KO Your Brand

Katrina Owens (00:05.746)
Welcome back to another episode of KO your brand the podcast for fame ready entrepreneurs I'm your host Katrina Owens and if you're looking for personal branding and or public relations tips this episode is not for you seriously I Am doing things a bit differently today. I feel like I always kind of open with that, but I guess if I could just say anything it's that the

The emotion behind each and every one of these episodes is different. And it's not that I haven't found my groove in like how I record or how I go about this podcast. It's just that sometimes inspiration strikes, things hit differently, you feel called to do things differently. And that is really what this episode is today. And it's going to be personal and it's going to be honestly,

Probably the most vulnerable I've ever been about building my personal brand in this business. But I can appreciate that this isn't going to be a conversation that everybody is interested in. I'm 150 % sure that the right person will get something out of this episode. If you're just looking for like how to secure more speaking gigs, this probably isn't the podcast episode for you. But if I can say anything, it's that

The work I'm going to talk about in this episode is what's allowed me to receive more speaking gigs and more opportunities and build my personal brand. this episode is probably going to be a bit of a stream of consciousness. I'm not prepared for it at all. I just knew that I had to record a podcast episode this week to stay on schedule with some of my travels.

And I was trying to think like, okay, what can I talk about this week? I have a running list of topics that I think are great. And then yesterday I had a conversation with someone that kind of sparked the idea that this should be something that I share. And then earlier today, I had a call with my mentors in the living in balance space, which you can learn more about in the show notes. And I am sure I will divulge even more about.

Katrina Owens (02:28.076)
my experience throughout this episode. But if you're always interested in learning more, that link is in the show notes and that's always available to you. And honestly, I'm not really in the mood to record a podcast episode right now. I feel like I've been kind of cracked open from an emotional standpoint.

And I was like, you know, I can move things around my calendar. Like the urgency around recording this podcast episode isn't really like it's not something I need to be doing today. And then I thought the only reason why I feel like not recording a podcast episode is because I'm in my feelings a little bit. And I know I'm not going to bring the bubbly, cheery, joyful, warm, fuzzy sunshine Katrina that

I think most of us feel like we know from social media. And I'm not here to say that that isn't me, that is. I am like at my core. I just, I don't know. I'm so like in love with my life and so proud of everything I've accomplished, entrepreneurship is like the biggest personal development journey that we will ever go on. And if you're an entrepreneur, which

You must be on some level, even if you haven't started your own business yet, or if you're not full time self employed yet, but you're still listening to this, you know that the inner work comes out when you become a business owner. And it's something that if you avoid, you are going to see it ripple through your business. I've seen it before and now I'm just in a different stage with it. And I figured, well, we might as well talk about it.

And for those of you that do listen to this episode, I think you'll receive connection. I think you'll find company in some of the feelings you might be having. You might even find like a tidbit or some sort of little twinkle of inspiration that helps you along your journey. I'm not guaranteeing any of those things, because I actually don't know like what's gonna come out today.

Katrina Owens (04:42.926)
I'm play on this. I did not do an outline and didn't do anything at all. I'm just going to talk. Which could be a bit frightening if you ask me, but I'm committed to this. And I think most importantly, after I share what I know I wanna share on this episode, the goal is that I've shared it and I've released it from my body so that I don't have to carry it anymore.

And like, I have a feeling that some of you are like, my God, what is she going to share? And I think by the end of this episode, you're going to be like, it's not that deep. And that probably isn't that deep, but it is for me. And that's the thing, right? Things can be true for us. They might not be true for somebody else. So I'm here to just share. and I apologize if this feels hard to keep up with, if I'm all over the place, if I don't connect the dots on some things.

But this is me. I'm imagining this as me talking to someone if I was just like going for coffee or sharing a little bit more of my story with a new connection. I am always an open book. I think all of my clients know that. I think people in my community who I've had the opportunity to have deeper conversation with, think people know that about me. I don't think you will get that.

from this podcast or my social media content a lot of the time, because I talked about it couple of weeks ago, your personal brand is not your personal life. This podcast provides me a platform to talk about things a little bit differently. although I'm going to get a bit personal here, to me, this is still in the vein of entrepreneurship. And this is a conversation that I think people don't have, and especially in the internet coaching space, which I have found myself

now being a part of because that is at the core what I am, it can be hard because there are income claims popping up on my Instagram, on my threads every single day of the week. And in this industry, you are measured by how much you bring in on a monthly basis. And if you're not making $20,000 a month, $30,000 a month, $100,000 a month, then you're doing something wrong. And

Katrina Owens (07:10.676)
I want those revenue targets. I really do.

And to be totally honest, I actually have a monthly revenue target that I've wanted to achieve for a really long time. And since I'm sharing it all, I'll tell you what it is. It's $30,000 in monthly revenue. That has been a goal of mine for, what I say, about a year now. Because a year ago, my goal was to make $20,000 in a month. Then I did that for a couple months in a row, and then I didn't for a very long time.

And I achieved that again back in March. And then when it was April, I said, OK, here we go. I did $20,000 now. I'm doing $30,000. And then in April, I didn't do $30,000 in revenue. I didn't even do $20,000 in revenue. I did a comfortable amount of revenue for me. I actually don't really remember what the number was at the top of my head. But I'm at a full transparency right now because this is a personal branding conversation. This is talking about

the realities of running a business that's based off of your personal brand, I will be transparent here and say, my monthly revenue on my business spans anywhere from 10 to $15,000 a month. And that's a cushy salary for somebody. But when you're a business owner and you have expenses and you have a fairly large debt,

As soon as I said it, I knew I was gonna, it was gonna bring up some feelings. That is, you know, it's a nice amount of money. It moves you forward. I can put a little bit of in savings every month. I can afford to pay myself the same amount that I would if I still had a corporate job. I can still afford to pay all of my contractors on time. I pay all of my bills, put money away for taxes. I'm always on top of things, but I have.

Katrina Owens (09:14.35)
a large, large to me, business loan that I took out back in the fall when things started to get really hard in my business. And when I did that, when I got the loan, I did a lot of research first. And that's what I want to preface this by. I had done an amazing program through the Board of Trade where I put together a business plan.

on exporting my services to the United States. And in that program, I had the opportunity to chat with different experts, people from RBC, people from the Women's Enterprise Network, a lot of different places where I could understand that leveraging debt to build a business is not a bad thing. And that actually made me a lot more comfortable with the idea of doing so.

But I grew up in a family where debt was the worst thing you could possibly have. I'm not sure my parents have had a loan on fucking anything for like a very, very long time. And that was something that they had always instilled in me. Like you don't do anything fun until you don't have any debt. So they would say like, you you don't go, you you can't afford to go on a vacation if you have to like.

you know, go into debt to go on it. You don't buy a boat. You don't buy a fancy car. All of these things. And like I lived an amazing life, you know, as a child, as a youth, I had everything that I ever wanted. My parents are so generous and have supported me throughout my youth hood. They have not supported me as an adult from a financial perspective. So I just want to get that out there because I think

A lot of the time people have wealthy parents or, you know, a rich husband and all of these things. And so I just want to make it, I want to paint the picture for you because I am here growing a personal brand as a business. Like, because this is what I'm called to do. I believe in the work that I do and I believe in myself, but there comes this like dichotomy of like,

Katrina Owens (11:30.062)
when you're building a personal brand, it doesn't always feel like a real business because I'm not out here developing like, you know, a product where I can bring on venture capitalists or have investors and all of those things, right? Like it's a very, very different experience. So it's not like my parents had ever like invested in my business. They had never said this to me before, but in my head to be

a business owner or an independent consultant, whatever they kind of see me as, I always felt like I had to be able to afford it. Like, you if you want to be self-employed, you better be able to afford it. That's always the thing that's always like run rampant in my mind. So then, back in the fall, I did this program, talked to a lot of different banks and organizations to really understand that.

It is so okay to leverage debt, you know, line of credit from the bank or loan or whatever it is, it's okay. And most businesses need it. And if it's available to you and you are able to get approved, it's because you've built up the personal credit and the expertise and you have the strategy. And if the bank or an organization wants to get behind your business because they believe in it, why wouldn't you?

use someone else's money at a low interest rate to grow. And that was how I felt back in the fall. And I was like, fuck yeah. Okay. Like, and I grinded it out. I put together this like, it's like 75 pages. It's a business plan. I got approved for the product that I wanted and something that was so like monumental for me. And I remember getting approved for it at the time of being like, yes.

It now has become like my cross to bear. And I don't know why that happened, but I went from feeling like this is a tool, this is something that I am so excited to have, it's going to enable me to exponentially increase my income, it's gonna allow me to build and scale and not have to use my personal savings because I do have some personal savings that I don't.

Katrina Owens (13:55.592)
want to put into the business right now. Doesn't mean that it will always be that way. But one of the amazing people from the board of Vancouver Board of Trade had actually said to me, like, why would you use your own savings to fund your business if you don't have to? And at the time I was like, yeah, makes so much sense.

And over the last couple months, I have just been like weighed down by this as a burden because at some point, and I don't know if that was my own limiting beliefs, I don't know what it was, an inner child thing, I don't know. But something in me decided that I was a less credible business owner because I have this loan, this debt.

And it all kind of came to a head. Like I knew that I was carrying it because, you know, in the living in balance space, we talked so much about money. We track all of our money every single month. I am doing a money date with myself where I look at every single bank account I have. I track every single line item. I track all of the balances, every single thing. And some months I feel good about my money situation and then other months I feel uncomfortable.

but the exercise is to do it without judgment. Because when you track your money, you're just trying to see where the leaks are, and you're just trying to see what's happening, because our money tells a story. And I love that that's been instilled with me, because I think that's such a great habit to have, and I love that my mentors hold me accountable to doing that.

But I've noticed that the story I keep telling myself month over month as I track my money, and I'm sure my mentors are like kind of probably internally sick of even hearing me say it, is how I measure my value based on the value of the loan. And it sucks, guys. And it all came to a head back, I guess it was about a month ago now, I was at an event.

Katrina Owens (16:12.466)
And one of my clients was the keynote speaker. And she is someone I completely admire. She has had an amazing career, built one company up, sold it, and now is a career keynote speaker and just has a life and a work ethic that I admire so much. And I met her in person for the first time. We've known each other for like a year now. But I met her for the first time in person.

she had said to me, you're crushing it, you're killing it, I'm so proud of you, it's so fun to watch you grow, blah, blah, all the amazing things. And as she was saying these things to me, it was like I had a demon inside of me that was like, yeah, she's just telling you all this stuff, but she doesn't know that you had to take on debt and take out a loan to be able to build to the place that you are today. And I'm like.

I noticed it as it was happening. was having like an out of body experience where I could hear this voice so loudly, where I could not receive these compliments that I really believe are true. Because guys, I know I'm killing it right now, okay? There's proof. I can look in all corners of my business, of my personal life, there is so much proof. I like say it to Gabriel like,

multiple times a week. just like, my life is so good right now. The other night, and like I think I had said on an episode at some point, probably it was actually pretty recently, where I said I'm not particularly religious right now. But it was so interesting because the other night, at such an amazing night, my other business, Women with Drive Golf and Social Club, we did our first event of the season.

There are some amazing brand partners that are kind of coming out of the woodwork to help with that business and are wanting to collaborate. And just the impact of introducing more and more women to the sport of golf is a very powerful thing that I'm doing. And the event was so amazing. And I had basically had like a 48 hour period where all of this amazing stuff was happening. I got home, got into bed, and I prayed and I cried.

Katrina Owens (18:33.07)
I just was like, thank God, like literally thank God. I couldn't imagine a life this big. Oh, makes me misty eyed. A year ago, six months ago, I could not imagine having a life as big as I do right now.

And I don't even think I've scratched the surface on what it's going to be. And the conversation that I had with my mentors earlier today that kind of like cracked me open was one of my mentors that I'm so close with and extremely grateful for. her so, much. She basically said to me, encouraged me.

because I am actually now a mentor in the living and balance space too. I'm not sure I've ever mentioned that, but that's a pretty big milestone. I'm the youngest mentor in the program and have some imposter feelings around that too, but.

She basically said, because I was having trouble, we were working through something and I was having trouble connecting to it and she encouraged me to think of, like visualize how I imagine me continuing to contribute to living in balance like years from now because I know I'm going to be in the program for life probably because I love it so much and I believe in the work so much. And she encouraged me to think like long term.

of what that looks like for me, both as a woman that participates in the space, but also mentors in the space. And it allowed me to say something that I don't think I'd ever shared with my mentors before, where I have a very hard time visualizing what my life looks like in six months from now, in a year from now, five years. Like, I can't. I know what I want it to, the best case scenario.

Katrina Owens (20:36.28)
but there's such a big part of that that still feels like a dream. And so it's very hard for me to like, from a place of connected reality, be like, this is what it's gonna look like, this is what I envisioned as. And I know for me, it's actually like a safety thing. Because my life is so big right now, so much bigger and dreamier and expansive.

It's a life that I couldn't even imagine having even six months ago. And I'm still so scared that it's fake or that it's not real or that it's just going to all fall away. And I think when I connect that back to the shame I feel around having this debt and this loan, it's like sometimes I feel like I'm

using this money to fund something that isn't real. And I've never said that out loud before, but that's the feeling. That's the connection point. Because building a personal brand is such a dreamy thing. Like, guys, two years ago, I was effectively a nobody. And like some people are gonna say that and be like, no, you weren't, were still Katrina. And that's true. Like I was corporate Katrina.

guess a little bit longer than that now, two and a half years. I was corporate Katrina. Had a good job, had a good life. Everything was like pretty average. I was never someone who was like in love with my life. I used to teach for a yoga franchise whose tagline was, love my life. And there was a, at the end of every class, there was a protocol you had to follow, which is like at the end of the class, instead of saying Shavasana,

everyone in unison would like shout, love my life. And I had to lead that as a yoga instructor, even though I was so disconnected from like actually what that meant. Because my life was fine, but like it wasn't a life that I like thought was like so amazing. And now I have the life that I'm like, my God, I love this thing so much. And it's my creation that I am so protective over it.

Katrina Owens (23:01.166)
And with that comes a lot of fear that it could just slip away. And if it slips away, what does that mean for the loan and all of that? Although I know, like, you know, it's business, but I'm not going to fail. But those are just kind of the feelings that come up around it. So that's kind of that.

yeah.

I share this because I know that I'm not the only one out there that feels this way. I'm definitely not the only one out there that's in this situation. And yesterday I was in an online call where I shared some parts of this and I'm so lucky that I have a great friend who basically said to me like, Katrina, you got a business loan?

It's not like they just give those out to anybody. Like, an amazing opportunity you had. Like the bank believed in you enough to give you that so you could scale and grow and like have comfort. And I guess because I'm like an overachiever, I just assume that once my business started to do well, not that it never

Not that it ever like was doing so badly, but back in the fall, it was a very hard time when it came to revenue. Just as I was making the shift from agency to a more aligned service offering for me. That was a hard time and that was when I needed the loan the most. There was actually a email I had sent to the senior mentor in my program back in November where I was quote unquote

Katrina Owens (25:02.862)
joking, but I had said, I'm not sure. I'm thinking about like maybe getting a job as like a barista or a bartender. And I got scolded for that. My dear mentor said to me on a follow up call after that, never say that again.

Never say that again. my God, that brings up like so much emotions. Never say that about yourself again. You only ever say positive things to yourself. Do not even put that out to the universe. And like, honestly, no one had really scolded me like that in a while. And I, in that moment felt like a little bit of a little girl because I was like, yeah, Katrina, like, how are we just putting that out there into the universe? But I was at such a low point in my life that I

I don't know. I wasn't bringing enough money to cover paying myself, paying my contractor, and paying my bills in the business. And I needed some extra support. And through me having amazing personal credit, my business having a good reputation and great financials for the years that it's been in business, and me having such a clear business plan, that is what was able.

that enabled me to get extra funding. And that's all so amazing. And at some point along the way, I just decided that instead of talking about how amazing that was, I was now going to attach shame to it. And I think the shame comes from now that I'm in a place where things are so much better financially.

you know, completely flips my business model. have so much extra time. I'm like working on things I only love working on. For me, I feel like I should now be able to pay down that loan faster and just like be rid of it. But it still lingers over me and I make consistent small payments towards it. But I don't have like a big chunk of money to put towards it right now. And

Katrina Owens (27:22.92)
I keep praying and working and knowing that I will eventually, but it's only once I detach myself from the judgment and the shame that I hold around it that I know it will start to disappear. Because right now I am so focused on it and I carry so much negative energy around it and around the fact that it could increase and get bigger or not get paid down fast enough that

because of this focus I'm putting on it, it's just like the fucking gorilla in the room. And you're like, my God, like get this freaking gorilla out of here. It's so intimidating. But you can't just like stare down the gorilla and expect it to just like evaporate.

And I don't know why I'm using this analogy of the gorilla. I guess that if I envision, if there's a visual of what it looks like, to me, the debt feels like King Kong. I'm like, this thing could mentally and emotionally crush me. And let's be real here, guys. It's not like it's hundreds and thousands of worth of debt. It's manageable. And as a business owner,

It's actually such an important piece and having that type of funding and that leverage is actually so important. But for whatever reason, I've made it a thing. So my hope is now by talking about it and by sharing it is that you're not alone. If you're going through the same situation that I am in and you have something, probably a financial burden that you feel like is reflecting of

your value and you let it kind of take over all of your amazing contributions to the world. I'm right there with you because I'm fighting the same battle every single day. And I just don't want to like sweep it under the rug anymore. And it's not that I have. I've obviously shared this with, you know, my friends know about this. And I try to talk because the more that I talk about it with people,

Katrina Owens (29:42.86)
the more I feel like it helps me release it even just like a little bit more. What I hope in doing this podcast episode is kind of putting it out on the table. I was kind of like laying it all out there because as someone who is building a business off of the personal brand, because it's so personal, there is this lack of separation.

And there is this feeling of being like, this really a viable business model? People want to invest in me and the services I offer and the things that I create. It's not like I'm creating a product in a factory that has proprietary qualities and all of that, right? It's just different. And so I think that's why I wanted to share that because we so often forget that like,

we can make these investments in ourselves too and just know that this is like a normal part of doing business and of, you know, being someone who believes in their purpose and their mission and their why. So if that's you, I see you and I'm with you and I believe in what you're doing too.

And I think we could probably all just be a lot more honest about a lot of the shit that we go through. And I'm so grateful to all of the mentors and the coaches and people in my community that I have for helping me detach from the emotional part of the process. Because at end of the day, money is security to women. Money is what makes us feel safe.

Money is that thing that all of us covet, but it's actually not the money. It's what we want to do with it. And when you have like a big vision and when you have goals you want to achieve, that takes more leverage and more opportunity to invest in that. So looking at the time here, we're at about like 31 minutes.

Katrina Owens (32:01.11)
And I think my stream of consciousness is like kind of coming to an end now. So I think I'm just going to leave it there. One thing I would encourage all of you to do as you kind of go along your own entrepreneurial journey is invest in support. Like find the mentor, the coach, the person.

that is going to help you along the journey, not just when it comes to social media or PR or your brand. Like you need the person, the support that's gonna help you move through the inner staff. Because if I've learned anything over my, you know, two and a half years of running a business, it's that it's actually the inner work that's responsible for your entire outer world. So.

my mentorship program that I'm so grateful to be a part of and will be forever a part of is Living in Balance Seminars. I'm going to include a link in the show notes so you can check it out if that's something you're more interested in learning more about. And if it is, feel free to send me a DM and I can always share more about my experience too. It's a program unlike any other. And yeah.

It doesn't feel right to do like a normal like outro on this episode. So if you liked this episode, this one in particular, not the personal branding, not the PR stuff. If you just like liked this or related to it, I invite you to send me a DM to just let me know because I think that is what's going to help me.

really feel confident in the purpose and mission that I'm here to do as a business owner. So with that, this is KO your brand. I'm Katrina Owens and I'll see you next week.