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Kat Lee's 9 Rules for Successful Entrepreneurs

Oct 19, 2023

Spokane, Washington-based Kat Lee runs her business differently than most online course creators.

As a spiritual business coach and owner of Empowered Curiosity, Lee resists the hustle-culture and believes that entrepreneurs can become successful from slowing down, instead. A trained Acupuncturist, Lee's knowledge of the bodyand especially the nervous system which regulates stress responses--has been the basis of much of her work as an online coach.

"Oftentimes working in a professional setting, we tend to override our discomfort in our bodies," Lee tells . "Many people think there's something wrong with them due to the fact that they're exhausted yet there's plenty of wisdom inside the body. It's communicating using the only language it knows, which is signs and symptoms ."> "

When most people feel exhausted within the first few years in business, Lee believes that creators should approach their path to entrepreneurship through a new lens, one that it is about slowness and long-term sustainability as the primary factors in keeping one's health in check. "In our culture that we've been taught to hustle, over-give and be too busy in nearly everything we do," she says. " Slowing down is something we know we should take, however it may seem a bit risky and foreign nowadays ."> It's a bit scary and unfamiliar.

"When your hustling is on, you can make a lot of mistakes along the way," continues Lee. "I often reflect on how much time I could be able to save if I slowed down in the beginning and contemplated the values and ethical standards my company stands on .">

Here, Lee describes how she tore down some of the rules that business that course designers follow, giving digital entrepreneurs the freedom to take their time, pay attention to their body, and take decisions in a state of align. The result: less burnout and a business that lasts for a long time. "If entrepreneurs take the time to slow down and being in tune with our bodies, we will feel more in tune with our inner knowing," she says.

     Read on for more information on how Lee developed new rules for her business, which led her to teach over 143 students through .    

Skip ahead:

Rule #1: Success requires nurturing an audience

As Lee completed her acupuncture training in 2011, she realized how little she knew about starting a small business.

With a lot of hard work (and a lot of struggle) She says that it was through hard work (and a lot of struggle) that she "cobbled together" an acupuncture clinic of her own. After turning thirty, she sold the business and relocated to Vancouver, BC, where she joined an acupuncture practice within the city.

Working for someone else was not what she envisioned that it was going to be. "The clinic was responsible for the marketing and I was becoming frustrated by the lack of harmony I had with my patients," she says. "Plus the fact that I lived in Vancouver was pricey and I felt like I was working all of the time and burning out ." to

When the pandemic struck, Lee saw an opportunity to change jobs. Over the years, she'd built a small but loyal audience through her Instagram account, which is called @empoweredCuriosity. She posted writing related to wellbeing, personal development, and Daoist theology.

Her acupuncture practice being put on hold due to covid, she leaned into posting more of her work online. Her content was well-received by people, and she began getting requests from her Instagram fans for coaching. The success of Lee's Instagram didn't occur quickly, despite her description of the process of transitioning from acupuncture to coaching as "fairly easy .">>

"The fact is, I had a few years when I would write only to write and I was unaware I was fostering an audience," she shares. "When I decided to put my hands up for coaching, I completed a whole practice in the three-month .">

Rule 2 It is possible to change the direction of your products as you please

The idea that online course creators need to know exactly what they're doing at the beginning of their business journey isn't just untrue, it's simply not necessary.

Get it from Lee She first began her coaching practice as an individual relationship coach. When she found herself answering the same questions throughout the one-on-one coaching sessions and decided to develop the first relationship class for groups.

The instructor chose to run her own course because she was impressed by the design of the platform.

"It organizes the information so that it's really soothing and visually pleasing to the students" she says. "It's also easy to use. I'm not the most tech-savvy person therefore the fact that I was able to drag and drop items was essential. In addition, considering the value it provides, it's a reasonable cost ."

While she promoted herself as a relationship coach increasing numbers of entrepreneurs reached out to her seeking advice on how to build their businesses.

"I believe that what resonated with my followers was the fact my openness and honest about everything in my life, even business. They wanted to know how to portray themselves on the internet and at their work in an authentic way, too," she explains.

Her focus changed from relationship to business coaching in 2021 following a thorough analysis of her audience's needs. "In my beginnings I did not put out an announcement that said 'hey, I'm now a coach for business,'" she explains. " My community just began reaching out to me and asking for help and so the development of my company happened organically. Since then, I've built a solid network of resources to aid spiritual entrepreneurs ." "

Rule #3 The rule is that you should listen to your body as you make business decision Rule #3: You can make business decisions based on your body.

While business and spirituality seem to be two different topics, Lee began bridging the two in the wake of her own experience with the running of her acupuncture company. "I started thinking about how I could approach my business in the same dedication as I do to my relationships and spiritual practice," she says.

The way in which she bridges business with spirituality is to help students connect with their bodies. This is where Lee believes the intuition lies.

"There's a place in your body that tells that you should go towards or away from an object. The thing that blocks us from being able to connect to our bodies is trauma." Lee explains. Lee.

By helping her students to manage their nervous systems, which is a crucial component of healing trauma according to Lee, she helps students to pay attention to their body's signals to help in building a business that is sustainable and which they won't burn out from. "Your body is your best company partner on your entrepreneurial adventure," she states.

Rule #4: may create online courses that integrate the community  with community

When she decided to move into consulting for business, Lee launched the Business Alchemist Mentorship (BAM) that is a nine-month only program designed specifically designed for spiritual entrepreneurs. In this course she assists individuals in aligning themselves with both nature's cycles as well as their own soul's desire to grow an ethical and regenerative business.

BAM leads students through five different modules that are based on the five elements of Daoist concept. She utilizes's Drip Schedule option to release the content and students are enrolled in small, six-person maximum group coaching cohorts. Students can also add on one-on-one coaching once they have purchased the program. "I find that there's a disconnect when folks get a lecture but there's a lack interaction that occurs and that's why I feel like customized support is essential," she says.

Her other two, smaller courses are Conscious Marketing Course + Community and Energetics of Money Course + Live calls. These two courses are smaller than BAM and contain around 10 hours of self-study. But, she does include the group-based coaching method, as each course includes four live coaching calls every year. This allows students to meet each other, form communities, and discuss their questions live in the moment.

To enhance the connection, students can connect over the group chat service Slack. "It's an awesome way to bridge cohorts," she declares. "My first round of BAM completed their studies two years ago and now they're able to connect and respond to newer members' queries within the Slack community and also share their insights, experiences and stories of their journey ."

Rule 5 Keep your courses open by offering sliding scale pricing

Lee says her target audience is people who have tried various marketing classes and are seeking an innovative way of doing business. "I typically meet people who are recognizing that it's not about the tools or the method they're missing; it's the connection and support they're craving ."

Further, many are inspired by Lee's unique approach to marketing. "A number of practices in marketing that are out there seem wrong for myself," Lee explains. "Many marketing professionals advise us to pick a pain point until someone feels activated enough to cooperate together, then we are the"savior. I was aware that I would like to interact with individuals in different manner. ."> It's a different way to work with people.

The audience she draws is mainly made from women who are between 30-50 years old. A majority of them are in the US as well as Canada, however she's had a recent uptake of students from the UK. In order to increase the accessibility of her courses, she offers each in a scale of sliding.

She decides on the price of her sliding scale by considering the cost; If she feels that she's being generous and eventually resentful with that number, then it's way too low. If it's uncomfortable to feel beyond the reach of most of her readers, it's probably too high. If it's exciting to her, where she believes she's able to spend her time in a way that is generous is the ideal number. "I play with the numbers until I am satisfied that my students are honoring my time, wisdom, and are stretching themselves to invest ." the span of their lives.

It's essential for individuals to feel somewhat uncomfortable when they invest into a program. "The amount of money I'm asking my clients to make is time, energy, and cash," she explains. "You must have some skin to play with; it can't be super comfy and cozy every single day. You need to be somewhat nervous, and also excited, to develop."

In order to collect payments for payment, she connects Stripe to collect payment .

Rule #6: Your students will still have access to you if your business develops to the extent that it can.

Lee's marketing strategy is simple she doesn't have complicated sales funnels, rather her time is focused in building relationships to her followers. This is done through her Instagram Newsletter, her Instagram, and the Empowered Curiosity Podcast. She also hosts two, no-cost community calls every month: One is a Monthly Call for Spiritual Entrepreneurs and the other is a Daoist Moon Wisdom Call. In order to attend these calls, students sign up via an email. This allows her to create her email list. Additionally, she includes email list sign-up in the show notes of her podcast as well as in her Instagram blog posts.

Her intention behind creating the free calls to community is to make sure that her clients have access to her, even as her business expands. "I've seen so many coaches whose communities have less access to them once their businesses grew. It seemed like to grow it was necessary to be less accessible. I was not interested in participating as a ."

"For me, my business has always been about connecting and connecting with people on a a deep level, and I did not want to lose this," continues Lee. "I wanted to expand through the connection. I do not want to take someone down an unfeeling funnel. These free calls give people the opportunity to learn from and be guided by me. If the experience is a hit with them the next step is to work with me for the rest of my programs that ."> _

Rule number 7: It is not necessary to develop content solely for the sake of creating content  Rule #7: Don't create content solely for the purpose of creating content

According Lee Lee she sees no value of releasing content solely in the name of getting out content. Similar to other aspects of her work She promotes her offerings carefully and in a thoughtful manner using the "quality over quantity" attitude. "There is a lot of noise out there," she says. "I've heard from my audience users that they'll check my account because they know the content I share will have significant. ."  span>

"So many business coaches advise their clients to write a blog every single day," she continues. "But what if it takes an hour to write an article? This then turns into an all-hours job to write marketing materials, and eventually takes you to the limit. ." It's a lot of work.

Instead, she market her program more organically through the content she already has. On her podcast, she provides an invitation at the beginning and at the end of each podcast to keep working together. "I discover that people typically listen to my podcast for several months in order to gain a better understanding of my ethical values, morals, and how I teach about business, before collaborating further," she explains.

Through Instagram there are a lot of queries in her DMs that she addresses in public (upon permission from the user) to share her expertise to the people in her circle. In her newsletter, Lee provides longer-form content regularly to keep her audience interested and up-to-date on her offerings.

Rule number 8: can skip launch launches that are hard to get.

To take care of her stress levels, Lee has put a stop to opening her courses for enrollment and has closed the cart at specific dates. "I found this style of launching super activating to the nervous system of my body," she says. "I was awash with nerves about how many people were going to sign up. I noticed that it stimulated my audience's nerve systems too, as it caused me to approach the audience with energy and pushiness for a 2 week ."

Instead of launching with a hard launch her course allows students to join her courses on a rotating basis. "Anybody could sign up to Conscious Marketing or Energetics of Money at any date," she says. "About one week prior to the live sessions, which are spaced out every 3 to 4 months, I'll release an article to draw attention of it. However, people will start to enroll in the classes when they're ready to ."

She offers BAM in a rolling enroll basis, however in a different way. Anyone can submit applications for the program at any time. When she has received around six applications and sets a deadline for the course and advertises the course for two weeks in order in order to give anyone the last chance to join.

Rule #9: It's not necessary to get over your own discomfort for success It's not necessary to overcome discomfort in order to be successful

To further mitigate burning out, Lee has two team members who help her to run her business.

Her assistant puts together Lee's work using Canva and also handles the administrative tasks, and her producer produces her podcast, edits the video programs, and assembles her sales pages. The result is that she can reduce her pace and remain focused in her area of expertise in developing relationships with prospective and current clients.

Lee encourages folks to step into creating online courses with a style that is good for them, releasing all the things that they feel they "should" be doing and instead, listening to the body. "If the hustle culture or 'boss messages don't connect with you, that doesn't suggest that something is wrong for you," Lee instills. "In the end, it indicates that you've got a well-balanced body and nervous system that is seeking a more communal way of doing business ."> :

"It does not have to be one or the other," she adds. "You do not have to stop marketing your business or outweigh your body's rules to succeed. There's something that's between the two, and that could be the solution I'm able to offer people ."

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