Redraw Your Path

I’m Choosing This, So I Could Unchoose It | Ep. 035 - Kaitlin Henze

• Lynn Debilzen • Episode 35

Share episode

Join host Lynn Debilzen in this candid interview with Kaitlin Henze on Redraw Your Path!

In this interview, Lynn learns about Kailtin’s journey from the high-pressure environment of Silicon Valley to aspiring social worker, from corporate career ladder to solopreneur. Their conversation touches on:

  • The value of continuous self-awareness building and using tools that will help you understand yourself better, and how often that can provide a key to seeing your experiences through a new lens
  • The power of seeing neurodivergence as a gift, and how it can help you truly embrace new definitions of success for yourself than the ones you were given in childhood
  • The importance of focusing and prioritizing as a business owner, so you can grow your business without burning out

Tune in for a dynamic discussion on life and growth!

About Kaitlin:

‌My personal career journey has taught me that ambition can lead to burnout by setting unattainable goals and trying to satisfy everyone. It took me many years to learn that doing more and working harder does not always lead to success. After reaching a breaking point, I dedicated time to learning self-compassion, mindful communication, and empathic leadership skills that have truly shifted how I interact with myself and others and approach my work.

‌I then became determined to find a different solution for small businesses and nonprofit organizations that may be spread thin or have big ideas and visions without the bandwidth to execute on them.

I developed an approach to make mindfulness and compassion practices accessible for all type of business leaders by incorporating the basic concepts into critical business practices like strategic goal setting, product development, and leading a team.

Passion to Profit was created to help leaders like you develop and activate a strategy that allows you and your business to flourish long term. The work we do together will positively influence your life as a whole, while helping you grow your business, lead your team, and achieve your goals!


Connect with Kaitlin:
Get her business value blueprint: https://www.passiontoprofitconsulting.com/copy-of-leading-with-compassion-toolkit
Purchase the full workbook: https://www.picanetwork.org/pica/Business_Value_Blueprint_Workbook.asp
Join her webinar with PICA on 10/2/2024: https://www.picanetwork.org/assnfe/ev.asp?ID=899
Website: https://www.passiontoprofitconsulting.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlin-henze/
Passion to Profit on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/passion-to-profit-consulting/?viewAsMember=true

Resources mentioned:

Connect with Lynn:

  • www.redrawyourpath.com
  • www.lynndebilzen.com
  • https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynndebilzen/
Lynn:

Hey friends, I'm Lynn Debilzen and welcome to Redraw Your Path, a podcast where I share stories of people who have made big changes in their lives and forged their own unique paths. I talk with guests about their moments of messiness, fear, and reframing on their way to where they are now. My goal is to inspire you about the shape your life could take. So let's get inspired. Hello, my lovely, beautiful human beings. It's your friend Lynn here and I'm really thrilled to share another episode of Redraw Your Path with you this week. I had the opportunity to interview Kaitlin Henze, And it was just a joy to talk with her. We originally crossed paths IRL through a mutual friend, and during my life in Milwaukee. And it was awesome to just hear more about her. here's a little bit about Kaitlin's background. Her personal career journey taught her that ambition can lead to burnout by setting unattainable goals and trying to satisfy everyone. Oh my gosh. Preach. Preach, preach, preach. It took her many years to learn that doing more and working harder does not always lead to success. After reaching a breaking point, she dedicated time to learning self compassion, mindful communication and empathic leadership skills that have truly shifted how she interacts with herself and others and approached her work. So she became determined to find a different solution for small businesses and nonprofit organizations that are spread too thin or have big ideas and visions. without the bandwidth to execute on them. She developed an approach to make mindfulness and compassion practices accessible for all types of business leaders by incorporating the basic concepts into critical business practices, like strategic goal setting, product development, and leading a team. She runs Passion to Profit, which was created to help leaders develop and activate strategies that allow. them and their business to flourish in the long term. It was awesome to hear her share her experience. I hope you enjoy the interview. Can't wait to hear what you think. Please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or by email Welcome to Redraw Your Path, Kaitlin Henze. How are you today?

Kaitlin:

I am doing well. Thanks so much for having me, Lynn.

Lynn:

Yeah, I'm so excited to hear more about your story, and to hear the background of like, how you ended up where you are today. so where I like to start with all guests is, can you share some context with listeners about where and how you grew up?

Kaitlin:

Sure. So I am in Wisconsin currently, but I grew up in Menlo Park, California. So in Silicon Valley, which is the hub of a lot of large tech companies, the hustle and bustle, San Francisco culture. And why I think that it's interesting because even when I was like a teenager, Thinking about going to college. I didn't know why, but I just knew that my nervous system was not going to be able to handle living there forever. So I left at 18 when I went to college and I went way to the other side of the country to North Carolina. and knew at that age that I was never going to move back. And I go and visit my family because they still live there. And now that I've gotten older, I've learned why. but there was just something there where I had, generally a very good childhood, but there was always this sense that nope, this isn't my place. These aren't my people. And now I'm in the Midwest and feel much more comfortable.

Lynn:

That's so fascinating. you mentioned the hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley. Was that kind of what showed up in your family life too? Was that work really hard, take risks, be bold, all of that?

Kaitlin:

Yes, it was definitely a culture and in some of it, is my like small family unit, but I think a lot of it also is just the culture and society of being in Silicon Valley in the Bay Area that it's very achievement oriented, I like to describe the difference of like when you walk into a room of people or a networking event in Silicon Valley, the questions they always ask you is, where'd you get your master's degree? or undergraduate degree because they're looking at like status of school, where do you work and what your job title is, and then where do you live to see how wealthy you are. there are no questions about what you enjoy doing, how your family is, what you're passionate about. So as I grew up it was very much that kind of cutthroat environment of You will receive love, praise, acceptance when you achieve X, Y, and Z, whether that's good grades, getting into certain schools, scoring a goal in a sports event, anything like that, where just being you is not, it's just, it wasn't good enough. and the other part of it was, A lot of discomfort with challenging emotions. So it was a fix it mentality of if you're sad, if you're anxious, if you're upset, let's do something. Let's like action it away in terms of like rather than sitting, with someone in that pain, in that discomfort, and allowing that grief to surface. So that's very much what I was taught growing up, and I've had to unlearn a lot of that to develop a better relationship with myself now.

Lynn:

Yeah. That's a lot of hard work, so props to you. Do you remember, as a kid, if you were making connections between the environment and your nervous system at that time? were you making those observations

Kaitlin:

know if I really made the concrete connections. if I, Go back to the middle school, high school era, I knew that something was off. I never felt a sense of inclusion and like true acceptance. I had a really hard time making friends. I was extremely anxious as a preteen teenage girl. just didn't really find joy in the things that like the typical teenage girls found joy in. I just knew that like I operated. differently, like something was different. And at the time I blamed myself and thought, I'm just a weirdo and no one likes me. And apparently something's wrong with me that I need to fix. But now I've discovered that, we're all unique and I will embrace the fact that I'm weird, but that's a good thing now. but at the time it was very, internal, what's wrong with me? I need to fix it. And now looking back, I'm realizing, I just was not in a place where I thrive.

Lynn:

It's amazing how, I think as kids, we just tend to automatically do that of like, oh, it's me. If I were fill in the blank, then. Everything would be better. And even, when you have like Rocky family things or anything going on, it's if I were better at this, or if I could just be better, that it's, it's so sad to me. Cause I'm like, Oh, I don't want us to be internalizing.

Kaitlin:

I know. I know. So it's, yeah, as you mentioned earlier, a lot of unlearning and providing myself with support. And yet still I get pulled back into that mentality sometimes.

Lynn:

Yeah, it's hard not to. I'm curious, so you mentioned, the high achieving, the, always after, the next thing. can you say anything more about any sort of external pressures or molds that you were given as you were growing up? which paths were you expected to take?

Kaitlin:

Yeah, so the paths were either become like a very good athlete, and perform well in sports. My dad played football in college, and my family is like a very active sports oriented family. So it was either that path or Or become like very good academically and get into a top notch college. And then as, I remember even as high school, as I was preparing to college, it was more like, you need to go to a school that's going to set you up for success for a very successful corporate career. And then when you start your corporate career, then you've got to climb that career ladder and become an executive. And that was really the mentality that was. Taught to me, at a young age. And I will still say to this day, I love my parents, but they do not have any respect or any understanding of what it's like to be a business owner. and they just, you just don't get it. and to them it's not. path that's even like an option, where now that I've discovered all these other new paths that I can take in life, I'm like, yeah, and all those ones that were presented to me are just not right.

Lynn:

Yeah, not the right fit. question before we move on. Were you an only child or did you have siblings in your family unit too, Kaitlin?

Kaitlin:

I am the oldest of three, so I have, a younger brother and then a younger sister, the interesting dynamic is both of them were very successful in sports. My brother was a collegiate athlete. My sister was, a club team. They both went to very, highly renowned schools and my sister's now a lawyer at one of the top law firms in San Francisco. So it's very interesting because still to this day, even though I'm an adult, anytime I go home and spend time with my family, I always feel like the black sheep because they did follow in those paths that were presented to them. And I'm just like, oh, you're doing my own thing. And so I have to remind myself to not get caught up in that mentality because it's still very easy for me to do that and the demons to surface in my mind and I have to be like, no, Kaitlin, remember you like made a specific choice not to go that direction.

Lynn:

Yeah, absolutely. It's easy to get sucked in, especially when family dynamic. are at play and to want the things that other people have, even if you know you don't want them.

Kaitlin:

yes, exactly.

Lynn:

Yeah. okay. So you mentioned doing your own thing. Let's bookend for listeners. I like to hear, where'd you start? And then where and how are you currently spending your days?

Kaitlin:

Sure. probably I'd say five years ago or so, I developed a passion for helping small businesses, business owners, nonprofits, the groups of people, whether it's local in the Milwaukee area or outside that typically don't get the time and attention, from like large consulting firms, but that have a really special and critical place in our society in terms of helping build our community. And through my winding career path of being in HR, being a consultant as part of a boutique consulting firm, Doing change management, getting my design thinking certification, playing like a pseudo chief of staff role for a while, getting into product management. I had all these different components to my job base. I'm like, well, I've got it. I have so much experience here that I want to be able to give back to these organizations that can't pay top dollar for consulting firms. So how about I help them develop and activate their strategic goals in a very easy way? that is. not super time consuming, and that's also cost effective. So I started doing that really just on a volunteer basis, probably three or four years ago, and really enjoyed it. And then the people that I helped would refer me to other people, and I just did it on the side, because at the time I still had a corporate job. And then at some point, I'd say it was probably, I don't know, around like Mid 2022, after it had come out of the pandemic, I just got this itch to, actually start a business. And I was like, I just, Really want to be a business owner one day, and I'm going to make it happen. So I slowly started inching my way towards that. And then, a little less than a year ago, the end of August last year, I, was given the gift from the universe of being laid off from my job. for a week or so, I applied to some other corporate jobs, but nothing got me excited. And I was just like, not in it. So I'm like, you know what? Now is the time to try and make it work and like actually establish myself as an entrepreneur. so I have been doing it, like I officially launched my business in March of 2023, but it's been like truly full time since September of 2023. And it's a roller coaster every day. And I've changed and adjusted my offerings based on people's demands, but I still am very dedicated to serving. Small businesses, specifically, or just small business owners or entrepreneurs and non profits. So that's something that I've stayed consistent with.

Lynn:

Awesome. So you're running your own business. You're not in corporate like everyone else or like your paths, we're supposed to be quote unquote. and geographically you're Midwest, right? Wisconsin. so no longer Silicon Valley. awesome. okay. So that's where we, you started. That's where you're at. let's go back. I'm curious about the path to get you there. So you said as soon as 18 hit, you were out of there, right? you wanted to go to college across the country. tell me what happened from there and then how did you start to redraw your path eventually?

Kaitlin:

that college was really the time that I got to know myself better and actually developed into the true Kaitlin Henze that I am today and learned about what lights me up, what I'm passionate about, where I enjoy spending my time, some of my like skills and qualities that make me unique. I learned, in college one that I'm a very highly sensitive human being and feel deeply for populations of people that are maybe underserved or underappreciated in some way, and feel this calling to help reform those, both like the societal expectations of we're going to value big names and big corporations more, but also just reframe how those smaller businesses or entrepreneurs think about themselves. And then I also learned that I love like leading and orchestrating things and taking bits and pieces of data and like organizing them into patterns and being able to come up with a solution and solve problems. So, in college, I was really involved with the new student orientation staff and. Organized all of the, new student orientation, activities with my team, and loved that, I got involved, also with some study abroad programs and, leadership programs and, made lots of good friends, and when I graduated, I still. I had no idea what I wanted to do. when I originally went to college, I did a major in like social work. So I thought I'll be a social worker and then I did a few internships. I was like, I don't really know about this. so someone had suggested human resources as a path, Sounds good. I'll try it out. so I did my first job out of college was a rotation program where I tried out different areas of human resources. Every six months I moved locations and did essentially a different job and had to restart and redevelop myself, learn something from scratch, which was very courageous experience, but it also was so good for me because I got to test out a lot of different things and really find out. What I like, and it's also what introduced me to the Midwest because I got, one of my rotations was in Wisconsin. I had never been to Wisconsin, let alone really anywhere in the Midwest.

Lynn:

flyover country. I mean, why? Why would you ever?

Kaitlin:

Well, I guess I'll go there. I just know it's cold. but I, when I had my rotation here, I actually didn't really enjoy the work part of it that I was doing, but I fell in love with, Milwaukee and the Midwest culture. So I learned, okay, this is where I want to be. and that was a good starting place to get me. one step closer to my path.

Lynn:

I love that. I love that you majored in something and then decided, okay, this is not the thing. I don't want to be a social worker necessarily. So that rotation program, was it in like a large corporate entity, I imagine?

Kaitlin:

it was. So that's where also it helped me learn oh, these large corporations have lots of politics and rules and red tape and bureaucracy. And I think when I was starting out like a very junior level employee, I was immune to a lot of that. But as I like moved up in my corporate career, I was not shielded from that as much. And I was like, wow, this is. a lot of people, I think, handle it very maturely and professionally, and it doesn't bother them, but it, really rocked my system in a way that I'm like, I just don't know if I can do this.

Lynn:

Yeah, it's interesting. as a fellow highly sensitive person myself, I'm making a connection back to that piece of you really feel for kind of the underdog or you feel for those who don't, have access to whatever it may you kind of absorb that is that kind of how It worked and it sounds like you felt like it wasn't bothering others around you.

Kaitlin:

Yeah, I think I got this sense that, guess other people are just okay with it or don't get shaken up as much. I also through my 20s was a big learning experience in a lot of ways of discovering what I wanted to do with my career and what I wanted to do. Really wanted to do with my life and where I was going to live and all that sort of stuff. but I also started to deepen the journey within myself and started going to therapy for the first time and learning more about myself and doing some mindfulness based self compassion practices. Started meditating, really looked internally. And. A couple things that I learned that helped is one, I'm a big fan of the Enneagram, which some listeners may know about, some may not, but the, I learned that, my core type being a type one is named like the reformer type. So those. types really are convicted about like making change and righting wrongs and having things be just and fair and like advocating for people who don't have a voice or who are overlooked. So there was that component. And then I also learned through a psychological evaluation, just discussions and self learning that I am autistic I learned that when I was like 28 years old. which now explains so much of what happened and how I reacted to my environment as a child. It's like, all of a sudden I was like, oh my gosh, light bulb moment. this explains a lot of why I had such a hard time making friends and, fitting in and, really like thriving as a teenage girl in the way that others do. And it also helped me embrace some of these quirky sides of me that, love data and enjoy seeing patterns and drawing graphs and correlations to things and digging in and solving problems and also just the highly sensitive piece. and so those kind of discovering my Enneagram, discovering, and really embracing my neurodivergent identity. help me realize that I can use these things as a gift. They don't have to hold me back or be a hindrance.

Lynn:

I love that. do you remember, I'm curious, like the first time you started making some of those discoveries, did you start to see it as a gift immediately or What was that journey like for you?

Kaitlin:

It was definitely a winding path. I think, when I first got the autism diagnosis, I like really wanted to reject it. I was trying to look for all sorts of evidence to find out why that wasn't the case. And I would have these debates with my therapist and she would very kindly sit there and be like, Okay, everyone's on their own journey. you just take this and let the information soak in. And because I, I think there's just this stigma in society that it's, it's a disability and that's bad. Like the word disability is just like a horrible word. and just the fact of being like, neurodivergent instead of neurotypical. I was like, something's wrong with me. But as I joined a few, autistic women oriented communities, read a really good book called Unmasking Autism and then also learned a lot more about the Enneagram and just, deepened my relationship with myself, I started to love those sides of me and started to also realize, actually, this can make me. Successful in a way that reframes the definition of success that I was given in childhood. Like I can make my new and own definition of success that is totally different than what I was given or what I was told to pursue.

Lynn:

That's really powerful, like all the things you just said and even just like that idea of redefining what success is for you. do you, like, how did you start to do that? How did you start to redefine that? And then What reaction did you have from folks around you as you started to, redefine success for yourself?

Kaitlin:

So I think the first part of your question is, like, how did I redefine it? I really looked internally and started thinking about it. At that point, I had gone on at least a decent enough journey to get in better touch with my intuition and that, true, actual gut feeling. So rather than looking for external validation, I started looking internally to determine whether something was like truly successful. So rather than evaluating it based on how much money I made, what my job title was, what accomplishments I had, how many likes I got on social media, all those sorts of things. I started to ask myself, am I really happy and am I at peace? and there was a point probably up until about 2019, maybe early 2020, where I was not in the best place. I was extremely anxious. I was in, a relationship that was toxic in a way that just didn't lift me up. I was giving a lot more than I received. I was in a job that really you know, tore me down, and I wasn't sleeping well, like, all these digestive problems, and I then realized, yes, I'm making more money than I ever have before, and I'm getting promotions, and, like, all that stuff, but, I do not feel successful. something is wrong. So I then, made some changes and pivots, and I'm now pretty diligent about, really stopping and tuning in to say, Okay, I, this is what the external factors look like that are forming my identity, but then how do I feel and how am I going to then make decisions and shape that to be, more in line with what makes me, me feel good.

Lynn:

Yeah, I love that you're asking yourself that question because I feel like so many people don't stop to ask. what am I feeling like? Am I happy here? so did that like period or that moment where you had that autism diagnosis and realization and a lot of those aha moments, did that lead to an official, unofficial redraw? Nobody's officially redrawing, but did that lead to a redraw in your life?

Kaitlin:

Yeah, I think it did. At first, I'd say personal life. So personal life, I made some, and it wasn't like a night and day, like one day I made all these decisions. But I personally started to think, okay, what do I want to do with my career? And at the time I was leading a team of 19 employees at a company. Very, it was a smaller organization but very cutthroat competitive. It was a consulting environment so it was all about get the client numbers and win more deals and all that sort of stuff. so I pivoted away from that to taking an individual contributor role at a larger organization that would Allow me to have just more like balance and not have to like work as hard. I also at the time had just read a book called The Good Enough Job that I would highly recommend. and it talks about like just not caring as much about work. and I, and because work was such a pivotal, milestone in life when I was young, I'm like, oh, this is a new concept. Okay. maybe I don't care as much. and then I started making some choices around who I surrounded myself with in terms of my friends, the activities that I participated in. and the time I got, I eventually ended up getting a dog. Who was highly anxious and highly sensitive and she was just like my spirit rock. ended a relationship and just, bought a house. Just made these decisions to bring more peace to my life and surround myself with people, activities, things that were really going to uplift me. And. support my nervous system and allow me to like truly be me in an authentic way. And I'd say those, all those decisions led me down this path of, yeah, I want to be a business owner. So specifically so I can help those quote unquote underdogs.

Lynn:

yeah. Oh my gosh, that's so powerful. And I've like goosebumps a little bit just thinking about you making all of those changes because that is a lot of hard work and, just to pause and create the space for yourself to build an intentional life, was your community pretty supportive during that time?

Kaitlin:

Yes, and I'd say that my community, it really shifted my community, in a way, because then, because you quickly learn who supports you and is friends with you because of the facade you're putting on and all the things you've achieved versus who really supports you. So I still have some very good friends from, College and childhood and those people who've been with me through it all, and like my sister, like those people who've known me through all the versions of me. But then I've also developed a really amazing new community, that has provided a tremendous amount of support and encouragement and love and acceptance and belonging and all the things that I wanted so badly when I was in middle school and high school and just never got. then oh yeah, this is what it feels like to like truly feel included and loved for you.

Lynn:

Yeah. Oh my gosh. That must have been such an amazing feeling after a long time of trying to figure out like why you weren't fitting in and all of that.

Kaitlin:

It is, and it didn't happen overnight, so I think it's actually truly only been like recently that I've stopped to reflect on what I have now and where I've gotten and just am filled with a lot of gratitude.

Lynn:

Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. okay, so you moved from like a team leader role where you were leading a big team in this more cutthroat environment to an individual contributor role, which was more like your good enough job, but you also developed that passion for small businesses at that time. Can you take us through your next redraw? What did that look like?

Kaitlin:

So when I, left the, Intense job and moved into, I worked for 2 larger corporations. It was a really good career progression path for me because it allowed me to go deeper into aspects that I was really passionate about, like change management and leading through like the process of. I've been doing a lot of research on, large organizational changes with a human lens and an emotional component, as well as project management and learning more about, human centered design and, okay, our strategy consultation, and I learned all of these different methodologies and skills and got to try them out, and I'm very appreciative for my, roles at large corporate companies because it gave me the opportunity to get certifications and learn and test out a lot more than I would have at a smaller job and work with a lot of other people. but it also gave me an opportunity to have a bit more balance where I could go on a vacation and not have to worry about being called, multiple times every day because there were actually people who could back, back me up. so I picked up all these skills and That led me to slowly it was like a, I attribute it to similar to a slow cooker, crock pot, like things are just like marinating for a very long time. And that led me to develop my like first offering that I created for my business, which is the Continuous Strategy iteration methodology for like small businesses and nonprofits five step process to really help them both develop and activate and then continuously evolve their strategic goals, reframe their definition of success and engage. the audience members, like team members or community or the people that they serve in being able to create what that success, and like shape what that success looks like. and through that it evolved to being asked to help implement some like big changes within organizations or serve as like a project manager to orchestrate big shifts. do some, leadership development training, do, mindfulness based, vision setting workshops for organizations. And so I started, I, as I mentioned, I started doing a little bit of that on the side. And then in August of 2023, when I got laid off from my corporate job. I really took the leap to say, okay, now I'm going to like really do this and go all in and create a website and start networking and establish myself as a business owner, which was a huge redraw, because I had always just been like a corporate employee my whole life. and so it was not only just like how I viewed my identity from a work perspective, but it was also like, I am in charge of My salary. And there's certain things that I'm responsible for, and if I don't show up and really do work, then I'm not going to live. So that was a scary moment as well.

Lynn:

Yeah, it changes the stakes a little bit. yeah. can you talk about like how you started to see yourself differently or how you shifted your mindset from corporate employee to stepping into your role as a business owner and entrepreneur?

Kaitlin:

Yeah, I think, the first thing I realized is There are a lot of things about being a business owner that are very scary and challenging that I to do all on my own and then it's very much okay to not know and to ask for support and ask for help. and that was a vulnerable moment because I think going into being a business owner, I'm like, I can figure it out. Please figure things out. and then slowly I realized I either do not have the energy to figure this out or the desire to learn how to do accounting or bookkeeping or all the social media stuff, like all the things you need to do as a business owner. so I think that was like one big piece that I learned. And then the other piece is just like how I talk about myself and talk about my business and the work that I do. And one, like being able to do that in a truly passionate way, because I am like super passionate about what I do, but also having the confidence to present myself as a very credible expert, which is hard, it's hard. It's still hard for me to do because there's a lot of me that thinks oh, I have to have certain credentials or certain titles or certain, all that external validation. So I have to constantly remind myself that's not the case.

Lynn:

yeah. It sounds like reprogramming how you see yourself and how you talk about yourself a little bit. were there fears coming up at that time or were you like, oh, all right, laid off, like everything's gonna be fine and I'm gonna be great and, easy peasy here on out or what fears have come up along the way? Okay.

Kaitlin:

I still have them all the time. I have an extreme version. I have the fear that I'm going to completely fail and become homeless and everyone will disown me, which is very unrealistic. But I think that's rooted in the fact of I'm afraid that I won't be successful and I won't be able to do this. And then I think there's. other fears that, I won't be good enough, or I won't be chosen, or, people aren't going to actually understand or see the value of the work that I have, you know, it is very scary trying to, pitch yourself to someone and convince them in a very real way to, spend money to work with you, especially when you're a service based entrepreneur, like people are truly paying for me and what's in like here and like in my brain and in my heart. They're not paying for like a product that I'm designing. So that's a fear. but I think even through it, as I reflect on the past year, even with those fears, there's just been this strong conviction that like, This is the path that I want to take in some way, shape or form.

Lynn:

Yeah, I resonate so much with those fears, or they resonate with me. I forget the correct terminology, but the fears are like so real, but also that strong conviction. It sounds like you've just done a lot of work to listen to yourself.

Kaitlin:

And to trust, and it's, that trust is so hard because it's, it's about having like faith that something will work out and hope. and I am, Not particularly a religious person, but I do trust in this greater, power of the universe and think, that these events have happened and, come within my life to bring new things and to open new doors. And when I have my very difficult days and get a lot of rejections or look at the bank account and get scared or, all those sorts of things, I just have to remind myself that. One, I'm choosing this path and so I can un choose it if I want to any time, and two, I go back to what I feel within my heart and like within my gut and is that still aligned and if so then I just take a break, take some deep breaths, reframe things and work a different angle.

Lynn:

I love that. I love that. I've in my journey, in my like last few years journey, I've had to constantly remind myself, I know how to make money. I can figure out how to make money. that is, yes, as an entrepreneur, that is the really tough part, cause you have to sell yourself. But if worse comes to worse, like I know how to get a part time job or I know how to. fill the gaps, but it's the harder part of, what feels aligned and what feels right, and how do I make money doing that thing, and truly believe in myself to do

Kaitlin:

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And sometimes, I've had a very good mentor in the entrepreneurship space that says, not everything has to be perfect match. Like, all business owners, as they're starting out, have to do things to just make money. and that's okay. It doesn't mean that you're doing something wrong. you hear all these stories about people that are like, I said no to this because it wasn't aligned with my values. And that's great, but sometimes we don't have the choice. So I am very, a very big proponent of as you're starting out, you've got to take those things. or take, Side jobs like I've been doing a lot of like dog sitting and babysitting because I'm like, make some extra a couple extra 100 bucks. Why not? I recently took a contract job Not my ideal, but it's paying me. So why not? you can still have those other things on the side. And then maybe eventually you do get to the point where. All the work you take on is truly aligned with what you wanna do, but I think that it probably takes a while to get there.

Lynn:

Yeah. and I think there's probably this identity piece where once you start that business that you've been wanting to start, you're like, in your mind, you're like, I'm a full time entrepreneur now. So everything I'm doing has to be this thing. And in reality, we all take on babysitting and dog sitting and contract roles and all of the things. And sometimes those are the things that can bring us Some joy, too.

Kaitlin:

yeah, exactly. Exactly. So it's just the balance of, I constantly have to ask myself like, how can I balance these things without burning myself out? because. It can get, I think, especially within the first, three to five years of being a business owner, you can very easily slip into burnout mode. I've done it myself. I've seen others do it. And so I've, become, especially like very recently, as in this year, become very passionate about helping other business owners really focus and prioritize and understand. how to make trade offs to help their business grow without burning out, because it's very, I think it, there's a lot of temptation to do everything, hoping with this wishful thinking, if I do all these networking events, if I offer all these services, if I attend all these meetings, one of them, will be helpful, but I've learned like that's not really the best strategy because you're going to burn yourself out very quickly.

Lynn:

Yeah, 100%. It's probably especially, it probably happens more to those who are, have those high achiever, those ideas of being high achiever, like going for the next thing, like all or nothing, way of seeing ourselves or the

Kaitlin:

Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Lynn:

Kaitlin, are there any other redraws that you would want to talk about or share with listeners?

Kaitlin:

I think the only other recent one, that I hinted at before is just in shifting my mindset and in what I do with my business from helping like leadership teams of small businesses to actually helping single business owners or co founders themselves. So I recently, as a business owner myself, what I experienced when I started out is there are a plethora of resources out there. There's books, there's programs, there's podcasts. But all of them either require a significant investment, from both a time and money standpoint. all these programs are like several thousand dollars and six or eight weeks and they're like all day sessions. Or it requires a lot of diligence and accountability if you're going to try to piece together the free resources and do it on your own. and I tried a little bit of both and truly nothing was actually helpful for me because the Big investment, long courses was just too overwhelming. And while it set me up for some good success, there wasn't like a follow through on like, how do I actually apply this in a tangible way? And then as much as I want to try to think I'm a person that can just like. Read all the books, listen to all the podcasts and apply it. It just, that accountability piece is very key. I'll just say that. So that kind of led me to rethink my offerings and launch my recent offering of the business value blueprint for specifically for founders, solopreneurs, maybe co founders that are, Within one to five years of their journey, who, that is a very condensed version of creating like a business model canvas, but in a simplified way that incorporates the five W's and the H, who, what, where, when, why, how of your business, and actually focuses like a portion of The session on how to apply it. So how do you take components of your blueprint and use it to create your LinkedIn profile and gear that towards being the business owner to recreate your website, to stretch the structure, your LinkedIn posts and your blogs, to network, to develop your elevator pitch, like that tangible aspect. So I've recently started offering like a three session cohort. so it's only. essentially three hours of your time live, and then whatever you can devote for homework. And once people go through that with me, they have, essentially forever access to me and the community of others who've completed it to continue to refine. It's all with that continuous iteration methodology in place. Just continue to refine, figure out how you can use it, and not. have to spend hours and tons of money creating something that you put away in a folder and don't look at. So that's been my kind of recent redraw and something that I'm really excited about.

Lynn:

That's awesome. That's awesome. In that, in that redrawing of your own business, did you have to start seeing yourself differently at all or any, any, reframes that you had to make for yourself in order to make that shift?

Kaitlin:

I think the biggest one is that I actually have enough like knowledge and expertise to be able to help other founders. Um, cause you know, pretty green into my journey myself, I'll admit. but I think I thought oh, all these people that are out there, helping other founders have made multi million dollars with their business. and so I thought oh, no one will want to pay attention to me or hire me to help them, as a fellow founder. But myself wrong with that thought because I've realized that the either one on one clients or the small group cohort participants have valued me even more because I understand them and have that level of compassion and am not charging them thousands of dollars and asking for eight, six or eight weeks of their time that I like, I get what it's like, and I, I'm not going to, ask for a whole lot, especially when they're starting out. and I can relate to them and tell stories from my own experience. And so that's been really fun.

Lynn:

Yeah, and that's really powerful too, because I think so often, specifically as women, we tend to think Oh, I need that next credential or I can't start this thing until I make 10 million in a whole different business. And it's all just like BS too, right? Like it's, it comes down to how well you connect with others, and how confident you are in what you can offer.

Kaitlin:

Yep, exactly. Yeah. I, and I've learned like being authentic and sharing my story and my successes and failures is something that people really connect to. and they know that I, My ability to be able to help them I think is that much greater than if I were five years down the road and really successful and like more well known. You know what I mean? Like maybe I can help people at a different level, but I think it's really a blessing that I still understand where people are at that are just starting out on their journey.

Lynn:

that's awesome. Thanks for sharing that, Kaitlin. so I'm curious, you've given some advice along the way, little breadcrumbs of advice, but, is there any advice you would give to others who are considering redrawing their path?

Kaitlin:

I think the biggest piece is to really listen to your gut. As like cheesy and cliche as it sounds, and I am, I will preface this by saying like I am not a doctor or a functional medicine coach by any means, but there are so many sensors within our gut and that's where a lot of our emotions are sensed, that if something like feels right internally, give it a try. And then as soon as it doesn't start to feel right, then, you back off and you change. So really using that intuition and trust within yourself to help make decisions about what you do. And asking yourself, am I anxious about this because there's something internally that's telling me this is wrong and this is not in line with my values and what I want to do? Or am I just anxious because I'm actually excited and it's that like excited nervous energy, anxiety and excitement have the exact same physical sensations in our body. So sometimes we just have to pause and say, where is this coming from? so I'd say that would probably be my biggest piece of advice. And then just surround yourself with a wonderful community of people who can build you up and support you and remind you that you are, you enough each and every day, no matter what you accomplish.

Lynn:

Absolutely. We all need that. I think we all need that, And I love the advice of trust your gut. and just getting really clear on what's causing this feeling that's coming up, these butterflies in my stomach, because when it is that excitement feeling, we can, so often we back away from it, but keep going, girl.

Kaitlin:

Yeah. At least just, just try.

Lynn:

Yeah, I love that. Kaitlin, where can people find you and is there anything specific you'd want to share with listeners?

Kaitlin:

Yeah. So I am on LinkedIn, and I do have my website and, Lynn, I'll share that all with you so you can put it in the show notes. I will also share a direct link to my free business value blueprint resource. if anyone's interested in downloading that, and then I'm always open to people reaching out via email or, LinkedIn, to inquire a little bit more about what I do and who I am, if anyone's interested. I also, just launched a partnership when doing my business value blueprint with PICA, the Professional Independent Consultants of America. group. so you can find me there. And if you want to register to join my cohort, through that organization, you're welcome to do so.

Lynn:

Awesome. Cool. Yeah, we'll definitely include that link in the show notes. and I'll include the links to some of the books you've mentioned too, so that folks can hit up those resources if they think they'll help them on their journey.

Kaitlin:

Of course.

Lynn:

Kaitlin, thank you so much for sharing your story and just being so open and vulnerable with us

Kaitlin:

Of course. Yes. I really appreciate it.

Lynn:

Yeah, I appreciate it. So grateful for you.

Kaitlin:

Yes. Thanks so much, Lynn.

Lynn:

Thanks for listening to Redraw Your Path with me, Lynn Debilzen. If you like the episode, please rate and review. That helps more listeners find me. And don't be shy, reach out and connect with me on LinkedIn and sign up for my e-newsletter at redrawyourpath.com. I can't wait to share more inspiring stories with you. See you next week.