How to Turn Your Business Into a Brand With Caitlin Mohnike
Creating a brand for yourself has a lot of responsibilities. Whether it's keeping up with content, staying consistent online, updating our websites, or with SEO... it's a lot, right?
Well, did you know that there is a way to get help with all of these things and more, under one roof? On this episode of the Book Your Dream Clients podcast, I'm chatting with Caitlin, the founder of Thermosa Studios, all about how to level up your business without the overwhelm of searching for the right help.
She is a true visionary who thrives on doing all of the hard work for you.
Caitlin is the founder, CEO, and overall awesome-sauce visionary behind Thermosa Studios. After living the struggles of a business founder, she decided to combine all of her powers into one amazing service for other business owners. Thermosa Studios does everything businesses need to level up their website, SEO, marketing, and online presence. Cookie cutter #girlboss entrepreneurs just don't jive with Caitlin's sarcastic humor, sweatshirt attire, or ever flowing PBRs. Which is why she doesn't work with just any business - you have to be unique, weird, or uniquely weird.
Caitlin's Links:
Website: https://thermosastudios.com
Episode Transcript:
[00:00:00] Lindsay: Caitlin, thank you so much for being on the book your dream clients podcast. I'm very excited to have you on today.
[00:00:57] Caitlin: Me too. I'm ready. Let's do this.
[00:01:00] Lindsay: All right. So Caitlin, why don't you go ahead and explain to everybody about what you do and we'll take it from
[00:01:06] Caitlin: there. All right. So My name, Caitlin Mohnike.
[00:01:09] I am the founder of Thermosa Studios and Thermosa Studios has been this like really weird brainchild of all of my random talents I've acquired through the years. So I've been building up this kind of suite of products that I know my clients need. And so, you know, when you go to a standard. Web design or branding, strategist or something, you get really specific packages and we integrate everything that you need.
[00:01:37] So we work on content, SEO, branding, web design everything we integrate backend systems, a lot of stuff. So that's a main, that's one part of what I do. But as part of that, as I've added more to my repertoire, if you will I. It prices out some people, right. And so I've, I've always been really passionate about providing resources.
[00:02:00] So along with that, I've launched thermoset academy and I'm putting together courses to teach newer entrepreneurs and business owners, how to create their own websites, you know, explain to them what, what is core web vitals mean? How do you make websites faster? You know, Taking everything technical and breaking it down into a really digestible version.
[00:02:22] So those are kind of the two different things that I have going on right now. And I love it.
[00:02:29] Lindsay: Okay. So you have a business that tackles some BS, right? SEO, websites, marketing all, all the things that have to go under online presence. So what in the heck made you want to start this in the first place?
[00:02:44] Caitlin: That's a great question. Why I'm doing this? I know, right? Why? So what I started, I, my background is in like software and project management. Also, I did some engineering. I found it a couple of startups. And then when I. It was going to have my first kid, I wanted to stay home. So I started just doing some like contract dev work on the side.
[00:03:11] I also was like, you know what? I've always been really good at photography. So maybe I'll start a photography business, you know, why not? And I really loved doing both those things, but the problem with the photography is that you have to be away from the house a lot, which. Baby. It's like hard. Right. I also decided that when I had a newborn getting my masters would be a fabulous thing to do.
[00:03:31] So I got my master's with my newborn in engineering and technology management. And so over time, you know, I was like, oh, what if I did the dev stuff and the photography for small businesses? Right? Like they need both of those things for websites. And then every step along the way, I would be like, Oh, you aren't even thinking about this one aspect of your online brand.
[00:03:58] Business owners don't know. Right. They don't realize that they need to think about SEO. They need to do some user research. They need to write their content in an SEO friendly way. They should have a cohesive, like photography and graphics and update their branding and have marketing strategy. And there's just.
[00:04:18] So many pieces they didn't know about. And so I continuously just like, was adding on things like, oh, you don't even know you need that. Okay. Well, I'll do that for you. I'll do that for you. And so recently I just sort of like went all in on it and I am not the expert in all those areas. Obviously I know enough about all of the areas to bring them together and to design this experience online.
[00:04:41] But what I do is I handle resourcing and finding all the experts in that area, those areas. So like, I I just did a website for a spa and she really like the vision of like illustrations instead of photos, you know, for like for clients items. So I went and found an amazing illustrator and we did like custom graphics for her site.
[00:05:05] And so. I guess if it's long-winded to answer the question is I didn't really decide to do it. I just kept finding, missing parts that people didn't know they needed. And I was like, I want to be that resource. I want to give you the best possible product. Right? I don't want to just make you a beautiful website with no, like depth to it.
[00:05:31] No real research or I mean that's that sounds mean not like thought, but you know what I mean? Like, I want to give you a really rich experience well-rounded so you can come to me and trust that. Like, we're going to take you to the next level and think about everything that you need for that. And that's just like, I love doing that.
[00:05:51] I don't know. I love to be like the. Kind of like visionary 10,000 level where I can see all the pieces and I can create these like really amazing user experiences for people's clients and customers. So
[00:06:07] Lindsay: in my mind, you're like a general practitioner and somebody comes in because they have all these aches and pains and then you refer them to.
[00:06:19] Specialists or bring in specialists to help them and does that, right?
[00:06:24] Caitlin: Yeah. So, yeah, like I guess a really good analogy when you said that, I was like, yes, I am Meredith grey. Thank you. Like a good analogy, like along that would be when you go to a doctor and they're like, you need X, Y, and Z, here are numbers, go figure it out.
[00:06:41] Or like, then you have to go home and you have to do your research to find someone who is like, really. This one thing, and you have to go find someone else versus like going to a person who is like, you need XYZ. I am going to research and I find the people that are the best I will schedule the meetings for you.
[00:06:59] I will coordinate. And then when I get all the results back, I will look at them all together and figure out that. The best way forward. So it's like, you're no longer operating with all of them independently. Cause I've had people who they're like, okay, I am ready to focus on my business. I am ready to like level up.
[00:07:18] Right. And so they're all I need. I need a web. And so then they go to the website and the person who does the website is like, you really should update your branding. You should go find someone who specializes in branding. So then they go find someone who specializes in branding and they hire them. And then they get a little further and like, you really need updated headshots.
[00:07:36] You need some product photography, you need to go find this. And so then the person goes and finds that and hires it. And like a, it's a lot of work B it ends up being more expensive because you're hiring everyone separately and see you lose like a bit of that cohesive. And that comes from like one, one person, you know, that singular entity really combining them all and making sure they're working to.
[00:07:58] Lindsay: My head hurts. Just thinking about that,
[00:08:02] Caitlin: right? That's like, and I'm, and I'm all. Yes. Yes. Like, let me nerd out in ways you don't even understand.
[00:08:10] Lindsay: Well, I think that like, you, you really hit it in the pain point, because I think so many of us know that these things are important. Like we hear about it constantly, but the thought of having to go find all these people on our own.
[00:08:26] Not something that I want to spend my time doing. No, thank you.
[00:08:29] Caitlin: No, no, it's overwhelming. And you, a lot of times end up in a bad place because you hired the wrong person and then you have to find someone new. And, you know, I have like that because I've worked in all of these areas enough. I have. Pretty decent bullshit detector, right?
[00:08:48] I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. That is not going to cost you $10,000 to do that. Those two pages on the website. Right. Or Yeah. So I feel like, you know, I get to be like an advocate. I get to find the best people. So I, you know, I get, I work with a lot of moms a lot of women and that's like, something that I'm also passionate about is like providing.
[00:09:13] Providing money and opportunities to other people because of how I structured my business. I'm not just doing all the work myself. I get to hire like five to 10 other people and give them money to further their business. And like, that's, it's just like a, it's just like a side benefit that like, it gives me like goosebumps to talk about.
[00:09:32] Lindsay: Well, it is, it's like you're passing it onto someone else who can help them. And of course you could take on all this work by yourself,
[00:09:40] Caitlin: but that did in the past. And yeah, of course
[00:09:43] Lindsay: you probably did, but that's like, that's horrible.
[00:09:47] Caitlin: It is. And you know what? I, so I worked with a business coach over this. And it's funny.
[00:09:52] Cause I always was like, I don't need to work with a business coach. Right. Like I have, I have a degree in business management, like I've run businesses. Why would I need a business coach? I feel like there's going to be a sales, sales pitch for like you. But like, you know, I was like, why do I need, why do I don't need one?
[00:10:08] And then I just was feeling like I want someone. I was doing a major switch where I was stopping, like doing all the work myself. And honestly I needed someone to validate that I would still provide value, even if I wasn't doing the work. And it's like a weird, it was like a weird trap that my mind was in.
[00:10:28] Like, no, I'm only valuable because I can do all these things, but I didn't enjoy them. All of them as much. I knew that I could. I could give people a better experience. If I found more experts at which meant I had to increase my prices, you know and working with my business coach, it was, it was like funny.
[00:10:48] She was just like, no, like that's not your, that's not your value. Your value is in your vision and in your mind. Right. And then once I got past that, it was like, oh yeah, obviously, obviously, I can give even more money to other people, right? Like, and then I can create resources and I can do academies. And anyway, it's it was, it was really interesting to me how, how valuable it was to have a coach, just like, for me being like a validater of my of my value and like a cheerleader, like we all like, need that so much.
[00:11:21] And it's when you don't have it, it's like, you don't even know how valuable it is to have. Oh,
[00:11:26] Lindsay: definitely. Especially in this space, because you're literally sitting in your office by yourself unless a kid comes in cause they need something and they're not like, oh wow. That, that landing page looks great, mom.
[00:11:40] Well, I love that podcast episode you just released, like, no one is saying that to you in your home,
[00:11:46] Caitlin: you know? And my do you, do you know like any Agram styles at all? Yes. Okay. So I got really into that. A hot second. I listened to a series and honestly it made me understand my partner in ways I have never, he's a one.
[00:12:01] And the way that I knew that is because when I tell him I love him so much, when I tell him something, the first thing he does is point out. And I am this like really creative mind and it's like the worst thing for me. It'll just like, shut me down. And it's like, God love him. He's not my cheerleader. Like, I'm all I'm going to I'm going to like offer, pick my brain sessions for people who are like stuck and are not ready to hire anybody because I love to be a sounding board.
[00:12:30] I have like all the startup experience I love to just be like, yeah, like, let's talk about like, what could your offerings be and where you having issues. And here are different things. Whatever. I love that I nerd out on it. And so I like told them that I'm all excited. Do you think there's a market for that?
[00:12:44] Lindsay: Anyone really want to
[00:12:45] Caitlin: talk to you? I know it's like, I love you, but maybe we could be just a little more optimistic. So anyway, like for that, for me, like having a coach who was like, you are. Yeah. Anyway,
[00:12:59] Lindsay: so, oh my gosh. Yes. My husband can be the same way. I should try to figure well, what he is to you. You get so excited and we love them.
[00:13:08] We love them so much, but you you're so excited about something. And then there. Reality? No, I don't want reality. That's not how this business runs.
[00:13:20] Caitlin: He's like, so you don't want me to help him on no, no, I don't. I want you to listen to me and be like, yeah, that's going to be awesome. And then when I want advice last, like I was like, I, I just put together a training to help people move their at C store to Shopify.
[00:13:38] And, and I was like, and I was like telling him about it. I was like, yeah, I'm just gonna like, walk them step by step how to do it. Because you know, a lot of people don't have a shop or don't have a store other than Etsy. And I'm like, that terrifies me anyway. And he was like, oh, will you be like violating Shopify terms, this service, but.
[00:13:58] Anyway, I can talk about that for that. It's hilarious. So he's a one, he's a one. What are you? I'm like? Five, six? Yes I am. Yeah. Yeah. I, I knew that I was a partial five when they explained the concept of like batteries and like some days you just wake up and your battery is. It looks like at a 5% and it's like, wow, I do not have very much to go around.
[00:14:21] So y'all better stay out of my way.
[00:14:26] Lindsay: Well, you know what it takes, it takes one to know it. I totally get it. I'm really good at managing all of the good things about my five, but I'm, I can see the dark side of it. And, and it's important to know all those things. So you know how to take care of yourself and, and your family.
[00:14:42] You can see even through your little ones, like what, what they are, and. And yes, you wonder how you even need that, but it's important to know
[00:14:52] Caitlin: who they are. Oh, kids are so cute. I, you see like how you're doing reflected and you know, like how things that they say that pop out of their mouth and Like my three-year-old has, he has a stuffed bunny and he started calling it his baby.
[00:15:11] And like, I just look at it and know what a great job I did by how he treats his baby. You know, he like rubs his head and he'll kiss him and cuddle him and put him down for nap. And it's like very kind. Right. And then like the other day, Slammed my knee into something and taught him how to sleep. So there's that, you know, but I heard, I heard him tell his little brother, I told you a thousand times don't do that.
[00:15:39] And I was like, well, that came from,
[00:15:45] Lindsay: well, I can sometimes hear my daughter. Playing on her leg, she'll be on her laptop and then one of the kids will come up to her and she'll be like, I'm, I'm working right now. Just hold on a minute.
[00:15:56] Caitlin: Oh my gosh. So I did, I did a website for this woman who makes these adorable little shadow boxes with like peg dolls, like, you know, for presents and stuff.
[00:16:04] And I had some, cause I did the photography for her. And I had them by my desk and my son came in and he wanted me to play with them. And I actually was on a call with my business coach. And I was like, you can play with these, you know, while you're waiting, mommy's almost done. And he picks up two of the dolls.
[00:16:20] He said, mommy, you want to play with me? And he said, no, I can't. I'm working. And I was like, oh man, wow. Knife to the heart.
[00:16:31] Yeah.
[00:16:33] Lindsay: Yeah. Reality checks from the kids are sometimes a little hurtful.
[00:16:39] Caitlin: Yes they are,
[00:16:42] Lindsay: but it's good. Hey, at least for home with them. Right. It's
[00:16:45] Caitlin: true. I'm like, I feel really lucky. You know, when we moved up here, we kind of, we used to live in the bay area. Now we're up in Portland and. I that's when I like chose to leave the company that I was with.
[00:16:59] And so we basically did all of our like budgets and planning our lifestyle based on me not working. And. 'cause. I was like, I don't know, after I have him, will I want to work? Will I hate being home? And so I've really been blessed to just do this at my own pace, take some risks because I don't have to put my company money into the family.
[00:17:21] We're not dependent on it. And so like that has been that's amazing. Yeah, that has been really amazing. And even as I start to grow, I funnel a lot of my money back into my business. To invest in building myself up, building other people up. Like I it's, it's just like a really, really nice spot for me to be on.
[00:17:43] And then I get to be with my kids. Yes. And sometimes it sucks because like my, my business is. Yeah. It's like on the back burner, right? Like I make time for it during naps, during preschool at night, I'm a night owl, so I'd love to work at night, but recently my three-year-old won't go to sleep without me.
[00:18:04] And so I can't, I can't work at night anymore. Right. And it kinda sucks that like, it almost doesn't carry the same weight as. The full time job. That being said, it still is like amazing to be able to be home and make my own hours and work when I want and not when I don't want
[00:18:21] Lindsay: well, and those little things with kids, you know, they go through this random, weird thing and where they need you when they didn't, before those are just such short seasons too.
[00:18:31] And I built my business on nap times. Okay. We're going, you know, 10 years online business. And my oldest is 12 and my youngest is four. So I don't have any nap times anymore either. And it's just kind of funny when you look at your, the history of your business compare stacked up against with your kids.
[00:18:49] It just like rides the wave and it does what it needs to do. And you can't, you can't put in more energy into your business than you do with your kids. Otherwise you're gonna just. You're going to hit a major failure red flag zone with mom, mom, hood and wife. And there's some, two way too many roles we need to play.
[00:19:10] So it is nice to hear that other moms talking about how they balance all the things and you don't have. Like you said it, it doesn't carry the weight as a full time job, but do you want it to carry the
[00:19:22] Caitlin: weight as a full-time because yeah, like, like I said, my partner came home so that I could do this and, you know, not be interrupted and like he has to sit there on like a training call for two hours.
[00:19:36] Like I don't miss that, you know? You know, and it's, I think one of the best things that I did for my. Mental health as far as like balancing the kids and that the job was to was a couple of things. At first I got rid of daytime meetings especially with like COVID when stuff was getting shut down a lot, because I was trying to do meetings with clients and.
[00:20:03] Sometimes my kids wouldn't be napping or they'd be melting down. And it just was so incredibly stressful and it felt really unprofessional, even though I knew they understood. And so I said, you know what? I'm not doing any more like client day meetings. I moved them all to the evening when I knew my partner would be here.
[00:20:21] And then the other thing I did was I on days where, like, I didn't have preschool, I stopped any assumption that I would get work done because he knew with kids, like sometimes they leave you alone for like two hours or they'll take amazing naps and you have time other times it's like, they feel the relaxation, enter your body when you sit down with coffee and they're like, oh mommy.
[00:20:47] And I. So like bitter at them, like you were supposed to be napping. This was supposed to be my time to work. And so for me, it was like, it was better for me to just not try those times. And so kind of having those really clear. Delineations of stuff and like was really good for me. So that, cause I was like, why am I like, it's not their fault.
[00:21:12] Right.
[00:21:14] Lindsay: It's not their fault. It's their house. You're their mom. Right. It's not like you took them to work.
[00:21:20] Caitlin: Right. Exactly. And so just, just being like, there's, I have no expectation in myself that I will work on my off days. And, and that is just, it is what it is. And if work happens cool, I'm not, you know, But at the same time, I'm not doing meetings, I'm not doing any of that other stuff.
[00:21:37] So that was really good for my, so if there's any, any moms who are out there doing, doing business stuff, like just listen to, like, I think it was just listening to like, what were my stressors? And instead of trying to fight it, just accept that that's a stressor and figure out how to remove.
[00:21:55] Lindsay: Yeah, I think we put way too much on us.
[00:21:57] That's completely unnecessary. And especially when you have little kids, like revisit your schedule quarterly, because sleep times are going to be changing. Schedules are changing, independency improves, and every quarter it's going to be different and you'll be able to tweak your hours and you don't have to be available 24 7.
[00:22:18] Being that coach and that does not work. And I think when you set your hours of when you will be on calls and it doesn't have to be every day and you can do different things, you can do evenings, you can do mornings, make it your own and don't do what everyone else does. I think that. We think that, oh, we are entrepreneurs.
[00:22:39] We shouldn't work on Saturdays, or we shouldn't work on evenings as a bunch of food BS because that's kind of when it's great to work in your office. So you had love best for you.
[00:22:51] Caitlin: If I get into a project and I'm in like hyper-focused mode, I'll come in here at like nine and I'll work till two. And that like for me, So productive because I just like get into it.
[00:23:04] And again, one of the hard things is the start and stop. So like right now I've removed even attempting working at night because my son keeps coming in. And then again, it's one of those things where I start to get like, bitter, like you're interrupting me and it's, I can't get back into it. And so for now I'm okay.
[00:23:20] That's just not, that's not gonna work for me right now. That's fine, right? Yep. All I'll find other times. And then eventually when he gets like past this phase of wanting to like sleep on me hopefully then I'll go back to him to do the late night shift. Yeah.
[00:23:34] Lindsay: And, and I could never, I can't work at night.
[00:23:37] I'm completely useless, but oh, are you? Oh gosh, new. I mean, if I'm not upstairs getting ready for bed by nine o'clock, it's going to be terrible to absolutely terrible. I need to go to bed early.
[00:23:50] Caitlin: I don't even like, I am, I'm such a night owl that like, even if I'm tired, it almost like makes me anxious. Like, oh God, it's only nine.
[00:23:59] Lindsay: It's already nine.
[00:24:01] Caitlin: I'm going to go to sleep right now.
[00:24:02] Lindsay: Quarter to five and I go to, I love early. That's my shining moment of the day. You have to find what works
[00:24:09] Caitlin: best for you. Yeah, woo. Not me. And you know what? I have luckily trained or slash had kids with my same preferences and they both sleep in, like, we, we get up at like 10.
[00:24:21] Mm
[00:24:21] Lindsay: oh, my word. We're up for hours. But
[00:24:24] Caitlin: I know, I know my, my partner, he gets up at like five and goes to work. So he's having lunch when we're like rolling out of bed. So we're like on very different schedules. He goes, he's like, well, maybe, maybe we should stop letting them sleep in on the weekends. I was like, what do you mean sleeping on the weekends?
[00:24:43] Like, that's the same time we get up all week.
[00:24:47] Lindsay: That's just our time. Okay. Oh yeah. We really let them sleep in on the weekend.
[00:24:54] Caitlin: Yeah. I don't care.
[00:24:56] Lindsay: You know, we homeschool. So I let my kids get up when they're done sleeping and they, their internal clocks are pretty early, but I think. Because they have a mom who has a very early internal clock too. And it's just, if you just do what works best for you and your kids do the same, I don't go downstairs and say, it's seven.
[00:25:15] O'clock get up. I don't accept on like church mornings, but otherwise they get up when they're ready and it's pretty early.
[00:25:22] Caitlin: I feel, I mean, as someone who like, I need sleep, like I need to sleep in. I just, you know, we're all just wired differently. Yeah, I think like, like, I, I am not looking forward to when they're in school, like every day and I have to get up early every day.
[00:25:42] That's going to be like, I think about a year ago I told my partner like, I'm just like letting you know in advance that, that when they're in that you're going to have to be in charge of drop-offs like, I, it will, like, I do it now, you know, three times a week, but it like messes with my schedule. I'm like exhausted.
[00:26:01] It's just, I'm not productive. Then getting two kids out of the house, like, you know, mom, I'm going to need you to do that. So you're going to have to have a job where you can drop the kids off on the way to work. Just a heads up.
[00:26:14] Lindsay: Well, God bless your husband. And I think it, I think it will work for you. I think you can do it, but
[00:26:20] Caitlin: I can, but I don't want, I went to like a, usually get up and do stuff.
[00:26:26] Yeah. Hmm. That's so funny.
[00:26:28] Lindsay: We are complete opposites. If you ask me to, to, to sleep in or somebody will say, oh, you can sleep in a little bit this weekend. And I just get instant anxiety. Like how D how dare you say that? How dare I. So the past seven or eight, I can't imagine what my life would look like if that would happen.
[00:26:48] Caitlin: Yeah. I'll have a couple, every once in a while, I'll be like, I'm going to be a morning person and I'll get up like once. And I'm like, oh no, that was awful. Nope. Nope. There's not because I also then still can't go to bed early, so
[00:27:00] Lindsay: then yeah. Well then you don't get any sleep at all, so
[00:27:04] Caitlin: that doesn't work true.
[00:27:06] Lindsay: But the Caitlin, I think you are amazing because you have found a major pain point in this industry, and it's so good to know that there's people like you, who can be the vigil, the visionary who can stand way beyond and say like, yeah, but you not only need this, but you need this and this and this, and I know who can help you.
[00:27:26] I ha I got you. And do you kind of pass it on to other, other females in the business who are. Have your best intentions in mind, because especially with, you know, I'm thinking website, SEO, marketing kind of ruled by a lot of male masculinity and male marketing that doesn't really, I don't really enjoy that.
[00:27:49] So it's good to know that there's somebody looking out for us.
[00:27:53] Caitlin: Yeah, I agree. And you know what, when I, when I'm like hiring or like trying to source new people, I almost always will at least interview one male led company. And honestly, I always am all. Nope, no, I had one. What was I interviewing for? I think executive assistant and we get, we get on the call and I was like, cool.
[00:28:20] So tell me about yourself. And he was like before we start, I need to know, you need to tell me about all your pain points so I can tell you how I can help you. And I was like, Ooh. Like, I don't like that energy at all. And I had another one that like, he came in and just like mansplained the whole time to me.
[00:28:35] And I was like, what? Just happening? And then you get on like, I, you know, so I, I almost exclusively work with women. I'm in a really big group of mom owned businesses. So I work with a lot of them. And I just love it because like we understand each other, like,
[00:28:56] Lindsay: And the way they send the days I, they, you know, the S dads, dads are, have their own role, but they don't, they can never be who we are and who we have to be 24 7.
[00:29:09] So I think it's really important to surround yourself with people and hire people who understand what you need and on what level it's.
[00:29:18] Caitlin: Yeah. It's, it's really amazing to be able to like, kind of pick and choose that and to be able to yeah. Provide that resource and be that, that middle person. But yeah, I love being able to, just to just work with women, I've worked with like dicks in my life, you know, like, Ugh, some of the male energy bosses that I've had that are like toxic, you know, And it's like so nice to have my own business where I can choose to not work
[00:29:50] Lindsay: well.
[00:29:50] And you know what, there are females who I wouldn't want to work with either, but to know that you have your, you can pick and I'm assuming once you choose somebody, like let's say somebody came to you for SEO. They have a say in who they're going to work with.
[00:30:08] Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah. So, oh, like for like my client, not really if they had someone that they really, really loved, then, like I would, I would consider it.
[00:30:19] But most of the time the people that I'm working with are sort of transparent to them. And so I'm really focused on finding someone who was like a good fit for them. So like I have, I've worked with a lot of like really. I got really into the Wu space, like sort of I tripped and fell into it. I had a client who she's she's fabulous.
[00:30:41] She has a shop and she does like a bunch of like witchy stuff. She has like an online membership, I don't know. And so then a lot of people in the loose space saw her website and loved it and then came to me. And I was trying to find someone to refer to and I had. And the person was like, yeah, I don't know about all that woo stuff.
[00:30:58] And I was like, oh, okay, cool. So like that, isn't your comfort level. That's fine. You know? And so I try to, when I am sourcing, find those people who are like, who dig, whatever it is the client is into. You know, sometimes working with someone of like in the BiPAP community or in the LGBTQ community is really important.
[00:31:19] And so, you know, I do, I do what I can to make that happen. But at the end of the day, you know, I want people to depend on me to be the, the expert in that. And so if I am like just using People that I didn't vet it doesn't work as well.
[00:31:36] Lindsay: Okay. So, and, and the processes you got them and you've worked with them before then the client is like, yes, I want to work with this person.
[00:31:45] And then the magic happens then. Yeah. Awesome. I like that. It's like you have all, you have like the, the Rolodex, the black book of all the, all the people who can help you and that saves entrepreneurs so
[00:31:58] Caitlin: much time. Yeah, exactly. And you know, so sometimes if we have someone. Like, like when I said earlier, I found that illustrator I hadn't hired anyone to do that specific type of illustration before.
[00:32:10] And so I went in different groups. I did postings, I did a bunch of research online. I interviewed multiple, like I negotiated the price because again, that's all my client doesn't have to see any of that. And then I take care of all of like the first iterations and communicating the vision. And so when it finally.
[00:32:30] You know, like my client says, I want illustrations and we went through some different styles to see what she liked. And then. Almost on her end. It's like silence. And then I come back with some illustrations to be like, okay, how's this let's start working on it. Right. The middle part to them is like pretty opaque.
[00:32:51] Because I'm doing all the negotiating, the sourcing, the, you know, the interviewing and all that stuff. So I think it's a really good way to do it. So they don't even have to worry about it because the whole point of me is that you have. You have your zone of genius and it is in your business, it is in whatever passion you turned into a business, right?
[00:33:12] You don't need to worry about all the others. Like, I will, I'll handle that for you, you know? And you will be a partner in the process, but I'm going to take care of all the backend stuff so that you can keep doing what you're doing while we're still building towards this like next level of your business.
[00:33:27] Hmm.
[00:33:28] Lindsay: I love it. I'm really happy that we've connected. It's always nice to know somebody who can do something I've never heard of anyone who does this. So definitely going to keep you in mind. I'm sure everyone really wants to know how they can learn more about how to work with you.
[00:33:43] Caitlin: Yeah, well, it's fabulous.
[00:33:44] Yeah. On my, my newly launched and rebranded website I have an application for people who want to work with me. I'm trying to be more picky. This is by my business coach is insisting because I, I give, I was giving a lot of like free energy and free time. And then it, you know, it devalues the amount of stuff I can do or, you know, it gets in the way.
[00:34:04] So for people who want to work with me, I have courses that that you can purchase and they are just going to keep getting released. And then also you can apply to work with me. And if you just are like stuck in your business, or if you. To brainstorm or if you have hired someone and you're not sure if they're over or what, you know, like you don't know what's going on and you just want a sanity check.
[00:34:26] You can book a, pick my brain session with me and we will spend 90 minutes like digging into it. And we can look through your website, through the tech. We can talk about your business structure. We can kind of anything you want to brainstorm. And just basically all of my knowledge is at your disposal during this.
[00:34:44] Lindsay: Amazing. We will put your links in the show notes. Of course. Parafin thank you for sharing all of this with us. It was really fun. Chatting with you. I think everyone's going to love this episode. So thank you for spending time today.
[00:34:57] Caitlin: Yeah, it was fun. I hope I hear from people from your, from your viewers.
[00:35:02] I'd love to connect. So yeah, follow me on Instagram. I also have been posting a lot on Tik TOK. It is more ridiculous than, you know, business-related so if you want to see my weird sense of humor, please follow me on sec Dawn.
[00:35:18] Lindsay: And you'll be surprised to know Caitlin that I do not have Tik TOK.
[00:35:22] Caitlin: Honestly. I don't think I'm surprised,
[00:35:27] like slightly addicted to it right now. And I love it. Oh my gosh. It's just. It's too ridiculous. So I'm like really? I have a series. This is on Instagram. Well, I guess I Antech doc, but I do wear a it's called can I give you my money? And so what I do is I audit people's social conversion funnels. So like, I look at your Instagram and then I follow the link in your bio.
[00:35:52] And then I sort of like do a user experience analysis to see how easy it is to spend money with you. Because like with businesses on social media you need. You need to like make money, right? Like all the vanity metrics don't mean shit. If people don't buy something from me. So I have applications also on my site that people can sign up for one of those reviews and they can do either a private or a public.
[00:36:16] So if you don't want me to like, In a kind way roast you and then post it, you can purchase a private one and I'll do the same thing and go really in depth. I also like talk about like pop-ups and other usability stuff, and I just go off the rails and give like a lot of information with everyone that I can't stop myself from doing, because that's just how I am and who I am as a person.
[00:36:38] But so if you, if there's anyone that wants to wants to know, like, How that flow is what they could do better. You can sign up for one of those reviews.
[00:36:47] Lindsay: Oh my gosh. That's so cool. I, I do that all the time mentally, but I liked how you took it to the next level,
[00:36:53] Caitlin: you know? I know, cause I'm always, like, I love to like low key judge.
[00:36:57] Right. And I'm like, I'm always looking at. Oh, that is awesome. And then I click through and I'm all, but I can't find it. And I'm not going to like dig through. No, no, no, no. Make that easy for me. Or I'm just going to like, yeah.
[00:37:11] Lindsay: Yup, yup. Yup. Oh my gosh. And I unload all of that on my husband. And like, this person could have, I could hire this person, but there's no possible way for me to do that.
[00:37:21] So.
[00:37:23] Caitlin: True and look at me right now. I'm all
[00:37:25] Lindsay: easy peasy.
[00:37:28] Caitlin: And then like, I hate, I hate link tree. I think people do a terrible job.
[00:37:34] Lindsay: Yeah, no, no, no. Use your website.
[00:37:36] Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah. So there's, there's all sorts of things on.
[00:37:41] Lindsay: I love it. Well, I hope you don't get disgusted by my process, but I think it's pretty amazing.
[00:37:46] Caitlin: I'll let you know, check it out.
[00:37:50] Lindsay: All right, everyone and pray for me and to go to Kaitlin's Instagram to see all of her other roasts. I think that's really cool that you do that. And you can go follow her on Twitter. I still won't, but it's good to know that, Hey there.
[00:38:02] Caitlin: Okay. That's fine. I also post some of the content onto Instagram and to real, so that's fine.
[00:38:06] Yeah, in my my Instagram and my tech talk are under my name, Kaitlyn monarchy. Because someday I'm going to have an empire of businesses. So my business wanted me to brand it under my name.
[00:38:16] Lindsay: Yes, yes. Yes. It's a smart, smart business
[00:38:20] Caitlin: coach. Exactly. Oh,
[00:38:23] Lindsay: okay. Well, thank you Caitlin, for being on this was awesome and everyone go follow her and it was great to have you, and I love chatting
[00:38:31] Caitlin: with you.
[00:38:31] Thank you so nice to meet you. This was fabulous.