We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Drea Kattan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Drea below.
Drea, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
As the eldest daughter, I struggled for years with constantly feeling like I had to meet everyone else’s expectations of me: be the perfect daughter, the straight-A student who goes to the right school with the impressive engineering major… likeable but not superficial, successful but humble… It was a 24/7 effort to be “ON”. Until my junior year of college, when I got mono. And suddenly, I couldn’t even get out of bed to go to class much less exceed expectation. It shattered my sense of worth and confidence, because who I was had been defined by what I could do and be to others. Years of unlearning and healing later, and I’ve never been more confident in who I am. I want you to like me, but I won’t lose sleep if you don’t.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
When I first started online in 2020, I was juggling a Fortune 50 Operations Manager role, working 50-60 hour work weeks, on-call after hours and on weekends, and chasing “work life balance.”
Blogging and social media became my creative outlet. And I LOVED it. But I quickly learned that running a brand on social media is a hamster wheel. You check one task off the list only to have it pop back up again next week. My process engineering hat was screaming at me that there’s a better way for coaches than to stay in the “doing.”
As the face of your brand, you are your business’s most valuable asset. Your time, energy and attention have a cap. And when you’re at capacity… so is your impact.
At Scaled Impact OBM, we’re on a mission to help you scale through systems, team, and execution so you can create limitless impact while working less.
You should be able to take a spontaneous Tuesday off. DURING a launch. Because you can.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Critical thinking – Things won’t go to plan. And there’s no shortage of strategies online (and not all of them are FOR you). The ability to think through a situation, access discernment, and build an action plan is crucial in business.
2. Kindness – It’s easy to be kind when everything is good, but who are you when it’s hard? Being kind always wins. No one is out to get you and you never know what people are going through. Assume the most generous intent of people, meaning: until proven otherwise, they think the world of you. When you start looking for the best in people, you start seeing it. You show up in a different energy. And that energy attracts more good things coming your way.
3. Staying Power – There will always be a new, shinier strategy. A new, shinier business model. A reason to second guess everything and burn it all down. But pivoting every 3 weeks is the surest way to NEVER build momentum. Momentum requires staying power. Even when it’s boring. Even when you don’t have proof it’s working. Staying power is how you become known for what you do and how people trust you to show up.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
My community. You need a village. We aren’t meant to do entrepreneurship alone. But you also can’t wait around for the business besties you want. You get to take action to create that circle. Look for networking groups. Show up. Follow up with people. Ask for virtual coffee dates.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://scaledimpactobm.com
- Instagram: @scaledimpactobm
Image Credits
Kassie Maher of Market With Kassie – only for the image with the phone (texting). All other photos are with a tripod.
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
