The Mission Behind Be the Sought-After Entrepreneur Podcast

Welcome to Episode #1 of Be the Sought-After Entrepreneur Podcast. I’m your host Kathryn Thompson, and I’m so excited you’re here today. This month we are kicking off the launch of the podcast, something that’s been two years in the making. I’m a firm believer in waiting for the right time to launch an idea, and it finally felt right to launch it.

And this week, we’re dropping a bunch of episodes to kick things off! In today's episode, I’m sharing with you my mission behind Be the Sought-After Entrepreneur and how I knew it was time to share my message in this way!

This is a very special episode for a few reasons. First of all, it’s our first ever episode. I had this grand old idea to launch a podcast two years ago to shake the entrepreneurship space up a bit. I'd seen ways we could redefine business success and how we do content marketing, and it’s finally here. So you can imagine how excited I am! And second of all, I’m pumped to connect with all of you and share my message with the hopes of helping entrepreneurs and women in business who want to create a profitable and sustainable business doing their soul work without having to spend endless hours doing content marketing or chasing clients.

Now you might be wondering who this podcast is for, as there is a lot of popularity around course creators, online experts, and thought leaders. But this podcast is designed to help entrepreneurs, woman in business – both product-based and service-based business owners. Having achieved business success in the brick-and-mortar world selling a physical product and also achieving success in the online space selling a service, I felt like it would be a disservice to not share what I know, and what I continue to learn about business success and entrepreneurship.

Plus, I stopped buying into the rhetoric that you need to pick one niche in order to build a successful business. Why? Because if I listened to people who told me what was possible and not possible I never would have sold my brick-and-mortar in the height of COVID. Something that was done with a single email, sent to our customer base of 700 and sold within two months. Yes, this entrepreneurship journey is always filled with people wanting to tell you what to do, or what's possible.

So, what you’ll start to learn about me (if you haven’t already noticed) I don’t really follow what everyone else is doing. In fact, when most people in entrepreneurship turn right, you can almost guarantee that I’ll go left. And on this podcast, you’re going to hear from me, and other business owners who ditch the cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach to entrepreneurship, content marketing, and business success.

Because I believe if you tap into your unique way of being, and amplify your authentic voice that you will experience the greatest business success! 

Now, let’s dive into the juicy stuff! Leading up to the launch of the podcast I reached out to my community inviting them to be part of our launch team. Think of it like a hype team rallying behind you, and they were amazing! Well, one of our team members asked me to share why I pursued entrepreneurship and became an entrepreneur and more of my story. I had always planned to share the mission behind what I do, but the reason why I became an entrepreneur and my definition of business success has changed over the last two years so it gave me an opportunity to pause and reflect on the deep purpose to why I started this entrepreneurship journey, but why I believe my purpose is much stronger than it originally was–journey most entrepreneurs and woman inn business would say has its ups and downs; a journey that on some days you want to burn everything to the ground and start over, and other days you’re elated to make a difference in your clients' and customers' lives. 

Entrepreneurship is a real trip, but it’s not for everyone. If you're listening to this my guess is you’re an entrepreneur or thinking about becoming one. So, I’m sure you’ll relate to my story, my mission, and my deep-rooted purpose.

My introduction to entrepreneurship started at a young age. It’s really all I ever knew. I come from a long line of entrepreneurs. My grandfather on my dad's side built a wildly successful business, my father runs his own successful business, and my grandfather on my mom's side ran a farm, and my uncles also run successful businesses. Not to mention my cousin is an award-winning professor that teaches all things entrepreneurship. I have a big family so I’ll spare you from walking through our entire family tree! 

The long story short is, entrepreneurship was ingrained in me my whole life, but most of the entrepreneurs in my family are men, so I want to empower women in business with my story.

And the funny thing is I never followed the path of entrepreneurship until 5 years ago. Remember when I said I do things differently...well, this is an example of that. I spent 15 years working in corporate before ditching my career to pursue full-time entrepreneurship and open a brick and mortar winemaking business–a business we sold almost a year ago now! And had you asked me two years ago why I became an entrepreneur, my response would have been to escape corporate. 

I know what you’re probably thinking...but Kathryn what about a purpose that’s bigger than you, and making an impact. Ya I know that’s what most people want to hear because it’s what most people tell you, you should say if I want to achieve business success.

But the truth is at that stage in my life all I wanted to do was escape my current circumstances. I had a lot of business success in my career but I wasn't happy. And pursuing full-time entrepreneurship seemed like a good gig. It’s actually the way the majority of people live their lives, but don’t want to admit it. Using distractions like alcohol, food, Netflix, shopping, endless hours scrolling on social media, and the constant consumption of information to escape their current situation.

And that’s exactly what I was doing! I did it by diving feet first into entrepreneurship and starting our brick-and-mortar business. I really believed that being my own boss was the solution to being happy with the work I was doing. It was a quick fix, but like most quick fixes it doesn’t last. You know the saying buyers remorse. Well, that isn’t just true for buying a pair of shoes or a new handbag. The only problem is with a business it’s not something you can return within 14 days. 

It was also a brain-based decision without fully tuning into my purpose, which is a disaster waiting to happen and almost guaranteed to not achieve business success. But that’s what happens when we rely solely on our brains to guide us. They lead us astray. And all I was thinking was...if I just think my way out of my current situation by coming up with a brilliant idea ...like starting a business then it’s gotta work right? I'll achieve the business success I desire.

WRONG!!! 

For most people, Netflix, food, shopping, vacations would do...but for the high-achiever in me pursuing full-time entrepreneurship and starting a business seemed like the perfect escape. It gave me something to put all my brain power towards achieving. And it kept me distracted for a while until that deep urge, nudge, knowing was so loud I couldn’t ignore it. 

It wasn’t until I got quiet and grounded that I realized that my gift, my zone of genius, is helping people amplify their authentic voice, and stories so that they can be seen and heard by the right people–specifically in entrepreneurship. It’s helping people develop unwavering trust in themselves so that they can make decisions that are right for them to achieve the greatest business success. I often tell my clients that their way is a great way. 

Something I BELIEVE we are missing in the entrepreneurship space–especially in the online space. It’s saturated with people selling proven processes that are grounded in brain-based approaches that are analytical, logical, and psychological. Content marketing strategies that are formulated and devoid of any personal flare.

But the thing is....the majority of entrepreneurs are operating from circumstances just like I was. So when they buy into these courses, mentors, gurus, they are operating from that thinking mind. That survival mindset that’s trying to escape their current situation, and that's striving, chasing, and seeking the business success they think will prove their worth and value.

And if you’re like most entrepreneurs I work with, you’re trying to escape the lack of consistent income in your business, and escape from spending endless hours on content marketing for your business.

You’re likely really tired of working the way you’ve been working because it always feels so hard, and you're not achieving the business success you want. Maybe you're like me and wonder why everyone lied to you about the freedom entrepreneurship affords, because you're working twice as hard for the money you earn, and you never want to let it go and invest in hiring help. 

But the truth is the resistance, the pushing, the grinding is actually a sign something isn’t working within you. However, most people in entrepreneurship use brute force to keep pushing hoping something will eventually work and they will eventually achieve business success. This, unfortunately, leads to burnout, exhaustion, and entrepreneurs like you and me quitting on their dreams, and maybe even worse leaving entrepreneurship for good.

Maybe you started a business like me that isn’t in alignment with you and you’re scared to pivot because theoretically it’s working, or you are doing your soul work but you believe you need to market your business a certain way in order for it to be successful. 

Like believing you need to show up every day live on Facebook to form a connection with your audience, or giving everything away for free to add value. Perhaps you believe you need to be on every platform to increase your chances of getting seen. We saw this mad dash with the rollout of Clubhouse. Those first few months were insane of people rushing to get invited so that they didn’t miss the opportunity to make more money in their business. I heard from so many women in business trying to find invites because they were worried it was going to somehow drastically change the success of it, or they were worried they'd miss this massive opportunity. It’s a frantic, panicked, and rushed energy that repels your people. And I’m diving into that topic on episode #5. 

It’s these beliefs that someone knows better than I know myself, and my business that’s the driving force behind this podcast and the deeper purpose of my business. I truly believe that business success is relative to each person. And I want to shake things up in the entrepreneurship space and offer a different approach to content marketing, sales, and business–a balance between masculine and feminine. 

I’m on a mission to help entrepreneurs tap into a more powerful way of BEing in order to amplify their authentic voice so that they stop sounding like their mentor and everyone else they coach. It’s helping people redefine what business success looks like for them and giving them permission to trust themselves over any guru, mentor, or coach. 

Because it’s this deep inner trust and knowing that I’ve always had (and you do too). But the majority of us stop listening to it somewhere along the way–especially women in business. It’s this deep inner knowing that guided me to launch the podcast now instead of two years ago, and I can see exactly why. My message, my story would have been completely different. I've learned so much since first jumping into entrepreneurship.

It’s also this unwavering trust that I’ve cultivated over the last two years that has allowed me to not rush my ideas to market to try and beat my competition or to be the first one there to seize the opportunity in order to guarantee some sort of business success. I believe when the time is right to birth an idea, bring something to life, and share your message with the world, you’ll know exactly when that is. It’s also being able to lean back instead of chasing. 

Through my message and stories, I hope that through my message and stories, you start to see how much is possible when we stop trying to fit ourselves in a box and that it’s okay to reinvent ourselves–especially women in business.

Just being here and listening to me, you’re tapping into my energy. Something a client said is why they pay to work with me. I have very big energy full of passion, charisma, hope, and possibility, and I have a natural gift of bringing ideas to life quickly, in the fastest way possible. So, you can be sure I’m all about cutting out unnecessary steps in everything that I do–especially when it comes to content marketing! And I want to share that with you, too, so that you can experience the joys of entrepreneurship and have the business success you desire.