Scaling Your Business Without Sacrificing Family Time with Katelyn Hamilton
About the episode:
Ever wonder how you can scale your business while also being present and available for your family? I'm so excited to have Katelyn Hamilton join us to discuss this topic because she is a scaling strategist. Katelyn is a strategic business consultant who helps women organize their businesses to grow to six figures and beyond—while being a mom of three and growing her own business. We talk about how Katelyn went from working in a crazy corporate environment to building the quiet, successful online business that she has today. We’ll explore the crucial steps of systematizing for scaling and hear directly from Katelyn about what drives her to succeed. She believes you can have it all: a thriving business without sacrificing precious moments with your family. Are you ready to make some smart moves in your business and balance family life like a pro? Katelyn's here to share her top tips. Let’s dive in!
Highlights:
Katelyn's move from full-time work to starting her own business to improve her work/life balance
Why systematizing business processes is important for business growth
The most common problems and how to overcome them when trying to balance being a mother and running a business
How to shift from operational work to strategic coaching in order to leverage expertise
The best ways for entrepreneurs with young families to handle their time
How adaptability and resiliency can help you grow as a person and in your career
About Katelyn and Resources
Katelyn Hamilton is a strategic business consultant who helps women go from feeling disorganized, stressed out, and overwhelmed to having a streamlined and systematized backend, simplified success plan, and a general feeling of calm, confidence, and empowerment in their business. Katelyn is also a stepmom and a mom to three kids, ages twelve, three, and one. She loves college football, working out, and spending time with her family.
Connect with Katelyn:
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RuthAnn Rafiq
Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of Rebrand with Ruthanne. I am so excited to have my friend and fellow business owner here, Caitlin Hamilton. She is a strategic business consultant that helps women go from feeling disorganized, stressed out and overwhelmed to having a streamlined and systematized backend, simplified success plan and a general feeling of calm, confidence and empowerment in their business. Caitlin is also a stepmom, a mom to three kids ages 12, three and one and loves college football, working out and spending time with her family. Katelyn, I am so excited to have you on the show. Welcome.
Katelyn Hamilton
Thank you, thanks so much for having me.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Yes, I feel like there's a lot of overlap between our two businesses and our audiences. Our audiences are women who are ready to scale and expand. They're ambitious. They have goals. And they also have a family. And they're also growing their family or they're wanting to prioritize their life outside of work. And so you are the perfect person to talk about this because you're all about scaling and systematizing while making six figures and beyond and helping women do that. So I'm so excited to dive into all the things we're gonna talk about, motherhood included. But first, before we go into all the business stuff, tell me how you got started and what attracted you to having your own online business. Did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur? Give us the backstory.
Katelyn Hamilton
Yeah, so I feel like my backstory, I mean, not that it's overly interesting compared to most people. We all have that pivotal point of like, hey, I'm just going to start my own business, right? And for me, I worked in marketing PR prior to starting my own business. And I was driven to climb that corporate ladder and thinking like, I'm just going to keep climbing that and I'm going to get to that next role in business. And make more money and it's going to be great. But in the back of my mind, I was always like, how am I going to do this when I have a family? Right. So at 21, 22, 23, you're like, hey, I'm, I'm fresh out of college, right. When I jumped into my career and that's your main focus. But then as I got to 24, 25, and I started thinking about, you know, that future, I was like, I can't work these insane hours and have a family and be present with my kids. I really didn't want to drop them off at daycare and leave them all day and, and see them for a little bit every night. So I think that's when the wheels started turning. Like I was definitely working in the agency world and enjoying it and thriving and growing in my career. But it was always like, what happens then when I get married and have kids? So for me, my story and kind of where that turn took place was before I had kids. It wasn't when I had kids. But I was working at my agency job and I was really feeling...
deserving of a promotion and my boss essentially wasn't wasn't giving it and so the long story short was then I was mysteriously let go like a week or two later and it was it was not because apparently I did anything wrong but it was because of resources or whatever and I don't know if I buy into that full story so
I was shocked to say the least because I was so great at my job and I felt like such a big asset I felt like they needed me and it was actually the first time that I was like wait This this they don't you were just a number. You're just a person right? like you that you don't actually you're replaceable was really kind of what it got me at and I didn't feel like I felt like I had invested a lot there and I wasn't replaceable and sure enough it happened to me when I didn't think it could so
I spent the next few months doing some freelance work, dabbling my toes and what that looks like to work for yourself. And I really enjoyed it. But then you always have that thing in the back of your mind of the security and what do I need to feel stable? Is this money was going to come? And my parents driving that into me as well. And so I took a full -time job while I also had launched my first business, which was a PR and marketing agency. And then As soon as the day I launched that website, it was about six weeks into the new job, my boss called me into her office and was like, you can't have this, you can't do this. So I went through our non -compete, I went through like all the things with her and she still basically was like, if you don't take your website down, you can't work here anymore. And I had just spent all this time and money investing in that as my, you know, in myself. And so I really was at a crossroads and I came back from lunch that day and I said, okay.
I said, well, I'm not taking my website down. And she walked me out the door. So that was like the fire that lit me up inside to be like this, I'm not going back. This is going to work for me. And I launched that business. And about seven months later, I had kind of dug into the online world and what that looked like. There's a whole world that people don't know. You know, they don't know about being in the night. I didn't know. And so once I got into it and found all this stuff through like Facebook group and friends and the online world,
RuthAnn Rafiq
Yes.
Katelyn Hamilton
building a business online, I found what an OBM was. And that's where I dove into that. And I took on OBM clients and, you know, I did that, done that for like five years. And that's kind of led me to kind of where I'm at today and growing into helping people. Now that I've done that from an operational standpoint in the back end of people's businesses that are very successful, multi six figure, seven figure entrepreneurs. I know exactly what to do to help coach people, kind of scale, scale their business to that next level. So That's kind of my journey, my story in a nutshell as to what's gotten me where I'm at today.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Oh my gosh, I don't think I realized that. And I think it's so true that we do think we're irreplaceable at a job. And the truth is there's a lot of other people who would want our job and you can easily be replaced. And it is kind of a crazy feeling knowing that like everything I put into this, it's not really going to be, it's just going to be helping the company grow, which is fantastic. But ultimately you're not you're just one of many and you're not leaving maybe that lasting legacy that you want to or that kind of thing. So it's, yeah, that's so crazy. But I love, and I love also that you questioned like, how am I gonna sustain this when I have a family? And that was, it sounds like that was a big piece of like making decisions was how am I gonna do this when I, cause that's something you wanted. And I had that exact same thing too. Cause I was like, how am I gonna?
I want a business, I want something to do while I'm a stay at home mom, because I do want to be home with my kids, but I also want to do something creative that I love. And so you and I both, it sounds like, have that same questioning.
Katelyn Hamilton
I don't believe her and like you can do both. Like you can ask my mom like my whole life, like if somebody tells me I can't do something, I'm like, well watch me, right? Like I'm gonna make it happen. And like I've always been the person that's really hard to tell no. You know, you can't tell me no. Like my mom will say, you can't tell Caitlin no. If she wants something, she's gonna find a way to make it happen. And that's kind of how I felt in this scenario. I'm like, you can't tell me I can't be home with my kids and also make a lot of money doing it and doing something that I enjoy. Like you can't tell me that's not possible. How is this possible? So.
I started my own business when I was let go from that job, yes, because I was frustrated that, like, I'm not gonna let anybody else do this to me again. I'm not gonna let anybody else make me feel like I'm disposable, right? They don't care about me. That was part of it. But the other part was that I had just met my now husband a few months prior and he had a son from his first marriage. And we obviously knew we wanted to have a family one day. It was like, I knew very quickly that we were gonna end up together.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Love it.
Katelyn Hamilton
And wheels started turning, they're like, okay. And so then when I lost my job, I was like, okay, well, what if I do build something for myself? Once I started dabbling in the freelance work, I was like, okay, this is great. I could definitely do this with kids, right? So it definitely was that moment of, I didn't really think about it before. Like I hadn't really thought about freelancing. We are taught as a society, you go to school, you go to college, you know, get graduate from high school, you go to college, you get a job.
then you get married, then you have kids, right? Like that's like what I was taught at least like growing up. And I really wasn't taught there's another way. I wasn't really taught like you have options. It was just like, that's what you do. And then you either become a stay at home mom or you work a corporate career and send your kids to daycare. And like that was the two choices I felt like were given to me. And I was like, well, I don't like those choices. So, my son now, his favorite thing to say, he's three, will be like,
RuthAnn Rafiq
same.
RuthAnn Rafiq
I'm gonna make my own choices.
Katelyn Hamilton
I don't like I don't think I like that play mommy. I'm like, I don't always like playing dirt and you just gotta find a way around it sometimes. So so anyways, I do think that was kind of like I was starting to enter into mom mode, you know, like being a stepmom and like realizing with the family what that entailed and work schedules and all that and then I dabbled in freelance work and I was like, yeah, like this, this is something I could do. How do I do this? How do I make this happen? How like what what do I do?
RuthAnn Rafiq
oh my word that's so funny like mother like son.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Yeah.
Katelyn Hamilton
and just kind of figured it out from there.
RuthAnn Rafiq
And that is the truth. I think like entrepreneurship is about tenacity. I think, you know, that is just a pivotal, that is a characteristic that you need in this business is just figure out how to keep going to pivot, to continue being creative. Cause sometimes, especially when it comes to like marketing and putting your business out there, trends change, things change, algorithms change. You have to like be tenacious and not give up and just like, this is it. Like I am going to figure this out. And that's.
This is my only option. So I love that you just kind of dug in and were like, I'm going to figure this out. I'm going to make this work. So since starting your business, how has it been? I would love to talk about a little bit of your journey starting as an OBM and then pivoting to more on the coaching side. And now you help women who are scaling and that kind of thing and you're more coaching them. So tell me a little bit about that and the transition of that too.
Katelyn Hamilton
So with OVM work as a done for you service provider, you're training your time for money. And I think you can relate to some design options and packages people can start out with. I always see business as like an evolution, right? Like we always start in one area and then you see opportunity and you hone your skills to be able to grow and change. So I started out, you know, offering done for you OVM services at, you know, a certain rate.
And then scaling the rate and scaling, you know, from there. And that's how I was able to scale my business as an OBM was, was really with scaling based on experience. So there's lots that go into that in terms of managing systems, managing team, managing projects, all the different tools and becoming familiar with that because people use a variety of things. And so in the beginning, it was really getting used to and knowing and becoming an expert in.
all the different tools and automations and systems. But the biggest difference between like an OBM and a VA really is the strategic element of that. And that's where my background in marketing and PR really, I feel like helped me was I really had the strategic ability to look at a person's business and say, yes, we can simplify it via these systems and these automations and these processes, but also like.
in order to help you grow, not only do we need to simplify it, but here's how we need to market it and expand it. So that kind of, I felt like was my edge for a really long time, like in selling my OBM services was, yeah, you get somebody that knows the systems and the processes and can help you with that. But also like I have the marketing expertise to also support your business and being successful. So I'm a big believer in like practicing what you preach, knowing and understanding and really diving into like.
Seeing it before you can help coach and teach somebody else on how to do that. So I became really good at being an OBM basically and my name I operated pretty much based on referrals and it really have to I've never really had to do a ton of good marketing for myself because I just really invested in the people the relationships that I've built with my clients who have then referred me to other people in
RuthAnn Rafiq
Mm -hmm.
Katelyn Hamilton
the business world to scale and grow. So then I would refine a little bit of my marketing and my messaging in selling those services to those people based on the experience that I gained really, right? Like, hey, you know, I've grown, hey, I can do X, Y, and Z for you. You know, I know how to do this and this. I've managed a team of 10, then I managed a team of 20, right? Like my experience grew with every new client. And that was kind of my goal was taking on every new client. I wanted to learn something new to be able to then be a better...
OBM to all of my clients and to continue to scale and grow. So I got to the point where I was only working with the six figure, multiple six figure to seven figure entrepreneurs. And it's really a different level of business to be able to see how the backend of someone's business is run at that level. But to be completely honest with you,
when I come into most of those businesses, they are a total mess. Like they operate or they're operating in the same way that you would at the like recently hit six figure mark, right? Like as business owners, we're always evolving and growing and learning, but we're compartmentalizing and putting things together in a way that makes sense at the moment. But in order to scale and grow, then those things stop working for you. And that's when people would then hire me. It was like,
I need help. Like what I'm doing isn't working. Everything's a disorganized mess. There's no straight systems and processes. And I'm making all this money, but like I, I know there's gaps and there's room for improvement. So I would come in and basically simplify their business to create more streamlined systems, to create more white space for them, to manage deadlines and projects better, to work more proactively instead of reactively. And...
doing all of those things is essentially what I now help women do when I come into their business from a coaching standpoint is I look at the business and I'm like, okay, first we're going to simplify things. Let's look at how you're managing your business, what systems and processes do you have in place? Where are you overcomplicating it? Right? So the framework is very similar. I'm still coming in and helping them to declutter, get organized, feel less stressed, feel less scattered.
Katelyn Hamilton
create more white space for them, and then making sure they have the right support and team to do that. So instead of me now implementing those things, I am helping them either manage their and equip their team members better, right? Like, hey, this is what you need your OPM to do or your VA to do or your designers to do to help support you, or this is where you need the support. This is who you need to hire in order to do that. But...
You can't, a lot of people, that's why a coach is so important, and that's why the work that I do is so important, is a lot of people try to do that and hire before they actually clean up and figure out what they need, right? Like, it's like, well, I think I need to hire a copywriter. But I'm like, do you need to hire a copywriter? Or do we just need to like get stuff streamlined first, that then you actually have a ton of great stuff that you can use? Like, it's just, it's just different, right? And so every person is different, I should say.
in terms of what they need. But a lot of people think they need things that they don't need until you actually audit your business and figure out what's working for you and what's not before you make that next hire. So I just saw that window of opportunity and like what I'm doing for all these women. I now can help people do that in a coaching level and to bring mom life into it. I had two babies 22 months apart.
And my time is severely limited now. So to be completely honest, the training your time for money, even at a package level, right? I've scaled my business to not always just be hourly, but to be a full OVM package. That wasn't also working anymore for me because I still had to be in the business executing on that time. I've also hired a team to help. I've done all the things to help get me to the point of like feeling supportive, but in the same breath, for me and the hours that I have focused on my work and my business, it's dropped dramatically since having kids. Like they have, I have little ones that need me and I get about 20 hours of work between 15 and 20, depending on sicknesses or school closures or whatever of work time a week. And, um
That I want to be able to make the biggest impact in people's lives and people's businesses. And I know that I have the knowledge and skill set to do that. And I want to be able to amplify that. And through coaching, that's the way I can help women do that when I'm not able to spend the time and the hours in the back end of everyone's businesses that I desire to help and support.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Ah, yes, there's so much I can unpack there. The first thing is that is awesome that you have such a rich background in marketing and you've been in the backend of businesses that are making six and seven figures. That's so cool because you have the perspective of all that experience and what works for people, what doesn't work for people. So you can have that bird's eye view. And when clients are needing something streamlined, they're wanting to scale.
And instead of like you're saying trading time for money, I think that's so awesome that you have that perspective. Anytime we can give like get expert outside perspective is so valuable. I think like I, I feel that with my own clients, like as a designer, when I am helping my clients, like, you know, streamline their brand and refine their brand, it just, when you're in it, you're just so in it. It's so hard to see things because you just can't see it clearly because you're so close.
But when you have that like outside perspective, it's so valuable. So I love that you bring that to your clients. I think that's amazing.
Katelyn Hamilton
Yeah, thank you. And that's so truly from a designer. I mean, that's not design is definitely not my specialty. And I love to outsource that because I'm like, that is not I don't see I don't see it that way. And I think that's also a really good point in business too, because the work that I do and how my brain works, right and seeing things from a systematic perspective and being able to pull things apart and organize them in a way that makes more sense, like is simpler to do.
That's what I realized a lot of my clients don't have the skill set. They are, a lot of them are big visionaries and they have the big ideas. If you're familiar with human design, like a lot of them are like manifest or manifest or generators and they're not the doers necessarily, but they're the people that have these amazing creative brains that want to bring that work to life, but like don't always exactly know the systems and the steps and the processes and the organization and structure.
in order to do that. So we all work in our zones of genius, right? And that's for me. Like I'm never gonna go try to design somebody's website. That is not my cup of tea, right? Like I'm not, I don't think like that. I don't visually see the things that you could see and be like, hey, what if we set this up here? What if from a user experience standpoint, it would make more sense. This catches somebody's eye better, right? Like you're gonna be able to pull that out to me and show me that. And I'm gonna say, great, now.
once they, from there, once they go to book a call with you, let's talk about their customer journey and what that looks like and make sure that's smooth for everyone. And, and that we're really making that, you know, streamlined process. So that's where I do feel like we all get the benefit of working well with and from each other and learning from each other and using each other's brains to, to grow and scale our businesses.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Yes, exactly. And yeah, we do all think differently. And, you know, I think just anyone who specializes in something, you know, who we can pick their brain about, and they've worked with dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of clients, it's just so valuable from the client perspective. And I so I loved also how you said that you work 15 to 20 hours a week. I'm honestly surprised to hear that because I feel like you work more than that. But I mean, obviously, I'm not the one clocking hours over there. But I.
I just am, you know, how you've been able to grow and like maintain your family life. I would love to hear what you're doing for childcare. Our kids are very similar in ages. My son just turned four and then I have a one year old and you have a one and three year old. So tell me what you're doing for childcare and how you're, and a little bit about like your schedule.
Katelyn Hamilton
Yup!
Yeah, yeah, and I think this is actually a really good point because this is also something that I really do work with my clients on a lot too because a lot of the, I'm really big on efficiency and making your schedule work for you. And I think that's something that if we can just look at your schedule and how you're utilizing your time and your hours, there's gaps in there that you're actually not being efficient that you could gain, right? In terms of efficiency in the business to get more done in less time. So.
I have my schedule, I'll dive into my schedule in childcare, but schedule first. I have my schedule set up to, I work Monday through Thursday. I'm off every Friday. That from the day I started my business before kids was the day I was either going to travel before children or before children and COVID. I was going to travel. I was going to do something for myself. Like I hated working on Fridays in the corporate world. So that was like my one non -negotiable. So I work Monday through Thursday. Now Fridays I spend with my kids.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Yeah.
Katelyn Hamilton
I work on take client calls and do client work Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. So Wednesdays are my day in my business or for myself. So I'll have either personal appointments that day. I will do calls like podcast recordings. I will do content cleaning, content creation, and it's also a spillover day. So I don't take calls in this day because if, we all know how it goes with kids, there's a sickness or school is closed or something comes up and I have to take off, so to speak, or stop work early on another day, it does give me the time and space that if I need to do some client work on Wednesdays, I do client work on Wednesdays, you know? So that's how I roughly set it up. I have childcare. We have a nanny.
Mondays from Mondays and Wednesdays from 830 to 130 and my son goes to Mother's Day out Tuesdays and Thursdays from 930 until 2 So that's like the dedicated childcare times That being said we do here and there ask our nanny to stay it, you know a couple extra hours a week here and there My husband is a home inspector. He works for himself and runs his own business as well. So
If I need to finish a project or I need to get something else done and he doesn't have an inspection, I'm able to ask him for help with the kids to do a couple things. So my weeks every week have a rough structure. I do calls in the mornings and then I have the afternoons to execute on work. And then the hours semi -very week to week depending on what's going on in our household and in our lives.
But we set that structure every week. So every Sunday night, we look at what the week ahead looks like, look at what his jobs are open, look at my workload in terms of what my client needs are for me. And we look at my call schedules and we just work together to be like, hey, okay, I'm gonna need you to pick up my son from school on Tuesday afternoon. And he'll go and do that. And sometimes he'll take the kids to the park so I can get in a couple hours of work. So It's having that, for me at least, it's having the structure in place, but also being able to have the flexibility where needed to kind of work around that. But from a dedicated client booking, hours booked or trapped, I should say, it's about between 15 and 20 hours. And then I am on Boxer with my clients as well. So the thing that I also love about this transition into doing more coaching and strategic consulting work is that It actually feels really good to me to be able to be present with my kids and also responding to a voxer message here and there. I have dedicated like no phone times like post dinner to make sure I'm being like really intentional with my kids as well. Or if we're out doing an activity, I obviously won't respond to a voxer. But there's moments, you know, in the day where you're, you know, sitting on the couch and they're watching a show or you're playing on the playground outside and they're, you know, swinging or playing in the dirt or the water table or whatever.
that it takes me two to five minutes to be able to listen to and respond to my clients. And that's the beauty for me of that freedom is guests. Like sitting at a desk, it's 15 to 20 hours, but there's probably another five hours in there of work time on my phone in terms of responding to messages.
RuthAnn Rafiq
I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that and just being open. I am always curious about what other mom entrepreneurs are doing. Like tell me all the secrets. And I love, there is like a balance between having a structure and being flexible. I'm, oh my goodness, like so much. And we were talking about this before we hopped on the call, but like, you know, when there's sickness or something, you have to like rearrange your entire day because the kids are home and you just, it's too hard to like work and have them home. So it's for me anyway. So I just have to like reschedule things. We even rescheduled this podcast because my son was sick last week. So it was kind of it's just one of those things where it's like this is the structure when everything is going great. But then having that flexibility is incredibly important because then you can be there for your babies, which is what we want in the end. Yes, totally.
Katelyn Hamilton
Exactly. I'm such a big believer in like you have to have the structure that is going to give you the time to complete the things that you need to get done, right? So like for me having dedicated childcare, like I can't work with my kids. I can't work with my kids home without childcare. My kids are very clingy to me and they're young. They're one, you know, one in three. They won't sit there and allow me to work. If I have my laptop out, they either try to close it or you know, it just doesn't. We don't have that ability. I think other people can.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Yep. Yep.
Katelyn Hamilton
My kids don't let me do that. So for me, I have to have dedicated hours. I know I'm going to have childcare to get the stuff done that requires the focus and attention that my clients deserve too. So that's why I work in that way, right? Like I have those dedicated hours, but sometimes it goes awry, right? Like my childcare gets sick. School's canceled. Yesterday we were just saying how I had, my son's school was canceled because of weather. So.
It is all about the ebbing and flowing, but I am just such a big believer in also making sure you have, that's part of the support, it's not just from team members, but the support you need in terms of having childcare and having dedicated time to work on your business, that is really important to be able to focus and maintain that for growth.
RuthAnn Rafiq
That is, I'm so glad you brought that up because I think I struggle with this for a long time. I would never prioritize my business. I would be only doing client work. And then, you know, of course the clients would go, you know, we would finish their projects and then I'd be like, oh yeah, I have to like market and do all that stuff. And then you would like do all this stuff for your business and then you would get full again. And I was in this cycle for, I mean, a long time. And...
I just feel like in the last couple years, I've really tried to put in that CEO time every single week, which is hard to do for me because I only want to do client work because that's like what I love to do. I'm not like a strategy systems person. You know, I don't really like to do all the marketing stuff. I just like to do the design. So I only want to be in client work. But, you know, I making that intentional time for like, this is my business. This is where I'm headed this is what needs to go on next. It has been a game changer because it's like, this is how you make actual progress in your business. And I'm sure everyone knows this, but yeah, I just feel like I've taken.
Katelyn Hamilton
If you don't have that strategic plan, then you have nothing you're working towards either. So it's not, it doesn't have to be overwhelming and like, oh, every week I have to spend like two hours cleaning out. Like if you really break it down, you're like, okay, let's get strategic. Let's map out where we're going, what we're doing. Then you know, every week you're consistently working on one small piece of that puzzle. Right? So like I said, I usually spend Wednesdays doing a piece of content creation for the week. Right? So not just one piece of like,
RuthAnn Rafiq
Mm -hmm.
Katelyn Hamilton
I work on content creation for the week so that exactly what you're saying, you don't get into the spot of like, oh, I'm not marketing. Now I have to market to get new clients. You're consistently creating that presence and marketing yourself in order to have those clients walking in the door consistently. So it's really just putting that plan in place and being strategic about that plan and how you're gonna execute it that will help you figure out how you wanna grow because...
you're not going to get there by just doing the same thing that you've been doing. You have the desire to scale and grow your business, you know.
RuthAnn Rafiq
So true.
Yes, so true.
Katelyn Hamilton
You know what on the flip side I will say because and I know you can relate to this because you're about to have another baby, but I Can relate to this because I was just in these two seasons of motherhood There's times where you don't want to scale and grow there's times where you want to just maintain there's times where you want to just like Make sure your business is sustaining and that is perfectly okay as well So I think that's the other thing that people really need to be honest with themselves about
is I know we all as entrepreneurs are driven women, like we said, ambitious, tenacious, like want the most out of our businesses and our lives, but like you also have to honor the season you're in and you have to figure out is scaling, is growth, is that doable for me in this season? Because I can tell you for me last year, that was not the goal. And that even though I desired it, I realistically knew it was not in the plans. I had a very, very hard newborn and It wasn't possible for me to massively scale the business. I still had a great year, but my plans and desires for that growth, I wasn't able to do that. I wanted to be a mom and take maternity leave and spend the time with my baby and then come back and not dive into working like insane hours in order to see that growth. So I really truly at my core believe you have to honor the seasons you're in make sure, and this is why to me the systems and processes element is so important, is that you're building a sustainable foundation for your business to thrive as you scale and grow. Because when that growth season comes and when you are ready for that and you have the capacity for that, you will be able to do that. Like your foundation will be strong and set and you can then honor that season and push forward in that growth.
RuthAnn Rafiq
I'm so glad you mentioned that because we are as humans, we need those seasons of rest and those seasons of just sustaining like you're talking about. You can't just always be on the upward trajectory. I mean, you can, I guess, if you're, you know, pretty much. But if you are, you know, if you are just like in the season that we are in, the early motherhood season or motherhood in general,
Katelyn Hamilton
Go on, Bernd.
RuthAnn Rafiq
You know, you're wanting a business that you love doing client work. You love like you need those systems Sorry, you go through those seasons of ebbing and flowing and you know pushing forward and leaning in and pulling back and like just kind of coasting and I definitely don't think that's a bad thing so I'm so glad you mentioned that because I think that's part of rhythms of life and also it helps you not burn out like you said like I just feel like if you do push a
full steam ahead and you are just having insane growth, but you are not loving your life. To me, that is such a waste of time, I think personally, but you really wanna enjoy the journey along the way. So I'm really glad you've mentioned that. So as you, if say one of our listeners is going into a new season where they're adding in a child to their family or like for you, your husband went through a career transition.
When you're going through a big life transition, what do you recommend for people to get more organized and be more efficient with their time as they're going through something big in their life?
Katelyn Hamilton
So I think there's a lot of things. One, the first is having a plan. So what do you want that season to look like? What do you need? What do you need to support where you're at, too? What needs to happen? First, it's almost like creating an outline, right? So what needs to happen? What kind of support do you need in your business? What kind of support do you need at home? What's...
How do you need to train somebody, especially if you're going into a maternity season, to do your job for you while you're out to sustain your business and your growth? What additional resources or team do you need? And then what systems and processes can you put in place to help streamline some things that can run without you? So in terms of where you need support. Sometimes it's more child care once obviously youif you have a new baby that then comes into your life, you obviously need to figure that out for sure. Sometimes it's new teams. Sometimes for me, like I've mentioned, it's asking my husband for help. And this can be in watching the children. This can be in if you don't have kids, this can be in just doing things around the house, right? Like if you are in a transition, like, hey, I need to focus, especially if you're prepping for a transition, I need to focus on on the business for a bit more heavier. So can you be the one to cook dinners? Can you be the one to clean up? Even just giving yourself that extra time, right? So who can you ask for support and where can you ask? Where can you get that support to get what you need? And hiring the right people and training the right people to do your job. So as an OPM for me, that was recording trainings and videos of the work that I did, the tools that I did, and creating a library of those things for clients.
I was making sure that all tasks done in the business were documented. It was working ahead to really strategically work with my clients on what was coming up. So with anybody that has a business that's kind of done for you specifically to you're prepping for work ahead of time to be able to say, like, hey, this is what I'm going to get done before. And then this is what is going to be the plan for when I come back. So it's that plan. And then it's, again, training team on who can do this stuff for you while you're out. And that was really, really beneficial for my team. They had all these resources at their disposal. They were able to really execute well. And I think something that not necessarily goes unsaid is, but people don't talk about it a lot, is lower your expectations for that time. Give yourself grace and kind of know that things might not be perfect, but if you have clients that know you and trust you, and especially if you're working retainer, you know, on a retainer with them, they want that for you. They want you to have time with your baby. Like they want you to have time, whether it's, you know, new baby or sabbatical or whatever, whatever it is for you. They want you to have...
So they understand if they are great clients and support you in knowing that the support that you're putting in place may not be you, right? It's not gonna be you. It's not gonna be the way you would do things or your best work, but you are equipping and supporting them in what they need and for it to be really great and for them to support and honor you. I mean, that's to me the biggest thing with clients is building those strong relationships so that they honor you and trust you and know that you're supporting them, but they also get to serve you and support you in that way too.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Those are great tips and I love that you said that with just asking for help and lowering your expectations is a huge one, I think, because I feel like I'm such an optimist. I'm always like, oh, this is going to be the easiest thing ever. And sometimes it's like, you just have really high expectations. And sometimes lowering them, just keeping it more realistic is better for everyone because then you're not disappointed in the end and you can just relax. And yeah, I think those are such good such good tips. So as we wrap up, I would love to ask you like some quick fire questions just about like some things that have really helped you with your productivity efficiency. This could be health tips. This could be like software you're using or just as like a few, just give us like a few quick things that you really love that have really made an impact on your work slash life. I know that's such a broad random question, but.
Katelyn Hamilton
Yeah.
RuthAnn Rafiq
I'm curious to know. Yeah, so what's something in your life that has really helped you with mental clarity and just not feeling overwhelmed like a tool or a software or something that you just do daily that you couldn't do without?
Katelyn Hamilton
Yeah, give them to me.
Katelyn Hamilton
Project management tools, so I use Asana and this tracks every every bit of work that I need to do Whether it's reviewing something Reaching out to somebody Checking notes, you know for coaching clients notes on you know people ask me to review their their funnels their landing pages, whatever all the time and then for clients same thing like I'll review and help them with setting up those systems and tools of managing projects and timelines and workloads, right, for teams. So I use it with my own business. I use it for my clients' businesses. It's the first thing I recommend to them. Like, hey, if you don't have a project management tool, you have to start using it. Like, especially if you want to scale and grow that next level. It can't stay up in here. It can't. It's not in your brain.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Yeah. Mm -hmm. Yeah, I love Asana. I tried it like a while ago and then I went to something else and I was trying different things, came back to Asana, love it. I just feel like once you really find something that really works for you in the right season of business, it's chef's kiss.
Katelyn Hamilton
Easy to manage simple to use that's why I'm like don't ever copy there's other tools out there. Yes, but this one is like
RuthAnn Rafiq
It is, it is so good to bring in team members. Yeah, it's a breeze. You are so good at maintaining your, I just, whenever I'm on Instagram, which I have to say isn't as much as I used to be, but whenever I'm in there, I see you on stories and you're always like documenting your health journey and how you, I'm like so impressed. I'm like, Lord, I have no like energy to do anything like for my health at the moment. I'm just.
surviving over here, but like how do you maintain like your health journey? Like how do you work out? You're like meditating, you're doing all sorts of awesome stuff over there. So how are you making that a priority, I guess?
Katelyn Hamilton
Fitness for me has always been a big part of my life. I played sports growing up, competitively even after graduating. It's one of those things that that's my stress relief, that's my therapy. It's working out, the endorphin high, I just love working out. I've prioritized it through my pregnancies. It's kind of like that is my me time.
Don't get me wrong, and there is definitely a season in terms of newborn life that I was lucky to get in one to two workouts a week. But I'm a happier human if I work out. So I also have to do it before my brain can talk me out of it. So as much as I love it, I still have to do it before my brain can be like, no, you don't need to do that. Or like you've eaten food now, like, oh, you can't do it. You're going to feel like crap. So I get up first thing in the morning. I wake up at 445 and I do snooze my alarm probably once, maybe on a bad day like twice, and I'm working out between 515 and 530. My children also get up very early, so my son is usually down with me between 530 and 545, so yeah, so I have to get up that early in order to have any sort of alone time.
He's now at an age where I can like turn on a show for him and get him some breakfast and he'll leave me alone for the most part, but like I still have to stop my workout and do those things. So I have interruptions, so I have to get up early. I just go to bed early. I go to bed, you know, between nine, 10 is like pushing it for me. Like usually in nine, nine thirty is my ideal time to be asleep and I'm drained by the end of the day. Like I'm, I'm a morning person. I work best in the morning.
So I get up and I work out. It activates my body for the day, my mind for the day. I'm in it. And the rare opportunity where my children sleep, my daughter sleeps better than my son. She'll give me till 6 .30 or 7. But I don't have the kids that sleep till 8 or 9. Like, I just don't. So it can't ruin my life. So yeah, I get up, get it done. And then if they do sleep, I have extra time for me. I have extra time to do the meditations. I...
RuthAnn Rafiq
You
Katelyn Hamilton
I have the extra time to prep my house for the day, right? And journal or do whatever it is. So it's just been the way that I have my time. I do all workouts online, at home workouts. I found the at home workout community actually in 2015. And I did it for kids. I don't have to go anywhere back to efficiency, baby. Like you don't have to leave the house. You can just work out. Efficiency is a theme in everything I do in my life, as you can see.
RuthAnn Rafiq
There you go.
Hmm.
Katelyn Hamilton
So I just press play, I do my 30 to 45 minute workout, and I move on with my day.
RuthAnn Rafiq
I love that it's your me time and that's like what rejuvenates you. But you also don't let yourself like talk yourself out of it. So that I think that's good for everyone to hear. It's like, yes, this is something I love to do, but you also have to just like make yourself do it sometimes because you'll feel better at the end of the day. So I love that. It's so good.
Katelyn Hamilton
sure. There's definitely days I don't want to do it. And there's definitely days I like, I'm like, okay, just move your body though to like move your body, right? I mean, my daughter was she didn't sleep through the night. So she was 10 months old. And I was pumping and I would get up and I would pump it for 15. I would feed her a bottle and then I would go work out. So to me, sleeping into a 445 .5 is like, once I got off that pump schedule, my god, this is a dream. I'm not sleeping in till 5am. So It's all about perception one and you get in different habits, right? Like my habits at 21, 22, 23 hours out partying on the weekends or staying up late talking to friends till midnight one. I wasn't getting up always at, you know, six, seven a .m. to work out, right? Like I would go to a workout class after after work. So I think again, it goes back to the season you're in and what works for you. But to me, once you get into that routine and people ask me, how do you do it? I'm like, well, just start just get into the routine. It's going to be hard in the beginning. But.
I feel so much better doing it and I know that, so that's why I do it.
RuthAnn Rafiq
I love that and you're so right. Yeah, we just have different rhythms and seasons and yeah, you're so right about like when you have a newborn and you're waking up at all hours of the night, you just yeah. And then when you're sleeping through the night, it's like such a luxury. It's like, oh wow, I could wake up at, you know, five and no one's awake or, you know, whatever the case. So yeah, that's so true.
Katelyn Hamilton
Yeah week she's was it a sleep regression and I was like this is not like I'm not okay with this again like we're not doing 2 a .m. wake ups and you sleep on me for four hours in the recliner like I liked the play we had before where you slept and I got to get up and work out but there's seasons like that right I knew it wasn't forever she's back to sleeping through the night this week and it's the same thing like when she you know when she was a newborn like I didn't get up and get a workout in early every single day but
RuthAnn Rafiq
Yes.
Katelyn Hamilton
season I'm in right now does allow me to do that and I'm running with it.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Yes, yeah, my daughter is also sleeping through the night and sometimes she'll have those nights where she's up randomly for some reason. And I'm just like, oh my gosh, I'm going through this again so soon with this next baby. But it is what it is. You know, you just take the good with the bad. But yeah, it can be hard sometimes not getting enough sleep. I feel like I could talk to you forever just because we have so much in common and just the seasons of life we're in and all the things. But.
Katelyn Hamilton
We got.
RuthAnn Rafiq (
I would love for you to tell everyone where they can find you, where they can learn about your services, and you have a fun quiz for everybody. So yeah, give us everything where we can find you.
Katelyn Hamilton
Yeah, so you can connect with me on Instagram. That's like definitely the best place. I know that's where we've connected the most. At Caitlin K -A -T -E -L -Y -N -E Hamilton, H -A -M -I -L -T -O -N. My website's CaitlinEHamilton .com. Those are the two best places to connect with me. And then I do have a fun new quiz if you're looking to scale to seven figures, even multiple six figures, and really want support on what area of business you need to hone in on in order to get you there. This quiz will not only tell you that, but then the results will drive you to how to get started in doing that and what you need to shift and change. So in order to do that, you go to caitlinehamilton .com slash scalability dash quiz, and that will take you to the quiz itself and kind of give you those next steps.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Amazing. Yes, everyone check that out and check out all that Caitlin's up to over on Instagram. I love watching your stories and how authentically you show up and everyone you would definitely be in for a treat following her and you'll just be so inspired. Caitlin, thank you so much for coming on. I have loved this conversation and I just appreciate you sharing all of your tips and insights and motherhood journey experiences with our audience. Thank you so much.
Katelyn Hamilton
Thanks so much for having me. We'll talk soon.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Sounds great.
RuthAnn Rafiq
Perfect.
Katelyn Hamilton
Yay!
