Hello, my name is Leslie and I am the host of the Why Not Say podcast.
This is a podcast to celebrate people who have been courageous and said, Why Not Today?
I started this podcast in honor of my father, Patrick Kane, who often did say, Why Not Today?
I'm based in Reston, Virginia, a planned community right outside of Washington, D.C., and thanks
for joining us today.
And I'm excited to have my guest, Katie Cleese, be on today.
And I would like to share how I met somebody who are connected.
And Katie was instrumental in getting me off a couch and getting me out of fear.
And I share that often when I remember exactly where I met somebody, I'm like, They're going
to be in my life forever.
And you were one of those people, Katie.
I was sitting on the couch in the beginning of March, mid-March 2020, everybody knows
where we were.
And I was a little terrified that I was like, How am I going to run a business?
And just like we always do, we're a little fearful.
We try to distract ourselves.
I was on social media and a comment somebody had on some site said, I'm looking for someone
to help me with makeup.
And so I reached out to Katie and her mom was in town and wanted to play with some makeup.
Well, it was right about when the world shut down.
And so we decided we'd better do something virtual.
And that's how we started.
And since then, in the last three years, Katie and I have become great friends and gone through
life together, some twists and turns in your life, Katie, and just feel like God definitely
puts you in my path and a reason for you in my life.
And so I'm excited to have you share today, courageous things you've done in your life.
And I didn't even realize what was going on in your life when I first met you.
But why don't you just quick introduce a little bit about Katie and a fun fact about yourself
and then we'll get into the courage component.
Awesome.
Well, yes.
Thank you so much, Leslie, for having me on the show today and I'm excited to be here.
My name is Katie Klespie and I am the owner and CEO and founder of Rexpert, a two-sided
marketplace to find and connect with recreation experts near you.
And I met Leslie, yeah, during the pandemic when I was getting my first surgery.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
My mom was in town visiting.
And yeah, we were looking, I was looking to, you know, knock something off my list, which
was get my professional photos done for my business as I was presenting at conferences
and wanted someone to help me with my makeup before I had those photos done.
And so Leslie came into my garage.
I want to say the day that afternoon I had surgery.
I had no idea that you had surgery or going through any of that until probably months
later it seems like.
Yeah.
I think I told you that day.
I was like, oh, I just had surgery.
And you were like, okay.
Oh my God.
I think I agreed to like speak at a couple of conferences that afternoon too and they
say no big decisions like the day when you're still kind of anesthesia.
And that's, I wouldn't have it any other way.
So.
I was about to, you know, you're out doing life and not letting it slow you down.
Well, you know what, you go through cancer and during the pandemic, right?
I went right into 26 rounds of chemo after two surgeries and 33 rounds of radiation.
I had the max of everything because I was only 32 at that point in time, you know, and
I couldn't have any visitors during chemo, but I made the best of it.
And you know, I actually had a little, not a little podcast, but I had cocktails with
Katie had chemo every Tuesday and I would get groups of people together and we would
play like online virtual games together.
My aunt used to read me a story and everyone had to bring a cocktail glass and wear a funky
hat because I had a cold camp on.
So it just kind of made the best of it.
But when you go through hardships like that and then my mom had been diagnosed with leukemia
for the second time.
Well, I was going through my own cancer journey and I ended up losing her that November and
had to pause my cancer treatment, say goodbye to my mom.
And then continue on my own cancer journey.
So you realize really quickly that life is so short, right?
Like my mom had just retired and you know, she was 62 and she only had like a year or
two of retirement and had saved her whole life, had made all the right choices, had,
you know, not taken big risks, but kind of done the right thing.
And so I just any opportunity I take it now.
Yeah, you know what?
I love my life that way too.
Like you got to live life and I've heard so many people that, you know, again, work
all their, their life for that and goal of retirement.
And with my age, a lot of people are talking about retirement or I'm like, are you going
to retire?
I'm like, heck no, you know, people retire to sit on the couch or retire and then you
don't know what's going to happen.
Like live life.
And I think we both do a really good job about with that.
So before we get into the courage component, what's a fun fact about Katie?
Fun fact about Katie.
Well, I love doing triathlons, so I just completed my first Ironman Maryland last September.
And yeah, so I'm here at a lake today and I'm looking forward to swimming in the lake.
Everyone thinks I'm crazy because I brought my wetsuit.
So that's when you know, an athlete when you show up to someone's lake house on your
vacation and like, I brought my wetsuit and my beating cap and my goggles.
I'm very excited to swim.
Congratulations for the Ironman.
That's an amazing accomplishment.
I had my brother on my anniversary episode and we talked about my dad encouraged, but
we also talked about he did an Ironman.
I don't know, did you do it?
What is the completed, I guess?
I don't know.
But the other day I was somewhere and somebody I know who had started a fitness journey just
the last couple of years told me, I listened to your podcast with your brother and it inspired
me to sign up for an Ironman myself.
And so it's kind of fun to see how this podcast is encouraged people do other things.
So all right, so before we get started talking about your courageous thing, tell me what is
your definition of courage?
Yeah, well, my definition of courage, I actually wrote down some notes.
It's having the confidence to step outside your comfort zone and try something new that
makes you scared or nervous.
You went like that.
Just taking a risk essentially when you have those butterflies or just feeling anxious,
not necessarily anxiety, but feeling anxious about something and knowing that on the other
side it might change you for the better or improve or it could be a really great experience
or not.
I think courage too is just sitting in that and the pre-op before you go into surgery.
It takes courage to go into surgery too, right?
So it could be good or bad, but facing something that's really scary and doing anyway, I think.
Right.
Yeah, and we don't know when we do step out and do those things.
We talked about before we came on, you know, you got to have A, B, C, D, plan to Z.
And I think every time you take that step of courage to do something, and even if it
doesn't work out, it gives you the courage to take another step.
You're still living.
You're still kicking.
You're still having it.
I mean, think about the worst thing that can happen.
So you've had lots of courageous things in your life just since I've met you three years
ago and I definitely want to talk about your business.
So I don't know if you want to talk about the courage of your journey and with cancer
treatment, your mom, your Ironman, you want to talk about traplines, you could talk about
your business, we could talk about so many things.
Can you tell I'm typing?
And you're getting a PhD with all this going on.
Yes, I was writing my dissertation through chemo.
Like I chemo took seven hours because with the cold cap, it took like an hour to freeze
your scalp and then a couple hours to have the chemo and then you had another hour to
defrost your scalp.
So I saw that almost like a plane ride, I'm like, oh, seven hours that I can get so much
done.
I love that.
That's what got me through grad school as I was traveling for business and I was on
lots of plane rides and I could study on a plane.
I'm like, this is the best time to study.
No distraction.
Yeah, it was fun in the beginning.
Like, I mean, not fun.
Chemo's not fun, but like there was 12 hard sessions and I want to say the first six,
I could get things done.
And then you start getting chemo brain, like it's foggy, it was hard and then towards the
end it was really, really hard.
But I would bring like a vat of caffeine because they give you all these drugs that make you
sleepy and tired.
And most people just like sleep, you know, because it kind of goes by fast.
It's like caffeine, let's do this.
Okay, so I'll talk about courage when starting my business because that I want to say that
was the biggest step, the biggest risk.
When I met you, you were working for Clyde Moore Park in the aquatics department when
I first met you.
And then you ended up leaving that job and starting your own business.
So that's super exciting.
Very abruptly, actually.
Okay, I did not know that I was planning that I was ever going to walk away in that moment
on that Friday afternoon, but I did.
I've always been, why not today moment?
Oh my gosh, Leslie, 100%.
I've always been good at making decisions.
And when you know, you know, like I always say, like when I met my husband, when I bought
my first house, like there are certain moments in your life you just know.
And I just, I knew, I just knew when I called my husband and I was like, I need to do this.
And he supported me the whole way.
So I left Parks and Rec on a Friday and I had planned to do it.
And half Ironman in Atlantic City that Sunday.
And so we literally like, I came home from work.
I was typing the resignation letter in the car on the drive to Atlantic City.
And you know, my friends and family were saying, 24 hour rule, Katie, like calm down, like
just, you know, send in on Monday, do your half Ironman.
And I said, no, no, no, I know, I just know, like, so it's hip sent, showed up, had a great
race and it was the first race that I completed after chemo too.
So I had trained for this half Ironman all through chemo.
And it was really important to me to finish that.
And then that Monday I was already like thinking of what I wanted to do.
And I had known that in Parks and Rec during the pandemic, right?
It was a physical building.
That physical building shut down and everybody went outside.
So I realized that people were still looking online.
Where can I go for hiking?
You know, my kid wants a coach and being in Parks and Rec, working at the front desk sometimes
or just being in aquatics, talking to parents, everybody was always asking me where they
can find XYZ, right?
And so I realized that, you know, there were two side of marketplaces out there to find
contractors for your house, right?
Why is there not anything for recreation, you know, component for that?
And so I did my research and found out that there's fitness, there's sports coaches, but
there's not really like hiking, biking, you know, kayaking, paddle boarding, things like
that and opportunities for families and just people in general to connect and be outside
and recreate.
That's the definition of recreation, right?
Recreating yourself and through different experiences.
And so I called up my business partner at the time.
He was somebody who worked in Parks and Rec with me.
And he actually said, Katie, please be, you know, where are you going from aquatics and
how can I come along with you?
Like what are you doing now?
And so we formed a partnership initially that Thursday, I think we met for lunch and then
we came up with the name like experts for recreation, like finding coaches, Rexpert,
you know, finding connected recreation expert, Rexpert.
And then Rexpert was born.
That's awesome.
I love that.
I love that you just jumped in and did it and like, you know, that you know that you
know.
And so often we know that we know that we know and then we survey everybody and especially
the people we don't even value their opinion.
And we don't really care to ask and that's, you know, how does this look on me?
We always got to get the approval of somebody.
But you know, it's just, I did the same thing when I quit my job.
It was a little more thought through and it wasn't immediate, but for the couple months
before I made that leap over, it's like, sure you're going to do it.
You're sure you're going to, I'm like, yeah, I'm done.
Like, and have a little bit.
I will say, yeah, and I give you so much credit, Leslie.
I mean, I will say to the credit of my husband, like I could not have done this without his
emotional, financial, physical, all of it support, right?
Like he was right there and, you know, to do that as, as not having a significant other.
Oh my gosh.
So you have even more courage than I do when it comes to this.
So what's the worst that can happen?
I knew I could sell products and, you know, I can always get into the job, which I've
never had to do.
So through the development of your business, you're still in the launching phase.
And I love that you have reached out and figured out ways to get resources and funding and
some of those things.
And I think this, as I shared in the beginning, this podcast is really a platform to encourage
people to do the things.
So if somebody's looking at starting a business, some of, what are some of the resources you
found to get some help?
Yeah.
So the SBDC Small Business Development Center was, you know, so influential in the beginning.
That was one of my first calls.
And they set me up with what was called a program called ICAP, which was the Innovation
Commercialization Assistance Program.
And it's free.
And they provide me with a mentor and I got into it and it was probably, I think, a six
week course.
But it almost took you step by step by step.
And they encouraged us to do customer discovery and talk to people and write down your business
plan and the value proposition.
Why are you doing this on each side of it?
And so once I got involved with ICAP, and then I want to make it clear that I'm not
a small business, I'm a startup.
So there's a huge difference between a small business and a startup.
Just, for instance, funding, right, the massive amounts of funding.
And I'm not doing the skill myself, right?
Like I have to hire developers.
It's the tech, which makes the difference in startups.
So a lot of those things.
So is ICAP for startup or small business or both?
ICAP is for startups.
Yeah.
Okay.
But I want to say one of the biggest mistakes I made was following the path of a small businesses
in the beginning.
And if I could do it all over again, I mean, I use too many companies locally that were
for small businesses that were not a good match as a startup.
And then I want to say a year later, I got into the startup community in DC and got more
connected to the startup resources that I knew and was finally in the right place.
But I wasted tons of money and time.
And unfortunately, I don't know, some people were connections and some just took me down
bad paths.
Obviously I won't name names or talk about any of that.
But I felt like there was a solid six, seven months that I wish I could just do it all
over again.
Yeah.
But you learned.
So what lessons did you learn that you could share with other people other than, and I
love the thing about startup.
I've never even thought about that with the why not today brand.
But I think it's definitely startups.
Yeah.
I mean, everyone has it.
Some people have different definitions of startups like, you know, if you're a small
business, you are starting up, but I needed funding, right?
And I was so grateful that when my mom had passed away, she had left me some inheritance
funding.
And I was able to take that funding and hire a developer and hire the things, a marketing
company, you know, initially early on, but, you know, some of those early decisions led
me down the wrong path.
I think I just, I didn't know what you didn't know.
And I don't know if I can give advice on that because I really, it was such a huge pivot
in careers.
I had to go through it myself and go, I will, I don't know if I'll ever go back to like
a corporate business.
I love being my own boss and I already have ideas for my second startup after when this
one becomes successful.
But I would do it completely different based on the mistakes I made and now what I know
in the beginning.
Right.
And don't we all need that?
And I think the event difference with me and you in starting businesses, I started a
business.
It was a direct selling business that had all the everything behind it, which I think is
helping me tremendously with launching the Why Not Today brand is I've got the systems
in place and all the things I've done for 20 some years in place, you know, when you've
just worked for some of you, you haven't created a business.
I think, yeah, you're definitely coming from a different place.
Right.
Which is why startups are so incredibly hard and like only 3% of funding goes to women
too.
So like being a female founder in technology startup space, I just was, you know, I have
a handle on it now.
But yeah, that's great.
So talk about the business where you're taking it.
What are you doing with it?
How can we even support people and do encourage us things?
Yeah.
So let's see, we launched our beta product last January and had some early doctors, but
it was built on WordPress, which is like your basic, you know, website designer and to be
a startup, you need what's called intellectual property IP, right?
Something that's unique and that you can kind of change and manipulate as you grow and WordPress
doesn't allow for that.
So we took it down and totally recoded it, found developers and coded it from the ground
up to something that we wanted it to be, which was more of a user friendly, two-sided marketplace
where a busy family can go and type in what they're searching for.
You're looking for pickleball and coming and it generates different coaches and trainers
and things that are local to you that you can message back and forth right on your phone
and connect with them and choose them through profiles, reviews, ratings, things like that.
So we are, we just about, I want to say a few weeks out from launch for our MVP to,
I want to say, minimal viable products.
So we're very excited about that.
We've got about 50 early adopters we're working on getting on right now.
But yeah, eventually, you know, once we launch, you'll be able to find not only solopreneurs.
So like, you know, those who are coaches who have their own business, his small business,
but also recreation centers.
So one of the biggest habits that we made in the last month was connecting with rec centers.
So rec centers will be able to load all their classes so that as a parent or a local person
or family individual, you'll be able to see all the recreation options, not just personal
coaches, but the rec center too, so that you don't have to go multiple tabs across your
search bar.
So with the coaches you work with, do they have to be local?
Do you have them all over the country?
Well, for our marketing strategy, you know, we want to start here in this area.
So Virginia, Maryland, DC, and coincidentally for our research, this area is one of the
top five areas and towns and cities and that invest in parks and rec in the United States.
So I think Norfolk was like number five.
So we'll grow from there and eventually grow from East Coast to West Coast and scale that
way, but we want it to be strategic.
So you're kind of a connector to all the resources to the public?
Yes.
Yeah, it's a subscription.
It's for the experts in the rec centers.
And so the families use it for free or individuals use it for free.
And obviously you can purchase your services right on the platform.
So it's $39 a month for solopreneurs and $99 a month for the big rec centers to load up
all their classes on there.
That's awesome.
So I'm thinking about somebody I interviewed on my podcast that she's a health and fitness
coach and she has a coaching business and work with people like nutrition and giving
you your exercises and everything.
And you have a coach you work with, everything's completely virtual.
And she's probably a good partner with you and a good person.
She's very, she's young, I keep saying that, she's in her twenties, but she is wise beyond
age and what she's been able to put together in this company.
Awesome.
Love to hear.
Yeah, definitely.
So I know it's been courageous to keep going with this project.
You've had some things that have not gone well.
And we just talked about something that happened a couple of weeks ago.
And so talk about, you don't have to give specifics of what hasn't gone well, but talk
about, you know, how do you get back up and how do you keep going and how do you not like
growing the talent?
Where do you get that resolve to say, or courage to say, I'm not quitting.
Yeah, it's funny because so many people have asked me like, are you at that point yet?
And like, no, no, failure is not an option.
We haven't even launched yet.
Like there's not even, that's not even my vocabulary.
So yeah, one of the things that has been a biggest challenge for me in a startup is,
you need, they say, you know, you need a co-founder.
So from day one, I've always wanted to, I wanted someone to do this with, right?
And so I have gone through three co-founders now.
And for whatever reason, they have left and, and, you know, I've got a board of advisors
and everyone is like, Katie, you're so strong.
You can do this on your own.
You don't need a co-founder.
Yeah, you don't need a co-founder girl.
Yeah, just keep going.
And you know, and I just, what you said is so strong and I was going to recommend is
you have a board of advisors.
So you don't have to have a co-founder, but you have your tribe, your mastermind group,
your women, your people that surround you that are going to cheer you on and give, and
be able to mastermind and brainstorm with people.
And I love doing that.
Oh yeah, I've found in people have just, you know, almost like, I guess, magnetic.
They've reached out to me and it's funny how things happen for a reason because so, you
know, one of the biggest things that I had to have courage was two weeks ago, my third
co-founder left the company and they, I'm allowed to talk about this legally now.
So I'm just going to go for it.
So he took all the code.
He just removed myself.
Yeah.
He took us to my entire company for two years and he took down our landing page.
We were getting ready to pitch that Friday in a pitch competition.
So here I am on Tuesday with no landing page and nothing to show for two years for Rex
Bert.
So long story short, you know, we ended up getting it back, but there was, you know,
a couple of days there.
I had to dig deep and, you know, one of my old business coaches, Katie Nelson, has said
to me, you know, Katie, you have a plan A, B, and then all the way to Z. And I felt like
I hit Z that day.
And yeah, well, she was like, then we started Alpha Bravo, Charlie, you know, the Zulu alphabet.
So I was, you know, working on Alpha at that point and had to just keep going.
So my husband was such a great supporter in that moment.
I reached out to my advisory board, you know, I used all my resources and I just took it
day by day and leaned on the things that I could control.
And I think in those moments, that's the phrase that I was in my head, like, what can I control
right now?
Because you have no control, right?
So I could control my Ironman training.
Like I can go out and do, you know, even things that have nothing to do with your business,
like that makes me feel more grounded in the chaos that is happening around me.
So randomly slip that in.
We talked about it before, but I don't think you actually said that you have, or you did,
I guess we did talk about the Ironman and triathlons.
I mean, and that's just such a major thing too.
I mean, all the courage and all the things.
Oh yeah.
I mean, and everyone's like, oh, you do all these things, but I'm scared.
I'm super scared inside.
I don't care.
Yeah.
I just, I don't know.
I'm able to just push beyond that.
And I think I've lost a lot of really important special people in my life early on and I've
gone through cancer and I've gone, like I feel like you name it, I've gone through it.
And you know, the day I finished my last chemo for breast cancer, I found out I had skin cancer
and I had a chunk of my neck removed.
Like, so it's just not worth it.
Like if it's going to be good, just do it.
Like we were on the lake yesterday and I said, I'm going to jump off and go swimming and
they're like, it's cold.
You know, it's early, it's May and, and then I got the whole boat.
We all jumped off the boat, but it was just such a why not today moment.
I thought of you yesterday and we're, let's just do it.
What's the worst that could happen?
They were cold and there's cows.
We'll get back up.
Like, yeah, exactly.
It's like cold is not going to kill you.
Yeah.
So my computer's beeping for some reason.
All right, so lots of courageous things and I just love and I can't wait to see your business
launch and we definitely need to schedule another brainstorming.
You know, there was a reason you reached into my life because of makeup and look where it's
taken and we've been able to share ideas and brainstorm and, you know, I think you'd be
a great partner too for the why not today brand and encouraging people to get out and
exercise and, you know, just get started.
I am, I used to, and I know this is a connection we had when I taught water broke, I used to
tell people like, just think about how you're going to feel at the end of the day when you
put your head on the pillow.
If you did or you didn't, and I think, you know, exercise and starting business and all
those things saying why not today is also important.
Just doing it.
So what would you do to encourage somebody else to be courageous?
Ironically, I didn't thought about it, the word encouraged is has courage in it.
You know, that's a tough question.
I've always struggled with that.
I think I feel like sometimes I do that naturally organically when there are people around me
and people have told me that like I do it, but I don't know how to articulate how I do
it.
So somebody wants to start their own business, quit their job, compete in Ironman, fight
cancer, like all those things you've gone through.
I would say just do it, you know, and what's stopping you.
Life is too short.
Like a friend of mine just bought a beautiful house in Florida and, you know, she's close
to retirement and she's like, oh, it's long plan, you know, like we're going to be down
in their 70s and then we're going to do X, Y, Z and I said, what is holding you back?
Like just do it.
Just go down to Florida.
Like life is too short.
And I honestly, you know, it's a phrase that everybody says like life's too short.
But it really is.
Yeah.
And so when you when you lose people at an early age, it really is too short.
Everybody should we be also lucky to get to retirement and to be in our retirement house,
whether it's on a lake or in Florida to get to your retirement plan, you know, if you
can get there.
Yeah.
So I would say, I don't know, like live life to the fullest.
Like, like I said, we should be obviously lucky to live to 100 and do all the things.
Like every year, you know, I want to look back and be like, what did I accomplish?
What did I do?
I want to live life to the fullest in that moment as much as possible.
But.
Love it.
Yeah.
I love life.
And you know, so I always in the questions I give, oh my guess, I'm like, how do you
connect to my dad and people are like, I never met your dad.
How could I possibly connect?
But really it's a as I talk to my guests, I mean, some of my guests have met my father
but or had met him.
But I really kind of see where you can connect and where similarity.
So the first thing before we even started recording was we talked about plan ABC or D.
And he was definitely that kind.
He was by trade a planner and I mentioned that in his, when he passed away, his eulogy,
my brother's talked about, you know, he did have a plan ABC and his life, the path he
ended up in where I am was because of plan A and B didn't work.
And your whole philosophy of just living life and live life to the fullest.
I think my dad was a great example of that.
That he and our logo and I talked about this before the logo is my dad's, is my dad's
logo and he had an iPad to handle my mustache.
And he had the iPad since the night he grabbed, or not immediately, but he got in a car accident
and I graduated high school and almost died.
And he was in the hospital interaction for months and they didn't think he'd make it.
And he did and he was supposed to play football for USC, I think, and that didn't work.
So in the day, he decided instead he would just go to Notre Dame.
He might have a kid today just deciding, I'm going to go to Notre Dame instead.
But he got on a train and went to Notre Dame and instead that was his plan B. And then
he almost died in another car accident.
And so lots of, you know, why not today moments that he taught me, like, live your life.
I remember one time I wrecked his car in high school and I was devastated.
I thought he was going to kill me.
And he was out of town.
I didn't want to talk to him.
I was afraid.
And he came back to flowers for me and he said, you're alive.
Who cares about the car?
Like, you know, you're alive and that's all that matters.
And so definitely live by that example, what you're living.
Like, just do it.
Do the things.
And I love how you're enjoying life.
And like you're in a lake house right now in Tennessee, in a lake house in southern
Virginia and we can work wherever.
We keep talking about how you have a place at the beach that we need to plan an excursion
there and just kind of escape your play.
So lots of good lessons.
So thank you so much for being on.
And so if somebody wants to find you, we will share this in the show notes.
But if somebody wants to find you, where are the best places to find you and connect?
Yeah.
Well, our website is, you know, rexpert.com, R-E-C-S-P-E-R-T.
And my, our Instagram is at rexpert and my Instagram is at katieclisby.
And so you can just email me at the rexpertinfo at rexpert.com too.
And happy to connect.
Great.
Well, thank you again for being on.
And I love getting to know even more about you.
So if you want to follow the podcast, we are on all the platforms, Spotify, iTunes,
Google.
You can go to our website, which is whynottodaypodcast.com.
Would love to have guests review us, rate us, share it with your friends, let other people
know that you're here and that you watched.
And just remember, say why not today.
And also on the website, I do have some swag.
We've got cups and t-shirts and vinyls.
I'm thinking about some journals as another thing.
So we're just seeing where this is going to go.
Again, Katie, thanks for joining us.
Thank you for having me.
You're welcome.
Thanks everybody for listening.
Have a great day.
Bye.
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