May 29, 2025 • 36 mins
What does it truly take to grow a business while juggling all the hats women wear in their daily lives?
Today I’m talking with Kate Alpert, co-founder of Women Belong, to talk about the power of connection, community and of course organization. We dive into the intersection of life, business, and the systems that keep us moving forward.
Kate opens up about her journey creating Women Belong, a networking organization designed specifically for women looking to grow their businesses and themselves. From finding the courage to step into entrepreneurship to building sustainable systems that support your goals, this episode is a must-listen for any woman ready to take the next step.
Whether you’re overwhelmed by your to-do list or just looking for a way to feel more seen and supported, you’ll find encouragement and practical takeaways in this conversation.
What we talk about:
If you’re a woman entrepreneur (or aspiring to be one), this episode will remind you that you’re not alone in the chaos. You’ll walk away feeling empowered, encouraged, and maybe a little more organized than before. Plus. you’ll learn how building meaningful connections can transform not just your business, but your life.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Connect with Kate
Fall Cohort is starting soon
Today I’m talking with Kate Alpert, co-founder of Women Belong, to talk about the power of connection, community and of course organization. We dive into the intersection of life, business, and the systems that keep us moving forward.
Kate opens up about her journey creating Women Belong, a networking organization designed specifically for women looking to grow their businesses and themselves. From finding the courage to step into entrepreneurship to building sustainable systems that support your goals, this episode is a must-listen for any woman ready to take the next step.
Whether you’re overwhelmed by your to-do list or just looking for a way to feel more seen and supported, you’ll find encouragement and practical takeaways in this conversation.
What we talk about:
- The origin and mission of Women Belong
- How strategic networking can drive personal and professional growth
- Stories of real women who’ve built successful businesses through community
- Tips for balancing business goals with family life and self-care
- Why organization is the secret weapon behind so many successful entrepreneurs
- Building a business doesn’t mean doing it alone. Community matters.
- Organization is more than color-coded calendars, its about clarity, confidence, and connection
- Women Belong offers a fresh and supportive take on traditional networking, one that values authenticity and mutual growth
- Saying yes to your business dreams sometimes means letting go of what’s not serving you.
- You can make space for both ambition and balance.
If you’re a woman entrepreneur (or aspiring to be one), this episode will remind you that you’re not alone in the chaos. You’ll walk away feeling empowered, encouraged, and maybe a little more organized than before. Plus. you’ll learn how building meaningful connections can transform not just your business, but your life.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Connect with Kate
Fall Cohort is starting soon
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, friends, our full mentoring cohort is officially open for registration.
With inflation and rising costs, you're likely feeling the squeeze
of everyday expenses from groceries to gas, and the money
is probably going out quicker than it's coming in. I
totally get it now. Imagine me telling you that you
could add an additional one thousand dollars a months of
your bank account working one day a week doing something
(00:20):
you love.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Would you do it now?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
If you've ever thought about how you can make money
as a professional organizer, but maybe you're not sure when
it's the right time or how to start, I'm here
to help. Together, we're going to walk through everything that
you need to launch anger your business, from pricing and
packaging your services, to marketing and most importantly mindset. To
learn more, head over to Simplybeorganized dot com or click
(00:47):
on the link below.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
The space is limited to so do delay.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Welcome to this organized life. If you're a mom, wife,
or coffee lover seeking advice on how to reduce clutter
and reclaim time, look no further than your host, Lauri Hellau,
founder Simply Be Organized and author of hot Mess, a
practical guide to getting organized. For a lot of people,
clutter is their dirty little secret, but it doesn't have
to be. Each week, we will share practical tips, chat
(01:13):
with experts, and provide strategies on.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
How to keep you organized.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I hope that by sharing our stories, you feel a
little less alone and more empowered to tackle the areas
that are holding you back. So let's get started and.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Hi, everybody. Welcome to today's episode of Disorganized Life.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I'm your host, Lori Palau. You're watching us on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
You'll notice I'm not in my normal studio, so hopefully
we sound okay. I'm recording from my home office out
in the Hamptons. I'm excited though, because I'm joined by
a great guest who, interestingly enough, the first time we spoke,
I was also out in the Hamptons. I feel like
it's on brand that we are recording this episode while
(01:54):
I'm out here. Today's episode is going to be great.
We're talking all about organizing in your business, and my
guest today is a woman named Kate Altbert, and Kate,
I'm going to bring her out in the second. She
runs an organization called Women Belong and it's an I'm
going to allow her to do the actual official description,
(02:15):
but essentially it's like a business networking organization and it
helps with connecting women with job opportunities with other women
and coaching and mentoring, and it is really everything that
they stand for, is everything that we believe in practice
(02:36):
and preach here about lifting women up and supporting them
however they need it at different seasons of our lives.
And I know a lot of the people who watch
or listen to this show are people who are in
a period of transition professionally. Maybe they are looking to
make a change in their Corporate America job. Maybe they're
(02:58):
looking to leave Corporate America and start something on their own.
Maybe they've been a stay at home parent and are
now looking to return to the workforce. So there's any
number of reasons why people make change, and that could
be hard and it can be scary. And I know
there's so much uncertainty right now just in the world,
(03:19):
so having community around you is so important. But knowing
where to find that or build that isn't always something
that people know where to lock. It's, oh, that sounds great,
but having those resources is a whole other story. And
that's why I wanted to bring Kate on.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So I wanted.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
To bring her on to share a little bit about
what she does, but to also talk about how you
can use like organization and networking in your business and
have that be a skill set just like you would
in terms of building a habit and a routine for
(03:56):
a morning routine in your home, or staying on top
top of the daily chores and responsibilities in your house.
When you're in either the job search or you're in
you know that transition period, approaching it from a strategic standpoint,
having these organizational habits is really important, and so we're
(04:17):
going to really focus in on that. But again, I
am really excited to have this conversation. So without further ado,
let me welcome my friend Kate to the show.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Loriie, thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here.
I am, and I love the way that you explained
women before. Oh.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I was like, okay, I am going full disclosure. I
was like, I don't have a script in front of me,
I don't have your website in front of me. I'm
going from our conversation. So I'm glad I didn't bobble it.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
You did total justice. Total I just I'll add that
while we're a professional networking organization, we what we do
at our flavor of professional networking is to straddle the
personal and professional because especially as women, we wear so
many different hats of caregiver roles, and whether it's childcare,
(05:05):
elder care, community care, right we're the ones disproportionately bearing
that burden and that labor, and so we really feel
it's important to have a safe space where we can
open up and share ourselves imperfectly perfect and do business
networking that advances our business goals. At the same time.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
I love that because I think for so many people,
and I'm thinking back to this is going back and
Josh always rolls his eyes because it's been like over
fifteen years since I've been in like a corporate America space,
So let's be honest. But I remember back in the
day and going to like business networking events and it
was very siloed, right like we were. Obviously it was
(05:47):
a different climate of the world, but I had my
business hat on and it was very focused in exclusively
and very siloed.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
And I love the fact that.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
You're taking a more holistic approach because as women, and
again I'm going to target women, just because that's our
poor demographic. We it isn't side like our lives aren't siloed.
And so to be authentic and say this is what
I'm dealing with or this is the apper type of
(06:18):
opportunity that I'm looking for, because I have all of
these other balls in the air that I'm juggling and
be able to know that's acceptable and it's not I'm
just dumping all my problems on somebody else. Is refreshing
at to say the least.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, for me, when I was so my backgrounds in
marketing and I come from agency life and same, I
never saw anybody bring their personal stuff to work in
that kind of way where they honored it. It was
just don't show what's going on outside, just veneer of perfection.
But I also kept wondering why there's no role models
(07:02):
of two men can go golfing and make a deal
on a golf course, but two women can't be at
a park with two kiddos and they can be exacts
and closing big deals and what's the difference. Well, there
just isn't that arch type for any of us. So yeah,
I just I don't know, I think that needs to
be challenged, so.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I couldn't agree more so gives just the cliff notes
version of how Women Belong came to be where you're
based out of like some of the LOGISTICI pieces of it.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
My partner, Dorothy and I founded Women Belong about a
little over eight years ago, and we're both based in
the Chicago area and we were part of other networking
groups doing a lot of networking. She has the background
both of us. We have a background in marketing. Dorothy's
background was in big agency running loyalty programs like United
(07:54):
Mileage Plus and Starbucks Rewards right from the agency side.
And she had left corporate and started a business doing
health and wellness products. And I was in agency life
and building a book of business with a new baby,
and Dorothy was in another stage of life. She was
acting as caregiver for her husband, who, as it turned out,
(08:17):
was on his end of life journey, so a very
different place in life. But when we met, she was
running a group, a networking group and holding space for
people to show up vulnerably and it was raw and
real and something I had never been a part of before,
and it was not it was not on brand for
(08:39):
what this organization was we were like a rogue chapter
and it was connecting the women in the room in
a way that was so profound and so important, and
we ended up marching in the Women's March. Right this
is like twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, and we just started
talking about what is the future of networking, what can
(09:01):
we do for women in a way that is different,
And we said this is different, and the way that
we're coming together is different, and we want this for
more women and have a bigger network of women that
network in this way. And so without a lot of
the fancy plans, we just said, let's build it, let's
go for it. And so we launched a group of
(09:22):
twelve women in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago, and by
the end of the summer it was four groups and
now we're yeah, coast to coast Canada. We even have
global presence in Southeast Asia, so it's it's pretty great.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And we'll have links in our show notes and all
the things. If you are people are listening out there
want to connect up and find a group near them.
And as you're talking, I think what I love about
I love so many things about the story. But sometimes
we just need that permission. We need somebody to say,
oh my gosh, yes, and you saw the organic growth
(10:01):
that it had because there was obviously a need, right,
you saw there was this gap that's in four women
in this space, two people coming from different seasons of life,
but struggling with a lot.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Of the same issues.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And it's not unlike because of course I tie everything
back to organizing and decluttering, but it's not unlike my
clients where you have people that are struggling to try
to figure it out and don't know what the right
next move is, and that can also be paralyzed, right,
and it can be exhausted and filled with shame and
(10:39):
all of these all these big emotions, and just being
able to know that you're not alone, yes, is and
feel seen and heard is half the battle.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. We and knowing that you
don't have to already know all the things that like,
you can ask for help and likely there's somebody that
has gone through it before and it can share they
what worked and what didn't work and how they did
it and learning from each other. And yeah, and I
think we just don't naturally do that because we want
(11:16):
to present this era of perfection and competency. But yeah,
like for why for what? I don't know?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I get, I'm like, how to do that? That is
not in my wheelhouse. Sorry, I'm willing to learn or
but you're going to need to walk me through that.
And I say that with organizing and declaring, I go,
it's a learned skill. Now if you, especially if you
haven't had healthy, modeled behavior, if you are somebody who
(11:44):
grew up in an era where you had stay at
home mom and a dad that worked at the same
job for for his entire career and you didn't know anybody,
or maybe your first generation going to college getting career like,
you don't know that modeled person of knowing what is
the next step. And I even look at my girls
in the workplace, and they're very fortunate because Josh has
(12:08):
a lot of business connections and has been a great
model for them.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Granted he's guide, not a woman.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
But he has been able to educate them on certain things.
And they've witness not that they either one of the
necessarily want to be entrepreneurs, but they've witnessed me running
a business and the different hats that I wear. But
if you have them, or you're in a field that
is so completely different than anybody else in your ecosystem,
(12:39):
it's very hard to know what the right air quote
next move is. And it's like that with organizing and decluttering.
If you're like I grew up in a house that was.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Filled with clutter.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
My mother never threw anything.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Out, that's what you know.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
You don't know how to approach this, and so surrounding
yourself with people that go, it's okay, and we can
learn this and we can walk through it together, and
it's okay to ask for help.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Like organizing, networking doesn't have a completion, right, there's always
things that we can learn and grow and share and
do it differently. And oh, that's a great way to
do that. Yeah, we can bounce things off here.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
And you know what, you actually bring up a really
good point that I didn't even think about it till
you just said that. I think the word networking has
a very specific connotation, At least.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
It does for me.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
It conjures up this stuffy, very like everyone's got an
agenda for themselves kind of a thing, like this force
thing where I basically have this proverbial name tag on
and you're passing out business cards and it's just for
some people that's uncomfortable. Some people that gives them the
(13:52):
dick or cheesy or whatever. I want you to dispel
that myth. I mean, really talk about, like peen a
picture of what you what networking in your world looks like.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
For sure, we preface almost all of our events by
orienting people to the fact that likely we show up
in networking and we're thinking we're here to sell. But
when you really look at who else is in the room,
how many people showed up to buy? Not many? Right?
If everyone's there to sell and you have no buyers,
you're gonna have a really unsuccessful event. So if you
(14:30):
flip the script and you think rather about I'm here
to connect, I'm here to make connections. I'm here to
build my rolodex. I don't know if rolodex is irrelevant anymore, right,
you know what I'm tracking with it? Good. I love
the idea of almost like connecting contacts like Pokemon characters
or whatever. Right, Like, you want to have the best
(14:50):
of every different skill in your database so that you
can be the person that's the go to person for
referrals and having that organized and having it be a
place you can like, Oh, of course I can pull
this person up. I know I'm doing a good job networking.
When people call me for a referral on a dog walker.
(15:15):
I do not own a dog. I'm allergic to dogs.
I'm scared of dogs. But I get asked about who
a good dog walker is often because people know that
I know where to find good people for things, and
so I we really to train all of our members
and community. I'm at about growing their database of people
(15:37):
that are experts in all the things, because you don't
know when you're gonna need the things or people need
the things, and you just need. You need to have
a deep database.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I couldn't agree more. And I'm a connector by nature
all my tipping point. People like that is my jam.
I love that, and I always say I'm that person
also like you you move to my town and you
need it, you need O B g yn Or a
painting contractor call me like I got And everyone knows that.
And I love being that person Like I like that,
(16:08):
And I'm now in the receiving end living this in
my house, our house out east, because I need trustworthy
people and we all connect with people. We by nature
we hire people or surround ourselves with people that we.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Know and trust. Yes and all the time, true yes,
and I and this is.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
For all of my listeners who are professional organizers or
spying professional organizers. The most I would have to say
if I were to write it, document it. The most
popular question that I get asked is how do I
get clients? How do I get clients? How do I
get clients? And I talk about in my mentoring when
I mentor and coach about like your spheres of influence
(16:57):
and ultimately, and I know that people get business from
Instagram and this that there are people that I'm not
saying that there aren't other ways, But in my experience,
it's all about connection. It's all about that personal referral.
It's all about who has used you that I value.
And so when you approach networking from my perspective, and
(17:20):
I was literally just having a conversation with somebody unrelated
about this, and I said, when you come from a
place of value as opposed to like you.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Said, how can I sell? But tell me about you
and how can maybe what.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I do support you or the people in your world,
or how can I bring value as opposed to what
can I get out of this?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yes? Yes, And it's the soft skills too, because no
one gets to see you do all the things that
they get to see you perform the services that you
actually offer. Right. People don't get to see me build
a website before they hire me. The people don't see
somebody organize the closet before they hire them. But they
do know if they're honest, they do know if they're personable,
(18:04):
if they're a good listener. All those soft skills demonstrate
why you get hired and why people refer you more
than the actual thing that you do that just goes
with it.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yes, and what can you give some almost some I
guess some case studies, right, Maybe just talk a little
bit about some of the success stories or things that
you've seen from members.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I'm sure you have lots of them people, It's just
it's every day there. So the way that our organization works,
we have a number of different events, right, So we
have something called our networking circles, which is the backbone
of the event, and the circles are run by member
leaders and those groups happen they meet two times a month.
(18:51):
They reflect industry exclusive categories those members are part of
groups that are location based most of them, so it
would be Philadelphia, Calgary, Atlanta, groups all over. And those
groups are always referring business to one another. That's part
of their ethos is that they're making two referrals per meeting,
(19:15):
so that's four per month, twelve per quarter. They're ongoing
support of each other's business. Now, we look at referral
sharing a little bit broader than maybe other referral.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, because I'm like, oh my god, is that pressure?
That was my first go, oh my god, Now I
have to maintain a quota quota.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yes, So there's there are other like leads groups out
there that are more quota driven. We are not. We
are more this is the goal. But we're women and
we're busy, and so there's no punitive punishments and women belong.
It's just right orient So.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
What we're striving for, we're striving to always have our
members on the top of mind exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
But we also look at sharing each other's thought leadership
as a possible referral promoting each other's so always being
mindful of having things on the calendar that you're doing,
having talks once a year, the members all do one
ten minute presentation called a spotlight. It becomes an opportunity
(20:13):
to invite people to that meeting, It becomes an opportunity
to promote it on social media for each other, and
that can be a referral point. So it's really just
building these muscles of having a talk, blogging, creating content,
positioning yourself as a thought leader, referring each other. And
all meetings have timed elevator pitches right so that we're
(20:35):
practicing that elevator pitch and always having something fresh to
talk about. So it's really we call it a sandbox
really because these meetings are really meant to be not
salesy again, but a connection point, and they weave in
between verstil and professional. But there's referrals being passed all
(20:57):
day every day, and collaborations between members happening all day
every day. And we constantly see women opening doors for
other women and introducing them to their next best thing,
and collaborations happening in like the absolute most unusual ways.
So one that I love that I'll share a dentist
(21:19):
and a poet. Okay, walk into a bar totally. They
have this. First of all, the dentist got introduced My partner,
Dorothy introduced the this dentist to the senior living facility
that her mother was in. So the dentist is doing
on site dental care for the residents.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
So that's one one connection. Then there's a poet, the poet.
Then the dentist brings the poet in to do milestone
poet poems that are commissioned by the families of the
residents as like birthday gifts, because what does a nine
year old need? Nothing? Right, but a poem written in
(22:04):
collaboration with everyone in their family is magic.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Oh I just got chilled. That's amazing. Cohoity.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
That was the thing, that was the thing, And that's
the kind of collaboration that unfolds and you see it
and you're like, nah, this sounds cool. So that's yeah.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Okay, I have a question that I feel like I
can't be the only one that has this question because
I remember when I was starting my business. Now my
girls are grown now, I have a twenty four to
twenty one year old. At the time, they were little
and I was the primary caregiver, and so I wanted
to and I come from a sales and marketing background,
(22:46):
So I'm not afraid of the networking. I'm not afraid
of that. Like even the sales you get up and
speak for whatever, That's fine. My biggest roadblock was finding
the time because all of these networking events were either
before breakfast, where I'm like, I'm trying to get my
kids on the bus, or they were like evening after
(23:07):
we're happy hours, and I'm like, that's the witching hour.
I'm trying to do bath and bedtime and homework and
all the things. And so for me, one of the
things that we talk about here when it comes to clutters,
we talk about calendar clutter, right, not just the physical stuff,
but we talk about managing your day and your schedule
and how do we reduce that overwhelm that we talk
(23:29):
about as women is almost become like a badge of
honor that we wear. How does this play in because
I might be listening going this sounds great, I need this,
but I have all these other things and this is
just another thing on my to do list.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Absolutely, we most of our meeting that's not the case
for all, but most of our meetings are at nine
fifteen to ten forty five local time. So like after
the drop off.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I was gonna say, after the kids are preschool.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Over breakfast if they meet in person, or some groups
choose to meet online, so one or the other, and
other groups are noon to one point thirty. So it's
really meant to be a lunch break, coffee break, and
it's two times a month, so it's not a huge
commitment of time. We're talking about three hours or three
(24:22):
hours exactly. And then there's a handful of other meetings
that we offer that are an hour here, an hour there. Online.
Almost everything else we offer is online, and we bring
people together for an hour. It's a jam packed hour
and then you're on your way. We have a speaker series,
(24:42):
which Laurie you're going to be doing, and that's on
third Fridays of the month, noon central, right, so that
it really is meant to be over a lunch hour. Right,
You could take your lunch and watch and engage and learn.
We are very sensitive to not doing those early, those
six and those evening ones because right, women are busy,
(25:03):
and especially if you've got young kiddos, it's impossible.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Yeah, and that I think is it was a real
thing for me, and I know also which I'm hoping
the narrative is changing and hoping it's shifting with younger
generations and people coming in. And I think it's important
to have people like yourself out there that are giving
people that permission.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
But I remember being like, I can't take any more
time for myself or I can't prioritize it. And I'm
saying to all the women.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Especially if you are a solopreneur, right, especially if you're
an entrepreneur slash solopreneur, you you are doing yourself and
your business a disservice by not like prioritizing working on
your business.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
I couldn't agree agree more. And the other reason that
we've found that those nine to five hours are so
important is that the women that show up to those
are women that are in their business. They are this
is their primary business. And not that we can't support
a side hustle, but it really needs to have tipped
(26:17):
to at least I have time during this nine to
five hours that I'm prioritizing this business that I'm in.
And when women are in that business, it shows and
that demonstrates a level of commitment and they're working on it.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
And from an organizing exampoint, we talk. I have, you know,
a ton of free resources for people on my website.
And one of the things I have, because I talk
a lot about it, is like a time blocking template,
and it's blocking that time and you can get as
granular or stay as broad stroke as you want. Different
Some people like to really dive in and be like,
from nine to ten, I'm doing this, or from eleven
(26:57):
to twelve, I'm doing this I or you could say, hey,
on Thursday mornings, this is the time that I'm working
on the business. And that could be any number of things.
It means I'm either sending follow up emails, or I'm
going to a networking event, or I'm doing research on
blah blah blah blah blah. But I have found in
(27:17):
my own this is speaks from my own personal experience
of and this was really when I was first starting
out of treating that time as just as sacred as
if it was time with a client, because there's so
many things that need to happen that we need that
like mental space to work on and when you're constantly
(27:42):
in that go mode, and we talk about it with Decluttery,
we talk about the three centers thinking, feeling, doing, If
all you do is operate in go do mode and
you don't have any time to use the analytical side
or the emotional side of you and your business. You're
(28:04):
not working at full capacity, so it's counterproductive. So I
love this. It forces you in a healthy way to
say no, I'm this is this matters?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yes, And part of the two time a month rhythm,
it makes you orient to what do I need? What
am I working on a couple times a month right?
So you can get out of that day to day
and then be able to communicate to a table or
a screen full of other people. This is what I'm
(28:37):
working on right now, This is what I need help on,
This is what I need feedback on. This is where
I could use support right And we don't always take
time otherwise to ask those questions about our business. And
it's so valuable, it really is.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
And being a solopreneur is it can be very lonely.
It can you go through and flows. I've been in
this for over fifteen years and I still have moments
where I doubt myself and I need an accountability partner.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So putting all of these key.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Pieces of the puzzle are so important. Is there anything
else that you want to add that maybe we didn't
touch on.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Yeah, just to that point, I think if you're responsible
for the sales and the growth of your business, there's
I forget how this saying goes. But if you're not
hearing no enough a big enough percentage of time, you're
not asking enough people that like you should have a
portion of notes in sales, because otherwise you're not going
(29:44):
for the next big thing and being at that growth margin.
And it can be super defeating right to be told
no and having a safe place to come to and
share about your celebration. Because another part of the Women
Belong meeting is we always end meetings with gratitudes and brags,
(30:05):
and the reason for that is because centering ourselves and
sharing that publicly about what we're grateful for but also
what we're bragging on, because then we can share our
triumphs and our wins it to a room full of people.
Having that moment twice a month too is so valuable
because it keeps you at that growth line of challenging
yourself and sometimes the women in the circles hold a
(30:29):
much higher vision for us than we even do for ourselves.
So hearing that echoed back is so valuable too. I
love that.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I love that, And as you were speaking, I thought
of something else. Now, I like I said, I'm an extrovert,
I'm an aneagram eighty, I'm super direct, and I don't
like if you say no, You're not gonna hurt my feelings.
But I know that the whole like sales aspect for
a lot of people in their business is really uncomfortable
(30:59):
and icky and fall. I have a friend of mine
who's an interior designer, and she's extremely talented, but the
thought of selling her services to people is ill. But
this is us a great opportunity for those for anybody,
but specifically for somebody that isn't comfortable putting themselves out there,
because it allows other people to.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Sell for you, in lack of a better word.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Right, you don't have to go out there and say
sing your own praises because you've got this room of
other people that are telling people about you. And it's
always easier to talk about other people and share how
wonderful they are in whatever they do than it is
(31:47):
to talk about yourself. And so for the person that's
listening out there, that might go I have an organizing
business or I have another business, and I just I
feel like I don't know what else to do. I
don't even have a high big budget.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
I can't.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I don't want to do traditional marketing or whatever. Having
that personal endorsement from somebody else, being like this person
is great, I've seen them, I know them, I trust them,
is worth like any AD dollar, worth more than any
(32:21):
AD dollar you could ever spend.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
And I truly believe that. Yeah, I totally agree with.
Part of the format of the circles is inviting guests, right,
and when you bring your guests to the meeting, and
then all of a sudden, all the women in the
room edify you and say how awesome you are in
front of your guest that maybe is a prospect also, right,
(32:44):
And then all of a sudden you're lifted up and
your guest is feeling like, man, I came with the
real expert person. It's such a cool thing and it does.
It just goes so much further than trying to sing
your own praises. I love it.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
We're going to sing your praises, kid, Albert, and we're
going to saying the praises of women belong Because I
think what you're doing what you've built, what you're continuing
to build is incredible. I think it's much much needed
for women all over, especially women that are in transition.
I think it's it seems to me, even if you
are thinking about going back into the workforce, I have
(33:20):
so many friends who are in this kind of pivotal
transitional period in their life and they don't know what
to do. And just getting out there to meet people
in different professions and learn what's out there and just
get to know other people, I think is so valuable.
And to be able to do it in a safe
space is great and thank you and I'm so glad
(33:42):
that we had the chance to meet. Tell our listeners
where is the best place for them to connect up
learn more?
Speaker 2 (33:50):
All the time Women Belong dot com. That's womblong dot com,
and there's you can get access to events. Most the
vast majority of our events are open for non members
and guests to come and check it out. Many are
offered free, some at low cost. There's also you can
(34:13):
get a free one to one guide, which is really
helpful just to organize around what you're going to talk
about in a one to one and the questions to
ask into one to one so that when you are
meeting with another business person, you can just be super effective.
So yeah, Womenbelong dot Com. I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Kate, thank you so much for joining us today. I
really appreciate it. I love being able to talk about
organizing from a different perspective and realizing that there's so
many different elements to living an organized life, and this
one is equally as important as making your bed every
day and making sure that there's meals on the table.
(34:53):
We gotta as women make sure that we're prioritizing ourselves
and our businesses and our mental health.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
So thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
This is your first time tuning in, welcome, you picked
a great episode to find us. If you are an OG,
thank you so much. If you know somebody that can
benefit from this episode specifically, please click that share button.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
You can find us all over socials or on YouTube
this Organized Life podcast until next week. I'm Lori Palou
peace out. Thanks for tuning in. If you'd like this episode,
please spread the love and share it with your friends.
And if this is your first time joining us, make
sure to click the subscribe button wherever you are listening
so you never miss an episode, and while you're there,
(35:36):
please leave us a review so other people know that
our show is worth to listen. You can also find
us on YouTube and Instagram at This Organized Life Podcast,
and if you'd like to connect with us, you can
head on over to our website at simply the letter
B Like boyorganized dot com, which is filled with tons
of resources, including free downloads, checklists, links to our amazing
(35:57):
organizing partners, and all of our digital offerings. I'll see
you next week for another episode of This Organized Life
Hey, friends, our full mentoring cohort is officially open for registration.
With inflation and rising costs, you're likely feeling the squeeze
of everyday expenses from groceries to gas, and the money
is probably going out quicker than it's coming in. I
totally get it now. Imagine me telling you that you
could add an additional one thousand dollars a months of
your bank account working one day a week doing something
(00:20):
you love.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Would you do it now?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
If you've ever thought about how you can make money
as a professional organizer, but maybe you're not sure when
it's the right time or how to start, I'm here
to help. Together, we're going to walk through everything that
you need to launch anger your business, from pricing and
packaging your services, to marketing and most importantly mindset. To
learn more, head over to Simplybeorganized dot com or click
(00:47):
on the link below.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
The space is limited to so do delay.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Welcome to this organized life. If you're a mom, wife,
or coffee lover seeking advice on how to reduce clutter
and reclaim time, look no further than your host, Lauri Hellau,
founder Simply Be Organized and author of hot Mess, a
practical guide to getting organized. For a lot of people,
clutter is their dirty little secret, but it doesn't have
to be. Each week, we will share practical tips, chat
(01:13):
with experts, and provide strategies on.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
How to keep you organized.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I hope that by sharing our stories, you feel a
little less alone and more empowered to tackle the areas
that are holding you back. So let's get started and.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Hi, everybody. Welcome to today's episode of Disorganized Life.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I'm your host, Lori Palau. You're watching us on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
You'll notice I'm not in my normal studio, so hopefully
we sound okay. I'm recording from my home office out
in the Hamptons. I'm excited though, because I'm joined by
a great guest who, interestingly enough, the first time we spoke,
I was also out in the Hamptons. I feel like
it's on brand that we are recording this episode while
(01:54):
I'm out here. Today's episode is going to be great.
We're talking all about organizing in your business, and my
guest today is a woman named Kate Altbert, and Kate,
I'm going to bring her out in the second. She
runs an organization called Women Belong and it's an I'm
going to allow her to do the actual official description,
(02:15):
but essentially it's like a business networking organization and it
helps with connecting women with job opportunities with other women
and coaching and mentoring, and it is really everything that
they stand for, is everything that we believe in practice
(02:36):
and preach here about lifting women up and supporting them
however they need it at different seasons of our lives.
And I know a lot of the people who watch
or listen to this show are people who are in
a period of transition professionally. Maybe they are looking to
make a change in their Corporate America job. Maybe they're
(02:58):
looking to leave Corporate America and start something on their own.
Maybe they've been a stay at home parent and are
now looking to return to the workforce. So there's any
number of reasons why people make change, and that could
be hard and it can be scary. And I know
there's so much uncertainty right now just in the world,
(03:19):
so having community around you is so important. But knowing
where to find that or build that isn't always something
that people know where to lock. It's, oh, that sounds great,
but having those resources is a whole other story. And
that's why I wanted to bring Kate on.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So I wanted.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
To bring her on to share a little bit about
what she does, but to also talk about how you
can use like organization and networking in your business and
have that be a skill set just like you would
in terms of building a habit and a routine for
(03:56):
a morning routine in your home, or staying on top
top of the daily chores and responsibilities in your house.
When you're in either the job search or you're in
you know that transition period, approaching it from a strategic standpoint,
having these organizational habits is really important, and so we're
(04:17):
going to really focus in on that. But again, I
am really excited to have this conversation. So without further ado,
let me welcome my friend Kate to the show.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Loriie, thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here.
I am, and I love the way that you explained
women before. Oh.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I was like, okay, I am going full disclosure. I
was like, I don't have a script in front of me,
I don't have your website in front of me. I'm
going from our conversation. So I'm glad I didn't bobble it.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
You did total justice. Total I just I'll add that
while we're a professional networking organization, we what we do
at our flavor of professional networking is to straddle the
personal and professional because especially as women, we wear so
many different hats of caregiver roles, and whether it's childcare,
(05:05):
elder care, community care, right we're the ones disproportionately bearing
that burden and that labor, and so we really feel
it's important to have a safe space where we can
open up and share ourselves imperfectly perfect and do business
networking that advances our business goals. At the same time.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
I love that because I think for so many people,
and I'm thinking back to this is going back and
Josh always rolls his eyes because it's been like over
fifteen years since I've been in like a corporate America space,
So let's be honest. But I remember back in the
day and going to like business networking events and it
was very siloed, right like we were. Obviously it was
(05:47):
a different climate of the world, but I had my
business hat on and it was very focused in exclusively
and very siloed.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
And I love the fact that.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
You're taking a more holistic approach because as women, and
again I'm going to target women, just because that's our
poor demographic. We it isn't side like our lives aren't siloed.
And so to be authentic and say this is what
I'm dealing with or this is the apper type of
(06:18):
opportunity that I'm looking for, because I have all of
these other balls in the air that I'm juggling and
be able to know that's acceptable and it's not I'm
just dumping all my problems on somebody else. Is refreshing
at to say the least.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, for me, when I was so my backgrounds in
marketing and I come from agency life and same, I
never saw anybody bring their personal stuff to work in
that kind of way where they honored it. It was
just don't show what's going on outside, just veneer of perfection.
But I also kept wondering why there's no role models
(07:02):
of two men can go golfing and make a deal
on a golf course, but two women can't be at
a park with two kiddos and they can be exacts
and closing big deals and what's the difference. Well, there
just isn't that arch type for any of us. So yeah,
I just I don't know, I think that needs to
be challenged, so.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I couldn't agree more so gives just the cliff notes
version of how Women Belong came to be where you're
based out of like some of the LOGISTICI pieces of it.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
My partner, Dorothy and I founded Women Belong about a
little over eight years ago, and we're both based in
the Chicago area and we were part of other networking
groups doing a lot of networking. She has the background
both of us. We have a background in marketing. Dorothy's
background was in big agency running loyalty programs like United
(07:54):
Mileage Plus and Starbucks Rewards right from the agency side.
And she had left corporate and started a business doing
health and wellness products. And I was in agency life
and building a book of business with a new baby,
and Dorothy was in another stage of life. She was
acting as caregiver for her husband, who, as it turned out,
(08:17):
was on his end of life journey, so a very
different place in life. But when we met, she was
running a group, a networking group and holding space for
people to show up vulnerably and it was raw and
real and something I had never been a part of before,
and it was not it was not on brand for
(08:39):
what this organization was we were like a rogue chapter
and it was connecting the women in the room in
a way that was so profound and so important, and
we ended up marching in the Women's March. Right this
is like twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, and we just started
talking about what is the future of networking, what can
(09:01):
we do for women in a way that is different,
And we said this is different, and the way that
we're coming together is different, and we want this for
more women and have a bigger network of women that
network in this way. And so without a lot of
the fancy plans, we just said, let's build it, let's
go for it. And so we launched a group of
(09:22):
twelve women in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago, and by
the end of the summer it was four groups and
now we're yeah, coast to coast Canada. We even have
global presence in Southeast Asia, so it's it's pretty great.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And we'll have links in our show notes and all
the things. If you are people are listening out there
want to connect up and find a group near them.
And as you're talking, I think what I love about
I love so many things about the story. But sometimes
we just need that permission. We need somebody to say,
oh my gosh, yes, and you saw the organic growth
(10:01):
that it had because there was obviously a need, right,
you saw there was this gap that's in four women
in this space, two people coming from different seasons of life,
but struggling with a lot.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Of the same issues.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And it's not unlike because of course I tie everything
back to organizing and decluttering, but it's not unlike my
clients where you have people that are struggling to try
to figure it out and don't know what the right
next move is, and that can also be paralyzed, right,
and it can be exhausted and filled with shame and
(10:39):
all of these all these big emotions, and just being
able to know that you're not alone, yes, is and
feel seen and heard is half the battle.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. We and knowing that you
don't have to already know all the things that like,
you can ask for help and likely there's somebody that
has gone through it before and it can share they
what worked and what didn't work and how they did
it and learning from each other. And yeah, and I
think we just don't naturally do that because we want
(11:16):
to present this era of perfection and competency. But yeah,
like for why for what? I don't know?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I get, I'm like, how to do that? That is
not in my wheelhouse. Sorry, I'm willing to learn or
but you're going to need to walk me through that.
And I say that with organizing and declaring, I go,
it's a learned skill. Now if you, especially if you
haven't had healthy, modeled behavior, if you are somebody who
(11:44):
grew up in an era where you had stay at
home mom and a dad that worked at the same
job for for his entire career and you didn't know anybody,
or maybe your first generation going to college getting career like,
you don't know that modeled person of knowing what is
the next step. And I even look at my girls
in the workplace, and they're very fortunate because Josh has
(12:08):
a lot of business connections and has been a great
model for them.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Granted he's guide, not a woman.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
But he has been able to educate them on certain things.
And they've witness not that they either one of the
necessarily want to be entrepreneurs, but they've witnessed me running
a business and the different hats that I wear. But
if you have them, or you're in a field that
is so completely different than anybody else in your ecosystem,
(12:39):
it's very hard to know what the right air quote
next move is. And it's like that with organizing and decluttering.
If you're like I grew up in a house that was.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Filled with clutter.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
My mother never threw anything.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Out, that's what you know.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
You don't know how to approach this, and so surrounding
yourself with people that go, it's okay, and we can
learn this and we can walk through it together, and
it's okay to ask for help.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Like organizing, networking doesn't have a completion, right, there's always
things that we can learn and grow and share and
do it differently. And oh, that's a great way to
do that. Yeah, we can bounce things off here.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
And you know what, you actually bring up a really
good point that I didn't even think about it till
you just said that. I think the word networking has
a very specific connotation, At least.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
It does for me.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
It conjures up this stuffy, very like everyone's got an
agenda for themselves kind of a thing, like this force
thing where I basically have this proverbial name tag on
and you're passing out business cards and it's just for
some people that's uncomfortable. Some people that gives them the
(13:52):
dick or cheesy or whatever. I want you to dispel
that myth. I mean, really talk about, like peen a
picture of what you what networking in your world looks like.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
For sure, we preface almost all of our events by
orienting people to the fact that likely we show up
in networking and we're thinking we're here to sell. But
when you really look at who else is in the room,
how many people showed up to buy? Not many? Right?
If everyone's there to sell and you have no buyers,
you're gonna have a really unsuccessful event. So if you
(14:30):
flip the script and you think rather about I'm here
to connect, I'm here to make connections. I'm here to
build my rolodex. I don't know if rolodex is irrelevant anymore, right,
you know what I'm tracking with it? Good. I love
the idea of almost like connecting contacts like Pokemon characters
or whatever. Right, Like, you want to have the best
(14:50):
of every different skill in your database so that you
can be the person that's the go to person for
referrals and having that organized and having it be a
place you can like, Oh, of course I can pull
this person up. I know I'm doing a good job networking.
When people call me for a referral on a dog walker.
(15:15):
I do not own a dog. I'm allergic to dogs.
I'm scared of dogs. But I get asked about who
a good dog walker is often because people know that
I know where to find good people for things, and
so I we really to train all of our members
and community. I'm at about growing their database of people
(15:37):
that are experts in all the things, because you don't
know when you're gonna need the things or people need
the things, and you just need. You need to have
a deep database.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I couldn't agree more. And I'm a connector by nature
all my tipping point. People like that is my jam.
I love that, and I always say I'm that person
also like you you move to my town and you
need it, you need O B g yn Or a
painting contractor call me like I got And everyone knows that.
And I love being that person Like I like that,
(16:08):
And I'm now in the receiving end living this in
my house, our house out east, because I need trustworthy
people and we all connect with people. We by nature
we hire people or surround ourselves with people that we.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Know and trust. Yes and all the time, true yes,
and I and this is.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
For all of my listeners who are professional organizers or
spying professional organizers. The most I would have to say
if I were to write it, document it. The most
popular question that I get asked is how do I
get clients? How do I get clients? How do I
get clients? And I talk about in my mentoring when
I mentor and coach about like your spheres of influence
(16:57):
and ultimately, and I know that people get business from
Instagram and this that there are people that I'm not
saying that there aren't other ways, But in my experience,
it's all about connection. It's all about that personal referral.
It's all about who has used you that I value.
And so when you approach networking from my perspective, and
(17:20):
I was literally just having a conversation with somebody unrelated
about this, and I said, when you come from a
place of value as opposed to like you.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Said, how can I sell? But tell me about you
and how can maybe what.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I do support you or the people in your world,
or how can I bring value as opposed to what
can I get out of this?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yes? Yes, And it's the soft skills too, because no
one gets to see you do all the things that
they get to see you perform the services that you
actually offer. Right. People don't get to see me build
a website before they hire me. The people don't see
somebody organize the closet before they hire them. But they
do know if they're honest, they do know if they're personable,
(18:04):
if they're a good listener. All those soft skills demonstrate
why you get hired and why people refer you more
than the actual thing that you do that just goes
with it.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yes, and what can you give some almost some I
guess some case studies, right, Maybe just talk a little
bit about some of the success stories or things that
you've seen from members.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I'm sure you have lots of them people, It's just
it's every day there. So the way that our organization works,
we have a number of different events, right, So we
have something called our networking circles, which is the backbone
of the event, and the circles are run by member
leaders and those groups happen they meet two times a month.
(18:51):
They reflect industry exclusive categories those members are part of
groups that are location based most of them, so it
would be Philadelphia, Calgary, Atlanta, groups all over. And those
groups are always referring business to one another. That's part
of their ethos is that they're making two referrals per meeting,
(19:15):
so that's four per month, twelve per quarter. They're ongoing
support of each other's business. Now, we look at referral
sharing a little bit broader than maybe other referral.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, because I'm like, oh my god, is that pressure?
That was my first go, oh my god, Now I
have to maintain a quota quota.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yes, So there's there are other like leads groups out
there that are more quota driven. We are not. We
are more this is the goal. But we're women and
we're busy, and so there's no punitive punishments and women belong.
It's just right orient So.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
What we're striving for, we're striving to always have our
members on the top of mind exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
But we also look at sharing each other's thought leadership
as a possible referral promoting each other's so always being
mindful of having things on the calendar that you're doing,
having talks once a year, the members all do one
ten minute presentation called a spotlight. It becomes an opportunity
(20:13):
to invite people to that meeting, It becomes an opportunity
to promote it on social media for each other, and
that can be a referral point. So it's really just
building these muscles of having a talk, blogging, creating content,
positioning yourself as a thought leader, referring each other. And
all meetings have timed elevator pitches right so that we're
(20:35):
practicing that elevator pitch and always having something fresh to
talk about. So it's really we call it a sandbox
really because these meetings are really meant to be not
salesy again, but a connection point, and they weave in
between verstil and professional. But there's referrals being passed all
(20:57):
day every day, and collaborations between members happening all day
every day. And we constantly see women opening doors for
other women and introducing them to their next best thing,
and collaborations happening in like the absolute most unusual ways.
So one that I love that I'll share a dentist
(21:19):
and a poet. Okay, walk into a bar totally. They
have this. First of all, the dentist got introduced My partner,
Dorothy introduced the this dentist to the senior living facility
that her mother was in. So the dentist is doing
on site dental care for the residents.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
So that's one one connection. Then there's a poet, the poet.
Then the dentist brings the poet in to do milestone
poet poems that are commissioned by the families of the
residents as like birthday gifts, because what does a nine
year old need? Nothing? Right, but a poem written in
(22:04):
collaboration with everyone in their family is magic.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Oh I just got chilled. That's amazing. Cohoity.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
That was the thing, that was the thing, And that's
the kind of collaboration that unfolds and you see it
and you're like, nah, this sounds cool. So that's yeah.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Okay, I have a question that I feel like I
can't be the only one that has this question because
I remember when I was starting my business. Now my
girls are grown now, I have a twenty four to
twenty one year old. At the time, they were little
and I was the primary caregiver, and so I wanted
to and I come from a sales and marketing background,
(22:46):
So I'm not afraid of the networking. I'm not afraid
of that. Like even the sales you get up and
speak for whatever, That's fine. My biggest roadblock was finding
the time because all of these networking events were either
before breakfast, where I'm like, I'm trying to get my
kids on the bus, or they were like evening after
(23:07):
we're happy hours, and I'm like, that's the witching hour.
I'm trying to do bath and bedtime and homework and
all the things. And so for me, one of the
things that we talk about here when it comes to clutters,
we talk about calendar clutter, right, not just the physical stuff,
but we talk about managing your day and your schedule
and how do we reduce that overwhelm that we talk
(23:29):
about as women is almost become like a badge of
honor that we wear. How does this play in because
I might be listening going this sounds great, I need this,
but I have all these other things and this is
just another thing on my to do list.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Absolutely, we most of our meeting that's not the case
for all, but most of our meetings are at nine
fifteen to ten forty five local time. So like after
the drop off.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I was gonna say, after the kids are preschool.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Over breakfast if they meet in person, or some groups
choose to meet online, so one or the other, and
other groups are noon to one point thirty. So it's
really meant to be a lunch break, coffee break, and
it's two times a month, so it's not a huge
commitment of time. We're talking about three hours or three
(24:22):
hours exactly. And then there's a handful of other meetings
that we offer that are an hour here, an hour there. Online.
Almost everything else we offer is online, and we bring
people together for an hour. It's a jam packed hour
and then you're on your way. We have a speaker series,
(24:42):
which Laurie you're going to be doing, and that's on
third Fridays of the month, noon central, right, so that
it really is meant to be over a lunch hour. Right,
You could take your lunch and watch and engage and learn.
We are very sensitive to not doing those early, those
six and those evening ones because right, women are busy,
(25:03):
and especially if you've got young kiddos, it's impossible.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Yeah, and that I think is it was a real
thing for me, and I know also which I'm hoping
the narrative is changing and hoping it's shifting with younger
generations and people coming in. And I think it's important
to have people like yourself out there that are giving
people that permission.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
But I remember being like, I can't take any more
time for myself or I can't prioritize it. And I'm
saying to all the women.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Especially if you are a solopreneur, right, especially if you're
an entrepreneur slash solopreneur, you you are doing yourself and
your business a disservice by not like prioritizing working on
your business.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
I couldn't agree agree more. And the other reason that
we've found that those nine to five hours are so
important is that the women that show up to those
are women that are in their business. They are this
is their primary business. And not that we can't support
a side hustle, but it really needs to have tipped
(26:17):
to at least I have time during this nine to
five hours that I'm prioritizing this business that I'm in.
And when women are in that business, it shows and
that demonstrates a level of commitment and they're working on it.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
And from an organizing exampoint, we talk. I have, you know,
a ton of free resources for people on my website.
And one of the things I have, because I talk
a lot about it, is like a time blocking template,
and it's blocking that time and you can get as
granular or stay as broad stroke as you want. Different
Some people like to really dive in and be like,
from nine to ten, I'm doing this, or from eleven
(26:57):
to twelve, I'm doing this I or you could say, hey,
on Thursday mornings, this is the time that I'm working
on the business. And that could be any number of things.
It means I'm either sending follow up emails, or I'm
going to a networking event, or I'm doing research on
blah blah blah blah blah. But I have found in
(27:17):
my own this is speaks from my own personal experience
of and this was really when I was first starting
out of treating that time as just as sacred as
if it was time with a client, because there's so
many things that need to happen that we need that
like mental space to work on and when you're constantly
(27:42):
in that go mode, and we talk about it with Decluttery,
we talk about the three centers thinking, feeling, doing, If
all you do is operate in go do mode and
you don't have any time to use the analytical side
or the emotional side of you and your business. You're
(28:04):
not working at full capacity, so it's counterproductive. So I
love this. It forces you in a healthy way to
say no, I'm this is this matters?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yes, And part of the two time a month rhythm,
it makes you orient to what do I need? What
am I working on a couple times a month right?
So you can get out of that day to day
and then be able to communicate to a table or
a screen full of other people. This is what I'm
(28:37):
working on right now, This is what I need help on,
This is what I need feedback on. This is where
I could use support right And we don't always take
time otherwise to ask those questions about our business. And
it's so valuable, it really is.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
And being a solopreneur is it can be very lonely.
It can you go through and flows. I've been in
this for over fifteen years and I still have moments
where I doubt myself and I need an accountability partner.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So putting all of these key.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Pieces of the puzzle are so important. Is there anything
else that you want to add that maybe we didn't
touch on.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Yeah, just to that point, I think if you're responsible
for the sales and the growth of your business, there's
I forget how this saying goes. But if you're not
hearing no enough a big enough percentage of time, you're
not asking enough people that like you should have a
portion of notes in sales, because otherwise you're not going
(29:44):
for the next big thing and being at that growth margin.
And it can be super defeating right to be told
no and having a safe place to come to and
share about your celebration. Because another part of the Women
Belong meeting is we always end meetings with gratitudes and brags,
(30:05):
and the reason for that is because centering ourselves and
sharing that publicly about what we're grateful for but also
what we're bragging on, because then we can share our
triumphs and our wins it to a room full of people.
Having that moment twice a month too is so valuable
because it keeps you at that growth line of challenging
yourself and sometimes the women in the circles hold a
(30:29):
much higher vision for us than we even do for ourselves.
So hearing that echoed back is so valuable too. I
love that.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I love that, And as you were speaking, I thought
of something else. Now, I like I said, I'm an extrovert,
I'm an aneagram eighty, I'm super direct, and I don't
like if you say no, You're not gonna hurt my feelings.
But I know that the whole like sales aspect for
a lot of people in their business is really uncomfortable
(30:59):
and icky and fall. I have a friend of mine
who's an interior designer, and she's extremely talented, but the
thought of selling her services to people is ill. But
this is us a great opportunity for those for anybody,
but specifically for somebody that isn't comfortable putting themselves out there,
because it allows other people to.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Sell for you, in lack of a better word.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Right, you don't have to go out there and say
sing your own praises because you've got this room of
other people that are telling people about you. And it's
always easier to talk about other people and share how
wonderful they are in whatever they do than it is
(31:47):
to talk about yourself. And so for the person that's
listening out there, that might go I have an organizing
business or I have another business, and I just I
feel like I don't know what else to do. I
don't even have a high big budget.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
I can't.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I don't want to do traditional marketing or whatever. Having
that personal endorsement from somebody else, being like this person
is great, I've seen them, I know them, I trust them,
is worth like any AD dollar, worth more than any
(32:21):
AD dollar you could ever spend.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
And I truly believe that. Yeah, I totally agree with.
Part of the format of the circles is inviting guests, right,
and when you bring your guests to the meeting, and
then all of a sudden, all the women in the
room edify you and say how awesome you are in
front of your guest that maybe is a prospect also, right,
(32:44):
And then all of a sudden you're lifted up and
your guest is feeling like, man, I came with the
real expert person. It's such a cool thing and it does.
It just goes so much further than trying to sing
your own praises. I love it.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
We're going to sing your praises, kid, Albert, and we're
going to saying the praises of women belong Because I
think what you're doing what you've built, what you're continuing
to build is incredible. I think it's much much needed
for women all over, especially women that are in transition.
I think it's it seems to me, even if you
are thinking about going back into the workforce, I have
(33:20):
so many friends who are in this kind of pivotal
transitional period in their life and they don't know what
to do. And just getting out there to meet people
in different professions and learn what's out there and just
get to know other people, I think is so valuable.
And to be able to do it in a safe
space is great and thank you and I'm so glad
(33:42):
that we had the chance to meet. Tell our listeners
where is the best place for them to connect up
learn more?
Speaker 2 (33:50):
All the time Women Belong dot com. That's womblong dot com,
and there's you can get access to events. Most the
vast majority of our events are open for non members
and guests to come and check it out. Many are
offered free, some at low cost. There's also you can
(34:13):
get a free one to one guide, which is really
helpful just to organize around what you're going to talk
about in a one to one and the questions to
ask into one to one so that when you are
meeting with another business person, you can just be super effective.
So yeah, Womenbelong dot Com. I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Kate, thank you so much for joining us today. I
really appreciate it. I love being able to talk about
organizing from a different perspective and realizing that there's so
many different elements to living an organized life, and this
one is equally as important as making your bed every
day and making sure that there's meals on the table.
(34:53):
We gotta as women make sure that we're prioritizing ourselves
and our businesses and our mental health.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
So thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
This is your first time tuning in, welcome, you picked
a great episode to find us. If you are an OG,
thank you so much. If you know somebody that can
benefit from this episode specifically, please click that share button.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
You can find us all over socials or on YouTube
this Organized Life podcast until next week. I'm Lori Palou
peace out. Thanks for tuning in. If you'd like this episode,
please spread the love and share it with your friends.
And if this is your first time joining us, make
sure to click the subscribe button wherever you are listening
so you never miss an episode, and while you're there,
(35:36):
please leave us a review so other people know that
our show is worth to listen. You can also find
us on YouTube and Instagram at This Organized Life Podcast,
and if you'd like to connect with us, you can
head on over to our website at simply the letter
B Like boyorganized dot com, which is filled with tons
of resources, including free downloads, checklists, links to our amazing
(35:57):
organizing partners, and all of our digital offerings. I'll see
you next week for another episode of This Organized Life
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