Building an Authentic Coaching Business with Katie O’Malley

Tim Melanson: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to today’s episode of the Work at Home Rockstar podcast. Excited for today’s episode. We have the founder and principal coach for Encourage Coaching, and what she does is she helps people figure out what they wanna be when they grow up. Now, I’m not quite grown up yet, I have to say, I’m not sure if you can help me yet, but, uh, I’m excited to be talking to Katie O’Malley today.

So, Katie, are you ready to rock?

Katie O’Malley: I am. I am ready to. Rock. Let’s do this, Tim.

Tim Melanson: Awesome.

So we always start off here on a good note. Tell me a story of success that we can be inspired by.

Katie O’Malley: Yeah. So for me, I think the biggest, uh, the biggest story of success in my life and the thing that I’m most proud of is, is taking the leap to go into business. For myself a full-time. And I did that in 2022. Um, it was the year I was turning 40, and I said, if I’m not gonna bet on myself [00:01:00] now, when am I gonna do it?

But that choice was, and the ability to do it actually was building over the, the course of four years. Um, and so i, I had been working in higher ed, higher education for about a decade, um, at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and I. Was doing that full-time, helping students in their career and leadership development, but wanted to make those services accessible that are typically reserved for prestigious institutions or employees who are working for companies with really deep pockets, really wanting to make those both, um, financially and culturally accessible to, to anyone who’s looking to develop and grow professionally.

And, um, from 2018, from when I. Uh, put up a website, got an LLC, didn’t have a marketing plan or any, any kind of thing, ready to go. Just if I build this, will anyone come? And [00:02:00] they did. Uh, and it turns out that if you offer folks, uh, quality service at a fair price and. Surprise and delight them along the way. Not only will they come back for other types of support in the future, but they’re gonna refer you to their friends and family and colleagues and community. Um, and when 2022 hit, I found myself working, uh, nine to five for the university, seeing private clients five to nine, and on the weekends and at the height of the pandemic.

I was okay with that because I’m like, what else am I gonna do other than watch Netflix, drink wine, eat frozen pizza, um, let me, let me help some folks while we’re all kind of stuck at home. But it became really difficult for me to be preaching work-life balance to my clients and knowing that as we were starting to come out of the pandemic, I was not practicing that myself.

And so that was one of the. The reasons for me, um, to put in my

resignation in january, [00:03:00] 2022 and said to myself, you know what, um, I have enough saved up to, uh, pay my mortgage, pay my health insurance.

If I don’t bring on a client again for the rest of 2022, I can try and make this work for a year and worst case scenario.

Go back to working for someone else in 2023, but wouldn’t you know what you can do for a small business when you can dedicate 40 to 50 hours a week to it? And now three, three plus years later, I am the most professionally satisfied and financially rewarded as I’ve ever been in, in my 20 year career. And so for me, this is, this is the biggest success.

Tim Melanson: Wow. That’s a great story.

Thank you

Katie O’Malley: Oh.

Tim Melanson: for sharing that. That’s so good. Yeah, and, and I like, I mean, hey, I’m all for people that wanna take a risk and burn the boats and, you know, not have a and a plan B and all that stuff. But on the other hand, I also like the temperate approach of having some money [00:04:00] saved up and having a sort of a backup plan if things don’t work out as well. So I, I know that’s what I did. I, I, I had. An idea of what I was gonna do if it didn’t work. So I do think that’s a

good way to do it. Right.

Katie O’Malley: Mm-hmm.

Tim Melanson: think that, do you think that that helps you in your confidence when you’re talking to people? Like do you feel like maybe if you didn’t have that, you might be a little more desperate?

What do you think?

Katie O’Malley: Yeah, I think, I mean, absolutely when speaking with prospective clients, either on discovery or exploration calls, um, there’s a deep knowing inside me that what I have to offer works and, and truly helps. People and transforms their lives, but also the confidence of knowing it’s okay if it’s not for them right now or if I’m not for them.

Right? The relationship between a helping professional and the client is one of the most important things. So sometimes it’s just a, a mismatch in an approach or personality. [00:05:00] Um, but yeah, I really do feel a sense of. I want you to want to work with me. Um, and much to the chagrin of my, my business coach, also Canadian.

Um, he’s like, Katie, everyone needs to be signing on the dotted line. I’m like, no. They’ll come back to me when, when, and if they’re ready. I’m not gonna start a relationship in this kind of pushy, salesy way That’s. It’s supposed to be a relationship based on trust. Um, and I also have the self-trust to know, um, if that client doesn’t wanna move forward with me and another one will.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Yeah. Well, it’s, uh, I mean, hey, taking it back to music. Not everybody likes country music, but the people that do love it, right? And, and I mean, that’s just it. I mean, if you were to just be upset and go like, oh, you know what?

We played so well. How come they don’t like me? I. You could be really good at what you do, but they’re just not into the music that you’re playing.

Right.

Katie O’Malley: Yeah, same for a job seeker.

[00:06:00] Same for a job seeker, um, or Canada on the job market. Yep.

Tim Melanson: Yeah.

And, and I think, uh, and I think that’s the thing is that we, I mean, we’re all human, right? And we, and especially when we have a business, we sort of like see that as a, a baby, you know, and we get really personal about it and oh, they don’t like me, all that kind of stuff.

But on the other hand, you know, that’s a lot of energy that you’ve just spent towards people that just don’t like country music,

Katie O’Malley: Yeah. Yeah. And it it

Tim Melanson: there’s lots of do.

Katie O’Malley: Yeah, and it, I think it starts to become, in terms of the messaging that I’ve put out, people either resonate with that message that I am consistently putting out there or not. And if they resonate with it, they’ll reach out. And if they don’t, they won’t. Um, but I think that’s an important piece too, getting consistent about what you’re sharing.

With folks, whether it’s on social media, through email campaigns, in person, um, because what you’re gonna put out is the type of person you’re gonna attract. So make [00:07:00] it authentic and genuine. Um, and you won’t find if country music isn’t your thing, um, but you won’t be drawn in those country music lovers.

Tim Melanson: Well, and that, and that’s a good point to make because really the faster you can sort of distinguish or figure out what kind of music they like, the better it is for you. Right? You can sort of like not spend time on the people that are just have no interest in working with you. ’cause you already know that they don’t like that anyway.

Right?

Katie O’Malley: For sure.

For sure. A hundred percent.

Tim Melanson: So you gotta definitely a success mindset. So I’m sure everything goes perfect for you and you have no bad notes. Right?

Katie O’Malley: Uh, lies Tim.

Tim Melanson: Cool. Can you, can you share something that didn’t go

well and we

Katie O’Malley: Yeah.

And it’s, um, so when, when you introduced me, I do, I, I help people figure out what they wanna be when they grow up, but I also help people who love what they’re doing and want to

lead teams, um, or organizations. Right?

And so in the same [00:08:00] way I do career coaching, also do leadership coaching. And one of the things that’s so essential to being an effective leader is having, uh.

A deep self understanding and a willingness to continue to, to deepen your self-awareness. And oftentimes that requires confronting things about who you are and how you move through the world that are less than, less than ideal. Um, and often, often a shadow side. And for me, I. Um, you know, when, when I’m under stress, but as humans in general, when we’re under stress, we don’t self-monitor as well.

It’s just simply not the priority. The priority, um, for our nervous system and our bodies is to be not stressed and it’s gonna put all of its effort and energy and attention there. And so. Back in, back in September, so just about six months ago, um, there was an attempted break in to my home and woke up that morning, um, with just, I sleep with a sound machine that’s really [00:09:00] loud, so I didn’t know this was happening.

Um, with all of these text messages from neighbors, phone calls from neighbors, um, damage that had been done. Um. You know, to the home, and it was a Monday, Monday morning, right?

I’m trying to start my work week and obviously an experience like that is going to really disorient, um, someone’s someone’s nervous system.

And Tim, I knew. I need to not work today, send any emails today, talk to anyone today. I just need to take care of myself and perhaps for the rest of the week. Right. Um, and I knew that, and it’s what I would’ve told anyone that I worked with in leadership coaching. I. To, to do you, you are allowed to take breaks.

We are humans who happen to work and lead, not leaders and workers who happen to be human. And I did not do that. And so as I was walking into the police station, um, [00:10:00] to report the crime, I saw this message come in from a team member that was, um, newer, newer to me, was in the process of merging my company with another, with another company.

And, um. It was, or let me, let me back up. The email was from a prof prospective client saying, hey, we had a call at nine. I’m on the Zoom, where are you? And I’m looking at my calendar being like, there’s nothing on my calendar. So I reached out to the team and I was like, Hey, this meeting wasn’t on my calendar isn’t on any of yours.

And one of my team members reached out and was like, yeah, it’s on. I’m gonna call her Deborah. It was on Deborah’s calendar. Um. And so sent an email to Deborah and just shot it off right from the hip standing outside the police station. And even Tim, as I was typing it, I’m like, don’t send it. Like, why would you send this?

Um, I was like, you’ve jeopardized my professional [00:11:00] reputation. I’ve lost credibility with this client, which means they’re likely not gonna sign on with me, and you’ve cost me X dollars. Please respond to this email as soon as you get it. Now, um, she’s living two hours behind in California, so it’s only 7:00 AM there.

Um, and then she missed another call. Um, and I doubled down and sent another email because it happened in like a 15 minute window. Um. And just looking back on that moment, I couldn’t believe that I had so little self-control one. Um, not that people should not be held accountable for their actions and not doing what they say they’re gonna do, but not in the way that I did it.

Right.

And so, um, had to then, uh.

Shoot a third email with an apology and really turning toward her to attempt to repair. And this is before she’s even gotten back to me, [00:12:00] right? So she’s gonna be waking up

Tim Melanson: Oh yeah.

All these messages from you.

Katie O’Malley: boom. Um, I’m like, that doesn’t feel great either. And, um, I, I think to your point, like, oh, you do this for a living, you just do it all so perfectly.

No, I don’t, I just engage in. These, uh, malpractices less frequently, but when I do, it’s still really big, really charged, and it’s something that I, I continue to work on. Um, let me pause there. Was that responsive?

Tim Melanson: Yeah.

Katie O’Malley: Okay.

Tim Melanson: Wow. Okay. So have you sort of, what have you learned, I guess from that? From that experience?

Katie O’Malley: A, a couple of things. One, um, being crystal clear about expectations. Right, so this was a newer team member to me. My expectation is if you have a discovery call, [00:13:00] you are on Zoom five minutes. Before that discovery call starts, right? Um, and things like checking your calendar before you go to, not before you go to bed, but before you finish work the night before so you know what’s coming up, um, for, for the next day.

And also just shooting me a note with the discovery calls that you have upcoming because I don’t see them on my calendar. And that way I can be. Really flexible, right? Um, in case I needed to hop on for any reason, but I didn’t do any of those things. I was like, it’s pretty clear. Get on Zoom, follow the script.

Um, and so that, that was the other failure of leadership on my part because it, I think it’s Brene Brown who says, um, clear is kind, unclear, is unkind. And I had not been clear with this person about what my expectations were.

Um. So that, yeah, that was one of one of my biggest [00:14:00] learnings.

Tim Melanson: Wow.

Well, it’s, I think it’s amazing. It’s, it is a, it’s very, uh, self-aware to kind of like put it on you eventually, because in the end, you’re right, this person did drop the ball. It was their fault.

You had nothing to do with any of that stuff, but you did it.

Katie O’Malley: Right, And. When we, so Simon’s Neck always says they call us leaders because we go first. And that includes, um, taking accountability first, being vulnerable first.

And what I tell folks, because they’ll often be like, but. To your point, Tim, they messed up. They were the one who messed this up and you’re just letting them off the hook.

And I’m like, no, when we go first, what happened when I did that was I got an email response that thanked me for, you know, I’ve, I. I have been in workplaces where there is this kind of outlash and have never been on the receiving end of an apology, [00:15:00] or someone taking accountability or responsibility for how they showed up.

Thank you for showing me that leaders and managers do have the capacity to do this. And I wanna own my part of this. Um, I should have never accepted a call at 9:00 AM central time when I’ve got two kiddos and I’m living in California and I need to get them off to school. Right? So because I went first, they were able to reciprocate.

It was almost like an in issuing an invitation.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. That’s amazing. And I think you’re right. I think there’s this, this, I don’t know. I, I think people feel weak when they make the apology. I don’t know. And. They wanna feel strong, they wanna feel like they’re in control and all that stuff, but it, it makes a big difference, like you just said.

I think that most, because so few people do it, it makes even more of an impact, right?

Katie O’Malley: Mm-hmm. Exactly. Exactly. And you used an important word there, control.

And for someone who will be a lifelong [00:16:00] recovering perfectionist, Tim.

Tim Melanson: Yeah.

Katie O’Malley: I sent those emails. The, I wanted to feel a sense of control over something in a moment where I felt no sense of control and no sense of safety in my own life. This was my way of, of doing that.

But did I get there in the seconds before I hit send? No, I did not.

That, that, that awareness came afterward.

Tim Melanson: do you know what, what I find, uh, so I’ve been using chat GPTA lot for stuff, for stuff like this. And I’ll tell you, uh, it is. It is, it’s kind of funny actually because I, I’ll take a, an email that I’m about to write and I’ll, I’ll take that email, just cut, paste it in the chat, GPT and see what it says, and it’ll rewrite it in a very nice way.

And I’m like, did I sound bad?

Is that how I’ve been sounding the whole time? ’cause they, I just, it just writes it in such a, a, a levelheaded [00:17:00] way. And I think, I think that to your point, like we, I mean we’re, we’re running this business all on our own. We’ve got lots of stresses coming in and out. And the way we react to our clients when we’re rea, when we’re reacting to the clients has a lot to do with what’s going on with us right then.

And we might not even see it.

Katie O’Malley: Right.

Tim Melanson: At least you saw it, but, but sometimes you don’t even see it. You’re like, oh, I’m a little, that’s a little edgy. That’s because I’m feeling a little edgy right now. Right?

Katie O’Malley: Right.

Exactly.

Exactly. And we are, I, I always tell folks, um.

Everything is a feeling before it’s a thought.

Everything is a thought before it’s a behavior, so we actually have two opportunities to interrupt whatever we’re about to do to do it. Like you said, in a more even keeled, balanced way, that’s actually becoming of who we are and not our.

Dark side, derailing side, shadow side, right? We have choice. Our [00:18:00] feelings and emotions are not directives for how we have

to show up. And people will often say, well, isn’t it inauthentic? Then I’m like, no, we are feeling creatures first. And what I always say is, it’s whatever. Allows you to feel, to your first question, that sense of success, right, will be what is authentic and what is genuine.

And for me, success is being an effective, being an

effective leader. And I had the opportunity to make a different choice in that moment, and I didn’t. And that’s on me.

Tim Melanson: So, okay. Now here’s the, the unfortunate thing I guess, or fortunate I don’t know, is that when you’re a solepreneur, when you’re running your own business, I mean, you, yes, you can take some, a vacation, but you also have to wake up every day and, and deal with, with this. And sometimes you might not. Maybe nothing huge happened, but you just might not [00:19:00] feel it.

Right, but you still have to show up. Right. Is there like practices, is there anything that you do to like start your day to make sure that when you’re showing up for your clients, you actually have the energy to show up for them?

Katie O’Malley: Yeah, it’s, so for me, this might sound counterintuitive, but, um, the two things that I do every morning to give myself energy one. Walk the dogs. Um, there is one sitting behind me on that couch and another who’s sitting on the chair behind me. So getting in a good walk with them and then hopping on the peloton, and both of those things really help to reset not just my body, but also my mind and provide, provides some clarity.

I also think the practice of self-compassion is really important on those days. Um. So for example, if, if we go back to that moment, I probably had 10%, um, to give on that day as a [00:20:00] business owner, as a coach, as an entrepreneur. Um, and if I had been able to give 10% on that day, I would’ve given a hundred percent of everything that I have to give.

Right. And being able to recognize, yeah, I gave everything that I had today. Tomorrow I might be, be back up to 90 or a hundred percent, but today I have to. Acknowledge and accept, right? It’s this radical acceptance around this is actually what I’ve got. How can I use that effort, energy, and attention most effectively.

Um, and just, you know, dr. Kristen Neff, who is, I call her the mother. Of self-compassion. Um, she does her research at the University of texas at austin where I used to work.

Um, and for folks who struggle with self-compassion and are like, well, but if I tell myself it’s okay, if I didn’t achieve X, Y, and Z, then I.

Aren’t I just never gonna achieve anything? And then I say, well, think about, you know, when [00:21:00] you have either a child or a friend who didn’t quite hit the mark that they were moving toward. Are you saying nasty things to them and telling them they’re no good and they’re never gonna amount to anything and their businesses?

No, of course you’re not. Saying that you’re being really encouraging. Um, and it’s so important that we find ways to turn that back, that same compassion back onto ourselves.

That’s, that’s the other key point,

Tim Melanson: You can’t change the past. The past is already gone, so the only thing you, I guess, you could do is just try to make sure that you improve. But if you’re beating yourself up, then how are you gonna improve? Right?

Katie O’Malley: right?

Right.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. It seems, yeah, it’s, but I, I don’t know. I guess, I guess that’s not something that you just learn or like a lot of people don’t, right.

Katie O’Malley: No, no. I mean, we were never taught that in school. I mean, we had no social and emotional learning in the eighties and [00:22:00] nineties in schools. That’s, uh, for, for the younger folks listening, um, that is something that got introduced, um, mid to mid to late two, two thousands. Um, and so, yeah, especially for folks older millennials, gen X, um, this. Idea of self-compassion is something very much worth looking into.

Tim Melanson: Although I think, uh, the, the, you know, the eighties and the nineties, the school of hard knocks like.

Katie O’Malley: Yeah,

yeah. Oh, no, for sure.

Tim Melanson: right, like the feedback came real swift when you, uh, when you did something back at the eighties that you shouldn’t have been doing like lawn darts and all that stuff. Like, come on, the things we used to do was crazy, but, um, but on the other hand, you know, you learn real quick, right?

You didn’t have to put a warning on a, you know, a a, a glass of coffee tank. You knew it [00:23:00] was hot,

Katie O’Malley: right. Or do not eat this Tide pod.

Tim Melanson: Yes. Or do not eat this Tide pod. Yes. So there’s somewhere in between, I think, right? That we, we’ve, I think we, I, I think, I do think actually kind of swung the opposite direction. I think we sort of like went, whoa, like this is crazy what we’re doing all

the way over here. And now I, I’m hoping that it’s kind of like

correcting itself somewhere in the middle, right?

Katie O’Malley: I think, I think we’re making, we’re making our way there

for for sure. And it’s part of how young folks build confidence and, and efficacy, right? Is let me go test this out, experiment with it instead of, oh, that’s too dangerous or that’s unsafe. When there are things that are. Um, overtly dangerous and unsafe and other things that just aren’t.

So an example being, I was listening to armchair expert with Dak Shepherd, um, a few weeks back and he had a [00:24:00] psychologist on who is basically saying if the children in your school aren’t getting. Bumped and bruised on occasion on the playground, then they don’t have enough freedom and autonomy. They are too.

They’re playing it too safe.

Um,

and not learning, like you said, um, how we did in the eighties and nineties, how to be able to set those boundaries for themselves. And then as adults will be constantly looking for people to set those boundaries, put up those guardrails for them instead of being able to do it themselves.

Tim Melanson: Yeah,

I agree. So now you’ve mentioned so many people that you’ve been learning from, which is awesome. And um, like, so like, it sounds to me like, like do you, do you hire people? For that too? Or are you just a big reader? Like how do you learn what you know?

Katie O’Malley: Yeah, so I think, I think a big part of it for me was going back to school at 30 to earn my master’s degree in counseling. ’cause I really wanted to help people at the [00:25:00] intersection of mental health and work.

Um, and during that time just realized how much I love learning. Like if I could be a student for the rest of my life, I would 100% do that.

And so my favorite ways to learn. Um, listening to podcasts, listening to, I say books on tape, just ’cause that’s how we grew up with it. Um, but, but listening to, to books from people who are giants in the field of leadership, education, organizational development, um, organizational psychology. And then attending, attending conferences.

Um, there is so much great learning that can happen there and I’ve found a lot of the best resources that I have. A seed gets planted at a conference I leave and then go start doing the research to do a deeper dive. And that’s where a lot of this information that I’ve been sharing with you and your [00:26:00] audience comes, comes from or what it resulted from.

Not meaning to name drop too much, just trying to. Some good resources and avenues for folks.

Tim Melanson: So where do you, where do you find time to watch tv?

Katie O’Malley: Um,

so I do do that at night. Um, snuggled up under my weighted blanket, um, which are really just my two dogs. They are, they’re my weighted blanket.

Um, and it’s really probably just an episode of something a night. It’s like my wine downtime from eight to nine and then nine to 10, nine to nine 30. Um, get, get ready for bed.

So last night it was white lotus. Um, I only like to watch one series at a time and really invest in it. So I just finished season two of Severance and started, um, started the new White Lotus last night.

Tim Melanson: Okay.

Well, I, I, I gotta say though, now with streaming services, it’s so much better than before when they used to like lock you in on primetime tv. You had to watch [00:27:00] it at that time, right?

Katie O’Malley: Oh my gosh. Yeah, that, um, it allows for that flexibility and it’s the, it’s the thing that I think most people are looking for, um, in their, in their next job or in their career, is having that flexibility of time, um, to be able to work when works. For them, um, less about remote, hybrid in person.

Are you treating me like an adult?

Are you giving me agency and autonomy to make the decisions about my work?

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Yeah. Well I think that’s why a lot of people become self-employed in the first place is because they want that

freedom. Right?

Katie O’Malley: Yep.

A hundred? Yes. Mm-hmm.

Tim Melanson: And, and

then,

and then the irony of it is you end up working a lot more, don’t you?

Katie O’Malley: Oh yeah, I almost, um, I almost had my mug with me this morning that says my boss is an asshole. Um, because it’s, it’s true. Um, the way that I. The demands that I put on [00:28:00] myself, um, are not the same demands that I would put on a team member, but it’s because it’s my, like you said, my business, my baby. I love it.

Live and breathe it. Um, but yeah, I can be not self-compassionate all the time or forgiving either. So we’re all, all working, working toward that.

Tim Melanson: Yeah,

absolutely. But, uh, but I mean, it does offer you that flexibility that you can move things around and, you know, I think that that’s where, um. That, that’s where I think, especially if you’re trying to raise children or anything like that, like, I mean, you miss so much. Like if you have to work nine to five and you can’t go to the recitals and all the other kind of stuff, like there are teacher interviews, like there’s so many things that you have to like really work hard to get to, you know, as a, an employee.

Whereas when you’re self-employed, you do have some flexibility to move things around. Girl, you might be working at midnight, but you, you could still, you could still do that, [00:29:00] right?

Katie O’Malley: Hun, a hundred percent. And it is, it’s one of the big reasons that I left. Um, I just wanted not only to have that flexibility, but to set my own benchmarks for success and not have a carrot dangled in front of me. I. To reach it, only to have it moved again. Right. I’m determining what success looks like, what those rewards look like, what those benefits look like, that work for me in my life because work needs to elevate our life outside of the work that we do, not the other way around.

Tim Melanson: Yeah.

And, and I think for people that are, that are very productive as well, like it, the, the office. I know it’s been so long since I’ve been in an office, but I, I just found that, um. I could get so much done in, in an hour, in a couple hours, and some people would just drag that out the whole day. It was just like they were trying to waste time.

And it just drives me mental doing that.

[00:30:00] Like, so I think for when you, uh, when you work for yourself, you’re paid on productivity, the more you get done, you’re not, it has, it has nothing to do with how many hours you spend.

If you can get the same amount done in a half hour, go for it. This means you just got a massive raise, right?

Katie O’Malley: exactly. Exactly.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, so it is time for your guest solo. So tell me what’s exciting in your business right now.

Katie O’Malley: Oh my gosh. So the thing I am most excited about is my TEDx talk. That is, that is coming up this summer. Um. I, it is one of the goals that I set for myself, Tim, as, as a marker for success, is being viewed as someone who is, um, enough of a subject matter expert or has enough brilliance or a great idea to share, to be invited to, to deliver a, a TEDx talk.

And so I’ll be doing that in Boston in, in June. And, uh. Um, I just, [00:31:00] gosh, I can’t wait to share all about it, but the, the theme of this particular conference is invisible threats. Um, and the idea being what are the things that we can’t see, um, that actually might be coming along in the future down the pike to cause us to cause us harm as humans and.

Because I’ve been trained to listen for a living. I’m talking about that side of the communications equation that often gets forgotten. And this idea and reminding folks that when we listen, we’re not closing the door to our own idea, to our own perspective.

Perspective, we can have two, two doors open at the same time, right?

Um, and what we know is listening changes lives, and those changed lives can change the world. Whether that is their household, their community, their state, the country. And so can’t wait to share my, my perspective on listening some, some tips, tricks and tools, especially around the mindset [00:32:00] for it as well.

Tim Melanson: That’s amazing. So is this like a recorded thing? Is it gonna be available afterwards?

Katie O’Malley: Yeah. Yeah. So it’ll be on the TED site, um, likely July, 2025. Um, yep. It just takes a, a few weeks to go through the, the production and then they fact check everything that we say before they go put it, put it on the main site.

Tim Melanson: wow. That’s awesome. Well, I’m so excited for you. That’s gonna be so much fun. Are you like, are you scared of public speaking? Like is this something

Katie O’Malley: Oh, no, no. It’s actually one of the ways, um, one of my main marketing, uh, methodologies is actually public speaking, doing workshops, meeting people through, through conferences and

associations. And so it’s something that, that I actually love to do, but I, I am nervous about this particular one.

Yes.

Tim Melanson: excited.

Katie O’Malley: Excited.

Yep. The, the tipping point between excitement and anxiety

is a razor’s edge.[00:33:00]

Tim Melanson: Absolutely. Well, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. I’m so excited. Like I, I’m so excited for you. ’cause those, those are so much fun. Those performances are great.

Katie O’Malley: Yes.

Yes.

Tim Melanson: you feel like a rockstar to be on a nice stage like that. Right?

Katie O’Malley: Yep.

Yep. I will have, I will have that feeling that I am sure you have had hundreds of times.

Um.

Tim Melanson: Awesome. So how did we find out more about you then?

Katie O’Malley: Yeah, so one of the, the best places to go is our website Encourage coaching.org. Um, you can also find me on the socials at Encourage Coach Chicago, um, or LinkedIn, Katie O’Malley. It’s where we post a lot of our great research and content for job seekers and employers alike.

Tim Melanson: And so who would be the, you know, the person that would get the most out of working with you then?

Katie O’Malley: Yeah, I think there, there, there are two types of individuals. So the first, like you introduced to me with folks who can’t quite figure out what they wanna be when they grow up, [00:34:00] and this isn’t reserved for folks who are in college or just out of college. Um, my works.

Spans the, the spectrum of developmental, developmental age across the lifespan.

And so for folks who really want to have their talents and strengths and values aligned with what they do and not currently in that space, or even in a toxic work environment,

y’all would get a lot out of working with me, but also folks who are. New people, leaders, or are struggling to lead their team right now in this very kind of chaotic, uh, labor market.

Um, leadership coaching is, is also super, super beneficial.

Tim Melanson: Wow.

Awesome. That sounds so cool. So Katie, I’m wondering, do you have a favorite rock star?

Katie O’Malley: I do it is, sir. Well, he’s not a sir. I call him sir. Uh, David J.

Matthews.

Tim Melanson: David J.

Matthews? I, I don’t think I’ve heard of him

Katie O’Malley: Oh, Dave Matthews, Dave Matthews

[00:35:00] band.

Tim Melanson: Oh, the Dave Matthews band? Absolutely.

I didn’t know his

middle Ling was Jay

who follow him

around in the nineties.

Katie O’Malley: I still follow him around now every year. Um, and my assistant will see my email. She’s like, I’m gonna take away your credit card when it is ticket purchasing season. You are not allowed to go any to any more shows this year.

Tim Melanson: Oh yeah.

He’s got expensive shows, doesn’t he still?

Katie O’Malley: It’s, um, it very reasonable compared to the taylor Swift and beyonces of the world. Not that those women have not earned every penny, um, but uh, more, more accessible.

Tim Melanson: That’s so funny.

When I was learning guitar, I was learning in the nineties, and I actually learned from The Beatles and Dave Matthews. Those were the two bands that I played the most music from. So his early, early albums under the table and, uh, the crash album where the ones that I listened to, I stopped listening a little bit after that.

Uh, maybe I should get back into ’em then.

Katie O’Malley: get, get back into it.

Um, the [00:36:00] new albums are, are different, but still great. Um, and it’s.

It’s music, right? It’s instrumentation and, um, it’s, I just find it beautiful. And if you ever, if you have any recordings of you covering his songs, I’d love to hear them, Tim.

Tim Melanson: I think I probably do.

Katie O’Malley: Okay.

Tim Melanson: Awesome.

Well, thank you so much for rocking up with me today, Katie. This has been a lot of fun.

Katie O’Malley: I, I agree. Um, and, and can’t wait to, to see where, where you go next with the podcast, but also your, your career in music.

Tim Melanson: Oh,

thank you so much. And to the listeners, make sure you subscribe, rate and comment. And if you want more information, go to workathomerockstar.com and we’ll see you next time.