Nov. 18, 2024

Kathryn Tague, Branding and Digital Communication Expert, founder of Influence Digital Media

Kathryn Tague, Branding and Digital Communication Expert, founder of Influence Digital Media

Kathryn Tague was the Sr Exec Editor of The Good Men Project, the world's leading progressive men’s publication for 9 years, and was the Director of Media Partnerships and Social Media branding, strategy and content strategy for 6 years.

She's been a...

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Kathryn Tague was the Sr Exec Editor of The Good Men Project, the world's leading progressive men’s publication for 9 years, and was the Director of Media Partnerships and Social Media branding, strategy and content strategy for 6 years.

She's been a writing coach, storytelling coach, and book development coach since 2016, with over 100 titles in her editing and publishing portfolio.

Influence Digital Media provides comprehensive branding and digital communication services.

Winning Business Radio is broadcast live Mondays at 4PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Winning Business Radio is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

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WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not

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those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

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make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,

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liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W four CY

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Radio or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments

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should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for

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choosing W four CY Radio.

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Churchill said, those who failed to learn from history are

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condemned to repeat it. Kevin Helen n believes that certainly

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applies to business.

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Welcome to Winning.

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Business Radio here at W four CY Radio. That's W

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four cy dot com and now your host, Kevin Helen.

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Thanks for joining in today, everybody. I am Kevin Hallanan

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and welcome back to Winning Business TV and Radio on

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W four C dot com. We're streaming live on talkfour

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tv dot com in addition to at Winning Business Radio

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on Facebook, and of course we're available in podcasts after

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the live show on wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube,

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I Heeartradio, Spotify, Apple Again, everywhere you can find a podcast,

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you will find us. The mission of Winning Business Radio

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and TV, as regular viewers and listeners know, is to

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offer insights and advice, tell people avoid the mistakes of others,

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right to learn best practices, the how tos, the what to's,

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the what not tos, to be challenged and hopefully to

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be inspired as well by the successes of others who

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with those others. They're consultants, coaches, advisors, authors, founders and

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owners and entrepreneurs, people with expertise. But you know, virtually

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every successful person I've ever had a chance to talk

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to has hed some form of failure in their lives

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and careers. So while we all have to get our

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knees skinned once in a while, I say it every week.

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I'm driven to keep those scrapes from needing major, major surgery.

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Let's endeavor to learn from history so we don't repeat it.

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I've spent the better part of my career equipping businesses

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to grow from solopreneurs to small to medium sized businesses

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all the way up to the Fortune fifty. I've seen

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a lot of those companies win, and to varying degrees,

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i've seen some of them fail. I've had the opportunity

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to rub elbows with some of the highest performing people

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around and with some who probably should have found other professions.

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In my own businesses, I've had lots of success, but

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some failures too, and I like to think I've learned

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a lot from those experiences. So you'll hear from me

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my opinions and insights, but more importantly, you're going to

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hear from experts, those consultants, coaches, advisors, authors, founders and

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owners and entrepreneurs because they have a lot to share.

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And today my guest is Catherine Take. She's branding and

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digital meeting, a digital communication expert and founder of Influence

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Digital Media. Here's your Bile. Catherine was the senior executive

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editor of The Good Men Project, the world's leading progressive

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men's publication, for nine years, was the director of Media

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Partnerships and Social Media Branding, Strategy and Content for six years.

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She's been a writing coach, storytelling coach, and book development

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coach since twenty sixteen. Although with over one hundred titles

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in her editing and publishing portfolio, of those, over ninety

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nine percent have been listed on the Bestseller, Best New

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Release and top selling Books on Amazon. She works with

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high level influencers, entrepreneurs and coaches to bring their stories

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to life and and elevate them to the status they deserve.

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Influence Digital Media provides comprehensive branding and digital media digital

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I said it again, sorry, Digital communication services. Katherine and

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her team specialized in growing personal and business brands for entrepreneurs,

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multi billion dollar companies, multimillion dollar companies. That was an M,

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not a B. Sorry, Offering full service social media content

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and branding, from strategy to implementing and analytics. Catherine, Welcome

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to Winning Business Radio.

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Thank you for having me my pleasure.

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I appreciate you taking the time. I know you're busy.

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I was like listeners and yours to get a census

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to where people came from, both personally as well as professionally.

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So let's start here. Where'd you grow up?

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I grew up in the Midwest.

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Okay, more specifically.

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Michigan and Chicago.

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And so in those two areas in Michigan, what ages,

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what was it like to grow up there? And when

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did you get to Chicago? And what was elected to

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be there?

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I was born in Lansing, Michigan. My parents were both

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students at Michigan State University. That's where they met, got married,

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had me and my sister. They separated and got divorced

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before I was ten. My mother moved to Chicago and

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she and her new husband at the time had a

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house there. Yeah, so we traveled back and forth. Yep.

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My dad stayed in the Lancing East Lansing Oakhamist area.

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His wife, who he married when I was in my

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early teens, was also a graduate of Michigan State University,

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go Green Ghost Spartans, So we used to travel back

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and forth. We would take Amtrak. Amtrak is still very

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popular in the Midwest, not just to move right products,

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but to actually move people. It's really common for people

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to grab the train in Kalamazoo, especially as where we

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used to grab it and take it down to Niles,

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down to where Notre Dame is, across to Chicago, Illinois,

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different places. So my sister and I used to my

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dad would put us on the train in Kalamazoo and

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we would ride the train back.

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Rails.

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Yeah. Absolutely. We each had a little backpacks, obviously before

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cell phones or tablets, and so we have books and

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coloring stuff and card games and a little bit of

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money for the snack car, and the Amtrak station was

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in the basement of the building in downtown Chicago that

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our stepdad worked in, So when our train would get in,

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he would just come down from his office and grab

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us and we hop on the L which is the

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above ground sort of subway public transportation system that they

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have in Chicago, and we would take the L home

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and our mom would be there.

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So you had a lot of responsibility. Yes, also fun.

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So fun, so fun. I think we weren't afraid of

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things back then the way we're afraid of things now.

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Yeah, I agree, good and bad, right, right, So what

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were your early interests?

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I was a voracious reader. I was. I was reading

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at a college level by the time I was eight

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years old. Our dad read to us every night. So

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when we were growing up, he worked nights and then

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he would sleep during the day. He worked for the

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American Red Cross at that time. He was in the lab.

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He was the supervisor in the lab, and so he

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would come home at night on his dinner break and

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he would put us to bed like that was our

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time with him, because obviously during the day when most

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dads are at work and then they get to come

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home and be with their family in the evening. That wasn't.

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That wasn't how it worked in our home. And so

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he would read to us every night, and he read

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us the Tolkien series, He read us C. S. Lewis,

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he read us Anne of green Gables, the Laura Engels

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Wilder books. So from a very very young age, we

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were immersed in these stories, right. Story telling and words

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were just absolutely fascinating to me. And I started reading

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for myself at a very young age and just consumed

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everything that I could get my hands on.

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And that speaks a lot to what you do today,

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right or what you have done as well. What's your

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educational background?

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I studied political science in college and psychology and sociology.

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Michigan State No.

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Southwestern in Georgetown, Texas.

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I gotcha, I gotcha.

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I moved to Texas in two thousand and one.

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Okay, And why did you choose those majors?

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Initially? I chose psychology and sociology because I wanted to

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understand why people did what they did. It's something that's

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always fascinated me, and understanding sort of how our experiences

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as children inform who we become as adults. I started

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reading about shadow work Carl Jung Jungian philosophy in high

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school and was just really fascinated by it and sort

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of got into the question of, you know, ethics and

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things like that, and so went into that in college

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with the plan of then going to law school. Two

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semesters in psychology kicked my butt. It was it was

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nothing like what I had thought it was going to be.

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I wanted to understand people, and it was really clinically focused,

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and I noticed that it was heavily focused on treating

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sort of the symptoms and not the real cause. And

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I had always also been really fascinat ned by politics

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and the history of politics and the theory of politics.

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I love America and I love being an American, and

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I think the system that was created by the Founding fathers,

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it was one of a kind at the time, right,

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and the ideology that they were building off of, so

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you know, the theory of civil disobedience and what it

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can look like if you allow people to be in

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control of their own lives was always really fascinating to me.

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And I had taken some really amazing political science classes

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as electives my freshmen and sophomore year in college, and

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halfway through my sophomore year, I was sitting with my

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advisor and I was like, I'm just not I am

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not loving this. I am not in love with my

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with my degree plan. Yeah yeah, I went to Southwestern

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is a small liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas, but

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it is a Methodist college. It's the oldest university in Texas.

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It was actually originally the University of Texas, but because

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it's a private college, when they started u T and

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that was a public state college, they took the name

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away from us. So we feel have been a way

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about that still two hundred years later. But you know,

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we have this really beautiful conversation and she was like, you,

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every elective you take is either history, religion, or political science.

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Why aren't you doing something in that field? And so

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I met with some of the professors in the you

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know department and in the political science department and was

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just swept away by it. It was almost like these

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doors open and it was just this bright, shining light

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and that's awesome. I don't regret that change at all.

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Again, it served you. Well, right, we'll get into that.

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So tell us about your your family.

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My childhood family, or the family I have now.

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Your current family. It's a blended family.

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It is a blended family, and is a blended family.

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My significant other and I are both entrepreneurs, business owners.

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Thomas Keenan. I think you've had him on your show

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before as well.

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All the times I see him at conferences, the same

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one where you and I met.

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Yes, yes, yes, and the one will see you guys

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at the end of January.

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January three's correct, right.

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We have seven children between the.

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Two of us, just the seven, just the seven, just.

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The seven, two sets of twins.

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Wow, that's increased.

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They range in age from Our oldest will be fourteen

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in January and our youngest, two girl twins turned six

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in March, so they'll be seven in next March. And

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it is beautiful chaos. It is chaos, is I'm sure

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it is. I homeschool my four girls, So I came

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into the relationship with four daughters and he has two

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daughters and a son. One set of twins is mine,

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one set of twins is his, and they are all ours.

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And yeah, so we are in north of Dallas and

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we are doing the thing with ye seven kids.

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That's outstanding. I've just one more question. This will help

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us transition between the commercial and our next segment. One

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more question before the commercial break, When did you know

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you wanted to be in branding and marketing.

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I didn't. It was something that really came across my space.

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My plan had always been to go to law school.

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I wanted to practice law for several years and then

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teach at a university level and do research. I wanted

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to go into constitutional law. I wanted to work with

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the Southern Poverty Law Center or the a c l U.

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I wanted to defend Americans' rights. That was something that

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since I was, you know, even before high school, like

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reading about the Civil rights movement, reading about you know, uh,

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the women's suffrage as suffrage suffragist movement. Words are hard today.

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The earlier.

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Being you know, understanding like at a core level the

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uniqueness of our country and our constitution, and and doing

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the research and reading the history and understanding what what

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sort of the intention the intentionality that the founding fathers

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put into place when they wrote this document that really,

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if you think about it, has evolved and adapted with

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our country as opposed to other countries where they have

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sort of these these rules and these laws that are

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set in stone and no way to change them or

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adapt them. And I was looking around, like as a

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high schooler and even as a college student, and realizing

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that a lot of things were happening. This was shortly

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after nine to eleven. People's rights were being violated simply

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because they didn't know they had them right, and so

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I had this passion to educate. Well. Shortly before I

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was going to take my l SAT and go off

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to law school, I found out I was pregnant with

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my oldest daughter. And that changed my life. It changed

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my life, and there was that part of me and

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even my dad was like, you know, you could still

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go to law school, and I was like, I don't

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know if I want to do that with a brand

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new baby. You know, I had this sort of idea

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in my head of what it meant to be a

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mom and how important it was to me to be you.

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If I could, if I could enter. You weren't oh no,

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i'm pregnant. I can't go to law school. You were,

261
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oh wow, i'm pregnant. Now let me think about what

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I want to do? Yes, yes, yes.

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And what I wanted to do was homeschool my daughter.

264
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Yeah.

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I did not want her in the public education education system,

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my very little faith in the institutions like that, and

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I wanted to be home with her. I felt very

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strongly about a mother's role in the home, a mother's

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role with her children. I understood instinctively because I grew

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up in a broken home, a separate home, right, what

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it meant to not have a mom, especially for a daughter.

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Because we lived with our dad full time, we saw

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our mom intermittently, and I didn't want to be that.

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You know, career had always been my first focus. And

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then I found out I was pregnant all of a sudden,

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like it was this huge identity shift for me, and

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so I was home with her for the first like

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eighty nine months. I'm so unhappy. I was so unhappy.

279
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It just did not feel fulfilling. And that's not to

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say that being a mom sure wasn't fulfilling, But I

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had this education, and I wanted to be having these conversations.

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And you know, it was twenty eleven, like politics were

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starting to fire up and all these things, and I

284
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really felt this need to be involved and to have

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a voice. And I was up late one night nursing her,

286
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and I was on Twitter which is now X But

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at the time I'm going to date myself, it was

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Twitter and I was reading these articles. I was seeing

289
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all these tweets coming through from this magazine, this online

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blog at the time called the Good Men Project, and

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they had posted that they were looking for a news editor,

292
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a news blog editor, and so I messaged them, and

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they're publisher at this woman Lisa Hickey, who is phenomenal

294
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and I am forever grateful for the space she gave

295
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me to learn message me and I just told her,

296
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I said, hey, I have no experience and online publishing.

297
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I have no experience as a as a journalist, but

298
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this is my background and these are my experiences, and

299
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I would love to be a part of this. And

300
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I understand if I'm not a good fit to be

301
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an editor like I didn't. I'd never written a blog before,

302
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I didn't know how to use WordPress any of those things.

303
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But I would love even if it's just like helping

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to promote things. And this is way back before social

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media is what it is now, or was what it

306
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is now. And she and I got on a call

307
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on Google Meet it used to be called something else

308
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like Google Chat or something like that, and because it's

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before zoom, right back when we were still using Skype

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all the time. And she said, you know, it's me

311
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and our executive editor and another lead editor and like

312
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two writers and that's it. But if you want to

313
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give it a try, and I was off to the races.

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All right, let's come back to that thought in just

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a minute. We'll be right back with Catherine Tag after

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this break.

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You're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin helenet on

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00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:51.079
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To Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene presenting exciting topics

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00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:05.880
and expert guests with one goal in mind to help

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00:20:05.960 --> 00:20:09.680
you succeed in business. Here once again is Kevin Helenett.

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00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:22.680
We're back with Catherine Tag of Influence Digital Media. Take

335
00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:29.519
us through that continue the story. So it's kind of serendipitous.

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She probably didn't expect they were going to reply, maybe

337
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even maybe they working. Maybe you're thinking they work and reply,

338
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or they going to reply with that kind of gusto,

339
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But not at all.

340
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I had no idea, like at other than being on

341
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Facebook in college and maybe some you know chat rooms

342
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when I was like eighteen nineteen twenty years old, Like,

343
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social media wasn't a thing when I was growing up,

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when we were growing up right the way that it

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is for our children. And I was on Facebook in

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college back before Facebook was something that anybody could be on.

347
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You had to actually have a an email dot edu

348
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email just to be on Facebook. And it wasn't somewhere

349
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to promote things like when I started with the Good

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Men Project at the end of you know, twenty eleven

351
00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:29.920
beginning of twenty twelve. It wasn't something that you know,

352
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ads were not something that most places were running. Print

353
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media was still really really powerful at the time, you know,

354
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magazines and newspapers getting a digital version of that was

355
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something that most people didn't do, and so being able

356
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to get in to the publishing space while they were

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making that transition. It was it Like all I can

358
00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:02.440
think about comparing it to is ad agencies in like

359
00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:05.599
the sixties, the fifties and sixties, like when ad agencies

360
00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:06.960
were starting to really blow up.

361
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Right, vision of that, you know, I have a like Maden,

362
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like Madden exactly what I was going to say.

363
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Yes, yes, and obviously not that cool because we weren't

364
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in an office and we were all sitting on our

365
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couches at home in our sweatpants. But that was the

366
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other thing, right, Like all of a sudden, it was

367
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it was working from home, which up until that point

368
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was something that I'd always thought was kind of a scam, right, like, oh, yeah,

369
00:22:36.200 --> 00:22:38.240
you have a work from home job, is it really

370
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a work from home job? And along with doing the

371
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news blog and learning WordPress and learning HTML and learning

372
00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:52.839
how to edit, because editing and writing are two really

373
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different things. I was a prolific reader. I was a

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prolific writer. I'd been you know, writing short stories and

375
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poems and things like that since I was a small child,

376
00:23:02.119 --> 00:23:06.559
but I had never edited outside of school. You know

377
00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:08.359
what I mean, Like they teach you how to proof create,

378
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and they teach you how to but this was like,

379
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this was like real editing. These were articles that we

380
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were publishing on the Good Men Project and then they

381
00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:19.000
were getting pulled over to Men's Health and the Huffington

382
00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:24.519
Post and you know, all of these really really large publications,

383
00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:28.720
and we were just figuring out social media. We understood

384
00:23:28.759 --> 00:23:32.880
that social media would be a huge, huge boon to

385
00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:37.279
us if we could figure it out. And at that time,

386
00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:39.720
because everybody else was figuring it out too, Like we

387
00:23:39.720 --> 00:23:43.599
were having conversations with the Huffington Post marketing team and

388
00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:47.759
with the Your Tango marketing team and the Cosmo marketing

389
00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:50.559
team and Mental Health and Esquire and all these different

390
00:23:51.880 --> 00:23:58.440
media publications right right. And we were never a print publication.

391
00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:02.000
The Good Men Project was never a print publication. We

392
00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:06.720
were strictly online. But these other magazines all had print, right,

393
00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:14.400
and what they were seeing is they were losing subscribers

394
00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:17.720
in the print media space, and so they were in

395
00:24:17.799 --> 00:24:22.400
like this mad dash to figure out online publication, and

396
00:24:22.440 --> 00:24:24.680
they were in a mad dash to figure out social media.

397
00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:28.559
And so we had this really amazing opportunity at the time.

398
00:24:28.680 --> 00:24:32.359
It's probably not something anyone would do now, but back

399
00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:36.599
in twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, we had this amazing opportunity

400
00:24:36.680 --> 00:24:42.920
to learn social media while social media was learning itself right,

401
00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:47.920
And we would get on calls with you know, Facebook's

402
00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:51.799
development team, and they were calls that if you were

403
00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:57.279
listed as a certain type of business where we had

404
00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:00.559
access to these calls. I don't think they do that anymore,

405
00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:04.000
you know, they maybe still do developer calls, but like

406
00:25:04.519 --> 00:25:08.160
we had contacts at Google, we had people who were

407
00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:13.839
like leading the charge to grow these platforms, who wanted

408
00:25:13.960 --> 00:25:17.839
us to utilize them, and we wanted to learn. And

409
00:25:17.880 --> 00:25:21.000
instead of going out and looking for like a marketing

410
00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:24.119
agency or people who knew what they were doing, Lisa

411
00:25:25.480 --> 00:25:28.359
was amazing and she was We were bootstrapping it. At

412
00:25:28.359 --> 00:25:32.319
that point. Ad spend is tiny, you know, we were

413
00:25:32.359 --> 00:25:35.960
getting paid, you know, sixty two cents per thousand clicks,

414
00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:39.319
So getting as much traffic in as possible was priority.

415
00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:43.480
And we would literally talk every you know, every other

416
00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:46.079
day or even every day sometimes, and we were looking

417
00:25:46.119 --> 00:25:48.079
at analytics and we were figuring it out, and we

418
00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:51.599
were looking at Google analytics and comparing it to Facebook analytics,

419
00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:54.279
and we were all over Twitter and we were learning

420
00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:55.640
these things. And I would go to her and I

421
00:25:55.640 --> 00:25:57.599
would say, Hey, I think I have this idea. Can

422
00:25:57.640 --> 00:25:59.519
we try this? And She's like, yeah, let's try it.

423
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:03.680
And then we would we would pick it apart together

424
00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:06.200
and we would make adjustments together. And so not only

425
00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:10.599
was I learning branding and social media in the branding

426
00:26:10.599 --> 00:26:15.839
and social media infancy, I had a leader and was

427
00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:18.680
in a position with this leader and our leadership team,

428
00:26:18.680 --> 00:26:21.680
and then as a leader myself to be given this

429
00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:26.160
time and space to try new things to strategize, it's

430
00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:30.000
a rare opportunity, really, really like I credit her and

431
00:26:30.039 --> 00:26:34.720
the Goodman Project with so much of my willingness to

432
00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:39.000
think outside the box to being a solution based leader

433
00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:42.000
versus someone I didn't come in and they said this

434
00:26:42.039 --> 00:26:43.359
is how we're doing it, and this is how we've

435
00:26:43.400 --> 00:26:45.240
always done it. They said, we don't know what we're

436
00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:48.319
doing either, let's figure it out together. And being in

437
00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:52.759
that environment, especially when we're talking about learning something like

438
00:26:52.839 --> 00:26:58.799
social media, which is constantly in flux. Yeah, analytics change,

439
00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:03.920
the algorithm is constantly changing, and not having to even

440
00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:06.279
figure it out by myself having this entire team of

441
00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:09.880
people both within the magazine and within other magazines that

442
00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:13.319
we could then connect to and reach out to and say, hey,

443
00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:15.960
this is what we're seeing. Like we woke up to

444
00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:19.240
this and our views are through the roof. What did

445
00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:22.079
we do? We don't know, let's figure it out or wow,

446
00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:24.920
our views tanked, you know. I remember there was a

447
00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:28.400
point in twenty thirteen, late twenty thirteen, early twenty fourteen

448
00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:31.400
that they changed all of the algorithms and they were

449
00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:35.480
no longer they wanted everyone to go to pay to play,

450
00:27:36.039 --> 00:27:40.680
so they were no longer giving us views organically. And

451
00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:43.279
we literally we called it the cliff. And we were

452
00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:46.400
watching other magazines like The Huffington Post, The New York Times,

453
00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:49.640
Cosmopolitan fall off this cliff, and we were just like,

454
00:27:49.960 --> 00:27:52.400
when's it gonna happen? When's it gonna I remember waking

455
00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:54.640
up one morning and going in and looking at our

456
00:27:54.680 --> 00:27:57.359
analytics because at that point I was running the social media.

457
00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:01.680
I was doing our Facebook page, and I went in

458
00:28:01.720 --> 00:28:05.359
and I looked at our analytics and it was literally

459
00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:09.400
a cliff, like we went from here to here within

460
00:28:09.480 --> 00:28:12.359
a twelve hour period, and it was and then we

461
00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:14.519
but we figured it out you.

462
00:28:14.440 --> 00:28:17.359
Know, what are some of those key lessons I don't

463
00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:20.519
mean technically, what are some of those key lessons like

464
00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:23.079
how did you approach it? How did your problem solve?

465
00:28:25.160 --> 00:28:25.359
You know?

466
00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:28.960
I think one of the biggest ones is it's nobody's fault.

467
00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:36.000
I think, especially in the larger the larger companies, we

468
00:28:36.119 --> 00:28:38.799
become so disconnected. And I you know that a lot

469
00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:40.799
of the people I work with now in the leadership

470
00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:46.119
mindset space, were so disconnected from the people who are

471
00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:48.400
actually the ones pulling the levers and pushing the buttons.

472
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:53.799
And when something goes wrong, instead of coming at it

473
00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:58.200
from a problem solving perspective, quite often people want to

474
00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:00.400
come from it from a blame person it.

475
00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:01.599
Yes, they do, and.

476
00:29:03.079 --> 00:29:06.119
I'm sure you do, especially with the really large corporations,

477
00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:10.839
because people, I mean, when you've got eighty ninety one hundred,

478
00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:14.559
five hundred, fifteen hundred or more people working for you,

479
00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:16.119
you don't know all of them. You can't know all

480
00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:21.160
of them right, and you want to people want to

481
00:29:21.200 --> 00:29:24.039
find who's to blame instead of just figuring out why

482
00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:26.640
did it happen? You know, And so one of the

483
00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:30.680
things that I learned with Lisa and the Goodman project

484
00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:33.720
and the other people on the executive editor team is

485
00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:37.799
that it's not somebody's fault. You know, one of my

486
00:29:38.039 --> 00:29:44.000
best friends now built a nine figure e commerce business

487
00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:46.079
and she's phenomenal, and one of the things that she

488
00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:49.400
teaches when we do leadership trainings together is she teaches

489
00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:53.000
that it's not about blame. It's about working or not working,

490
00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:56.920
because what happens quite up. I mean, people make mistakes.

491
00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:01.880
We're all human. But if you can't pinpoint what's working

492
00:30:01.960 --> 00:30:03.960
or not working, you can't replicate it.

493
00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:07.279
Or a lot of problems are system problems that people

494
00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:08.319
then stumble around.

495
00:30:08.519 --> 00:30:08.680
Right.

496
00:30:08.759 --> 00:30:11.240
It's yes, there can be people problems. Somebody can make

497
00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:13.559
a mistake, but many of those problems are system problems.

498
00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:16.559
Jim Collins in Good to Great says the same thing,

499
00:30:16.599 --> 00:30:19.680
which if you recall, I believe you've read that is

500
00:30:19.960 --> 00:30:24.119
he says commit can conduct autopsies without blame. It's the

501
00:30:24.200 --> 00:30:25.480
exact same thing you're talking about.

502
00:30:25.640 --> 00:30:28.759
Yeah, yeah, And I think for me, especially in that

503
00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:35.640
in that time frame, having a leader, having someone who

504
00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:38.559
was essentially teaching all of us how to be leaders

505
00:30:38.559 --> 00:30:40.359
as well, because I've taken so much of what I

506
00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:42.880
learned at the Command project, and not only applied it

507
00:30:42.920 --> 00:30:44.920
in my own businesses, but apply it as a coach

508
00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:48.799
and applying it as a book development coach, and you know,

509
00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:54.440
working with you know, vas and employees and even my

510
00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:58.200
children and in our home are these leadership lessons. And

511
00:30:58.240 --> 00:31:00.599
one of the things that I that I will always

512
00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:04.279
remember her for is she never pointed a finger. She

513
00:31:04.359 --> 00:31:07.880
never blamed. It was always really just let's figure out

514
00:31:07.880 --> 00:31:10.720
what's broken, Let's figure out why it's not working, and

515
00:31:11.240 --> 00:31:14.000
let's problem solve a solution. The other thing, too, is

516
00:31:14.200 --> 00:31:20.160
she there was never this authoritarian sort of like this

517
00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:23.920
is I'm the Boston I said. So, you know, ultimately

518
00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:27.079
at the end of the day, the buck stopped with her. Sure,

519
00:31:27.559 --> 00:31:30.200
and so she did have to make the final decisions,

520
00:31:30.200 --> 00:31:33.319
but she walked into the experience or the meeting or

521
00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:36.079
whatever it was willing to hear what everyone had to say.

522
00:31:36.119 --> 00:31:40.599
And I have definitely taken that forward even into you know,

523
00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:44.759
the online the book publishing space, you know, because I've

524
00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:50.119
I've worked with companies and other editors and publishers who

525
00:31:50.720 --> 00:31:52.160
are like, no, this is just how it is, and

526
00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:54.079
this is just how it's going to be. The flip

527
00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:56.400
side of that is I've worked in some spaces where

528
00:31:56.400 --> 00:31:58.920
they're like, you know, the author is always right, And

529
00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:01.599
I think one of the things that I've learned is

530
00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:05.599
being able to have these sort of open conversations where

531
00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:09.759
everybody comes to the table, everyone voices their wants, their needs,

532
00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:15.960
their feelings, their opinions, and then we get to create

533
00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:20.799
a solution. There is not one size fits all to

534
00:32:20.920 --> 00:32:27.880
anything branding, marketing, social media, book publishing, book writing. There

535
00:32:27.960 --> 00:32:31.359
is no cookie cutter to any of it. And if

536
00:32:31.400 --> 00:32:37.359
we come into any situation, whether it's problem focused or

537
00:32:37.720 --> 00:32:40.160
you know, figuring out what's working what isn't working, and

538
00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:44.799
we're willing to look for a solution versus pointing a

539
00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:48.720
finger and blaming or laying down the hatchet and saying

540
00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:51.920
it's my way or the highway, we're going to move

541
00:32:51.960 --> 00:32:54.599
a lot faster and we're going to have a lot

542
00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:59.039
more success than if we're just you know, iron Cloud.

543
00:32:59.079 --> 00:33:01.640
In our opinion, you took the words out of my mouth.

544
00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:03.440
You're spot on, all right. We're going to take our

545
00:33:03.480 --> 00:33:07.400
second break right here. We'll be back in about sixty seconds, Catherine.

546
00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:13.400
Everybody will see on the other side.

547
00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:17.400
You're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helenet on

548
00:33:17.640 --> 00:33:21.599
W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com.

549
00:33:21.799 --> 00:33:24.440
Don't go away. More helpful information is coming right up

550
00:33:24.680 --> 00:33:26.839
right here on Winning Business Radio.

551
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562
00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:06.079
And now back to Winning Business Radio with Kevin helene

563
00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:10.119
presenting exciting topics and expert guests with one goal in

564
00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:13.719
mind to help you succeed in business. Here once again

565
00:34:14.039 --> 00:34:15.079
is Kevin Helenett.

566
00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:25.440
We're back with Catherine Tag of Influenced Digital Media. So

567
00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:29.320
take us from first. I want to know what happened,

568
00:34:29.360 --> 00:34:33.280
why you left, and how you got to influence digital media.

569
00:34:33.719 --> 00:34:38.960
Yes, yes, so we're rolling along. I had my second

570
00:34:39.039 --> 00:34:43.639
daughter in twenty thirteen, and I had become the senior

571
00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:47.119
executive editor at that point, and we were doing, you know,

572
00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:51.400
booming on social media. We had all these amazing media partnerships,

573
00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:57.000
we had grown just unbelievably like what we were able

574
00:34:57.039 --> 00:34:59.199
to create. We were you know, at one point, we

575
00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:02.639
were getting ten million unique views a month.

576
00:35:03.000 --> 00:35:03.440
Wow.

577
00:35:04.280 --> 00:35:09.199
And I had an editor and a writer who had

578
00:35:09.199 --> 00:35:12.079
been with the magazine for quite a while who came

579
00:35:12.119 --> 00:35:14.079
to me and he was like, I wrote a book.

580
00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:17.280
And I was like, that's amazing. And he was like,

581
00:35:17.320 --> 00:35:18.639
I want you to edit it. And I was like,

582
00:35:18.760 --> 00:35:22.760
I don't know how to do that, and he was like, cool,

583
00:35:23.079 --> 00:35:26.199
I don't either, I've never done this before. Let's figure

584
00:35:26.199 --> 00:35:30.440
it out together. And again that goes back to my

585
00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:33.760
whole life. Really, this amazing opportunity to have people in

586
00:35:33.800 --> 00:35:35.960
my space who were like, hey, we're going to figure

587
00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:38.079
it out. Hey, let's figure it out.

588
00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:40.159
Let's trust Yeah, I was.

589
00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:42.320
Going to say, and they're looking at me like, hey,

590
00:35:42.360 --> 00:35:45.480
you're a really good problem solver. Let's will you help

591
00:35:45.559 --> 00:35:49.400
me figure this out. At the time, Amazon KDP, which

592
00:35:49.440 --> 00:35:53.320
is print on demand, and their katib their Kindle direct

593
00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:58.199
platform was called create Space, so Kindle was separate. Kindle

594
00:35:58.320 --> 00:36:01.199
wasn't really a thing. Ebooks were just becoming a thing

595
00:36:01.239 --> 00:36:05.360
at that point, and they had create Space. And so

596
00:36:05.639 --> 00:36:11.360
this author had created his own publishing company because back

597
00:36:11.559 --> 00:36:15.360
then self publishing was something you could do, but there

598
00:36:15.440 --> 00:36:17.400
was a long process to it. So it was actually

599
00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:19.800
easier at the time for him to create a publishing company.

600
00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:24.119
We had a cover maid and we learned create Space.

601
00:36:24.280 --> 00:36:26.400
At the same time, another woman who had written for

602
00:36:26.440 --> 00:36:28.840
me for a long time at the magazine came to

603
00:36:28.880 --> 00:36:30.440
me and she said, I wrote a children's book and

604
00:36:30.440 --> 00:36:32.400
I was like, that's amazing, and she was like, will

605
00:36:32.440 --> 00:36:35.599
you help me get it published? And I was like sure,

606
00:36:36.960 --> 00:36:42.679
but this is becoming a theme. Shortly thereafter, I had

607
00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:48.000
several of my editors in even one of our executive editors,

608
00:36:50.320 --> 00:36:54.079
who were already published authors, were like, you know, the

609
00:36:54.119 --> 00:36:57.599
publishing game is changing. Publishers, even large publishers, aren't really

610
00:36:57.599 --> 00:37:00.840
doing any marketing for you unless you are a big name,

611
00:37:01.360 --> 00:37:03.599
and we need to promote these things ourselves, and we

612
00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:05.119
don't know how to Can you help us with our

613
00:37:05.159 --> 00:37:09.239
social media? And I was like, I don't know. They

614
00:37:09.280 --> 00:37:14.039
were like, we'll pay you I was like, oh, you

615
00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:17.559
can get paid doing this, and you know, all of

616
00:37:17.559 --> 00:37:21.000
a sudden, in you know, late twenty fifteen or early

617
00:37:21.079 --> 00:37:26.559
twenty sixteen, influenced digital media was born. I was editing books,

618
00:37:26.599 --> 00:37:30.079
I was helping people publish books. I was running social media.

619
00:37:30.679 --> 00:37:33.840
I was teaching people social media. I was going into

620
00:37:35.480 --> 00:37:39.719
mid to large businesses that were like, oh my gosh,

621
00:37:39.800 --> 00:37:42.960
we have to learn social media. And I was training

622
00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:46.400
their in house marketing teams because they had marketing teams

623
00:37:46.440 --> 00:37:49.000
in place, but nobody we just didn't know what social

624
00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:52.320
media was capable of at that point, right, we were learning.

625
00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:56.840
We were learning through the elections in twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen,

626
00:37:57.119 --> 00:37:59.360
we were, you know, for the first time, really we

627
00:37:59.360 --> 00:38:02.679
were starting to see the power that social media had.

628
00:38:03.280 --> 00:38:06.840
And because we had been so early in the game,

629
00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:12.320
I had this amazing opportunity to build a business around

630
00:38:13.280 --> 00:38:15.840
what the Good Men Project and Lisa especially had given

631
00:38:15.880 --> 00:38:20.400
me the space to learn. Like people were paying thousands

632
00:38:20.440 --> 00:38:22.519
of dollars for me to come in and spend a

633
00:38:22.599 --> 00:38:25.599
day with their marketing team and teach them the things

634
00:38:25.960 --> 00:38:28.920
that Lisa had literally said, let's learn this together. And

635
00:38:28.960 --> 00:38:34.159
it's like, oh, how like talk about I don't even

636
00:38:34.199 --> 00:38:38.440
know what the word would be, like blessing is being

637
00:38:38.480 --> 00:38:42.559
given this opportunity as this stay at home mom. Granted, yes,

638
00:38:42.679 --> 00:38:45.079
with a college education, but when I found out I

639
00:38:45.159 --> 00:38:47.320
was pregnant with em I really thought that was it

640
00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:50.320
for me. And not in a bad way, right, but

641
00:38:50.480 --> 00:38:54.760
like not going to law school, which is all I

642
00:38:54.840 --> 00:39:00.920
never wanted to do, has turned into this business where

643
00:39:00.960 --> 00:39:04.920
I have I am yeah, and I have been on stages,

644
00:39:05.360 --> 00:39:07.639
and I have met people from all over the world,

645
00:39:08.119 --> 00:39:13.920
and I have helped creators and entrepreneurs and leaders and

646
00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:19.360
you know, disruptors and thought leaders bring their stories and

647
00:39:19.440 --> 00:39:23.199
their words, whether it's in the online space or through

648
00:39:23.239 --> 00:39:28.800
books or through podcasts to the world and they are

649
00:39:28.840 --> 00:39:32.920
making ripples and they are changing people's lives. And maybe

650
00:39:32.920 --> 00:39:34.920
it's an eco thing, but I get to look back

651
00:39:35.079 --> 00:39:38.559
over the last decade and say wow, and a hand

652
00:39:38.559 --> 00:39:41.360
in that, and even further than that to twenty eleven

653
00:39:41.360 --> 00:39:43.920
twenty twelve when I started at the Good Men Project

654
00:39:44.320 --> 00:39:46.679
and the stories we were bringing to life there of

655
00:39:46.760 --> 00:39:52.079
fatherhood and husbands and divorced fathers and single fathers and

656
00:39:53.199 --> 00:39:57.360
you know, military personnel and vets and first responders and

657
00:39:58.239 --> 00:40:01.039
like wow, or I could have gone to law school

658
00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:02.760
and just been a lawyer. You know.

659
00:40:04.920 --> 00:40:07.440
Uh So, I don't think it's an ego thing is

660
00:40:07.440 --> 00:40:09.800
a bad thing. It just makes you feel good. I mean,

661
00:40:09.800 --> 00:40:14.800
I love the comments that I get from clients similar right,

662
00:40:14.880 --> 00:40:16.639
different work we do, but you know, we help them

663
00:40:16.760 --> 00:40:19.920
become more successful, to the sales, to increase sales efforts,

664
00:40:20.840 --> 00:40:23.519
sales effectiveness, blah blah blah, all that, but I get

665
00:40:23.519 --> 00:40:25.440
the same type of comments. I don't think it's wrong

666
00:40:25.519 --> 00:40:28.079
to feel good about that. I think it's great. It's empowering,

667
00:40:28.119 --> 00:40:31.840
it gives us more feeling. I want to keep doing

668
00:40:31.840 --> 00:40:34.400
it right, and we're doing it for others. But it

669
00:40:34.440 --> 00:40:37.199
also you know, we get we get the feedback and

670
00:40:37.239 --> 00:40:42.039
the the well being. I mean to me, it's well being.

671
00:40:42.079 --> 00:40:44.760
I love what I do. Yes, yes, and you do too.

672
00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:47.400
I do, I do, and and the lives that we're changing,

673
00:40:48.079 --> 00:40:50.559
you know, I there. You know, we all have these

674
00:40:50.599 --> 00:40:54.320
moments I think as business owners, where we go why

675
00:40:54.400 --> 00:40:55.880
am I even doing this right now?

676
00:40:56.079 --> 00:40:57.199
Yeah, there are days.

677
00:40:57.079 --> 00:41:01.119
And whenever I reach a point, because it certainly happens,

678
00:41:01.239 --> 00:41:04.119
you know, where things get hard or they're really chaotic,

679
00:41:04.320 --> 00:41:09.679
or you know, you just being a business owner is hard,

680
00:41:10.280 --> 00:41:13.000
and you know where we have those moments where we're like,

681
00:41:13.079 --> 00:41:14.880
I don't want to do this anymore? Why am I

682
00:41:14.920 --> 00:41:18.239
even doing this? Does this even matter? And every single time,

683
00:41:18.920 --> 00:41:22.519
every single time, I will hear from a past client,

684
00:41:23.719 --> 00:41:26.920
you know, one of my authors. You know, it'll be

685
00:41:26.920 --> 00:41:30.199
a quick text, or it'll be a Facebook DM, or

686
00:41:30.199 --> 00:41:32.079
they'll tag me in a post and it's like, I

687
00:41:32.119 --> 00:41:34.360
can't believe it's been five years since I published my

688
00:41:34.400 --> 00:41:37.639
best selling book and you know this, that and the

689
00:41:37.639 --> 00:41:40.400
other thing. And I couldn't have done it without you.

690
00:41:40.400 --> 00:41:43.000
You know, I still have I'm still connected to people

691
00:41:43.039 --> 00:41:45.159
who wrote for me at the magazine ten years ago,

692
00:41:45.559 --> 00:41:48.039
eleven years ago, twelve years ago. Just a couple of

693
00:41:48.079 --> 00:41:50.840
weeks ago, a woman reached out to me and she said,

694
00:41:50.880 --> 00:41:53.920
you know when I when you messaged me because she

695
00:41:53.960 --> 00:41:55.880
had a little blog, and she said, you asked if

696
00:41:56.159 --> 00:42:00.000
you could publish my blogs at the Good Men Pride.

697
00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:03.079
She was like, it blew me away. I never thought

698
00:42:03.119 --> 00:42:06.599
of myself as a writer until you told me I

699
00:42:06.679 --> 00:42:10.960
was a writer. And now she is a world renowned

700
00:42:10.960 --> 00:42:14.519
coach and she speaks on stages and she is changing

701
00:42:14.519 --> 00:42:16.199
women's lives and she told me she was like, I

702
00:42:16.280 --> 00:42:19.039
never I never would have believed in myself and it's

703
00:42:19.119 --> 00:42:23.760
like I could get emotional right now and that for me, like,

704
00:42:23.880 --> 00:42:25.920
that's not that ooh look what I did. It's a

705
00:42:26.119 --> 00:42:29.239
oh my gosh. This woman has stepped into her purpose

706
00:42:30.239 --> 00:42:32.519
and I truly believe she would have no matter what.

707
00:42:32.639 --> 00:42:34.960
But if I could take part in that, if I

708
00:42:34.960 --> 00:42:40.079
could have a hand in encouraging her to bring her

709
00:42:40.360 --> 00:42:42.960
gifts to the world all day long.

710
00:42:43.679 --> 00:42:46.119
And you actually do you do some women's coaching, right?

711
00:42:46.280 --> 00:42:52.400
I do. I. I started working with women in the

712
00:42:52.440 --> 00:42:57.159
women's coaching space about seven years ago. It was something

713
00:42:57.159 --> 00:43:01.480
that I had needed. It was something a healing process

714
00:43:01.519 --> 00:43:04.360
that I went through a lot of inner child work.

715
00:43:05.320 --> 00:43:10.840
There was you know, some pain and abandonment stuff, trauma

716
00:43:11.079 --> 00:43:13.480
from growing up the way my sister and I did,

717
00:43:13.519 --> 00:43:16.639
with our parents separated so far apart and our mom

718
00:43:16.800 --> 00:43:20.519
being absent as much as she was, And it was

719
00:43:20.599 --> 00:43:23.960
life changing for me. And I started doing it because

720
00:43:23.960 --> 00:43:27.639
I was having daughters and I did not want my

721
00:43:27.960 --> 00:43:31.280
daughters to move forward with the same wounding that I

722
00:43:31.320 --> 00:43:35.719
had experienced. Not that the homes were the same, but

723
00:43:36.079 --> 00:43:40.039
generational trauma is real and we respond to things certain

724
00:43:40.079 --> 00:43:42.719
ways because of the programming we receive as small children.

725
00:43:43.559 --> 00:43:45.440
And it was life changing for me. And it was

726
00:43:45.480 --> 00:43:49.119
one of those things where sort of with the editing

727
00:43:49.199 --> 00:43:52.760
and the branding and social media, it didn't start out

728
00:43:52.800 --> 00:43:54.840
as something where I was like, oh, I can monetize this,

729
00:43:55.239 --> 00:43:57.400
Oh I could turn this into a business. It was

730
00:43:57.440 --> 00:44:01.079
something that was powerful for me, and I started talking

731
00:44:01.079 --> 00:44:03.679
about it on social media. I had women messaging me

732
00:44:03.719 --> 00:44:05.519
and saying, you know, this is kind of what I'm facing,

733
00:44:05.559 --> 00:44:09.360
this is what I'm experiencing. You know, can you walk

734
00:44:09.400 --> 00:44:11.440
with me, can you sit with me? Can you talk

735
00:44:11.480 --> 00:44:13.360
to me? And I you know, these women just needed

736
00:44:13.400 --> 00:44:16.400
to be heard and they needed to be seen and

737
00:44:16.480 --> 00:44:18.760
I did that. I did that at the magazine. You know.

738
00:44:18.920 --> 00:44:21.119
It was something I didn't even understand what coaching was

739
00:44:21.159 --> 00:44:23.360
at the time. And I had one of my lead

740
00:44:23.480 --> 00:44:27.960
editors write a testimonial for me and he was like,

741
00:44:28.039 --> 00:44:30.199
she's an executive coach. And I was like, what is

742
00:44:30.239 --> 00:44:34.920
an executive coach? He was like, Catherine, you coach all

743
00:44:34.960 --> 00:44:37.559
of us all the time. He's like, we message you,

744
00:44:37.559 --> 00:44:41.000
you talk us through things with our writing, with our partners,

745
00:44:41.079 --> 00:44:46.000
with our kids, and it just turned into something where

746
00:44:46.320 --> 00:44:50.320
more and more women were coming into my space, and

747
00:44:50.360 --> 00:44:53.880
again it was like, wow, I think this might be

748
00:44:53.920 --> 00:44:57.239
part of my purpose to walk with these women, to

749
00:44:57.280 --> 00:45:00.760
speak to these women. There's a lot of of women's

750
00:45:00.840 --> 00:45:06.079
empowerment in the online space, and I tend to have

751
00:45:06.119 --> 00:45:08.480
a little bit of a different view when it comes

752
00:45:08.559 --> 00:45:13.559
to that. The way that I feel about being a

753
00:45:13.599 --> 00:45:17.079
mother and you know, being a provider. I was a

754
00:45:17.119 --> 00:45:20.960
single mom for four and a half years to the

755
00:45:21.239 --> 00:45:23.920
you know, all four of my daughters, so I had

756
00:45:23.920 --> 00:45:27.159
to step into that provider role and so that's given

757
00:45:27.199 --> 00:45:30.599
me a really unique perspective. And then moving into the

758
00:45:30.599 --> 00:45:35.480
healthiest relationship I've ever had with someone who is also

759
00:45:35.519 --> 00:45:38.559
a provider and a protector and kind of having to

760
00:45:39.039 --> 00:45:41.599
navigate what does it look like to have to really

761
00:45:42.159 --> 00:45:47.000
driven successful entrepreneurs in one home, you know. And these

762
00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:49.639
are all things that as I walk through this process,

763
00:45:51.159 --> 00:45:54.320
I learn and I grow, and then I can take

764
00:45:54.320 --> 00:45:56.400
that back to my communities and I can take that

765
00:45:56.480 --> 00:46:00.760
back to my clients and hold space. And it's not again,

766
00:46:00.800 --> 00:46:02.519
it's not something where it's like me coming in and

767
00:46:02.519 --> 00:46:04.400
saying this is how it has to be and this

768
00:46:04.519 --> 00:46:07.639
is the way it's me saying, hey, this is this

769
00:46:07.719 --> 00:46:12.000
is how I navigated it. Right, take the pieces that

770
00:46:12.119 --> 00:46:15.960
work for you, and let's put your puzzle together, because

771
00:46:16.000 --> 00:46:18.079
your puzzle is going to look different than my puzzle.

772
00:46:18.480 --> 00:46:20.280
But I am an expert puzzle maker.

773
00:46:20.559 --> 00:46:25.440
Yeah. We always say nobody can argue with our experiences, right, yeah, right,

774
00:46:26.119 --> 00:46:29.119
So if people go to influencedigitalmedia dot com, they can

775
00:46:29.159 --> 00:46:31.840
get to socials from there, but on the services tab

776
00:46:31.960 --> 00:46:35.559
there you'll they'll find connection to soul. Yes, that's what

777
00:46:35.599 --> 00:46:38.320
you were just referring to in terms of coaching for women.

778
00:46:38.719 --> 00:46:43.159
Let's get back to influence digital media. Talk about your team,

779
00:46:43.440 --> 00:46:45.880
the work that you do, who your clients are. You

780
00:46:45.960 --> 00:46:48.519
generalized and be a little more specific.

781
00:46:48.519 --> 00:46:54.840
Excuse me, so I generalized because we have done all

782
00:46:54.880 --> 00:47:00.400
of it. I have several authors who are phenomenal fiction writers.

783
00:47:00.880 --> 00:47:04.519
That has been some of the most some of the

784
00:47:04.559 --> 00:47:07.760
most difficult editing I've done is fiction.

785
00:47:08.159 --> 00:47:09.159
What's different.

786
00:47:10.360 --> 00:47:13.639
You really you really have to understand the story arc,

787
00:47:13.960 --> 00:47:18.159
and you have to understand the charactersiod, the period, yes,

788
00:47:18.519 --> 00:47:25.960
definitely the period. And the end goal is different with fiction, right,

789
00:47:26.119 --> 00:47:28.880
the end goal really is book sales, whereas when we're

790
00:47:28.920 --> 00:47:32.559
working with small business owners and entrepreneurs. The goal is

791
00:47:32.760 --> 00:47:36.199
it is one piece of the marketing funnel. Right. The

792
00:47:36.239 --> 00:47:38.079
book is one piece. And one of the things we

793
00:47:38.119 --> 00:47:40.280
tell people all the time, and I'm very upfront about

794
00:47:41.519 --> 00:47:44.000
which makes me kind of unique in the industry, is

795
00:47:44.199 --> 00:47:47.880
there is no ROI on book sales. So you are

796
00:47:47.960 --> 00:47:51.880
not going to make back your investment simply from selling books.

797
00:47:52.239 --> 00:47:54.760
You're just not unless you've got a half a million

798
00:47:54.760 --> 00:47:58.159
followers and you're pushing it really hard, or you're.

799
00:47:58.480 --> 00:48:00.599
A big name that's already you know, right.

800
00:48:01.000 --> 00:48:05.039
I do have authors who have that level of following

801
00:48:05.320 --> 00:48:07.960
who do make an ROI in the book sales, But

802
00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:11.880
the majority of people, a book for an entrepreneur or

803
00:48:11.920 --> 00:48:14.920
small business owner is to position you as an authority

804
00:48:14.960 --> 00:48:19.280
in your industry. It is to give you street cred.

805
00:48:19.519 --> 00:48:23.840
It's also to drive people into your network. Right. It's

806
00:48:23.960 --> 00:48:27.559
one piece of the no like trust formula that we

807
00:48:27.719 --> 00:48:33.960
follow for social media and branding. It's how you get

808
00:48:34.079 --> 00:48:38.199
on stages, it's how you get on two podcasts. It

809
00:48:38.360 --> 00:48:44.760
is one more piece of a larger web of networking

810
00:48:44.800 --> 00:48:51.760
and marketing. With fiction, though, you're telling a story, and

811
00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:55.320
now we're telling stories in the non fiction, personal development,

812
00:48:55.440 --> 00:48:59.960
business type books. But it's really just focused around the author,

813
00:49:00.719 --> 00:49:04.320
and so it's very easy to kind of keep track

814
00:49:04.360 --> 00:49:06.760
of who the character is, right because they are the

815
00:49:06.800 --> 00:49:11.440
main character, Whereas when you're talking about fiction sometimes you'll

816
00:49:11.440 --> 00:49:15.119
have three or four main characters and then a whole

817
00:49:15.159 --> 00:49:19.840
host of characters underneath. So it's much more involved and

818
00:49:19.920 --> 00:49:23.159
it's a lot of fun. I've done some children's books.

819
00:49:24.719 --> 00:49:29.280
I enjoy children's books because of the art involved in

820
00:49:29.320 --> 00:49:30.920
it and.

821
00:49:30.360 --> 00:49:31.400
Because of the big pictures.

822
00:49:31.440 --> 00:49:34.800
And I'm just kidding, no, the big pictures are fun.

823
00:49:35.639 --> 00:49:40.360
They're very labor intensive. People don't understand how labor intensive

824
00:49:40.400 --> 00:49:44.719
children's books are. There is a much larger team that

825
00:49:44.800 --> 00:49:47.519
has to be involved when we're talking about children's books

826
00:49:47.559 --> 00:49:52.840
or graphic novels, because the layout has to be so particular,

827
00:49:52.880 --> 00:49:56.239
and especially when you're talking about, you know, the digital version,

828
00:49:57.159 --> 00:49:59.639
you have to bring in someone who isn't just a

829
00:49:59.679 --> 00:50:01.960
graphic designer. They actually have to know how to code,

830
00:50:03.280 --> 00:50:08.440
and so that I don't do children's books anymore. Well,

831
00:50:08.960 --> 00:50:12.840
it's very labor intensive. The majority of the people I

832
00:50:12.920 --> 00:50:17.000
work with are small business owners and entrepreneurs. I have

833
00:50:17.039 --> 00:50:19.639
the network in place for that so as we get

834
00:50:19.679 --> 00:50:24.480
closer to the book publication, we have someone to help

835
00:50:24.519 --> 00:50:28.320
with the podcast tour. We have people in network who

836
00:50:28.679 --> 00:50:31.039
if they want to order books in bulk, you know,

837
00:50:31.119 --> 00:50:32.960
if they don't want to go through KDP and they

838
00:50:32.960 --> 00:50:34.559
want to do it on their own website, we know

839
00:50:34.639 --> 00:50:37.760
people who can build the website, build the landing pages,

840
00:50:38.679 --> 00:50:42.360
help them with their CRM. There's a lot of moving

841
00:50:42.519 --> 00:50:46.079
parts when it comes to that. And because I've been

842
00:50:46.079 --> 00:50:48.559
in the space as long as I have, thankfully I

843
00:50:48.599 --> 00:50:50.719
have the network in place that if it's not something

844
00:50:50.760 --> 00:50:54.519
we do in house, it's something that we can certainly

845
00:50:54.639 --> 00:50:57.079
bolt on to our services.

846
00:50:57.800 --> 00:51:01.400
Listen, we are almost out time. This has been really good.

847
00:51:01.400 --> 00:51:03.639
I've enjoyed this. I've learned a lot here and you

848
00:51:03.679 --> 00:51:06.639
can tell your passion, tell us who in the listening

849
00:51:06.679 --> 00:51:10.400
and viewing audiences should reach out to you and why.

850
00:51:12.599 --> 00:51:16.320
Small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to position themselves

851
00:51:16.360 --> 00:51:19.719
as an authority and an expert in their space. I

852
00:51:19.760 --> 00:51:23.400
also love working with people who have an amazing course

853
00:51:23.760 --> 00:51:26.119
or they have an amazing offering and they just can't

854
00:51:26.159 --> 00:51:29.280
get eyes on it right. And that's more from the

855
00:51:29.320 --> 00:51:34.360
branding and social media perspective. We don't do social media

856
00:51:34.440 --> 00:51:38.280
management in house anymore. But Caitlin Young, who I think

857
00:51:38.360 --> 00:51:40.360
was on your show, she was as well as social

858
00:51:40.360 --> 00:51:43.840
media doctor. We work very closely with her. She does

859
00:51:43.840 --> 00:51:46.599
all of our social media, she does all Thomas' social media,

860
00:51:47.400 --> 00:51:51.559
and we have multiple clients. She comes onto projects with me.

861
00:51:51.719 --> 00:51:56.280
I go onto projects with her. You know, anyone who

862
00:51:56.400 --> 00:52:00.880
really wants to not even wants to, fields is like

863
00:52:01.039 --> 00:52:09.480
burning passion, desire need to make ripples in the world nice, right,

864
00:52:10.119 --> 00:52:11.960
And one of the things I tell people all the

865
00:52:12.000 --> 00:52:14.599
time because they come to me and they're like, I

866
00:52:14.599 --> 00:52:16.719
don't feel like my story really matters, And I'm like,

867
00:52:17.280 --> 00:52:19.480
you know that starfish story where it's like, if you

868
00:52:19.480 --> 00:52:24.519
can save just one, just one, the ripples from that.

869
00:52:24.599 --> 00:52:28.880
The tiniest pebble dropped in a pond creates ripples that

870
00:52:28.920 --> 00:52:31.760
reach all the way to the other side. So now

871
00:52:31.800 --> 00:52:36.519
if we're all just one little pezzle, the ripples the ripples,

872
00:52:36.559 --> 00:52:38.719
and then they start overlapping, and all of a sudden

873
00:52:39.639 --> 00:52:43.119
you realize that you've published over one hundred books, but

874
00:52:43.199 --> 00:52:47.360
those hundred books have influenced how many thousands of people?

875
00:52:47.800 --> 00:52:51.159
And you start doing the math on that, and it's like, Wow,

876
00:52:51.880 --> 00:52:58.400
I have had a hand in touching millions of people's lives.

877
00:52:58.800 --> 00:53:01.119
That's awesome and that's a good place to end right there.

878
00:53:01.159 --> 00:53:03.480
That was like a mic drop moment right there.

879
00:53:03.599 --> 00:53:05.199
I think where it came from.

880
00:53:05.639 --> 00:53:08.159
That's really good. Thank you for being here, Catherine. We

881
00:53:08.199 --> 00:53:11.719
really appreciate it. Thank you for having me anytime, and

882
00:53:11.840 --> 00:53:14.119
thanks everybody for watching and listening. This is a show

883
00:53:14.119 --> 00:53:17.639
about business and business challenges. If you've got concerns about

884
00:53:17.679 --> 00:53:20.280
the sales effectiveness of your company, whether your sales team

885
00:53:20.360 --> 00:53:23.519
is you or very large, or some between, feel free

886
00:53:23.599 --> 00:53:26.639
to reach out to me Facebook or LinkedIn at Winning

887
00:53:26.800 --> 00:53:28.760
Business Radio. You can drop me a note Kevin at

888
00:53:28.800 --> 00:53:32.639
Winning Businessradio dot com. Our company is Winning Incorporated. We're

889
00:53:32.679 --> 00:53:35.480
part of Sandler Training. We develop sales teams into high

890
00:53:35.519 --> 00:53:39.960
achievers and sales leaders into true coaches and mentors. Hey,

891
00:53:39.960 --> 00:53:42.320
we're not right for everybody, but maybe we should have

892
00:53:42.360 --> 00:53:45.400
a conversation. Thank you to one producer and engineer for

893
00:53:45.400 --> 00:53:47.760
another job well done. Be sure to join us again

894
00:53:48.000 --> 00:53:51.679
next Monday at four pm Eastern. We'll do it all again.

895
00:53:51.880 --> 00:53:53.119
Until then, this is Kevin Helen.

896
00:53:55.199 --> 00:53:58.000
You've been listening to Winning Business Radio with your host

897
00:53:58.079 --> 00:54:01.199
Kevin Helen. If you missed any part of this episode,

898
00:54:01.280 --> 00:54:05.639
The podcast is available on Talk for Podcasting and iHeartRadio.

899
00:54:05.880 --> 00:54:09.599
For more information and questions, go to Winning Business Radio

900
00:54:09.719 --> 00:54:12.719
dot com or check us out on social media. Tune

901
00:54:12.760 --> 00:54:14.840
in again next week and every Monday at four pm

902
00:54:14.880 --> 00:54:18.360
Eastern Time to listen live to Winning Business Radio on

903
00:54:18.639 --> 00:54:22.920
W four CY Radio w four cy dot com. Until then,

904
00:54:23.239 --> 00:54:26.880
let's succeed where others have failed and win in business

905
00:54:27.159 --> 00:54:30.960
with Kevin Helenan and Winning Business Radio