In today’s episode, we had the pleasure of chatting with Katie Brinkley, a former sports journalist turned social media entrepreneur. Katie’s story is an inspiring one, as she shares her journey of how she fell into the world of entrepreneurship and created a thriving social media agency.

Katie’s background in sports reporting, including working as a postgame reporter for the Broncos and the Rockies, provided her with valuable skills and a love for being on air. However, when she was unexpectedly laid off from her job as a marketing manager, she found herself at a crossroads. It was during this challenging time that she discovered her true passion for social media and decided to create her own agency.

Starting as a solopreneur, Katie hustled for three years before taking her business to the next level. She invested in a coach, launched her podcast, and hired her first assistant. Now, four years later, Katie proudly leads a team of seven individuals, with three full-time employees and a group of dedicated contractors.

Key Moments

[00:02:16] Laid off. Boss suggested social media role.

[00:05:17] Changing careers, gaining valuable experience for leadership.

[00:09:18] Working hard, burning out, kids, school.

[00:11:28] Delegation and timely communication keeps me awake.

[00:13:40] Mountains are my happy place, always present.

[00:16:37] LinkedIn and Instagram for business networking.

Find Katie Online

https://www.katiebrinkley.com/waitlist

https://www.facebook.com/iamkatiebrinkley

https://www.instagram.com/iamkatiebrinkley

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiebrinkley

If you’re enjoying Entrepreneur’s Enigma, please give us a review on the podcast directory of your choice. We’re on all of them and these reviews really help others find the show.

GoodPods: https://gmwd.us/goodpods

iTunes: https://gmwd.us/itunes Podchaser: https://gmwd.us/podchaser

Also, if you’re getting value from the show and want to buy me a coffee, go to the show notes to get the link to get me a coffee to keep me awake, while I work on bringing you more great episodes to your ears. →  https://gmwd.us/buy-me-a-coffee

Follow Seth Online:

Seth | Digital Marketer (@s3th.me) • Instagram: Instagram.com/s3th.me

Seth Goldstein | LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/sethmgoldstein

Seth On Mastodon: https://s3th.me/pch

Seth’s Marketing Junto Newsletter: https://MarketingJunto.com

Transcript (Provided by CastMagic.io)

Seth [00:00:00]:

Entrepreneurs Enigma is a podcast for the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, the wins and the fails that we all face being entrepreneurs. How we learn from adversity. Every week, I talk to a different entrepreneur with a story to tell. I’m Seth Goldstein. Come with me on the journey. This is Entrepreneurs Enigma. Let’s get started. Hey, everyone.

Seth [00:00:31]:

Welcome to another edition of the Entrepreneurs Enigma podcast. I’m your host, as always. Hasn’t changed in, I don’t know, 200 episodes, something like that. Today I have Katie Brinkley, who is a social media agency founder. She is a digital marketing coach and consultant, a professional speaker, a Rocky Mountain marketer. She’s out in the great state of Colorado, Mile High. So thinner air up there, but doesn’t slow her down at all. She trains business owners and teams on how to optimize their online presence to add clients, increase revenue, and grow their online personas.

Seth [00:01:10]:

She’s an expert on this. She’s very prolific on LinkedIn, Instagram, as you would expect, because she does this for a living. Hey, Katie. How’s it going?

Katie [00:01:20]:

I’m good. How are you doing?

Seth [00:01:22]:

Not too bad. This is exciting. We had kid issues before. Scheduling podcasts is always hard.

Katie [00:01:29]:

You know, life, man, life is life is crazy.

Seth [00:01:36]:

So how did this adventure all get started? Have you always been an entrepreneur? Have you always wanted to be an entrepreneur, or has it not always been that way?

Katie [00:01:44]:

Yeah, I mean, I kind of fell into the world of entrepreneurship. I think that a lot of looking back on it. I’m like, of course I ended up being an entrepreneur. I planned on being a sports journalist. That was my job. I was the postgame reporter for the Broncos and the Rockies here. It was great. I mean, I loved you know, I moved into the world of marketing and was the marketing manager for the Colorado Rockies TV station.

Seth [00:02:14]:

Oh, that’s fun.

Katie [00:02:16]:

I know. And then seven years ago, I was laid off. My position was eliminated, and it stunk. I was not planning on it. My boss and I remember sitting in my boss’s office and I said to her, I’m like, man, Jen, I don’t know what I’m going to do. She said, Well, Katie, you’re so good at social media. I would love to see you find a role where that’s all that you do is just social media. And I was like, well, let’s see if I can find that’s been it’s been seven years.

Katie [00:02:51]:

I found it. I created an agency, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Seth [00:02:55]:

So is it just you? Are you a solo practitioner? Do you have a team?

Katie [00:03:00]:

So for the first three years of my business, it was just me. I was a solopreneur. And then in 2020, I went to social media marketing World, and I wanted to start a podcast. I really wanted to just learn the strategies so that I could take my business to the next step and I invested in a coach, and from then I launched my podcast, hired a coach, and hired my first assistant.

Seth [00:03:28]:

Oh, wow.

Katie [00:03:29]:

My assistant is still with me. It’s been four years.

Seth [00:03:33]:

Well, you’re doing something right.

Katie [00:03:37]:

Exactly.

Seth [00:03:37]:

You get the right camaraderie going and stuff. That’s awesome. So is it just your assistant or do you have more people too now?

Katie [00:03:45]:

It’s a team of seven.

Seth [00:03:46]:

Oh, wow. That’s pretty impressive.

Katie [00:03:51]:

Yeah, I have three full time employees, and then the rest are contractors. But I love my team. I love doing what I do, and I really can’t imagine doing anything else now.

Seth [00:04:03]:

That’s wild. And I guess it gives you, like I guess we’ll go into that right now. What’s the best thing about being an entrepreneur versus working for the Rockies? Those sounds like awesome jobs.

Katie [00:04:15]:

Yeah, I know. Totally. A dream job. I would go and sit yeah, I would sit in the seats right behind home plate, like on my lunch break, because I was like, I got nothing else to do. I’m just going to go and watch a couple innings of baseball. But honestly, I think that Seth, everything that I’ve done has kind of set me up to do what I’m doing. Loved. I loved being the post game reporter.

Katie [00:04:44]:

I loved being on air. I loved getting to oh, you were on air doing yeah, it was great. I loved my jobs. And leaving radio probably was me being younger, and I was like, okay, well, I was working part time at the station, so I was part time for doing post game interviews. I was part time doing traffic.

Seth [00:05:16]:

Traffic in the nines.

Katie [00:05:17]:

I know. Yeah, I did the traffic reporting too. It was great. But I wanted to have a full time job. I wanted benefits. I guess this is the way to do it. And so I left, and so I feel like I should have stuck it out longer and just put in the legwork for it, but I think everything that I’ve done has really just prepared me for my business and leading a team and what I want and the quality of life that I want. And I know that my teams want to have, my team members want to have.

Seth [00:05:48]:

Are you all remote?

Katie [00:05:51]:

So there’s three of us in Denver, one in Texas, one in Missouri. I mean, we’re all over. Yeah, but the ones here in Colorado come in, like, once a week into the office here. I’m here every day, so this is our for those that are watching, I have an office space, and they come into the office just once a week. I mean, if they want to come in more, they can, but for the most part, they can get the same amount of work done.

Seth [00:06:16]:

They probably get more done because they don’t have to commute in.

Katie [00:06:19]:

Yeah.

Seth [00:06:20]:

Realize that remote work. You could probably get more work out of people than you would if you didn’t because they’re not wasting a half an hour. I mean, a half an hour to go. I mean, in the Philadelphia area, a half an hour gets you about 12 miles.

Katie [00:06:34]:

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Denver is getting that way, too. It’s getting pretty bad here in Denver.

Seth [00:06:39]:

With so are you in Denver proper? You’re in the burbs?

Katie [00:06:42]:

I’m in the.

Seth [00:06:45]:

Isn’T the airport in the burbs? And the airport takes you an hour.

Katie [00:06:48]:

To get the airport is the boonies. I live in the the airport is.

Seth [00:06:53]:

So big, it doesn’t take you to get to you enter the airport and it takes you an hour to get to the airport from the airport entrance. It’s insane. I went to Denver that one time. It’s incredibly.

Katie [00:07:02]:

It says Denver International Airport is not Denver. It is very far. It’s in the mean. Like, I can see downtown Denver. It’s just out my window here. This way. Like, this is west. This is more towards the mountains.

Katie [00:07:16]:

Yeah. So I’m a little bit closer to the mountains as the crow flies. I think I’m maybe 11 miles from downtown Denver.

Seth [00:07:23]:

But how long does it take you to get down there, though?

Katie [00:07:26]:

I plan on at least 45 minutes.

Seth [00:07:28]:

Yeah. I’m 20 miles from downtown Philadelphia. 20 miles takes me an hour and ten turn into the commute chat. But it’s kind of true. There’s no direct route from it. There is, but it takes right through the ghetto of Philadelphia and it’s all stopwatch. It takes you longer to go straight than it does to go zigzag. It’s the most bizarre thing.

Katie [00:07:51]:

Exactly. It’s annoying, but it is what it is.

Seth [00:07:55]:

It is what it is. We’re going to take a quick break here from our sponsors and get right back to the show. So what is the best thing about being an entrepreneur in your mind?

Katie [00:08:03]:

Well, I’m going to say this carefully, but being able to work the hours that I want, whenever I want, wherever I want, it has to be a.

Seth [00:08:16]:

Blessing and a curse, though.

Katie [00:08:17]:

It’s such a blessing and a curse. And it wasn’t until two years ago that I took my first laptop free vacation.

Seth [00:08:24]:

Oh, you actually managed to do that? I have yet to do that.

Katie [00:08:27]:

It was systems, processes, and hiring the.

Seth [00:08:30]:

Right people and balls of steel, because it’s really terrifying.

Katie [00:08:37]:

Terrifying. But now the team that I have, I feel so confident in saying I’m out of the office. However, Kendra will be your contact. Everything for anything that might come up.

Seth [00:08:51]:

Yeah. Absolutely needs you. You have a cell phone that you can get the browser on if you need to?

Katie [00:08:56]:

Yeah. And it’s definitely one of those things where I was falling into the trap of working all the time. And when I first started my business, I was working from my couch in between nap times. I had younger children. I was working nights and weekends.

Seth [00:09:14]:

So much easier when you have older kids to kind of deal with themselves.

Katie [00:09:18]:

Well, but this is the thing, Seth. When my kids went to school, I was still working. That I was when I was working at nights and weekends, I knew like, okay, I only have X amount of time I have to get these things done. And so I was working really hard in a short amount of time. When my kids went to school, I was working really hard for 8 hours, which was great. I was able to get a lot done. However, I was burning myself out.

Seth [00:09:50]:

Yeah.

Katie [00:09:50]:

I was working so much, I almost took it as a badge of honor when people would say to me, like, katie, how do you find the time for this? How are you getting all this done? Or how did you do this? And I’m like, I don’t know. I had the time for it, but really I didn’t have the time for it. I was working so hard, I was afraid that I was having a hard time leaving my desk and going to the bathroom. I’m not even joking.

Seth [00:10:18]:

I’ll get you UTI. That’s not a good thing.

Katie [00:10:21]:

Yeah, but this is the thing. I didn’t know. I just was so used to working really hard and it wasn’t until I consciously taking that step back that I.

Seth [00:10:35]:

Also probably getting an office too helps because I’m in the office, I’m working.

Katie [00:10:39]:

Yes, I go home.

Seth [00:10:40]:

I have my laptop if I need.

Katie [00:10:42]:

It, but I don’t even take it out anymore.

Seth [00:10:44]:

Oh, wow, that’s great. When you I’m at work in my basement. So literally I do have a separation, but I still come down here mostly to escape the kid. I have to admit, mostly it’s to escape the kid. Like when he’s getting to be a little too much for me, I say I’m like mayor. I tell my wife, I’m like, Meredith, it’s your turn. I’m going to go down to work some because it’s a break for me, working at times is a break, as you know, I get know. And if you can leave your stuff at know, even if you stay a little bit later because you don’t want to bring the laptop home, it’s great.

Seth [00:11:17]:

It’s a great idea. So what keeps you up at night now, now that you kind of have systems processes and you’ve taken a vacation without a laptop?

Katie [00:11:28]:

Well, I think that what keeps me up at night is making sure that I’ve delegated efficiently because there’s certain times know, we were just talking about this before we hit record here. I was like, I got to make sure my slack notifications are muted because all of a sudden I might see something from a team member and one of my team members, we’re relaunching our website and so this has been their thing that they’ve been working on for the past month. And I was thinking, like last night, okay, I have to make sure that I give the updated copy, and it’s already mid morning here, and I still haven’t gotten the copy, and I know they’re waiting on me to get the copy.

Seth [00:12:16]:

I have a podcast, and this is.

Katie [00:12:19]:

Where I’ll be thinking about that. These are the things that I have to do to help my team be efficient, as opposed to before it was, these are the things I have to do for my clients.

Seth [00:12:29]:

Exactly.

Katie [00:12:30]:

Now these are the things I have to make sure I’m doing.

Seth [00:12:32]:

Remove. Sometimes your team can get their stuff done for the clients, but you are actually in turn doing stuff for the clients by getting your team involved. It’s a vicious cycle.

Katie [00:12:43]:

Yeah, it is. But I wouldn’t change any of it. I think that as an entrepreneur, your mind is always going to be going your mind’s always going to be thinking about things. And I think that that’s one of the keys to growth. If you’re not constantly thinking about what are the problems that my ideal client has, then you’re going to get left behind and they’re going to find other people to go work with. So you have to always be thinking about the problems that people are trying to solve and how you can help solve them. There’s never a dull moment being an entrepreneur.

Seth [00:13:24]:

There never is. And if there’s a dull moment, you’re doing something wrong because it should not be dull. Yeah, it shouldn’t be dull. Absolutely not. So what is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?

Katie [00:13:34]:

Like, you mean, like mentally or like in my backpack?

Seth [00:13:37]:

You can go as deep or as physical as you want.

Katie [00:13:40]:

Well, I think that this is actually going to it might resonate with some people, but for me, my thing that I always have with me are my mountains. So the mountains are my happy place. They help me feel grounded. So I have, like, a mountain necklace. I wear mountain shirts. Right now, out my window, I can see downtown Denver, but I can’t see my mountains. For those watching, if you see here, you can see I have my mountains on the wall even.

Seth [00:14:12]:

Oh, that’s what the triangle is. That’s awesome. So you have for those who are listening, she has painted mountains behind her.

Katie [00:14:20]:

Yeah. I recently got the mountains tattooed on. My mountains are my thing to keep me grounded. And for a lot of people, it’s the ocean.

Seth [00:14:32]:

They’re a little far from the ocean.

Katie [00:14:35]:

It’s different for everyone. But honestly, if I’m feeling stressed, if I’m feeling overwhelmed, I really just need to see the mountains to help ground.

Seth [00:14:46]:

Myself, chill out and just relax. Everything’s going to be okay. Yeah, it’s great.

Katie [00:14:51]:

Exactly. It’s going to be different for everybody. But find the thing that helps keep you grounded to help you recenter.

Seth [00:14:59]:

Yes, absolutely.

Katie [00:15:00]:

Because life can be crazy. Being an entrepreneur can be really crazy and really stressful. Find the thing that grounds you and gives you peace. It might just be journaling. Again, it’s different for everyone, but find that thing and embrace it.

Seth [00:15:15]:

I love it. So, Katie, since you are in the social media realm, what is your platform of choice? Or can you is it choosing your favorite kid?

Katie [00:15:27]:

I think that one of the biggest things with social media is that people think they need to be on all the social media platforms. And for me, my two platforms of choice were LinkedIn and Instagram. Up until, like I said, I’ve been in business now for nearly seven years, and it wasn’t until 2023 that I started incorporating Facebook into my strategy. So now I’m on those three. But it’s because I have the team.

Seth [00:15:56]:

I have the focus on the business, not in the business.

Katie [00:15:59]:

Yeah, exactly. And so I love LinkedIn. I think it kind of gets a bad rap. But for me, I’m not a short form video person. I know it’s huge. I know you have to do it. I mean, I make my clients do it, but all that being said, I don’t best consume content that way. Give me a good old fashioned blog post or long written article on LinkedIn and I’m all in.

Katie [00:16:32]:

So I love reading to obtain knowledge.

Seth [00:16:37]:

Love it.

Katie [00:16:37]:

So LinkedIn is my favorite. I think it’s great. I love going there to talk business, learn latest trends. I love to network and connect. So LinkedIn’s been great for me. I think that Instagram has been huge for me also, as far as growing a community, I love the different ways that I can show up over there, whether it’s really candidly in an Instagram story or if it’s really silly in a short form video. I love doing voiceover. I know that it’s not the trending thing to do over there anymore, but I love doing voiceovers with funny sounds.

Katie [00:17:13]:

I like making silly faces. And I think it’s a great way for me to showcase a little bit more of my personality post to LinkedIn. I go there to talk shop.

Seth [00:17:25]:

Exactly. And then see them segmented the way they need to be. It’s perfect so people can find you@katiebrinkley.com and then honestly, everywhere but LinkedIn, I am Katie Brinkley.

Katie [00:17:41]:

Yep.

Seth [00:17:41]:

On Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. You’re not as cuter on there. You’re just like Katie Brinkley.

Katie [00:17:47]:

I wish I could just be Katie Brinkley on all of them, but somebody else named Katie Brinkley took it. Honestly, it probably was me that took it or something, because the people that have those URLs are not active. So I think that oh, that’s the worst.

Seth [00:18:03]:

I have Instagram recommending my old accounts.

Katie [00:18:06]:

For I had yeah, it’s probably attached to some old hotmail account or something.

Seth [00:18:10]:

I love it. I love it. So, Katie thank you so much for being on. It’s been so much fun.

Katie [00:18:17]:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Seth [00:18:18]:

Absolutely. And we’ll see everyone next time. That was a great show. If you’re enjoying entrepreneurs Enigma, please view us in the podcast directory of your choice. Every review helps other podcast listeners find our show. If you’re looking for other podcasts in the marketing space, look no further than the Marketing Podcast Network@marketingpodcasts.net. Goldstein Media hopes you have enjoyed this episode. This podcast is one of the many great shows on the MPN Marketing Podcast Network.