Prioritizing Quality Over Quantity: Building a Meaningful Business on Your Own Terms

INTRO: After generating over a million dollars in sales and selling one of her businesses with a single email, your host, Kathryn Thompson, takes an unconventional approach to marketing and sales. So if you're ready to tap into a more powerful way to be seen, heard, and a sought after entrepreneur in your industry without having to spend endless hours marketing your business and chasing clients, you're in the right place. Be The Sought After Entrepreneur Podcast is here to help you ditch the cookie cutter, one size fits all approach to marketing and use your unique energy to effortlessly attract the most aligned clients. When you do this, you can spend less time marketing your business and more time doing your soul work and enjoying the richness of your life. Welcome to Be The Sought After Entrepreneur Podcast. And here's your host, Kathryn Thompson. 

Kathryn Thompson: Hey, hey, super stoked that you're tuning in this week's episode. I cannot wait to dive in today's topic [00:01:00] because I want to share with you Some of the things that have been reflected to me recently by people that have come into my world that have either booked a sales call with us or have invested in working with me in some capacity, and I want to share this with you because I think lots of times that we sort of live and work in isolation, meaning we often think we're the only ones maybe feeling this way or thinking this way or we've experienced something that has then led us to believe, or to have a thought or whatnot around certain topics and ideas.

And one of the big ones that has been coming through for me lately, that's very apparent that I'm like, yes, I see you, I hear you. And it's something that really aligns with me, And where I'm wanting to go when it comes to business and building, quote unquote, growing my business. And that has to do with the notion of, I'm not here to sort of build this empire.

I don't want to be this like big well known guru, [00:02:00] or I don't want millions of followers. I don't want thousands of people on my email list. Like I want to create and cultivate a community of people that is more about the quality of relationships than it is about the quantity. And I've been hearing that a lot lately.

And what's so interesting about the universe and the way it works is that nothing really is random. I mean, I think there are some things that are random, but I mean, if you actually really sit across from people and you have conversations with them, whether they're inquiring about your work or they are working with you.

I'm often really surprised when they're like mirroring back to me my own inner world, but they're saying it and expressing it from their own perspective. And at the beginning of this year, I started to feel this sense of What do I want my business to be going forward? Like I've built the business, it's successful.

I'm very grateful for that. It's been built on a lot of foundations and [00:03:00] frameworks that I've learned in the online space. I'm well more aligned with it than I ever have been. However, there's still some refinement here that I want going forward. And a big thing for me this year was simplicity. was really taking a look at how I do things, the processes, all of those sorts of things, and getting more and more in alignment to the new evolution of where I'm going and who I am.

And a big part of that was quality over quantity. Um, and a, and a bigger part of that is, is that I am somebody who really likes to go to the depth with people. I really like one to one, but I also like group, but I do like to have that depth with my clients. And I've battled that. a lot because a lot of the messaging out there and a lot of the way things are promoted is cast this wide net [00:04:00] scale, right?

And in order to scale, you just need to get in front of more people and you've got to get on more stages or speaking gigs or whatever it might be. And I think that works for a lot of people. I think there's a lot of people that want that pathway and that's absolutely okay. But for me, it was less about scaling my business to millions and doing that with this sort of empire approach, which is big numbers, big groups, scaling groups.

It was more about, can I scale my business to a sustainable place financially, which I have, but can I do that in a more simplistic way or can I do that in a more bespoke way? And. I'm sharing this with you because, like I said at the beginning of this, so many of my people reflect back to me, my own inner world, where there is common ground amongst us all, we're all connected, [00:05:00] and collectively, if there's something that you're feeling within yourself, there's a desire, there's a want, And you're saying things like, I want simplicity in my business, or I want elegance in my business, or I want to scale to seven figures in the next three years, or I want thousands of lives impacted, whatever that vision or goal is for yourself, there's no right or wrong.

But what I often hear behind the words is, I want this thing. And really, oftentimes what we're saying is, I want it. But I don't believe I can make it happen, or I don't believe it's possible because, you know, everybody's teaching how to scale to millions and multiple millions. And how do I go and do this in my own way that's in alignment with my own values?

And where that all starts and ends is really knowing. where your values are and why you're doing what you're doing and being very [00:06:00] intentional about that. And knowing that so that when you are presented with opportunity, because you always will be, there'll always be someone advertising something or saying something or whatnot.

When you're presented with an opportunity, you can filter that through where you are today and what you want to cultivate in your life. And will this thing, this opportunity, this pathway, this next step, will that compromise, where I actually want to go. For example, if simplicity and elegance is something that you want in your business, meaning you don't want a lot of overhead, maybe you don't want a big team, maybe you don't want a team at all.

Maybe you don't want a ton of infrastructure in your business, like tech. You just want simplicity and elegance. Then you have to look at through that lens, is this coach, is this mentor, is this strategy, Is this approach and next step going to compromise my simplicity and elegance? And if it is, then it's not the right [00:07:00] next step for you.

Simultaneously, if you're somebody who's like, I'm not driven by the money, and I'm not here to just like, go and make millions for the sake of making millions like, I want to work part time, I want it to be very purpose driven, and I want to be really selective with the people that I work with, then you have to look same way through the lens.

Is this strategy, is this coach, is this mentor, is this person going to support me? in achieving this. And if they're not, if they're incongruent with that, then there's going to be a chance that you're going to self sacrifice yourself, especially if you're a people pleaser, in those types of environments.

Or you'll invest and you'll get through it and then you'll go, that wasn't in alignment and I've been there, right? I've totally been there. But what I really wanted to sort of share with you today is, is that Whatever is your desire, that thing that's being placed on your heart, like if you're saying to yourself, I want [00:08:00] more simplicity, or I want to just be embodied in my work, or I want to express myself creatively, or I want to do things sort of in a grassroots way, or I don't want to have to Manufacture relationships for the sake of making money or sales.

I want them to be genuine relationships. Like I'm not here to dm 50 people a day, but I'm also not here to sort of try to beat an algorithm or go viral. Then you have to ask yourself. What, what does that look like for me then? And those desires and those wants have been placed on your heart for a reason, and I want to share a story with you because I think it's really important that at the beginning of this year, I started to contemplate, like, simplicity, elegance in my business was a big one, but I also started to really question, the original sort of maybe goals that I had set forth years before, which was all around, you know, scaling my business.

That was the biggest thing, right? We've got to scale our business [00:09:00] and I'm going to create this business model that has a group program so that I can scale it because one to one it's harder to scale, yada, yada, all the beliefs that come with that. And therefore built my business and the infrastructure around it, modeling in some way, shape or form, how other people had done it.

The work I do is different and the, and my zone of genius is different, but it was modeled around that same sort of approach and the strategies and, and all of those sorts of things. But at the beginning of this year, I really got sort of curious. And it's funny because a lot of things started to drop in for me and, and how they drop in is like, I really.

Want to delve more into my own creative expression, and I felt this call to, you know, start getting back into photography and taking photos for the love of it, not necessarily the, um, profit or whatnot, and like, start to get, get on more hobbies like pottery and different things like that. And then I started to like, you know, contemplate in question, [00:10:00] like building a brand beyond coaching and consulting, like, are, is there a product or a service that I would love to offer that is not from a place of teaching, like teaching other people how to market and sell within their business and how to articulate the value of what they do, but having a brand or a product that sells something that's like, not an extension of me, if that makes sense, or is it coming from that sort of teaching perspective?

And these are all things that have been like, I've been contemplating and all those sorts of things. And then all these nuggets started to drop. Like I received an email from somebody on my email list and I opened the email, right? And I don't open a ton of emails, I open this particular person's because they're so insightful, but he shared with me like his transition from coaching and consulting to also developing his own like specific product brands.

And he shared why he did that. And I was like, there's a nugget that is an absolute nugget from the universe. [00:11:00] That's like a breadcrumb, as I call it, that's helping me on my path, but also like reinforcing sort of my own inner beliefs and sort of desires that are kind of coming through. I'm sharing this with you because when you are really clear on what you want and what you desire, or if you feel like there's these things that are coming in that you're like, maybe feel abstract, like the idea of, I feel really called to like go inward and just create for my own joy of creation.

There's reasons these messages are coming through where I know that I have gone sideways in the past, and this will probably resonate with you is, and not on purpose and not in, spite to my mentors or anything like that, but I've tried to express myself to other people and I'm rarely met with understanding.

And I say that with all the love and compassion, like I said, for my mentors, [00:12:00] my coaches, the people that have been in my world, I'm rarely met with understanding. And by that, I mean, I can so clearly see in my own mind and my own heart where I'm being guided, and yet when I try to express it to put together these like abstract pieces that feel like they're just kind of dropping in and they don't make sense in like a sequence or in a linear way, that when I try to express it in sort of this half baked way, I'm often met with either confusion, not really understanding and or a redirect, right?

And I get it because our mentors and our coaches are seeing things through their own lens, but their own container. For example, if I'm like, I've got this vision to go inward and be super creative. And I see myself publishing books, but it [00:13:00] has nothing to do with business. And I also see myself, you know, painting and maybe photography and all the things.

And I'm, Seeing myself pull this all into the work that I'm doing with Creatively Owned and I'm expressing it exactly how I'm expressing it to you and say you're my coach. It might be met with, then how do you monetize this and put this into an offer? What does the offer look like? And then the offer might come back looking very similar to something you've already created and you know in your heart of hearts that that isn't it.

That you're being called to do something wildly different than what is probably seen through your brand already, but is also wildly different than what your mentors or your coaches have achieved for themselves or done for themselves. And so they're filtering it through their lens and their box, right?

They're, they're filtering it through that. And that's how they're providing you with the insight and the advice and the direction and all the things. [00:14:00] And I share this with you because I know in my process that When I get derailed, it's often because I am looking for some type of external validation for someone to go, I get what you're saying.

Brilliant idea. This is awesome. You need to run with it. And I understand that, but I also understand that if The idea or the vision isn't fully baked yet, that it can often be met with confusion and therefore we get redirected and then our timeline is way longer and or as an innovator trailblazer, someone who's here to do things differently, who has never been done before, your mentors and your coaches can't actually show you that way.

They, they actually can't give you the steps. They actually can't give you the how because. it's never been done before. And so if we're seeking and looking for that validation, like a how, like, so how does [00:15:00] this come together? Then we've already sort of missed the point because if you're here to do something completely different, or you have this desire that's been placed on your heart, but you're not really seeing how it's been done elsewhere, or you haven't seen anybody else do it the way that you've done it, then it's really easy to build something around a pre existing model that in time will only get to a point where you're like, huh, this still isn't quite it.

And or you're just evolving and growing and you've outgrown the current structure or system that you're in, which is totally kosher as well. Which brings me back to the beginning of this year and me having this sense or this feeling that I really wanted to simplify and revine and make things more elegant and streamlined.

And I'm seeing this being reflected back to me in every person that I talk to, or every person my team talks to. It's wild. It's wild. right? It's being reflected back. There are like nuggets of gold, but also clues that they're, they're providing [00:16:00] just in terms of what they're saying. And when you can start to see that for yourself, you're going to be like, huh, I see you universe.

I get it. Yeah. I'm getting the message totally clear. And that is an attunement to your own intuition, but it also is an observation. It's always keeping yourself open to observe, to receive messages in like the most wildest, craziest ways. Like, I'm trying to think of an example where I was like, wowzers, like this is okay, I totally see you.

One, one example would be Girls Just Want To Have Fun is like one of my songs. It's a, it's a sign when that song plays, it's like there's a, it's a sign for me. And I had gone months and months and months and months without hearing it. And then I traveled to, uh, Lisbon, Portugal, and I heard it eight times or six times on that trip in the randomest places.

Girls Just [00:17:00] Want To Have Fun playing like in a taxicab or playing in a restaurant. And you might think, If you're in my world, you're probably not thinking this, but if you're somebody who's maybe a little skeptical with signs and different things like that, you might be going, well, it's just like, that's a coincidence.

But I don't actually think it is, right? Because when I went to Portugal, I was questioning the direction of the business, but I was also questioning, like, what it is that I was doing. And that was years ago now. And Then at the beginning of this year, I was like, okay, I want to simplify and I want to evolve what it is that I'm doing.

And I've been getting sign after sign. And one of the big ones is like, go inward and like, continue to refine your own creative process. And that might look like picking up a camera painting. And this might not make sense yet in the grand scheme of things or the big picture. And you might not know yet how this all fits together.

But I promise you it does. It's just trusting the randomness of the things that are coming through. And [00:18:00] if you're not driven by the money and you're not wanting to build the empire and you're not wanting, you know, millions of followers and that you're not even have a desire to go viral, like, These are all okay things.

There's nothing wrong with you. This is a desire that's been placed on your heart and something I hear so often. And I think a lot of the strategies and a lot of the methods that are being taught, like posting three times a day or sending 50 DMS or building your email list to 10, 000 followers is all on this, like, You know, very masculine model, but it's a model for like, to go viral.

It's a model to build a massive audience. It's a model so that you can create these empires. And again, it comes back to your values and what you truly desire for you and your business. And if you desire simplicity and elegance, you can absolutely do that. I was just having a conversation with somebody who was like, who had built a 7 million, like a million dollar business and they have no presence on social media.

They sell [00:19:00] millions and millions of dollars and they, they're not even on, I can't even find them on social media. They have a website, but like there's no presence on social media. And so I wanted to sort of share this episode with you because I want to help you see how we put ourselves in boxes and how we fight for our limitations.

But also when we're in the box and we're trying to cultivate something that's never been done before, it's hard to get out of the box because we're trying to we're just seeing the insides of the walls of the box. I've got to do it this way. And I want to more and more for you break down sort of how I look at things and how I view things, but also how you can start to view things for yourself that and how models have been made and how culture has been formed.

What's driving all of this so that you can make decisions that are really in alignment with you, but you can build a widely successful business, whatever that revenue goal is for you, you can build a widely successful business. Whatever that success [00:20:00] looks like for you is just being open and perceptive to your own inner compass.

What's actually driving you, right? If I didn't start pottery or decide to pick up my camera, like, I don't know how that's all going to fit, but if I don't do it. then I'm sort of silencing the breadcrumbs that are being laid out for me to end on the path to follow, right? So simplicity and elegance also looks like slowing down to me in some way, shape or form, right?

And so perhaps, and I'm just speculating here, but perhaps grabbing my camera, getting creative, painting, is, is a way to help my nervous system slow down because I am used to certain work hours, right? I'm just speculating here, but we never know. We never know what those breadcrumbs are offering us until after the fact, because the path that we're here to cultivate and create hasn't been created yet.

So if we're trying to look at, go, [00:21:00] well, how does painting play a factor? And what is it that I do when it comes to articulating the value of what people do? Like, how does that connect, right? Well, we don't know. We don't know that. It's like Da Vinci. I don't know if any of you have followed his story or, or listened to like his story, but the reason why he was such a great painter is because he was just innately curious.

He was innately curious about life, about anatomy, optics. and, and life. And so he was able then to paint in ways that nobody else could and he had these beautiful paintings that looked very different than everybody else's because he understood the way that light hits things. He also understood like human anatomy and he also understood all of that combined and so that translated into him being a really well known painter.

So we never know how our Intersection or our multifaceted [00:22:00] desires and whatnot will play a picture. We get really pigeonholed of, I wanna build this successful business and this is the pathway I need to do to do that. And. In reality, the universe is continually giving you breadcrumbs to pursue and get curious about.

It's whether or not we're open to the curiosity because we actually never, we don't know. I don't think Da Vinci picked up a paintbrush thinking I'm going to paint the Mona Lisa and it's going to be the most widely whatever painting and yada, yada, yada. Like I don't think that was his motivation. I think he picked up painting as an expression, a creative expression.

He was also really curious, but because he came with all these cross section of curiosity and insight, he was able to create paintings that ended up being. you know, widely successful paintings by painting standards. So I wanted to, yeah, share this episode with you because I wanted to support you in stepping out of the box.

[00:23:00] And I think two episodes ago with Becky Brett, where we talked about like these unconventional ways to market, like she was such a beautiful soul and also just Somebody who is so good at speaking on stage and like improvising and like getting a crowd going in that way is like, we often think, okay, so I have to then be on social media and I've got to do my social media in this way, and the more we sort of try to fit ourselves into the box, the more we dilute and strip away what makes us actually really unique and different.

And it goes back to last week's episode, where I talk about like the detail and the tapestry. Like if you're thinking about the vehicle to get your message out into the world and what the tapestry looks like to me, then if we're approaching it from that perspective, no two paintings would look the same.

No two photographs, even though you're looking through the exact same lens would look the same because [00:24:00] You're approaching it differently, you're looking at it differently, and you come with your multifaceted gifts, and therefore it would be your own artistic expression. So hopefully this episode has been supportive in like, stepping out of the box, or how to step out of the box, but also really trust the fact that the things that are dropping in for you are meant for you, and that They're not random in that they're here to help you lay the bricks on your pathway, which is going to look very different than my pathway.

And if we can come back out of what I call pigeonholing, like being in that sort of pigeonholed viewpoint where it's like, this is the path and these are the steps I need to take. And we stop shutting out all of the other forms of curiosity and insight that's wanting to come through and flow through us.

then that only helps support the work we're here to do on the planet, but also [00:25:00] provide a beautiful, unique experience for the people that you're wanting to serve. So with that, I hope this episode has been super informal for you, and I cannot wait to hear from you. Cheers! Thanks for listening. We'll see you right back here next time.

You can also find us on social media at Creatively Owned and online at creativelyowned. com. Until next time, keep showing up as your authentic self.