Episode 065: Turning Your Offline Business to Online Income

Kate Crocco learned entrepreneurship from her family. So when her job as a therapist became draining, starting her own practice made perfect sense. Today she shares her story of going from burned out therapist to private practice to booked out mindset coach online.   Kate had entrepreneur parents who flipped houses and a dad who was a pastor.  She knew that she wanted a job, but she wanted to have a business on the side. Even today her parents do not see themselves as entrepreneurs.  It is just what they do. Early on her and her husband purchased an income property while she was working her social work job.  The property was just to bring in some side money. When they first started, they had one building that they were renting out to her husband’s brothers and one tenant. They are now on their 5th property.  Her husband is still working his corporate job while trying to achieve this dream in property management. Kate originally wanted to be a teacher but after student teaching she knew that it was not for her.  She traded to phycology and went on to graduate school after being pushed by a teacher. Her first job was working with children in foster care doing home visits in the Bronx.  She liked it, but she knew if she continued this she would not be able to have kids. She moved to working with adults because she felt less responsibility. On the side, she would see clients.  She filled her practice and was able to quit her job. When you are early on, it is normal to have to be doing things that are not in your realm of genius.  Kate almost quit her business many times because she seconded guessed herself many times. Kate’s advice is JUST START.  She just started googling. She built everything from nothing.  She was self-taught and found all of the free resources that she could.  She would listen to pod casts. Her first investment was a $59 a month website.  It was scary to her as little as it sounds. Once you find that return, invest a little more.  She found a place to sublet on a Saturday for $30 a month.   Kate next built a website, that she was even scared to tell people about.  Within a few months she started making good money on the weekends. She felt like she was doing good, was not rushed like at the clinic, and could actually help people.   In those few months she matched her 9-5 income just on the weekends, so she took the leap of faith and left her job.   She built a successful in person business, and then Kate decided to transition some into the online world.   Once she took the leap, everyone wanted to talk about how she did this.  Kate had the thought that she did not have time to help everyone. She saw that she could charge for coaching these ladies how to build their own business.  She followed Mareen Moore, she took a class, and felt very pulled to share her story and make money from it.   She realized she could start coaching women instead of just having therapy sessions. To Kate, starting an online business was actually much more difficult than starting a local business.  In her location and private practice, she had a special niche that no one around her actually had. In the online space, everyone is nailed down and very specific to their niche. She started by seeing clients for free and just called herself a life coach.  She realized that most of the ladies were struggling with growing a business. This was just natural for her to help.  She knew that she needed to help women get the right mindset. She did not want to be a business coach. She wanted to be a mindset coach. In her business, Kate just follows what feels good and what is in her zone of genius.   Today, she no longer has the in person private practice.  She only does online coaching classes. She is now a mom and only works 20 hours a week. She truly believed that to be successful you had to work all the time.  Kate has learned to be comfortable in her space. The growth and inspiration comes when you give yourself some fun.   You do have to hustle at some point to grow your business, but eventually getting to the point where you have time and space is huge.