Kate Kordsmeier knows being a mompreneur means that we have to wear many hats. But just because we are responsible for something doesn't mean that we have to trade our time to get it done. Kate has leveraged systems - especially evergreen funnels -- effectively turning a significant portion of her income into a passive revenue that allows her to invest her energy into the things that matter to her -- especially her growing family.

Connect with Kate and find the resources she mentioned on her website includingher resource Six Systems for Six Figure CEOs.

Kate's favorite resource is Cyclical Living.  Learn more in the book Woman Code or Do Less

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This is a transcript of the This Mom Knows Podcast - Episode - 53

Jennifer Uren
We've all heard the expression work smarter, not harder, and it's a great sentiment but it doesn't actually do anything to help us move forward. My guest today has a system for doing just that - scaling your income without burning out, but instead doing it from a place of rest and calm. Kate Kordsmeier is a writer, educator and creative entrepreneur. She lives in Atlanta with her husband Matt and their two kiddos, Jackson, and Gemma and their three, fur babies Scout, Boo, and Finch - and yes, they are named for the characters and To Kill a Mockingbird. She left a flourishing freelance writing career to start a holistic wellness blog called Root + Revel, which became a multi six figure business. She now teaches other heart centered online entrepreneurs to monetize their online business with sustainable tactics that don't result in burnout or selling their soul. She does this through two courses that she offers and she's also a fellow podcaster. And you can hear her on the podcast Sucess with Soul. Welcome, Kate.

Kate Kordsmeier
Thank you so much for having me. What? It's always fun to hear somebody else read your bio. I'm like, oh, that sounds good.

Jennifer Uren
Right? Yeah. Like I'd like to know this person.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah. She sounds great.

Jennifer Uren
Right. So that did tell us a lot about you. But it didn't tell us enough. So where did you grow up? How did you end up in Atlanta? And maybe tell us about your love for of To Kill a Mockingbird?

Kate Kordsmeier
Yes. Well, I'm from the south. So my love for To Kill a Mockingbird probably starts there. But I actually I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, and went to college and at the University of Georgia in Athens. And then I bounced around a lot, I move to LA and then Dallas and Washington, DC. And then my then boyfriend now husband got transferred back to Atlanta. And you know, we felt like, well, our family's here and probably gonna move back eventually. So let's go. And so now that was in 2013. So, you know, what is? 8 years? Gosh, yeah. So we've been back in Atlanta for eight years. And it's, it's been a it's been a whirlwind since then. We got married, bought a house, moved, bought a new house, had two babies. And you know, I've had three different businesses in that time. So it's, it's been nothing but chaos. Basically,

Jennifer Uren
You've lived a lot more than eight years of life in eight years. It sounds like oh, well, that's great. So you come from a place of experience. And we're going to talk today about the thing that you know, which is scaling your income without burning out. But let's start by going back a little bit to your freelance writing career.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah.

Jennifer Uren
What were you writing about? Was it holistic, wellness related? Or was it just completely different?

Kate Kordsmeier
Completely different, I was a food and travel writer. So it was literally my job to eat and travel the world and report back on the most, you know, delicious meals, and hottest chefs and, you know, most spectacular views and all of that kind of stuff. So it was in many ways, a dream job. And yeah, so nothing to do with wellness.

Jennifer Uren
But I suppose when you start eating all sorts of decadent and indulgent foods, it does have an impact on wellness.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah, you know, it's interesting, because I think actually more so than any of the food I was eating the stress of being on the road all the time and having a business that was 100% trading my time for dollars, that impacted my health, more so than anything else. If anything, now looking back in hindsight, I could say that this the the plus side of like the most, you know, being able to eat the most delicious foods and try all this new stuff and experience all these different cultures probably helped my wellness and you know, improved my health. But it was stressful.

Jennifer Uren
Yes, yes. I can't imagine on the one hand, it sounds very glamorous. But you're right, that would be that trading of time for money would be stressful. And you told me that you've had a byline in more than 125 magazines, which is very impressive. And it had to feel like great validation that you were succeeding. So what was it in all of that, that caused you to choose a different path? And you know, why did you change lanes and head in a new direction?

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah, it's such a good question. Because yeah, on the surface, everything seems great. And like I, you know, had the career most people dream of and I got a cookbook published and was, you know, featured in huge national magazines. It was and it was was great for a time. But I think I there were, you know, it was the perfect storm of a lot of different things in my life happening. You know, I had moved back to Atlanta, it was a very different media scene in Atlanta, especially from when I was living in DC, which all editors always needed somebody on the ground in DC, somebody who could report back about what was going on there had a very hot food scene, and so does Atlanta. But editors, you know, Atlanta is less of a destination. And so that changed things a little bit. We got married when I moved back. And so I was, you know, getting older wanting to settle down a little bit more. And everybody always said, "Oh, it's so great that you're freelance, because you could have kids and super flexible, like, you're your own boss." But the more I started thinking about it, as you know, becoming a mom started coming up on my radar, it was like, well, actually, no, because if I take a maternity leave, I only get work when I'm writing. And so if I take maternity leave, I'm not writing, I'm making $0. And then if I have a kid, and I have to take care of that kid, um, you know, it's like, I only have so many hours, what, how can I do this, and, you know, and also, print media was changing dramatically. And so budgets were being cut, and magazines were folding. So there was some of that pressure and things like that changing. And I was having a lot of health issues. And like I said, in hindsight, now, I could say, well, of course, you were having a lot of health issues, that was very stressful, you know, even some things that are good stress. But like, if you've ever planned a wedding, it's very useful, you know, moving to a new state. So, yeah, it was very stressful. And I started looking for what could I do that is a little bit more passive and reliable. And, and I have a greater income, like I was making right around six figures from my journalism career, but it felt like that was it like, I was never really going to make that much more than that. Because I didn't have time to write more than that. And that was the only way to scale your income was to work more hours. I was already writing for the top publications. So it wasn't like I'll you know, I'll succeed more. And then better publications will pay me more. I was like, No, that's I've already doing that. So yeah, so I was reading income reports on a food blog that I followed. And they were talking about how they were making, like $30,000 a month from their blog. And it was just recipes. And I was a recipe developer as well. So I had developed recipes for dozens of different magazines. And I was like, well, I could do that. And instead of making $500 a recipe, you know, I could be making a lot more. And so I decided to start a blog. And it was sort of like part food blog, because that was what I knew. And then I was also sort of chronicling this health journey that I was on, and sharing, sharing that and so that was how Root + Revel came to be.

Jennifer Uren
Okay. So um, and this leads into my next question, but you started answering it, you know, you did not have kids when you started this blog, but you were looking ahead to what life would be like with kids, and laying that foundation for it. So that's really smart. That you did that then because, you know, myself included, and many of my listeners were like, in that mom stage going, Yeah, I'd like to do something. And so, so well done looking ahead and going. "I'll do all the really heavy lifting before I have the kids."

Kate Kordsmeier
Before I do.

Jennifer Uren
Yeah.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah. And I can't, you know, there was maybe some foresight there. But there was, like I said, there's so many other things happening too that. It wasn't just thinking that I'd love to say, "Oh, I was just so brilliant that I just knew."

Jennifer Uren
That's right. We'll just say you were.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah.

Jennifer Uren
You're brilliant. So so it was part food blog, and then it was part wellness because of you coming out of this place of stress and, and your health having some challenges as a result of that. Is that correct?

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah, exactly. And it when I first I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and PCOS, so two kind of chronic illnesses that there is no cure. But there were some things that I was learning about more holistic alternative health strategies that were like you could potentially not have to take medication you could potentially not have to adjust your diet too much but by some of these other more holistic lifestyle changes, I was finding a lot of relief and so yeah, I wanted I felt like I wanted to share that with with others who maybe were experiencing something similar. And now when I look back kind of on the different paths my career has taken, I can see that I kind of have this pattern that wasn't conscious at the time that was like, I learned something, I figure out how to do something. And then I want to show other people. So I figured out how to put kind of my health conditions in remission, so to speak. And then I wanted to teach other people how to do that. And then I created a six figure blog. And then I wanted to teach other people how to do that. And then I created a six figure course business, and I wanted to teach other people how to do that. So it's kind of just like, as soon as I learned something new, I'm like, Cool. Let me show somebody else how to do this.

Jennifer Uren
Yeah. Okay. That's excellent. That was I was gonna ask you about what made the transition from doing it, to teaching others to do it. And you still do still have the Root + Revel? Is that still active?

Kate Kordsmeier
Yes, it is. Well, I wouldn't necessarily say it's still active, it's still exists. I have been in the process of selling the business this past year. And it's been a little bit of a roller coaster, and some ups and downs. So currently, at the time of this recording, I'm still the owner. But I also have basically not touched it in almost two years now, because I had my second child. And then I also started a second business. And I just kind of put it on the back burner. And you know, traffic and revenue have obviously been affected, although it took over a year before I really saw a dip in anything, but it's also very cool now that's like, wow, I don't touch this. And it's still making like five to $10,000 a month and I'm not doing anything.

Jennifer Uren
Yes, my husband started a small blog a couple years ago, and he hasn't touched it in a good 18 months. And every month I get I mean it's not big bucks. But I'm like, this is just not fair. You're making money doing nothing. I'm still trying to build something here.

Kate Kordsmeier
Well, it's a it's a, you know, check in the pro box for blogging because it really has such a long shelf life. And so even if if you need to take a break, whether that's like a maternity leave, or several years off to figure out, you know, something new or whatever, you can still actually keep earning from it, even though you're doing literally nothing on it. So yeah, yeah, it and

Jennifer Uren
the fact like you mentioned that you can now sell it. I mean, it is a real business. And I think that's still one of those misconceptions that, you know, maybe not actual bloggers have, but people around, it seems like it's your own personal space where you're sharing your thoughts. And, and I don't think that people, they look at it more like I own a job, as opposed to I'm building a business that I could sell, because it's not real, you know, it's not brick and mortar.

Kate Kordsmeier
Right. And it has made me really think about how to create sellable assets when the other businesses that I'm building and the way that I approached the blog content and all of that, because I mean, and I also think the landscape of blogging has changed so dramatically in the last 10 years, but even just in this past year where it used to be Yeah, it's just you sharing your personal updates. And you know that it was like an online diary. And now it's it's so different. And I feel like all businesses actually need to have a blog component, because it's the best way to get organic traffic and leads to your website, no matter what you're selling, or what your business is.

Jennifer Uren
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Even if it's like, I have a clogged drain and you go and you discover somebody's got a tutorial on how to unclog a drain and you're, oh, they're a business in my neighborhood. I can I just call them to come on, look, unclog my drain, you know? Exactly. Yeah, that's excellent. So one of the things that we talk about here a lot is delegation, and this idea that, you know, especially as moms, we feel like we need to, we need to do it, and it can feel very Oh, I don't know, lavish to to delegate it, you know, but it's important to delegate. So do you have a team that you've built around you? And? And when did you decide to start to add a team to what you were doing?

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah, I love this question. Because I think it's, you know, hundreds of years of patriarchy telling us that if we get help, or we can't do it all ourselves that we're selfish, and we're, you know, not good enough, and none of that is true. And I think, you know, we can have it all, but we can't do it all and we certainly can't do it all by ourselves. Right. So what I think I hired my first Well, that's maybe not true. I was gonna say I hired my first VA a couple years into blogging, and I just had her, you know, a few hours a week. And then we grew from there until she ultimately ended up becoming a full time employee. But I've hired you know, I hired a Pinterest agency, I've hired Instagram help, I've hired SEO people. So some of it's been like, very specific. And they're not like two full team members. And then now today, I have three full time employees and a dozen, you know, contractors and other people on the team. And I also have childcare and house cleaner and somebody who does our yardwork, you know, like, I have a lot of support. And I think if I didn't do it, none of none of any of it would be possible.

Jennifer Uren
Right? Right. And, and we often talk about the trade off. But this idea was introduced to me recently that it's actually an elevation, that the more we delegate, now we can do what we're good at, and someone else can do what they're good at. And it makes it all happen. And so if you weren't hiring these people, they might not have employment, and you wouldn't have the income that exceeds what they cost you, you know. So it's not yet it's an interesting mindset shift that I think a lot of moms struggle with.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah, I love that. Because you hiring somebody is helping their life, like you're giving their life purpose, you're giving them like you said, an income, whether it's because they clean your house once a week, or because you're there, you know, on salary at your company. And then yes, it frees you up. And there are so many hats that you have to wear as a business owner, and nobody is good at everything. Like nobody is the best writer and accountant, and, you know, marketer and salesperson and Operations Manager. Like there's so many different things. So yeah, once you figure out really what you're good at, and how you can move your business forward, and then basically just delegate the rest.

Jennifer Uren
And I think in this world of online and growing virtual businesses, it's easier to do that. Because you can hire someone to do something two hours a week, instead of, you know, I don't know...

Kate Kordsmeier
You can start just super small. Yeah, yes.

Jennifer Uren
I, my first one that I hired was just to outsource the creation of six Canva images a week and the posting into the, you know, social media planner. Yeah. And it wasn't the time it took it was the it was the bother it was to me. And so removing that was like, Oh, this huge weight lifted, even though it didn't take that long. It was mentally draining, you know, I didn't like it, so

Kate Kordsmeier
yeah, yeah, totally. And what took you hours might take them minutes. And because that's what their zone of genius is. And yes,

Jennifer Uren
Yes. Which I will admit when she's like, done, I'm like, Okay, I'm paying you to do it that fast. And I was like, No, I'm paying you,

Kate Kordsmeier
For the result

Jennifer Uren
So I don't have to do it, you know, right. But yeah, there is that little bit of, well, I could have done it that fast. But no, really, I couldn't have so. Right. Yeah, yeah. Well, I love that you have both a podcast and a blog. And so in fact, there's in the podcast community that I'm part of, it's often discussed how you integrate the two really well, and I know your KateKordsmeier.com blog does this really, really well. And so this might be a chicken and an egg question. But when you write new content, are you thinking about it from the blog side first, or from the podcast side? What drives it?

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah, good question. Um, so and I will say, it's changed recently, because my podcast is about a year and a half old now. And so we, you know, try things one way, see how it works, make some changes and what's not working. So, um, the way that I went about it was, let's see if we can feed three birds with one seed. So I can record a podcast interview and have the video on, I'll take the audio, and I'll publish that to the podcast player. I'll take the video and I'll publish that to YouTube. And then I'll create a blog post that has the written show notes with the transcript, and then maybe even embed the YouTube video in the podcast player right into the post. So now I've done something once but I've gotten three pieces of content of it. And then you can have a VA go in and repurpose pieces of it for social media or something. So yeah, um, so we have been doing it that way. And it is working well in some aspects. But what is not working super well in is people finding the podcast in Google search and then coming to like, maybe they type in something like how to how to do an evergreen funnel. That's one of our podcast episodes, something we teach. If they type that into Google, and they see a podcast episode as the result, they're not going to click it, because they're not looking for a podcast episode, they're looking for an answer right then and there.

Jennifer Uren
Okay.

Kate Kordsmeier
And so we've figured that like, we really actually have to match search intent for blog posts, whereas podcast episodes are more about just giving people content really connecting with them on a deeper level, you know, they're not really searching for topics so much as they are either, once they find you, they're just listening every week. Or they're looking for broader topics as a whole, like a podcast as a whole that talks about something. So now we're kind of changing our approach slightly, where we have content that we're writing for the blog, that is to match that user intent, and really give them an answer right then in there, and then we're having separate content for the podcast, that is really more about that connection, nurturing, letting them get to know, like, and trust me more, you know, and using the to a little bit differently.

Jennifer Uren
So so how does that actually is that look like two actual pieces of content in two different links? Or are you just building out the content in that blog post, which includes your links to the, to the audio and the video and the transcript? Are you just writing that more like, it's a podcast? I'm sorry, like, it's a blog post.

Kate Kordsmeier
So that's what we had been doing, where we had kind of extended shownotes, where we would give you know, more of a summary more details about what was talked about. And then we would like have some bullet points of like, here's what else you'll learn in the episode. But they basically, they weren't getting the answer to their question, without listening to the episode or watching the video. So and we're literally in the middle of making this change right now. So I think what we're going to do is we're going to continue doing that. But then we're also going to have separate content that is just a blog post. And it actually is like the answer to the question. So instead of saying, In this episode, you'll learn how to create an evergreen funnel, we'll say, Here's how to create an evergreen funnel, boom, boom, boom.

Jennifer Uren
Okay.

Kate Kordsmeier
So we can still repurpose, like, we can take what we talked about in the podcast episode, and make it into a full blog post that they don't have to listen to the episode to get the answer.

Jennifer Uren
Sure. But you could still point back over if you'd like to hear more, go here to listen. Okay. So it will be two different posts, so to speak. Yeah, one for the episode one for the blog. And that's interesting, because that is this constant struggle of, and ultimately you want people you want the listens, but you ultimately want the traffic to your website. And so that's going to bring more people over to your website, then that obviously makes more sense.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah, what we found was basically that the podcast was not driving traffic to the website. And we would have a small group of people who would listen to the podcast, and then go, you know, clicked over to something on our website. But we weren't getting cold traffic to the website because of the podcast. So now we're, you know, we're working more on creating SEO friendly blog content, more that traditional, just written content, and using that in addition to the podcast episode, so that we people type in something. And if you type in anything now, like a question, or just, you know, a regular Google search, you'll notice podcast episodes don't even really show up in the search results. And I think it's because it's not matching that search intent of the user.

Jennifer Uren
Interesting. So would you say that a podcast is more of a current version of having published a book? It's a credibility builder, as opposed to an actual way to build an audience?

Kate Kordsmeier
I don't know. It's such a good question. And I've been thinking about it so much, because I think yes, it definitely is a credibility builder and people listen to even just one episode of a podcast, they really get to know you a lot more and your expertise and...

Jennifer Uren
right...

Kate Kordsmeier
you know, all that so it is that. Is it an audience builder? I don't know. I mean, my personal experience so far has been no it I have just been able to nurture my current audience more, but I have not really gained new people into my audience from the podcast. Now going on other people's podcast as a guest. Absolutely.

Jennifer Uren
Okay.

Kate Kordsmeier
Um, but my own podcast hasn't been as much of an audience builder. It's more of like an audience nurturer of

Jennifer Uren
Okay

Kate Kordsmeier
the existing audience.

Jennifer Uren
which makes a difference when you send out an offer because now they're much more they're warmed up.

Kate Kordsmeier
Right.

Jennifer Uren
You're much more likely to respond to that. Okay, well, that's helpful. That's a good way to think about it. Because that's often the question. People say, I want to monetize my podcast. And you're like, well, it's difficult to monetize "a" podcast, but it can be part of a monetization plan. And then, to say, how does it fit well can often still be tricky? Because it depends on

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah

Jennifer Uren
what you're talking about and what you're doing.

Kate Kordsmeier
My dad is always asking me, "how do you make money from the podcast?" And I'm always saying, "I don't make money from the podcast", because I don't monetize the podcast itself. Like, I don't have the answers or anything like that. I said, "the podcast is a marketing strategy. For me. It's how I get my audience to know like, and trust me more. And then what instead of having ad spots for, you know, hello, fresh. We have ad spots for my free webinars."

Jennifer Uren
Your course

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah my course like, so. It's yeah, it's more of a marketing strategy than a revenue driver.

Jennifer Uren
Yes, yes. So as your family has grown, and as you've continued to work to integrate, you know, home with business, what was the biggest challenge that you faced, particularly as you tried to keep the priorities of both from competing?

Kate Kordsmeier
It is challenging, I will not lie. And especially because I had my second child in May of 2020. So I was seven months pregnant when the pandemic first hit. So that really threw a wrench in everything. I know, obviously, for many people

Jennifer Uren
and talk about stress levels.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yes,

Jennifer Uren
I mean,

Kate Kordsmeier
yeah, yes. So it was very stressful. And then we had this whole plan of, you know, I was going to take a maternity leave, we were going to keep my son in daycare, and then, so I would be home just with my daughter. And that that went out the window, because he didn't go back to daycare for almost the rest of the year, he went back at the very end of the year. And so we had two kids home with us, no childcare, you know, no, even like, we did have some family help. In the beginning, especially but then as the pandemic kind of went on. And then once my son went back to school, then my parents were like, Well, if he's in daycare, and we're not vaccinated, like,

Jennifer Uren
right

Kate Kordsmeier
maybe we shouldn't be around. So you know, it was just so hard figuring out the right thing to do. But what I always have to remind myself of this, because my business doubled in size last year, and I worked less than ever before, and I had less time and I had less energy, and you know, all of those things because I was home with two kids and no childcare, I was postpartum and you know, all the things. So it was a good lesson, and you don't, like working more hours is not always the answer. In fact, it rarely is the answer to making more money. So now, both my kids are, you know, in daycare, and I have 40 plus hours a week that I could be working, and I have to remind myself, like that's not the answer to growing a business without burning out. So I'm kind of talking in circles. Now you have to remind me what your original question was.

Jennifer Uren
It was, it was what was that biggest challenge. And but you had talked about earlier, how you you have a housekeeper and you have a landscaper who does the lawn and stuff. So, I mean, so it sounds to me, like you learned pretty early on that that was going to be key to keeping these things in balance was going to be

Kate Kordsmeier
yes

Jennifer Uren
You know literally employing the help of other people.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yes. And I've taken that to an even new level this year, because last year, we also didn't have any of that support once the pandemic you know, first hit so 2021 We're basically saying okay, pandemics over even though we know that's not true, right?

Jennifer Uren
Yeah. Life goes on.

Kate Kordsmeier
Right, right. Life's going on. So you know, now one of the things that was causing me the most stress was that I was cooking. And, and I'm a food writer, like I love to cook I love food. Every day, I would say I should be able to do this and I want to do this and then every night 630 rolls around and it's like I have nothing and so now we're just getting takeout or fast food or you know, some for some frozen dinner or something. Yeah, so finally I was like, this clearly isn't working and no matter how much I feel like I should be able to do this. I'm just not and it's making me so stressed. And it's expensive. You know, so I we found a local chef in Atlanta who does it's sort of like a semi personal for personal chef where she has a set menu each week we choose what we want from it. They deliver like made from scratch, you know home cooked food and And now for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we just have our meals done for us. And I don't have I have like, a couple days a week where I leave for room for us to play or go out or do something. But it has been one of the biggest game changers for me. And just like the mental bandwidth it has freed up of like not having to grocery shop and meal plan and actually cook and clean up and all the things. Yeah. So I'm constantly finding, Okay, what else could I outsource to free up my you know, and save my mental health and sanity free up that bandwidth? employ other people? give back in that way? Don't mean give back. It's not like it's charity. But you know what we were talking about before.

Jennifer Uren
Yeah. Let someone else do their thing really well.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah. Right. So yeah, the outsourcing the meals has been huge. And what I've just told myself also is like, this is just a season, this season in my life. I have two toddlers, I'm running two businesses, my husband's job is very busy. We don't have a lot of extra help. So this is what I'm going to do. And I you know, especially I say this more so for my love of cooking, and then feeling sad that I'm not doing it. And I'm just saying like, I will get back to cooking one day, but right now, this is what I need. And so yeah, here we are.

Jennifer Uren
It's like the the college or grad student who loves to read, but it doesn't get to choose what they're reading right now. You're, you're season, you will get to choose again. Yeah, right now...

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah, right now, this is what I need. And this is how I can guarantee my family has healthy home cooked meals on the table every night.

Jennifer Uren
And yes.

Kate Kordsmeier
And I don't have to worry about it.

Jennifer Uren
It's a better use of that budget, then

Kate Kordsmeier
yes,

Jennifer Uren
the pizza delivery guy.

Kate Kordsmeier
Exactly

Jennifer Uren
So are you leaning into mostly promoting existing things and kind of have this evergreen model? Or are you still building new products and resources to continue to roll up new things for your audience?

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah. So I say it's mostly leaning on existing things and figuring out more how to sell them in a more scalable and passive way. So we have been evergreen, with all of my, I have currently have two courses in one high ticket group coaching program. And all of them are sold on evergreen and have been since April of 2020. So right before I had my second daughter, my second child, I said, "Well, I can't live launch I you know, or at least a few months. So I need to figure out how to make money while I'm gone." And the Root + Revel blog component was great, because that was already earning and I didn't have to do anything with it. Um, but I wanted to be able to still sell these courses. So I turned on this evergreen funnel. And I think we made around $135,000 on my maternity leave.

Jennifer Uren
Wow.

Kate Kordsmeier
So it worked really well. And we continue. And once I came back, I was like, why would I live launch again, this is great. Oh my gosh, I'm just making this in the background. And now it's freeing up my energy to you know, really serve my clients and to figure out other ways to grow the business and where to go next and all that stuff. So then at the end of 2020, we did some tweaks to our funnel and our strategy. And when we turned that on in January of this year, the evergreen funnel itself was earning $60,000 a month, and it was all just being sold in the background. So this year has been I did launch a new product this year. And that was my group coaching program I launched in the spring.

Jennifer Uren
Okay.

Kate Kordsmeier
So and now I'm really kind of transitioning to just doing that. And I'm going to retire my main Signature Course, which feels kind of crazy. But also I think sometimes you have to give up good for great.

Yes

And so that's in the works right now. And yeah, so it's I feel like it's always just kind of tweaking what is I'm very evergreen, passive. This is how I have to be for my current lifestyle and what I need. And and then my time is spent more just tweaking and figuring out what's working, what's not, how can I get, you know, more traffic organically without having to spend all day on social media and you know, things like that.

Jennifer Uren
Yeah, yeah. Well, that's great. And because you've put in that hard work for the passive, have you have the capacity to tweak and plan ahead and and look at what's growing well, so that's great.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah

Jennifer Uren
Well for the mompreneur listening who longs to you know, operate from a place of rest while still bringing in this income, but is finding it so overwhelming, what is one of the very first things that she could do to begin to turn things around?

Kate Kordsmeier
So let me just clarify, is this mom an existing business owner or does not have a business yet?

Jennifer Uren
It could be either. I think a lot of the moms who listen are going, I either want to leave a full time work and start something or I've had this hobby, and it's not going anywhere. And I want to, I want to make it work.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah. Okay. So I mean, I feel like I'm known as the blogging girl. And so my thing is, have a blog, your blog is your home base for your business, it's how you're going to get that organic traffic and those organic leads without needing social media without needing to spend money on paid ads. If you want to do those things, great, they can just be a supplement to the more passive, you know, core focus. But you have a blog, and, um, and then from that blog, you can monetize the platform itself. And what I recommend now especially is you can sell your own offers. So you have your own course or program or even physical products, I mean, coaching services, whatever it might be, it all works. But using your blog as a way to get more leads into that offer. Is, yeah, I think the best most passive way to to build.

Jennifer Uren
Excellent, okay, and that's something you can do 20 minutes here, an hour there, and you can start to really get that up and running without needing to sit down and work on it for eight hours generally.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah,

Jennifer Uren
the beginning.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yes. Yeah. And it depends, you know, I mean, you could spend all day every day working on it. And I think it just depends on your goals, your timeline, what you know, what you're trying to do. I just say that caveat, because I think sometimes people hear this and they think, Oh, this is great. I can build a six figure blog and stay home with my kids. And I think no you can't

Jennifer Uren
Yes, there's a lot between that though. But yes, my point being if you have littles at home, you could say, oh, while they're napping, I'll spend an hour working on this. And I'm not going to make money yet. But I'll do a little everyday to move it forward.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah, exactly

Jennifer Uren
to where I can. So yeah, well, Kate, this has been a great conversation. I've really enjoyed it. And I am I'm a gadget girl, I love gadgets, processes, systems, anything that makes life easier. So my, my one question I ask every guest is what is your favorite time saving gadget, system, or tool?

Kate Kordsmeier
Hmm. So it this is less like techie. But I'm a big fan of cyclical living. And so I plan out most of my tasks and what I'm doing based on what phase of my period I'm on and what phase the moon is in. And it sounds really woowoo and crazy, but I swear it works. And it just makes everything like you're not paddling upstream, so much trying to do - there's certain tasks that just your brain is going to focus and concentrate on better during different phases. And so really getting into, embodied with what's happening in my body in the universe, and then planning my, my tasks and schedule out from there has been a major, big game changer.

Jennifer Uren
Yeah, that's interesting. And I think we can all relate that to a daily basis. Like we all know, well, I'm, I'm more alert in the morning, or I'm better at night. So it would make sense, especially for us as women that that would work cyclically through the month as well. So that's interesting. That's great. So did you have was there a book you read a blog you went to was there, how did you learn to do that?

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah, it was a lot of things it started because I do have PCOS, which is a hormonal disorder. And so I first was introduced to the idea of cyclical living through a book called Woman Code. And but that was really more about doing this for your health and like you you know, you have different nutritional needs and exercise needs and all these different things change throughout, as your hormones fluctuate throughout the month and so I approached it from that perspective first. I then read a book, well there was many in between but another pivotable one for me was Do Less and Kate Northrup is the author of that and then I ended up joining her mastermind last year and so that also helped me you know, approach take that cyclical loving approach more to business and thinking about more like your your daily schedule. But there are there's dozens of resources hundreds of resources out there on on cyclical living now. And it is one of the things that we teach inside my incubator program as well. So it's yeah, something that I've been doing for many years and now again, did something learn something now I've got to teach it other people.

Jennifer Uren
Oh, that's excellent. Well, Kate, how can people connect with you? And why don't you also tell us about the free video series that you have for the moms listening?

Kate Kordsmeier
Okay, great. So, um, the best place to connect with me is just on my website, which is KateKordsmeier.com. And I have a podcast called Success with Soul as well. So wherever you're listening to this one, you can go find mine and the free video series, so we have a couple different ones. Now I have to remember which one my assistant told you we were going to talk about today. But I'll tell you, maybe I have something in particular that I think will be really good, which is a training that I recently did called Six systems for six figure CEOs. And it's very much like some of the unexpected things that it takes to build a six figure and beyond business. And it's not just about hustling and working more and you know, needing to grind it out so we can give you the link for that we can go to KateKordsmeier.com/Jenn, and you can get the video there.

Jennifer Uren
Excellent. Okay, thanks so much for your time today and an all this wealth of information. I learned a lot and I know our listeners will too. So thank you.

Kate Kordsmeier
Yeah, thanks for having me. It was fun.