Life and business were never meant to be solo journeys...or a Ninja Warrior competition...or some weirdly long episode of Survivor. But, it can sure feel that way sometimes!

If you've felt a little lost in growing your home industry business (or any creative, service-based business, really) this episode of The Kate Show is for you. Today I'm sharing 11 business and branding lessons straight from the Bible itself. I hope this episode refreshes you the way these messages have for me. Running a business can make us feel worn out and lonely, and this might be just the encouragement your soul needs.

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts or watch The Kate Show on Spotify and YouTube.

How do home pros like you get featured, published, or promoted by bigger brands and entities? They make themselves marketable, ask for or create their own opportunities, and most importantly, they pursue an ongoing relationship with the entities that feature them.

Making yourself marketable (meaning, making it easier for OTHER people to talk about YOU) is different than marketing your business, and doing this is essential in order to then ask for or create your own PR and media opportunities.

If you want to be proactive in the brand exposure and media coverage that your interior design, staging, window treatment, or organizing business receives, this is the episode for you. You don't have to be an influencer, nor must you have been in business for years and years, in order to make this method work for you. If you are a go-getter and love to think outside the box, you might be surprised where the method I'm sharing today will take you.

Using this method, I've landed several key media and PR opportunities for my own brand, namely: being featured by Brainz Magazine and recognized as a Top 500 global entrepreneur, becoming an educator and paid speaker for Honeybook, and becoming an official media partner for Squarespace and Patriot Mobile. I'm walking the talk and getting great results. You can, too!

Watch The Kate Show on Spotify and YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Resources

Get a free media kit Canva template now: https://www.katethesocialite.com/marketing-calendar Flodesk and Mailchimp email templates are available NOW for home pros: https://www.katethesocialite.com/ongoing-marketing

“Marketing feels gross,” I used to think. 

In the early years of business, I didn’t know how to communicate my brand message…and I didn’t even know what a brand message was anyway. I felt so overwhelmed and drained by one steady thought: “How do I know if I’m doing any of this correctly when I can’t see the results yet? Am I just wasting my time and money on marketing?”

Ruminating on those negative thoughts felt awful, as you might have also experienced, and I knew there had to be a simpler way to find and convert clients that I actually liked working with. Fast forward a decade (yes, it took that long), and I finally had answers.

After providing countless marketing consultations, marketing plans, and strategies for interior designers, home stagers, professional organizers, and window treatment specialists, I was able to lay out a framework of marketing laws that can help nearly any home industry business make marketing easier. 

If you’re ready to apply these laws to your own business, let’s dive right in.

As our businesses shift and grow, it is possible to outgrow your original ideal client. On today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing a strategy that will help you redefine your ideal client, restructure your flagship service offering, and actually speak directly to your leads in a way that makes hiring you not just a want but a need.

In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm teaching you how to become the home professional who knows the right people. If you've listened to Episode 153, in which I shared actual scripts for connecting with referral partners, this episode is not a repeat. Rather, it builds off the methods and strategies I shared previously, with specific positioning toward realtors and similar professionals. Business is about relationships. When you embrace this, the likelihood of your business growing quickly will greatly increase.

Blogging is so impactful that you know your home industry business needs it, but you're wondering how you can reuse the content you've worked so long to create. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing easy tips for reusing your blog posts as marketing videos. Don't worry, the process is short and sweet. In fact, your biggest hurdle won't be filming the video, but having the courage to hit "record." We're going to talk about that, too.

Writing blog posts for your interior design, home staging, professional organizing, or window treatment business doesn't have to become your next part-time job. In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing everything from blog post writing strategies to best practices that can directly impact your SEO and result in faster content creation.

Pinterest is quietly making changes to its platform. While they have a right to make these changes, you have a right to be aware of how they intend to use your content and how those changes will directly affect your marketing as a home industry entrepreneur. Today I'm sharing a summary of these Pinterest changes and what you can consider changing in your Pinterest activities to potentially offset or circumvent any unwanted outcomes. The information I'm sharing today is crucial.

Specificity will grow your business in the home industry. Having a signature service will grow your business. Niching down and scaling up will elevate your brand, resulting in more referrals, better marketing, and amazing collaborations. No one knows this better than today's guest, Salimah Mamdani of Fully Booked Designer. Whether you are new to the home industry or you've been running your business for a few years already and are tired of slow growth, you are going to learn so much from Salimah today.

Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing one such tool with you: Canva. Though a fun and lighthearted tool, it can do so much more than help you create your next social media post. Whether you have the free version of Canva or you've drunk the Kool-Aid of Canva Pro (I have! No regrets.), you are going to learn something new today about how Canva can serve you better.

Have you ever struggled with what to say on your website? Do you ever worry about your SEO? The majority of interior designers, stagers, organizers, and workroom owners I speak with would say yes to both. Copywriting can be difficult, especially when you are trying to write something about your own business, or worse, about yourself. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the copywriting prompts we use to create beautiful, SEO-sharpened, sales-driven websites for home pros. When we create custom websites, we handle all the SEO and copywriting. When someone purchases one of our website templates, they get access to these prompts in addition to their beautifully designed website template.

Whether you've just started your business, have recently moved to a new state, or are looking to break into a new market, getting your first few clients can feel like an insurmountable task. How do you find those new clients when no one knows your name yet? Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the strategic referral alliances you need to make and exactly how you can make them.

If you listened to my previous episode regarding how to turn your home industry knowledge into a paid membership, you won't want to miss this sequel. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the steps you'll need to take in order to effectively brand and market your membership. If you aren't sure whether you are well suited to launch a membership around your design, staging, or other home industry expertise, skip back to Episode 151 of this podcast first.

Knowing what to say in your marketing is only half the battle. What about the words, phrases, or ideas you should completely avoid? Today on The Kate Show, I’m talking about the two key phrases you shouldn’t include on your website, your blog posts, your email marketing, or your print advertising.

I’m also sharing exact verbiage you can use to market your business in other ways, beyond everything you might already be doing online or in print.

So, today, I’m laying it all out there…no fluff, just tough love and action steps that will benefit you and your business long-term.

Ready for some real talk?! Here it is…

Since the launch of Vault, my peers in the industry have asked me about the technology and processes I use to make it all work. Today, I'm transposing that information into a plan that is specific to you, the home industry professional. If you are passionate about what you do and want to serve people at a higher level while using the one-to-many business model, this episode is for you. Whether you want to run a business-to-business membership like we do here at Socialite, or you prefer to run a business-to-consumer membership, the advice, tools, and strategies I'm sharing today will help you get started.

Do you ever feel like you have to use dozens of online tools and platforms just to keep your business organized? If you could bundle all your design business, team management, and project management tools into one tidy package, would you do it? I know I would! Today, I'm chatting with Timothy Murenzi of Indema about why his new platform is an industry-disrupter taking interior designers by storm. Don't miss this goodness!

"How can I get consistent, high-quality leads for my design firm?" This question popped up in my inbox recently. It's one I've been asked many times over the past few years, and it's one that every entrepreneur in the home industry should be asking. If you don't have an email list, but you know that you should be using email marketing to bolster your home industry business, you might feel defeated or stuck before you even begin. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the exact steps to take if you want to get your first handful of email subscribers, whether you've been in business for years or just launched.

As an interior designer or home stager, you might love the hands-on projects - the ones that put you in the same room with your amazing clients. Or maybe you're trying to scale up your design consultancy. Or maybe you have no idea where to put your efforts or what you'd really love to do yet. Before you become overwhelmed or feel like you need to let go of your traditional services, hear this: You can still offer the same services - or not - in conjunction with your Side Door revenue stream. Today, I'm sharing how you can use Side Door for your own financial gain.

As a self-employed interior designer, home stager, or organizer, who is funding your retirement? The short answer: You. But...are you actually? Whether retirement is decades away or just around the corner, you have the responsibility of funding it. Today on The Kate Show, I'm chatting with Tony Pochowski of Thrivent Financial. Tony is the fiduciary for mine and Matt's personal investments as well as our business investment accounts. Friends, this man knows the investment world like none other, and he is one of only three entities in my life who sees the inner financial workings of Socialite. In a sentence: I trust him and I recommend him to all my business friends.

If you are being told that affiliate marketing is passive (or have figured out that it isn't), this episode of The Kate Show is for you. Today I'm sharing what it takes to earn real income from affiliate sales, from the effort you need to put into the stats you need to hit. Because I believe in alternatives and solutions and real income strategies, I won't be leaving you on a depressing note. Maybe affiliate marketing is still going to call your name after you hear this episode, but if it isn't, I have a new suggestion - one that could transform your business with truly passive possibilities.

Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the four primary reasons why marketing your new business might feel absolutely terrifying and why your inner confidence might have suddenly taken a plunge. Spoiler alert: It's normal - but it doesn't mean you should stay in that place. After this episode, you'll walk away with just a little more courage, a lot of companionships, and an actionable, short to-do list to kickstart your confidence.

Not every home industry business owner will need the exact same first hire and not every entrepreneur will need or want to hire an employee when hiring a subcontractor is so much more freeing. I've hired and fired (ugh) over the past few years and each decision, each movement, made my business more profitable and lowered my stress in the long run. If you are experiencing the growing pains of needing to hire another person but not wanting to increase your overhead, this episode is for you.

"Working less and producing more is possible, even with a little one." In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing with you how I work as a mom and an entrepreneur. I'm giving you tips on how you can batch-work your business (my batch working process on a monthly schedule!), especially if you have little kiddos to help you get ahead of things and allows you to turn out better content as business owners.

If you are looking for inventive ways to serve your ideal client and set yourself up for a new year of pre-booked projects, you won't want to miss this episode of The Kate Show. I'm sharing actual holiday-themed service packages that you can sell on your website (or through My Doma, DesignFiles, etc). Plus, each package is easily adaptable to the post-holiday world with just a few wording changes.

Have you made a monthly blog part of your marketing strategy yet? I could tell you all day long why you should, but until you see the results play out in real-time, you might wonder if you’re wasting time or you might question whether you're even doing it correctly. I get it!

With the majority of Google search results being blog posts, it is safe to say that blogging is still a relevant and smart way to get more of the right traffic to your website. But…blogging can also feel like one of the most tedious marketing tasks to check off the list. Today’s episode aims to show you a better way to blog.

Do you know why you should blog, how frequently you should publish a post, what to say, and how to make sure you are talking to your ideal client versus just producing content?

Whew — lots of questions and, on today’s episode, we have a lot of answers. Long-time listeners of The Kate Show might recognize today’s interview from a couple of years ago. I wanted to re-air this episode because the tips that my guest, Jaquilyn Edwards of Ochre & Beige, provides are still relevant today and they are things that every home pro should know.

You’ll hear Jaquilyn share helpful insights on topics such as why a massive readership of your blog should not be your goal, how long it takes for a single blog post to gain traction, and (this one is still a very hot topic today) what to do with a blog post after you publish it.

Branding is more than a logo. I didn't understand this for the first few years in business. Now, I can call it what it is: Branding is the personality of your business. While I've since designed brands and helped name and launch businesses, branding is honestly not my scope of genius. Because this is such a huge topic, I've brought in Jill of Jula Paper to talk about all things branding. Don't miss this episode on all things branding for your interior design, home staging, professional organizing, or window treatment business.

We've been programmed to answer the question, "How are you doing? " with an instant, "I'm doing great. How are you?" It's time to stop lying to ourselves and others in the name of nicety. If you are a business owner and parent, you are likely more stressed out right now than ever before. I feel you, and I have some tips. From how to plan your week and balance parenthood to true self-care beyond those cliched massage appointments, I hope you'll get at least one takeaway from this episode that will make this week just a little more manageable for you.

Figuring out what to say in an email newsletter can leave many home industry business owners feeling bewildered. In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing actual scripts taken from four of some of the most-loved email newsletter templates in Socialite Vault. If you want to see the design and layout of these scripts in a clean and crisp newsletter format, scroll down to watch the video tour.

As a professional organizer, you are eyeballs deep in all things systems as you develop ways to organize and sort your clients' spaces. But how are you organizing your business? Do you have processes in place that streamline your client process, create a great client experience, and enhance your professionalism? If you feel like your business needs a little help leveling up, you're going to love today's guest on The Kate Show.

In this episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing the first thing you should do to market your business, which is entirely dependent on your ideal client, and how that will impact the other pieces of your sales funnel. If you've ever felt overwhelmed and bewildered by marketing and growing your home industry business, this episode is for you.

Setting up more than one income stream is a great way to bolster your design, staging, workroom, or organizing business in new ways. Aside from offering virtual consultations, coaching and mentoring can be used as alternate income streams. If you've been asked more than a few times about your success in business, your processes and systems, or even the hands-on work that you do (from creating complicated window treatments to how you conduct your client discovery calls and consultations), you could easily package that information and sell it to your less-experienced peers. In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm explaining the simple, efficient method you can follow to package and sell your experience and knowledge, thus creating a sustainable and truly passive income stream for your business.

You might think, "I'll just never retire." But you will. You'll retire from one career to something else. What will you do with the business you built? Will you try to sell it, only to realize you don't have any of the right systems or infrastructure in place to make it sellable? Will you let it fade into oblivion, as though it never existed in this world, sell off your equipment, shut down your office, and go on your way? Say it isn't so. If you want to sell your business eventually, you have to build it the right way...right now. This heavy topic isn't one that I can take on myself, and that's why I've brought on today's special guest.

This is one of those topics that I didn't want to talk about for a long time, but a desperate Google search of, "What to do when someone copies your business" yielded sparse results and made me realize that I needed to create this. If you are wondering, "Did someone copy Kate's business?" You'd be correct...about five times over. I hope this never happens to your business. I hope you never experience that queasy feeling that climbs higher and higher in your throat when you realize that someone actually attempted to use you as their entrepreneurial shortcut. However, if it does happen to you, I hope you'll find some camaraderie and comfort in what I'm sharing today.

After designing around a hundred websites for the home industry, my team and I know what a website needs in order to effectively sell your services and packages while creating a great and memorable brand experience. Because my website design team often has a waiting list that is months long, I knew there had to be a better way to serve more of you without decreasing the quality or effectiveness of our websites. Thanks to Squarespace, my dreams of delivering a grab-and-go website (designed by us and tailored to you) that is built for both SEO and sales have been realized. Wait, you were dreaming about this, too? Sweet. Catch the details on this episode of The Kate Show, including how it works, what is included, and whether it is a good option for your business.

A few years of marketing your business has likely taught you that certain marketing ideas just don't work for everyone. Plus, they can actually hurt your business and result in a huge waste of time or money. Today, I'm sharing 17 marketing myths that I've had to navigate as an entrepreneur in the home industry. If you find that you're using a few of these tactics, don't feel regretful. Find an alternative. I'll share more about that at the end.

I’ve had the honor of working with home industry professionals across the globe, and what I’ve recognized is this: Whether you are an interior designer in Dubai or a home stager right here in Wisconsin, you (we?) all have similar challenges to overcome. 

Often, our biggest challenge is ourselves. While this should be the easiest to fix, it’s often the most difficult because, first, we have to be self-aware enough to accept that perhaps we are the bottleneck, the sticking point, or even the saboteur of our own businesses.

In today’s episode of The Kate Show, I’m sharing the eight key phrases that people will say to me on discovery calls that help me predict whether their business is headed for success or failure. It is especially gratifying to work with these clients when they are open to self-reflection and committed to changing their mindset. If you hear yourself in any of the eight phrases I’m sharing today, don’t lose hope.

Everyone and their cousin seem to have added virtual interior design services to their design businesses. Well, almost everyone. There are a few designers who've said, "I get why my colleagues are offering e-design, but it just isn't for me." If this describes you, you are going to love my conversation with today's guest. British business strategist, Maria Mustapha, is going to map out how interior designers can diversify their income without adding virtual interior design. I'm just as excited as you are to learn what Maria's going to share. I knew when I met her that she was going to be a breath of fresh air to both the podcast and this post-pandemic world we are just now starting to navigate in the home industry.

If you've never worked with a marketing agency, you might have a few qualms about just handing over your brand to an outside party (or maybe you can't do it fast enough?). If you've already worked with a marketing company and were less than satisfied with the results, you will have a whole other mindset, both of which I will address in this episode. And if you're curious about what it's like to work with Socialite, let's chat business, marketing, and how we can help.

As an interior designer or home stager, your website is both an online portfolio and a sales person who never sleeps - or at least- it should be. If you are looking for a new website and trying to sort through the dozens of website designers vying for your attention, you'd do well to narrow them down with a quick interview process. The process I'm sharing with you today includes 10 primary questions to ask; questions that will no doubt cause you to come up with more of your own. And if you're ready to get a new website or revamp your current site, this episode is for you.

If you've delayed taking photos of your interior design or soft furnishing projects, you'll be scrambling to contact a photographer after you hear this episode. From helping you earn a place in your favorite shelter magazine to truly becoming known for your beautiful design work in the home industry, having an experienced and professional interiors photographer on your team isn't just a game-changer. It can transform your business, make your marketing easier, and cultivate free publicity (and who doesn't love all those things?). Today on The Kate Show, I'm speaking with Emily Followill of Emily Followill Photography. She has a special place in her heart for young or new interior designers and approaches each photo shoot as its own editorial masterpiece. If you're looking for a proven way to reach high-end clientele, you won't want to miss Emily's helpful photography tips.

Do you want to reach more clients in the high-end, luxury demographic? The majority of design firms, staging companies, and custom workrooms that we serve here at Socialite would say, "Absolutely!" If this desire aligns with your business, too, you might be wondering how to find these high-end clients or, going a step further, how to delight them to the point of being referred to their friends and family. In this episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing 5 key steps you can take toward reaching more high-end clients. Each tip is easy to implement, whether you are a solopreneur or a team of 20.

Pinterest is a powerhouse for increasing website traffic - you know this. What you might not know is that Pinterest has made some updates to how it prioritizes content. This impacts how you use Pinterest to market your business. In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing all the Pinterest updates, including why pinning your portfolio images and blog posts repeatedly - yet in different formats - is an important and easy way to use Pinterest correctly for maximum exposure, repins, and website traffic.

Branding is more than just a logo. For years, I really didn't understand this concept. What makes a "good" brand and how exactly does that impact your design, staging, or workroom business? Great question; there is no short answer. A brand is equivalent to a personality. Your personality is determined by how you carry yourself, how you dress, how you spend your time, how you interact with others. Your business has a personality too. Visually, this looks like a logo and a consistent use of the same font and color palette. Practically, this also includes what you offer, how you offer it, and to whom.

How do you create a second (or third or fourth) income stream as an interior designer? Until recently, the only answer to this question was, "Go set up affiliate links in your blog posts and hope you get enough website traffic to make it worthwhile." Ten months later, and your website traffic is nowhere near the necessary 100K views per month, and your affiliate links haven't made any money. Fast forward to the spring of 2020, interior designers now have another option: SideDoor is paving the way for trade-only brands and manufacturers to remain exclusive to practicing interior designers, preventing large corporations from selling direct-to-consumer.

The coronavirus was a great multitasker - did you know that? While it was running around scaring the pants off people (and apparently wrapping them in excess toilet paper), it was also doing a few other crazy things, specifically in the business world. I can guarantee that business owners, especially those of you in the home industry, are going to do certain things differently as we navigate this post-corona world. Yes, you know the economy shut down for what felt like an eternity. You might have had to lay people off that you hope to soon rehire. Some of you chose that time to retire because it was a simple sidestep that you'd already been considering. Whether your business has been pushed back to ground zero or held tight to its former position on the mountain during this time, you know that the new normal is looking very, very different. Let's dive into what happened and what to expect.

I can't tell you how many times someone in the home industry has told me, "I ran a Google ad and it didn't work." Sadly, I've seen people spend thousands of dollars on Adwords, only to receive zero customers. ZERO. If you're befuddled by Adwords, if you have no idea how to use Google Analytics to your business's benefit, and if you aren't sure why you need a Google business listing, you'll love this episode. Google has created a powerful suite of tools meant to help business owners have a more successful online presence. As with any real-life tools, however, you have to know what you're doing in order for any of it to actually work. If you're confused by these tools or if you know just enough to be dangerous, you're going to walk away from this episode armed and ready to bolster your business online.

Marketing shouldn’t be hard. You don’t have to continue being swept away in a tidal wave of confusion and dollar signs when you think about your marketing plan. The amazing part about owning a business in the home industry is that, aside from making spaces beautiful and functional, your marketing is largely based on personal relationships. 

That is so much easier than trying to market a business with overtly negative connotations, such as a dentist’s office or a law firm. You and your business are instantly and automatically associated with beauty and personalization — and especially in recent years — overall wellness.

But marketing might still feel like a drag. If that describes your situation, this episode of The Kate Show is for you. With this being my 250th episode, I thought it would be cool (and oh-so-telling) to re-release my very first podcast episode. I had to screen it first, because who knows what I said back in those days… Sheesh.

I hope you enjoy this episode and that it reminds you that we all have to start somewhere.

If your website is just sitting there looking pretty but not sending you any new leads, you know you have a problem. You might have the best website design in the world, but no website in the "history of never" has automatically generated leads by itself. You actually still have to work for it. In this episode of The Kate Show, I'm breaking down the obscurity around lead magnets and explaining why getting your website to generate leads is pretty much impossible without one. Ready to fill your pipeline and turn your website into a powerhouse? Let's do it.

Like most of you, I'm emotionally and mentally exhausted from hearing, reading, seeing, and saying the words COVID-19, coronavirus, and pandemic. I have deep empathy for anyone affected - both personally and in business. Before I discuss how to move forward during and after "The Pause", I have to give a huge shout out to my followers and Vault members who have remained steady and committed to their businesses. This situation was alarming on many fronts and we are now beginning to pick up the pieces, restarting our economy here in the U.S., and moving forward. If you are living in a country that is still in the midst of the madness, take heart. There is an end to it. There is hope. God has not forgotten you. In today's episode of The Kate Show, I am sharing my best tips on how to regroup, regenerate, and how to make your business even more resilient in unexpected situations.

Running a business is the best, the worst, the most rewarding and the most dangerous (to your personal) health. Just ask John Dupra of Revel Woods. In today's episode, we're getting the scoop on John's work-induced hospital stay, the devastation and roller coaster ride that almost always accompanies entrepreneurship, and an honest look at the realities of running a business when outside forces are directly working against you.