Mindfulness and Authenticity For Business Growth with Katharine Chestnut

Hey everybody, it's Tara Bryan and you are listening to the Course Building Secrets Podcast. Whether you're a coach or a CEO, the success of your team and clients is based on your ability to deliver a consistent experience and guide them on the fastest path to results. This podcast will give you practical real life tips that you can use today to build your online experiences that get results and create raving fans. Why? So you can monetize your expertise and serve more people without adding more time or team to your business. If you're looking to uncover your million dollar framework, package it and use it to scale, you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Transcribed

episode of the Course Building Secrets Podcast. I am thrilled that you're here. I want to introduce you to Katharine Chestnut today from mindfulness and meditation, which I am so excited about hearing about today. So welcome Katharine to the show. So happy to have you with us today to get us started, just give us a little bit about who you are and what you're about.

Thank you for having me. And I'm going to tell you that I did not. I did not start on, I did not start in this place. Absolutely not. Actually, I spent. 30 years doing strategic marketing for Fortune 100 companies. And that was very much who I was when I was younger and very much about my job and very focused on that. And over the years, I had dabbled with things here and there gone to weekend workshops to try and figure out who I was and what my purpose was and things like that. And over time I mean, I did that for 30 years and about 12 years ago, I said, I'm done. I'm done being gone 60 percent of the time. Don't get me wrong. I like traveling, but not that much. And I said, I'm done. I'm not doing that anymore. And I started doing more. I had become a behavioral, behavioral kinesiologist. Five years before that and I started even doing more personal work for myself I started another business, which I'm currently sitting in right now. I started a coworking space, but I spent more time. But while I was doing that, I started going back to some things that I had learned previously and some things I hadn't been successful at, like meditation. And I finally figured out how it would work for me and loved it and eventually became a meditation teacher. And I've been a public speaker for, 30 some odd years. And so now I've transitioned from speaking about marketing to speaking about mindfulness and meditation.

Mm-Hmm. Oh, okay. So many things that is such a great story. I love it. So I didn't know that I was also like a corporate dropout, right? Like had years of corporate experience. I took a different route, but that same thing where I was like, I'm ready to be done. I'm ready to move on and do something different. And I think that that's such a common journey is you sort of spend the first couple of years trying to figure out what do you, what, what is life like when you're not in corporate America and you, and you want to do your own thing. And what does that look like? And kind of dabbling and, and lots of different things. And so so I love that part of your story, because I think it's, it's something that our listeners, you know, tend to go through is like, how, you know, how do you find that thing after, afterwards? So tell me just a little bit about, like, I, I love all the things you just mentioned, like, you tried all these things and then you sort of landed on You know, it sounds like you still do a lot of things, but landed on sort of the core business that you wanted to move forward. And then, and then there's got to be this sort of strategic marketing part of you that, that is the part that's driving your business because you can't help it. Right. And so, okay, so there's lots of different directions that, that we could go into. I'm super curious first for our audiences who may not know this is what, tell us what behavioral

kinesiology.

Tell us what that is. And and a little bit about kind of what that looks like.

So I was introduced to this absolutely wonderful, wonderful woman, 20 some odd years ago, who. Like me did a lot of things. And like both of us had been super corporate, she was like a million dollar real estate sales person, you know, million dollar sales and things like that for years and years. And, you know, it almost killed her and she stepped back and she started looking for her own purpose. Her name was Sue Meyers. She's since passed away, but I was introduced to her. I had a friend who said, you need to come to this workshop. I'm like, ah, another workshop. How is that going to help me? And I went and she was amazing. She taught me all these great things. One of which she practiced Behavioral kinesiology, which if you know what kinesiology is, it's about listening to the body and doing muscle testing. And, and looking for the things that are positive and negatively impacting you through your body. 'cause your body knows and you'll find that there is I have a very healthy dose of pragmatism in me, but I also have a very healthy dose of woowoo in me.

So they go back and forth. Yeah. Yeah a lot.

I'll go, I'll go back and forth between the two. It, and if I can't see it actually working for me, I'm very suspect of it. So Sue used this practice of behavioral kinesiology to test for what was going on and what was true. and over a number of years, I went back to workshops with her and I got certified doing that. I really only mostly practice for myself right now, but it is basically essentially when I'm unsure about something. I will get I will meditate. I'll do some breath work. I'll get very grounded and then I'll do muscle testing and I'll ask very simple yes and no questions of myself and testing that and saying, is this, is this the direction? Do I need to do this or I should do this or I will do this and test for it. And I sometimes I get no's and sometimes I get yes's and I will do it until I get the information that I need. And I don't want to say the information that I want or I think I want, because sometimes that's not where it takes me.

Interesting. Okay. That's so fascinating. I love that. Okay. Like, we could talk about that all day, but I will move us forward. So, all right. So, so tell us how, So now that you have sort of grounded yourself in like you, this is the business that you are going to lead with or that you're building. How, how did you go about doing that? Like, what were the steps that you took to do that? So for our listeners who are sort of starting, you know, like just making that transition and dabbling in a bunch of different things, like, what did it look like when you started and you sort of said, all right, this is my expertise and I'm going to move it forward.

It started off with me wanting to write a book, essentially and it was a book about the way of journaling, mindful journaling, that Sue taught me over 20 years ago. And I had been thinking about it for 17 years and I hit this point where I was like, if I don't do this now, when am I going to do it?

Right.

And I just wanted to get that. I just like, I just want to get that book out there. I need to share this because I know so many other people can benefit from it. And not just me because I find a lot of benefit from it. So I wrote the book. And in the process of writing the book, because I'm this marketing person and I can't seem to do anything in halves, I, I created a brand. I created, you know, a look and a feel and brand guidelines. I was like, well, I need a website. If I'm going to be an author. So I built a website and then I was like, well, I should have things that are supporting that book and And a couple years before that, I had started publishing meditations on Inside Timer. And I said, so this mindful journaling and meditation and other things that I do all support mindfulness. Yes. Because I can't do anything in halves. So, you know, I, I decided to publish meditations. And to write a book. That was how I started. And then it just kept going from there. And I was like, I love this. I want to do more of this. So I have written five books now in, I guess it's been three years and I have over 50 meditations and I have Mindfulness Membership and yeah.

So, all right. So talk, talk to me about sort of the result of that, right? So, and that's common, but, and sometimes people try and do that and then they try and do all the things and they get so overwhelmed that they don't do anything. Right. So, You are unique in the fact that you could actually execute on all of that. That probably was your like corporate side of you. That was like, we're going to just get this done. Right. So tell me about how that happened. How did you match that with like getting customers and marketing what you were doing with the creation process? And then did it snowball because people were asking for it or it snowballed because you were just so excited and passionate about what you were creating that you put it out there and then people started going into it and then that act like you accidentally almost built yourself a business based on what you were excited about. So tell me a little bit about how that happened.

People were not clamoring to get my book. I felt very powerfully driven. And, and this is one of the things that, that we talked about, is being authentic. Right. And feeling, I knew this was my next purpose. I knew I not once did I waver from, I know this is what I need to do next. I just have to figure out how to support it and sustain it so that I can help people and what is it that they need? So of course, what's the first thing I do? I wrote a business plan. Because that's my corporate side. Writing a business plan, writing a marketing plan, figuring out how to execute it. Now, I am smart enough to know, that there are things that I am not great at, like building a website No, I hired somebody to build a website. And in fact, I have a member in my coworking space who does that, who has built five websites for me over the years. Very reasonably too. So hire somebody to do that. Do the research to figure out what's the best way to market my book. You know, go find the tools to help me make sure that I'm using the right keywords on Amazon so that my book gets seen. So those tools, hiring somebody to help me with social media. Yes, I write the business plan, the marketing plan, the content plan, and how the products are going to roll out. And then I give that stuff to somebody. And I say, here's what's coming down the pipe. I need you to go create for that. Now, not everybody has the ability to hire somebody and I totally get that. And I also get that I have a bad habit of wanting to figure out how to do things myself before I give them to somebody else. But I'm, I also know that I can't do everything and I'm happy to pay somebody who knows their business better than me.

Yep. Well, and I think that that's such a great lesson too, is that so many people just try and do all the things all the time. And then you end up, you know, you, you, you leave corporate cause you're burnt out and then you try this and then you're burnt out and then you move to the next thing and you're burnt out. It's like, well, wait a minute, like something has to change. Right. So that's, that's a great lesson to share with everyone that, you know, do you need to own the business, you need to own the strategy. But you can hand off the implementation to other people as you're, as you're going through it. So yeah, that's awesome. So, so talk to us a little bit about like, so what happened? So you got the book out there, which I, which I love, by the way, that you are saying like you had such a passion and drive to get this out of your head and into a format that other people could consume. And I think that that's such the, the experts way, right. Is just, it like, won't go away. That idea, so if you are listening and you have that thing that just will not leave you as much as you try and like I'm not gonna do this, right? Then that's a really big key that you need to get that out into the world. And, and at that point, like, you don't even care if you sell it, right? Because you're just like, I have just got to get it out of my head. It is a passion. It is, it is something that needs to get out in the universe. And there's that sort of, you know, kind of bigger picture of, like, this has to just get out there. And that's, that sounds like that's what was driving you to get started. And then it was. The next question was, great, how can I make money doing this because I'm spending my time doing it, right? That's probably like, that was sort of how it happened.

Fortunately I had been publishing on Insight Timer for a couple of years at that point. And I was making some, and I'm not going to say a lot, I was making some money doing that. And I was making, Money here in the coworking space to be able to support my, my offer, my offer. Habit Yeah. But, but the point is, is that I was listening to my, and people talk about intuition, and that's what was coming up for me just now when you were saying, if it's stuck in your head and you, it won't go away like that is, your intuition telling you this is something that you need to, to do or share or whatever it happens to be? So I've tried a number of things. I've had a couple coaches. The most recent one was the most helpful and. Helping me to figure out what's the best way for me to market and it, it all kind of fits together too. At first I wasn't a hundred percent sure how that worked, like the meditations and the books and the, but it all kind of dovetailed together and it wasn't, you know, In fact, I actually go away for a long weekend. I just did it over Labor Day weekend with a girlfriend and she has side, you know, business like me and we go away. We get away from everybody. We rent an Airbnb and all we do for three days is plan. And that's all we did was plan, you know, looking at big picture. What do I want to have happen in 2025 and 2026? And where do I want to go from here? And, and then backing into that, what do I have to do for that to happen? This is still different than the corporate stuff that I used to do. It's for me instead of somebody else.

Yeah, yeah, which makes it, you know, obviously more fulfilling because it's your, your project, your baby as you're moving it forward. So that's great. And, and like, I love the fact that you even just go and have kind of a planning retreat, because I think that that's another huge thing that. You have to save space for you to be able to plan. And so that's awesome. Okay. So tell me about like, so the, the, you have a membership and other assets that you have, is it around the book? So people can you know, collaborate together, together, or do you have like more materials? Like what, what do you have going on in your membership?

Good question. It started with the meditations and then the original book, but then as things started happening, I realized it's, it's bigger than that. It's not just about the book, which is about mindful journaling, and it's not just about meditation. It's about, it's about finding that work Life Mesh. and I say mesh as opposed to balance, right? It's, it's really integration of work and life and taking care of ourselves. And I'm not talking about manicures and bubble baths, right? Like self care, like it's, it's sure. Those things are great. And I'm not saying that they're there, they don't have a place, but it's about taking care of what's in our heart. Giving ourselves that heartfelt space, which when I started, things started coming together. I'm like, it all comes back to being mindful and practicing mindfulness, but then mindfulness can be practiced in a million different ways. And so when I was conceiving of the membership, it was about having, I do challenges that last 10 days and there's always a central theme around them. Like I have one coming up that's about breath, 10 different ways to practice breath work. I did one last year for the holidays. The 12 days of mindfulness, which I'm gonna do again this year. Some of them are about journaling, some of them are about meditation. So there's the challenges which people can get off as one-offs. There, but the membership also has a weekly inspiration. And this was another thing we were talking about being authentic. And when I first started recording the videos for the members for the weekly inspiration, I would come in, I would put my makeup on, I would get, you know, I'm get all dutied up right now. I just, I, you know, I got my baseball hat on. I got no makeup on. I'm like, Hey y'all, this is who I am. And I know you appreciate seeing just me being me, being authentic in that membership, and there's also a Slack, a private Slack community where people can connect, they can connect with me. Just being real and authentic. And like, what am I dealing with right now? I just started offering coaching as well. So people can check in and say, I'm really struggling with this at work, which I'm going to empathize with because I used to do that too.

Yeah. It's like, you've had a full circle moment, right? Where it's like the, you, you were in corporate and You got to that place where you're like, I have no work life balance. I am like, I'm, I am not doing what I need to do to take care of myself. And so you've been able then to establish that as your authority, your expertise, create a business around it so that you can then help the people who are like you, who need you. And that's how you are building what you're building. To help those people. So are your customers corporate, primarily corporate employees?

I would say they're typically successful, driven, ambitious women who will dive in head first, like, like me. And, and I'm no different now, but what's different is the mindfulness things that work for me and sometimes they change. And that's also the important thing, is to meet people where they're at and say, look, there's a lot of different things, that might work for you, let's try them on and see what works best, to help you have some connection to your heart instead of, I like to say, I spent the first 40 years of my life in my head.

Yeah, for sure. For sure. So that's, so that's great. Like that's, that's a really awesome sort of expertise journey that you've been able to go on, gain the skills, the experience, and and the techniques to be able to then go back and kind of help yourself, you know, help yourself from when you were going through that struggle on your own. So what are your plans as you move forward to inviting more members and having more of a, you know, kind of a scaled experience in your business?

Well, like I said, I just started offering coaching. I've been doing group coaching once a month with members are welcome to come together into a group session. Scale for right now is I want to grow the membership so that there's more people who are helping each other and then and, and more meditations that the members are telling me that they need, because when I first started creating meditations, I was writing them for myself. I had come out of a narcissistically abusive marriage of 11 years, and I was looking for content to help me with that. Wasn't finding it. So I started creating it. And so when I create stuff now, when I create new content, it's things that a member has said to me, like, I'm struggling with this. Or they just say, This is happening and something will click in my head and my heart. And I'll say, I need to do something that addresses that particular need. And that's where that authenticity comes into play because we're listening, we're hearing and feeling, Oh, okay. That's what somebody needs right now. And even if it's just one person, I don't care. I know that somebody's going to need that.

Well, and that's such a good lesson too, is like, you're, you're creating something for one person and you know, that kind of in the back of your head, it's going to, you know, impact so many people. But if you, if you try and create for all the people, then you don't actually hit that one person. Right. So I think that's a really a really important lesson for people who are listening to is, I love that you just said that, like, you just, if somebody has a need, you're creating it and, and the outcome is that it's going to help a lot of other people. Ideally it helps that person.

When I'm recording, I visualize that person in front of me. Like I'm talking to that person.

That's powerful. It makes a huge difference for people. I did the same thing when I, when I recorded the book for Audible. I felt like I was talking to my friend and saying here, and just like we're having this conversation right now, just talking to you is so much more real. And then the other people who are listening, but that's how they connect. Yes. But it's very, very true. And I think, especially in an online world, we we have a tendency to, you know, forget that we're speaking to an actual person. And so that's such a powerful lesson, I think, just to remember always like picture your person, your ideal, your ideal avatar, or the person who's asked the question, like picture them when you are creating whatever it is that you're creating, because that's, that's when it makes the difference and people can feel it for sure. So awesome. Okay, cool. Give us one sort of tip or kind of I don't know. One of the things that, that you would say helped you the most. When you were going through this process, like what is the, what is the, what is that? the women who are like me and you, who just want it all to be done. And like, I want to be down this road and I should have had this done and this done. And why am I not at this place yet? And this is something that I say all the time. And in fact, I say it so much, I put it on a key ring that I sell on my website. It says, this moment is right and perfect. I love that. Say that one more time.

This moment is right and perfect.

That's awesome.

Whatever is going on is exactly right for me in this moment.

And my friends, you'll find that on the Insight Timer because I am sure that she has that somewhere out there. That sounds like something that like I just need to hear all the time, like in my ears all the time. So that's awesome. Rewind this and listen to that again, everyone, because that is powerful right there. So that is a great Tip and strategy to pay attention to. Awesome. So what what book or resource or tool would you say that everybody needs to have in their office somewhere?

Well, one get Insight Timer because as far as I know, it's the only free meditation app out there. And I did, I listened to it for a full year every day before I upgraded to the premium, which is only six bucks a year, which is crazy. Nothing.

Yeah.

So that I use it every day, multiple times a day. Even if I have to go escape to the ladies room for five minutes to get away from whatever insanity is going on, I can come out and be like, okay, what y'all got?

Yeah. Yep, I'm ready. Yeah.

And then the second thing would be my, my OG book, which is called inner Affirmations. It's a small but mighty and it will walk you through the process of how to do mindful journaling, perhaps in a way that's different than you have done in the past. And it's not the kind of book that you read and then you're done. Every chapter has an activity to step you up to that process. It's not hard. I'm not going to say you have to do it every day. Do it at the pace that works for you, but I highly, highly recommend learning that process.

Awesome. Very cool. Well, thank you so much for being on the episode today. We appreciate all of your stories and insights. And until next time, everyone have a great day.