Good Ideas + Bad Decisions

In this mini-episode of ‘Good Ideas + Bad Decisions,’ Kat and Ellen tackle the question: are entrepreneurs naturally a little delusional? Their verdict is that building a business takes vision beyond the status quo, comfort with chaos and constant change, and the confidence to keep going even when people brush your work off as a “side project.” They also get honest about the fact that entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, and that you often know pretty early on whether you’re in it for the long haul. And when business hits one of its inevitable dips, they talk about why having fellow business owners in your corner makes all the difference.

Don't forget to⁠ submit your business questions⁠ for future episodes! 

Kat is the Founder of kat&co, helping interior designers create streamlined, sustainable businesses. She is also the Founder of Back Office Design Support, providing flexible, behind-the-scenes operational support to interior design studios, and the Co-Owner and Director of Operations at Benchwork Fabrication, a custom furniture and millwork company serving the design industry. With a background in psychology and deep experience in creative business operations, Kat is known for navigating the intersection of creativity and systems with both strategy and empathy. Join her newsletter, The kat&co Download. 

Ellen Hockley is a three-time entrepreneur, small business consultant, community builder, and the founder of Ellen Hockley Consulting and SAGE Women. She guides female founders to build intuitive, values-driven businesses aligned with the life they want for themselves and their families. Join her Substack newsletter, ⁠The Quiet Wins⁠.

In this episode of ‘Good Ideas + Bad Decisions,’ hosts Kat and Ellen welcome their first married-couple guests, Tyler and Emily Hinsley, the duo behind Hinsley Circle in Napa. Between them, they’ve worked harvests, hit a professional ceiling, and built something new from the ground up. Tyler shares how his hospitality and wine background led to launching Hinsley Consulting, and how the two teamed up to create a private membership that plans vetted, customized Napa itineraries and brings people together through monthly virtual tastings with winemakers. They also get candid about who their ideal clients are (honeymooners to bachelorettes), why fewer wineries per day is the secret to a better trip, and how to connect with them. 

Tyler and Emily Hinsley are the founders of Hinsley Circle, bringing together their shared passion for wine, travel, and meaningful hospitality. With backgrounds spanning Napa Valley hospitality, vineyards, winemaking, and storytelling, they believe the best wine experiences are rooted in the people, places, and relationships behind the bottle.

Together, they created Hinsley Circle, a private membership designed to help people experience wine country more personally while creating a place to learn, connect, discover, and share a deeper appreciation for wine. 

Join Emily and Tyler for "Napa and France Through the Lens of Grenache," a Hinsley Circle virtual wine tasting on October 27th, 2026.

Kat is the Founder of kat&co, helping interior designers create streamlined, sustainable businesses. She is also the Founder of Back Office Design Support, providing flexible, behind-the-scenes operational support to interior design studios, and the Co-Owner and Director of Operations at Benchwork Fabrication, a custom furniture and millwork company serving the design industry. With a background in psychology and deep experience in creative business operations, Kat is known for navigating the intersection of creativity and systems with both strategy and empathy. Join her newsletter, The kat&co Download. 

Ellen Hockley is a three-time entrepreneur, small business consultant, community builder, and the founder of Ellen Hockley Consulting and SAGE Women. She guides female founders to build intuitive, values-driven businesses aligned with the life they want for themselves and their families. Join her Substack newsletter, ⁠The Quiet Wins⁠.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

01:00 Meet the Guests

01:30 How They Connected

03:40 Napa Banter

04:22 Meet Cute to Business

06:29 What Is Hinsley Circle

08:48 Napa Culture and Craft

10:07 Tyler Wine Journey

13:19 Ideal Members and Offers

14:56 Virtual Tastings Explained

17:24 Texas Wine Surprise

19:50 Consulting Origin Story

21:34 From Texts to Hinsley Circle

23:48 Bridge Between Guests and Wineries

25:13 Napa Trip Planning Reality Check

26:33 Locals Nights and Perks

27:57 A La Carte Itineraries and Add Ons

30:37 Wine Collection Chaos

31:33 Parting Wisdom Show Up

36:00 Where to Find Hinsley Circle

37:33 Final Wrap Up

In this mini-episode of 'Good Ideas + Bad Decisions,' Kat and Ellen tackle the week’s question: what business advice do they choose to ignore? Ellen shares why she tunes out people whose businesses and lives look nothing like hers, while Kat explains why she rejects “pick one lane” in favor of her interconnected ecosystem of overlapping businesses. They close by encouraging listeners to shrug off irrelevant opinions and build a business that fits their life.

Don't forget to⁠ submit your business questions⁠ for future episodes! 

Kat is the Founder of kat&co, helping interior designers create streamlined, sustainable businesses. She is also the Founder of Back Office Design Support, providing flexible, behind-the-scenes operational support to interior design studios, and the Co-Owner and Director of Operations at Benchwork Fabrication, a custom furniture and millwork company serving the design industry. With a background in psychology and deep experience in creative business operations, Kat is known for navigating the intersection of creativity and systems with both strategy and empathy. Join her newsletter, The kat&co Download. 

Ellen Hockley is a three-time entrepreneur, small business consultant, community builder, and the founder of Ellen Hockley Consulting and SAGE Women. She guides female founders to build intuitive, values-driven businesses aligned with the life they want for themselves and their families. Join her Substack newsletter, ⁠The Quiet Wins⁠.

In this episode of ‘Good Ideas + Bad Decisions,’ Kat and Ellen introduce their virtual assistant, Emma Martin, and dig into her career path and her approach to work. Emma shares how she left an academic track after earning an English master’s at the University of Chicago, discovered a love of archival work, and went on to earn a library science master’s at UT Austin while working as an archivist, including for the Texas State Bar. After moving to Chicago just as COVID-19 hit and facing uncertain prospects in archives, she temped, then landed in corporate telehealth marketing, where she realized her responsiveness and encouragement weren’t valued the way metrics were. That led her to start her own VA business (and an art practice), where she finds fulfillment in process-building, copywriting, and supporting a variety of clients. Emma also explains why she prefers to stay solo rather than scale, why relationships and soft skills matter so much, and how to reach her at emmamartin.biz.

Emma Martin is a Virtual Assistant, artist, and steadfast champion for her clients. She manages their Substack and LinkedIn presence so they don’t have to, helps them find the right words when they’re elusive, and brings order to the proverbial junk drawer. She creates and follows up on the to-do lists that so often become mental roadblocks. Emma does everything from editing podcasts to running Instagrams to sending the emails that fall through the cracks. 

She has supported solopreneurs, coaches, and consultants across the arts, wellness, academic, and political sectors, clearing their calendars so they can focus on the expert work they love.

Kat is the Founder of kat&co, helping interior designers create streamlined, sustainable businesses. She is also the Founder of Back Office Design Support, providing flexible, behind-the-scenes operational support to interior design studios, and the Co-Owner and Director of Operations at Benchwork Fabrication, a custom furniture and millwork company serving the design industry. With a background in psychology and deep experience in creative business operations, Kat is known for navigating the intersection of creativity and systems with both strategy and empathy. Join her newsletter, The kat&co Download. 

Ellen Hockley is a three-time entrepreneur, small business consultant, community builder, and the founder of Ellen Hockley Consulting and SAGE Women. She guides female founders to build intuitive, values-driven businesses aligned with the life they want for themselves and their families. Join her Substack newsletter, ⁠The Quiet Wins⁠.

00:00 Podcast Intro

00:47 Meet Emma

01:40 Academia Burnout

03:04 Archivist Life

05:06 Texas State Bar

06:36 Pandemic Move

09:52 Temp to Telehealth

11:43 Becoming a VA

14:32 Autonomy Talk

16:48 Names and Origins

17:45 Entrepreneur Parents

19:34 Mom’s Creative Hustles

20:29 Craft Store at Home

21:15 Paint and Sip Reality Check

22:24 Keeping Art and Money Separate

24:06 Scaling Without Buzzwords

26:19 Favorite VA Tasks

28:21 Career Wisdom Soft Skills

33:46 How to Hire Emma

35:45 Hosts Hype Emma and Farewell

38:03 Episode Outro and CTA

In this episode of "Good Ideas + Bad Decisions," hosts Kat and Ellen talk to Brittany Martin Déjean, a speaker and coach who helps people break free from FOMU, the fear of messing up, which shows up as perfectionism, overthinking, self-punishment, and "superficial confidence." Brittany explains how she helps clients map their unique "FOMU fingerprint" and interrupt the cycle through awareness, body-based noticing, and accepting outcomes as they come. She also shares her coaching offerings, including a reported 73% reduction in time lost to FOMU within one group, and talks about her "Intentional Joy Club," which is hosting a throwback '90s karaoke Zoom dance party on September 30.

Brittany Martin Déjean is a keynote speaker and coach who helps high achievers interrupt FOMU (Fear Of Messing Up), the cycle of overthinking, self-criticism, and shame around mistakes. Her work grew from 6.5 years at Airbnb, where she trained over 1,000 employees and hosts in disability inclusion and coined the term FOMU. A recovering perfectionist and Harvard alum, Brittany now helps clients reclaim their time, energy, and peace, with clients reducing time lost to FOMU by an average of 73%. She has spoken for organizations including Andersen, NBC Universal, and Deutsche Bank.

Check out Brittany's Spotify playlist!

Kat is the Founder of kat&co, helping interior designers create streamlined, sustainable businesses. She is also the Founder of Back Office Design Support, providing flexible, behind-the-scenes operational support to interior design studios, and the Co-Owner and Director of Operations at Benchwork Fabrication, a custom furniture and millwork company serving the design industry. With a background in psychology and deep experience in creative business operations, Kat is known for navigating the intersection of creativity and systems with both strategy and empathy. Join her newsletter, The kat&co Download. 

Ellen Hockley is a three-time entrepreneur, small business consultant, community builder, and the founder of Ellen Hockley Consulting and SAGE Women. She guides female founders to build intuitive, values-driven businesses aligned with the life they want for themselves and their families. Join her Substack newsletter, ⁠The Quiet Wins⁠.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:54 Ghost in the Computer

02:46 Meet Brittany Martin Déjean

03:59 Fear of Messing Up

06:11 Superficial Confidence Explained

10:40 White Knuckling and Body Stress

14:49 Breaking the Spiral Cycle

19:51 Rewriting What Mistakes Mean

21:05 Who Brittany Helps and How

25:16 Proof FOMU Works

26:14 Joy Through Line

28:13 Backstreet Boys Breakthrough

30:15 Karaoke Zoom Party Plan

31:09 Nostalgia Mini Experiments

33:36 Joy Club Invitation

34:45 Being Yourself Publicly

39:04 Make Joy Nonperformative

42:15 Parting Wisdom

43:41 Where To Find Brittany

45:06 Podcast Sign Off

In this mini episode of “Good Ideas + Bad Decisions,” Kat and Ellen ease into mid-September, comparing fall routines, back-to-school chaos, and their opposite work rhythms. Kat shares how business cards left at a coffee shop turned into a local Napa magazine feature. They get honest about the awkward side of business development, such as cold outreach, follow-ups, unsubscribes, and Ellen's small-steps approach to getting back into it. 

Don't forget to⁠ submit your business questions⁠ for future episodes! 

Kat is the Founder of kat&co, helping interior designers create streamlined, sustainable businesses. She is also the Founder of Back Office Design Support, providing flexible, behind-the-scenes operational support to interior design studios, and the Co-Owner and Director of Operations at Benchwork Fabrication, a custom furniture and millwork company serving the design industry. With a background in psychology and deep experience in creative business operations, Kat is known for navigating the intersection of creativity and systems with both strategy and empathy. Join her newsletter, The kat&co Download. 

Ellen Hockley is a three-time entrepreneur, small business consultant, community builder, and the founder of Ellen Hockley Consulting and SAGE Women. She guides female founders to build intuitive, values-driven businesses aligned with the life they want for themselves and their families. Join her Substack newsletter, ⁠The Quiet Wins⁠.

This week on “Good Ideas + Bad Decisions,” Kat and Ellen talk to Frenchie Ferenczi, a business strategist who's built a career out of doing a little bit of everything from hospitality, startups, consulting, and fractional work. She breaks down how she splits her time between fractional roles with Series A/B women's healthcare startups and advisory work for solo founders who need a real thought partner, not just another consultant. They also get into how Frenchie markets herself (hint: it's relationships first, social media second), and how a comedy class turned into performing stand-up weekly, working through sets on marriage, midlife, and motherhood. Plus, she offers her hard-earned advice on spotting "too good to be true" business promises before you fall for them.

Frenchie Ferenczi is a small business strategist, fractional executive, and growth advisor. Frenchie has worked with 1000s of independent entrepreneurs and brands like The Wing, Origin, Oula, NeueHouse, and more. 

Frenchie’s work has been featured in the Financial Times, Forbes, Fast Company, PIX11, and more. She lives in in New York City with her husband and their two young sons. 

Kat is the Founder of kat&co, helping interior designers create streamlined, sustainable businesses. She is also the Founder of Back Office Design Support, providing flexible, behind-the-scenes operational support to interior design studios, and the Co-Owner and Director of Operations at Benchwork Fabrication, a custom furniture and millwork company serving the design industry. With a background in psychology and deep experience in creative business operations, Kat is known for navigating the intersection of creativity and systems with both strategy and empathy. Join her newsletter, The kat&co Download. 

Ellen Hockley is a three-time entrepreneur, small business consultant, community builder, and the founder of Ellen Hockley Consulting and SAGE Women. She guides female founders to build intuitive, values-driven businesses aligned with the life they want for themselves and their families. Join her Substack newsletter, ⁠The Quiet Wins⁠.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

01:08 Meet Today’s Guest

02:37 Frenchie’s Career Path

03:40 Who Frenchie Works With

06:27 Explaining Value and Gender

08:42 Marketing Through Relationships

10:48 Getting Into Stand Up

12:40 Writing and Structuring Sets

17:05 Comedy Money and Perks

18:49 Comedy Scene and Persona

24:40 Integrity in Business

28:31 Stage Nerves and Warmups

31:29 Comedy Ambitions

32:35 Weekly Work Split

35:05 Delegation and VAs

39:55 Long Term Goals

42:09 Too Good To Be True

45:00 How to Connect

45:37 Coffee Chats Return

51:23 New Brand Logistics

57:53 Planning and Check Ins

01:08:13 Episode Wrap Up

In this mini-episode of 'Good Ideas + Bad Decisions,' hosts Kat and Ellen dive into the whirlwind of packed schedules, from squeezing in workouts to balancing parenting demands between meetings. Kat shares exciting updates, including a new client kickoff, a studio tour, and the launch of her Back Office Design Support brand, plus some quarterly filing logistics. The heart of the episode is their contrasting approaches to year-end planning, with Ellen favoring structured quarterly reviews and Kat leaning into flexible, monthly gut checks. 

Don't forget to⁠ submit your business questions⁠ for future episodes! 

Kat is the Founder of kat&co, helping interior designers create streamlined, sustainable businesses. She is also the Founder of Back Office Design Support, providing flexible, behind-the-scenes operational support to interior design studios, and the Co-Owner and Director of Operations at Benchwork Fabrication, a custom furniture and millwork company serving the design industry. With a background in psychology and deep experience in creative business operations, Kat is known for navigating the intersection of creativity and systems with both strategy and empathy. Join her newsletter, The kat&co Download.

Ellen Hockley is a three-time entrepreneur, small business consultant, community builder, and the founder of Ellen Hockley Consulting and SAGE Women. She guides female founders to build intuitive, values-driven businesses aligned with the life they want for themselves and their families. Join her Substack newsletter, ⁠The Quiet Wins⁠.

In this episode of "Good Ideas + Bad Decisions," hosts Kat and Ellen celebrate Ellen's birthday with a special guest: her dad, Cliff Hockley! Cliff is a 40+ year entrepreneur who co-owned a Portland, Oregon property management company founded in 1972 and sold about five years ago and now runs a real estate consulting firm. He walks through his early career, from lobbying to taking over a family business. He discusses scaling up to 100 employees, diversifying into residential, commercial, and a highly profitable condo division, and the operational risks and SOPs he built after early failures. He also covers staffing strategies, negotiating, and his advice to founders.

Cliff Hockley is Principal Broker at SVN | Bluestone and managing member of Cliff Hockley Real Estate Consulting, LLC, bringing 43 years of experience in real estate brokerage and management, including growing Bluestone and Hockley Real Estate Services into a 100-employee firm managing over $2 billion in assets before selling it in 2021. He has authored the book "Successful Real Estate Investing," publishes the QuickFacts newsletter to over 2,300 subscribers, and has coached real estate investors and CEOs nationwide since 2015. His civic contributions include board service with IREM Portland and the Rental Housing Alliance of Oregon, along with multiple industry honors such as IREM's Certified Property Manager of the Year and SVN International's brokerage achievement award. 

Kat is the Founder of kat&co, helping interior designers create streamlined, sustainable businesses. She is also the Founder of Back Office Design Support, providing flexible, behind-the-scenes operational support to interior design studios, and the Co-Owner and Director of Operations at Benchwork Fabrication, a custom furniture and millwork company serving the design industry. With a background in psychology and deep experience in creative business operations, Kat is known for navigating the intersection of creativity and systems with both strategy and empathy. Join her newsletter, The kat&co Download. 

Ellen Hockley is a three-time entrepreneur, small business consultant, community builder, and the founder of Ellen Hockley Consulting and SAGE Women. She guides female founders to build intuitive, values-driven businesses aligned with the life they want for themselves and their families. Join her Substack newsletter, ⁠The Quiet Wins⁠.

00:00 Podcast Intro

00:52 Birthday Banter

01:48 Meet Ellen’s Dad

03:10 Family Business Origins

04:38 Early Career Hustle

08:31 Buying the Company

11:55 Money Mindset Shift

13:56 Scaling Staff and Space

17:53 Diversifying the Portfolio

20:44 High Rise Operations

22:59 Condo vs Residential Profits

23:52 Offshoring Customer Service

26:43 Recruiting and Negotiation

28:33 Ethics and Internal Theft

30:13 SOPs and Fraud Controls

34:10 Anchoring in Negotiations

40:55 One Page Business Plan

43:34 Moderation and Overnight Rule

45:08 Closing and Podcast Outro

In this mini-episode of "Good Ideas + Bad Decisions," hosts Kat and Ellen celebrate Ellen’s birthday as Ellen shares stories from her 10-year anniversary trip to Italy with Danny. They talk gelato, Italian dining culture, and navigating food sensitivities while traveling. Kat also recounts a weekend concert experience, complete with live music and familiar faces.

Don't forget to⁠ submit your business questions⁠ for future episodes! 

Kat is the Founder of kat&co, a Creative Operations Consultant, and the Co-Owner and Director of Operations at Benchwork Fabrication. She helps interior designers and creatives turn ideas into streamlined, sustainable businesses. With a background in psychology and deep experience in creative business operations, she’s known for navigating the intersection of creativity and systems with both strategy and empathy. Join her newsletter, The kat&co Download.

Ellen Hockley is a three-time entrepreneur, small business consultant, community builder, and the founder of Ellen Hockley Consulting and SAGE Women. She guides female founders to build intuitive, values-driven businesses aligned with the life they want for themselves and their families. Join her Substack newsletter, ⁠The Quiet Wins⁠.