What's Kat's Story?

I just wrote an article in my ezine this week entitled "What is YOUR story?" so I'm writing MY story in my blog so that you can follow along and see how I talk about mine so that you can craft yours.

Here goes (This is the long version and frankly I'm writing this more for me, not for anyone else.):

Ever since I was in college, maybe it was even high school, I felt like I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with my life. I'm sure we've all been there at one point and it was probably pretty common. However I didn't feel like any 'regular' job or industry really fit me. I knew I would do some sort of business, marketing or sales job whatever it was though since that stuff seemed to fit me.

So, in my quest for seeking 'stability' in a J.O.B. I ran across and dabbled in jobs like selling knives (to family and friends), restaurant work like bartending and door to door sales selling oil change certificates and restaurant coupons. All of those had their fun and flexible part plus the unlimited earning part (since I could earn as much as I could sell). I liked this and I believe I took these paths all for a reason, they all lead me to where I am now. I love learning new skills too, especially sales skills because they always seemed to come in handy for everything and I was pretty competitive back then and always wanted to be the top dog!

Then the practical side of me kicked in when I decided to get married. Ok, I'll go get a 'real job' now and earn a stable income, work set hours, etc. so my husband and I could pay the bills (for sure), eat and save for retirement which is what we're all supposed to do, right?

Retirement....seemed like a long way off, what was it at age 62 or something? For some reason I just couldn't see myself working at something, or even multiple things, for that long.....you?

Anyhow, I did it. I went from my first corporate job as a management trainee at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, working 70+ hours a week at 27, making great money with overtime and bonuses, etc. but killing myself in the process. I had no fun, no sleep and not a really great time with my husband since I always came home late either. I realized I wasn't going to go far in this company either because I had way too much of a 'free spirit' attitude and only the conformists really made it to the top here; my blunt, tell it like it is attitude was really starting to show.... That lasted 3 years until I was completely burned out of that job!

Next was a more fun job that I really loved and I think this was the pivital point in my career because it became a passion. I did advertising sales for the local newspaper. I was working with really small business owners and my job was to get them to buy ads (It was 2000, back when people were still buying print ads!) of course but what I really turned into was a very good 'consultative salesperson'. This is where I learned and sharpened my craft of 'Relationship Marketing' although I didn't know it at the time. At the time it just became my challenge because my inclination was often to suggest that my customer spend his money in something other than my paper, especially having only a few hundreds of dollars to work with. I would suggest a more direct approach with their own clients, hence consulting them on where and how to spend their marketing dollars (of course what I do now). My customers loved me and would still buy from me actually and I was a top salesperson many times due to my honesty and straightforwardness. However again, after two years of overtime, deadlines (they were stressful!), a corporate environment and negative co-workers I was done with that.

Then I decided to hone my marketing skills and took a job for one of my advertising clients to be their Sales & Marketing Director at a local retirement community. This job had a much bigger base salary yet really huge goals to meet with good bonuses if met. It supposedly had set hours too so I wouldn't get caught up in the overtime again and I would have a more balanced life but to my dismay that wasn't my reality. This was by far the most corporate environment of them all, with corporate training retreats, meetings after meeting after meeting and structure and expectations from hell. Needless to say I still stayed late working because with the budget, we were understaffed and I'm a very conscientious person and want to make sure I get my stuff done so I'd work over. My boss at this job was the final straw however; he would do one thing and say the other so often I just couldn't take it anymore. Why was I here? What was I doing? I knew I was meant for greater things than settling for this. Plus the drama in this environment was depressing and I found myself getting sucked into it and that wasn't good. After only 6 months this time - I left very abruptly not knowing exactly what I would do.....

Somewhere within that last 6 months I had a feeling my working for someone else was over with though because I hired a Business Coach that I knew and I had begun sessions with her to figure out what it was that I was meant to do.

We did find out that

#1 I'm a problem solver.

# 2 I'm creative and

#3 I'm independent.


So after a few months of deciding what I should do....I went through:

-- Do I start a gift basket company? (didn't see enough of a profit for too much work)

-- Do I become an event planner? (found out they don't get paid much and work every weekend - that wouldn't work)

-- Do I do some sort of consulting - business, marketing, advertising - or have my own ad agency?

That last one seemed like the best fit at the time and thank goodness!

So, #1 important lesson was to seek help and advice and work through my options or I could have chosen a different path.

When I finally said good-bye (it was actually a lot harsher word than this but, you know) to that last job I was FREE!!!! (can you relate?)

I was lucky to have my parent's support too of course, I know not everyone could feel comfortable leaving their secure job to start a business because we know it takes a few months (if not years sometimes) to get up and running and make any money! But my parents did loan me money to cover what my job had been covering for us so my family and living situation didn't skip a beat (for 6 months).

Then it was my job to go make money right? It was scary, yes. My husband at the time worried and stressed on a daily basis of course too. I somehow knew it would all work out in the end but I think it was then deep down inside that I knew I HAD to make it work because I sure wasn't going to go back and work for someone else ever again. I did know though that if it didn't work out, I trusted that I could always go get another job - I was smart and knew my stuff - so I really didn't worry.

You see, I had found out about Relationship Marketing (I still didn't call it that back then) so it became easy... I was so good at networking and talking to people and giving them advice about their businesses at that time that I was getting clients left and right. (Looking back on it of course I was priced way too low then but I'll talk more about that later when I talk about how I discovered my "Life Lesson.")

However one thing looking back was that I know now that back then I was thinking way too small. I wish I had known that you could make millions of dollars doing this or I never would have started out at $59 per hour! ;0)

It took me about 9 months to a year to really become comfortable with what I was doing, figuring out my systems and how I would work with clients but of course taking on each and every client that came my way (right? because it's about the money? or so I thought...).

Speed up 4 years or so into my business and I had a nice, thriving practice, full with clients paying me on retainer, working all hours of the day and night (you don't see this as 'overtime' when you work for yourself but it is!) and loving every minute of it really.

Yes there were a few ups and downs in my business like:

-- Being behind on my bookkeeping for the first 6 months until my mom came and bailed me out.

-- Hiring and 'firing' my first couple employees, learning how to train them (by osmosis, how else!)

-- Low income months (eating pasta every night) vs. high ones (where we'd spend all the money on extra stuff for the house instead of saving)

-- Depressing days and lack of self motivation where I sat on the couch all day watching soap operas and Oprah

-- Trial and error with my fees and pricing.


We were the typical married couple too:

-- Work too much
-- Spend too much
-- Never spend time together
-- Grow apart
-- Eventually Divorce....

Yes, it was about this time that we decided to part ways....we just had grown apart. I think that definitely happens often when one person becomes their own boss and the other person doesn't understand why:

-- the house isn't cleaner when they get home
-- dinner isn't already made, etc. among other things

So this was another transition time for me because:

-- Would I be able to afford to live on my own with my own business? Pay my own mortgage, bills, food, medical insurance, etc.?

-- Would I be lonely?

-- How would I get all the things done around the house that he currently does now like mowing, fixing things, etc.?

-- I'd have to start dating again? Yuck!

-- Who would get the dog??? (hee hee, I did)

But I had to have faith, faith in myself, my business and faith that it would all work out in the end (which of course became the title of the chapter in the Power and Soul book that I wrote!).

I know I sometimes make it look so easy in my ezines and make it look like everything is hunky dory but I go through all kinds of emotions and difficult times just like anyone else. I just choose not to let it take over. I choose to turn things around and take action. I choose to live an abundant life, not a poverty one.

What I've learned over the last two (probably the best years in my biz so far) years is that I am destined to live this life and support others. In fact I had my hands analyzed a week or so ago and the gal basically confirmed everything I've felt and gone through in my life and really helped set me back on track for a hugely fulfilling, abundant and joyful life to come.

The hand analysist told me my Life Purpose and my Life Lesson. This is what they do; they read the lines in your hands and your fingerprints and all of them mean things and this is basically what she said for me in a nutshell:

My Life Lesson - Meaning my biggest challenge that I will face all my life and need to be aware of and work on is - my challenge related to my worth issues and value issues in myself. An example she gave is that I often will undercharge for my time or give people extra time and not charge them because I believe I need to give them more value even though they might think I give a lot of value. (It's funny because I've been slowly raising my rates each year and am set to do this again this week! I know I'm undercharging....but needed help to really see that even though I see it in my clients all the time.)

My Life Purpose - Meaning what I'm meant to be doing in my life, why I'm here - is to be speaking, teaching, sharing, communicating and (she called it) spewing my information and knowledge. She said I would never be satisfied if I did not spew my info and she went on to say that oftem times I feel obligated to do this (which is so right on!) even if I'm not asked! HA! I do this all the time and am really working on it too. Even on my website I give too much info and need to hold back more....

All of this is so interesting though really because it really does tie in with how I deal with everyone - my clients, my relationships, peers, etc. I feel so much clearer now though and the older I get, the more clear it seems to be....

So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Now, comment below and tell me yours!!!!

--Kat out