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When I attended university for my undergraduate in marketing nearly twenty years ago, I was taught many sales tactics that I applied throughout my career.

But I’ve started to see some of these sales tactics morphe into stretching the truth to make more sales. This typically happens as the market becomes more sophisticated because what used to work on people no longer does.

So we try to figure out more sophisticated ways to get people to buy our stuff. It’s a hard pill to swallow for heart-centered and purpose-driven entrepreneurs and highly integral people because the set standards are diminishing with sales tactics that are less than ethical. 

Some people might not even know they are doing anything wrong because they learned the tactics from a coach or mentor or emulated what...

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I’ll never forget the day I finally decided to ditch my 15-year corporate career to pursue full-time entrepreneurship. It wasn’t a decision I took lightly. I mean, I was walking away from a high-paying position at the height of my career. 

Something I worked extremely hard to achieve–including pursuing a master’s degree while working full-time to help me advance my career. 

I gave up my retirement pension, health benefits, sick days (something I rarely used), and paid vacation. Most people I knew questioned me by asking, “Are you sure you want to do this?” or “Have you thought this out fully?”

Sound familiar?

At the time, I was determined to do it. And I appreciated the amazing people in my life that act as sounding boards...

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The coaching industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world. And it’s continuing to grow. For this blog's purpose, I consider coaches, mentors, consultants, or anyone selling their expertise to help other people under this umbrella.

Regardless, the industry is booming. And what I’ve started to notice is the vast difference between the way people coach (and lead). 

I know, I might be a nerd. But I grew up playing competitive sports. With that, I’ve gained my fair share of coaching and mentoring experience. 

I’ve also experienced many styles of coaches and leaders: some amazing and some not so much. So, I’ve always been interested in how to get the best out of your people, whether that’s employees or clients. 

And the thing I...

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I’ll never forget how excited I was when I first opened my brick-and-mortar wine-making business.

I’d finally made the leap from the corporate world to full-time entrepreneurship. Something I’d been sitting on for most of my career. 


I always knew the rigid schedules, water cooler talk, and repetitive work, were not my thing.

For a lot of people, even saying that doesn’t make sense to them. That is why I stuck it out for so long. 

I was good at talking myself out of what I really wanted to do. But like most people, you reach a breaking point. And four years ago, that was me.

Desperate to break free. 

#cuetheconfetti

But the leap into entrepreneurship wasn’t at all what I expected. My excitement quickly turned into despair. 

...

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I was reading a post on Instagram the other day that inspired me to write this blog. It’s around the idea that our ‘negative’ emotions such as anger, frustration, disappointment, or defeat make us weak in some capacity or that they aren’t normal feelings to experience during difficult times. 

Not to mention how uncomfortable most people feel when others express these emotions. It’s like we want them to stop doing it or we attempt to ‘fix’ the situation. 

Raise your hand if you’ve done this?

I’m definitely guilty of doing it. I hate seeing people upset, so I naturally want to help. But I’ve learned people need the space to express themselves without having people run to their rescue. No one needs rescuing.

So without sharing the entire post here, it...

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“Kathryn, I don’t want to sound like everyone else.” 

This is the most common thing I hear from my audience.

They want their copy to have personality, texture, and vibrancy, but above all they want it to sound like themselves.

But somewhere along the way, they were taught to use a template (or follow a script). The whole time feeling totally uneasy in their body, because what they were saying didn’t sound like them.

“I don’t talk like this,” or “This isn’t how I would say things.”

Sound familiar? 

Here’s the thing with ‘templates,’ they take the spice and sizzle right out of your content. Templates remove your personality and before you know it you sound like a robot.

The most obvious...

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I’ve spent the majority of my marketing and communications career helping businesses launch new products and services, as well as grow and scale their businesses.

I’ve done everything from helping businesses improve customer satisfaction, employee engagement, brand messaging, public relations, advertising and sales, research and development, and market and customer acquisition. 

I’ve also launched my fair share of ideas. Some that have done really well, and others not so much. 

And there is one thing I’ve learned about new and aspiring entrepreneurs, and that is they often quit too soon. Meaning they don’t give their ‘idea’ enough time to flourish.

Heck, maybe you haven’t even launched your idea yet. 

Raise your hand if you...

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I had the opportunity to relive my trip to the Philippines the other day as I chatted with Sarah Rapp, the host of How to Be global. I won’t go spoiling the episode, as it’ll be aired next month. 

But after we chatted I reflected on the lessons I learned about how to create connection and community in my business from living in a remote village in the Philippines.

Back in 2014, I traveled there as part of my master's research to conduct a visual ethnography in a remote area near the Blos River on the eastern side of the Northern Sierra Madre mountain range. 

This particular region is the largest protected area in the Philippines. At the time, the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park had been minimally affected by modern cultures and access to this region was limited. 

...

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Have you joined Clubhouse yet?

If so, you bought into what some are calling brilliant marketing. And based on our traditional idea of marketing they have a good case. 

The hype alone of joining this new platform that promises better community and connection compared to Instagram and Facebook is like no other.

Not to mention the drop-in audio chat capabilities and not having to 'beat' the algorithm. 

Sounds brilliant, right? 

The lucky ones who've been added thus far, are eager at the opportunity for a head start before the app opens to the masses. 

But for the rest of the people waiting for an invite the FOMO (aka fear of missing out) is real. 

And for the passive observers (like myself) I get excited to watch new products (or services) launch.

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We spend so much time ‘niching down’ but very little time talking about the customer buying journey.

Meaning, we use demographic markers such as age, gender, income, profession, and education to target our audience. We might get a little more sophisticated by understanding where they shop, what problems they have, and what makes them tick.

All of which is great for giving us a baseline for targeting our audience. But we rarely talk about the customer buying journey—the way in which your audience makes decisions (i.e., shops and makes purchases). This is important because if you don’t understand how your customers make decisions, you might be turning them off with your sales tactics. 

I am sure we’ve all had an experience with someone trying to sell us on something...