Welcome to The Live Free Podcast. I'm your host, Micala Quinn, and I am a mom on a mission to help you launch, grow, and scale a profitable freelance business from home. Join me each week for tangible business advice along with inspiring interviews all designed to help you mom strong, work smart, and live free.
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All right, mama, it's time. Grab your coffee, water, or wine because we are starting.
Hey, everyone. Happy Monday. Welcome back to the podcast. I've got a special guest interview today with Kara. She is a woman who's all about keeping it real while helping others design lives they truly love.
She has over two decades of experience working behind the scenes with seven and eight figure digital product and education companies as a service provider, helping those businesses run and grow.
And now she's kind of starting another business where she is pouring her expertise into empowering women to create intentional joy filled lives in businesses.
She's the creator of the Monday Motivation newsletter, which is a weekly space for practical tips and real stories that inspire action, and she's the host of the Design Your Dream Life pod podcast, where she dives into the messy, beautiful process of building a life on your own terms.
Kara has also created tools like journals and an empowering ebook to help women align their goals with what truly matters.
And she's here today to share her no fluff insights, her raw stories, and actionable advice to help you break through barriers and step into the life you've always dreamed of.
Please welcome Cara to the show. Cara, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. I'm so excited you're here too.
You've got such a fabulous story and so much insight into, businesses and running your own business and creating a business that allows you to live your dream life, and I'm just so excited to dive into your journey and the wisdom that you can share with myself, but also, our audience today.
So why don't we just start with you giving us a quick intro into who you are, what you do now, and then we'll kinda get the whole backstory is kinda what I'm thinking.
Yeah. So right now, I I have, a business that is called Design Your Dream Life.
The the website's designyourdreamlifetoday. com, and I really wanna help ambitious women just take control and live their dream life, whatever that dream is for them.
And everybody is completely different, and it doesn't matter your background, where you are. If you failed, I failed tremendously, and I think that you can come back and live that dream no matter where you are.
Yeah. Amazing. So how take us into your journey of, like, your career background and the different businesses that you've started, and just let us kind of see the timeline of your work experience.
Yeah. Oh my goodness. There's so much. There is so much so much. So when I graduated, college, I was in one of the very first classes for multimedia and web design. So this is gonna age me way back when.
And which is crazy because my first job out of college was to be an ecommerce manager for a website for Magnetic Health products. And even way back then, I worked in their office, and I got to work at home.
So I've been working at home since, like, for a very, very long time. And so anyways, I had gotten into, like, website design and webmastering and all that, but I fell into real estate.
I really you know, you go to one of those seminars, and you're like, real estate? Oh, my goodness. Like, we're gonna make all of this money.
And we were young and in our twenties, and we were very ambitious and a very big dreamer. And so we got into real estate. And long story short, I made my first million dollars in my twenties, but lost it all before I was 30.
So in the the 02/2008 struggle, of real estate, we lost everything. It, like, went down like dominoes. So we had apartment buildings. We had single family residents that we were flipping, and we just we lost everything.
And we had to restart. We had to regroup. And When you say we, do you mean you and your husband? Yeah. My husband and I. Yeah. And so he was always our breadwinner.
And I wanna say that because, eventually, I became the breadwinner, winner, and I never thought that was gonna be possible. He always made, you know, close to 6 figures, and, he was our saving grace when we lost everything.
Like, he hadn't retired from his job, and so that was our saving grace through bankruptcy. And so when we lost everything and had to start over, I was like, gosh. Like, what am I gonna do?
Because I couldn't necessarily even work because his he made too much money, and his wages were being garnished. So I was like, what am I gonna do? And we have no money, and we have no credit, and we're like so the Internet was born.
Right? Right? And at that time, there was a marketing forum that I joined, and I just started learning all about digital marketing. And I thought it was so cool. And way back when, it was like email marketing was the thing.
That was, like, the thing that you were like, woah. Like, you could email customers. Like, you could build a list for, like, even local businesses as a restaurant and have a coupon and bring them in and all of that stuff.
And so I found myself just learning about Internet marketing. And so I really I was so excited to have be able to sink my teeth into that.
Plus, my kids are thirteen months apart, and they were young at the time. Like, they were they were babies. And so life felt very chaotic, but I wanted to learn this skill.
And then I saw an opportunity to go to this Internet marketing conference in Vegas. And I couldn't like, first, I'm in Canada, so, American money is always more than Canadian money. So well, not always.
There's been sometimes. But majority of time, US money is definitely way more than Canadian money. And so I wanted to go to this conference. I didn't have a credit card. I didn't have access to credit, and I had absolutely no money.
But I really knew that if I could go there that I just felt in my core, it would just, like, shift everything for me. And so I'm also a creative thinker, and I feel like anybody who's listening to this, I challenge you.
If you are in a bind, like, think outside the box. And you can train your brain to think outside the box. And once you do, you will find opportunities in places you have never thought that you would find them.
And so I was like, how do I get there? That's literally the question I asked myself. How do I get there? How can I get there? Like, I want to be there.
How can I? And my brain answered with, why don't you just approach some businesses and see if like, pitch them the conference and say, you'll come back and implement this for free if they send you and your husband to go.
And I had a taker. I had a yes. And so before I knew it, I was in Vegas with some amazing people really learning digital marketing, and I think that was, like, the moment where everything kind of shifted for me.
And I saw all of this possibility that I didn't even know existed. And that was way back in 02/2008 to 02/2009. Right? So this was before, you know, really Internet marketing was a huge thing.
And so I I worked and dabbled, my way. So, again, I was working for free. I couldn't make money anyway. So I actually worked for free for a few people to, like, learn the skill.
And I don't think that there's any shame in that. I think in my experience, actually, later on being a COO, people come in demanding really high wages without proving your worth.
And those people, in my experience, have always been the ones that disappoint. I'm a firm believer in just underpromising and overdelivering in everything you do. And even you know? And we'll get to that later.
But how I believe I've been so successful is by literally living that. Like, by coming in and showing how amazing I truly am and people just come to me. I I don't believe in just coming out of the gates and saying how awesome I'm I am.
Even in a room where there are people who know the success I've had, I I don't talk about it generally. I'm I'm always leading with, hey. How can I help you? How can I?
I love what I do, and I think that's also a huge thing. It's like, if you love what you do, then you can talk about it and help people, and people will find you. Business will find you, and you will have a long successful business.
So, anyways, I did the marketing. I implemented into businesses. And many years later, I was following a blogger, and I decided to she sent out an email. And it like, her list was huge, like, hundreds of thousands of people.
And long story short, I beat out hundreds of people, and I got a job for this this blogger. And that was my first introduction into the digital landscape as somebody behind the scenes to a huge audience.
Yeah. Was this your first paid gig? Yeah. It was my first, like, paid gig, and I was, an ecommerce manager for a large a large blogger who also had, like, a digital product side.
So I got to see all of the things inside of this business, and I learned quite a bit. And it's in that business where I failed miserably at Facebook ads. It is I it was so bad. So I I was thrown this task of taking over Facebook ads.
I had never done it. I had never done it. And so and, again, this was years you know, a few years later, from, you know, the 02/2009. And I can't remember the exact dates, but it was it was a few years later.
Anyways, so I was running the ecom store very, you know, confident in what I was doing there, and then I got thrown this task when you do Facebook ads. I'm like, I don't even know what those are.
And she was successfully running them herself, and she handed it over to me. And I met with her, a rep, and I followed the rep's advice. And that was my first lesson of like, oh, so Facebook's a platform, and they wanna make money.
They really don't care about the you know? And so I listened more to the rep than to my gut or asking for help when some ads started losing money.
And she was like, oh, yeah. No. That's fine. It's you know, they'll bounce back like this, da da da da. You know? Anyways, long story short, I lost I lost thousands of dollars. And I don't remember.
It was, like, between 2,000 and $5,000 is what I wanna say say is how much I lost. And, I had decided to leave the company just in the midst of starting to lose this because I was just like, this is too much for me.
I I feel like I'm all over the place. I'm a mom. I wanna focus being at home for a little bit, and, and I left. And when I left, I felt deflated. I was just like, I feel like a a failure. I, yeah, like, I don't know what I wanna do.
And so then I self taught myself Facebook ads. And I just I bought books. I connected with some other people who knew ads. And, again, just started doing some stuff for free just to learn. Just you know?
And before I know it, you know, a few years later, here I am applying at a multimillion dollar ads agency to be a senior strategist, and I got I got the job and hired right on the spot, and then I worked my way up to being a COO.
And so that was and that's what I thought I wanted. I honestly, my whole life, I was like, I wanna, like, I wanna be, like, a leader. I wanna, like, be in a corporation.
You know? And when I got there, I was like, oh, this is so soul sucking. Like, even though I work remotely, I have no freedom. There's so much stress. Like, I just I it it was just so overwhelming. I was like, I don't want this life.
Like, I don't I don't want it. I don't care about the money I'm making. Like, it's not worth it to me. And so I was like, okay. I need I need to re regroup. And so I kind of went into a new division of the company.
So I left being a COO, and I was starting up the digital product part of the company. Did that. Launched our first digital course. Went away on my dream vacation, with my kids to Europe, and we had just moved.
We just upgraded our whole life, upgraded our house and all the things, and I came back to unfortunately, I can't afford your salary anymore. I'm gonna have to let you go. And what's really crazy is when I was in Europe, I knew.
Like, I had said to my husband, like, I want to leave. I just I need to figure out what my next move is. You know? And then I get home, and I'm like, well, next move's figured out because, you know, you're done.
But then there was all the stress and all the chaos of, like, we are in the middle of a kitchen run. Like, we literally ripped out our kitchen the day before I came back, like, and had that call on the Monday morning.
Like, literally ripped. So we have no kitchen. We are in this house. We just went on a European vacation. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And now my salary is gone. And I was making a decent salary at this time. And so I was like, woah.
Like, I don't know what I wanna do. There was this this part of me that was very full of fear. Should I just go get another job? But there was this other part that's like, I don't ever wanna be an employee again.
Like, I don't ever wanna give that control to somebody else. But at the same time, I was burnt out and exhausted. And so I, I took a little little time, but I had an event that I was going to.
And at this event, I thought, okay. Maybe I can get some clients. Maybe I can figure out what I wanna do. I'm really good at marketing and Facebook ads and all of the things.
Like, I can figure this out. Right? I can I can go meet somebody because it was a digital marketing type event? And so I went to this event, and I remember the first day talking to a bunch of people, and they were all newbies.
They were all like, oh, like, I just, like, I just found out about and I was like, oh, damn. Like, these are not my people. Like, if I'm if I'm coming here to try and get work, obviously, I'm not gonna get anything from newbies.
And so I did the whole first day, and I was feeling kinda deflated. And then the whole second day, literally, everyone I met was, like, just new to Internet marketing.
And so I was just like I felt like I had just the weight of the world on my shoulders. I'm here, and I just like I don't know what I'm gonna do next.
And so we were at this party at the there was an island. They did had it, like, a party on an island at the night at nighttime where all the participants of the event were at.
And there were so many people. There was, like, ferry boats going across. And I was on one of the first ones over there, and I was just not feeling it.
I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you're, like, at a party or you're at, like and you're just you're feeling deflated, and you're just like, I just wanna go.
Like, I don't I don't feel like talking anymore. You know? I just it's hard to hide the disappointment and, like, those feelings of feeling deflated for so long, and you're just like, I can't fake.
I can't. And I'm not a fake type person. Right? So I'm just like, I'm just gonna go get in line for the first ferry back.
So I was standing in line by myself, and then soon some people came, but they opened up the ferry. And I went I I bypassed the people at the bottom, and I went all the way up to the top because nobody was there.
And I sat up there, and I called my husband, and I'll never forget. And I I just said to him, like, I think I'm gonna give up. Like, I feel like I'm not gonna meet anybody here.
I don't know what our next move is. Like, we have now this mortgage. We have the kitchen. Like, I feel so much stress. Like, I don't I don't know, but I don't think this is it. Like, I don't think I'm gonna meet anyone here.
And I was just really disappointed in that moment because I really thought that I was gonna meet somebody there. And so we were talking, and before I knew it, I looked around, and the boat was full.
Like, I was so in this conversation with my husband on my cell phone that I was like, oh my gosh. Well, like, I'm I'm gonna go. The boat's full. So we I hung up, and I looked to to beside me.
I can't remember if it was my left or my right. And a a woman was there, and I'm like, oh, hi. And she was like, hi. What do you do? And I kinda just gave a little elevator pitch, and she was like, oh, you need to meet my friend, Amy.
And I was like, oh. And so Amy told me how much she hated her business. She was making $500,000 a year, and she felt like a prisoner in it and all these things. She's telling me all the problems.
Like, oh my gosh. I can solve all of that. Like, I can fix that for you. And I was like and long story short, we ended up going to dinner, and she begged me to put some kind of proposal together for her. And I was like, you know what?
I have to think about it because I've never done anything like this. I don't know. Like, I I I'm not really sure. And she's like, I just know I wanna work with you, however that's gonna work out. And I went back to my hotel room.
She messaged me at, like, one or two in the morning. She's like, please just send me something tomorrow. Give me something to review. So I whipped up a scope of work and a contract for a ridiculously low amount.
Like, it was like a three month retainer, and it was not a whole lot of money. But I was like, you know what? I'm gonna go in here and see. And long story short, that was over five years ago. And I'm still with Amy.
I now have profit sharing with her. We that first year that I worked with her, we took her from 500,000 to 2,200,000. 0 with 1,100,000. 0 in profit. I think it's important to say the profit because a lot of people don't.
And the rest is history. It's a kind of like and now I'm living a life where I can I've traveled quite a lot with my kids and my husband, and I'm working and not feeling burnt out. I'm doing work that lights me up.
I only work with amazing clients, and I work long term with them. And I think that has been part of the key to this success is just really creating these amazing relationships and delivering work, really good work.
And it's not that it's always successful. I wanna stay say that too because I think a lot of people might be like, oh my gosh.
You did all this, but I fail a lot. And I'm always honest with that with people. I'm like, when you work with me, like, we fail 80% of the time, and we win 20%.
But when we win, man, they are home runs. And they it knocks everything else, but I really set the expectation and the boundary up that we're gonna fail a lot.
We're gonna probably lose some money along the way. That's normal, and that's just part of the process. But we are really gonna keep going at this until we win. You know? Yeah. Yeah.
So for those people that are maybe newer to this space, essentially, you left the corporate kinda working for an agency as an employee, took those skills that you had developed and honed over the years, and eventually started your own service based business on kind of that contract freelance.
Is that correct? Was new you're working with clients, service based business, independent contractor, to where you're now working with several clients versus just one, and now it's on your terms.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And that was not long after you were let go?
Yeah. It wasn't it wasn't long after. It was honestly, because we got back in, like, July and the conference was in August. Yeah. And so landing that first client then made me excited about, like, wait a minute.
Like, maybe I can do this. Like, maybe I could just get, like, a couple other clients. So at that time, I was also trying to figure out, like, what do I really wanna do?
Because sometimes too, when you have and I don't want this to sound, like, egotistical, but, like, when you have as many skills as I have, you can get confused or lost in all of this process.
Right? So, like, when you have so many skills, there's so many to choose from. You have no idea. You could spin your wheels. Right?
So for me, when I first went with Amy, I was like, okay. I can help you because I was a COO. I can help you with organizational. I can help you with funnels and ads and marketing and all of that. And so I was just playing in that space.
And then I went on to Upwork, and I got a few clients on Upwork. And I was just doing, like, email marketing or some other types of mark because I was just playing in all the different things. And here's what's really funny.
Six months after I got one email client, and I only worked for them for a few months, They came back to me and asked if I wanted to run their entire company. And at that time, I said no. I, again, I don't wanna be an employee.
I don't like, I'm I'm an independent contractor. Like, I don't And so, yeah, I I turned down a really big opportunity to run another company, and I felt okay about it. And they were gonna pay me quite largely.
And I was like, no. I I wanna be committed to this freedom. Like, I I really love owning my schedule and my calendar, me saying when I'm gonna have my client calls or, like, dedicating my work time.
And I've really gotten very good at creating processes and boundaries that support my personal dream life.
Right? Everybody's different, but I have a lot of freedom and flexibility. And I don't let things overflow because I'm really good at boundaries.
So I decided to stay committed. And long story short, I don't even I mean, I don't take any clients. Like, on my marketing side of my business, I'm full, and I've been full for years.
Sometimes I have a big heart, and I will do a favor for somebody. You know? If somebody's like, oh, I really would love to go to the next level and I you know? And we really jive together, I I might consider taking it.
But, generally, I'm like, no. Like, I love my clients. We've been together a really long time. They all pay me well. I I get profit sharing. Like, it's it's a very good gig for me, and I've been able to fill it mostly on word-of-mouth.
I I've never people come to me. Wow. That's incredible. I was gonna ask, so what was the trajectory, like, kinda timeline from taking that first client, Amy, to being kind of booked booked solid and where you're like, oh, wow.
This is amazing. Probably within the first year. Within that first year. Yeah. And I also joined, a mastermind.
And, again, too, I joined that mastermind, which is my husband. Oh my goodness. Bless him. I lose my job. I'm going to this event. And on the train ride to the event, I decide I want to join a mastermind that was 18,000 US dollars.
And I was like, oh my goodness. Like, I don't know how I'm gonna make this payment. This payment is like my mortgage payment. And but we decided, you know what? Let's go all in. And I'm not recommending that for anybody.
I I firmly am like, you know, I would rather, take the safe route, but I knew that I needed to get in the room with some other high level people if I really wanted to pull myself to the next level, and that did.
Like, it definitely helped me investing in that group and going to this event. Like, everything all kind of came together. And before I knew it, I was full, and I was like, wow.
Like, it it's crazy. Now have there been some clients that have come and gone? Sure there have. Absolutely. And I've even changed my business model multiple times. I didn't start off with everybody's profit sharing.
I didn't do that. I only had one and and with Amy, I grew to profit sharing. I didn't start out with prop like, there have been steps. Like, to me, I'm like, okay. I'm gonna do this contract, then this contract, and then it's like, hey.
We wanna work together for long term. Like, I want profit sharing. I want but if you are, again, providing something that is of tremendous value, especially revenue generating, then you can command profit share.
You can command you know what I mean? So for me, I I did consulting. Oh my there was a time my calendar was so full. I had, like, 10 consulting clients. And I was like, after a while, I was like, wait a minute.
Like, this doesn't feel right. Like, I'm giving my best ideas for a flat rate. You know, sure it's a monthly retainer, but I'm giving you my best ideas. And I don't get to have the fruits of any of that labor, but you get my brain.
And so then I kinda went into, oh, maybe I should do a high ticket coaching pro oh, that was even worse. I was just like, no. This is not for me. I didn't want I was like, oh my goodness. Like, for me, again and you have to fail a lot.
And the reason why I'm sharing all of this is because you don't just find your way. Like, you have to try all the things, and that's totally fine. And then I finally decided I'm like, you know what?
I'm gonna go all in, and I just want a handful of profit share clients where I can be like a fractional CMO. That's where I shine. I can run the ads. I can oversee marketing, but I'm the strategy.
I'm I you know, I've escalated to the strategy and not necessarily the doing of the market. I don't create the funnels. I don't you know what I mean? I'm I'm the the visionary behind the success there.
And so for me in that movement, it has created the life that I've always wanted. Right? Yeah. That's incredible. So what how is, like, your current role now different from when you were the employee, COO of that big ad agency?
Like, what are the differences? Because it's, like, very similar skill set, but why is doing it in the fractional way with a couple clients more, like, aligned for your life than just one client or one employer?
Yeah. So so when you're an employee, right, you have to follow their rules.
Right? There if there's certain set meetings, some people even with virtually are like, well, you still have to work forty hours a week. Right? Like, you need to be near a computer.
I need to be able to Vox you. I need to be able to Slack you. I need to, like what do they call it? Like, the corporate handcuffs? It's just like you feel like you're chained to your desk or your phone or you.
Yeah. You know what I mean? And you can't necessarily disconnect. Where right now is I set the meetings. I set when I work. I set how I show up and when I show up. It's just such a total flip flop.
Right? When you're an employee, you answer to somebody. When you're now, like, that service provider and you you've proven yourself as a a very good service provider, you set the rules and you set the tone.
Like, this is how I work. Here are my boundaries. If we're a good fit, then that's awesome.
And if we're not, that's okay too. And being able to let go of that. I think that's probably one of the worst mistakes people make when they're, like, as a service provider, starting out or even not starting out.
Even in I really reworked my mindset to be like, I don't care if you're not a good fit. I'm not taking you as a client. Even if I need the money, even if I need it.
I have said no to so much money because people have been like, oh, well, I I wanna do this, this but when you talk to them, I'm like, oh, you're a red flag. You are gonna be so much you're gonna be a nightmare for me.
You are gonna go against all my values and rules, and I'm sorry that money is not worth it. And I made that decision a long time ago. And it's hard because especially if when you're you know, if there's a time where it's like, oh, man.
I I could really use the extra cash. Like, I really need it. And somebody comes, and they're like, I'm willing to pay you. But I know that you're gonna be a handful, and you're gonna have to probably compromise all your values.
You know what I mean? And so I've just been very good at just maintaining that no and and knowing that I'm I'm gonna figure it out. I'll always figure it out because I always have.
Yeah. I love that. I love that. Well, I'd love to switch to kind of now so your fur the not first business, but now kind of, after the pivot of being let go, your next business became a service based freelance business.
Now you've kind of grown into a starting a new side of your business where you are now helping other women achieve their dream life kind of similarly to how you have found your dream, found your boundaries, and been able to live that out.
What if there's someone like, you know, they're sitting here, they're listening, and they know they're unhappy, and they're just like, I don't know what I want to do, but I know this is not it.
It like, they feel handcuffed by the the corporate the corporate change like you mentioned. Maybe they work from home. Maybe they work out of the home.
There could be so many reasons, and they're but they need they need the money. They need the income, but they're just like, this is not what I want. Yeah. Well, I I can tell you, I have been there. You know, I've definitely been there.
I've been in that position. I remember years ago at a personal development seminar being like, what's your passion? I'm like, I have no idea. Like, I really don't know. And it's crazy because I didn't know for a while.
And if you are in a situation where, first of all, a, you you know you want more, but you don't know where to go or what your next steps are, or you hear someone say, like, you need to follow your passion and you don't know what that is.
My best advice that I can give you is that you need to take action in something because something leads to something that leads to something that leads to something.
And you never know what that thing is that unfolds because it's a journey.
It's not a destination. Right? But you have to take that first step. So you have to for me, I have been a personal development junkie forever. That has always been my step and my go to and my next thing.
So if you don't know, then you need to find people. Books, podcasts, like we're talking about right now. Follow people. Be around people who inspire you to keep looking inwards. Right? Because you hold all the answers.
I think that's so important. So many of us think that there's some guru outside of us with all the answers, but you hold all the answers. And only you can figure it out, but you can't figure it out unless you start taking action.
And even if you take the wrong action, action, like, that's not a wrong action. We think it is because it led to, like, oh, but I don't want this. That's good that's good experience.
That's good knowledge to have too because it's like, okay. I tried this. I took action. This wasn't what I wanted. Okay. Cross that off the list. Let's take more action and find something else. Absolutely.
It is all part of the process, and I think that that is what I wouldn't be here right now if I didn't go bankrupt back in 02/2008. And in 02/2008, I was devastated, but that was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
So I think where when we we go through this process and remember I was even telling you, like, I, you know, reinvented myself a few different times.
Yes. You go. You try the things, and it's okay to not like something and pivot. There is no shame in that. Right?
I think that so many people are like, oh, like, sometimes people stay with things way too long. And I get it because there's this confusion because some people are like, oh, focus on one thing and do this one thing and do do do do.
But you also have to have this fine balance of like, okay. I am gonna do this, but, also, if I'm not getting results by a certain like, I give myself deadlines.
I reward myself with things. Like, I really try and and focus on how am I gonna get the best results possible. Right? And so if you're if you're trying to get clients and it's been three months, I'm gonna be somebody who's tell okay.
You gotta shake things up because something's not working for you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's not work look at the data. What's not working? What actions are you taking? Where are you getting?
Okay. Now let's let's figure out. Because maybe in in the line of work that I do now, if someone if it's, been three months and they haven't landed a client, it's usually there's a couple of things we can pinpoint.
Either you're not putting yourself out there enough. Enough. If you've had two discovery calls, that's not enough to make any decisions on unless you've applied for, like, thousands of jobs and only got two discovery calls.
Like, the data is gonna give you some objective information that you can take away any shame, blame, or guilt and then go after. %. And and I also think too, like, I don't wanna poo poo on being an employee.
I actually think if you're starting out in this business, it's probably one of the best things you can do is go and get a job, be an employee, and see the inside of a successful business.
I think it's one of the most powerful things that you can do. So I'll I'll tell you a quick story even.
And when I was that first senior strategist at the agency that I worked at, two of us got hired. We both had each had a team. The one person came in, and she's like, I'm coming from an ad executive background.
I need a hundred thousand dollars a year. She had all these demands. And they met her demands. I was offered 60,000, and I was like, sure. Okay. I'll prove myself. And I will tell you something.
Within months, she was let go, and I was promoted. Right? Because I will tell you that I come in, and I'll work I'll show you the proof of how good I am. And I honestly feel like in today's society, that is how you get a cutting edge.
And I'll tell you, like I said, remember, I fail a lot. But in a lot of those failures, there's huge successes. Right? And so, again, when you're trying to figure out what you want to do, you have to try things.
And you'll try things you don't like, and you'll see things you do like. You might burn yourself out from something that you love and then have to rediscover something else.
That's also a thing. Right? So the the whole point is that you have to keep moving along and being honest with yourself because I also believe you have to love your work.
I love what I do. I love my clients. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would show up for them because I love them, I love their businesses, and I love my role in them.
Yeah. That's awesome. So, when people start to go through the process of figuring out, you know, what they want, maybe they don't know if it's their their end all dream, but it's like, okay.
This is my next step. This is what I think this is the action I think I want to take.
What what holds people back from actually taking those steps? Because I think that's where a lot of the women in our audience is. They're I want I want to be at home, but I still need my income.
I wanna be at home and be available for my kids to take them to the park in the middle of the day, to, you know, volunteer to read in their classrooms after school activities, whatever, you know, that thing is for them.
They're like, I wanna be avail available for that, but I need my income.
Like, they see freelance as a possibility to get that, but then they're stuck in this indecision spot of, like, I want this, but I'm just gonna sit here and wait and think and not do anything about it.
Well and it it can feel like it's so far away. You know? It's so close, but it's so far away. And I get it. I get being in that spot of, like, you need the income, but you also wanna be at home.
But then it's also scary. Then you might also need to invest in learning these skills. And then you also have a period of maybe you won't have clients, and you've lost this income, and then you you're so pressured for other income.
And I will say this. I've always said this to anybody. I'm like, I firmly believe the best decisions are made when you do not put financial pressure on yourself.
And so if you know that it's like, oh, man. This freelance thing, it seems, well, it seems too good to be true. A lot of people might have that fear. Yeah. This seems too good to be true. And, you know, here's the reality.
The reality is there's this whole digital landscape that not everybody knows about. And so when they come into this world and let's be real. There's a lot of scammers out there. That's that's the truth too.
But the reality is is that in this digital economy, there is so much opportunity, and there has never been an easier time to work at home and have flexible hours. There it's just just never been an easier time.
Now with that being said, if you have a job and you wanna be at home, you have to create a transition plan. Like, to me, it's not like, oh, let's just jump ship. Like, be smart about this. But the question is, do you want it enough?
Because if you want it enough, you will make it happen. Like, I know even for me, like, there were times even when I was coming out of bankruptcy and we got our credit card, oh my gosh, and our credit card was at, like, 35%.
If I wanted to buy a course or whatever, I'm like, okay. What do I have around the house that I can sell?
Like, can we have a yard sale? Can we do this? What what can I do to, like, raise some money so I can buy some courses and buy some things? Right? Get resourceful. Like, if if you are on this path, start saving for it.
Does that mean maybe you don't go on one family vacation so that you can save money and give yourself the buffer? Because I think people need to be visionaries and not so shortsighted.
You know, would you be willing to give up one family vacation one year so that you could invest that money into your own business that will allow you to have the most amazing vacations over the next decade?
Right? And so I think it's just a mindset shift of, like, okay. Like, I'm gonna go all in on this, and I am going to make this happen.
I'm going to no matter what, I'm going to figure it out. I'm gonna follow people who have done the path. I'm gonna surround myself with people who can motivate me, move me, inspire me to keep going because I'm not gonna lie.
Are there challenge? Of course. Of course. Life is still you know, there's no perfection. Yeah. Like, there is. Like, life is fifty fifty. It doesn't matter, you know, when you get there.
Like, there are still going to be problems. No matter what phase that you have, I think that is some people think they are gonna make a certain amount of money, and all their problems will be gone.
That that's just not true. Right? Let's just be real about that. No matter what level of money, there will always be problems at every single level.
So it's learning how to deal with your mindset and learning how to deal with how you're showing up in your journey so that you can just navigate through any of the storms because there's gonna be storms no matter what.
Yeah. Do you have any, like, tips for working on the mindset and and kind of, working working through that? Yeah. Sure. So I, for me, I really like to go to a worst case scenario.
So let's say we're thinking about we're thinking about becoming a freelancer. So I look at all I I'll ask myself the scenario. So, like, what's the worst thing that could happen if I become a freelancer?
Like, what are all the things? Get them out of your head because they're all there. Like Mhmm. Yeah. So what I hear people say, like, well, what if I don't lay into any clients?
What if I make a mistake with a client? What if I don't like the work? What if Okay. So then let's go there. What if you don't? What if you don't like the work? What would you do? What would you do? You would okay. I tried this.
And, hey, me and my business, I tried, before when I was in that stage, it's like, I wanna get out of teaching. I wanna be home with my kids. I tried a bow business. It did not work. I tried making and selling cakes and cookies.
They did not work. But that led me to eventually find freelancing, and everything changed. Right. Exactly. And so here's the thing. It's like, if you are having these like, write everything that's bothering you down.
And if you don't like it so have a real conversation with yourself. Okay. If I don't like it, do I have the ability to change it? Yes. I do. So if I don't like it, I can just move on to the next thing.
But maybe that next thing will get me one step closer to what I'm more passionate about. And if it's some some sometimes it's people end up if they're start and maybe administrative.
And I went through this. I started in the administrative doing virtual assistant tasks, loved it at first, and then I became burnt out on some of those those things.
And I was like, okay. I don't love this anymore. What can I do next? And that's when I was starting to put it into digital, more digital marketing and social media and, like, email marketing services for clients.
And so it it it does. Like, you try something and it leads you to It's evolution. Right? It's evolution and it continues to happen. So here I am now. Right? If if you look at even me because it's like, oh, wow.
So now I have success. I've done, you know, seven I have a 7 figure consulting company. I love what I do. I've traveled to all of the and I could just stay here, but then I'm like, you know, I really love personal development.
I really wanna create a brand where I'm, like, inspiring other women to do I don't have to do that, but it's my next evolution of, like, what my soul calls me to do.
Right? And so I could ignore it, and I have. I mean, I've ignored it for years. And then it keeps popping back up, and I'm like, you know what?
And I love creating that content, and I love talking to women about how they can create the life of their dreams and how to get over all those roadblocks and how to manage your money in a way so that you have a lot more freedom.
How to like, again, I retired my husband, I think, was it three years ago I retired him?
I finally retired. And so I'm the breadwinner. I but then there was all this shift of stress over here because, oh my gosh, I'm self employed. I could lose clients.
Now I'm every so there's always this journey, and I think the thing that comes back for me is it's your mindset, and it's your per like, it's and that's what I love about personal development is, like, it is this journey that we are on.
And at every stage of the game, we're just learning how to deal with our thoughts and our fears and all of those things. And we just and the more that we can conquer, the more success we have.
Right? Mhmm. Mhmm. I love that. One thing you mentioned earlier is you've gotta train your brain to think outside the box. What is that can you give me like, how do you train your brain?
Yeah. So here's the thing that is really crazy. Your brain has so many answers, but none of us really ask ourselves the questions. You know? Yeah. Like, you know, you just freak out. You're like, You know what I mean?
And you just instead of being able to so if you have a situation and you're like like, example, when I go back to that time when I was like, I need to get this conference, I kept asking myself, how could I get there?
What could I do? And it didn't come in one day.
It took a few days. But if you start asking your brain, like, how could I solve this problem? What are those solutions? I need to find a solution. What is the solution? And you're not necessarily gonna get the solution today.
But you keep asking yourself over and over and over. I promise you, your brain will deliver you something in, like, forty eight hours. It will, like, at some point, it's going to give you some kind of answer.
And maybe it'll be a stupid answer, and that's fine because then you keep asking it and you keep training it. It's almost like, you know, it's the master of AI of your own body.
Right? AI is amazing. But if you know the right questions to ask AI, it's 10 times better. It works 10 your own brain is the same way. If you ask it garbage, it'll put out garbage.
So you need to start asking it good questions and start training your brain to find opportunity in every problem. And before you know it, you're gonna just see the opportunities as the problems come. You're like, not a big deal.
This is what I can do. Yeah. I love that. I love that. Well, Kara, if there's someone in the audience that needs to dive deeper into this personal development, dream life kind of, conversations, where can they go to connect with you?
Yeah. So they can go to my website, designyourdreamlifetoday. com, and I've got an ebook on there.
That's, like, I think, $5. 99 that also walks through the whole mindset and all that framework. And then all my social connections are all on that website. So you can go check me out there. Nice. Awesome. And your podcast as well.
Right? Yes. Also have a podcast. So if you go to the website, there is a, design your dream life podcast where we drop I drop episodes every week, and I've got a Monday motivation email newsletter that comes out every Monday as well.
So yeah. Awesome. Well, Kara, thank you so much for coming in and sharing your story with us and also just shedding light into how we can, design archery life and go after it as well.
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