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Shine The Spotlight On Kate Danielle Hardin
Kate Danielle Hardin is the founder of Kate Danielle: Creative Income for the Mom Life. Her mission is to inspire moms to “Think Like a Boss and Play Like a Mom.”
She has turned her creative passions into a passive income business with her online styled stock photos and brand shop.
She provides resources to teach and encourage other entrepreneur moms to follow their passion of building a business, while still having freedom and flexibility that moms need.
When she isn’t in boss mode, she can be found in the backyard running around with her toddler and collie.
Tell us about you, your family, and when you started your business.
I’m Kate Danielle, an introverted southern girl with big creative dreams. I have been married to for almost 8 years.
My husband is also an entrepreneur, which has been a blessing to have someone who gets it. We have a free spirited 3-year-old daughter and a very spoiled golden border collie.
I started my first business in 2010 as a photographer. But as life changed so did my dreams and goals. This year I launched my new website katedanielle.com which focuses on building creative income for the mom life.
Why did you decide to build your own business?
KateDanielle.com is new main hub for my business. I started it because when I became a mom, of course, my life changed.
I found I no longer had the patience that I felt was being required of me as a wedding photographer. But I still had the passion to have my own creative business.
Three years ago I turned to Etsy and opened up my first shop with handmade products. As I was blessed with more and more orders, I now had a very active toddler on my hands. I began to see the problem with scaling this business.
It was taking more and more of my time. While it is still a side project for me and we are exploring the options of hiring help, I decided to focus on passive income.
In 2016 I picked my camera back up and opened a styled stock photography shop on Etsy, Kate Danielle BE. I needed a business that was going to fit into my life instead of life fitting around my business.
In 2017 my old photography domain was just sitting there collecting dust and I felt the nudge to do something with it. So Kate Danielle, Creative Income for the Mom Life was born. My mission is to equip other like-minded moms to “Think like a Boss + Play Like a Mom.”
I do this through providing branding tools from my shop, brainstorming exercises to figure out what to sell, and coming soon will be free tutorials and courses on how to design and create products.
What does your typical daily schedule look like?
Currently my daughter is with me most days (but she will start half-day preschool in August!) I do most of my work after she goes to bed and occasionally before she gets up.
My husband will block off 1-2 days a week for me to work depending on how many client meetings he has. He is great about giving me time whenever his schedule allows.
In full transparency, his business pays the majority of bills so right now. It just works that way so he gets the majority of the work week.
On my full work days, I start my day with my quiet time and coffee. Then if I have not already listed out my tasks in trello, I take time braindumping all the things I would like to get done. Which is normally
- work on blog content
- fill Etsy orders
- reply to emails, etc.
If I need to do a photo shoot, that trumps all other task that can be done at night. Anything that doesn’t get done I work on in the evenings.
What is the biggest obstacle you face when it comes to being a working mom running her own business?
This goes without saying but I never stop being “mom.” What I mean by that is, to my family, I am the person with the answers, the fixer of all toddler, dog (and sometimes daddy) problems.
To be honest, sometimes I am the one who can’t stop myself from stepping in. So to overcome this I remove myself. I either go work at Starbucks, or lock myself in the office, with headphones in.
What is your superpower?
If you asked my friends, I believe they would say something about my creativeness. I have struggled with knowing or believing in my “superpower.”
For others that have the same struggle, my advice is to start interacting in Facebook groups and notice what questions you are so excited about and moved to answer.
Doing that has shown me that I a lot to say about visual elements. So my super power would be design related, which has positives and drawbacks. I spend way too much time on anything visual in my business.
So my super power would be design related.
Give us your best time management tip!
Schedule and plan everything. I know that may make people cringe. As a very laid-back, right-brained person I still struggle with this ALL OF THE TIME.
Without a plan, I tend to waste time trying to remember or decided what I need to do next. I also have a tendency to squirrel away and get distracted with a new idea if I don’t have a clear plan.
I recently did a time management series of interviews for my blog and one thing I have started to implement from the advice is scheduling focused time with my daughter. So I know, I’m not checking social media, doing the dishes, or any other random task during that time.
What do you listen/watch/read to get yourself motivated in your business?
I listen to tons of podcasts: Boss Mom, Strategy Hour, All Up in Your Lady Business, just to name a few.
**The links to the books Kate recommends are affiliate links. This means I will receive a commission, at no cost to you, if you purchase the books through my link.
Books I love are Make it Happen and The Miracle Morning.
Tell us where we can find you and support you in your business journey.
Website: katedanielle.com
Shop: etsy.com/shop/KateDanielleBE
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