I had to have. And then there was also a level of action that I had to have. But I didn't know any of these things until I tried them. I had to do them in order to get the clarity. So I think so often, we think that if we can just think about it a little bit more, we're going to figure it out. We're going to know the answer. We're going to be ready, whatever the thing is for you, but actually thinking is what is going to keep you stuck, you just need to start doing. So let me continue this story now. So I had my first freelancing career. I learned more as I was started freelancing that I probably would be better off niching down and picking a subject to become an expert in so that anytime an editor was like, I need a writer on this topic, my name came to mind. So I just thought about what do I love doing and I loved to eat and travel. So I decided to niche down and to be sort of this combo travel food writer Were basically I did travel stories, but with through the lens of food. And so my job became eating and traveling around the world, and getting paid to eat at the best places and report back on what was going on in the culinary scene in all different cities around the world. And it was amazing. I cannot imagine a more fun fulfilling way to spend my 20s. For a lot of reasons, I started getting bored of it sick of it, times were changing, the media landscape was changing, pay was being cut, I was getting older, I was having health issues. I didn't want to travel so much anymore, blah, blah, blah, I wanted to do something else. I started reading about how other bloggers were making money online. And in particular, a pinch of Yum, was publishing income reports at this time. And they were making like, I think $30,000 a month. And I'm sure they make much more now. At the time. This was in 2014 2015. So I was like, well, Dang, this is basically what I'm doing as a journalist. But for other magazines, I could just do it for my own blog and make way more money and have way more control on you know, it just it sounded great. And I thought, well, if they could do it, I could do it. So let me try this. So I didn't quit my journalism career, I kind of slowly started scaling back and using those extra hours to start building my blog. And a big part of that was learning the blogging, business and investing and coaching and programs and all of those kinds of things to help me learn how to even be a blogger. There's so many things that you don't know what you don't know. So I followed my gut again, I started this blog, once again, everybody in my life thought I was crazy. They're like you have the dream job. Why would you start a blog, but I just had this knowing. And so I followed it. And lo and behold, I created a six figure blog, and people started asking me, how did you do it? And so again, everything was kind of just like this natural, organic, flowy process of let me just try something and see how I feel. And then it would lead to the next thing. So here I am, I'm making multiple six figures a year from my blog, people are asking me, how are you doing this? I don't understand. I didn't even think you could make any money blogging. So I decided to start a course called the six figure blog Academy. And then that became a multiple six figure business in the very first year. So then people were asking me, Well, wait, how are you making all this money with courses and just like these online offers. So that led to the incubator where I started teaching sort of this holistic business model of how you could take your blog, and use it to generate organic traffic and leads on autopilot to sell your Online offers. And so each thing has just led to the next thing. So it just so happens that I personally have found that I just really have a passion for both helping others and teaching and business. And I'm not really surprised. Both my parents are entrepreneurs. My dad has always talked to me about his business, and he invests in other businesses, and he's on the board of a lot of businesses. So it's just been a regular topic of conversation in my house. And I've always been really interested in it. So when I found this avenue, I just went with it. And at the time of this recording, it's May 2022. Who knows what may 2025, will look like or may 2030, I might be doing something different. I hope not. Because right now, I'm just so happy and fulfilled with this work. But I thought those same things about my other businesses, and they led to something else, which led to something else which led to something else. So again, I think the moral of my story here is to just be open to possibilities, to follow your own gut and your intuition to get quiet and really think about what do you want and screw what everybody else says. Just because they couldn't figure it out doesn't mean that you can't just because they don't have the courage to try something or to go out on their own or to put themselves out there doesn't mean that you shouldn't or that you can't. So forget what everybody else is saying figure out what do you want, and then go for it. And the worst that happens is it doesn't work out. But it probably gives you clarity on what you want to do instead, it probably didn't work out not because you didn't have what it takes. It probably didn't work out. Because you decided once you got started, oh, I don't really like this as much as I thought I would. Or oh i thought that i would was really going to enjoy blogging about x. But actually it turns out I really enjoy talking about why. And so you just don't know and you cannot figure it out by thinking about it. You That's tough to do. So I hope that inspires you to take some action, get quiet with yourself, think about what it is you really want and just go for it

All right, thanks for tuning in y'all. If you liked this episode and want to get coached by me and my amazing team, then come join us inside the Success with Soul incubator where we have live q&a coaching calls every single week. Plus, you can even submit your work for feedback every week to That's right, you literally can submit everything you're working on and get personalized laser coaching feedback on your actual work every single week. I don't know many programs offering this and it is one of my favorite features. And I think our students would agree. In addition to our self paced curriculum, we have frequent live trainings with leading industry experts on topics like leadership and Enneagram, and metrics and finance and SEO and funnels. And because your business won't thrive if you aren't thriving, we also do monthly soul sessions with spiritual healers and wellness pros to ensure you get that self care in. So if you're ready to transform your business in life and holistic, sustainable and soulful way, head on over to Kate kordsmeier.com/apply To see if we're a good fit to work together. We're accepting businesses of all size, including those that are just dreams in your head and those who are making all the money but feeling totally empty and depleted by the process. Here's what one of our clients Molly Cahill from holistic marketing hub had to say about it.

Molly Cahill 11:38

I had my first $10,000 month and now I'm having consistent $18,000 months. Thanks to Kate in the strategies I learned inside the Success with Soul incubator. It is by far the best money I've ever invested into my business it has paid off for sure not to mention the time that it saved me being able to just copy paste import Kate's funnel. And I love that you get a lot of one on one time with Kate on the weekly group calls and that you get direct feedback and direct critiques on your specific questions that are unique to your business. And I also love that she doesn't give you this one size fits all business in a box approach. She recognizes and appreciates that every business is unique. And she helps you walk through those unique challenges for your specific business. And on top of that, I love that she's just a real human who walks the talk. So highly recommend Success with Soul incubator. Thank you so much Kate.

Kate Kordsmeier 12:36

So if you want results in transformation like Molly, come join us inside this intimate mastermind style program at Kate kordsmeier.com/apply. And remember if you want to be featured on the podcast to get coached in the Soulpreneur 411 series. You can leave your voicemail over at Kate kordsmeier.com/ask and be featured on the show. We'll see you next week.

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