With Kelsey Knutson, a Seattle, WA-based Business Consultant, we explore the world of entrepreneurship and business success. Armed with a Bachelor’s Degree in Entrepreneurship and hands-on experience from her own ventures, Kelsey has guided her clients to triple their revenue, open profitable brick-and-mortar locations, expand their businesses, hire team members, launch new offers, and host events. Her podcast, named “Get Shit Done,” encapsulates her specialty in helping entrepreneurs clarify their goals, strategize the next steps, and maintain accountability.

Beyond consulting, Kelsey fosters community through her networking groups, Empower PNW and CEO Society. She also hosts The CougsFirst! Podcast and advises on the Cougar Collective board. When she’s not working, Kelsey enjoys hiking or snowmobiling in the mountains and savoring a hefeweizen with pretzel and beer cheese alongside her husband and family.

Join our conversation with Kesley as we discuss the importance of building a successful business, emphasizing the need to cater to the audience’s needs and build something passionate about. Kelsey also stresses the value of patience and persistence in the digital world, and highlights the significance of community support and accountability in achieving business success.

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Takeaways & quotes you don’t want to miss from this episode:

• Transition planning and team development are the key areas of focus for Kelsey’s clients.
• The challenges of building intimate connections through online courses.
• Why is there a need to build a community for your business?
• The importance of communicating your dreams to others and reality-check your today’s decisions.
• Practice persistent patience…

“Most entrepreneurs are real artists… the more they get involved in the art, the more they tend to deliver and engage with their customers.”

-Kelsey Knutson

Check out these highlights:

• 08:01 Kelsey talks about how she fell in love with business.
• 12:56 Some of the core questions Kelsey asks to help her clients dream big…
• 22:21 What were the turning points she had experienced in her own business building?
• 35:22 How does she launch and balance the community creation? 
• 41:01 What’s next for Kelsey?

How to get in touch with Kelsey on Social Media:

You can also contact Kelsey by visiting her website here.

Special gift to the listeners: You can get a FREE guide to walk you through your next pivot here.

Imperfect Show Notes

We are happy to offer these imperfect show notes to make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who prefer reading over listening. While we would love to offer more polished show notes, we are currently offering an automated transcription (which likely includes errors, but hopefully will still deliver great value), below:

GGGB Intro  00:00

Here’s what you get on today’s episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business®…

Kesley Knutson  00:04

You need to build what you’re passionate about, but you also need to build what your audience is asking for. And I think when those two things intersect, it will be successful. But if you’re trying to anticipate needs and you don’t quite have, you’re not in front of those people get in front of them first.

GGGB Intro  00:21

The adventure of entrepreneurship and building a life and business you love, preferably at the same time is not for the faint of heart. That’s why Heather Pearce Campbell is bringing you a dose of guts, grit and great business stories that will inspire and motivate you to create what you want in your business and life. Welcome to the Guts, Grit and Great Business® podcast where endurance is required. Now, here’s your host, The Legal Website Warrior®, Heather Pearce Campbell.

Heather Pearce Campbell  00:48

Alrighty, welcome. I am Heather Pearce Campbell, The Legal Website Warrior®. I’m an attorney and legal coach based here in Seattle, Washington, serving online information entrepreneurs throughout the US and the world. Welcome to another episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business®. I’m super excited to bring my friend, Kelsey Knutson on. Welcome, Kelsey.

Kesley Knutson  01:13

Thanks for having me. Happy to be here

Heather Pearce Campbell  01:15

So good to have you again. So the backstory you guys is that we actually recorded a conversation for you. I don’t know how long ago it feels like, forever. Yeah, yes. And there was some major wonkiness in the recording and we couldn’t use it. So we are doing this again. And things have changed, I’m sure for both of us. And so it’s gonna be fun, Kelsey, to hear your updates and get to introduce you to the audience today. For those of you that don’t know Kelsey, Kelsey is a Seattle, Washington-based business consultant on a mission to help entrepreneurs accomplish their goals with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship and experience owning her own businesses. She understands what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Her clients have tripled their revenue opened profitable brick and mortar locations, expanded locations, hired team members launched new offers hosted events and so much more. Her specialty is helping people get shit done. And by the way, this is the name of her podcast, which has changed since the last time I chatted with Kelsey. So we will put links over to her podcast as well. She helps people get shit done by helping them get clear on where they’re going and why strategizing the appropriate next steps and executing on their goals and providing accountability along the way. She also has a heart for community and has launched two networking groups Empower Pacific Northwest and CEO society to help support even more business owners. I love that men have questions about that, too. When she’s not working with clients, you can find her supporting her Alma Mater and I’m not really sure I should say this because I’m a husky. Say it anyways. Hosting. I don’t know is it just you hosting the podcast? Or is it a group? 

Kesley Knutson  03:10

It’s just me. Okay, awesome.

Heather Pearce Campbell  03:12

The Cougs first podcast and advising on the Cooper collective board. In her downtime she loves to be in the mountains, hiking or snowmobiling, depending on the season, or drinking a nice half of Eisen with a pretzel and beer cheese with her fiance and family. Wait, fiance? Is this new?

Kesley Knutson  03:31

Married now. I know you’ve had other things have happened.

Heather Pearce Campbell  03:35

And like 89 years since we’ve talked, so…

Kesley Knutson  03:38

The rest is accurate and great, though. So yes, that’s me.

Heather Pearce Campbell  03:42

Oh my god. Well, welcome, Kelsey. So good to see you again.

Kesley Knutson  03:46

Good to be here, Heather.

Heather Pearce Campbell  03:48

Oh, I haven’t. So first, let’s dig into the changes you unit change the name of your podcast, you are married now. How long was your engagement? I’m trying to remember if you were engaged when we first connected,

Kesley Knutson  03:59

I think it’s been that long. We got engaged

Heather Pearce Campbell  04:02

You got engaged and married between our last conversation and now you when you win the prize of things accomplished.

Kesley Knutson  04:11

That’s one perspective. Yeah, I got engaged Thanksgiving. We’re recording this October. So not even a year since we got engaged and we had been together for 10 years. It was kind of like why wait to have a wedding. Let’s knock it out as fast as possible while still inviting too many people and planning some of it.

Heather Pearce Campbell  04:29

So you did do the party. Did you do the hard thing? 

Kesley Knutson  04:33

Yeah, I did the full shebang. Yes. Okay.

Heather Pearce Campbell  04:35

Good for you. We did it. So, you know, I have the story of eloping and being like, sending basically wedding announcements after we were married. So it was, yeah, it was fun. But there’s that little part of us that’s like, you know, maybe for one of our anniversaries, we actually should host that party, right?

Kesley Knutson  04:57

Yeah, I think you have to do what’s best for you at the top. Hear that you’re in. So totally.

Heather Pearce Campbell  05:02

Totally. And both of us had been in previous marriages been through divorces. Like, I think there was a part of us that just wanted to do it differently this time, right? So anyways, look huge congratulations. That’s a pretty big deal. And give us the update on business what you’re up to, right. I feel like we could get into some of the backstory details which we will so that people get to know a bit more about you. But give us the kind of the current update on where you’re at, you know, what you’re working on, I would love to hear what’s going on in your life. 

Kesley Knutson  05:35

Yeah, all. Like you said, I’ll start with the now and then we can work backwards, where you find would be best serving for your audience. But currently, I like the intro said I work with CEOs I mostly work with now with business owners who are established multi six to seven figure in revenue, small teams and growing, and they’re really good at the thing. They’re good at cutting hair, they’re good at taking photos, they’re good at giving financial advice to clients, but they’re not so great at is the other pieces of running a business and running a team. So I help in that transitional period. It has to be someone who’s growth minded and wants to tackle new things or refine what they have. And I’m really enjoying the team side of things to coming in and doing trainings with leadership management and making sure everyone’s in the right position and squeezing all the juice out of the business. That’s possible. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  06:22

Hmm, I love that. Do you find that you’re renegotiating roles and duties and responsibilities for some of your clients? Absolutely.

Kesley Knutson  06:33

Yeah, I think it’s important to understand as a CEO, what you’re best at and kind of have to be the person to do and sometimes some of that is for the Now, maybe you’re making some sacrifices, a great example, I used to have a hair salon. So in that space, a lot of entrepreneurs stay behind the chair doing the cut and color services. And a big conversation I have is look, if you want to go beyond this, you need to step away from your comfort zone and lead. And by the way, that’s a new skill. So I can help support you in that. But if you’re wanting to truly grow you, your team needs you to do that. They don’t need you behind the chair they need you serving in these other ways. And what does that look like? How do we create a transition plan? And then for the rest of the team? How does everyone fill in the gaps where necessary?

Heather Pearce Campbell  07:16

And are most of your folks in service based businesses of some kind? 

Kesley Knutson  07:21

Yeah, I would definitely say that’s my specialty, I get the one off product people. But that’s such a different ballgame. But I am proud one of my product people was a full time teacher, a part time business owner, and she’s full time in business now since working together. So it’s not that I can’t serve that world. It’s just, it has to be the right fit for a lot of different reasons.

Heather Pearce Campbell  07:41

Totally. Well, and I’m the same. Most of my folks are not product people either, right? So it’s, I get it. There’s a lot of service professionals that I support, and then a lot of what I call information entrepreneurs, right. So where did you first fall in love with business?

Kesley Knutson  08:01

When I was a kid and had my lemonade stand and would come up with all the flavors. And then as I got older, I started babysitting, I had a whole babysitting binder of my different offerings that I had, and different activities, I would come and have the kids do. And I didn’t know at the time, that’s what entrepreneurship is. But I just I would take those opportunities, and I would really turn it into these mini businesses. So it’s been a part of who I am for a long time. But I did not grow up with entrepreneur family. So it felt I didn’t have words to describe it. And I didn’t know what to do with that. And in college, I studied entrepreneurship as well. But it’s very much like invent a widget and then have like a sales funnel for it. And I’m like, I don’t have the tech that I invented. I just know I want to help people. So it took me a little while to figure out how to put all those pieces together.

Heather Pearce Campbell  08:49

Hmm, please tell me you still have the babysitting binder. I love that. I love that like your…

Kesley Knutson  08:57

My parents probably do. I’m sure they do. I’m sure they do.

Heather Pearce Campbell  09:01

Menu of offerings. That’s awesome. Do you think that it like when you describe your own origin and entrepreneurship? Does it have to do more with creativity? Is it more because I also see in you like and I heard you just say like you really love helping people? Is it more the people side that drives you like what do you think is really at the root of of your own entrepreneurship?

Kesley Knutson  09:28

Yeah, I do think it’s a people thing. Some other careers I’ve had before we were recording you were talking about your past life. So my past life is the hair world but also being a barista. I was a barista for a long time. I was a dance teacher for a long time. And kind of the through line of all of that is this idea of helping people and kind of leaving them better than I found them like whether that is them chasing their goals or having a deeper understanding of themselves more confidence. I love getting to do that. And my favorite way to do that is through business. So I see my business coaching kind of as a vehicle to help people have that confidence and achieve their goals and which means business wise, it’s not going to be for everybody not everybody truly has what it takes to go from solopreneur to true business owner, true CEO, I’m sure in the work you do you see that as well. But the ones who want that and maybe don’t know how to get there, I absolutely love coming alongside them and being like, you actually have everything you need within yourself. It’s just kind of fine tuning dialing in, and maybe building some new muscles you haven’t worked on before.

Heather Pearce Campbell  10:28

Hmm, I love that. And I love the messaging around that, because I think so many people, you know, probably in some ways make it harder than it is right? Or tell themselves like I need to do some super advanced or different strategy that I don’t know about. And it’s really about taking that next right step. How do you help your clients figure out what that is like, talk to me a little bit about your approach in working with your clients. 

Kesley Knutson  10:56

For sure, it starts with why I’m a huge white person. A lot of times business owners come to me and I need to work on tick tock, I just need a new website, a new logo. And I always will ask why. And I’ll actually ask them to pitch to me, the reasoning and I can tell through that, whether that they’ve thought it through all the way or not. And oftentimes, I don’t even really have to point that out. In that exercise, they can see Oh, you’re right, I’m just getting shiny object syndrome, I don’t actually need that thing. And a better use of time would be reach out to Heather and get a contract. I’ve sent you people by the way, I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve definitely sent you like my clients, we get into the weeds and there’s certain things I’m like, No, you need to protect your stuff. And I’m sorry, I know this TikTok course looks more interesting and sexy, but you need to get legit. And so that’s your next investment. So it starts with the Why getting clear on how to make decisions. And then very much where do they want to go? How do we dream really big? What does that look like? And far enough away where we’re not holding ourselves back from what’s possible? I think we as kids, like we all dream really big, and we’re fearless. And we think we can take on the world. And then as life happens, we, we just have the safe goals and safe bets we make on ourselves. So I try to push them to think really far out. I audit where they’re currently at and that that’s looking at the numbers that’s looking at their offers that’s looking at their team. And then I’m like, Okay, where’s that gap? Where’s the path forward? So that’s kind of a long winded explanation. But where are we today? Where do we truly deeply want to go from a core level, like a values Level A level? And then what steps will help us get there? 

Heather Pearce Campbell  12:26

Yeah, well, and there? I mean, there’s a lot in your answer. But the piece that stands out to me, and I, you know, get curious about is this possibility piece like how do we see what is possible? Because I do think people can get stuck around that like having even too much of a limited vision, right, and not knowing how to how to recreate something that they haven’t done before. So how do you help people around that possibility, that piece? 

Kesley Knutson  12:56

Yeah, when the core questions I asked is where do you see yourself in 10 years, and I asked, what car you driving? What house do you live in? Do you have kids? Are you in a different neighborhood, what’s your most recent vacation he went on, I have them paint the picture and really dive deep. And then I have them work backwards, backwards chronologically, so I start with a 10 years out, and then I work backwards to ensure that we are still dreaming, but then it allows them to be far enough away to where it’s like, Oh, I’m not gonna pick the safe thing. So Kelsey is having me dreams. So I’m just gonna go for it. And then I hold him to it. And I say, okay, then why is the six month you doing this when the 10 year you wants to do that? And so I think it just, it’s that space and challenge of doing it. And then also, if you can communicate it to someone else, there’s value in that too, just saying it out loud. And then of course, I’m gonna ask why. So we’ll go over that 10 year out document and I’ll say, you know, tell me about this person. What is that like, but what do you what does that person feel like? Like how do they balance health and wellness and business? And what does that look like? And then okay, is today you even remotely close to walking down that road video to get you on the right road then? Because a lot of it is a reality check of the today decisions that we’re making to?

Heather Pearce Campbell  14:08

Oh, totally. And I think, you know, how many of us frequently enough to give ourselves the time and the space to actually visualize the future. Like I think for some people that can actually be a hard exercise to take themselves through. Right? So even just having somebody there having the conversation guiding the next steps, I think can really bring that vision into focus. Where like I would love to hear a little bit about your own business journey. I know you’ve had multiple you know lives in the past you you mentioned, you know, dance instructor barista, but then getting into your own hair business as a salon owner, right. Talk to us about first of all the process of building that salon I know one of the topics that you care about a lot and that you work with your own clients on is the topic of burnout. Super rare All event, I think it it in the in the entrepreneur world, that’s a topic that will remain relevant for a long, long time. Because we are particularly prone to burnout, I think for a variety of reasons. But we you share with us a little bit about your own business journey just to give listeners some context about where you’ve been.

Kesley Knutson  15:20

For sure. So like I mentioned, I had these little tastes of entrepreneurship, I wouldn’t fully label it that but they’re definitely indicators of leadership. I was chair captain in high school editor of the newspaper, I always sought out these opportunities to lead. I didn’t know what to do with that. I’m the first to go to college and my family, I picked business because it sounded stable. And then I picked entrepreneurship because the other majors didn’t sound as fun. So being transparent, that’s how I landed on that degree. I didn’t really leverage that degree, until not too late. But after school, there was like an entrepreneurship club. I would love that I didn’t know what it was around. And I was having a good time in college too. So you know, different priorities. But I stumbled into this major. My last year in college, I went from like, very much struggling in school, the beginning of college to getting a 4.0 last year. And it’s because all my classes were leading teams, strategizing, pitching in front of investors, and I was like, in my zone, I’d found my people. But I share that story. Because through that major, I actually was able to get a job doing business consulting, right out of school, I was able to get government funding and work for a startup. So I had this really awesome experience right out the gate, with helping business owners improve their systems, we really worked a lot with marketing specifically, that’s kind of our niche. But in general, I loved getting to help business owners, but I had massive impostor syndrome being a 21 year old, telling people what I learned about in school and trying to apply it to their businesses, and they’re passionate. And these folks, they were people, they would do market analysis. So that’s what we would the service we would provide, they would say, hey, you know, I invented this product 20 years ago, I have a patent for it. And I have no marketing plan, because I’ve been waiting for the right time, now I have the time to focus on it. And I’m like, just because you have the legal backing doesn’t mean you have the demand, the alternatives might be better than yours. Like they had no clue. And they’ve spent all this money and their heart is in it so heavily. But it just the proof of concept was out there in the market. And that’s what we would do, we would audit that. And we would research that and then give them this big comprehensive document and presentation. So I got a ton of really great experience right out the gate. And then I quit and went to hair school. I just, yeah, I liked pieces of what I was doing. But it wasn’t the right market. It was working for the state work is slow. And that just I was limited in how we could do our consulting, we had a specific way that we would work with people. And our clientele was any Washington owned business. So you get all kinds of people all kinds of businesses and I quit went to hair school, it was something I was doing on the side. And in my brain, it was the fastest path to entrepreneurship because I was already doing it. I wanted to get the professional license so that way I could do more of it not just styling, but cutting color. And I strategically worked in a salon in Seattle worked really hard, built up clientele and then went and opened my own salon. So I had my own salon for a little over three years before I got back into consulting. And that experience of having my own business showing up on the first day. What do I need having contract employees during wedding season? What’s a contract versus a W two all those experiences made me really, really understand business and a different way that the classroom did not. So I feel like I’m very grateful for that time and that chapter of my life. But I’m doing now what I’ve always been meant to do. I just had to take a windy route to get here. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  18:49

Right. Even in the end, it’s really not that windy. Like when you look at the experience it gives you write it’s it’s all so valuable. But I agree it never looks like what you think it’s going to look like right for sure. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  19:02

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Heather Pearce Campbell  20:45

I can relate to your imposter syndrome situation. I don’t know if I’ve shared this with you. I was talking actually with a friend just the other day about this. I was out of law school and a couple years out of law school. So I would have been in my you know, mid to late 20s. And I was going through a Starbucks drive thru on Mercer Island, and they had this woman lean out of the window like from inside Starbucks, what are you doing driving, like in a pretty raised voice and I looked at her you know, and then she kind of like did a double take and was like, Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you were my friend’s 14 year old daughter. And I’m sitting there like, Oh, this is great. I’m, you know, like I’m starting off my legal career and somebody thinks I’m a 14 year old driving this car round. I had a couple a couple situations like that, where I’m like, Oh, I’m so screwed. You know, I wasn’t. But it is a challenge. When you’re young, to have the confidence that you know, people are going to respect what I’m doing. Even if you’re driven, even if you’ve got great, you know, great experience already. And so it is a real thing. But you know, I love that you basically went and created for yourself the experience that you needed to then be able to speak from experience. So I love that. So talk to us about some of the turning points in your own business building experience.

Kesley Knutson  22:21

Yeah, initially when I went and opened my own salon, it was a studio, I had at that time, a couple 1099 employees were wedding season, we wouldn’t be able to take on more customers because people could be at different locations under the umbrella of my business. But when I initially started, it was start here, grow my clientele open a big salon have a team. And very quickly just where I was there was other beauty professionals around we’re all our own businesses. So it’s kind of like an incubator, but for the beauty world. And I was like, Yeah, I don’t want to love all of you people, if any of you are listening to this, no hard feelings, but I’m like, I don’t I don’t want to do that. And it felt like that was the only way to grow. I had a business coach at the time special for hair stylist, hair salon owners, and her whole thing was like, how do you grow your dream salon and your dream team? And I’m like, I don’t want to I don’t want to do that. But I don’t know where to where do I go from here? What do I do and so it took this like identity crisis, but I didn’t act on it. I kind of had this number in mind of where I wanted to get I had the number of hours I wanted to work and I kind of hit all of those marks that I wanted and then I just plateaued. And then for me COVID was like the wake up call like it was for everyone else of like, Is this really what I want to do forever? And then you know, I just got married we want to have kids I’m like Could I see myself being a mom like if you’re doing hair you’re gone you’re physically gone there’s no like work from home situation. And I was like I just really started to ask myself those questions and slowly started to make changes and adjustments from there going from hair salon to coaching was a wild ride but I’m grateful for accent means I understand people who are making those those identity pivots and just what it what it really really takes.

Heather Pearce Campbell  24:04

Yeah. Oh, it is a big pivot. I mean, we were talking about my former life, right? I built a photography career alongside the early days of my legal career because I’d done photography my whole life since I was a kid. I mean, I was telling you that I’m going into my son’s school and I’m going to teach a little mini class on portraiture right to his media class. And I taught myself portraits as an 11 and 12 year old in my parents basement like dragging every lamp in the house down and like setting up backdrops and, you know, testing and trying and so it’s you know, but building the building two careers at the same time, you know, had its own challenge, and there are a lot of people who do that so that they can create that bridge to what’s next. If they’re like, you know, really in a main career. And this other thing is for a time like a side hustle. You know, I don’t think it’s a bad way to go. And the irony is that I think society has a way of kind of Pooh poohing people who like, make dramatic shifts or shift too often or whatever, leave a career too early all these judgments about, you know, what people should be doing. I think in part, one of the gifts of COVID is that it’s changed that I think people feel a lot more freedom and flexibility to make those changes. But the irony is like the best, most well developed humans from a personal development standpoint, have made a lot of pretty dramatic changes in their life. Right, like, whole reinventions. And so I consider it like a really good, powerful thing to do. And if you find yourself in this scenario of doing that, like, I don’t know, I think it’s an experience to be welcomed. I’m not saying that it’s easy, right? It’s definitely I mean, can you know, take earning your earning your chops and whatever field you’re you’re pivoting into, but in the end, it’s so worth it to pursue something that is in alignment with who you are, what you want to be doing, you know, utilizing your, your best gifts and your biggest strengths. And I just think it’s really important that we all explore whether we’re in the right spot. 

Kesley Knutson  26:22

Yeah, absolutely. And ask yourself, why are you seeking out this alternative or wanting to make a shift, and for me, it was something I felt in my gut for a long time before it took action on it. And I wanted to ensure it wasn’t me just getting distracted by something else. And I was making a decision in the shift for the right reasons, because it was a big shift in, you know, my best month in the salon was my last month. So it’s not like I was leaving a failing business for something else. I was leaving a successful business for uncertainty. I didn’t know if it would pan out, I was doing some at the same time I had a couple clients, but it wasn’t sustainable. And it wasn’t enough to financially say, hey, that’s gonna work. It was, you know, enough of this double dutch has happened that energetically I owe it to myself to just try to fully try.

Heather Pearce Campbell  27:08

Yeah. I mean, that’s a good point energetically about what can happen, right. And I think people kind of know it when they’re there. But it’s really important to pay attention to that. It sounds like like where you’re sitting now, you know, you made the right choice, you know that you’re doing what you should be doing? Was there any point in your journey where you regretted entrepreneurship?

Kesley Knutson  27:33

That’s a good question. I would say, there’s been moments that I remember distinctly one time when I was doing the double dutch at this point, my so my cutoff for the salon, my lease was due to renew. And so my drop dead date was okay, I’m officially closing doors this day. So I had like an end date in mind. But at this moment, I was doing the double dutch I was doing the hair stuff, I knew where I was, all my clients knew the pivot and everything. And I had someone sitting my chair who is a corporate consultant. And she was telling me, she makes like, $300,000 a year, and she was heavily recruiting me. And I totally had a moment of like, maybe I could do that, like, get paid more and help out the Microsoft’s and stuff. And I totally had a moment. But when I asked myself why I do what I do, and the pros and the cons of it all, there’s just nothing that compares, there’s this ceiling doesn’t exist. But also, I can build it around my life, the way that I want to and entering all these different chapters, you know, with the wedding, too. I actually have a whole podcast episode about like balancing wedding planning and having a business. Because it’s a lot and people were all like, is this so fun? I’m like, No, this is horrible. This is like the same creative energy I would use for my business is now being spent on this one day. But this, we want to do this and I’m excited for it. But and all that to say I love that as a business owner, you can like, like push the contents of your business to fit in how you want and that doesn’t have to stay that way forever. And I just don’t think the nine to five thing is for me. Right?

Heather Pearce Campbell  29:07

Well, I think for so many people, truthfully, it’s not for them. The irony is that, we get into business, usually with what you’ve just said as one of the core driving factors like oh, we get to control our schedule and move things around so that it really fits our lives. And then we can find ourselves in the position of like, Oops, I really built that the wrong way it’s taken over has a life of its own or I’m not taking the time off that I need to etc, right. So it’s I just think it’s so important that as entrepreneurs and business owners, we remember why we chose this path to begin with. And are we meeting those goals of creating something that supports our life rather than, you know, using our life energy, really just to create Alright, work, right? That’s a long way round. I’m curious because I’m not sure last time we connected you, maybe you had maybe you’ve already started your, your various communities, I would love to talk to you a little bit about the concept of community and especially for entrepreneurs, what it means how it applies, like what you find in your efforts around building and showing up to these communities. 

Kesley Knutson  30:28

Yeah, in the beginning of coaching, I did what I think a lot of people do, and I Googled all the top course creators in the world. And I tried to copy what they did, and it totally failed. And also, when I asked the deeper question of why do I feel like this is the only way to deliver my service to people, I realized that it just wasn’t for me, at least in the chapter of business that I’m at right now. I really love to be alongside someone and watch that change happen. I love seeing them today and seeing them a year from now and hearing all the AHA seeing change happened seeing the growth, the hardship and all that and you just don’t get that intimacy in a course at least majority of them. group coaching, maybe there’s, that’s not like, that doesn’t apply to every single offer besides one on one coaching. But I just paid attention to that. And when I sat with myself and started to think about my favorite clients I’ve worked with, who have paid me the most who are aligned and who had the most results, the person who three extra revenue, those people, they came from community, they came from someone me not knowing me directly, or they knew someone who knew someone who connected them to me. And instead of trying to go viral on Instagram and worry about likes and follower count and engagement and going viral. I was like, No, I’m just gonna build spaces where I can engage with people. And then I can follow up with them. One of my clients came to one of our networking events, she has a multi six figure business, she’ll be hitting seven figures probably end of this year. And she’s like, I just, I’m thinking of changing my business name. It’s currently this, I’m thinking of changing it to that, collectively, what is the group thing and I was like, I’ll grab a coffee and we can ProCon it together. And at the end of the coffee, she hired me to coach her team had no idea she needed help with her team. But it’s just those little things that happened. And I think when you’re in community, meaning literally a community of not just like a casual thing, but like a curated group and these groups meet in person, it just opens up this door for possibility that you don’t think you wouldn’t otherwise have found. And so I had one built for a year. And then I actually lived in the Kirkland area for the people who live in Washington State. And I, the other group is down south, this group is up north and I realized, I’m like I should start went up here where I live. So that’s why I have to. It’s a little confusing. It’s a little confusing, but yes, I have to, and I have co founders, and the short of it is I am able to help more people. And then the people who are in a position where I can best help them on a deeper level one on one, then that door is open as well. So yeah, well.

Heather Pearce Campbell  33:04

I mean, there’s a couple interesting things that that come to mind as you speak about the importance of community. One is the impersonal element. Yeah, right there,

Kesley Knutson  33:14

You’re hungry for it. Yes.

Heather Pearce Campbell  33:16

And there is something magical that happens for most of us. And I know there are plenty of people who are like, Yay, COVID got rid of in person events. For me, I don’t have to do that anymore. Usually, right? That’s because there’s some element of travel or like, for me family and small kids, it’s hard for me to go spend four or five days traveling, going to an event speaking, being a part of it coming, you know, the alternative of like, getting on Zoom and presenting Yeah, is highly desirable. And that in person element creates like a kind of magic that you just, it’s hard to duplicate right, there was an event that I went to immediately before COVID And I can’t tell you how many of those people I’ve been in touch with continually throughout the last you know, four years and and are some of my favorite people in the you know, in the world of entrepreneurship and business and it’s because we all intersect it in person. Right? So I love that and I do think that we in life generally have to watch for ways to create those in person connections. I will say that as a mom, one of the things that has been surprisingly hard is how lonely I have felt as a mom and I think part of it is that I’ve got a special needs kiddo which complicated some of the friend making journey both for him and for me when he was younger and then you know, other things layered on my own health journey and and just physical journey into motherhood was really challenging for me. So there was a variety of other factors. And at the end of the day, even now, I think like gosh, I could do such a better person with I’m in such a better job with the in person part of, you know, life in general. And it’s a challenge to be able to balance all of that. So how do you balance it? How do you balance, you know, the community creation? And maybe you can actually share with us how you started even creating or launching these communities? What did that look like for you?

Kesley Knutson  35:22

To answer that question, my communication style, not surprising to you, yours is probably the same as auditory. I work best when I can just talk, tell a story talk through stuff. When I work with my clients, a lot of Voxer voice notes, it’s a lot of just zoom calls. And so paying attention to that and like, just give me a room and I can do my thing. And so that’s honestly what it came down to. From a business standpoint, the communities are my funnels, that’s it’s not necessarily free, but it’s a much lower ticket option to get connected into my sphere. And then again, if I’m a fit for you, awesome, if not, you still got some value. And that’s great, too. And I love connecting people as well. But yeah, I see it as a function in my business. Even my podcast, my podcast is a funnel into my business I have clients on or like hot leads on once a month, I do a hot seat coaching segment. And I use that as an opportunity to also have people go through my customer journey, potential customer journey. So on paper, it sounds like I do a lot of things. But everything I do is very intentional with the mindset of how can it funnel into working one on one with me, because that’s the way I love to work. And then this next layer of that, because I’ve built community, and I’ve led a lot of the workshops, I also love speaking and teaching. So now I’m able to get into other rooms and help their communities as well. And that’s not something I would have had, like the social proof of, I guess, like, you have to start that eventually. And so I love that I was able to just build a community with my co founders and get to practice that get to try different speeches, and workshops and what sticks and what doesn’t. And like now I can take that as a package and present it to hey, I’m gonna come to Heather’s community, we’re gonna do a workshop on XYZ thing, it’s gonna be great. And I feel confident in doing that, because I kind of was able to practice it in front of the communities that I felt. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  37:09

Hmm, I love that. And I also love the idea of like this layering over, like, how do you do something intentionally but also where it overlaps or feeds into something else? And I think even as a mom, I’m looking for like to be I was thinking like, Okay, how do I mean, that’s a terrible phrase kill two birds with one stone, right? But doing something, and it’s even something as simple as like, one of my big goals, this coming year is to not be in my office so much. I don’t love being behind a computer, right? I have to obviously, as an attorney, it’s kind of a necessity for me to spend some time there. But like all my introductory calls, I don’t need to be behind a computer. Do I sometimes take notes? Yes. Can I like jot some notes down at good? Yes, because I have a very good memory after like walking and talking. And so my new goal is like, I only want to schedule introductory calls. When I’m walking it that alone would save me like an hour or two every day. Yeah, right. Yeah. And so yeah, but applying the same thing like to business, how do we do stuff so that it is, I mean, the word that comes to mind is really easier that it’s more simplified and easier, but that we’re accomplishing those goals. So I love that you’ve done that very intentionally and strategically for yourself and found a way to really incorporate community, not only for the purpose of community, but also to feed your business super, super important. 

Kesley Knutson  38:39

Yeah, I’m like, we need you to come speak in it. We don’t have anyone like you in there. And that’s another thing that has been really cool. And a benefit I was not aware of in the beginning of building this is giving an opportunity to other people, subject matter expert experts, people who love to teach. And the accessibility especially we’ve had people speak on accounting, we’ve had financial advising, we’ve had burnout, and someone who does like micro dosing. So we kind of go out there with our topics, and it’s like, you know, a one on one call with some of those people’s couple $100, if not $1,000, but if they can speak once in a room and at least give you some peace of mind or tactical tips. I just think that’s really a mutually beneficial thing, too. So that’s something that has been really cool and now is thinking into next year and when we’re thinking of scheduling the workshops and everything. I’m going to be speaking less and I want to lean on my community more because there’s people who have things to share and I don’t need to get keep all that.

Heather Pearce Campbell  39:34

I love it. Well it reminds me very much do you know Julie Frey who’s also a local. Have you intersected Julie? I’ll have to introduce you to her. She’s fabulous. But if you’re listening to the podcast go check out I’ll put in the shownotes a link over to Julie’s episode I had her on the podcast midway through it’s been it’s been long enough I probably need to get her back on but she actually was is a local woman who all so built multiple communities and she ended up selling those as a business, right, maybe right before COVID. And got into placing people as experts on other people’s podcasts. And so she now does a lot of expert placement. But she’s just fabulous. She’s one of those like, super connectors, she built that model like that you’re talking about, like, I actually met her because she invited me to come speak to her group. And then I got connected to all these other wonderful local connections. And it’s just a really, I just think it’s a cool model. It does so much in like one fell swoop, you need to been bringing people together. Anyways, I love it. I’m a big fan. But I’ll definitely have to introduce you. You started to actually get into because one of my questions is like, what’s next? Right? Like, what, what’s coming next for you? And sounds like you’ve got some fun things planned for your community? Where else do you see yourself going in the next year or two?

Kesley Knutson  41:01

Yeah, I think I’m in a season of refinement, I’m just how do I make everything I have as efficient as possible, because although I have some things figured out, I know, there’s ways I can be even more efficient. Podcast, for example, I know I can repurpose that content, even for further than I am, I actually, I use my podcast topics to be my workshop topics. So that way, my brain only has to do the thinking once and then I can just deliver it in two different ways. Or three, four, depending. And so that’s an area that I’m working on. I had a mastermind that I paused with the wedding, it just got crazy. It was in person. So I’ll be launching a new mastermind in person as well, next year. I, I want the next thing I want to and need to build is what happens when people are done working with me. Yeah, yeah. And the blessing of my community is female founders. That’s the criteria. But the curse of the community is female founders. That’s a criteria. And so I am hyper aware of the need of a very curated room of those higher level business owners who have more complex problems. They don’t need to know LLC versus S corp, like they that’s not the conversation they need to be having. They need to know like, Okay, I currently have a 1099, I want to transition them to to a W two, how much money do I need to have legally? When should I go through that process? And what does that transition plan look like? And how will I know if I if that’s worthwhile now or six months from now, those kinds of conversations, I feel a strong pull to create space for that and help facilitate those kinds of masterminds, I think is what’s next I think, I’m building a mastermind, it will come next year. So it’s just an expansion of community.

Heather Pearce Campbell  42:47

Exactly and it’s actually a super important conversation for all of us to ask. It’s one of the reasons I love collaboration and, and really just connecting with people is like, I’ve got a massive referral tree, meaning that, you know, when I intersect with a client, or somebody who’s looking for help, and I learned that they have other needs, and there are people that I know that do that thing, or there’s a mastermind available or something, I think it’s so important for us to be asking, like what’s next for our clients, some of that we may or may be able to do. So for example, in my business, I had a trademarks, because there was a time where I was doing like really, you know, heavily focused on, you know, building out the core business components, a lot of business contracts, you know, business formation, and then I naturally was getting into IP protection. I learned to trademark so that I could, at least for my clients, which is a pretty narrow niche, like, be able to handle that for them. And it’s it was such a natural next step. And so, I love the question, I think it’s a really powerful one that honestly, we should ask ourselves regularly, like, are we looking at the horizon? And, and it’s also a way to, I think, keep our own services fresh. 

Kesley Knutson  44:01

Yeah, yeah. And do it from a place of things you need to build what you’re passionate about. But you also need to build what your audience is asking for. And I think when those two things intersect, it will be successful. But if you’re trying to anticipate needs, and you don’t quite have, you’re not in front of those people get in front of them first. And I just I know I’m at that position.

Heather Pearce Campbell  44:22

So that’s yeah, that’s super fun. And the other point is like a lot, you know, like, because I’m really clear also on what I don’t do. And so if I end up with somebody saying, like, Oh, I’m looking for this, I’m very quick to refer, but also to be watching for, you know, what am I clients need next? Maybe they even not even just from a legal perspective, but a business growth perspective, right. And I think that’s also a really powerful way to not only serve our clients on their journey, but also become memorable is like if you hand somebody off because you know they’re not the right fit to somebody that takes excellent care of them on the neck. For part of their journey, like they still love you, they’re still gonna refer people to you for what you do. Right. So well, I feel like I have so many more questions for you. I am super excited about your community. I love knowing that you are bringing back in person masterminds. That’s super cool. And as somebody who’s participated in masterminds that have an in person element, love that in person, piece of it. For folks that are listening in are like, Okay, I’m curious, I need to go check out Kelsey online. I need to connect with her. Where do you like for people to go and where do you show up online? 

Kesley Knutson  45:39

I am most consistent on Instagram. It’s just like my natural reaction to the internet. I share stuff there. And my Instagram is @kelseymarieknutson. As Heather mentioned, I have the podcast, which is the Get Shit Done podcast and I actually have an online community for that too. So I’m just going to suggest that you come hang out over there. It’s called the Get Shit Done Club. It’s on Facebook. I go live there every Wednesday in my pajamas with coffee. And we just it’s like book club that podcast version. We talk through the podcast episode and then we also if people want to do hotseat coaching, I did like a really random tangent on hair the last time and so it it’s a place for community I built that for the people who don’t live here locally. And also as a place just for truly accountability. Like we’re doing stuff, we have goals. And this is a place where we’re gonna hold each other to it. So hang out with me on Instagram or come hang out in the group if not a little bit more. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  46:33

I love it. Oh, that’s fine. Well, and I see the the multipurpose like the multipurpose thing that you’re doing with your podcast topics, right then using them to go live. I love that. It’s a great example for all of you paying attention. Yeah. Well, Kelsey, we will be very happy to share the links over to your website to your channels where you show up as well as your your Facebook group. For those of you listening, that’s over at the show notes page legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast, find Kelsey’s episode and that’s Kelsey Knutson, K-N-U-T-S-O-N. Kelsey, it’s so great to reconnect. I’m so happy for everything that has happened. It sounds like there’s been like a bit of evolution in your life. And it’s all good. So I love the updates. What for our listeners here today, what final could be an action step? It could be a quote a piece of advice, like what would you want to leave folks with.

Kesley Knutson  47:30

Wow, My current thing that’s coming up is patience. Practice persistent patience. And I think in the digital world with quick fixes and diet pills and 2012 minute podcast episodes that can hype you up. I feel like we we jumped ship too quick sometimes. So even though we talked about pivots and why and all that stuff. And that’s important. Also, there’s times where you just gotta sit in it and continue the path. And so if you’re someone who’s getting frustrated, you’re not quite where you want to be yet, I would encourage you to just keep walking down the path and then check in a couple months from now and see if it has actually grown from that.

Heather Pearce Campbell  48:07

I love that. That is actually one of my favorite pieces of advice here on the podcast. Because the whole reason I launched the podcast to begin with, to keep people on their path. I want people working in the business that they’re meant to be in and building a successful business. And my folks like you are the folks that need to build a thriving small business as the way to deliver their work in the world, right to accomplish their mission. So I love that. And I actually was just thinking like, because I haven’t written my weekly brief in a few weeks, I took a big trip. Speaking of planning, you plan a wedding, what felt equivalent to me, although it wasn’t, was planning this trip to the UK for myself and to my sisters and my dad and his wife, with like, no input from anybody, right, which was okay, like the good part was like, I got to do all the planning. And the bad part was I got to do all the planning. But, you know, anyways, so I have not said my weekly brief in a while but this morning when I sat down to write one, what came to mind was like as even a subject line and the topic like it takes what it takes, you know, and it is the message has to be like, keep going, you guys like take the next step. Do the thing that is naturally in front of you to build. You know what comes next and trust your instincts around that, you know, but yeah, stay to the path. I love that so much, Kelsey, great to see you. I’m excited to have you back and share this episode. We’ll be in touch but maybe there’s, you know, evolution number three, or whatever it is and another year.

Kesley Knutson  49:52

Totally. Thank you so much for having me and for those listening and hanging out with us today. Thank you for being here.

Heather Pearce Campbell  49:57

Awesome.

GGGB Outro  49:59

Thank you for joining us today on the Guts, Grit and Great Business® podcast. We hope that we’ve added a little fuel to your tank, some coffee to your cup and pep in your step to keep you moving forward in your own great adventures. For key takeaways, links to any resources mentioned in today’s show and more, see the show notes which can be found at www.legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and if you enjoyed today’s conversation, please give us some stars and a review on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast so others will find us too. Keep up the great work you are doing in the world and we’ll see you next week.