038: Katie Richardson - Create your big idea now

Mar 12

Written By ärtful

Product designer and coach shares how to add value to yourself and the world

Katie Richardson is known as the mother of 4 product designer who built a Multi-Million Dollar International Empire from a sketch and a giant leap of faith. She has been featured on the Ellen Degeneres Show, the Rachael Ray Show, The Today Show, and even on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine. Through her innovative products, she has been blessed to impact the lives of over 1 MILLION Customers. Her products are sold in Target, Costco, Nordstrom and in 26 countries. Today Katie Coaches Entrepreneurs who are committed to building a business that ads REAL value in the world...without sacrificing Family, Faith, and Fitness.

TRANSCRIPT

038_ Katie Richardson - Create Your Big Idea Now

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[00:00:00] Hi and welcome. The Artful Podcast is an interview show where you'll get to know the people behind the creative brands we love. These open, casual, and candid conversations will shed a light on what it's really like to reach your true potential with joy, fulfillment, and freedom. Presented by Artful and hosted by Gabe Ratliff, an award-winning artist, entrepreneur, and coach. Are you ready to create your artful life? If so, then tune in, turn up, and listen hard.

[00:01:05] Katie, oh my gosh. Thank you so much for being on the show. I am so, so, so excited to have

[00:01:11] you here, Gabe. I'm super honored to be here. I'm excited to share my story and hopefully inspire everybody in their journey.

[00:01:18] Well, speaking of your story, where is the best place to begin?

[00:01:22] I am a product designer. I got a product design degree at B Y U. Even as a young kid, I. Making things, specifically making things with my hand. But when I was in school, I was like, I'm not really a sculptor or an artist. And I was taking woodworking classes. I was learning how to weld and doing foundry, and I just, I loved that stuff, but I kind of felt like I wasn't really doing school when I was doing that stuff.

[00:01:46] I just loved it. And so when I found industrial design, I was like, wait a minute. I can get a degree on like inventing things and then making 'em yes, please sign me up. And so I just, I loved product design. In fact, I found my husband there. He and I met and fell in love and got married my last year of school he had graduated.

[00:02:06] And he very specifically is very entrepreneurial from the very beginning. And I was used to. World of you go get a job working for somebody else and you give them all of your cool ideas and you just collect a paycheck. That was okay for me back then, and he very beautifully opened my eyes for a while.

[00:02:28] So then the question probably is, how did I even get into entrepreneurship? It was kind of an accident, if you will. I was. A young mom who had two kids and I was in a local boutique. I had my two year old and one year old with me. And I was using products that I had made. So I was just making things. I was making things like diaper bags and baby shoes and blankets and even a sling.

[00:02:52] And so I'm in this boutique and we're barely scraping by at that time, by the way, like my husband's working for the man, but trying to figure out how to leave. And I didn't really care about that . And I am there with my kids and I'm looking at a bunch of stuff that I can't even afford, but I just was trying to get outta the house.

[00:03:11] And the boutique owner comes over to me and says, where'd you get all this stuff? She was kind of aggressive, where'd you get all this stuff? And I said, what do you mean? And she starts pointing to the bag, the shoes, the hat, the sling. And I said, oh, I made it. And she was like, you made this? I said, yeah. And at that time, Gabe, I was really unsure of myself.

[00:03:32] I had done well in school. In my mind, that was the end of it for me as far as a, a career or profession, is I was going to go to school, I was going to get a degree, and then I was gonna become a mom. And I was there and I'd done that. And I was in cruise control. So when she stopped me and was asking me these questions and she was pressing me, I was really confused.

[00:03:53] I knew that girlfriends liked my stuff, but I didn't know that it could potentially go beyond that, right? So she's pressing me, where'd you get all this stuff? I told her I made it, and I'm, I'm, I'm really unsure of myself at that time. And she said, you made this. And I go to all the trade shows. This is totally hot.

[00:04:10] You've gotta make it for me. And immediately all these walls come up. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. Can't you see I've got two young kids. I'm a really busy woman. I don't have time to make this stuff for you. And she actually kind of pause. I took a breath cuz she'd been pretty aggressive up until that point.

[00:04:29] She paused, took a breath, and then she looked me square in the eyes and said, I understand that you're really busy right now, but someday. And she points to my kids someday these kids are gonna be in school full-time and you're gonna have some time on your hands and you will wish that you had done something with these gifts and these talents that you have.

[00:04:48] And when she said that, it, it kind of hurt. And I wanted to believe that she was wrong. And I remember going home that day and just being at dinner with my husband and the kids and it was chaos like it is at that phase of life. And I just mentioned to him through, through a lens of doubt and belief in myself, I, I mentioned to him, Hey, this store owner wants me to make all this stuff that I make.

[00:05:17] And he, his eyes get really big and he's like, Katie, don't you see what this is? And I'm like, You don't really think that what I make is good, do you? Because that's where I was, Gabe. Like I just, I didn't fully believe in myself, even though I didn't really even have reasons to not, other than I thought that was what I needed to do was not be too proud of myself and what I was doing.

[00:05:42] So he was like, Katie, you, you gotta do something about this and that thing that I didn't wanna face. The regret of not doing something about it, he helped really pull that out of me in that moment, cuz I started to feel it when she said it. And I didn't wanna face it. I didn't wanna confront it. And he started to really pull it out of me.

[00:06:02] It was like, whoa, what if I do get five, five years down the road? And I'm like, man, I should have done something about this and I didn't. and I started to really feel that regret. And it hurt. It really hurt. And the more I thought about it, the more I couldn't live with that possibility. And it moved me in action.

[00:06:23] I went back to her and I said, okay, I'll make this for you. How mu, how many do you want? And I even printed up because I had some graphic design skills, I printed up a few possible colorways for her and I hadn't even made them. This is so good. I've never told this part of the story, but because I'm talking to like a design specific audience, I feel like everyone can appreciate this piece of it.

[00:06:44] I hadn't made anything. I like made up a brand. I printed it all on a sheet and I took a picture of the product that she specifically was asking for, which is was a baby carrier, and it was my design. I mocked up three potential colorways for her and I named them each, and I even attached a price to it and it was high.

[00:07:03] It was like $48 for me. That was, I, I was like, whoa, that's, that's a lot of money for something that I make. And she ordered 10 of 'em and handed me a check and it was like, holy cow. My brain was exploding. And that was the moment I became an entrepreneur.

[00:07:19] Wow. . I love that. That's so cool. And I, you know, there's so much in there.

[00:07:24] It's just amazing. I mean, especially, you know, the support from your husband. and like helping you work through that. I love the, yes. I just went for it. It's like, I'm gonna do this thing shit, I've gotta make this now . But it like pushes you and here we are. Yeah. Ugh. I love it.

[00:07:43] Even I just have to emphasize that piece that you said, that you just say yes.

[00:07:46] Because even when my business was, we'll talk about how big it got, but it was massive. And even then you still say yes and you go figure it out and it's this process of expansion. Gabe, like I first, I knew that my girlfriends liked what I had made and I had, I had even sold things to them. They had to come and ask me.

[00:08:03] They're like, can you make this for me? I'll even pay you. And I'm like, well, I'd make it for you for free, but sure I'll take some money. That's where I had been at that point in my life. And then this store owner wanted my things. I'm like, okay, I'll make it for you. And I did, and fortunately you're gonna hear my husband in this story a lot cause he's a big piece in my story.

[00:08:21] After that happened, he was like, what about going to see if other stores in Portland want your product? I'm like, oh, cuz I was so content to be on one store shelf that was like, Making my brain explode. It was so exciting and it was just more than I could ever dream of and I couldn't see beyond that. And so he was like, okay, that's awesome that you're on one store shelf.

[00:08:44] What if you go talk to the other stores and you tell them Meryl's carrying it at Herbs store and see if they want it. And I did. And like more and more they were buying them and like each person was buying more. And I, it was just blowing my mind. And then I wonder if there's stores in San Francisco that would want this.

[00:09:00] So I literally boarded a plane with my 18 month old at the time to demonstrate the product. And my husband went to San Francisco. And I, I didn't have appointments, I just dropped in to all of the boutiques and I did the same thing. I walked in. Hi, my name's Katie Richardson. I'm a product designer. I'm also a mom.

[00:09:16] And it looks like you carry a lot of baby products. And I have a product that I think would be really relevant to your customers. Would you like to hear about it? And so I just, I wasn't a salesperson, I didn't know how to do that kind of stuff, but I would just test it out and try it. And I started to get really good at sales because I was just observing and I was noticing what's working When I talk with people and you can see it on their face, and I would notice what's working, what's not working.

[00:09:42] When I say this story, do they get it? Can I see the light bulb going off in their head? And when I try and explain it this way, are they still a little confused and they're not totally

[00:09:50] with me. I'm curious, how long was it when you first made that For the kiddos? Yeah, before that happened,

[00:09:56] that was in 2007, and I did that for like a year and a half.

[00:10:00] And it actually was going really well, and I was selling like between 20 and 30 slings a week on my website, which was a really big deal back then. And then I did that for like a year and a half and. In the meantime, I started, my husband and I started to conceive of a product that we thought would really change the game.

[00:10:19] It was a total game changer. It was going to send shockwaves in the industry, in the baby industry. And that product launched in

[00:10:27] 2009. I wanted to step back a little bit and ask about sort of what's laid the groundwork for this. Did you grow up in a creative household? I

[00:10:36] did. My home was very creative and it was such a blessing.

[00:10:41] I am the fourth, yeah, fourth of six kids. I'm pretty much in the middle just because the two younger than me are twins. And I had a lot of freedom. It was a very good home, a loving home, a warm home. And my mom was really creative in the garage. She had all kinds of power tools. And my mom, for her hobby, she would cut out pieces of wood and then she would paint little figurines in it, like a Halloween decorations of like a, a, you know, a cute witch and that kind of stuff.

[00:11:09] And so I grew up doing those kinds of things and it was very encouraged to use your hands, but also education was really important. And so I grew up doing those kinds of things, but also knowing I was going to go to

[00:11:20] college. When you went to school, did you know specifically you wanted to get into product design or did you try some things out and then work your way there, or how did that work?

[00:11:28] I

[00:11:28] was so lost when I was in college because, because it was the fourth, the three older than me, they all majored in English and I was not, that was not even interesting to me. And without realizing it, I was feeling like that's the direction I was supposed to go. Cause that's what you do when you go to college.

[00:11:47] And I was taking all of these other classes that I thought were kind of like on the side, and there were things like pottery and figure drawing and woodworking and welding and foundry. And those were my classes that I just, I had to have those cuz they were just fun and exciting to me. But I didn't even conceive of the idea that I could major in something that would incorporate those things.

[00:12:12] And one day somebody pulled me aside and was like, I think you need to be a product designer. And I'm like, what? Actually, they called it industrial design. And I'm like, you want me to design factories? That sounds really weird. And they explained it more to me. No, it's product design and it's kind of this combination of like engineering and sculpture and art and design.

[00:12:31] I was like, okay, now you have my attention. That sounds interesting. And I learned about the program and it was this exclusive program and they only accepted like 15 students a year. And this is byu. 35,000 students. So only accepting 15 people a year. I'm like, there's no way. I'm not good enough. There's no way I could get into a program like that.

[00:12:51] I started gravitating towards tech actually, because they had, they had a lot of the interesting classes that I was interested in, like photography and design and woodworking and foundry. They had all of that in there. But you were essentially learning to become a, a tech ed teacher in a junior high. And I was like, yeah, I don't think I wanna do that, but I can at least be around all of this stuff.

[00:13:12] And I was in that school, if you will, and somebody pulled me into their administration office and they said, you need to be an industrial design. So they were the second person to tell me that and they, they got me in front of the dean of that program. and showed him some plans for a dresser that I, I had both designed and that I was making, and he loved it, that he totally bypassed the whole, the whole application process.

[00:13:38] He was like, looks great Katie. Let's get you into the program. And I, all of a sudden was in industrial design with an emphasis in furniture design. So that's how, that's how I ended up there. I hope the people are hearing that. I was pretty unsure of myself. I was very unsure of myself in

[00:13:52] a lot of ways. I totally connect with that cuz I was the same way when I went to university.

[00:13:57] I meandered my way through and that's one of the things I talk about. My whole motto is, draw your life, don't trace it. That was something I came up with in school and I, I at the time didn't realize that was actually what I was doing. You know? I was drawing my life, I was figuring it out. I was not tracing somebody else's steps.

[00:14:14] I mean, that's amazing that you had that support, right? Where you just go in and you're getting these little, these little sprinkles of like, Come this way, you know? And then you meet this person and they're like, oh my God. Yeah, you're, let's get you in here.

[00:14:28] Yeah. And you asked about my upbringing. My father is an attorney.

[00:14:32] And so when I thought about a profession and pursuing any sort of a career, if you will, or a job, it was very much in that kind of a sense. And, and so this creative piece of me, I, I saw it as kind of frivolous in a hobby and I didn't see it as something that was worthy of pursuing. And just even as I'm telling you that story, I'm seeing that transition I had to make from thinking it was just this frivolous thing that I liked to waste my time on.

[00:15:02] Cuz that's kind of how I viewed it at the time to realizing, no, this is a God-given gift and a talent that adds value into the world. And this is how you use those gifts to generate that value in the world and like change people's lives.

[00:15:16] So I'm curious also, where did the whole learning to sew come into the picture?

[00:15:22] Oh

[00:15:22] man. My mom's an amazing seamstress and so I would just sit next to her and watch her. She wasn't necessarily, it's not like she would say, this is what you do. You first do this. She likes doing her thing. And I was a really good observer and so I just watched her and I would mimic her really, really well.

[00:15:40] So I grew up sewing. I, I started cutting my brother's hair when I was 13. It's kind of crazy when I think about it, but like I said, my mom was really good at letting us explore and try new things, and I really appreciate that because I was able to learn how to do a lot of different things. I'm really good at cooking and I don't use recipes.

[00:16:01] I think it's that whole giving yourself permission to explore. Yeah. And

[00:16:06] that's the other thing I love about having these conversations with, with fellow artists, you know, is where you get to ha you get to hear how we all have similarities and how we all differ. Sure. It just makes us. Have our own power to be who we are.

[00:16:21] One of the things you mentioned on your website I wanted to ask you about, I, I was just fascinated by this quote, but you said that, you know, having curls as a young girl, That you interpreted that as not being as good as anyone else, or not good at anything? Could you speak to that? Oh

[00:16:35] man. So, at a young age, I had curly crazy hair and none of my girlfriends did.

[00:16:41] And especially at the time, the style was very stick straight hair. And I wanted so bad to fit in. I wanted to be just like everybody else. I didn't wanna stand out. And yet the way I saw the world and the things I was interested in and even my hair was different. And it was so frustrating, Gabe, when you're a 14, 15, 16 year old girl, you just wanna be part of the crowd.

[00:17:03] And I did. And you know, I, it wasn't like I was some awkward kid. I just got really good at straightening my hair. And honestly, all through high school, nobody knew I had curly hair. And when I was in college, it was my sophomore year of college, I had straightened it again all through my freshman year. I wanted to make sure I looked like all the other pretty girls cause I wanted to be like them and I didn't wanna stand out.

[00:17:24] And I had this experience where, I started to ask myself a question because I had viewed my curly hair as a flaw. It was a mistake. It was something that was wrong with me and that was my view. And I was constantly trying to correct it by straightening it. And I started asking myself a question. I was in the middle of a really busy semester and I hadn't had time to do my hair straight.

[00:17:51] And it was curly and I hadn't washed my hair for a couple days and it had been curly for a couple days. And consistently gave, people were pulling me aside, asking me about my hair. Your hair's so beautiful. Is that, is that natural Curl perfect Strangers opening their mouth and asking me this question, I'm like, this is really weird.

[00:18:07] And it kept happening. And after I specifically remember walking into a grocery store and like three people said something, and I'm like, what does this mean? And the, when I asked that question, the thought that came into my mind was, Maybe what you think is your flaw is actually your beauty. And I was like, whoa, huh.

[00:18:31] What if this imperfection is the very thing that makes me attractive? Now that would be interesting, and I didn't know if I believed it, but I was like, I'm gonna kind of explore this and see it. Like try it on, if you will. Almost like trying on a pair of pants. I'm gonna try this belief, Ron. I'm gonna hang onto this for a little bit and see how that feels.

[00:18:51] What if my curly hair, the thing I think is the flaw is actually the thing that makes me beautiful. We're gonna try this on. And I started to do my hair curly and I had no idea how much that was gonna transform my life. Why did it transform my life? Because I went from being somebody who said, I need to be perfect.

[00:19:10] I need to fit in. I can't let other people see the true me. To really owning it and saying, guess what guys? I have crazy hair and it's kind of fun and maybe it's even pretty. I, I started to lean into that zone and like so many things that I didn't realize I was hiding about me and my truth and my personality, they just started to come out and it started with the hair.

[00:19:34] That's so great. Especially to, to take that and run with it, you know, and to like pull back and, and not let it just be a thing that passes in the night. You know? It's, it's, it's so interesting to me how, as, as I've gotten older, looking at how so many of us reflect back on other people and think like, oh, I need, you know, I wish I had straight hair cuz I have curly hair or, you know, me, I'm very minimal on hair these days.

[00:20:04] You know, it's like, oh, I miss having long hair. I used to have really long hair and I was a raft guide and you know, all these things and you feel like, you know, you're not a hundred percent yourself or you, you know, you're subpar or whatever it could be, right. Just like you were speaking to. And then it's like so many people, they want to be taller or skinnier, whatever.

[00:20:22] And as you said, like that's like tapping into like what is, it's actually the what empowers you for most people. But they just don't want to acknowledge it or take that time to like, Hey, let me hold onto this for a minute and see where this takes it. Yes. It's

[00:20:37] the, like that thing that is different about you than everybody.

[00:20:41] It's the very thing that makes us distinct and different and attractive. And when we resist that internally personally, and we feel like we have to hide it, it dims that attractiveness, if you will. It, it suddenly can't be seen and it takes us first. Being willing to say, okay, this is actually not a bad thing.

[00:21:03] This is a beautiful thing. This is, yeah, it's different. And that's a good

[00:21:07] thing. Something else you mentioned on your site that I was really interested in learning more about is learning about welding from a gunsmith .

[00:21:16] It's true. Yeah. How did that happen? So I was in product design and I was in the last year of my degree and you have to do an internship and most people like went someplace else, right?

[00:21:31] They moved to New York for the summer and they went and interned for somebody. But I had recently been married and my husband had a job at a design firm in Park City. So I needed an internship and I was, like I said, I was studying furniture design and there was like of all places, 15 minutes down the road.

[00:21:48] I think it was in American Fork, Utah. There was a guy who had a studio and he was making furniture and a lot of his clients were even it was a hair school. I'm trying to remember what Paul Mitchell. Hair school, and he was building out these hair stations that were mobile for the school and they had electricity in them and they had a mirror and a place to hold all of the hair tools.

[00:22:12] And so he and his brother, his brother was a gunsmith and he was a designer. And together they were providing kind of low production run manufacturing for people. And I mean, each piece was handmade. So I, I did an internship at this place and I loved it, by the way, Gabe, like, in fact, my kids were, I don't know why we just found these, but we just found my coveralls I used to wear at that job and other stuff where I was doing things like welding and I was even doing electrical work and I was wiring these stations and I loved it because these guys didn't give me a lot of direction.

[00:22:47] and I've learned something about myself. I resist structure big time. I like being creative. I like figuring things out. And so all they did was say, here's the outcome we want. And maybe it was a quick sketch, maybe it was a drawing and they would say, figure it out. And I loved that. And so I would get to go and determine what processes we were gonna do to kind of mass produce these, not mass produce 'em, but you know, make, make 10 or 20 of 'em.

[00:23:12] And I would figure out the processes, the machines that we would need to use. And I knew what tools we had in the shop and I would just figure it out and I would get, get to cutting and grinding and welding and I loved it. Oh, that's so

[00:23:24] cool. I loved grinding . It's so much fun. , I help a friend of mine, Shane Evans, he built a 30 foot robot that articulates shoots fire.

[00:23:38] And Ellie has LEDs get out. It articulates. And he can operate it with like a, a tablet. And you can also get up in it. You can actually get up in the heart of it. It can hold, I think three people, oh my word. He built it all from scratch and it's with 90% recycled airplane parts. That is so cool. The thing I love about that kind of style of creation is this is so innovative and it pushes you, which sounds like a reoccurring theme for you.

[00:24:07] And I just also love the fact that it is so inspiring to these, to, especially like young people, right? Because they, they can see what is a, a, a possibility and it doesn't feel so far away. Like something like Tesla, you know, with like a, a modern car or with SpaceX or something like that, that could feel so distant for someone where, when you can see something like that, like this guy in his backyard built a 30 foot robot.

[00:24:34] I just, I love that he's. , this amazing creator that people can connect with who doesn't feel so distant either as a human. I've seen pictures where you can see kids just looking up at this robot going, holy shit, . Yeah. That, that's amazing.

[00:24:50] And that's the most important piece. I love that you're, you're starting to highlight this.

[00:24:55] It's, it's going from, oh, man, wouldn't that be so cool to, oh, I'm going to do that. And, and giving ourselves permission to do the thing that we want in our heart, but maybe we're not, we're not telling the truth.

[00:25:09] Let's take that a little further. Like, you know, maybe even something that's come up with your kids or, you know, a young person that comes to you to talk to you or, or wanting your.

[00:25:20] how do you speak to that? If they're running into those blocks,

[00:25:23] it's part of helping them understand that it's, Steve Jobs says it the best when you understand that the world is created by people who are no smarter than you and I, and that it's malleable and that you can poke something on one side and something pops out the other side, like that's when life opens up to you.

[00:25:46] And until then you, you live this, we live this life of constraint. He describes it as you feel like you're supposed to, like not bump into the walls too much and just do exactly what you're supposed to do. And that, that life is a small life. And if that works for somebody, that's great, but I have come to realize I don't want to live a small life like that.

[00:26:08] And it's, it's about. Giving ourselves permission to really think big and to explore possibility. And so much of that is directly tied to our identity. It's something I talk a lot about with my clients, is starting to ask the question, who am I? Who am I? What do I want in my life? What kind of mom do I want to be?

[00:26:31] What kind of a designer? What kind of entrepreneur do I wanna be? And then starting to make decisions now based on that person that we are choosing to be.

[00:26:42] So awesome that you brought that up, cuz I wanted to ask you relative to that, how you navigated that relationship of being a wife and a mother as you were.

[00:26:53] You know, starting to, you know, have that inception of Pudge Yeah. And become an entrepreneur. What was that

[00:26:58] like? Yeah, this is a really important question because it was a, it was a battle that was going on in my head and my heart, and it really scared me. It terrified me because I had a lot of success really early on.

[00:27:10] I'm a pretty good designer, and I became a pretty good at selling my products. It, it all just stemmed from wanting to genuinely help people and, and creating real value. And it turns out people like that. And so I had a lot of success early on with the baby carrier that I was telling you about. But when things really started to take off, it was requiring more of my time.

[00:27:32] And I was, I was scared Gabe, because I had always known I wanted to be a mom. I believe in God, and I really felt like that was a divine role for me. And so to build a business and spend time working on a career in my mind was bad. , that was bad. And you don't do that. You live your life, right? And you be a mom, and you be a wife, and that's your divine role and responsibility.

[00:28:00] And I had created this in my own mind, by the way, that had never been handed to me by my faith, by my religion, by God. Like it was something I had created in my mind that a righteous woman is in the home 24 7 and doing those things. And I continually felt like God kept handing me these opportunities to grow my business.

[00:28:22] And I was so confused. I was so confused. As I looked around and I looked at entrepreneurs and just professional women, they weren't present in the home the way that I thought I was supposed to be. And I was really confused. I'm like, okay, you keep giving me these opportunities, God. And you want me to be a wife and a mom, and I'm looking around for an example of somebody who's doing this the way that I hear you telling me to do it, but I don't see her.

[00:28:49] And I was really confused. and I was looking for that mentor, somebody I could look up to and kind of model my life after, and I couldn't find her. And it was really frustrating and I, I remember coming to the realization that God had taught me the power of creation. He had taught me how to create an idea in my mind and how to turn that idea and that concept into a reality.

[00:29:14] It first was formed in words or a sketch, and then that sketch became a paper prototype. Then that paper prototype became a prototype that I made out of some sort of materials, and then I went to a manufacturer and I, and manufactured it. I had seen this process of creation. , and I knew it really, really well.

[00:29:31] What I had missed before was that I could use that same process of creation with my own life. Yes, I couldn't see the woman who was my mentor and who was living the life that I was beginning to formulate in my mind that God was helping me to see. I couldn't see that in my reality, but that didn't mean I couldn't create her.

[00:29:51] And I literally started to pull out pictures out of catalogs and magazines of women who I thought, Visually represented. Cause I'm a very visual person represented who I was trying to become. What would it look like if I did have my own business and I was in sales meetings and I had to go pick my kids up at school afterwards or find somebody to help me watch my kids so I could go to that meeting?

[00:30:18] What would that actually look like? And is it possible to have a business and spend time in the business and when I'm with my family, be present with them and still create that really strong, beautiful relationship that I want? I think one of the things, hopefully people are hearing in my story is that I've naturally just been a very curious person and that curiosity.

[00:30:41] Allows me to play around, even though with this scenario, I was kind of playing around with it in my mind. Well, okay, if I'm gonna be an entrepreneur and a mother and a wife and a woman of God and somebody who takes care of herself physically, holy cow, that's a lot of things. What does my day have to look like if those are all things that are important to me?

[00:31:01] And I started to make real changes in my life. I started. Being more consistent with prayer and scripture study. I started being more consistent with exercise. I started being more intentional with my relationship with my husband. I started being very intentional as a mother because, yeah, sometimes my mother-in-law or a friend was going to babysit them for two days while I had to go on a sales trip.

[00:31:22] But what did that look like when I was back with them and how can I be really present with them even though I was gone for two days? And so I, I just became really curious of this future, Katie, what does she look like? What does she act like? What does her day look like? How does she interact with people when she goes to a sales meeting at Target?

[00:31:40] Is she seeking her hand out for a handshake or is she giving people a hug like Katie does? And so I just, I started creating this future version of myself. And bringing her into reality.

[00:31:52] I'm just letting that sink in. You guys listening. I hope

[00:31:57] everyone's brain is exploding. Be I I just gave you the keys to the kingdom

[00:32:02] That's why I was like, I'm gonna just let that sit for a second. , you wanna live the life that you visualized and I just, it's so amazing. I really appreciate that, that you're living it and that you are here to share that. So I wanted to ask you about relative to, to Pudge, you know, what the early, early stage was like when you were first stopped by the woman in the store, the very be inception of, of the concept of what would become Pudge.

[00:32:29] I'd love to hear more about what was the next stage, what was that next process like? Getting to 2000 stores and Yeah. Starting to. On shows like Ellen and Rachel Ray, like what was that process like? Cuz that's the process that I imagine people are also really interested in

[00:32:49] hearing about. For almost a year and a half, two years, I was doing the, the fabric sling.

[00:32:54] It's a cut and so thing I was making it stateside. I found somebody a couple hours from me who took my patterns and he just would manufacture them as I needed them. But my husband and I were conceiving of a, a product that was needing a different manufacturing process that was ideally done overseas and that was needing to be mass produced in order for it to be an economically viable product.

[00:33:18] But we did find, before we even did that process, we found, I'm in Portland, Oregon. We found somebody in the Seattle area, which is like three hours north of me. Somebody who, who did the Manu manufacturing processes that were required to make what ultimately became the PU tub. It was a product that we had conceived of.

[00:33:38] We literally. Bought some scrap foam and we found out about this material because it was being used in the, the infant beds in the hospital. And we figured it out. We tracked it down what that material was, cuz it was warm, it was soft, it was squishy, but it didn't absorb water. And that that component was really critical because it could then be used to make a bathtub, which meant it wouldn't get moldy.

[00:34:02] And mildewy bath time was just a pain and I hated it. But my doctor told me because my kids had dry skin, I should be bathing them every day and then putting lotion on 'em immediately afterwards. And it just was such a pain. And so I started making a list of everything that I didn't like about. The current bathing solutions for babies, and I made a list of everything my ideal solution would be, right?

[00:34:22] It goes back to the creation process. It hangs in stores flat. It doesn't absorb water, but it cups the baby really well. And it's really easy for me to set up. In fact, I can set it up while I have a wiggly infant in my arms. It was just taking all of those constraints and actually identifying them and saying, okay, if it has to do all of those things, what would it potentially look like?

[00:34:42] And so I went through my whole creation process and we, through paper prototypes and sketching, we developed the concept of the punch tub. And then we found the material that was gonna work, and we found a factory that used those materials three hours north of us, and they started making it for us. But it was so expensive, Gabe, it was expensive.

[00:35:02] They were so slow to respond to us, even just phone calls and emails. It was like days in between. And then when they did start making 'em, they were extremely expensive and it was. Sometimes it would take months to get a purchase order. And so we were able to prove the concept at that level, right? Yes, it was expensive per part, but I wasn't putting, you know, I wasn't, it wasn't a $50,000 order.

[00:35:27] It was like a $2,000 order. And so while each piece was expensive, we were able to kind of prove the concept. And over the course of a year, we sold and probably more than sold, gave away about 200 of these. And we got a really good response. People really liked them. And I started to put it on my website and I was getting people from Paris, France, Amsterdam, Germany, Holland, like all over the world, Australia, who wanted to buy this $100 baby bathtub, which is totally absurd, right?

[00:36:01] It was a hundred dollars, but that was just the price I needed just to break even, to be honest. And. And then internationally, people wanted it so much internationally that they were willing to pay 150 to sometimes $200, and that's like full retail shipping price. I didn't have a U P S account. I didn't know how to get it any lower than that, and I was basically buying a plane ticket for this bathtub to make its way to Paris, but people were paying it and they were happy to, they would hop on a Skype call with me and give me their credit card.

[00:36:33] It was kind of crazy when I think about it. And so, In that sense, we were able to prove that there was a lot of interest in this product. And we did something super unconventional and we scraped together and even went into debt to go to a trade show in Las Vegas. And we invested like $25,000 just to get ourselves to this, this trade show.

[00:36:57] And we hand-built this beautiful booth because we wanted people to know that we were real. We wanted 'em to know that we were serious about this business and that we were a real company even though we kind of were nobody's and we were just creating all of this. And so we built this amazing booth, but it was super scrappy.

[00:37:15] And maybe I need to give a little bit of detail. Like we had this glossy white floor and it was beautiful, white floor. Anybody else in the convention hall, if somebody had a glossy white floor, they probably paid like $20,000 for that floor. But what did I do? I went to Home Depot and I bought a four by eight sheet, a bunch of 'em, four by eight sheets of.

[00:37:35] Shower board, I had them even cut it in half at Home Depot cause I didn't have the tools to do that at the time into four by four sheets. And I was able to put that onto a pallet cuz it had to be palatable. Does that make sense? , I had to be able to palletize it and ship it to Vegas and we literally taped that floor together with white electrical tape.

[00:37:54] And so my 20 thou, it looked like a $20,000 floor, but it literally cost me $200 and I wanted a white wall. Well, I couldn't afford to like ship all the Drywalling materials and build a white wall like everybody else was doing, but I could call you line and have them directly ship. Two by four white boxes that I stack up like Legos and create a wall from that and create the structure and framework for the back wall.

[00:38:25] And we just did a lot of very unconventional things. The whole booth was totally white, white wall, white floor, white logo on a white wall, white products, white cubes to display the white products. We took this approach of really standing out and leaning to the fact that this product was extremely different and it was a game changer.

[00:38:46] When you go to a trade show, there's graphics and pictures and colors and it's visually very, very noisy. And we took this bold move of being silence in this sea of visual noise, and it worked. We did pay a fee to put our own slip of paper inside each bag that people get when they come into the convention hall.

[00:39:08] And we, we were super economical and it was a tiny strip of. Black and white paper that said, come see the latest innovation in baby bathing. And it had a picture of our product and it had our booth number. And very quickly our booth was packed and there were people from all over the world who wanted to see this innovation and we would demonstrate it.

[00:39:29] And over and over again, Gabe, they were buying the product. And it was my wildest dreams come true. And at the same time, very unexpectedly, so much fear was crippling. Why was I being crippled by fear in that moment? Because I had all this doubt in who I am at that moment. Like, yeah, I was in a bunch of boutiques, but like I'm still kind of shipping outta my garage and I don't totally have a manufacturing set up and I'm not really a business woman.

[00:40:00] This is what was going on in my mind. And I was trying to hide all of those thoughts from everybody and doing my best to be professional with them. And not very long into this trade show, my husband pulls me aside. He, he said, where's Katie? And I said, what do you mean? Where's Katie? This is awesome.

[00:40:15] Everybody's buying. This is great. And he's like, no, no, no, no. Where's Katie? And he really just looked at me and said that. And I cracked open and I just said, they're all buying it and they believe it and I'm scared they're gonna find out. I don't really know what I'm doing. And he listened to me and I kind of got all of my fears out.

[00:40:36] And then he paused and said, Katie, they're not expecting you to be something that you're not. Everybody loves Katie. Just be Katie, be Katie and ask 'em if they want 25 or 50 tubs and tell 'em you take Visa, MasterCard in American Express. I was like, okay, I know who Katie is. Katie's really curious about people.

[00:40:57] Katie's actually interested in you and your life and what's going on in your life. Katie's happy, she's fun. She likes to tell jokes, like I knew who Katie was and I hope that what people are seeing in this moment is I went from believing I needed to be something I didn't. It goes, Ugh, this gets me emotional.

[00:41:16] It goes back to the experience I told you about with the curly hair. I was trying to be something I wasn't. . And in that moment, my husband so beautifully illustrated to me that I was doing the same thing just in a different way. Right? And I made the choice to stop trying to be a professional business woman and just be Katie and all that fear and that doubt that was starting to, to paralyze me in that moment.

[00:41:44] It, it dissipated and suddenly I got really, really good at talking with very influential, powerful people in the world and, and it wasn't scaring me.

[00:41:56] Thank you so much for sharing that. I love that story. That was a big part of why I wanted you to be on the show is because I just, I love that perfect example of being who we are is really our, what my coach calls your Eunice.

[00:42:13] Your Eunice is what makes your business successful and is what makes you stand out. and you illustrate that so beautifully with the story, with, you know, being a young girl with, with these big, beautiful curls who thought she had to straighten her hair to then walking in a store with your kids and having this woman be like, oh my God, where did you, what is that?

[00:42:38] I want that. I need that. Can you sell me that? Where did you get it? Oh, I made it thinking like, oh, this is just for me. And that turning into a company that you then got to a trade show, and then again having that beautiful reminder and how great your husband Ben, to pull you aside, you know, and be that partner who, what my wife and I like to call.

[00:43:03] I think it comes from a, a movie with Susan Sarandon and she talks about being a witness. Mm. Being a witness for each other. A true partner can just be like a, a true witness for you in your life, you know? And like he was witnessing you not be you. . Yeah. And, and, and called you on it, but in such a, a supportive way to like then allow you to be the butterfly.

[00:43:28] Yeah. And yeah. And then your business soared. It exploded.

[00:43:32] Gabe , it exploded. We generated over $2 million in revenue that year. It was just nuts.

[00:43:39] Ugh. I love that. . Something you talk about is the combination of tools that you created for yourself that helped you to shift towards a successful business.

[00:43:51] Obviously that was one. What other tools can you speak to that you've developed over the years? Something

[00:43:57] that I think is really important to understand is that we never arrive. And I used to really resist that. I used to think if I could just get to this level in my business, right? I think for a lot of entrepreneurs, once I do a million dollars, then everything in my life is gonna be better.

[00:44:12] And guess what guys? It's not having, like actually having a multimillion dollar business, you know, it doesn't solve all of your problems. In fact, it generates a whole heck of a lot more and it just magnifies things. And I have learned that my business is not about me becoming famous or me achieving success.

[00:44:37] That's not why I do business. That's not why I'm an entrepreneur. I have come to understand that. My business is a vehicle for me to become the woman that God created me to be. And the more that I choose to be humble and in those moments of pain and frustration and disappointment, choose to say, what am I gonna learn in this moment?

[00:44:58] And specifically like, what am I learning about me and who God created me to be in this moment? And how can I course correct and choose, choose something greater in the future. That's something that's really important. So knowing that there's not a finish line and that it's always about growth and expansion, I mean, I've told you multiple stories about expanding my identity.

[00:45:21] I know that game is not over for me, Gabe, and there's gonna be another point where I'm confronting. Something in my life where I thought that was impossible for me, and I'm gonna have to choose, do I shrink back or do I step into that even though that's never been my reality before? So that's a really important one.

[00:45:37] We, we never arrive. There's no finish line. It's just growth in expansion and that growth in expansion is a choice. One of the leaders in my faith, I'm L D s, I go to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'm very active in that faith, and one of our leaders said there's no growth in the comfort zone and there's no comfort in the growth zone.

[00:45:56] And I have noticed that I come alive outside of my comfort zone. Yeah, it's scary. Yeah, it's uncomfortable and there's a lot of things I don't like about it, but at the same time, I really start to see who I truly am in that space. And so I have trained myself to look forward to stepping into the dark, to moving towards the unknown because I'm going to discover something there and, and being in a place where I just know all of the answers, it's boring.

[00:46:27] It's not exciting.

[00:46:29] So I wanted to ask now as we kind of transition a little f forward to some of the more current work you're doing. Yeah. What is not normal?

[00:46:39] Oh, I love this. Not normal is a place where we want creators to win. And we do that by helping them build scalable, profitable businesses. So that is, to me, that's the ultimate dream.

[00:46:55] I look around in the world and there's a saying that say, dollars follow value. And for a long time that really frustrated me because I saw really amazing exceptional people creating something really profound and amazing. But they didn't have the tools for how to get that out there into the world. And I was one of those people.

[00:47:14] And fortunately I had an amazing spouse who had, he's kind of brilliant , if I'm honest. He's really smart. He's very left and right brained, and he's able to think in systems and he's thinks really, really big. And so he's able to create an idea in his mind and then immediately understand how this can be mass produced in the world.

[00:47:34] And so this is what we do at Not Normal, is we empower. Brilliant minds and people who are adding real value into the world. Cuz that's the thing that frustrates me, is I see, not that I think there's bad people in the world, but I see people who are not necessarily adding value in the world. They're making a lot of noise and they're generating a lot of income for themselves, but it isn't necessarily improving our world.

[00:47:58] And I want to give people who I, I believe, have the gifts and talents and abilities and desire to really change the world and to bring real value into the world. I wanna empower them with the tools that they need in order to do that. And there's certain systems and processes that they just need to understand.

[00:48:20] And because I'm a creative and a designer, I understand their language and I also understand the language of systems and processes, and I'm able to translate, if you will, and present it to them in a way that. They understand and can internalize these principles. This is how I teach. This is how I coach.

[00:48:37] It's all through principles. I'm not here to tell you or anybody else what to do in your life, but I can show you true principles and I can show you how to actually apply those in your life. And this empowers people and this is what we do inside of not normal. We actually, I just had a really awesome workshop just last week where we went through the framework and we basically distilled down everything you need.

[00:49:00] Five principles and we show you how to apply those principles to your ideas, to your business, to your marriage, even. Like it's really amazing what we're able to do. It just sets them free. Gabe, it's so exciting because they know they have something amazing. They know they wanna change the world, that they can change the world.

[00:49:19] They have that ability, but they just haven't had the tools. And so we share this framework and it empowers them to make decisions. It empowers them to understand how to scalably build a team. A team that doesn't have to come to them for every answer. So it's just, it's really exciting. It's something that my husband and I have wanted to do for a really long time.

[00:49:39] And he's also an entrepreneur, also a product designer. And he's very left-brained in a lot of ways. And I'm more sensitive, emotional feely type person. And so it's interesting cuz we both have a similar background, but we come from a very different perspective. We come with a different lens and. He really understands structures and frameworks really, really well.

[00:50:03] He's like an architect and I understand mindset really, really well and I understand how to get you into a place of power where you're making good decisions that are gonna move the business forward, that are gonna have your whole team working in unison and, and show you how to be a really powerful leader.

[00:50:22] And honestly, Gabe, in order to be an entrepreneur, we need both, right? We need the structures and frameworks and we need the powerful mindset. And so that's what they get inside of, not normal, is both.

[00:50:32] One of the things I also love that you speak to is, is around being a creative first and not having the mba.

[00:50:40] You speak to that being our greatest advantage. Can you, can you elaborate

[00:50:43] on that? Yeah. I don't have any sort of a business degree. I learned from the school of hard knocks, but because I'm so principals based, I just. in a lot of ways that that ended up being an advantage for us in business because I think if I had been schooled in business, I would.

[00:51:01] Approached my business saying, well, we have to do it this way. And so much of why my company has been so successful is because I didn't know the rules, if you will. And so in a lot of ways, I didn't even know I was breaking it, the rules. I just knew the outcome that we wanted to create and then I would reverse engineer it.

[00:51:18] It was the same process I would use. I used to create the punch tub. It was the same process. It was, okay, this is the outcome that I. These are the tools and resources that I have. How can I arrange them in a way that it gets me to where I wanna go? And this is what I do in my life. This is what I do in my business, and this is what we do with our entrepreneurs, is we teach you those principles.

[00:51:41] I think a lot of times we think constraint is a bad thing, and there are scenarios, don't get me wrong, where I can't stand constraint. I don't like constraint. But in order to, to create a, a beautiful outcome or a good design, we have to understand the constraints and we have to understand how to arrange them in a, in a way that is going to give us the outcome that we want.

[00:52:02] They're actually, the constraints are actually leading us to a really good solution, but we just have to know how to look at them in the right way. And a lot of times that includes asking the right questions. When entrepreneurs start working with me, it . I can immediately see why they're stuck. They're asking all the wrong questions and I, I help them ask a better question.

[00:52:25] The question they're currently asking is the very thing that's keeping them stuck. Is there like an example you could share? Yeah. I have an entrepreneur who just started working with me. Amazing person who just made a big investment in himself. And he came to me and he said, the thing I need the most right now is my core offer.

[00:52:41] And I was like, no, that's, no, that's not the problem. And he was a little bit confused. And I explained to him, that doesn't even matter until you first know who you are. And that's the thing we're focusing on right now. So, I mean, that's one basic example. A lot of times we'll say to ourselves, oh, I, I can't, I can't do this in my business because of X.

[00:53:07] Well, of course you can't. You just said you can't do it. , yeah. If we ask the question, if this was possible, what would that look like? Holy cow. My brain starts feeding me answers and I didn't even have to do any work. But the moment we say that's not possible and I can't do it, our brain starts giving us all the reasons why that's true, cuz that's what our brain does.

[00:53:28] But if we say to our brain, okay, if this was possible, what would that look like? Our brain starts to hand us answers. Did you guys

[00:53:36] hear that ? I waited again. , I'm hoping you heard that. You can always hit rewind. , what was it that led you to begin coaching and supporting entrepreneurs? Shifting from beyond just giving back, but giving back in this way specifically.

[00:53:54] This is a really important question, and to give people a sense of where I was at in my life when I started making this decision. I had been an entrepreneur at that point for 10 years. I had built a multimillion dollar international business I was in, my products are in 26 different countries, success in over 2000 stores in the us.

[00:54:13] I've been featured on the Ellen Degener show, the Rachel Ray show, the Today Show. I've been on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine. All things that were just making my brain explode. Gabe, because I wasn't expecting any of those things and I had a 20,000 square foot warehouse. We were shipping product all over the world.

[00:54:29] I had 12 plus employees who I was like providing jobs and opportunities for, and I, I was a mother of four. And it was like, life was amazing, right? And it was more than I had ever dreamed of. And at the same time, I felt God telling me there was more. And I'm like, are you kidding me? This is way more than I ever expected.

[00:54:47] What do you mean there's more? I just constantly kept having that unsettled feeling of it's time for a change. And one of the main things I was hearing from me was that I want you to connect with people on a deeper level. And I was like, okay, but what does that actually look like? What do you mean when I connect with people on a deeper level?

[00:55:07] And again, like God doesn't just outright speak to me. By the way, these are moments of. True, honest, quiet introspection where I don't even wanna admit that to myself, but I'm unsettled right now and like something's off and something needs to change. It was hard to even admit that to myself cuz it looked so perfect on the outside.

[00:55:29] So I'm trying to figure that out. And literally for a year and a half, I'm journaling all the possibilities and I'm taking courses. I'm trying to understand do I, do I go in new direction within the same brand and company that I've created? Do I go do something? Do I go start another company and keep doing this company?

[00:55:47] Do I sell this company and go, go start a different company? What do I do in that company? Like there were so many options that it was kind of terrifying. And I finally reached this point where I felt like I was up against the cliff and I had got at my back saying, it's time to make a a choice. And I'm like, I don't know where to go.

[00:56:06] I've got this option. I've got this option, I've got this option. I'm your daughter. I trust you. I'm like, I'm praying to you. I'm reading my scriptures and you just tell me, keep telling me to keep going. And guess what? I don't know what that even means. So would you just shine the light and I'll jump, you know, I'm a leaper.

[00:56:21] I've got the faith. Just shine the light and I'll jump. And somebody really woke me up one day, Gabe, and said, why are you hiding behind God? And I'm like, what do you mean? Why am I hiding behind God? He's not telling me what to do. I'm doing everything he's told me to do and he's not telling me what to do.

[00:56:36] And this individual said, he's already told you what to do. He's given you agency. He wants you to choose. I was so mad. I was so mad. He wants me to choose. I don't have the eternal view and vision like he does. I have no idea what's gonna get me to where I need to go. I have no idea, and he's not telling me what to do.

[00:56:58] And that individual kind of planted a seed of curiosity in my mind. It was like, huh, I wonder if I'm not choosing right now. Is that true? I don't know. That sure hurts. I don't like to admit that. But I've, I've been too scared to make a choice and he's not gonna force me into anything. I believe God is a God of, of agency and choice.

[00:57:22] He's given me free will. He's not gonna force me in any direction. And when I look back, that's exactly what was happening. He wasn't gonna force me. He just kept loving me. He just kept encouraging me and he was very patiently waiting for me to choose. And once I finally realized that, and that to move forward, it was a co-creation process.

[00:57:41] It wasn't me just executing what he wanted me to do. He doesn't operate that way in my, in my view, he wants us to create with him alongside him. And that includes making a lot of decisions for ourselves and what we actually want. And so I made a choice and I, I started to see that I needed to. Move in a new direction and sell my company.

[00:58:05] And it was really scaring me. And at that same time, we were in conversation with somebody who was going to be an investor in the company and at his own choice, he said, I love you guys. I love your products. I've watched you come into the industry. I totally dominate and I absolutely want to be a partner and I just want more of it.

[00:58:26] And he made us an offer, an offer I couldn't refuse. And it was an offer that was going to allow, like set me free Gabe. Cause like the company was amazing, but it was really complex and it was requiring a lot of my time. And I was like, okay, I'm gonna do this. We're selling the company and sold the company.

[00:58:42] And , very quickly I had an identity crisis. What have I done? Who am I? Who I think I am? Because at that time as I was trying to figure out what my next move was, Over and over again. I was getting emails from people who were a younger version of me who were like, I have this idea. I wanna go do something.

[00:59:01] I don't know how to do it. I'm like, oh, I can show you exactly what to do. And so I was kind of coaching people on the side because it was fun for me. It was kind of this fun little gig, and I wish somebody had done that for me. And so I was gonna do it for you. And, and so when I sold my company, it was like, whoa, wait a minute.

[00:59:19] I'm like all in on this coach thing. And, but I'm Katie, the designer, but I'm telling everybody I'm a coach. And I totally had to confront the identity thing big time at that point. And I, I finally came, I wrestled with it for a really long time, and I finally made the choice that I'm going to put my industrial design skills on the shelf for a time and I'm going to go all in on this coaching thing.

[00:59:46] And I'm committed to becoming really good at it. and it was not easy. Gabe, can I tell you how many crying sessions I had in the shower? It was like, who do I think I am? Everyone's gonna see I'm a fraud. I don't really know what I'm doing. Yeah, you knew how to build your business, but that doesn't mean you know how to help somebody build their business.

[01:00:04] There was, there was a big attack on me and my identity and I continually had to choose to keep going and that's what I did. And can I tell you, I've been in, I've been a coach now for over three years and plus I was a coach for a couple years inside of my other business, Pudge. But three years in, I have firm faith and belief that I'm right where I want to be and where I feel like I was divinely called to and it was not easy and there were a lot of very, very dark days.

[01:00:32] But now, pretty much every day I have people saying back to me, Crying to me saying how much the work that we're doing together is changing their life and how much this is a gift for them, and how much it's changing their life, and how much they are now empowered to go and change the world and the, and affect and impact thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people because of the work that we're doing together.

[01:01:00] And it was, it was a choice. It was a process, and it was not easy. And it's, it's, it's the thing that brings me so much joy today.

[01:01:08] How do you keep yourself on track with your vision and your business? You know, when you, how do you say no to things? How do you know what to say no to? How do you know what to say yes to?

[01:01:15] It's

[01:01:15] really important to understand what I value, what my purpose is, and actually articulate and describe that in a journal so that I can say it to other people so that I know it internally. It's really important to know what's my North star, right? Where am I headed? And then, because there's all kinds, I get emails and dms all day long.

[01:01:37] And it's, it would be very easy for my energy and my efforts to become very scattered. And if I was very scattered and in a frantic state, I wouldn't make any progress in my life. But it's really important to know where I'm going and I look at it as best I can. I try to look at it with eternalize. So where am I going as a wife?

[01:01:57] Where am I going as a mother? Where am I going as a woman of God? Where am I going in my health? Where am I going as an entrepreneur and as an influencer in the world? And for me, it makes sense to align all of those pieces of me. And when opportunities pop up, I have to ask myself, is that opportunity in alignment with where I'm already going?

[01:02:20] Is it going to help me continue on that same path? Or is it going to pull me off and move me in a different direction? And this is what I do to determine what I say yes and no to. It's really important for me to be in tune with. Myself and my health and my body, and I know when I'm overworked and I immediately have to give myself permission to go take care of myself.

[01:02:43] After you and I finish this interview, I'm going to a place called Float. Well, it's a wellness spa. I'm gonna go lay in the infrared sauna for a while because it helps my shoulder feel better and it helps get rid of some headaches that I get sometimes. And so it's just, it's important to eliminate the noise, focus on exactly where I wanna go and, and then be willing to say no to the things that are gonna be a distraction and pull me away from that.

[01:03:11] And for me, that looks like a whole lot of journaling, cuz how do I identify that? It's a lot of journaling. It's a lot of getting out of my head. It's working with a coach, by the way. I work with a coach and I've heard you mention it a couple times. a must For me, it's absolutely critical and it's, it's part of how I stay on track is my coach will help me see when I've gotten off track.

[01:03:31] Right. That they've become an observer for me. What was the word you said? A witness? Yeah, a witness. Like my coach and my spouse are a witness for me and they help me see when I'm off track. And sometimes we'll get to the, like I'll get to my North star and then, then the question is, well now what? And it's about creating the next destination.

[01:03:50] I love to your point of what you were just speaking to, I love the journey. I love that. You know, set the bar, work towards it, and then move the bar. What's next? Because it's never, like you said, we never arrive. Thank you so much for sharing all this. But I wanted to start asking you about some of the things you.

[01:04:08] tell what is working, what's working now? Can you share what that is?

[01:04:12] We grow up in life with a lot of rules that we have created by the default, and it's an operating system by which we make choices and decisions, and there's nothing wrong with this operating system. It's, for me, that operating system helped me create my first business.

[01:04:29] And it was amazing. But at some point, that operating system was the very thing that was preventing me to get to the future I was trying to get to. And it kept getting in the way. And so one of the things that I do with my clients is I help them create 2.0. The new operating system. The operating system that is the next level.

[01:04:48] And it's the, it's the new not set of rules. I don't, I don't like saying it that way, but it's just, it's the new guidelines and the choice. Of how you're going to speak to yourself, how you're gonna view yourself, how you're gonna choose to view other people, and what you're gonna give yourself permission to do.

[01:05:08] And when, when I get off track and I get sucked into my old operating system, what are the things that I'm gonna do to get myself back? To where I want to be. So this is definitely something that's working now, and it's something that I do in my life. I'm constantly updating my operating system. Gabe and me and my husband have a lot of conversations where one of us will confront something.

[01:05:31] And when I say that it's not like this what you would think of as a confrontation, but it's just somebody bringing to light a way of operating that's not currently working. And then we discuss it and we have conversations about, well, maybe this would work, or what about this, and what about this? And okay, let's try this for a little bit and see how that works.

[01:05:49] And so this is something that is working really well, is being curious, being willing to recognize when I'm getting in my own way and notice that it's the operating system. It's not me and my essence necessarily. It's, it's what I've been taught to do and asking myself, is this working? Yes or no? And if it's not working, say, then brainstorm.

[01:06:14] Okay, well, what if we try this? What if we try this? And being willing to rewrite the operating

[01:06:19] system. One of the things you, that you offer is you have the audio training. I was wondering if you could talk about that and where can people find that and can you share what that, what they can expect from that?

[01:06:28] Yeah.

[01:06:29] I, I think people have heard throughout this interview that over and over again, I kind of was making my wildest dreams come true . Yeah. And it just, it kept expanding every time I would achieve something. Then it was about expanding and creating a new, a new dream, a bigger dream. And it's kind of a pattern of my life.

[01:06:50] And so what I share with people on this audio training, they can get it@katierichardson.com, but you can go and you can download this training and I share with you the framework that I've used in my life in order to understand how to do that and how to do it over and over and over again. I think it's really important to give ourselves permission to speak our truth.

[01:07:10] and to understand what we're feeling in our heart. This is a training that will kind of pull that out of you. And if you're like me at all, I had covered that up so well that sometimes I really believed I didn't know what I actually wanted and I had told myself over and over again that I was gonna do what I was supposed to do or what I should do.

[01:07:30] And that very phrase was getting in the way because I believe there was one, one right path for me and I was so terrified of going down the wrong road. And it wasn't until I really let go of that and I just, I really decided to clinging to the belief that. God wants me to choose and that includes what profession I want and that includes how I, how I impact the world.

[01:07:56] Yeah. He wants me to impact the world. I believe he wants me to be a light to the world, but what that actually looks like and the vehicle that I get in to do that, that's my choice. And I really believe he wants me to choose those things. So this training is, is set up to help pull that out of you. If you've lived in the land of shoulds and supposed to most of your life like I had for a long time, I'm gonna help you get rid of those and to really start to understand what you want, what your divine purpose is, and to really start to paint a picture of the future and the dream that is in sight of you that maybe you've had to ignore up until now.

[01:08:36] And I'll give you the steps and the tools that you need to start taking action on that because that's the key right there, Gabe, is it doesn't matter if you and I have any insights if we don't take new action. . And so a big part of what I do with people is help them understand how to actually put this into action.

[01:08:52] Cuz until then it's just an insight. It's just like a, hmm, that was nice, but nothing in life changes. And I'm all about transformation. I want you to see real results in your life.

[01:09:04] So I want, we are down to like some fun questions. I always like to do wrap up questions that are a little bit more on the fun side and I like to, I feel like they help get a little bit more of a, of a, of an insight into people.

[01:09:14] What is your favorite movie or documentary or series?

[01:09:18] I love watching all of the food documentaries. There was a really, really good one. It's kind of food related. It was about bees and it really opened my eyes. You hear how like the annihilation of one species affects all of it and I could just see it more in this documentary.

[01:09:33] So it was really fascinating to watch and see well, like we're killing off our bees and it's really sad and. There's a lot of people in Europe that are doing things about it, and I feel like our legislation in the US is kind of preventing a lot of that from happening. And it, it is just, it's, it's, I love documentaries and it's just, it's fascinating to see.

[01:09:56] How important bees are in our world. And I love all nature documentaries. There's a whole series, I think it's called Life, I think that's what it's called, but it, it goes through and it like shows you people living in really extreme situations. So like the desert and the Arctic and the jungle. And it's really fascinating to see the human spirit in such extreme situations.

[01:10:22] And specifically, I just have to tell this story really quick cuz it's so good. There's this one where you get to follow the people in the African bush and they show this tribal leader and a couple of the new hunters, they're walking together and they're coming up on a pride of lions who have just killed a gazelle and their faces are all red and these guys are sneaking up on them and they.

[01:10:44] Stickly little bows and arrows on their back. And I'm watching this in full suspense. I'm like, holy cow, what is gonna happen? They think they're gonna kill all of those lions at once with like one tiny little bow. And I was so confused. And they were crouching down so the lions couldn't see them yet. And I'm like, there's no way these, these three skinny guys with one stickly bow and arrow are going to take this pride of lions.

[01:11:10] And the narrator's telling you how these guys who are sneaking up on the lions, they're interested in the kill. And I'm like, they're gonna take the gazelle from the lions. There's just no way. And the most unexpected thing happens at the same time. All three of them stand up, right shoulder to shoulder, stand up with full faith, full confidence, full certainty.

[01:11:33] And they walk toward these lions, and one by one, the lions scatter. And they leave the kill, they scatter, they run away, they cower behind the bushes and the men walk up and they cut off pieces of the kil and they walk off with it. It was amazing. And so I love watching stories like this where you get to see like what's actually possible in the world.

[01:11:58] And that story specifically, it demonstrates the power of certainty. And the narrator was saying that there, it was so important that they stare at these lions and they walk facing them and they don't cower. And it's that certainty scares the lions. So

[01:12:19] good. Love it. What is the book or books that you've given most as a.

[01:12:25] The War of Art is really good by Stephen Presfield and it's great because it's one of those books that you can pick up and just start reading anywhere in the book and it will immediately speak to you and it, it will immediately be very relevant and it's a very easy read, but at the same time, it really makes you think.

[01:12:43] So I love that one. There's one by Terry Warner called The Bonds That Make Us Free, and it's about relationships, which if you're an entrepreneur and you're gonna lead people, that's really important. That's a super good book. I love Stephen Covey. In fact, I just listened reading to his Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, even though I've listened to it or read it before in my life.

[01:13:06] He teaches some really powerful principles and I think it's really great to always refresh my mind. I also really like Eckert Tole and he's another person who really makes me think. I actually first got introduced to him, he did a podcast series on one of his books. with Oprah, which book? The New Earth.

[01:13:25] He and Oprah like chapter by chapter. They review his book in a podcast series and I stumbled on it and I was like, holy cow, this guy is giving words to feelings I've had my whole life, but I've never been able to articulate. And he really taught me how to tap into my intuition and gave me the, the reasons I don't know.

[01:13:44] He, like, he gave me permission to speak my truth in ways that I really had not been speaking my truth, right? There's always another level and he just has taught me some really beautiful things about my life and intuition and the power of being present and how to deal with things that are pulling me out of that presence.

[01:14:05] Do you have a quote or saying or anything like that that you live by or that. think of often.

[01:14:15] Yeah, I do actually, it just came to my mind. It's also by a leader from my church, his name's David O. McKay, and he said There is a responsibility that all of us have, and that is the responsibility of personal influence.

[01:14:29] You cannot evade it. You and I for one second cannot escape this. This personal responsibility becomes influence on the people around us. We can't avoid that influence that we have on people, and our opportunity is to choose what we put out into the world and we can choose to put out negative, non-powerful.

[01:14:57] Energy information, or we can choose good, positive, powerful energy. And he highlights two things. He highlights that every one of us has influence and we're impacting people whether we like it or not. And our power is to choose what we're putting out into the world. The way he talks about it, it's, it's a radiation.

[01:15:19] It's a radiation. That's how he talks about it. It's a radiation. We're radiating who we are and our opportunity is to choose that. Choose the radiation. It's

[01:15:31] so good. What is the number one thing you'd like listeners to take away from this interview? There

[01:15:38] is infinite possibility, and I believe in you. I think sometimes it's very easy in our own heads to live in a space of doubt and to live in a, a space of that.

[01:15:53] That's not possible and I can't, and I'm not that kind of a person. And that's, it's very limiting small thinking. And I lived in that place for on my own life's journey to see the times when I was woken up. And I began to see where I was not choosing in my life and why that was causing me to have a default life.

[01:16:17] And I'm just super grateful that I am in a place where I can see, I have agency, I can choose, I can create, I have infinite possibility. I'm not limited. And I look at what I have been able to create in my life, even though I came from that small thinking and what I've been able to create. I'm 39 and what I've been able to create so far in my life and how amazing that is and how exciting that is.

[01:16:46] And I, I wanna do everything I can to empower. , even if it's just one person to take on that frame of infinite possibility and to open their mind and set them free. And so for me, that's a big part of what I do is I, I truly believe in you and I know there's a way, and I am willing to share any and all of my resources and the things that have helped me in my life to create infinite possibility.

[01:17:16] And I, I just want people to know it's possible. Here's the other piece of I believe in you. I didn't tell one story. Before I had that wild success in Las Vegas where everybody bought the, the tub. I actually went to a, a show in New York and it was the first time showing the pledge tub to the public.

[01:17:36] Even though it was like buyers, store buyers. It wasn't really public, but it was the first time I was, I was showing people my idea. A product that I had been working on for a couple years. I had invested a lot of money into my family, was literally living on food storage. I was grinding wheat and making four lobes of bread a week to feed the family.

[01:17:54] We were eating that and rice and beans. It was like we looked crazy to everybody else, right? Because my friends, their husbands had high paying corporate jobs and we were just living the startup lifestyle with three kids. It was kind of crazy, but that was a choice that we'd made and I went to this show in New York with the belief that I.

[01:18:14] Going to make all of our wildest dreams come true. And everyone was gonna buy the product and it was gonna be the most amazing story ever. And I came home from that show, Gabe devastated when I was at that show. People, I was talking to store buyers from Target and Nordstrom and Pottery Barn, and they were asking me questions like, what are your lead times and what's your wholesale price?

[01:18:34] And do you have safety testing on this? Do you. Insurance. They were asking me all these questions, and I didn't have the answer to any of 'em, Gabe, and I was terrified that I was gonna get exposed. And so I pretty much said no to all of 'em or like did whatever I could to give 'em the best answer. But at the end of the day, nobody placed an order.

[01:18:52] And I came home feeling like I was a total failure, and I was embarrassed to even face my husband. I just, I felt like a failure. As a designer, I felt like a failure as a mother and a provider. And here I felt like I'd let us down a road that just was like a dead end. And I was devastated. And fortunately, this is my husband again.

[01:19:14] Fortunately, my husband listened to me and he said, Katie, they didn't actually tell you no. I'm like, no, no, no, no, you don't underst. Yes, they did. . He was like, no, no, listen to me. They didn't actually tell you no. They asked a bunch of questions and we just didn't have the answer they were looking for. All we have to do is answer all of those questions and the all by the product.

[01:19:36] You didn't fail, Katie. You actually brought us the blueprint. Like now we know exactly what we need to do. And I was like, you're crazy, but you're right. He said, all we do answer these questions and we'll be shipping this product all around the world. And in that moment, Gabe, I was feeling like a total failure and he sparked a belief that I couldn't have for myself in that moment.

[01:20:00] And even though I didn't believe in myself at that moment, and even though I agreed to and I was like, okay, I guess we'll answer all these questions and we'll go back to a trade show. Like you said, , I didn't believe in myself, but I, I could see the belief in him and I said, I'm gonna suspend. Belief in myself right now cuz I don't have that and I'm gonna suspend even needing it and I'm just gonna lean into your belief in me right now.

[01:20:24] Cause I don't have that and I need it. I need someone to believe in this and I had to lean into him and that's what got me through. So when I tell people I believe in you, this is what I mean. As entrepreneurs, there's a lot of really dark days and there's a lot of nos and there's a lot of times where we start asking ourselves, am I just crazy?

[01:20:48] What am I doing? Who do I think I am? And those questions cause us to start to doubt ourself and to shrink back and tell ourselves that we just need to live a small life. And I don't think that's true. And sometimes we need to borrow that belief and we can't believe in ourselves. So I want anyone who's listening to this to know, I know what it's like to not believe in yourself anymore.

[01:21:13] There's a woman in Vancouver, Washington who believes in you. And if that can get you to take your next step, go do it. It's not glamorous to fail. I think it's really important though that people see that that's what happened before I did

[01:21:29] 2 million. We could talk about this for an entire separate show. I mean, the, the whole aspect of failure and the, the fear of failure when you go through failure and stories like yours are what provide that example of how genuinely you can.

[01:21:50] Show up for your, your business and in your life and can find success. Where can people find you on the innerwebs to learn more about you and to learn more about what you're doing and how you're showing up and, and supporting people?

[01:22:04] Yeah. The best place to find me is on my website, Katie richardson.com.

[01:22:09] K a t i e r i c h a r d s o n, and you can kind of get a sense for who I am, how I operate, who I work with, and what I do in the world. You can also find me on Instagram, katie.live, and if you're interested in Not Normal, which is kind of, that's the place where I do workshops and also masterminding. That is not normal, n t nrml.com, and you can, you can go apply to come to one of our workshops and just kind of get a sense for our values and what we do to help entrepreneurs if you're interested in that one.

[01:22:50] but I, I wanna say Gabe, in any of those mediums, reach out to me. I really love connecting with people and just knowing who you are and connecting in that way. And I'm somebody who reads all of my dms and I respond. So if you feel so compelled, reach out to me.

[01:23:08] Katie. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for sharing.

[01:23:11] This has been so amazing. Thank you for being so generous with your transparency and the stories that you've been sharing about your, your life and how it's helped guide you along with your faith to get where you are in life as a human and as a wife and mother and entrepreneur.

[01:23:34] Thank you, Gabe. I really appreciate this conversation.

[01:23:36] It was nice to kinda slow down, if you will, and have such a real conversation. And I really. Would invite anybody who's listening to this, rather than just saying, what did Katie say? I would invite you to ask the question, what am I hearing from me? There's a lot that we've talked about and there's certainly something that is popping up for you, and that's, that's the biggest opportunity for you. So I would just invite everybody answer that question, what am I doing for me and what am I hearing from me and what am I going to do about.

[01:24:08] Well, that's it for this episode. Whether this is your first time listening or you're already a fan, thanks for being here. We hope you enjoyed the show. All lengths and show notes for this episode can be found at theartful.co. If you haven't yet, please subscribe to the show and leave a rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks again for listening. Until next time, keep being artful.

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038: Katie Richardson - Create your big idea now

Product designer and coach shares how to add value to yourself and the world

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038: Katie Richardson - Create your big idea now

Product designer and coach shares how to add value to yourself and the world

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TRANSCRIPT

039: Reji & blvperd - Consciously creating (and the benefits of getting serious)

037: Dan Radin - Making podcasting simple for the masses

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