BE the Sought-After Entrepreneur Podcast

Kathryn Thompson

Did you know that 93% of communication is non-verbal? Yet, the marketing industry is saturated with teaching entrepreneurs brain-based content marketing strategies–logical, psychological, and analytical. However, when your energy is magnetic, it’s the most irresistible force in any crowd without you saying a word.Listen in as Kathryn Thompson, a creative rulebreaker, award-winning marketing and communications expert, and the Founder of Creatively Owned, goes against the grain and shows you how to finally BE seen, heard, and a sought-after entrepreneur without having to spend endless hours marketing your business and chasing clients.BE the Sought-After Entrepreneur podcast is here to help you ditch the cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach to marketing and use your unique energy to effortlessly attract the most aligned clients. When you do this, you can spend less time marketing your business and more time doing your soul work and enjoying the richness of your life.If you’re ready to tap into a more powerful way of BEing to attract more clients and create instant appeal for what you’re selling, tune in weekly to BE the Sought-After Entrepreneur podcast. Like what you hear? Subscribe to the show!

  1. 1d ago

    How to Navigate a Major Life Pivot Without Losing Yourself

    What if the reason you're struggling to move on isn't because something is wrong with you, but because no one told you that grief belongs in every ending — not just the devastating ones? What if the pressure to "find your next thing" is actually what's keeping you stuck? In this episode, Kathryn unpacks a question that came to her via DMs about navigating major life pivots — the kind that require letting go of an identity, a career, a business, or a relationship. Drawing from her own experiences leaving a 15-year corporate career, closing a brick-and-mortar business, and ending a complicated family partnership, Kathryn explores why we beat ourselves up during transitions and why self-criticism only deepens the wound. BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL DISCOVER: ● Why every ending — whether it's leaving a corporate career, closing a business, or walking away from a relationship — carries an element of grief that looks different for everyone, and why trying to rush, fix, or bypass that grief (what Kathryn calls spiritual bypassing) only gives it a stronger grip on you. ● How true acceptance of what you're feeling — the anger, the resentment, the doubt — is not the same as staying stuck in it, and why the moment Kathryn stopped fighting her emotions after selling her brick-and-mortar was the same moment those emotions began to loosen their hold on her two years into the process. ● Why the concept of "identity death" feels limiting and even energetically harmful, because everything you've lived — the failed relationships, the businesses that didn't go as planned, the careers you outgrew — is all part of one continuous, unfolding story that doesn't get erased when a chapter ends. ● How releasing the all-or-nothing pressure to immediately "find your next thing" and instead opening yourself to a wide field of possibility — even if that means writing for a magazine or taking a contract on Upwork — can dissolve financial pressure, create unexpected momentum, and give you the breathing room to figure out what genuinely excites you next. And while you're here, follow us on Instagram @creativelyowned for more daily inspiration on effortlessly attracting the most aligned clients without spending hours marketing your business or chasing clients. Also, make sure to tag me in your stories @creativelyowned. https://www.instagram.com/creativelyowned/ Start using Wispr Flow, the crazy handy voice-to-text AI that turns speech into clear, polished writing in every app. Click here. https://ref.wisprflow.ai/kathryn-thompson Get Blotato, the content engine I use that combines 8-apps-in-1 to streamline content creation across multiple platforms. Click here. https://blotato.com/?ref=kathryn Find out how to own your unique edge, amplify who you truly are and get paid for it, take your business to cosmic proportions, and have fun doing it, grab it here!! https://www.creativelyowned.com/quiz Build your own quiz using Interact Quizzes, click here. https://get.tryinteract.com/n6e4h5axroph Join The Selling the Invisible AI Lab, a curated membership for founders who want to discover how to use AI in their business. https://creativelyowned.com/ai-lab

    How to Navigate a Major Life Pivot Without Losing Yourself
  2. Nov 3

    Why You Can't Measure Quality Without Data (And What to Track Instead)

    Are you putting in the effort but not seeing the ROI you expected? Are you making marketing decisions based on gut feelings alone and wondering why nothing seems to stick? Kathryn dives into one of the most overlooked blind spots in entrepreneurship — the gap between intuition-led decision-making and data-informed strategy. Many entrepreneurs pride themselves on posting quality over quantity, following their gut, and staying creative, but without a baseline of data, there's simply no way to assess what's actually working or why. BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL DISCOVER: ● Why posting quality content without tracking even basic metrics means you have no real way of knowing whether your two posts a week — or your viral reels — are actually moving people closer to your offers or just generating empty engagement. ● How Kathryn's 90-days-to-data framework works as a full creative experiment — where quantity becomes the vehicle for gathering the insights you need to eventually post with precision, purpose, and informed confidence. ● Why research tools like Perplexity AI can completely reshape your marketing strategy by revealing where your audience actually consumes information — like the busy executive audience that preferred curated newsletters and in-person events over LinkedIn scrolling by a significant margin. ● How making emotionally-driven, uninformed pivots at the 21-day mark — switching platforms, rebranding your title, or overhauling your funnel — wastes far more energy than simply staying the course long enough to let real data guide your next move. And while you're here, follow us on Instagram @creativelyowned for more daily inspiration on effortlessly attracting the most aligned clients without spending hours marketing your business or chasing clients. Also, make sure to tag me in your stories @creativelyowned. https://www.instagram.com/creativelyowned/ Start using Wispr Flow, the crazy handy voice-to-text AI that turns speech into clear, polished writing in every app. Click here. https://ref.wisprflow.ai/kathryn-thompson Get Blotato, the content engine I use that combines 8-apps-in-1 to streamline content creation across multiple platforms. Click here. https://blotato.com/?ref=kathryn Find out how to own your unique edge, amplify who you truly are and get paid for it, take your business to cosmic proportions, and have fun doing it, grab it here!! https://www.creativelyowned.com/quiz Build your own quiz using Interact Quizzes, click here. https://get.tryinteract.com/n6e4h5axroph Join The Selling the Invisible AI Lab, a curated membership for founders who want to discover how to use AI in their business. https://creativelyowned.com/ai-lab

    Why You Can't Measure Quality Without Data (And What to Track Instead)
  3. Oct 27

    Why Creative Incubation Is the Missing Step Between Strategy and Sales

    What if the reason your marketing falls flat isn't your strategy but the step you're skipping before you execute it? What if the pressure to launch quickly is actually the very thing choking the creativity that makes your message land? In this episode, Kathryn pulls back the curtain on a process she learned during her years in the advertising and branding world — one that most online marketing frameworks completely leave out. Drawing on her experience in high-stakes creative rooms, agency consulting, and rebrands for major organizations, she introduces the concept of "killing puppies" — a powerful ideation process that gives ideas room to breathe before they're refined, tested, or scrapped.  Kathryn makes the case that marketing is inherently an art form, and that the cookie-cutter, checklist-driven approaches so prevalent in the online space strip out the very creativity that makes brands magnetic, memorable, and distinctly yours. BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL DISCOVER: ● Why the fast-track, "0 to 10k months" messaging so many entrepreneurs have bought into keeps them trapped in a perpetual survival cycle — one that leaves no room for the creative incubation that actually produces resonant, high-converting marketing ● How Kathryn's advertising agency practice of "killing puppies" — where entire teams would ideate freely, step away without commitment, and return to poke holes from every angle — can be adapted by solopreneurs and small teams to produce far more original, energetically aligned campaigns ● Why marketing done in isolation almost always falls flat, and how building even informal feedback loops — trusted peers, warm audiences, past clients willing to hop on a 30-minute call — functions as your own version of a focus group before you invest heavily in execution ● How giving yourself a canvas of guardrails around your offer, marketing function, and sales strategy — and then throwing the rulebook out within that canvas — is what separates a truly creative brand from one that sounds exactly like everyone else And while you're here, follow us on Instagram @creativelyowned for more daily inspiration on effortlessly attracting the most aligned clients without spending hours marketing your business or chasing clients. Also, make sure to tag me in your stories @creativelyowned. https://www.instagram.com/creativelyowned/ Start using Wispr Flow, the crazy handy voice-to-text AI that turns speech into clear, polished writing in every app. Click here. https://ref.wisprflow.ai/kathryn-thompson Get Blotato, the content engine I use that combines 8-apps-in-1 to streamline content creation across multiple platforms. Click here. https://blotato.com/?ref=kathryn Find out how to own your unique edge, amplify who you truly are and get paid for it, take your business to cosmic proportions, and have fun doing it, grab it here!! https://www.creativelyowned.com/quiz Build your own quiz using Interact Quizzes, click here. https://get.tryinteract.com/n6e4h5axroph Join The Selling the Invisible AI Lab, a curated membership for founders who want to discover how to use AI in their business. https://creativelyowned.com/ai-lab

    Why Creative Incubation Is the Missing Step Between Strategy and Sales
  4. Oct 20

    The Sales Tactics That Actually Close Deals (Without the Heavy Convincing)

    Are you exhausted from over-explaining your offer on every sales call, feeling like you're doing all the convincing while conversions stay frustratingly low? What if the problem isn't your sales skills at all but rather a missing marketing foundation that's leaving your sales function to do all the heavy lifting? In this third installment of a powerful three-part series, Kathryn breaks down the critical distinction between the marketing function and the sales function, and why confusing the two is quietly killing conversions for coaches, consultants, and course creators. By the time someone reaches your sales conversation, they should already want what you're offering. BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL DISCOVER: ● Why urgency and scarcity, when used truthfully and with real deadlines or limited spots, can trigger a flood of payments the moment the cart opens — as Kathryn experienced firsthand when she sold out 24 spots in under 48 hours to a waitlist of only 36 people. ● How price anchoring (communicating the emotional and tangible worth of a result before revealing the price) differs from price positioning and value stacking, and why missing this one step is the real reason buyers say "I don't have the time or money." ● The overlooked strategy of pairing bonuses directly with offer-specific objections — like tech fears, editing resistance, or showing-up-on-camera hesitation — so that every bonus on your sales page actively dissolves a barrier rather than just piling on perceived extras. ● Why keeping one offer, one call to action, and one simple pipeline is the move for any solopreneur who hasn't yet validated their funnel, and how adding tiers, upsells, and downsells too early creates complexity that exhausts both seller and buyer before a single sale is made. And while you're here, follow us on Instagram @creativelyowned for more daily inspiration on effortlessly attracting the most aligned clients without spending hours marketing your business or chasing clients. Also, make sure to tag me in your stories @creativelyowned. https://www.instagram.com/creativelyowned/ Start using Wispr Flow, the crazy handy voice-to-text AI that turns speech into clear, polished writing in every app. Click here. https://ref.wisprflow.ai/kathryn-thompson Get Blotato, the content engine I use that combines 8-apps-in-1 to streamline content creation across multiple platforms. Click here. https://blotato.com/?ref=kathryn Find out how to own your unique edge, amplify who you truly are and get paid for it, take your business to cosmic proportions, and have fun doing it, grab it here!! https://www.creativelyowned.com/quiz Build your own quiz using Interact Quizzes, click here. https://get.tryinteract.com/n6e4h5axroph Join The Selling the Invisible AI Lab, a curated membership for founders who want to discover how to use AI in their business. https://creativelyowned.com/ai-lab

    The Sales Tactics That Actually Close Deals (Without the Heavy Convincing)
  5. Oct 13

    The Marketing Function: How to Create Desire, Demand, and Urgency for Your Offers

    Are your marketing efforts building an audience that loves your content but never actually buys? What if the missing piece isn't your offer or your sales ability but the function of marketing itself? In this episode, Kathryn dives deep into the critical distinction between marketing and sales, and why confusing the two is likely killing conversions for so many entrepreneurs. Using real-world examples from her own brick-and-mortar wine business — including a barrel club that sold out in minutes with only 40 people on her list — she unpacks what it actually means to build desire and demand before you ever ask for the sale. BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL DISCOVER: ● Why building a massive audience can actually work against you if your marketing function isn't simultaneously creating desire and demand — not just awareness — so that by the time someone lands on your sales page, they're already sold on the offer and only looking for minor details to confirm their decision. ● How Kathryn grew a hyper-converting email list of just 700 buyers in her brick-and-mortar wine business and used strategic seasonal promotions, an exclusive barrel club, and a carefully structured announcement to create collective urgency that had people calling in within minutes of an offer going live. ● Why relying on your sales page or sales calls to do the selling means you've already missed the mark and how to restructure your marketing function so it's doing the real selling long before any conversion event ever takes place. ● How to create authentic, non-manipulative urgency around your offers by designing promotional periods with real deadlines, clear communication, and an event-like energy that compels your audience to act — the same way Taylor Swift concert tickets sell out the moment they drop. And while you're here, follow us on Instagram @creativelyowned for more daily inspiration on effortlessly attracting the most aligned clients without spending hours marketing your business or chasing clients. Also, make sure to tag me in your stories @creativelyowned. https://www.instagram.com/creativelyowned/ Start using Wispr Flow, the crazy handy voice-to-text AI that turns speech into clear, polished writing in every app. Click here. https://ref.wisprflow.ai/kathryn-thompson Get Blotato, the content engine I use that combines 8-apps-in-1 to streamline content creation across multiple platforms. Click here. https://blotato.com/?ref=kathryn Find out how to own your unique edge, amplify who you truly are and get paid for it, take your business to cosmic proportions, and have fun doing it, grab it here!! https://www.creativelyowned.com/quiz Build your own quiz using Interact Quizzes, click here. https://get.tryinteract.com/n6e4h5axroph Join The Selling the Invisible AI Lab, a curated membership for founders who want to discover how to use AI in their business. https://creativelyowned.com/ai-lab

    The Marketing Function: How to Create Desire, Demand, and Urgency for Your Offers
  6. Oct 6

    Why Your Offer Isn't Selling (And It's Not Because You Need More Reach)

    What if the reason your offer isn't converting has nothing to do with how many people see it and everything to do with how you're talking about it? What if the very thing you're leading with is actually the thing pushing buyers away? In this episode, Kathryn breaks down the critical layers most coaches and consultants skip entirely when communicating their offer and why jumping straight to what you do, how you deliver it, or even your transformational promise is costing you buyers before they ever get to the sale. She walks through the difference between the big idea, the mechanism, the value proposition, the offer, and positioning — five distinct elements that work together to build instant buy-in, especially with colder audiences who don't already know, like, and trust you. If you've been relying on referrals and word-of-mouth but want more consistent, predictable client attraction, this episode is exactly where to start. BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL DISCOVER: ● Why leading with your mechanism — the how behind what you do, whether that's breathwork, inner work, or a specific methodology — before establishing your big idea causes buyers to mentally check out before their belief has had a chance to shift, leaving you losing the sale before you ever made the pitch. ● How the big idea and mechanism work as an inseparable pair, where the big idea reframes the problem your buyer has been stuck in (like "you can't lead anyone further than you can lead yourself") and the mechanism is the named, specific reason your approach works when everything else they've already tried simply hasn't. ● What a true value proposition actually looks like — not a list of features, call counts, or deliverables, but a clear articulation of the dream outcome, who it's for right now, and why it's different, weighed against perceived likelihood, time delay, and effort in a way that's honest and ethical rather than engineered to manipulate. ● Why positioning isn't about what makes you different but where you sit in the buyer's mind relative to every other option including doing nothing — and how shifting from "I'm a virtual assistant" to "I'm who you call when the business has outgrown the founder's head" is the kind of precision that turns inconsistent referrals into a magnetic, scalable brand. --- And while you're here, follow us on Instagram @creativelyowned for more daily inspiration on effortlessly attracting the most aligned clients without spending hours marketing your business or chasing clients. Also, make sure to tag me in your stories @creativelyowned. https://www.instagram.com/creativelyowned/ Start using Wispr Flow, the crazy handy voice-to-text AI that turns speech into clear, polished writing in every app. Click here. https://ref.wisprflow.ai/kathryn-thompson Get Blotato, the content engine I use that combines 8-apps-in-1 to streamline content creation across multiple platforms. Click here. https://blotato.com/?ref=kathryn Find out how to own your unique edge, amplify who you truly are and get paid for it, take your business to cosmic proportions, and have fun doing it, grab it here!! https://www.creativelyowned.com/quiz Build your own quiz using Interact Quizzes, click here. https://get.tryinteract.com/n6e4h5axroph Join The Selling the Invisible AI Lab, a curated membership for founders who want to discover how to use AI in their business. https://creativelyowned.com/ai-lab

    Why Your Offer Isn't Selling (And It's Not Because You Need More Reach)
  7. Sep 29

    The Hidden Fear That's Keeping You From the Success You Crave

    What if the very thing you say you want – the visibility, the recognition, the abundance – is the same thing your nervous system is secretly terrified of? And what if watching other women get torn down publicly is reinforcing a fear you didn't even realize was running the show behind the scenes? In this episode, Kathryn unpacks a deeply vulnerable and culturally relevant conversation sparked by a viral online controversy in the coaching world – one that has far less to do with who's right or wrong, and everything to do with the hidden fear of success that lives inside so many heart-led, mission-driven entrepreneurs. Kathryn explores the fine line between judgment and discernment, the difference between reacting and responding, and why neutrality is a valid — and often underrated — choice. If you've ever quietly hoped you wouldn't go viral, this episode will hit home. BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL DISCOVER: ● Why watching public controversy unfold online can secretly reinforce a deep-seated fear of success that keeps heart-led, highly sensitive entrepreneurs shrinking, playing small, or relying solely on referrals rather than pursuing the visibility and recognition they truly crave — even when they know they have the capacity for so much more. ● How the instinct to judge, defend, or take sides in online drama often reveals something more personal and unresolved within ourselves — like Kathryn's own gut reaction of "finally, the truth is coming out" about a former mentor who called team members losers and ruled through control rather than genuine empowerment. ● Why building the internal capacity to hold discomfort, misunderstanding, and public criticism — rather than trying to avoid it altogether — is the real work required to rise into greater success, and why many people at high levels of visibility may appear resilient but are actually operating from hardness rather than true emotional depth. ● How mob mentality, echo chambers, and the collective demand for immediate reactions and perfect apologies create an environment where no one can get it right — and why stepping outside that noise is often the most grounding and clarifying move you can make for yourself and your business. And while you're here, follow us on Instagram @creativelyowned for more daily inspiration on effortlessly attracting the most aligned clients without spending hours marketing your business or chasing clients. Also, make sure to tag me in your stories @creativelyowned. https://www.instagram.com/creativelyowned/ Start using Wispr Flow, the crazy handy voice-to-text AI that turns speech into clear, polished writing in every app. Click here. https://ref.wisprflow.ai/kathryn-thompson Get Blotato, the content engine I use that combines 8-apps-in-1 to streamline content creation across multiple platforms. Click here. https://blotato.com/?ref=kathryn Find out how to own your unique edge, amplify who you truly are and get paid for it, take your business to cosmic proportions, and have fun doing it, grab it here!! https://www.creativelyowned.com/quiz Build your own quiz using Interact Quizzes; click here. https://get.tryinteract.com/n6e4h5axroph Join The Selling the Invisible AI Lab, a curated membership for founders who want to discover how to use AI in their business. https://creativelyowned.com/ai-lab

    The Hidden Fear That's Keeping You From the Success You Crave
  8. Sep 22

    Why Driving More Traffic Won't Necessarily Fix Your Plateau (And What To Do Instead)

    Are you pouring more resources into reaching new people, yet still watching your numbers stagnate or slip? What if the real problem isn't how many people see your offer, but what happens after they enter your world? In this episode, Kathryn breaks down one of the most costly misunderstandings founders make when trying to scale – the belief that more traffic is the answer to a plateau. She unpacks why driving more people through a leaky funnel only amplifies what's already broken, and why the real leverage lies in optimizing what you already have before expanding your reach. BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL DISCOVER: ● Why increasing your ad spend or chasing more traffic when your funnel has unresolved gaps will amplify every crack in the system rather than generate the consistent conversions you're hoping for and what optimization actually looks like when you slow down and get truly curious about the data. ● How audience misalignment like selling personal branding to a fitness-built following creates an invisible ceiling on conversions that no amount of reach or volume can overcome, and why identifying this mismatch is the essential first step before changing anything else. ● Why your top-of-funnel messaging, your mid-journey conversion points, and your bottom-of-funnel sales copy each require a distinct approach, and how collapsing these stages together (like expecting a quiz opt-in to directly sell a high-ticket offer) creates the exact fragments that quietly kill your results. ● How getting obsessively nerdy about why something isn't working — drilling into traffic sources, conversion timelines, and audience quality rather than generalizing that it "just didn't work" — is the skill that separates founders who scale sustainably from those who stay stuck throwing spaghetti at the wall. And while you're here, follow us on Instagram @creativelyowned for more daily inspiration on effortlessly attracting the most aligned clients without spending hours marketing your business or chasing clients. Also, make sure to tag me in your stories @creativelyowned. https://www.instagram.com/creativelyowned/ Start using Wispr Flow, the crazy handy voice-to-text AI that turns speech into clear, polished writing in every app. Click here. https://ref.wisprflow.ai/kathryn-thompson Get Blotato, the content engine I use that combines 8-apps-in-1 to streamline content creation across multiple platforms. Click here. https://blotato.com/?ref=kathryn Find out how to own your unique edge, amplify who you truly are and get paid for it, take your business to cosmic proportions, and have fun doing it, grab it here!! https://www.creativelyowned.com/quiz Build your own quiz using Interact Quizzes, click here. https://get.tryinteract.com/n6e4h5axroph Join The Selling the Invisible AI Lab, a curated membership for founders who want to discover how to use AI in their business. https://creativelyowned.com/ai-lab

    Why Driving More Traffic Won't Necessarily Fix Your Plateau (And What To Do Instead)
5
out of 5
26 Ratings

About

Did you know that 93% of communication is non-verbal? Yet, the marketing industry is saturated with teaching entrepreneurs brain-based content marketing strategies–logical, psychological, and analytical. However, when your energy is magnetic, it’s the most irresistible force in any crowd without you saying a word.Listen in as Kathryn Thompson, a creative rulebreaker, award-winning marketing and communications expert, and the Founder of Creatively Owned, goes against the grain and shows you how to finally BE seen, heard, and a sought-after entrepreneur without having to spend endless hours marketing your business and chasing clients.BE the Sought-After Entrepreneur podcast is here to help you ditch the cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach to marketing and use your unique energy to effortlessly attract the most aligned clients. When you do this, you can spend less time marketing your business and more time doing your soul work and enjoying the richness of your life.If you’re ready to tap into a more powerful way of BEing to attract more clients and create instant appeal for what you’re selling, tune in weekly to BE the Sought-After Entrepreneur podcast. Like what you hear? Subscribe to the show!

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