437 | Turning Thoughts Into Money, Success, And True Fulfillment

Feb 21

[00:00:00] Katie Richardson: When I made the decision to move into business coaching, I didn't know at the time how much my mind was going to attack me. I felt like I was at this precipice. I was at the edge of a cliff and I had to make a decision. It wasn't like a new step forward. I had to take a leap, Chaz. And I knew that if we went back, that woman that I was had very low self esteem and didn't believe in herself.
[00:00:22] Katie Richardson: And when we don't believe in herself, we lose hope if I could go back. I would just try and help her see, to use your language, the queen that she is.
[00:00:35] Chaz Wolfe: What's up everybody? I'm Chaz Wolf, gathering the King's Podcast. Got a special episode here today with another queen on the stage here today. Miss Katie Richardson. Welcome to the King Stage. How are you?
[00:00:47] Katie Richardson: Doing amazing. Chaz. I'm super excited to be here. Really excited to hopefully inspire your audience to go do the thing they feel called to do.
[00:00:55] Chaz Wolfe: Yes. Well, you have, you have done that and are still doing that at a whole nother level now, so I'm. Jazzed to get into this conversation, but first, tell us what you do. Now we'll get to what you're maybe known for in the news, but tell us what you do now.
[00:01:11] Katie Richardson: I am a business coach, and I help men and women who are building a significant business build the business in a way that it has them in integrity with themselves, their spouse, their kids, their business partners, and most importantly, God.
[00:01:25] Chaz Wolfe: I love it. I love it. Okay, so now, now drop the hammer on us. You, you've been in the news. You're, you're not, um, a, a new entrepreneur by any means at all. You have an incredible company that you built and exited. Give us just 30 seconds on that. I'm sure plenty more will come out, but tell us, tell us that part of Katie.
[00:01:44] Katie Richardson: Yeah, for two years I was developing a product and then in 2010 I launched it and it took off like a rocket, Chaz,
[00:02:27] Katie Richardson: and within a year we were in 2000 stores in the US with distribution in 26 different countries. This was a brand I had created and products that was a product designer and a mother of very young kids.
[00:02:38] Katie Richardson: My youngest was a year when we launched that, and then I also had a 2-year-old and 4-year-old. So you know, I was busy and. For seven plus years, we built that into a multimillion dollar international company with a suite of ultimately about 30 different products, and then exited that company seven years ago and felt very called and unqualified, by the way to move into business coaching.
[00:03:05] Katie Richardson: And I feel very fortunate and blessed to have built my business. Through tremendous prayer and scripture study, and there were things that I figured out in my own business that I could see that other people were missing. And so I'm really passionate about teaching people those principles that I figured out while I built my own business and really empowering them to build their business in a way that it has them aligning with themselves, their business partners God, like we talked about in the beginning.
[00:03:33] Katie Richardson: So it's exciting, thrilling.
[00:03:36] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I, I wanna hone in on what you just said a few minutes ago that you said that you felt unqualified to do so. I think that every entrepreneur at some point has felt unqualified and it either keeps us from moving or we move forward anyway, and it's super uncomfortable. So just describe that principle for a second.
[00:03:54] Chaz Wolfe: How that even lines up with integrity or being in line with, uh, you know, your calling or, or being godly. How does moving forward into something that I'm uncomfortable or I feel maybe unqualified to do, how does that even line up with those things?
[00:04:06] Katie Richardson: When I made the decision to move into business coaching. Mm, I didn't know at the time how much my mind was going to attack me and I had been taking on clients inside of my physical products business just 'cause it was fun and I would take people on the side and help them out and help them do things they'd been trying to do on their own for 12, 18 months.
[00:04:26] Katie Richardson: Two years and it was effortless, Chaz. It was fun and it was super rewarding. And so it made sense to me to exit my company and then like, of course I'm gonna move into this thing. And then the moment that was my core thing, that's when I really feel like opposition showed up. And it's like, oh yeah, you think you want to go help people shine their light greater into the world?
[00:04:49] Katie Richardson: Well, let's just see how committed you are to that. And I would wake up in the morning. Dreading the day. And I, I hadn't ever experienced that before. And I was, you know, mad at myself that I'd made this decision that was not reversible. I was mad at God that I was being called in this direction, and I really felt unqualified.
[00:05:08] Katie Richardson: I was mad at my spouse, mad at my kids. Um, and yet. It kept moving forward. It was a choice. At the end of the day, it was a choice and it was a decision. And there were multiple times when I, I thought, you know, I could go back to product design, which I know and I'm very good at, and I've proven on a very significant scale.
[00:05:24] Katie Richardson: But when in those quiet moments, Chaz, where you're, that still small voice is maybe a little bit louder, I knew that this was the direction that God had for me. He wasn't gonna force me in that direction. You know, no man's being forced into heaven. And yet, like I would say with my lips that I wanted what God had for me, but I was pushing against it actively.
[00:05:50] Katie Richardson: And you know, I had a lot of questions and I didn't have some sort of certification. I didn't, I had. Developed the principles that I was teaching people through the school of hard knocks. And so there was never that moment that someone says, yes. Now Katie, you are qualified to go out into the world and to help people make their wildest dreams come true.
[00:06:11] Katie Richardson: Like I didn't have that moment. And so it was easy to question myself. It was easy to second guess myself and whether or not it was. Opposition, right? The adversary or myself, I don't necessarily know who it was, but let me tell you, I had those crying sessions in the shower. It was like, who do you think you are?
[00:06:28] Katie Richardson: What do you think you're doing? Who gives you the right to tell him what to do in his business? And there were a lot of times when that voice would speak up and I, I didn't necessarily have an answer for it, and it terrified me.
[00:06:41] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Well, so the, you had to work through that and, and I'm, I'm sure we'll get to some of the story of, of that, how does a listener right now take what you're saying, which is, I, I knew I was called to this, but I was actively fighting against it. How do they know, or how did you know in that moment that it was so clear that you were fighting against it as opposed to maybe this is a desire and I'm just not really not made for this, and so I'm gonna go a different direction.
[00:07:05] Chaz Wolfe: Like, there's all kinds of different ways to maybe. Have interpreted that, but you were so clear, like, this is what I am, but I'm going like, I'm, you know, I'm, uh, I'm Jonah, I'm running the other way. You know, like, how did you know? How do they know?
[00:07:17] Katie Richardson: So for about two years, Chaz, I was traveling a lot for my business and I was either, you know, going to San Francisco and pitching to a room of potential. Investment partners or I was going to New York to a trade show, right? And I was, I was traveling a ton. And every time I would travel perfect, strangers would come up to me and they would say the same thing.
[00:07:38] Katie Richardson: And it was really weird 'cause it didn't happen at home, it didn't happen at the grocery store. It happened every time I was traveling. And I was like, what's happening? What's going on? And there was this trip that I took to Las Vegas to go help my husband out at a trade show in. That the Consumer Electronics Show, it is one of the biggest trade shows in the world, and it's really exciting.
[00:07:59] Katie Richardson: You know, my background is product design, so as a product designer, I love going to this show. You get to see what's on the horizon, technology wise, 5, 10, 15 years into the future. And so I'm at this consumer show. My designer heart is just so excited to be there and I'm helping my husband out for his brand in his booth.
[00:08:20] Katie Richardson: And I had taken a lunch break and after I took my lunch break, I was coming back into the convention hall and there was this huge throng of people and there was this like central Fi figure. There were like 30 people around this central figure, and it looked like everyone was clamoring to get to this person in the middle.
[00:08:36] Katie Richardson: And from the distance that I was at, I was like. That looks like Stevie Wonder and, you know, famous people come to these shows, so it wouldn't have been the craziest thing in the world to have a celebrity at the show. And I'm walking into the room and as I'm having this thought, looking at this th throne of people, there's a.
[00:08:53] Katie Richardson: Another person next to the Stevie Wonder looking figure who's popping his head up above the crowd. And he's obviously trying to look at something, but the people are kind of blocking him and he's really insistent. And so he keeps jumping up. And finally, like Moses parting the Red Sea, he pushes everybody aside.
[00:09:12] Katie Richardson: Makes his way through the crowd and he comes face to face with me, puts his hands on my shoulders, looks me square in the eyes. I've never met this man before. And he says, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Who are you? That was the question everyone had been asking me, Chaz, and in the most dramatic way, here it was again, who are you?
[00:09:36] Katie Richardson: And I'd been getting it on airplanes and Ubers, you know, in crowded rooms. But here it was in a really dramatic form and it was like, in that moment, it was like God saying, Katie, wake up, pay attention. And I had been on my knees praying, reading scriptures, I was seeking searching answers. I had made this move wondering if it was the right move for me and kind of questioning it every day.
[00:10:01] Katie Richardson: And I was looking for the path forward. And what I was looking for was maybe like the right business model or the the right principles or the right method to teach people, right? What's the system that I'm teaching people? And I didn't know what that was and God was without me realizing it, God was answering that question and he was like, Katie, guess what?
[00:10:19] Katie Richardson: You're like paying attention to the wrong things and you need to ask a better question, which is, who am I? And in that moment I saw it on a level I'd never seen it before and I couldn't ignore it anymore. In the past it kind of shrugged it off. And when it happened in that way, and, and by the way, I asked the guy who he was and he said his name was Lamar and that he was with Stevie.
[00:10:41] Katie Richardson: And I said, Stevie who? And he said, Stevie Wonder. He was with Stevie Wonder. He was around some of the most famous people for like the last 40 years. And this guy just pushed his way through a crowd to come meet me. What, like that's what really had me take pause in what was happening. And you know, I learned in that moment that there was something that was pulling this man through the crowd and I needed to figure out what that was, and then I needed to teach other people how to create that for themselves.
[00:11:13] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, there's a, there, it's almost like there was a, a, a pulse, right? A frequency, an energy, you know, a talent. Something, uh, shining that, that he noticed that I'm sure plenty of other people did. Like you said, it is interesting though how you pointed out how it kept happening when you were traveling, but it wasn't happening at home.
[00:11:30] Chaz Wolfe: What's that about?
[00:11:31] Katie Richardson: I think when I travel, there's this level of freedom. You know, I'm a mother of four. I. And we homeschool our kids. And so when I'm traveling, it's gonna sound horrible, but I just like, I'm fully present on that trip and I'm not worrying about the kids. And I think it was this level of presence that I'm able to reach when I'm travel.
[00:11:57] Katie Richardson: It's a new environment, it's new people, and I'm really open. I'm really curious. I'm kind of taking it all in. And you know, we've all experienced that time where you drive to the grocery store and you're like, how did I get here? 'cause you're just in beta mode. You're just like, you're, you're just moving, but you're not really thinking about it.
[00:12:12] Katie Richardson: And when I'm traveling, I'm really curious about what's around me. I'm super present. I'm super open. And I think that that presence radiates from me. And I think people experience it.
[00:12:22] Chaz Wolfe: How, how, I'm sure you've developed this a little bit out, but give the listeners a little tease here. How, how can they find this presence, whether it's when they're traveling or whether when they are at home, like how can they experience that?
[00:12:36] Katie Richardson: So part of what maybe had it not showing up when I was at home is, you know, we have thoughts that go through our mind. All day, every day, right? And then we have feelings and emotions and a lot of times, and I was experiencing this, a lot of times, your head and your heart can be at war. And if you can understand how to create alignment between your thoughts.
[00:13:06] Katie Richardson: Your feelings and your actions. That's the third piece of it. If you can create alignment between those three things, for me, that's where I really connect with God on a really deep and profound way, and we're taught that God is in the now. And so if I can align my mind with my heart, with my actions, then I'm in the, now I'm present, and I'm therefore then connected with God.
[00:13:33] Katie Richardson: I'm greater influenced by his spirit. I can, that inner voice is a little bit louder and I have the courage I need to take action on it. So that's the trick. That's the key.
[00:13:44] Chaz Wolfe: yeah, how did you do that? At home homeschooling four kids. You know, husband has his own business as well, and you guys are doing this multifaceted family thing. How did, how did you take what you just said and put it into
[00:13:59] Katie Richardson: I have to warn you because, you know, we all, we all want that answer, and there is an answer. There is, it's not glamorous. It's not sexy, and in a lot of ways it might even seem like it's too simple and it's not profound. But Chaz, the answer is daily practices. And I'm a woman who is committed to daily exercise.
[00:14:23] Katie Richardson: We have this body that has needs, it needs sleep, it needs food, it needs hydration, it needs exercise, it needs to develop its muscles. You have like at, at bare minimum. You have to take care of those needs. Then you have a mind that has needs and you have to take care of your mind. So that means journaling, right?
[00:14:41] Katie Richardson: Getting all of those thoughts out of your head and onto paper. It means prayer and meditation. Um, you have. A marriage and kids and re relationships with those people. And so you need to be in alignment in your relationships. So me and my husband have date night once a week. We have very difficult conversations and sometimes it leads to tremendous tension, but we know that that conflict leads to greater intimacy with us, right?
[00:15:08] Katie Richardson: A greater connection, a be better level of trust. And so it's about understanding. The dynamics of being a human being and then developing practices that support you and being able to be aligned. And so I read scriptures every day, and I think it's really important for me to be connected with God and in his word.
[00:15:31] Katie Richardson: You know, I say prayers to speak to God. Well, how's he gonna speak to me? I have to read his word. That's how he speaks to me. So I have to be in the scriptures and not let me tell you, there are so many days I don't feel like doing those things. I feel like I'm at war with my inner teenager most mornings.
[00:15:46] Katie Richardson: I'm serious. There's this voice in my head that's like, I don't feel like working out today. And I'm like, okay, well, we're gonna do it anyways. And I, I found this little trick where I'll play the music that my teenage self used to listen to, which is like Led Zeppelin, by the way. And she just like falls in line.
[00:16:02] Katie Richardson: I'm like, okay, we're gonna do this. Like, what are we doing today? Deadlifts, Roman, Roman deadlifts, squats. Like, what are we doing? And she just gets excited. By the music is the trigger. So it's about understanding the needs of being a human being, getting yourself into a place of alignment every day through these daily, I call 'em.
[00:16:22] Katie Richardson: Power creation practices, and then because I'm in that place of power, then when I go to work, I can be hyper efficient, I can be hyper clear. I can be super committed to taking action and doing the things that, you know, if I was tired or hungry, didn't get enough sleep, feeling anxious that I wouldn't have the courage to take that action.
[00:16:43] Katie Richardson: So it's about getting in alignment every day so I can be connected to God, hear his spirit, and then go do the things that I feel called to do.
[00:16:52] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, extremely powerful. I mean, you're dropping just really, really good stuff. I hope that they just hit a, hit the pause button and, or that, that reverse 32nd button on the podcast. Just, just hit it a couple times and listen to that again. Um, super vulnerable. Sharing, you know, the, the, the pieces there about what's happening in your own head, but I think everybody experiences that.
[00:17:13] Chaz Wolfe: Why do you think that that's passed over so much? Like, if the, if the masses think well. Katie's so special because she doesn't have that inner voice that's telling her not to work out today. But the truth is we both know you just shared it, is that we both do and we kind of have to, you know, kick that younger Chaz or younger Katie into gear and we go work out anyway or whatever this the task is.
[00:17:33] Chaz Wolfe: Why do you think that that's passed over? Like why does the mass not understand that it's still real for even you or I.
[00:17:39] Katie Richardson: We're very habituated. To focus and become obsessed with our circumstances or our reality. And I'm a product designer first and foremost. That was kind of what I studied in school and first excelled at. And so I, I, I love creation. God created us to be creators. And the scriptures even tell us that there are two phases of creation.
[00:18:10] Katie Richardson: There's first the spiritual creation and then there is the physical or manifestation, the external. Reality creation. And so I've walked through this process of creation so many times when it comes to physical products, right? I think of an idea in my mind and I can rotate it around. I can see the backside.
[00:18:29] Katie Richardson: I can see the different parts and pieces and the materials that I would use to create that, and the joints and how they come together. And I can manipulate it in my mind, and then I can take a pencil or a pen and I can draw it on paper, and then utilizing different materials, whether it's. Like stuff outta the recycle bin, or maybe I'm using metal or wood, I can go fabricate a physical, uh, manifestation of that.
[00:18:51] Katie Richardson: What once was just an idea in my head and that process of taking a thought, a k, a spiritual idea and turning it into reality, I'm fascinated by it and it's exhilarating to me and what, what I think people are missing is every day. You and I are creating ourselves, and it starts first in these thoughts, in this spiritual creation of self, and we use words to create ourselves and we'll say things like, I'm always late, or I'm tired today, or You just really set me off.
[00:19:29] Katie Richardson: Or I'm frustrated, and then we're creating ourselves to show up that way, and then that Then in turn. Determines our external reality. And so where I started was people are so obsessed with the external reality and they're trying to manipulate their reality, and they utilize force to try and do that. And what I do is I like to take the path of least resistance and, and I go back to that process of creation.
[00:19:52] Katie Richardson: If I can create what I want internally within myself first, then I just kind of have to, if, if that's what it is in, if, if that's who I am. And. Sight of me, then all I have to do is like, show up to life. And it doesn't take long for life to catch up with or reflect what's already happening internally inside of me.
[00:20:11] Katie Richardson: that's why people miss it, is they're starting backwards and they're, they're trying to ignore or, uh, diminish. Listen, that battle that goes on inside of every one of us, it's uncomfortable and it's. Embarrassing and it feels, has this feeling like we're vulnerable. If anybody know about that, about me, and for whatever reason, Chaz, from the very beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, my business took off and it looked like it was working.
[00:20:46] Katie Richardson: I was dying inside. And so I, I'm on this rocket ship and my business is exploding and I'm losing it on my kids, and I'm like, this is not okay. That I'm being this way with my kids. This is not okay, that I have no patience for my husband right now. That's not okay with me. And so those moments brought me to my knees and I was asking God, I'm like, how do I do this?
[00:21:08] Katie Richardson: Because, you know, I felt very called to be an entrepreneur and it felt directly incompatible with the rest of my life. And I wanted to set it down. And I felt very strongly from God that. No, that's not what I have for you and you need to keep going. And I'm like, okay, well if I'm gonna keep going, you need to show me how to do this because it's not working.
[00:21:27] Katie Richardson: And that's when he really taught me that instead of looking for a business model. Which is what I was doing. I was like, I need the right business model. And it wasn't about the business model. He taught me that you're a designer, you're a creator, Katie, and so you might not see the woman who's capable of, of building this very dynamic life, but you don't need her 'cause you can go create her.
[00:21:50] Katie Richardson: And in that moment, I took my own design processes, which I was. Using in products and brand, and it was working very well by the way, and I turned them on myself, and I started to design the woman who was capable of navigating this multi-dimensional life.
[00:22:09] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. So I mean, this is just an incredible topic. We could live here. I want to live here for a little bit longer. Um. This, this idea of being a creator. Uh, the mindset for me changed a handful of years ago in, in a way where I understood that I was a creator and I use the identity now as I'm, I'm a builder.
[00:22:25] Chaz Wolfe: And so same, same thing here, but. There's a lot of, uh, Christians or believers that have a problem with that idea of being a creator. And it's like, it, it maybe takes away from the reverence that they might have, you know, towards God. And so what would you say to the person that is struggling believer or not believer, understanding that they're a creator or a builder?
[00:22:49] Chaz Wolfe: And really, I mean, you've practically shown us what that means, and I wanna press more on that here in a second. But from the belief perspective, they have to first believe that they are, that before they can do that. What, what would you say to that?
[00:22:58] Katie Richardson: I think we see demonstrations of truth in like fractal forms in reality, and lemme explain what I mean. My relationship with my kids is a reflection of a potential relationship with me and my father in heaven, my creator. And what I want for my kids is everything that I have, and then a million times more, right?
[00:23:28] Katie Richardson: I want them to have everything that I have and more. And if I was created by the ultimate creator, then isn't the seed of that greatness inside of me? And so, you know. We have a heavenly father, heavenly mother, who created us in spiritual form and then physical form, and I believe that they want for us what they are capable of themselves.
[00:23:59] Katie Richardson: That's just my personal belief.
[00:24:50] Chaz Wolfe: it, you changed quickly from seeing God as only creator to seeing him as creator and father. Uh, even in your language there, you identified him first. Then, as you know, my father in heaven, and so taking on the heart of a father or a mother, having a parent's heart, it should change the dynamic. I didn't grow up with a dad, and so when I met my dad at 24, he didn't know I existed.
[00:25:14] Chaz Wolfe: I thought somebody else was my dad. Crazy God story, but my interactions with him were like. New except for that they weren't, because I already had a Heavenly Father and it was just, this was the first time I could see it play out in person. And so describe, describe this, uh, you know, for you, because it's personal, it's, it's the mother's heart that you're describing, it's the father's heart that God has for you.
[00:25:36] Chaz Wolfe: How does that change the dynamic? Because we're not talking about he just because you believe he gives you everything. 'cause that's, that's not what we're talking about either.
[00:25:44] Katie Richardson: Yeah. I've had to really evolve, develop, mature, and grow my relationship with God. Yeah, for a long time I had a very servant relationship with God and it was just basically, I can be obedient. I can do exactly what you tell me to do. Just tell me what to do and I'll go do it. And that had gotten me really far in life and I reached this point where was, I felt like I was at this precipice.
[00:26:15] Katie Richardson: I was at the edge of a cliff, and I had to make a decision. And it wasn't like a new step forward. I had to take a leap, Chaz, and I knew that, but there were like a thou not a thousand, maybe 17 different directions I could potentially leap. And you know, I'm a woman of God, a woman of faith. I wanna be on the path of righteousness and I wanna get things right.
[00:26:40] Katie Richardson: And I had this tremendous fear as I was at this edge of a cliff that I was gonna maybe make the wrong decision but not realize it until maybe 5, 10, 15 years into the future. And then I would look back and have tremendous regret only to realize I'd taken the wrong, wrong path. That terrified me to the point where I was at a place of indecision for almost two years.
[00:27:03] Katie Richardson: And the, the more I waited to make a decision, the more pressure was building and mounting and it. The decision I needed to make wasn't just gonna affect me. It was gonna affect my spouse, my kids, my team, my family, uh, my employees, my clients and customers. Like I was needing to make a really significant decision.
[00:27:23] Katie Richardson: And as that servant minded woman, I was asking God, like, just tell me what to do. You have eternal perspective. Tell me what to do. You know, I'm a leaper and I'll jump, but you're not, you, you wanna know what he was saying to me, Chaz? Keep going, Katie. I'm like, keep going. What kind of direction is that? Like that's so general, like can we get a little more specific?
[00:27:47] Katie Richardson: And it was just this like, you got this. I'm like, no, I don't Tell me what to do. You know? I had this conversation with somebody who was like, Katie, you already know what to do. And I was like, I do. And he was like, yeah. God's told you what to do, and I'm like, he has, I'm like, listen, I've been praying reading scriptures.
[00:28:09] Katie Richardson: I go to the temple once a month. Like I, I'm trying, he's not telling me what to do. And then I was like, he told you what I need to do. You have the answer. Then I started to think he had the answer and he said something so incredible to me in that moment. He said, God's already told you what to do. He's given you agency.
[00:28:28] Katie Richardson: He wants you to choose. I was furious. He wants me to choose. Oh, that's cute. He has eternal perspective. He sees the beginning and the end. He wants me to choose I, I don't have that perspective. How am I supposed to make this decision? And what I started to learn is this game was less about, and maybe the game's not the right word, this life is less about making perfect decisions, and it's so much more about really developing this ability to choose.
[00:29:01] Katie Richardson: For so long I had leaned on God to get to that point, and it was time for me to grow up. And rather than having this kind of servant relationship with God, I needed to make him my partner. And I needed to start co-creating with God in my life.
[00:29:18] Chaz Wolfe: So good,
[00:29:19] Katie Richardson: And it changed. It changed. Like it changed everything. Chaz. It changed how I was showing up in prayer big time.
[00:29:26] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna give you a little tidbit here. I want you to keep going. What you described to me was, again, as a father myself, I'm sure you feel this way as a mother, is that when we look at our children, you know, my children, you know, 10 all the way down to one right now, and there are components that I'm building in them to make good decisions.
[00:29:44] Chaz Wolfe: And there are certain perspectives of life that my 10-year-old can make her own decision now. And it's joy for me as a dad to go, I don't know, what do you wanna do? Because I've already been building in her for 10 years the things that she needs right now in this moment to make the choice for her. So I've, I'm sure you've seen this with your kids as well.
[00:30:09] Chaz Wolfe: This exact thing that you're talking about play out. But give us just a little bit more here, because you're right. This is, this is absolutely how God is, but it's like closely mirrored to how we, how we are with our children. Right.
[00:30:20] Katie Richardson: Yeah, a hundred percent. Um, we have a rule that we, I shouldn't even say rule. We have a principle that we live by in our home. From a really young age, this is how we operated with our kids, and the principle is this, teach them true principles so that they can govern themselves. And from a really young age, we were looking for ways to give our kids responsibility.
[00:30:44] Katie Richardson: You know, when my boys were three, five, and seven. We decided to go live in Taiwan for a bit and you know, it was a very quick decision. And so like within days we were packing bags and we were getting ready to go and there was gonna be, you know, suitcases and bags. And I was like, you guys need to be responsible for your own backpack.
[00:31:03] Katie Richardson: And most people would be like, you know, you're, you're gonna be going through multiple airports and then on trains and you want your 3-year-old to be in charge of his backpack. And I was like. Yeah, that's a good form. And so from a young age, my kids were in charge of packing their own bag and we would lay it out and be like, Hey, we're gonna be gone for X amount of days.
[00:31:19] Katie Richardson: How much underwear do you need and how many pajamas? And do we need a swim suit? Right? So it's giving kids responsibility for, from a young age because when you, when you shoulder that responsibility, then you're the one in charge of making the decisions. And I don't know how deep I need to go on all this, for example.
[00:31:36] Katie Richardson: Like job charts just did not work in our house. Jazz, I knew my kids needed to contribute in the home, but job charts like you have to do these things. It just wasn't working. And I understand the power of identity and when you know who you are, right? To go back to that, when, when you, when you know who you are, then you just take action naturally from that place.
[00:31:57] Katie Richardson: And so my job chart then became identity based. And so this week. Walker, he's the Chief Dog officer, and that means you're responsible for taking care of the dog and cleaning up from him and walking him and making sure he has his food. And, and next week you're gonna be the Duke of Dish Land. And that means you're doing the dishes twice, twice a day in the morning and at night.
[00:32:18] Katie Richardson: And you're the Duke of Dish Land. And that's just who you are. And you just do dishes and you don't need to be forced into it, and you don't need someone to hound you on it. And so, you know, it's this ability to really empower. My kids. I, I, I saw how effective that was at work with team members and like really understanding somebody's skillset and then setting them up for success and empowering them, whether that's through trainings or resources to perform at their highest level in that position.
[00:32:46] Katie Richardson: The same is true with your kids, and so if you can. Understand their skills and then empower them to develop those skills. And you know, my kids are 20 17, 15, and then my daughter's 10, my 20-year-old. He, he works for like really famous YouTubers and he's. Developed an ability to tell a story in video. And so he's got drones and cameras and he always has the latest iPhone.
[00:33:10] Katie Richardson: And my husband thought that was crazy when he was younger. I'm like, no, he, these are tools and he needs to learn how to use these tools. And so he's developed that ability and he's like got people clamoring right now to work with him. He's 20, my 17-year-old is developing a logo for a software startup right now, and we actually have our next round of design reviews.
[00:33:31] Katie Richardson: On Wednesday, um, we're most of the way through this design process, he's 17 and, and like, but because from a young age they had these, you might call 'em small opportunities to shoulder responsibility, it ultimately has led them as this direction where they can make decisions, where they, where they can be a leader, where they can choose for themselves and.
[00:33:57] Katie Richardson: I'm just super grateful. It's one of the greatest lessons that business taught me is how I was kind of offloading responsibility onto God. It was like, don't make me responsible for that. You make that decision for me and I'll just go do it. And so if it goes wrong, it's your fault, not mine. And you know, when we can grow ourselves up and shoulder responsibility and make God a partner and co-create with him, well then we can teach that to our kids and that then empowers them in their life.
[00:34:25] Chaz Wolfe: I just imagine the 17-year-old in your revision meeting going, mom, what do you think? Or what, what would you do? And I, and I hear you like, well, I see you 'cause I don't actually hear you. 'cause you're not saying anything. You're just like nodding going. Yeah. Like, no, no, no. Mom, what do you think It's like,
[00:34:39] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah,
[00:34:40] Katie Richardson: he's brilliant
[00:34:41] Chaz Wolfe: I see the 17 year, just frustrated like, no mob, come on. You do this like this. You've got the eternal perspective. You know? You're like, you've been a designer for 20, you know,
[00:34:49] Katie Richardson: We have the meeting on Wednesday and I told him today we're gonna do a dry run of the meeting. And he's like, no, you just need to do it. I'm like, no, this is you. Like this has to be you, so let's practice it. So you know the story behind each of you can articulate it. He's a guy who's really driven by feeling and so he struggles to articulate why this is a good design or the story that this is telling 'cause he just intuitively knows how to tell the story.
[00:35:14] Katie Richardson: Yeah.
[00:35:14] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I, I think that the, not only the description of identity and the purpose that you've given in your story, um, but then the examples that you've given with your kids have really given the listener just this perspective of, okay, like, oh yeah, that's totally how I feel about my kids. Why, why wouldn't God feel this way about me?
[00:35:31] Chaz Wolfe: It takes it to a personal relationship pretty quickly. Um, okay, so inside of identity, you have, you know, you've grown multiple companies, uh, you know, even though the second one you thought, well, I don't know if I'm qualified. You've, we've, we've worked through all this here on this show, what was inside of, you know, one of these businesses, a good decision that you made that was just super clear and practical that the listeners can go out today and go implement.
[00:35:58] Katie Richardson: I just, I made a decision really early on what matters to me. I don't know how practical and actionable that is. That's where I'm like in a battle. But I think it's really important to know what matters to you. And you know, when my business was taking off, it could have been really easy to be blinded by money, significance, fame.
[00:36:23] Katie Richardson: And I was at the precipice of all of those. And sure, there probably were times where I kind of overstepped my bounds, but you know, I think it's important to define what matters to you, kind of where you're headed. I use a model of a North Star because it's really easy to get blinded by those things that I was just talking about.
[00:36:46] Katie Richardson: You know, acknowledgement, fame, significance, money, those are very affirming things and there's a part of us, I would argue it's the younger part of us that's very motivated and driven by those things. And I think you, if you, you know, channel that part of you, it can be really effective.
[00:37:03] Katie Richardson: Lemme tell you this story, so. You know, we were living off of food storage. We were nobodies and I, I had an idea, but I had no resources, no network, no brand. Nothing. Nothing. And I was just a young mother of two who, you know, I was buying clothes secondhand and grinding wheat to make four loves of bread a week to feed our family.
[00:37:27] Katie Richardson: And my husband was, you know, working a day job, but we were barely able to pay the bills and. Um, I was at a children's boutique and I was embarrassed to be in this boutique. This was high-end products and I was there with a stroller that I bought for $9 on clearance at Target. And so it wasn't one of those fancy strollers, it was the cheap umbrella stroller that I'd even bought on clearance.
[00:37:51] Katie Richardson: I think it was normally like $20 and I got it for nine. Um, you know, I was wearing the same pair of jeans I'd been wearing for the last seven years and. Uh, you know, I colored my own hair. I cut my own hair and, and, and I was just embarrassed to be in this store and I felt like I was a stay at home mom who wasn't really up to anything.
[00:38:10] Katie Richardson: And I'm in this boutique and just staring at the price tag on like $50 baby shoes. And I'm like, what are you even doing in here, Katie? And pretty soon the woman who was behind the counter came up to me and she said, where'd you get all this stuff? And she's pointing at. A hat that my baby was wearing and shoes that my toddler was wearing, and a carrier that I was using to kick to hold the baby and the bag, the baby bag that I was.
[00:38:37] Katie Richardson: And I was really embarrassed and cut on my heels because the truth is, Chaz, I'd made it. It was all homemade. I'd made it on my mom's 1962 Bernina sewing machine. It was a really old sewing machine. It was all I had, and it's just something I did to keep myself occupied while my kids were taking naps. And she was like, you made all of this.
[00:38:58] Katie Richardson: And at the time, again, like it was homemade. And that's embarrassing, right? 'cause I, it was out of necessity. And I was like, yeah. She was like, I go to all the trade shows and this is hot. I want you to make it for me. And I was like, what? I was really confused and I'm like trying to let it in. And immediately my resistance shows up and I'm just like, well, can't you see I'm really busy.
[00:39:22] Katie Richardson: I have a 2-year-old and a baby like. I don't have time to make this stuff for you like you want it for your kids. I was really confused. She was like, no, I wanna sell it in my store. I'm like, you wanna sell my stuff in your store? The stuff that I made on my mom's 1962 Bernina.
[00:39:35] Chaz Wolfe: What stuff? I don't even have
[00:39:36] Katie Richardson: And like so much resistance was coming up.
[00:39:39] Katie Richardson: Like I'm peppering all these excuses at her and she can see what's happening. And I don't know her story, I still don't know her story, but like she was definitely placed in my life by God. And she said, look, I understand that you're really busy right now, but in the not too distant future, these boys are gonna grow up and they'll be in school full-time and you're gonna look back and you will wish that you had done something with these gifts and talents that you have.
[00:40:06] Katie Richardson: And so here's the thing that I have for your listeners. She transported me to the future. I had me look back and in that moment I physically felt the regret that I might someday feel. That regret was really powerful and it moved me to action. I had no idea how to build a business. I had no idea how to source manufacturing.
[00:40:28] Katie Richardson: I had no idea. Like how to create a brand. I didn't have an MBA, I knew nothing about business. How do I even accept someone's American Express? I don't know. I, I didn't know the answer to any of those things, but what she had me feel that day had me suddenly seeking those answers. And so that's the thing that I would give to your audience is this path that you're currently on, you walk it five more years into the future and look back.
[00:40:55] Katie Richardson: Are you feeling that regret? Because guess what? The five years hasn't lapsed yet. It and you can change it. You can mold your life, you can shape it and you can do something about it. Right now, maybe you're even feeling regret that you didn't do something five years ago. Well, okay, use that then as fuel to make the change now. And you know, I'm at this interesting point in my life where I built a business for seven years and man, it was amazing and it was a wild, crazy ride, but it was super complex. And so when I exited that business, I was like, I'm gonna design this next business very differently. And I did and very intentionally, Chaz, for the last seven years of my life, I have not been busy.
[00:41:36] Katie Richardson: I've been creating significant impact and honestly making way more money than I ever did. But I am not busy. I work less than 20 hours a week, and that's very intentional because connecting with God and being present with my kids and this season of life is really important to me. And so I'm, I'm kind of like at a new precipice where I have to look five, seven years into the future and, and I'm looking back and I'm like, what am I gonna regret if I don't make changes right now?
[00:42:03] Chaz Wolfe: The practicality of looking forward and reflecting before it even happens, um, is perspective change. This can happen too with other people. You gave the example of the lady in the, in the shop. Uh, this happens every single, uh, week or month inside of gathering the kings, where someone's sharing their story, what's happening in their business, and it's like light bulb, like.
[00:42:24] Chaz Wolfe: Oh, hit you like a ton of bricks. 'cause you can picture something that's different. It's an agitation of thought that makes that, uh, creation, um, or, or maybe the action towards creation happened just a little bit better. I wanna keep the same vein and I wanna wrap things up with this last question here.
[00:42:40] Chaz Wolfe: 'cause Katie, you've, you're, I mean, I think if somebody listened to this probably 20 times, they would still pull out, you've just gone in so many different directions all in once. It's just so powerful, powerful. so I wanna kind of put a bow on it. If you could reel back time and talk to the younger Katie.
[00:42:58] Chaz Wolfe: Maybe it's the Katie that's at the shop. Maybe it's Katie before kids. Maybe it's Katie. When the guy from the conference sought you out and put his hands on your shoulders, what would you tell her if you could whisper in her ear?
[00:43:14] Katie Richardson: You know, people who are listening to this might listen to me thinking, not Katie. She has it all figured out. She's got a level of confidence that I don't have.
[00:43:38] Katie Richardson: If we went back,
[00:43:44] Katie Richardson: that woman that I was, had very low self-esteem and didn't believe in herself.
[00:44:00] Katie Richardson: And when we don't believe in ourself, we lose hope and it's not even worth trying.
[00:44:09] Katie Richardson: And so, I mean, if I could go back, I,
[00:44:18] Katie Richardson: I would just try and help her see. To use your language, the queen that she is. I didn't see it. Um, in fact, I felt really invisible growing up. I think it was a combination of things When I was, I was, I'm the fourth of six kids. When I was three, my mom had twins, and I became invisible really fast. And when you're a toddler, that's a superpower.
[00:44:50] Katie Richardson: And it was, I was really good at being invisible and I knew how to fall in line and not get into trouble and, you know, explore the world. I was really curious about the world and, um, but when you start to mature junior high, high school, college, when you're at that age and you feel invisible, it creates this huge hole inside of your heart.
[00:45:15] Katie Richardson: And, um.
[00:45:22] Katie Richardson: That's why so much of what I do is rooted in that question. Who are you? And it's interesting because I am an active woman of the church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints, and I have been my whole life, and I've gone to church pretty much every Sunday of my whole life. And so I knew in principle that I was, you know, a daughter of God and that.
[00:45:47] Katie Richardson: There was a heavenly Father who cared about me, but didn't necessarily feel it. I, I think in the recesses of my mind, I felt like I was an exception to all of that, and that I was just a nobody.
[00:46:04] Katie Richardson: So I think I would go back and try and help her see that that's not true.
[00:46:15] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I think that, uh, many of us, you know, have have a moment where we can look back and be like, man, if I could just have transferred a little courage. To my younger self, or in this case, you and I get to do it right now to thousands of listeners, but it truly is like what you said, to be able to see the queen or the king that they're designed to be and that they, that they can do it.
[00:46:40] Chaz Wolfe: Um, maybe they're not fully that person yet, but they're becoming, uh, that person. And, uh, you get, you had to share your story here today of how you, you know, were able to become that queen and also be able to help other people now, but. That moment is so real, and I think that if we're listening closely to you now, it's like, no, we all have that moment.
[00:47:00] Chaz Wolfe: We've all had, we all that phase, whatever that was, whether, whether we felt invisible or you know, I didn't have a dad growing up. Whatever the thing is, it's either gonna be fuel or it's gonna be the thing that keeps us where we are. Right.
[00:47:13] Katie Richardson: Yeah. And it never fully goes away, right? Like on each level it will reappear in, in new forms, and we just have to understand how to recognize it and then utilize principles of truth to move past it.
[00:47:27] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Katie, um, how can the listener find you? One, you've got, I mean, I'm sure just they could just Google your name and read all your business exploits, but if they wanted to work with you or if they wanted to maybe explore some of your content that's out, how can they find you?
[00:47:41] Katie Richardson: So if you wanna work with me, I would go to Katie live on Instagram, go to my Instagram profile and click the link. Um. I don't just work with everybody. You need to go look at the case studies of people that I've helped. I, I'm very good at helping somebody get a hyper custom outcome, and so sometimes it's hard to describe exactly what I do.
[00:48:03] Katie Richardson: I just, I, I feel like Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite. I'll make your wildest dreams come true, which is true, but like, what does that actually mean? Well, um, you know, it's a series of things. So go look at the case studies of people that I have helped. Uh, I mean, at the very least. My hope would be that that would then inspire you.
[00:48:23] Katie Richardson: 'cause when people come to me, they're in tremendous constraint. They're outta runway. They're out of options. And we create new possibility and, and it happens super fast. And I just love it. It's like my designer creative mind, somebody brings me a puzzle and they're like, I've been trying to put this puzzle together for the last two years and it's impossible and this person can't help me.
[00:48:46] Katie Richardson: And this person, I'm like, sweet, let's do this and let's do it in the next 90 days. And I just get super excited to do that. So go look at those case studies 'cause they'll really inspire you. Katie live on Instagram. I'm fairly active on Instagram or listen to my podcast, it's called What's Working Now, and specifically go listen to the first eight episodes of the podcast.
[00:49:07] Katie Richardson: That's where you'll hear kind of my origin story and you know. There's this ability to only see my highlight reel in the last 45 minutes. I have tremendous failures, Chaz, and I think it benefits people to hear those stories. So if you go listen to those first eight, eight episodes, you'll hear those failures and you'll hear the story of how I've been able to get to where I am, which is in Puerto Rico overlooking the ocean, homeschooling our four kids, building an incredible business, helping amazing.
[00:49:40] Katie Richardson: God driven in entrepreneurs, CEOs, founders go do really big, significant things in the world, and it's something I'm super passionate about. The work that I do is very meaningful. And so those are the two places to find me.
[00:49:53] Chaz Wolfe: I love it. We'll put it easy for them in the show notes as well, but, um, if they're still listening right now, they are hooked because, uh, it, it'd be hard not to be, uh, hooked. Katie, you're, you're obviously an incredible mind. You've got an incredible history. Uh, your husband and your kids, uh, are I'm sure as incredible, your family.
[00:50:12] Chaz Wolfe: But thank you for being here. Thanks for carving out some of the time to tell some of those pieces of the story. Uh, yes. Inspiring. But if anything you've just shown us, uh, what's possible. So thank you for doing that here today. Blessings to you and your family and all that you're putting your hand to in 2024.
[00:50:28] Chaz Wolfe: Thanks, Katie.
[00:50:29] Katie Richardson: Yeah, you're welcome, Chaz. This has been absolutely amazing. Thank you so much.

Host Chaz Wolfe welcomes Katie Richardson, an acclaimed business coach, entrepreneur, and the founder of 'What’s Working Now'. Katie’s journey from a young mother to a globally recognized designer and entrepreneur, featured on major platforms like the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Rachael Ray Show, and Entrepreneur Magazine, is nothing short of inspirational. She’s a master at transforming simple ideas into multi-million dollar products, exemplifying her belief that we are all creators at our core. 🌟 Dive deep into a conversation that covers a range of thought-provoking themes. Katie Richardson unravels her philosophy of finding presence in the chaos of entrepreneurship and the art of transforming thoughts into tangible realities. This episode touches upon the spiritual aspects of creation, the importance of designing a life that aligns with your capabilities, and empowering children with responsibility from a young age. Katie shares her personal experiences, revealing the greatest lessons business has taught her and how she navigated the challenges of being a stay-at-home mom while building a successful business empire. Discover her unique perspectives on regret, moving beyond the 'highlight reel' of life, and the journey to an exceptional life.

Katie Richardson:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katie.live/

Website: https://linktr.ee/katie.live

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