Katie Dodd [00:00:00]:
And this is a piece I feel like I don't share enough in my story because as I was building my blog, I needed money for my family.
Greg Todd [00:00:05]:
Right, Gotcha.
Katie Dodd [00:00:06]:
So I was building my blog, but I was also doing work, trading time for money. I was doing freelance work, I was a writer, I was working with brands and media. And one of the cool things about having a blog or having a space online is you are recognized as an authority figure in your space. Right. And so I actually started getting people reaching out to me, gigs reaching out to me, like, hey, you're the geriatric dietitian. We got this project. And so I did actually get a lot of really high paying contracts early on where I was able to make money because of this authority that the blog brought.
Greg Todd [00:00:38]:
Gotcha.
Katie Dodd [00:00:38]:
So, so that's when I say it depends. Because like, yes, in the beginning you can make some money with passive income, but it's going to, it's going to take time. You have to have an audience to make passive income.
Greg Todd [00:00:47]:
Gotcha.
Katie Dodd [00:00:48]:
So once you have an audience, then the blog can make thousands of dollars a month in completely passive income. But there's things that you can do trading time for money to make money, even early on, working with different companies, with brands, if you want to work with clients, do group programs. It's like, I love the online space because the opportunities are limitless.
Greg Todd [00:01:14]:
This is Secrets for Success. Welcome to the Secrets for Success podcast. I'm your host, Greg Todd. Thank you as always for joining me. I am starting a new series and this series is going to be. I just came up with the name. You know, I stand with RFVs, the rapid fire of value. And so I want to bring some of my favorite people on to talk about what they do and how they bring value to the world.
Greg Todd [00:01:41]:
All right, so, Katie, you have been on my podcast the most out of any person since I have done Wealth Code Secrets. I think since Wealth Code Secrets now Secret Services has, you've been on the most. So I feel like it's just perfect that you're the first person to do this. So, Katie Dodd, welcome to the podcast.
Katie Dodd [00:01:58]:
Thanks for having me again.
Greg Todd [00:01:59]:
All right, so for those people, there might be about four of them that don't know who you are. Can you tell them what it is that you do and how you bring value to the world?
Katie Dodd [00:02:07]:
Sure. So my name is Katie and I am an entrepreneur, I am a dietitian, and I am a mom. How I bring value to the world is I help other healthcare professionals start a side hustle, make Money online, build a business based on blogging, and really just start pursuing the big dreams that they have.
Greg Todd [00:02:24]:
Awesome. Awesome. All right, so that's what this episode is going to be around. I'm going to ask you questions on how you see it with regards to helping an audience, helping people build online income. That cool? All right, so you. You help people build a side hustle. How do. How does someone know when it is time to actually start a side hustle?
Katie Dodd [00:02:49]:
Yeah, that's a great question. When is the best time to start a side hustle? And the truth of the matter is the best time to start a side hustle was yesterday. And the second next best time is today, because the time is never perfect. And I think this is something I see a lot is people think I'm going to wait until I learn all the things. I'm going to wait until life is less crazy, and then I'm going to start pursuing my dreams. But the reality is, is that life is always going to life. It's always going to be crazy. And even if we think of this concept of I have to learn how to do the thing first, well, how we do things is like, once we do it, that's how we learn.
Katie Dodd [00:03:26]:
We learn by doing. So I see so many people holding themselves back because they think, oh, I've got to figure all the ins and outs of doing this particular side hustle. It's like, no, you just got to start. You just got to get through what keeps you stuck. And if you have an inkling right now in your gut that says, oh, I've been meaning to start this business, I really want to do this, that means the time is now.
Greg Todd [00:03:47]:
Okay, so if you're feeling like you need to start it, just start it.
Katie Dodd [00:03:51]:
Yes.
Greg Todd [00:03:51]:
Okay. So now you talk a lot about blogging. Do you feel like blogging is the only way? Is there other ways as well? Tell me some of the best online health businesses, because you don't just make all your money with blogging. Yes. Okay, so some. What are some of the best online businesses for healthcare professionals? In your.
Katie Dodd [00:04:09]:
Yes.
Greg Todd [00:04:10]:
In your opinion?
Katie Dodd [00:04:11]:
Yes. So I'm a big fan of blogging as a business because it enables you to make passive income, which is, I wake up in the morning and I check my phone like, I've made all this money and I didn't do anything. It's lovely. It sounds amazing, but it's not easy and it takes time. This is. As much as I'm an advocate for blogging, this is one of the downsides of blogging is that it takes time. Many people will pursue blogging as a business because they want that sweet, sweet passive income, but they give up before they reach that point. Because it's hard.
Greg Todd [00:04:36]:
Right?
Katie Dodd [00:04:37]:
But there are other ways that we can make money a little bit more immediately. Through a side hustle, through a business in conjunction with the blog for all my blogging business people out there. But for me, I've been able to make money through lots of different ways in the online space. Yes, through blogging and for people who don't know, how the heck does a blog make money? I know I've talked about it on the podcast. But in a nutshell, I make money on my blog. My primary one's the geriatric dietitian. I use search engine optimization, SEO to drive massive traffic to the website. I make money through ads, selling digital products, courses, affiliate income, and something else.
Greg Todd [00:05:10]:
Ad revenue.
Katie Dodd [00:05:11]:
Right? Ad revenue. Oh yeah, that's the big one. Yeah, that's a big one.
Greg Todd [00:05:14]:
So funny. You, you have trained me and indoctrinated me on that for so long. Like ad revenue. Ad revenue. Ad revenue.
Katie Dodd [00:05:20]:
Yeah, yeah, love my ad revenue. So, but that's not the only way I make money. I also make money and this is probably one of the quickest ways to do it as an affiliate. So what an affiliate is, is where we are selling someone else's product. We don't always have to create our first thing that we sell. We can find something that would serve our audience that's already created. We're like, wow, this is amazing. Maybe I've done this program, I bought this product, I use this product, I recommend this thing.
Katie Dodd [00:05:44]:
And if they have an affiliate program, you can sell it to your audience. It helps your audience. You get a commission, so it helps you and it helps the person who created it. So I love affiliate income because it's like a three way win. It's a win, win, win. And it's a way that you could start making money sooner. You don't have to wait to build something. Just take what's already built and work in and you can sell it to your audience.
Greg Todd [00:06:04]:
Guys, I hope you caught that. There was five different ways, you know, she makes money as an affiliate. She makes money by selling courses on her side. She does make money via the blog through ad revenue. She makes money view like via digital products, like your ebooks, this, that. Right. And so wait, was there another way? I think we hit all of them. Yeah, I think that was everything.
Greg Todd [00:06:25]:
So there's, there's many different ways. And you make money in all of those ways. Yes. And really what it comes down to is it is finding a group of people that you are trying to serve and make their life better. And there's just different ways that everybody wants their value. Right?
Katie Dodd [00:06:42]:
Yep.
Greg Todd [00:06:43]:
Yeah. Okay, so your, your story has been you weren't always a full time entrepreneur. So I, I want to ask you this question because your journey was, I was full time at the va, I was building a side hustle, and now I'm a full time entrepreneur.
Katie Dodd [00:07:02]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:07:03]:
Can you talk about that middle time, that time after the va? You're, you're still there, you're wanting to make some more money. How did you balance your time?
Katie Dodd [00:07:13]:
Sure, sure. So balancing your time is always a tough one because we only have so many hours in the day. So when I first started side hustling, it was really about money. I needed to make some more money. I had two children. No one tells you how expensive kids are, especially childcare. And as much as I thought, oh, I go to school, I'm going to get this great job, I'll make enough money. The reality is that that was not it.
Katie Dodd [00:07:35]:
So the side hustles I started doing, I was working for other people. So I was trading time for money. I was doing like freelance gigs, I would be a freelance writer, I would do webinars, I did some work with brands and media, but I was exclusively trading time for money building other people's dreams. And what I mean by that is I get a contract, here's the terms of it. I complete the contract, I get paid, I'm not going to get paid again. But then I started shifting into this space level. Wait a minute. If I become an entrepreneur and start my own business, I can create my own products and services where I can make money over and over and over again.
Katie Dodd [00:08:07]:
It's, I'm not spending my time and talents building someone else's dreams. I'm spending my time and talents building my own dream. Yeah, so. So I just really want to clarify that when I started, I was working for other people. But then I started shifting my mindset. I started learning more about entrepreneurship. I got into your world and I started learning all these things about if I only have so much time in the day, I need to make sure that I'm strategic in building something that is going to give me the biggest roi, the biggest bang for my buck. If I only have so much time, how can I create something that's going to create more income, passive income, so that again, I'm not always trading Time for money and maximize the time I had.
Katie Dodd [00:08:45]:
So people often ask me this because, you know, like, okay, well, I'm a parent too. How the heck did you do it? So for me, I averaged work five to seven hours a week in my side hustle. Some weeks were more, some were numb. But that would, I would say that was on average. But I think the thing that really helped me is that I was laser focused on what I was doing. I wasn't just doing stuff here, stuff there. I got laser focused on one thing and I also had guidance. I started paying people who were doing what I wanted to do, paying the money to show me how to do it faster.
Katie Dodd [00:09:15]:
Because I only had so much time. I couldn't spend time going down a rabbit hole and spending all this time and energy and not making money. I had to be strategic in how I spent my time.
Greg Todd [00:09:26]:
It's interesting you say that because there are people that say five to seven hours. Well, five to seven hours didn't work for me. But the way you did your five to seven hours was five to seven hours of laser focused work. You were able to hire people to that had already done the thing you wanted to do. So then I felt like, yes, you were spending your five to seven hours in whatever program you were in. You were spending five to seven hours. And I feel like very little of that time was filled with doubt.
Katie Dodd [00:09:59]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:09:59]:
Because you trusted the process. Yes. Because you're willing to invest in someone that had the process fairly laid out. So you have to be focused.
Katie Dodd [00:10:08]:
Yes.
Greg Todd [00:10:08]:
But you also have to be focused. Doing intentional work.
Katie Dodd [00:10:11]:
Yeah. And I think it's also having a long term vision and not giving up. Because I will actually backtrack and say I did have doubt, I had doubt. It's like I had this weird combination of belief and doubt. I knew I could do it. I saw that other people have done it. So I knew it was possible. But I will be honest, there were moments where I'm like, this is never going to work.
Katie Dodd [00:10:30]:
What am I doing? And I think that's the tipping point that most people give up. And so for me, I surrounded myself with people who believed in me even more than I believed in myself. And those people kept me going through the doubt. So it wasn't just this massive self confidence I've had. I feel like my self confidence now is pretty high. But along the journey that was something that had to be developed. So I had to surround myself with people who believed in me. Me as I went through.
Katie Dodd [00:10:55]:
I like to call this like season, like the desert. So it's like, you start your business, you start your side hustle, you're doing entrepreneurship, and you're so excited. You're like, yeah, I've got this. Everything's awesome. And then we start getting in the mundane work that we do need to do to reach our goals, and we feel like, oh, this isn't working, and we want to give up or we want to hop ship and like, oh, wait, no, I'm going to do this instead. We want to get that, like, you know, we see the rab or the squirrel, and we go this way, that way. So for me, during that desert season of, like, I know this works, but I feel like it's not working. I just had to remind myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other and continue doing the thing.
Katie Dodd [00:11:28]:
Once you get to the other side, once you make it through that darn desert, you're like, oh, that wasn't that bad. There will be periods when you feel like this is not working. Who do I think I am? I want to give up. And most people give up during that season. But as long as you don't give up, you're good. There's the saying that says if. If you get started, your dreams are possible. If you don't give up, your dreams are probable.
Katie Dodd [00:11:50]:
So if we understand, as long as I keep going, it is probable that I will have success. Wow.
Greg Todd [00:11:56]:
Wow. Okay. That's the first time I heard that. Okay, all right, all right. I want to build off of that. So if you get started, it is possible.
Katie Dodd [00:12:02]:
Yes.
Greg Todd [00:12:02]:
Okay, so somebody's listening to you right now, like, okay, I'm going to get started. What's step one?
Katie Dodd [00:12:08]:
Step one for getting started. Well, I think the first thing is, what do you want to do? That's the first thing. Because there's so many things that we could do as healthcare entrepreneurs in this, especially in this online space. I know we just listed a few of them, but there's, like, so many things you could do. So the first thing is figuring out what are you most passionate about? What do you love to do and what is possible? And a lot of that looks like, what are other people doing? Start looking out there. What are the possibilities? And sometimes we think the safe route, like, okay, I'm an entrepreneur. I need to work with clients. Yes, you certainly can.
Katie Dodd [00:12:40]:
I know a lot of entrepreneurs do that, but I know with my journey, I never wanted to work with clients. I'm an introvert, and I just. That was not my jam. And so it's a matter of finding out what's possible. Once you find out what's possible and what you want to do, start following people who are doing what you want to do. Start finding the people who are the leaders in your space. Start learning from them. And I feel like I can keep going on, but I think that's the first step is just discover what's possible and what's the best fit for you.
Greg Todd [00:13:06]:
Gotcha. Okay, so since you are the blog queen, let's get some numbers. Are we cool with talking about that? So how long did it take you to start making money from a vlog?
Katie Dodd [00:13:18]:
Sure.
Greg Todd [00:13:18]:
And then if I can ask a follow up question to that, how long do most of your clients, the ones that actually continue to go and it becomes more and more probable, how long does it take for them to make money? I'd like to hear from both.
Katie Dodd [00:13:32]:
Yes, yes. And that's a good question. And my answer is going to be it depends because there's so many variables.
Greg Todd [00:13:36]:
Right.
Katie Dodd [00:13:36]:
With a blog business in particular, there's two ways we can make money. We can make now money, where we are trading time for money, or we can make later money, which is that sweet, sweet passive income, right? Passive income takes time. When I first started my blog, I was making money in the beginning, but not a ton. I made a little bit through selling digital goods, but it was passive income. The first time I made money, I woke up and I'm like, someone bought something. I made 10 bucks. I didn't do anything. Right.
Katie Dodd [00:13:59]:
That was like the sweetest, sweetest money.
Greg Todd [00:14:01]:
I remember the first time, March 29th. I still remember it. It's like, oh my gosh, I got this crazy.
Katie Dodd [00:14:08]:
Yeah, so I was making money through my blog. But with blogging, I mentioned before, it is a long term game. It's not for everyone. It is incredible for people who can actually get in there and do the game. But it took me about six to nine months before Google, the main search engine, even started recognizing my website, the Geriatric Dietitian, as a player. So the first six months I didn't make a lot of money. I made a few hundred. I was thrilled with it.
Katie Dodd [00:14:31]:
Next six months I started making more money because as I was growing my audience, I was listening to them as they were telling me, here's what we need. One of the first products I made with my audience telling me was a ebook called High Calorie shakes. People are reaching out. Hey, grandma's losing weight. Do you have any recipes? No. Let me work on that. So made this product one time And I've made thousands of dollars. That product I made one time.
Katie Dodd [00:14:54]:
But it's something that grows and grows and grows. So I started making passive income slowly. It took about 17, 18 months in before I qualified for ad revenue. I mentioned that before. That is the big money maker.
Greg Todd [00:15:05]:
17 to 18 months is what it took.
Katie Dodd [00:15:06]:
Okay, gotcha. So that's in time. Along the way I was making, even at that point, I was still making thousands of dollars through selling digital products, through affiliate sales, things like that. But once I qualified for ad revenue, that's when I started making really what could replace the income of a dietitian? Right. Just through my blog. And passive income. Now that's just passive income. There's also active income.
Katie Dodd [00:15:29]:
And this is a piece I feel like I don't share enough in my story because as I was building my blog, I needed money for my family.
Greg Todd [00:15:34]:
Right? Gotcha.
Katie Dodd [00:15:35]:
So I was building my blog, but I was also doing work trading time for money. I was doing freelance work, I was a writer, I was working with brands and media. And one of the cool things about having a blog or having a space online is you are recognized as an authority figure in your space. Right. And so I actually started getting people reaching out to me, gigs reaching out to me, like, hey, you're the geriatric dietitian. We got this project. And so I did actually get a lot of really high paying contracts early on where I was able to make money because of this authority that the blog brought.
Greg Todd [00:16:07]:
Gotcha.
Katie Dodd [00:16:08]:
So that's when I say it depends. Because like yes, in the beginning you can make some money with passive income, but it's going to take time. You have to have an audience to make passive income.
Greg Todd [00:16:16]:
Gotcha.
Katie Dodd [00:16:17]:
So once you have an audience, then the blog can make thousands of dollars a month in completely passive income. But there's things that you can do trading time for money to make money even early on, working with different companies, with brands. If you want to work with clients, do group programs. It's like I, I love the online space because the opportunities are limitless. The only limitation is us and what we think we can't do. So I know that was kind of a roundabout answ. There's just a million ways to make a million bucks. It's just what's, it's just which one.
Greg Todd [00:16:51]:
Makes the most sense for you. But I think for many of you listening, if you heard 17 to 18 months is what it took, I just want to give you some context to that. I built a property in Georgia recently. When I say Recently, I built it at the end of 2022, uh, and I started to put it on Airbnb. I had to set it up, fix it up, spend all that money. I spent 630,000 to buy it, and then probably another 70k to furnish it. You've been there many times. You know how it is.
Greg Todd [00:17:30]:
And so. And then I spend, you know, a couple grand every month to maintain it, you know, and it took us about, it's been two years now, or we're nearing two years with it.
Katie Dodd [00:17:46]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:17:46]:
And I'm finally now breaking even.
Katie Dodd [00:17:49]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:17:50]:
I'm finally now breaking even, you know, monthly. And our property management, you know, company said that we have one of the most rented properties in the entire Blue Ridge, like, network of the biggest property management company in Blue Ridge.
Katie Dodd [00:18:07]:
Yes.
Greg Todd [00:18:07]:
As people are loving your property, this and that. It's being rented every single weekend, and I'm just breaking even. So I want people to understand that it's took me nearly two years for that to happen, but that's so normal for people, right?
Katie Dodd [00:18:17]:
Yeah. Right.
Greg Todd [00:18:18]:
And I'm just thinking, you, you are profit. The minute you said, you said from month six or eight, you're making a little bit of money. Hit, you know, here and there.
Katie Dodd [00:18:26]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:18:27]:
Look, you're making money.
Katie Dodd [00:18:28]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:18:29]:
You're not losing money. What? So, you know, it's important that you have an investing mindset.
Katie Dodd [00:18:34]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:18:35]:
You know that you're going to lose money in the beginning, and you might not lose money in a blog, but you might lose money as in you're investing and learning how to do it. So you're still investing yourself.
Katie Dodd [00:18:43]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:18:43]:
But, gosh, so much better.
Katie Dodd [00:18:45]:
Yeah. Built a bunch of houses.
Greg Todd [00:18:49]:
Yeah. This is great. Okay, so now I, I think people are listening and probably like, all right, I kind of want to do this, but let's get to the nitty gritty. Like, I, I, I'm fearing that I'm going to fail. So for you, how, what do you tell your clients on how to overcome this fear of failure? Because so many people fear failure so much, they won't even start.
Katie Dodd [00:19:10]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:19:10]:
Or they'll just, you know, I'm not, I don't want to make a fool of myself, so I'm going to give up. What would you say to that?
Katie Dodd [00:19:15]:
Yeah. Yeah. I actually have talked about this quite a bit with my audience because I really feel like mindset is a key to having success in whatever we do, because it's going to be those thoughts in our head that hold us back. We think it's Going to be other things, external sources, time, money to busy. But it's actually our mindset. And fear of failure is a big thing. We have these big dreams, we want to do them, but we just get scared of, well, what if it doesn't work? What if I fail? People are going to know I fail. Gosh, they're going to know I'm not good enough.
Katie Dodd [00:19:41]:
And we just get so in our heads. But actually, one of the best things I ever heard about failure was actually through, I think it was a virtual version of Smart Success Healthcare Live. It was back in. It was either 2020 or 2021 when Gary Brackett was chatting with the group and Gary said something. So, Gary Brackett, he's a former NFL player. He's an amazing entrepreneur. He spoke at Smart Success Healthcare Live a couple years ago. Incredible man.
Katie Dodd [00:20:04]:
And I, I am deep in the entrepreneur world. I listen to podcasts, I read books every day. It's very rare that I hear something that makes my jaw drop. And Gary said something that made my jaw drop. And what he said was, build failure into your business plan.
Greg Todd [00:20:19]:
Wow.
Katie Dodd [00:20:20]:
Build failure into your business plan. And I was like, well, no, I've always thought and, you know, been of the mindset of I have to build my business so that I don't fail.
Greg Todd [00:20:29]:
Right.
Katie Dodd [00:20:30]:
I have to safeguard this business, not to fail. And when he said, build failure into your business plan, I was like, wow, what a shift in how we think of things. And I've completely changed how I think of failure. I no longer fear failure, I no longer want to avoid it. And I even tell my audience, I want you to fail. And for most dietitians who are very perfectionist, like, you want me to fail? You want what? Katie, this is horrible. But. But when I'm able to frame it is that failure is the best teacher, right? If you never start, you're never going to fail.
Katie Dodd [00:20:56]:
So if you failed, it meant you started, right? And you did more than most people will ever do. When you fail, it's never true failure unless you give up. If you just walk away and you're like, oh, tried it. I knew it wouldn't work, and you walk away, sure, that's a failure. But what we do is we take something that didn't work and we're able to evaluate, okay, what went well, what didn't, what can I do next time to make it better? And then that instance of failure turns into something that's actually going to fuel you on to your next biggest success. So I actually view failure as a Good thing. And I hope that people listening, I hope that they start thinking about this, will know I want to fail. And I want them to think of when they fail.
Katie Dodd [00:21:34]:
Because if you do entrepreneurship, you're going to fail at some point. It's not all sunshine, roses. There's beautiful highs, there's hard lows, but it's an amazing journey. But when they fail, I want them to remember, like, no, this is a good thing. This is a good thing. It means that I started. It means that I tried. I'm going to learn so many lessons and it's not true failure, because I'm not going to give up.
Katie Dodd [00:21:52]:
So failure is actually normal. Failure is a wonderful teacher. And if we, if we fear it, we're never going to get started. We're never going to push ourselves to the levels that we need to push ourselves because we're just like, we try to avoid and circumvent failure instead of understanding this is normal. Let's build it into our business plan.
Greg Todd [00:22:09]:
Gotcha. Wow, that's awesome. That's awesome. Build failure into your business plan. I love it. Absolutely love it. Okay. Passion.
Greg Todd [00:22:18]:
I see you're very, you're very, very, very passionate about what you do. I see the people that you serve. I have watched you at my events. I've watched you have your own mini events at my events. And sometimes I go in and I sneak in and kind of peek and like, you're just, you're just like, you can tell through your voice, through your conviction, you're passionate. So many people struggle with finding what is it that they're passionate about. What would be your advice to them? How can I find what I'm passionate about?
Katie Dodd [00:22:47]:
That's a good question. Because I think when we start thinking about what am I going to start for a business, a side hustle? Whatever it is, we try to go to logical places in our head. We try to think of, well, what's going to make the most money, what are other people doing? And we tend to like, rationalize ourselves out of what we actually want to do. So I don't know if I have the best answer to this, but I just kind of want to paint a picture of. I started my blog, the Geriatric Dietitian, because I was a geriatric dietitian. I'm a board certified specialist and geriatric ontological nutrition. I am like knee deep in geriatrics, but I was also passionate about it. And so I started my blog on my business because that's what I did.
Katie Dodd [00:23:22]:
I started dietitian side Hustle. It started as a podcast that actually just a week ago, I had my five year anniversary as the first episode of the podcast. Love it. And I started it as a passion project. I never thought I would make money through this little brand called Dietitian side Hustle. I just, I worked in home care at the time, and I was working with dietetic interns. And as we would drive from house to house, the deeper I was getting into entrepreneurship. I kept telling them, like, did you know that you could do this as a dietitian? Did you know that you could do this? And I would leave the workday and I'd be so, like, filled with energy and so excited, and I'm like, man, I'm like, I'm so filled with all this, like, good feelings.
Katie Dodd [00:24:00]:
And it's not even because the work I'm doing, it's because of this entrepreneurship I'm talking about. So what I realized is I can speak into a microphone and reach more people. So I started the podcast completely as a hobby. Never imagined how much it would change my life. And in my situation, because I led with something I was so passionate about, it did become something that made money. Now, I'm not saying that's always the case, but I think it's this. It's this beautiful blend of finding out what lights you up and what do you love doing, even if it doesn't feel completely rational. I mean, once you figure that out, there's, like, people you could work with to figure out, is this a viable business option? Like, is there actually money to be made in this space? Right, but, but I think it's just listening to your gut and not.
Katie Dodd [00:24:44]:
I'm reading a book right now. I think I was telling you about it. It's called Illogical. And it's all about how, you know, we. We tend to want to be logical and play it safe, but then we, we limit ourselves because we're just being too logical, right? So it's almost just a matter of being a little illogical, like, stop thinking logic, stop thinking about, you know, well, this person's making all this money, so I have to do what they're doing or start thinking about, well, this niche makes more money, so I should do this niche even though I don't love it. Because the last thing you want to do is build a business that feels like a job and you hate it. Like, that's the worst thing you could do. My job that I've built, if I made a billion dollars tomorrow, I wouldn't stop doing Any of this, Like, I love it, and I feel so lucky.
Katie Dodd [00:25:23]:
But it's. It's possible to do that, so why not go down that path? If you're going to build something, build something you love.
Greg Todd [00:25:28]:
You said something that I realize is similar to me and that I was doing something else. And even though I was getting paid doing that thing, and in my case, it was actually a business, I was helping people for free. And my staff started getting frustrated because so many clients wanted me to see them. And I would. I would rather do this over here for free. So it was in my clinic, and I was only in clinic one or two days a week, and my staff got me to start to mentor some of their classmates and friends. And I was like, oh, my gosh, I'm loving this so much. They're like, greg, we need to put these people on a schedule.
Greg Todd [00:26:08]:
They want to pay you, and you're only here two days a week. And I wouldn't take them. Like, no, I'd rather do this for free. And so that's really awesome, and it's amazing. One other thing I think is really important that you said the things that light you up. I think humans, on a whole, we're looking for people to light us up.
Katie Dodd [00:26:26]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:26:27]:
You know, like, I want to be around somebody that loves life. I want to be around somebody that loves what it is that they're doing. So I think that's the attraction. That's the attraction to you. It's that you love it. I can tell she loves it.
Katie Dodd [00:26:38]:
So.
Greg Todd [00:26:39]:
Yeah.
Katie Dodd [00:26:39]:
Yeah. And I actually just want to say one quick thing before we ship this, because I think there's a lot of people listening who you are a healthcare professional, and you feel like what you have to go into with business has to be related to your healthcare profession. And I just want to bring this up because so many of us made a decision to get into our profession when we were very young. Most of us, right out of high school, we picked a major. Then we spent all this time and money becoming this professional. And then we get into the career, and we might find out we don't love it. It doesn't light or fire, but we feel like we have to do it because I committed all this time and all this money that I have to do this thing. But here's the thing about entrepreneurship.
Katie Dodd [00:27:12]:
You can do whatever you want, even if it's outside of your profession. Now, of course, you can take your credentials and blend it with whatever you want to do. But I think a lot of people who are Listening. You might not be passionate about your field, you might not be passionate about your profession. And that's okay. That is okay. Because there's so many things that you could do outside of the profession. And I think that healthcare professionals need to have permission that they can pursue something that it's a dream outside of what their credentials after their emr.
Greg Todd [00:27:37]:
Wow, I love that. I love that. Okay, you said earlier that you spent five to seven hours a week when you were getting started. Is that what you recommend for people?
Katie Dodd [00:27:46]:
Yes, I think so. I mean, I guess there's so many variables to it, but we only have so many hours in the day and I think there's lots of important things. Of course you have to, you know, work your job, make money, whatever you feel like you need to do for your family. But it's not just about always hustling and always grinding. You have to take care of yourself. You have to take care of your health, your mind, your body, your soul, your relationships in your life. So I feel like five to seven hours a week is a sweet spot. I think that if you work more, that's possible for a season.
Katie Dodd [00:28:15]:
Now that was my average right before I left my job at the va. I was actually working a lot more on my side hustle, but that was because I had an intention of, okay, I'm going to leave my job, I'm going to hustle and grind it out for a short season. If we try to hustle and grind for too long of a season, we're just going to burn out. And so I feel like for me, five to seven hours was a sweet spot. I did that for years without burnout and it was still enough that I was able to move the needle forward. So there's different seasons, but I wouldn't recommend that. You know, you work 40 hours a week and then you side hustle 40 hours a week, you're going to burn yourself out. And then your quality of life, it's just, just, it's not going to be worth it.
Greg Todd [00:28:51]:
Okay. I know you have two children. You have your, your son and your daughter.
Katie Dodd [00:28:55]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:28:56]:
When you were at, and maybe even now too. But when you were at that time where you were between VA side hustle, okay, Even when you left the va. Now I'm full time entrepreneur. Certain times you're working a lot, certain times things are going on, blah, blah, blah. What's the messaging that you would say to them? How did you get your, your kids on board to like, I'm doing this, it might take away some time For. Is there anything you said?
Katie Dodd [00:29:24]:
Yeah, you know, I. I don't know if it's so much what I said, but I think it's also how I did things I did do because I'm an early bird, so I did a lot of work before they were even awake. Okay. But then I was also very intentional in the time I spent with them. I don't think it's necessarily about quantity of time. It's about intentional quality time. So I'd always make sure, no matter how busy I was, that I had intentional quality time with both of my kids. But I think another thing that parents need to hear is sometimes we think that the best thing I can give my children is just my time.
Katie Dodd [00:29:52]:
But I really think the best thing we can give our kids is show them what it looks like to pursue your dreams relentlessly. We tell our children that anything's possible, that your dreams are possible. Do what you love. But if they look at mom and dad and they're not doing the same thing, it sends a mixed message. So for me, I've always seen that as my kids are seeing me pursue my dreams, they're seeing mom go help people, they're seeing all of the changes that have happened in all these wonderful ways, because now I'm home with them. They get a lot more of me now that I'm a full time entrepreneur because I'm not going to a job and I'm present with them when I get them to school. I'm there when they get off school, and I'm like a stay at home mom, but also entrepreneur. But I think it's so important that we show our kids what it looks like to pursue our dreams, because even though it isn't necessarily something I've said to my kids, they see it.
Katie Dodd [00:30:41]:
They see what I'm doing, they see how I'm choosing to live my life, and it's something that we can model for them.
Greg Todd [00:30:47]:
Gotcha. That's a lot. That's awesome. That's awesome. All right. You're an alleged introvert, correct?
Katie Dodd [00:30:52]:
Yeah, I know.
Greg Todd [00:30:54]:
You know, I was gonna ask this. Okay, so you're alleged introvert. How is it that you've been able to build an audience being an introvert?
Katie Dodd [00:31:02]:
Sure, sure. And I think a lot of people, when they see me, they might, you know, hear me on the podcast, see me on a stage and be like, she is not an introvert. But I think there's differences for me at least, especially, like, professional can. Personally, you know, personally, I am perfectly happy being at home all Day by myself, sometimes to a fault. Like I can be very, very happy being alone. Um, so I, I think I do wear a little bit of a different hat when I am, especially with my entrepreneur hat. I don't, I don't know what happens when, when I, when I'm in a microphone, something happens. But, but for me, I knew that as an introvert, I didn't want to work with clients.
Katie Dodd [00:31:36]:
And maybe people listening can relate to this, but just the idea of calling a client to schedule a visit like that was horribly stressful. I don't want to call someone on the phone. And so I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I didn't want to work with clients, I didn't want to work with people. I wanted to do more of the behind the scenes stuff. I wanted to just be able to work at home on my own schedule and work on a computer and do my thing and still be able to help people and make impact. Actually a story I was just thinking of when I worked at the VA as a home care dietitian. I did the job of a million people. I was an entrepreneur in the.
Katie Dodd [00:32:11]:
And one of the things that I really love doing is I love creating content. I loved. I actually would make like maps for our facility. I would build websites for our facility. I'd actually build websites for national va. I mean, I was doing all of these creative things that were kind of a little bit more introverted, just me on the computer and I would love those things. And I remember saying, like, I wish I could just get paid to make things easy to understand and look pretty. And that actually was my blog.
Katie Dodd [00:32:35]:
I was able to take complex subjects and make it very easy for people to consume. I was able to make things look pretty, handouts, courses, all the things. And so for me, I think that's also why I love blogging, is that it really, it can be a option for people who are extroverted too, but also for introverts who they're like, I just want to, you know, wake up in the morning, do a little bit of work, do what I want with my time and not interact with humans one on one. Right. And so, so yeah, for me, that's really why I went into blogging, is that it just, it was something that I could do as an introvert. And now, of course, everything I've done has continued to shift and I do more extroverted things. But I feel like working with clients is different than working with other healthcare professionals. Just different.
Greg Todd [00:33:16]:
Fair enough, Fair enough. So now you're doing more extroverted things. One of those extroverted things is content.
Katie Dodd [00:33:23]:
Yes.
Greg Todd [00:33:24]:
How do you create content that's meaningful? It is crazy to me how many people believe that what, what they know doesn't matter.
Katie Dodd [00:33:32]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:33:33]:
How do you create something that you're like, I believe this is going to matter to someone.
Katie Dodd [00:33:38]:
Oh, that's good question. A deep question. I think, you know, I was just having a conversation with someone else who said, and she's amazing. She's like so amazing. And she said, I don't think people would care what I have to say. And I think it comes down to a lot of it's our mindset is we think that what we have to say is either not important. Why would someone to listen to me, who the heck am I? Or thinking there's other people who know more, who are better experts. But I think that as people, we connect with people.
Katie Dodd [00:34:07]:
And so when it comes to creating content, I think a lot of it comes from your heart. It's about what is. It's simplifying things. So taking complex things, simplify it. Making it easy to consume, but then also connecting with people where they're at. And people connect with real people. We don't want perfect, we don't want polish. We want real.
Katie Dodd [00:34:25]:
We want authentic. Any time that we can make someone feel that's a game changer. So often people think too, like, I want to go in this niche, but it's over saturated. But the truth of the matter is there's only ever one you. And we all connect with different people. Someone in, in your niche might need you and they don't connect with those people who exist, but they find you and they, they're like, oh my gosh, this person, they get me. And they're being their authentic self. So I know that's kind of a roundabout answer, but I think one of the best ways to create content is really getting to know your audience better than anyone and being your authentic self and really having a heart with I want to help you.
Katie Dodd [00:35:02]:
And it translates. People could tell. They can tell when you're being fake, but they could also tell when you're being real.
Greg Todd [00:35:06]:
Right. Okay. Well, we've been together for the last three days.
Katie Dodd [00:35:10]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:35:11]:
And on day one, I won't share everything that we discussed, but on day one, we talked about setting boundaries and you were giving a few different tips to one of the members in our group about setting boundaries. So we're dealing with an audience. We're dealing with people right now that are listening, that they're drinking all the Kool Aid. You're saying, okay, they are willing to not fight through the fears, but they're trying to figure out, okay, how do I set these boundaries so that I can actually follow through with this? Yeah, one tip for them.
Katie Dodd [00:35:47]:
Yeah, one tip is learn how to say no.
Greg Todd [00:35:50]:
Okay.
Katie Dodd [00:35:51]:
We have to say no in order to get our yes. If we say yes to everything, if we start people pleasing, if we start trying to do all the things because we're drinking all the Kool Aid, if we're not laser focused, we're not going to achieve anything. Especially if we don't have a lot of time in the day. If you're working a full time job, you're a parent, whatever else you might have going on in your life, you only have so much time. So you have to learn to say no. And you have to sometimes say no to really cool opportunities. Understanding that the more you say no, it's going to lead you to that better. Yes.
Katie Dodd [00:36:19]:
That one thing that you want more than anything. Because if you spread yourself too thin, you're gonna get nowhere, you're gonna burn yourself out. So one of the best things you could do is learn to say no to things that don't align with the thing that you're most passionate about.
Greg Todd [00:36:29]:
Okay, here's my next question. This might be a little deeper. How do I start believing that I deserve a better life for myself? How do I start believing that I deserve my dream life? I think a lot of people sabotage themselves.
Katie Dodd [00:36:47]:
Oh, how do you start believing? That's a very deep question. I. I think it's getting yourself in the right rooms with the right people who see you who. For who you are and believe in you. I look back on my journey when I first came in your world. I had so little confidence. You wouldn't have known it, but who I was at that time, I had so little confidence in who I was. That internal voice said a lot of really mean things that I would have never said to anyone else.
Katie Dodd [00:37:17]:
And I think by being in the right community with the right people who saw me for who I was and believed in me, it's like they believed in me enough until I caught up.
Greg Todd [00:37:26]:
Right. Yeah.
Katie Dodd [00:37:27]:
And I started talking about boundaries. I started putting boundaries in place of who. Who would. I'm. Who am I actually going to share these big dreams with? Who are the people that are causing me, you know, to almost. I think of like how a rising tide raises all ships. So I wanted to be around people where we all rise the tides. But who are the people who are more pulling me back? And so a lot of it was about boundary setting.
Katie Dodd [00:37:46]:
A lot of it was about being with people who believed in me. And also a lot of it was just me on my own journey, reading personal and professional development books, podcasts, working on my mindset, working on my mental health. And it's just. It's one of these things. It's like. It's like going to the gym. You don't go to the gym once, lift some weights and expect to be buff. You gotta put in your reps, you gotta do it every day.
Katie Dodd [00:38:08]:
And I think that's how it is with, with Mindset. There's no one secret thing I could say that someone's gonna be like, check, now I'm confident and I believe I can do it. It's. It's just. It's one step at a time. It's putting yourself in the right rooms, the right people. It's being careful who you let into your inner circle, and it's continuing to commit, to work on yourself long term. For me, entrepreneurship has been the most beautiful journey of professional and personal development.
Katie Dodd [00:38:35]:
For me, it's almost like therapy. I do therapy too, but just the ways that I've grown in the person of who I've become. I mean, who I am now from. From when I first, you know, found you online to who I am now, my confidence, it's like a complete. I don't even know the percentage of increase. It's. It's crazy how confident I am now. And it was just a journey.
Katie Dodd [00:38:56]:
I don't even know what the tipping point was. I think it's just get in the right rooms with the right people. Another thing I want to do say that I want to say is being mindful of how we talk to ourselves and thinking of like, would you ever talk to a dear friend the way you talk to yourself? Because I know a lot of the things I'd say to myself were not so kind and so really having a lot of grace and self. Love.
Greg Todd [00:39:19]:
Right? Okay. Love it. Mistakes, you know you talked about have failure in your business plan. What are some common mistakes that someone that's getting started can potentially avoid now that you've gone through it?
Katie Dodd [00:39:38]:
Ooh. Okay, so mistakes to avoid. I feel like there's a gazillion I could share, but I'll try to focus on just a few. I think one mistake is picking the wrong path. I think it is, and I kind of alluded to this, but you look at what other people are doing. And you think like, okay, this is the path to entrepreneurship. This is the path to wealth. So I'm going to do this.
Katie Dodd [00:39:58]:
And you go down a path and you don't love it, you hate it, because it wasn't the right path for you, and then you probably won't have success. And it wasn't a matter of entrepreneurship didn't work. It's just you went down the wrong path.
Greg Todd [00:40:08]:
Right.
Katie Dodd [00:40:08]:
So I think that's one mistake to avoid is just being. I don't know if I'm saying this the right way, but being careful of the path you're going down and making sure you're going down it for the right reasons. Okay, another one. And I hope this makes sense and resonates because we were actually talking about this. I think it was yesterday about how much my own mindset has evolved when it comes to money. When I first started in the entrepreneurship game, I was cheap. I remember the first online course I took, it was $300. And I almost didn't do it because I'll figure it out for free online.
Katie Dodd [00:40:37]:
And now it's ridiculous how quick I am to invest in myself if it's the right person, the right program, the right fit. But I will say, I think that one mistake people often make is thinking, I'm going to do this all for free. I'm going to go the free route. I'm just going to Google it. I'm just going to watch YouTube videos. I'm just going to do it myself. But I would also challenge everyone listening. If someone needed to see someone in your health care, like, whatever your credential was, like as a dietitian, if someone needs good nutrition advice personalized to you, I recommend a registered dietitian.
Katie Dodd [00:41:04]:
And could you get that information online? Could you Google it? Could you go on YouTube? Sure, we could do that for any of our professions. But what would you recommend? So. So I. I think one mistake I see people make is that they try to bootstrap it. They try to do everything for free. But then the problem is they go down the wrong path. They spend all this time, and our time is valuable. And because they didn't go down the right path, they do everything wrong.
Katie Dodd [00:41:27]:
They get frustrated and they feel like it doesn't work. They throw their hands up and say, see, I knew this wouldn't work. Right? And so I think for me, when I almost didn't invest in my first online program for just $300, I was lucky that I had an entrepreneur in my corner who told me, just do It, Katie, this person is doing what you want to do. Do it. That changed the game for me. So one mistake I would say to avoid is be mindful when it comes to being too cheap about things that you know will help you get to where you want to go faster.
Greg Todd [00:41:55]:
Right. Well, I love it. You talked about your journey of being a dietitian, helping the geriatric population. Okay. There's so many different types of dietitians out there. A lot of them are helping geriatric population. So how do they use their background to help them get started in the online world?
Katie Dodd [00:42:17]:
Yeah, I think that's one of the cool things about being a healthcare entrepreneur is there's so many things that we could do. There's a million and one niches that you could be in. I happen to be a geriatric dietitian, so it. It really doesn't matter what your profession is or what your niche is. But I'm just going to say here, and I feel like I'm going a little bit roundabout from your question, but I just wanted to say this. Now, I was a geriatric dietitian and I chose to go into the geriatric nutrition space. But I think a lot of healthcare professionals, you get a job based on where you want to live, what's going to pay the bills, what provides insurance. So sometimes we take a job that's not necessarily our passion.
Katie Dodd [00:42:53]:
So I happen. Well, honestly, I love everything I do. I think it didn't matter what my profession was. I would be like, it's the best thing ever. So, yeah, geriatrics, best thing ever. But honestly, for me, it wouldn't have mattered. It could have been pediatrics, it could have been anything. But for some of you, I know that you're doing work that's not your passion, Right.
Katie Dodd [00:43:12]:
And you can switch and you can pivot and you can move into another niche that you're not currently working in. I always say, like, with dietitians, it's like, well, we're dietitians. You have the credential. You could figure out how to do it. And if you commit to this niche, you're going to do it over and over and over again, and that's how you're going to get better at it. So.
Greg Todd [00:43:29]:
Right. Interesting. Interesting. I love that. So all in. You, you started your side hustle, you're working at the VA. I remember September of 2021, we were at this hotel. Was that your moment of going all in? When did you know, okay, I need here, you know what? When did you know, when you needed to go all in, but when can somebody.
Greg Todd [00:43:56]:
Is there a framework you can give someone of like, all right, I'm doing my thing, this thing is starting to work. When can I actually just go all in with this?
Katie Dodd [00:44:04]:
Yeah, yeah. Well, I'll just kind of tell a little bit of it. So In September of 2021, we were in Orlando in a hotel, and in I'm in, Greg's inner circle mastermind, and we were all going around asking, like, our big ask for the group. And my big ask was, how can I serve dietitians better through my programs? And every single person in the room told me that I needed to leave my job. Now I was fully invested in being a side hustler. My whole brand was dietitian, side hustler. That's who I was. And I had no intention of leaving my job.
Katie Dodd [00:44:33]:
And I was actually getting quite offended how everyone's telling me I need to leave my job because all of you guys were wrong. And so in my head, I was going through all the reasons why I couldn't possibly leave my job that, you know, well, I get paid really well as a dietitian at the va. I have healthcare benefits. My kids, they're high utilizers of healthcare. We need the insurance. I have a pension. No one has pensions. And one of the things that was lovely about being in this room with everyone is that everyone was able to lovingly remove all the limiting beliefs that I had.
Katie Dodd [00:45:00]:
And I didn't tell anyone at that time because again, I was still half convinced you all were wrong. But I made a decision in my head that 2021 was going to be the last year I ever worked at the va. I made that decision because everyone else believed in me. I didn't tell anyone till the next day. Right? Right. Spoiler alert. Three months later, I did leave my job at the va, which is crazy how fast things happened. But one of the things that really helped is when we crunched the numbers.
Katie Dodd [00:45:27]:
So the numbers that we crunched was we looked at how many hours was I working in my side hustle versus how many hours was I working in my job? How much money was I making in my side hustle compared to how much money I was making in my job? Now, I don't remember the numbers off the top of my head, but I was making substantially more per hour working in my side hustle than in my full time job. So logically, it makes sense if I were to not have a 40 hour a week job and I were to be all In. In my side hustle, then I would be making so much more money.
Greg Todd [00:45:56]:
Right?
Katie Dodd [00:45:57]:
So for me, it was. It was the numbers. But I will say the numbers weren't enough because of the mindset stuff. So it was the numbers, but then also the people who believed in me. And then making the decision, like, deep in my guts that I was going to do this. I was 20, 21 was going to be the last year I ever worked at the va. And then when I flew home from Florida, it takes me two flights to get home to Southern Oregon, and I started making a plan. What's it going to take for me to leave the va? What's it going to take for me to stay gone? And so I started dreaming, scheming, and I started doing the work.
Katie Dodd [00:46:30]:
It was a short season of hustle that enabled me to leave my job. And I always like sharing this because I had all these doubts, and I left the VA, became a full hustler. And it took me 35 days. 35 days to generate as much income as I made in an entire year at the VA Wall. So all of these voices in my head that told me I couldn't do it, all of the. You know, all those things, no, no, no. You're a side hustler. Stay a side hustler.
Katie Dodd [00:46:56]:
Don't leave. They were wrong. It was all. It was all wrong. And it was because other people believed in me enough that it gave me permission to believe in myself.
Greg Todd [00:47:04]:
You guys, I want you to go back and listen to that piece there. That was so clutch and so powerful, because I don't want you all to lead and do everything with your heart. Sometimes you just got to look at the numbers, but sometimes the numbers don't add up.
Katie Dodd [00:47:22]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:47:22]:
Okay. Like, for me, the numbers did not add up.
Katie Dodd [00:47:24]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:47:25]:
Like, I went all in in 2005. There. There were no, like, oh, I'm making this. No, I'm making this. Nope, I'm going all in. And I'm not recommending everybody to do that, but I did that.
Katie Dodd [00:47:35]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:47:36]:
And you saw your numbers, too. We had to bring some logic to your brain there. Right. But there also has to be some belief here.
Katie Dodd [00:47:44]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:47:45]:
You know, you got to have some belief in what it is that you're doing. Okay, can I answer, like, two or three more?
Katie Dodd [00:47:49]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:47:54]:
How do I stop comparing myself to others? Oh, that's because. Because we're going online.
Katie Dodd [00:48:00]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:48:01]:
And when you're going online, yes, you're serving people online, but you're also seeing things online.
Katie Dodd [00:48:06]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:48:07]:
And I think the comparison is a big, huge thing for a lot of.
Katie Dodd [00:48:12]:
People, and it will take you out if you're not careful. We talked about this whole concept of if you decide to buy this car, you start seeing that car everywhere, right? And so if you decide on a niche, you're going to start suddenly seeing everyone online in that space. And honestly, some of it's going to be the algorithms. They're going to, you know, the computer will be like, oh, this is what you're interested in. And so it'll start showing you more of that content. So what you see is going to be a little bit different than what reality is, because you're focused on this one niche, and probably the algorithms are showing you more of that niche because that's what they think you want to see. And you can start doubting yourself. And people get that a lot.
Katie Dodd [00:48:43]:
I've even had that myself over the years. I'm like, who am I? But I think it's a matter of understanding that there's no one else like you on Earth. And while people are going to connect with, you know, people that are already out there, there are people that need you, There are people that need you and what you have to offer. Because it's going to be different. It's going to have a different style, a different flavor. You are an authentic person that people are going to connect with. And so I always think of the fact that there are so many people out there who are not being served in every single niche. There are people out there who desperately need our help.
Katie Dodd [00:49:15]:
And if we just look at what's already happening out there, we are going to psych ourselves out before we ever get started. So we do have to put on blinders to an extent, to not pay attention to what other people are doing, but really focus on our audience, focus on who we're serving, focusing on who we're going to help. Because if we don't start, there are people that need what we have to offer who won't get those services, Right? So it's definitely something that we just need to be aware of. Comparison syndrome is real. It happens to people. And just really focus on what it is that you're doing, what you have to offer and how people do need you.
Greg Todd [00:49:48]:
Okay, that was perfect. Okay, I'm going to ask you two more questions, but I kind of want to piggyback off of that a little bit. So now I've got this audience. I'm trying to attract an audience. I'm trying to get people to trust me. How do I Do that without feeling salesy.
Katie Dodd [00:50:06]:
Oh, yes, yes. So we keep kind of. I keep coming back to mindset because, honestly, I'm. I always talk about mindset, but I think a lot of it is working on our money mindset and our sales mindset. I used to really struggle with selling because I. It felt sleazy, like, oh, I'm asking people for money. And we have these examples of what we think sales looks like. We think of us used car salesmen.
Greg Todd [00:50:26]:
Right.
Katie Dodd [00:50:27]:
And we're like, oh, I don't want to be like that. But I think that one thing that started helping me is this concept of selling is helping. Selling is helping. And we are healthcare professionals, and we want to help people. And when I started realizing that when I'm selling to people, I'm not just being sleazy and taking their money, I'm providing them solutions to problems they have, and their lives are becoming better because of me selling them. And I think that really started changing the game. I had a sticky note on my desk for a long time. It was something you had said.
Katie Dodd [00:50:57]:
At some point, you said, you better sell. And I wrote that on there, and I'd stare at it every day, you better sell. Because I recognized if I get in my own way and I don't want to sell, what I'm actually doing is I'm not just hurting myself, I'm hurting other people.
Greg Todd [00:51:10]:
Right.
Katie Dodd [00:51:10]:
Because I have solutions to help people with their problems right now, and I'm doing them a disservice. If I can't get over this hump and sell, then they're not going to get the solution. So a lot of it's working on my own mindset with sales and recognizing that it's absolutely not sleazy. If you're providing something of immense value, people will happily, gladly exchange money for what you have to offer. And I think a lot of it has been even working with you of like, well, thank gosh, you sold to me, Greg, because my life would look so different had you never sold to me.
Greg Todd [00:51:39]:
Everything that we have, somebody sold it to us.
Katie Dodd [00:51:42]:
Yes.
Greg Todd [00:51:42]:
This entire podcast room, like, yeah. It was like, I had to buy everything.
Katie Dodd [00:51:46]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:51:46]:
Somebody had to sell me on the idea of having this. Yeah. So, yeah, I just feel like, yeah, we gotta sell, because that's how the world works.
Katie Dodd [00:51:53]:
Yeah.
Greg Todd [00:51:53]:
So, okay, last question. You said it's one thing to start, and that makes it possible to continue. If you continue, it goes from possible to probable. So how does someone stay consistent and continue?
Katie Dodd [00:52:14]:
Yeah, that's a good question. There's a lot of people who start entrepreneurship who never finish. A lot of people don't stay in the game. And I feel like I'm just going to allude back to things that I've said. But I think it's being surrounded by the right people, having people in your corner who are going to help you when you go through seasons of highs and lows. And it usually it's in the lows where we struggle the most. I feel like when we hit adversity, when things hard, when life is lifeing, when business didn't go how you planned, that's when we feel like, oh, I'm just going to give up. And so we need the right people around us to get through those points.
Katie Dodd [00:52:49]:
But I think also for me, well, this is the. I'm talking in circles, but having entrepreneurs and seeing their authentic stories of what it really takes to be an entrepreneur, that it's not all sunshine and rainbows. It's not always like, it's not like I'm going to become an entrepreneur and I'm going to make all this money and it's always going to be seasons of plenty. When I see people who are real and authentic and you see beneath what we see on social media and we see what it really looks like to run a business and to be an entrepreneur, I think that's actually helped me because sometimes we feel alone when we go through hard times or when we feel like, well, gosh, that didn't work. Am I alone in this? And so being with the right people is everything. And I think it's also being very focused on providing value to people. And if you're really focused on, well, I really want to help and serve people. We can adapt and change.
Katie Dodd [00:53:41]:
We've been talking a lot about how there have been changes in the market and people's buying behavior has changed and we have to be adaptable and continue to change to keep serving people. So I think to stay in the game long term is working on your mindset, surrounding yourself with the right people, understanding that there are ups and downs and that is normal. Just don't give up. And being adaptable and focusing on your mission of helping and serving people.
Greg Todd [00:54:07]:
Oh, you gave us. This was as good as a first episode as we could have ever had with the guards to just bringing lots of value. So anyways, thank you, Katie. I appreciate you.
Katie Dodd [00:54:19]:
Thank you.
Greg Todd [00:54:19]:
What we'll do, you guys, is there will be a link below. It'll be Katie's favorite thing for you to be able to get started in her world. We'll put that below. And we appreciate you being on the podcast.
Katie Dodd [00:54:31]:
Thanks for having me. All right.
