Nearly every interior designer, stager, window specialist, and organizer has a Google Business Listing. If you don't, you need to set one up immediately.

Not only does your business get placed on the map when people are looking for your specific set of services in their local area, but it's also a place to collect client reviews and share photos, events, and blog posts. Having a completely filled-out Google listing for your business enhances your credibility.

However, most people don't take full advantage of their Google Business Listing. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing eight ways you can optimize your listing for the specific goal of increasing your website traffic. Once those leads are on your website, it is your website's job to convert them (so you'd better have a good one!). But let's start at the very beginning. You have the unique opportunity to tell the biggest search engine on earth how to help new leads find you. Let's take advantage of this top the max, shall we?

No one is an overnight success, yet some people have had their success brewing steadily on the back burner for years before really cranking up the heat and stepping into the spotlight. Interior designer Sara Lynn Brennan is no exception. I might be biased, as my agency has had the honor of working with Sara off and on throughout the years, but I do think she is a stellar example of what you can accomplish when you take ownership of your own success, ignore the naysayers, and let your passion fuel you. Today, I'll be asking Sara in-depth questions regarding the story behind her success, her ideal client, and her systems and processes. If you are just getting started in your interior design business or you feel stuck in a rut with your business of several years, this episode of The Kate Show is for you.

Today on The Kate Show, I have the huge honor of introducing a new online tool created by my dear friend and confidant, Michele Williams. Her online financial dashboard tool makes it kindergarten-easy to actually understand the budgets, trends, and health reports of the money in your business. If you're like me and don't have "a head for numbers" — or you're just sick of analyzing spreadsheets and like to be efficient — welcome to Metrique, the financial dashboard for service-based businesses.

Sustainable, non-toxic building materials are hot right now...and will be trending for all the right reasons for the foreseeable future. As your clients become more attuned with protecting their homes from carcinogens and other chemicals often found in flooring, your need to source from reputable retailers will only increase. Whether you focus on biophilic interiors, green design, or just want to be done with off-gassing materials, you need to consider using Revel Woods hardwood flooring for your next project. Today on The Kate Show, I'm quizzing Revel Woods founder, John Dupra, on exactly why and how his company decided to partner exclusively with interior designers to develop their own lines of this ethically-sourced, sustainable, non-toxic hardwood.

Do you wish your interior design, home staging, professional organizing, or window treatment website would get more traffic? Optimizing your website for search engines is a must. However, search engine optimization (SEO) isn't just about using the right keywords.

SEO also includes making sure your website loads quickly, is mobile-friendly, accessible to those with eyesight disabilities, and easy to navigate. Navigation requirements include putting buttons and headlines in the right places...using enough of them, but not overcrowding the screen.

If you've been told that having good SEO means adding new pages to your website for each location that you serve or that you need to pay for vague services like keyword monitoring, you need to hear this episode. Today on The Kate Show, I'm busting five SEO myths that are hurting home industry professionals like you.

I've been building my business for over eight years, and scaling has been the plan for about the last six of them. A few years into scaling, I had numerous other business people say things like..."That idea won't work." Or, "How are you able to offer these services at such a streamlined rate? My team would need to charge at least $1,000 per month for blog posts, email marketing, and sales funnels. It's really suspicious."

Well, any good business coach will tell you that each service you offer should have its own repeatable, well-documented process. Not only does this keep you on track with a good handle on your schedule, your capacity, and your income, but it also makes services easier to hand off to team members or freelancers. Add a few automated systems in the mix and, boom, you're well on your way to scaling! Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing practical ways you can set up systems and processes in your home industry business so that you can operate as a soloprenuer or small team without drastically limiting your revenue potential.

Today, I'm talking about geofencing: What it is and when you would or would not want to implement this advertising technique in your business. This topic was suggested by my agency's wonderful client and good friend in real life, Georgiana Schwandt. Georgiana runs Incredible Windows here in Wisconsin...as her third career. ?? Her energy is inspiring and her work ethic is extraordinary. She's always keeping her hand on the pulse of the dynamic home industry, and I wasn't at all surprised that she knew about geofencing and wanted me to discuss it.

Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the success secrets that our ideal clients have used again and again to go from basically broke to barely finding enough time to drink their morning coffee. If you've questioned whether having a great website, consistent email marketing, and even a solid blogging strategy will actually grow your business, hold on tight.

Have you ever considered starting a podcast? I've been contacted by a few of you who are actively planning the launch of your podcasts and feel confused about the technical side. Plus, you're wondering what to do if you run out of things to say. (You won't, by the way. ??) And you're curious how important sponsors are.

Today on The Kate Show, I'm answering all your questions regarding podcasting. Let's jump right in!

It isn't every day I get to host an accomplished, award-winning interior designer on the podcast, and Michelle Lynne did not disappoint. With her Texas charm and no-nonsense approach to business, she and I hit it off the moment we first met back in Palm Springs last fall.

I wanted to have Michelle on the show because: 1) she runs a profitable design firm without a huge team, and 2) she bases her design business coaching on the principles she had to learn the hard way. The best lessons come from mistakes — and could that mean learning from the mistake negates the mistake itself? To a point, yes, and that is what good entrepreneurship looks like.

A successful business isn't born overnight, easily, or automatically.

A business, be it in design or staging or organizing, is built successfully by a business owner who is humble enough to pivot when things aren't working and brave enough to charge forward when things get difficult.

And they WILL get difficult. That's the nature of business. Michelle is inspiring because she's currently "in the moment" with running two businesses, maintaining a marriage, and raising a toddler. Her design business has survived many economic ups and downs, and her coaching company seeks to help you scale and do the same.