Katie, welcome to the show. Thanks for having
me. Tell me about your vision. My vision. My
vision in a big way is to create a mental health
movement to support either clients or other business
owners and being able to help more people to
help more people so that we can see that ripple
effect of mental wellness across the globe. Tell
me more about that. Yeah, so I'm a multi -passionate
business owner. I own several businesses. I would
say my main business is a counseling center.
We support teenagers, young adults, and parents.
And one of the reasons that I am so passionate
about that is because we're catching concerns.
challenges with youth when they're still young
enough to make those changes and those patterns
aren't truly entrenched yet. And so we're able
to really help our next generation of leaders
and visionaries to be more stable, to be healthier
as they grow up and they become our leaders in
our world. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing
that. How did you get started on this path, Katie?
i actually went to school to be a journalist
so i was always interested in human behavior
and emotions but i started on this journey of
being an entrepreneur being a therapist because
i i was getting in a lot of trouble myself as
a teen and a young adult and then a surprise
pregnancy took me down a path of becoming better
for myself this this road of self -improvement
figuring out who I am how I can make sense of
the struggles that I've had so that I can help
other people and I went back to school to become
a therapist and I always knew Even after graduation
and falling into a job at a hospital program
that I was basically what I would say is unbossable
for a long period of time, that working for someone
else, working within someone else's rules was
going to be a challenge for me. And so I began
paving the way to open my own business, which
I did a couple of years after graduation. And
why did you choose this field? Like, I think
this is a very unique field. I would say maybe
it's a hard field. I don't know. But why did
you choose this field? I chose the field of mental
health because I always knew that what I experienced
was for a reason. And I had a tough upbringing.
And like I said, struggled a lot, had some self
-destructive behaviors in my teen and young adult
years. And to me, it had to be, it had to. be
worth something. It had to make sense in my life.
And in order to find that silver lining, to make
sense of that, I thought I can help others to
not struggle as much as I did. I can shorten
the struggle for them so they can get quicker
to resolution, to joy, to a life worth living
rather than struggling in the middle. So how
was the experience from not working for an employer?
and then eventually starting your own business.
What was that like? I started my own business.
I started as a solo practitioner, just working
for myself, doing therapy. And because I was
so clear on who I served, what my positioning
was, what my marketing was, I love social media
and I consistently talk about what I do, how
I do it, share with anyone who will listen to
me, that the demand for my services and my specialty
grew fairly quickly. So within two years, I expanded
from being a solo practitioner to renting my
own space. And it was a very one foot in front
of the other kind of process, I saw a sign that
said space available. So I thought, let me just
look at that space. And then I saw the space
and the visionary in me was like, this is my
space. I can see what I can unfold here. I can
see how we can grow. And so I rented a space.
I did interviews sitting on the floor because
we didn't have furniture yet. I built this small
scrappy team. Two years after that, we had doubled
in size and we were bursting out of that space.
And I bought my first building at that point.
So everything has just exponentially grown year
after year. The more I showed up, shared what
I love, made an impact and helped more people
to help more people in that process. Awesome.
Tell me more about that. What those early, early
days. How did you lean into, like, this is my
field and this is what I want to focus on instead
of focusing on everything else? A lot of times
when people come on the show, their journeys
actually begin in over -providing in a lot of
different things until they realize they can
niche down and be precise in something they do.
But your story seems a little different than
that. So it's very interesting. So tell me more
about that. Yeah. So when I graduated, I fell
into a job at a hospital program, like I said,
and it was with working with children and teens
and going through school. That was never my intention.
I didn't want to work with kids and teens because
I thought it would be too difficult for me. I'm
sensitive and I thought it would be hard to hear
about their struggle. And not that it wasn't,
but I found that I had a unique connection with
the teenage population, that I was able to show
up authentically in a way that. resonated with
them that they were willing to share with me
and a lot of the feedback that i was getting
when i was working in that program was wow i
wish we had something like this out in the community
where i didn't have to be in the hospital to
access your services and so the the entrepreneurial
brain that i have started thinking well, I keep
hearing this from people. I keep hearing there's
nothing like this in the community. I want something
like this. And I keep hearing that I'm doing
a good job providing this service. And so that
to me was really the market research or the data
that I needed to take this. feedback that I was
getting and to open the teen support center out
in the community that did not exist at that time.
And so it really felt like a very easy lateral
move for me to take this skill set in this population
that I was skilled at working with and to offer
a space for them. And that's how it started was
that the feedback was always telling me this
is what's needed. And that's how I was able to
build it so quickly. That's awesome. Now, first,
thank you for sharing that story. You mentioned
the word market research. I think a lot of times
entrepreneurs and leaders, they undervalue the
necessity of a market research that you need
to do when you start a business. And most times
it just gets ignored or not done. So you sharing
that tells me that there's a lot more that you
have learned. So thank you for sharing that with
the audience. And hopefully our audience is more
inspired by you as well. When it comes to the
why behind your vision, do you have some of the
stories behind the why that you'd like to share
with the audience today? The story behind my
why. So I shared a little bit, but I can share
in more detail. My parents divorced when I was
10 and it wasn't a regular, hey, we're separating
and everything's going to be the same, even though
they promised everything would be the same. It
very much wasn't. And the way that I described
my childhood is like a family war zone. It was
quite violent and challenging. And the ways that
I learned to cope with that in my teenage years
were by being self -destructive, turning to self
-harm and drugs and alcohol. And for a lot of
years, I didn't have. the right coping skills
or the right support to help me get through a
very difficult situation and so as i had shared
making meaning of that was very important to
me but also thinking about how can i become the
person that i needed when i was younger how can
i support other individuals in using their the
individuals i employ now and using their lived
experience to help the the teenagers that are
coming up behind them so it really is this The
why behind what I do is that my story has to
make sense. And to be able to help other people
not struggle like me is what matters most. And
also to help people know that they're not weird,
bad, wrong or different for being who they are.
So, you know, being able to give them the message
that if you feel deeply, if you have big emotions,
if you don't have the right coping skills, that's
OK. You're OK exactly as you are. And we are
going to help you learn the skills so that you
don't have to hurt. while you're figuring this
out awesome thank you for sharing that um if
you were to um put it in in a few words um what
gets you out of bed every morning in a few words
or a lot of words if you choose Yeah, so what
I will say is that one thing that comes very
naturally to me is being able to talk about what
I'm excited about and being able to share that
with. the masses and not just one or two people.
And I will credit the growth of my business to
social media a lot because one of the things
I've been doing, even since I knew I wanted to
create a business and I didn't have one yet,
has been sharing about what excites me on social
media. So what gets me out of bed in the morning
first is coffee, knowing that there's going to
be coffee downstairs. But then I love sitting
with my coffee on the couch. dimly lit room no
one else is awake yet it's very quiet and i'll
do all my social medias for my various businesses
so i'll create videos i'll create messaging and
to me it's more than a task it's not just a box
that i check it's my way of checking in with
my um with the people who care about what i'm
up to with the people who need to be helped but
wouldn't know that we exist unless i'm doing
that when i first started i had parents share
with me. I never knew something like this existed
before until I saw your ad pop up on Facebook
because back then it was more Facebook marketing
or even now a new business that I just started
a Pilates studio. They'll say, wow, I saw this
pop up on my Instagram and I thought I have to
try this. This is for me. So I get that consistent
feedback that what I'm sharing is reaching the
right people and therefore helping the people
who need to hear this message. So that that excites
me to wake up to be able to connect with people
who need to hear what I have to share. Thank
you for being here today. I'm really happy that
you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking
forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes
continue to move forward. This is going to get
more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement
as well. We'll invite people to participate in
the show and thank you for giving us your time
and attention. Have an excellent time building
out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.