Have your leads slowed down in 2024? As the economy recovers from inflation, sometimes it feels worse even while it’s getting better. I say this not to discourage you, but to let you know that you're not alone. If your business lacks leads when you previously had plenty, it might not be “all your fault.” It could just be the ebb and flow of business. That said, control what you can control. If you want to ensure you’re doing everything you can to nurture the growth of your business in the...

I once thought I could have it all — run a business, be a supportive spouse, keep my kids with me 24/7 until they started preschool, and still (somehow) squeeze in enough self-care to help me remember who I was apart from all those roles. Ha!  Needless to say, I was incredibly naive. For the first few years of becoming a mom, having already established the business, I thought I could work while the kids took a nap or played. I thought I didn’t need to “waste time” on doing things for myself...

Bad marketing advice is the reason I am developing frown lines. You should see me sitting at my desk, squinting at my laptop screen and doing a double-take.  “They’re telling designers to do WHAT?” I’m pretty protective of you guys. I want your businesses to succeed. But when I first started, I fell for (and probably promoted) marketing advice that didn’t fit the home industry, too. You might have realized in the course of running your own business that design firms, home staging companies,...

“Marketing feels gross,” I used to think.  In the early years of business, I didn’t know how to communicate my brand message…and I didn’t even know what a brand message was anyway. I felt so overwhelmed and drained by one steady thought: “How do I know if I’m doing any of this correctly when I can’t see the results yet? Am I just wasting my time and money on marketing?” Ruminating on those negative thoughts felt awful, as you might have also experienced, and I knew there had to be a simpler...

Knowing what to say in your marketing is only half the battle. What about the words, phrases, or ideas you should completely avoid? Today on The Kate Show, I’m talking about the two key phrases you shouldn’t include on your website, your blog posts, your email marketing, or your print advertising. I’m also sharing exact verbiage you can use to market your business in other ways, beyond everything you might already be doing online or in print. So, today, I’m laying it all out there…no fluff,...

Have you made a monthly blog part of your marketing strategy yet? I could tell you all day long why you should, but until you see the results play out in real-time, you might wonder if you’re wasting time or you might question whether you're even doing it correctly. I get it! With the majority of Google search results being blog posts, it is safe to say that blogging is still a relevant and smart way to get more of the right traffic to your website. But…blogging can also feel like one of the...

I’ve had the honor of working with home industry professionals across the globe, and what I’ve recognized is this: Whether you are an interior designer in Dubai or a home stager right here in Wisconsin, you (we?) all have similar challenges to overcome.  Often, our biggest challenge is ourselves. While this should be the easiest to fix, it’s often the most difficult because, first, we have to be self-aware enough to accept that perhaps we are the bottleneck, the sticking point, or even the...

Marketing shouldn’t be hard. You don’t have to continue being swept away in a tidal wave of confusion and dollar signs when you think about your marketing plan. The amazing part about owning a business in the home industry is that, aside from making spaces beautiful and functional, your marketing is largely based on personal relationships.  That is so much easier than trying to market a business with overtly negative connotations, such as a dentist’s office or a law firm. You and your...

How many new clients do you get from referrals? I would guess that over 90% of your new business comes from this classic, solid, beautiful marketing strategy. It’s quite simple: Do a good job, and people will tell their friends about you. But for some reason, we’ve been conditioned to believe that we should be getting clients from other sources, such as social media or search engines. If that describes you, I ask you to reconsider. The ironic thing about word-of-mouth referrals is that they...

Have you ever talked about something that made you sweaty? I both love and hate doing it. When I shared at the beginning of 2024 how I had (finally) stopped worrying about my business and boldly shared my faith, the response was — and still is — so encouraging. I was nervous to share something so personal, but I’ve received so many positive DMs and emails about that episode that I’ve decided to continue.  My tentative plan is to dedicate one episode per month to a more personal topic, with...

You’ve heard dozens (or thousands?) of times about what you SHOULD be doing to market your interior design, staging, organizing, or window treatment business. But what about the pitfalls that can wreck your marketing momentum faster than a stick shoved through the spokes of your bike? (Ouch.) Today on The Kate Show, we’re talking about the five common and completely avoidable mistakes that home industry entrepreneurs make in their marketing. Annnnd spoiler alert: This isn’t another episode in...

Do you know the real reason why designers, stagers, and other home professionals avoid creating a marketing plan? They over-complicate it.  If you’ve ever thought that creating a marketing plan for your business meant that you had to know exactly which blog post topics, social media content, and email marketing subjects would be released each week over the next quarter — take a deep breath — you’re overthinking it. Your marketing plan should be written in pencil, not permanent marker. You...

I’m convinced that the worst part about marketing is just thinking about marketing. When I actually sit down and do it with a plan in mind, I feel great. And when it’s done, I feel fantastic. You might not feel this positive about your marketing, and that’s okay. You don’t have to like something in order to do it. But…I do have five specific ways I address my own marketing that have made it far more enjoyable, successful, and most importantly, ensure that it gets done.  Today on the podcast,...

Do you ever worry that the economy is going to take down your business? Take heart. Some of today’s most successful businesses were started during the crash of 2008. While the economy might try to push your business off course, you get to push back. Today on the podcast, my fearless, no-filter guest is going to show you how to ride the waves of an ever-changing economy without being flooded with fear and uncertainty. While her specialty is helping owners of organizing businesses, her bold...

If your New Year’s resolution is to revamp or uplevel your business in the home industry, I want you to pause for a moment. You don’t have to reinvent your business just because the calendar has turned to January. Instead, you should look at your business objectively and focus on three key areas that might need adjustments rather than overhauls: Your motive, message, and method. Before you can update your website with new branding or write another blog post or send another email newsletter,...

Happy New Year! How stressed out are you about 2024?  Has worrying about your business or life at large become your primary creative venture? You might be feeling just as I was: Exhausted. Drained. Frozen — and not in the “let it go” or “let’s build a snowman” kind of way. Like me, you might have climbed the mountain of self-helpism only to find that the view from the top was actually really cloudy and that you didn’t feel any more confident about your business or any less worried, either. In...

Starting a brand new business brings up a lot of emotions for most women. We question our worth. We aren’t sure how our clients will ever take us seriously. We question our abilities. We aren’t sure how much to charge for our services. And yet, we are so excited to be doing the thing we feel called to be doing. We can almost taste the success. We can almost smell that delicious scent of victory. But…how do you bridge that gap? How do you go from clueless about running a business to curious...

Friends, this is a special episode for me. Not only do I get to interview another wonderful client of my agency, but I also get to rant with her about the importance of offline marketing (and how to do it correctly). Plus, she shares her emotion-free way of addressing leads who fuss about her prices — while she keeps her dignity and her confidence firmly intact. If you’ve struggled with confidence in your business, especially around “putting yourself out there” or charging for your services,...

Running a virtual agency means that I rarely get to meet my clients in person, but today’s podcast guest is both a client and a personal friend of mine. She’s someone I aspire to be when I grow up (despite my four-year-old reminding me that I’m “already a grown-up”). Today’s guest is the perfect example of how we’re never actually done growing as professionals and of how much potential we all have when we stop putting limitations on ourselves. Georgiana Schwandt is my valued friend and...

When I had life and business coach Andrea Liebross on my podcast in February 2023, I didn't know that I'd end up hiring her almost immediately after we were done recording her interview. Because, let’s face it, there are A LOT of coaches in the world, and many of them help their clients create amazing success.  But Andrea was different because she really seemed to understand the dramatic plot of the modern female entrepreneur. She went straight for the heart of most of our problems as female...

Starting a home staging business is flat-out overwhelming, whether it's your second career or your first. If you wish someone could give you a sneak peek into what you should do when you're just getting started, or if you feel stuck after trying to grow your staging business for several years, you need to hear today's episode. Today, I have successful home stager, former realtor, and hyper-focused business coach Marianne Cherico on the podcast to dispel the myths and help you navigate the...

I don’t normally interview other marketers on my podcast, but sometimes the opportunity is just too good to pass up. If you feel confused about SEO and wish there was an SEO expert who specializes in the design-build industry, today is your day!  My guest on The Kate Show today is Daniela Furtado of Findable Digital Marketing. When I did my research on her agency, I felt like I’d found my “marketing sister from another mister.” She is a highly focused, niche-specific specialist who leads a...

I love it when technology and design mesh in a way that makes sense, helps businesses grow, and brings happiness to design clients. If you feel the same way, you’d better stop what you’re doing and listen to this interview. If your clients struggle to visualize the design ideas you present to them, despite your great presentation and beautiful mood boards, you know this is a sticking point in your workflow that has the potential to result in smaller sales or slower projects, namely and...

You might be familiar with the term “glow up” when it comes to personal appearance and lifestyle. But have you ever applied that same concept to your business? At the heart of it, glowing up involves taking small, definitive actions that improve your overall quality of life, appearance, and presence. While this episode isn’t about adding a “hot girl walk” into your morning routine, though the viral 4-mile walk probably wouldn’t hurt any of us, it is about self-care from the standpoint of...