405: How To Make 100K Per Day Using TikTok With Miss Excel (Kat Norton)

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You’re listening to the My Wife Could Her Job podcast, the place where I bring on successful bootstrap business owners and delve deeply into the strategies they use to grow their businesses. And today I have my friend Kat Norton on the show and Kat goes by the name Miss Excel on TikTok. And if you’re on the platform, you’ve probably seen her videos. She has over a million followers, which she’s leveraged into a successful software training business in just a couple of years. And in this episode, you’ll learn how to create viral TikToks for your business. But before I begin, I want to thank Postscript for sponsoring this episode.

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Postscript is my SMS or text messaging provider that I use for ecommerce and it’s crushing it for me. I never thought that people would want marketing text messages, but it works. In fact, my tiny SMS list is performing on par with my email list, which is easily 10x bigger. Anyway, Postscript specializes in text message marketing for ecommerce and you can segment your audience just like email. It’s an inexpensive solution, converts like crazy, and you can try it for free over at postscript.io slash Steve. That’s P-O-S-T-S-U-I-P-T dot I-O slash Steve.

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I also want to thank Klaviyo for sponsoring this episode. Always excited to talk about Klaviyo because they’re the email marketing platform that I use for my e-commerce store and it depends on them for over 30 % of my revenue. Now you’re probably wondering why Klaviyo and not another provider. Well Klaviyo is the only email platform out there that is specifically built for e-commerce stores and here’s why it’s so powerful. They can track every single customer who has shopped in your store and exactly what they bought. So let’s say I want to send out an email to everyone who purchased a red handkerchief in the last week. Easy.

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Let’s say want to set up a special autoresponder sequence to my customers, depending on what they bought, piece of cake, and there’s full revenue tracking on every single email sent. Klaviyo is the most powerful email platform that I’ve ever used. You can try them for free over at klaviyo.com slash my wife. That’s K-L-A-V-I-Y-O dot com slash my wife. And then finally, I wanted to mention my other podcasts that I released with my partner, Tony. And unlike this podcast where I interviewed successful entrepreneurs in e-commerce, the profitable audience podcast,

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covers all things related to content creation and building an audience. No topic is off the table, and we tell it like how it is in an entertaining way. So be sure to check out the profitable audience podcast on your favorite podcast app. Now on to the show.

02:15
Welcome to the My Wife Could Her Job podcast. Today I have Kat Norton on the show. Now Kat and I were recently featured on Ashley Banfield where we shared some tips on how to start an online business. And Kat goes by the name Miss Excel. She’s got over a million followers on TikTok. I think she probably has more than that now, which she has leveraged into a software training business that is now generating up to six figures per day. And she’s only been doing this since June of 2020. Now,

02:44
Kat is a, and correct me if I’m wrong, Kat, you’re still a bootstrap one woman operation with no staff. And she uses her iPhone to make her videos and she’s killing it with her business. So in this episode, we are going to dig deep into Kat’s story and learn how she became a viral sensation on TikTok. And with that, welcome to the show. Kat, how are doing today? Hi, thank you so much for having me. I’m doing great. How are you?

03:11
I am very good. So is that still true? Do you phone everything on the iPhone still? Yes, I do. So I always have, you know, the latest iPhones and things, but I’ve filmed everything on it. The video quality and the sound quality is actually really good. Right. So anyone who’s listening to this, there’s actually no excuse. Like you don’t need the equipment. I mean, if Kat can do it with, and blow everything up like this with an iPhone, then you can too.

03:38
So Kat, it was a fun segment that we did on Ashley Banfield. was short and sweet, but we didn’t actually really get a chance to know a whole lot about any of us who are on the show actually. So how did you become Miss Excel? Oh, an amazing story. So I’ll take you back. So before this, I was working at a consulting firm and I was doing securitization reviews for banks. And I’d been doing that for four and a half years.

04:04
On the side of my day job, I had built out an Excel training program internally for the company, kind of more as like a passion project. I always loved teaching. I was also an education minor in school and I was always pretty good with Excel. And start of the pandemic, I had stopped traveling every week for work and found myself back in my childhood bedroom, really just pondering life.

04:31
Like, what am I doing? This doesn’t really light me up. And I dove deep into spiritual inner work, really trying to find my purpose. I was like, what am I actually meant to do? What really lights me up? And through meditation and inner work, I got myself to a place where I was like, okay, I’m meant to do something really big. I just still don’t know what it is. And now let’s fast forward to June of 2020. I’m on the phone with my friend, Anna.

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And we’re going back and forth of like ideas of like side hustles and things I could start with the Excel knowledge. And I never forget, goes, what if you put the Excel on TikTok? And I was like, I’m 27 with a corporate job. I can’t make a TikTok. like everything in me was like, no. But the second she said it, it was almost like a lightning bolt hit my head. I just saw the Excel screen above my head.

05:28
and me like dancing. And the initial vision I got was to the Tuesday slide. That’s on my Drake left foot up, right foot slide to the left and the right function in Excel and like matching the music with the Excel tip. And so we get off the phone and for the next like 48 hours, I’m glitching out. I’m like, Oh, what do I do? What do I do? I remember my boyfriend being like, are you okay over there? Like I was just distraught. My brain was like, you cannot make.

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a TikTok and my gut was like, make the TikTok. And so two days go by, was like Friday afternoon, three o’clock, all my meetings magically clear. And I’m like, you know what? I’m just going to give this a shot, a dry run. I’m not doing hair and makeup. I’m just going to see if I can get a screen over my head because I also had no video editing backgrounds. So I watched like a 40 minute YouTube video on WeVideo, which I still use as my video editing platform. I remember Googling

06:28
What is the easiest video editor? And that came up on my search at the time. And I did a test run and I got the screen over my head and was like, oh, this actually looks pretty cool. So I quick did my hair and makeup and I filmed about 10 videos and I started posting one per day on TikTok. And by the fourth video, it hits a hundred thousand views and starts getting pushed. All these people I know now, mind you.

06:55
I did not sell anybody besides my boyfriend and my mother that I had made said, so at this point it starts getting pushed to some coworkers. I’m like, oh my gosh. And then by the sixth video, the CEO of an IT company reaches out and is like, Hey, I really love your teaching style. I’m looking to create G suite training videos for students, parents, and teachers. Cause this is when all the schools were starting to go digital.

07:24
You know, clearly I’m a Microsoft gal, but I was like, you know, the products are similar. I can learn them quickly. I’m sure. So I form an LLC, get a green screen, a ring light. And next thing you know, after my day job every day, I’m whipping out videos and selling them back to this guy and still creating the Miss Excel content. So at this point I’m like, it’s an opportunity magnet. It’s helping people. So I kind of had a little side hustle going within the first week of putting myself out there, which is so wild because like,

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that particular side hustle is something I could have never predicted when starting this. Like I didn’t go into this looking to make money. I came into this just looking to help people and have a creative outlet and just really kind of like meld that together. Cause I’m actually a very creative person and throughout my corporate career, I had nowhere to really like plug it in. So that was like day six and I still keep putting out the TikToks and three weeks in I have my first video go viral.

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which I remember looking down my phone, it reached 3.6 million views in like a day. next thing you know, next thing you know, got a hundred thousand followers on TikTok. And I’m like, Oh, what do I do? I mean, if you saw my personal Instagram, like I did not have a lot of followers. I wasn’t really posting. I’m not like the influencer type quote unquote. And I was like, wow, you know, this, this grew pretty quick. And at the same time,

08:50
everything was going on in the news about TikTok potentially getting banned and the YouBless. And I’m like, right, I got a hedge from a risk. I gotta make an Instagram. So I thought people would pull over from the Instagram, but 2000 people did. That was it. So I’m like, right, I guess I have to go viral on Instagram. And this was right around when Reels came out.

09:12
So next thing you know, I go viral on Instagram, through 50,000 people in a week. And then the whole thing has been just kind of scaling and growing since. And I sold my first course. So I didn’t have any product until now, November of 2020. So for the first few months, I built out the following, but then I’ve had probably like three, 400,000 people across the platforms. And a business coach had reached out to me at the same time as the morning brew.

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which the morning brew was looking to potentially put me in the morning brew. And the business coach was like, well, you’re to be in the morning brew, best have something you sell. And I was like, oh, touche, touche. So I took two weeks off of my day job. I whipped out the coolest, most fun Excel course I could think of, infused creativity and all these things. Video edit every single video myself, cause that’s like part of the teaching and art form for me. And I started selling it.

10:07
Black Friday of 2020, and then by January of 2021, so two months later, it was bringing in more per month than my day job was. So at that point, I was like, okay, maybe I need to reevaluate my priorities here, because I had just gotten promoted at my day job to manager, so everyone was trying to train me in things. I just really didn’t feel that invested in it anymore. And I had the classic, like my parents being like,

10:35
What are you going to do about health insurance benefits for one K? And I was like, I don’t know, but I’m about to take this bet on me right now and just go for this thing. So February 1st was my last day in corporate America and of 2021. And then since then the business has grown and scaled dramatically and it has been the absolute time of my life. That’s crazy. So in just eight months.

11:03
You went from nothing to just quitting your job and replacing your many times your day job salary and income. Yes. Okay. I had a couple of questions and I didn’t want to interrupt you. When you went from TikTok to reels, were you just posting your TikToks on your reels? Yes, but I edit everything off the platform so you don’t have the watermarks. That’s a key part. Okay. Even though you can download your TikToks without the watermark using third-party services, you don’t go that route.

11:32
No, I do completely off the apps and edit them with like my own flair also to make them look a little different than the video editing that Instagram or TikTok comes with. So I edit everything completely like off the apps and then I post them separately. What do you do about the music? Because certain music only is on real only on TikTok, but not on reels. So usually I’m able to find things that overlap. What I do is I always recommend for people to start on TikTok when they’re looking for the songs because TikTok

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will give you, you know, maybe a 30 second clip to choose your 15 seconds from of a whole song where Instagram will give you the whole song to choose your 15 second clip from or whatever you’re looking for. Now, a bunch of them have like increased sizing and things more recently. But when I was first starting out, I needed to make sure that that snippet that I chose was also available on TikTok. So I always started on TikTok when I was like brainstorming songs and things. And then usually I was able to find that match on Instagram.

12:29
So when that first person found you, was it the G Suite person? Did you have like a link in your bio? Like were you a business counter or were you, so they just kind of Googled you and found you? So they found me on TikTok and they commented on a TikTok because you can’t even DM me if I don’t follow you. So they commented on a TikTok and I was like, oh, and I like added the message to them back the next day we got on a meeting, loved their team and for my LLC. That’s amazing.

12:59
And then for your course, you kind of just picked all that up and just created in a couple of months, it seems, right? Yeah. So usually I can whip out courses now in about a week. That one took two or three weeks, but I map everything out. I film every video myself. There are about a hundred videos each, and then I video edit every single video. And you’re doing this all yourself. Yes. Amazing. Okay. So I haven’t seen your course, but is your course like your TikToks?

13:27
They’re fun, but there’s words. It’s not like just me dancing with the screen. They’re very slow, clear, informative, but also fun. know, like I teach functions to wheel of functions, like Wheel of Fortune. I designed this whole like Wheel of Fortune like theme. And then, you know, I have things like popping up on the screen, like video editing and like cool things to keep you actually entertained.

13:53
So I do Jim Quick’s learning method, which is information plus emotion equals memory. And that emotional piece is what I find a lot of courses miss. So I look to spark an emotion in you, whether it’s, know, I’ll make you laugh or I’ll show you something cool. So it actually helps you form that memory. And that’s what’s made the courses so successful. Interesting. So I was going to ask you what it takes to make a viral TikTok, but

14:20
Let me just tell the audience here. mean, I’m talking to you right now face to face and I can just feel your energy and your excitement. And that’s not something that’s easily copied. But if you were to distill your viral TikTok slash real strategy, what would you tell people who are trying to replicate what you’re doing? You got it right there. It’s all in the energy. So I, the way I look at content, it’s literally an energy transmission. And someone on the other side of that phone is going to be getting your energy transmission.

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So if you are hyped up in a high frequency and feeling super confident and authentic and your content obviously has to, you know, not have the classic things that will make it not go viral. Like you don’t want words cut off, you know, you need your music to match up perfectly. Like once you got all of the technical stuff down, it really comes down to your energy behind the screen. Cause I want to make people smile. I’m here to light people up. Yeah, you’re learning Excel, but I want you to look at that video and be like, Oh, cool.

15:17
Wow, this is awesome. And that’s what makes people share it. So a big part of it is the energy you put in. Like, for example, it’s also when you post it as well. If I’m having a bad day, I will not post because of my energy behind the video. It’s like if I have any scarcity or lack or from feeling in a darker place one day, that is the time I do not post. And then if, you know, when you’re in a high frequency and things, that’s when you post because even like subtle nuances people can pick up on if you’re not being often.

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So you don’t also want to like fake it and get on there and be like, hi, rah, you know, cause people like they can pick up on these things. Their subconscious mind, like it’s, slight nuances that they could pick up on. But the other piece that I think is a really big part of going viral is having a healthy polarity to it. And what I mean by that is my content, for example, I combined two things that traditionally would never be compound, which is Excel and dancing.

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And when you combine those things, it sparks conversation because it’s not just like a regular Excel tip video and you’re like, oh, Excel, I don’t use that swipe. People are like, what is she doing? And that sparks comments, whether people love it, people hate it. It creates the comments and the comments are what push it through the algorithm. And that’s how I initially got off the ground. So was like having that polarity to it is what creates conversation around it is a really important piece as well.

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So if you look at your duds versus the ones that went totally viral, can you kind of look back on them and know what made a particular video not work well? Yeah. I mean, I really think anyone said didn’t work as well. Sometimes it’s the actual tip behind it. If it’s not that extraordinary, like looking back, there’s always the same few things in the Excel world that go viral across all the Excel influencers. So a big part of is having the tip.

17:11
And a big part that I’ve seen now is like creating a story around the content too. Like I’ll play characters, so I’ll be the boss. I’ll be the coworker, then I’m you. And I like flip, I switch outfits, I do transitions, you know, like I actually get super creative with the content and like building kind of a narrative. And that also generates content because for, if you’re putting something out where people can relate to the characters that you’re using, that’s.

17:37
also generates comments. You feel like, oh, my boss did that. you know, like that also people relate to what you’re putting out. That’s an added layer between the polarity, the energy and the relation. It kind of helps it helps it fly through the algorithm. You know, I know it’s hard to just kind of like break down your past videos, because you’re right, there’s certain nuances, there’s body language, there’s facial expressions that all make a difference. How important is the music and the dancing for you?

18:05
I mean, I’d say for me, if the song hits, that also helps. A lot of people, they’re like, oh, what song was that? like, you know, it’s a vibe. Music adds to the ambiance of whatever you’re doing. Music makes you feel good. Music is a frequency. It raises your vibration. So really like having the right song that hits.

18:25
That also makes my energy come through better, right? If I’m like vibing to a song and I’m dancing and the music hits and I jump in the transition, it’s like, that’s an exciting, fun, it’s like a concert. It’s a fun, cool thing to watch, you know? So I think that’s like, it definitely plays a cool role in it. First, me just like talking on a screen, you know? All right. I know a lot of people are listening to this and they’re going, okay, I’m kind of a low energy person. I don’t dance.

18:52
I don’t think I could pull off what you’re pulling off, Kat. Actually, I feel that way. I’m like, I’m not going to get on TikTok and start dancing, right? So for the people that are listening that might not be like you or have your personality, what would you tell them? Like you talk a lot about resonance and magnetism and like the resonant frequency. can’t, sorry, I can’t remember the exact words you used, but how do you, how do you establish that? Yeah. So I think the biggest part.

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is finding what’s authentic to you and what genuinely lights you up. If dancing isn’t what lights you up, then do not dance. For me, I remember making a list of all the things I love. And this is how I ended up coming up with the idea. Weeks earlier, I had these thoughts planted around my head. So I was pretty clear on what lit me up. So then by the time the lightning bolt hit, it all just got crunched together. And really, I wrote down a of paper. I was like, I love to help people.

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I love Excel and I love to dance. And I’m like, these things don’t go together. I’m like, what kind of dream job can I make out of that? But it just, got super clear. I was like, these are the three things that I love. And then it turned into my account, my content and everything so that I’m lit up by what I’m doing. So really in those cases, I would challenge you to get super clear on what you love.

20:13
And even if they seem like they don’t go together, just trust in the process and allowing those ideas to come through of ways that you can integrate them. Because the ideal situation is you want to show up every day doing what you love. You want to wake up and be like, oh, I’m actually excited to make content because I love doing all the things involved. Or, oh, I’m actually excited to make this course because it involves all these things I love. You don’t want to wake up every day and have to do a bunch of stuff where you’re like, oh, I hate this.

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that automatically translates to your energy. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be like a high vibration, like dancing, jumping, high energy. But if you’re like, okay, I love video editing in this particular style and I love like golf and I love this topic, like integrate different things together and kind of see what you can get through the creative process.

21:03
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22:01
And if you tell Steve that I sent you, you’ll get a hundred dollar discount. That’s E-M-E-R-G-E-C-O-U-N-S-E-L dot com. Now back to the show. What I find amazing is that your videos started hitting it right away. Did you practice or did you ever take down any of the videos that you didn’t like? No, no. still got those old ones up there. Like sometimes people scroll all the way down and they’re like, dang, this is where we get like, I cringe at some of them. Like, I’m like, oh gosh.

22:31
But I leave them there for the education process because it inspires people and just shows like my content’s obviously gotten much better than it was in 2020. So like I’m really just learning and how to edit better and all kind of improved from there. So when you’re on a platform like TikTok, it’s kind of hard to bring them to like another platform, as you noticed, when you try to bring people to Instagram. So how do you actually bring those people over to your

22:58
courses and a different website altogether way to actually sign up for something. Yeah. So there’s a few different methods. have a freebie in my bio that links to a five email mailing list that ultimately sells my course at the end. So I kind of always had that going, but the real conversions that I’ve had are through webinars. So I throw live on high energy Excel parties.

23:24
where I have thousands of people come on these webinars and I give away tons of free content. Like I do a full 45 minute Excel power pack class. And at the end, I give everyone a really nice offer. If they’re like, whoa, I learned a lot today. I like her teaching style. I want to continue with her. I give them a really great opportunity to keep doing that. And for me, like that is how I reached the six figure days is through those webinars.

23:51
How do you get the people on the webinar? Do you replace your link in bio on the TikTok to webinar signup or you literally go live in TikTok and Instagram? So I don’t even really go live like ever. It’s funny. I do. I’ve done only like a couple of live events on the platforms. I just add like, I have a link tree. So I just add like a link in there. Like, Hey, here’s the webinar. I use webinar jam, which really automates the whole email process. It automates pretty much everything. It’s an awesome system.

24:18
and I’ll usually make content around it. So what I’ve been doing lately is I’ll do like a static post with all the information on it, and then I’ll do a reel and I’ll make the reel like a fun dancing. I’ll make my last one. did kind of like a story and then I’ll push it on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, or usually my three and my mailing list. I have a pretty big mailing list now. So for the reels though, you can’t include links in those, right? So people are just literally going into your bio and clicking on it.

24:47
in your link tree. presumably your link tree has a bunch of links in it too, right? So that not only that, they have to go through and pick the workshop link in your link tree. Yeah. So I usually keep it to three. So I have my courses, I have the freebie, and then if I have a webinar, I’ll pop the webinar on there. And that’s usually, I don’t make it like a whole scrolling thing. Cause I don’t really do like affiliate type stuff. I don’t really sell anything else besides my own courses. How often are you putting out these webinars? So at first I was doing them once a quarter.

25:16
Then I decided I wanted to buy a house. So I started. this your house that I’m looking at? I’m in an Airbnb right now. But we, I just started house hunting last week, got the pre-approval for the mortgage. So I was trying to Jack it up last year for the tax returns. So I started doing them once a month and I it’s been really helping people and I’ve still been getting.

25:37
like thousands of people to sign up. So I’m like, the demand is there. So now I do these once a month, I’ll do three per month, usually two or three, and I’ll make them like a few days apart. So I give people kind of three different times and I show up live every time. So to, so each time do you kind of reset the email list for the live, for the live webinar? Do you understand what saying? Like a week before, do you try to get signups or is this signup thing ongoing like throughout the month?

26:02
before you do It’s like the week before. So I give them, yeah, usually 10 days to a week before I announce it. I put it out there because I don’t really know in advance when I’m doing them. So I just kind of like see where my schedule looks. I’m also I’ve been a digital nomad for the last 16 months. So every month I travel to a new state. I’m in a new Airbnb. My whole life changes. My world changes. So it’s you know, like I was in Miami in a tiny condo. I wasn’t doing webinars, you know, versus film in Sedona in a large house. I have the space and the bandwidth. So

26:31
It really kind of depend on where I was, where like it fit into my schedule to do them. So I kind of keep them more like seven to 10 days, raise the hype around it. All right. So let’s say it’s 10 days to the webinar. You’ll do an Instagram post and then you’ll do some sort of fun reel. You’ll post that on TikTok, LinkedIn. then for those reels and the TikToks, are you just instructing people to go to the link in bio? Yep. Okay.

26:59
Cause I know that if you even mentioned like Lincoln bio or anything in the comments of like a TikTok post, example, the reach gets lower. Does that happen? That happen to you? Yeah. The reach is probably anytime I’m promoting something, whether it’s sometimes I’ll do like a partnership or something. It’s always dicier, but I try to like hide it sometimes in the actual content. Sometimes like when I was doing more of like partnerships with brands, like for example, I was doing something with like a supplement company. And so I put the company’s information into the Excel example.

27:28
Like I find a lot ways to integrate things because I want every piece of content to be useful. like integrating that in there. So there’s ways, but definitely the real gets more traction for me than the post, but it definitely doesn’t go viral usually like my normal ones. So what is the price point for your classes? Yeah. So my accelerator course, my main Excel one is $297.

27:52
And then I also built out the rest of Microsoft Office Suite. So those range from 297, I some at 99. There are many courses. You could get the complete suite for 997. That is my highest ticket. And then I also have a Google Sheets course for 297 out too. And a kids course for two, I think 497 is my kids course. So you’re clearly a Microsoft girl. So every tool in Microsoft Suite you have a course for? Pretty much. I don’t have Power BI yet. That’s one of the ones I left out.

28:20
But if people, tell them if they buy the complete suite, when I come out with it, it gets added for them automatically. Cause that’s one I’m probably gonna make in the next few months. Is it a membership site or is it just like a unlimited all you can eat? One time you buy the course unlimited access. Nice. Okay. So at that price point, if you’re doing a hundred thousand in a day, how many people are on your webinars? It depends on which one. And if I’ve gone viral in between when I’ve done them, sometimes it’s like,

28:50
two to 3000. I’ve had up to 7000 people. Wow. Okay. It’s 7000 that show up live. So that’s usually who enrolls. So maybe I’ll get like three, 4000. Okay, that’s a lot. And of those on that $1,000 day, that means, oh, yeah, that’s a lot of people signing up, like 100 people or, or more. Yeah, that’s amazing. I would love to see when your webinars, what offer do you give them to get them to kind of sign up now?

29:20
It’s usually a 50 % off. Oh, and then I also include like bonuses for people who buy while on the webinars. That’s usually why people come onto the webinar. give them a free mini course. They buy while on the webinar. Oh, okay. So 50 % off. then, so it’s literally 500 for your entire suite. That’s a great deal. It is. Cause the, for the price of one and a half courses, they get eight. So that usually always sells my highest ticket item. So does that prevent people from buying outside of your webinar period?

29:49
Just curious. No, it’s, still get regular traction all day long. And I saw the ads being pushed out to that does full price stuff, but it’s really like a select. have over a million followers across the platform. So a select group actually come through and like get the email chains only usually like 5,000 of them walk me through your email chain. So are you just giving lessons out in this little mini course that you have?

30:14
Yeah. So usually I’ll give out a free guide or mini course, and then I kind of tell a story. So the webinar one’s a different chain. The webinar one, it’s essentially you get like emails leading up to the webinar reminders. And then you get, you know, here’s the replay link here. If you want to take advantage of the sale of that. And it’s a 24 hour window. And then the, my normal one is a freebie. It’s either a guide or a mini course. kind of flip flopped them back and forth.

30:39
And then I tell them, essentially explained a little bit more about me, why I’m so passionate about it. It’s kind like a five email story. tell a really cool story in it. And then by the fourth email, I give them a discount code. And then by the fifth email, it’s like last chance on the discount code. Nice. So for your regular email series, not the webinar series, are all those lessons video I would imagine. So for the regular email series, that just pushes my course. So there’s no, yeah, there’s no training in it. It’s just like.

31:07
Five years. Oh, got it. Got it. Got it. Okay. Cool. And then you mentioned ads just now. Are you running a TikTok ads? So I got Facebook, take talk. I LinkedIn’s coming out soon. So I have a company that handles all that. So I don’t really touch any of that. Oh, you don’t touch it. Okay. Can you just give me an idea of what like the, uh, the ROI is on, the different platforms? It’s still like ramping up cause we just started out. Um, I know we’re profitable.

31:34
but they’ve been still kind of experimenting and trying to get it right. I just started working with them. I’m sure it’s profitable because your cost of goods is essentially zero, right? Yeah. Yeah. Right. So let’s see on a $500 product. mean, they just, you just need to sell one. You can spend 500 bucks. That’s, that’s pretty amazing. Okay. Are you doing any YouTube shorts? I have not been doing YouTube shorts. So YouTube is the one area that I haven’t really gotten into yet.

31:58
Because I mean, I know a lot of the other people in the Excel space like make money off YouTube. But for me, I just kept it all in paid courses for trying to do the ad spend and like giving out longer things on YouTube to try to get the ad money. So for me, it made more sense to kind of like stay more in that space. But never say never. I actually I have a YouTube page, but I just have like a couple of my ads and then there’s people that you know.

32:19
copy my content and put it on YouTube. they’re, can’t be copied though. it’s again, think they take my exact videos and Oh, they take your exact video with my watermark and make their name, my name. yeah. We’ve got some of those. those, those aren’t actually me, but in a way that kind of helps you, right? Because I mean, it’s your face and your energy and it, it’s almost not. So I sell a course too. And the reason why people sign up

32:46
isn’t always necessarily the information. It’s like the fact that they like the instructor, right? And the way you teach and your style, because ultimately like a lot of information is just a commodity. And I’m sure Excel information is a commodity, right? It’s how you teach it and whether you like the person who’s teaching you. So no one’s going to be able to copy you. Yeah. No one can copy you. mean, even, when we were on the Ashley Banfield thing, I didn’t actually, it was such a short segment that I didn’t get to see.

33:14
like your energy in its full form. Whereas I have on this interview, I totally am. You should be on, I think you’ll, you would kill it on YouTube. It would be amazing. Maybe I will. mean, I eventually I’m to pivot into more business coaching and things of that nature. Once the Excel is a well-oiled machine, because I’ve had a lot of people reaching out being like, Hey, can you show me how you’ve built your business online and things like that? So I actually had the creative download.

33:41
Couple months ago, I saw all eight courses I need to make. like, was literally, I was at the gym and my boyfriend also like, oh my gosh, I know what I need to do. And I just like sat down and like wrote down like it all just came down of like the courses and breaking things down. So I still just need to make them. But Q1 has been more so like the business grew so fast. So really just like getting everything ready to scale. Lots of strategic partnerships and cool things coming up.

34:09
I just also hired my first like more, it’s a part-time virtual assistant. So I hired her literally yesterday. Her name is Tita. She’s amazing. And I also have another like 10 hour a week virtual assistant over in the Philippines who is amazing. Her name is Jean and she does some of my like Instagram, like static posts and makes me like graphics and things when I’m like for my webinars and stuff. So I’m really excited to have more people on board. also just hired my boyfriend and my mom.

34:37
So that’s been really fun to do like bookkeeping and my boyfriend is killer at sales. So he’s the one who has helped me like build my whole sales funnel, all my webinar sales pitches. I was like not into sales beforehand and he was like ranked number one in North America at a top company. So I just brought him in to like teach me everything. It’s been awesome. was my next question actually. I mean, you just started and everything wrapped up so quickly. How did you know to create the email list, all the funnels and stuff? Was that, was that your boyfriend’s?

35:07
Yeah, it was a mix. It was my boyfriend. was like business coaches. I’ve had like one-off sessions with a few business coaches. A lot of it though has been intuitive. Like in terms like you’d laugh, like I don’t track anything. Like I, my ads team tracks everything. Like when you’re asking me like ROI’s and stuff, my whole business has been scaled and run through my intuition. Like I don’t sit there and be like, oh, like this did this and this, like I have it.

35:32
So I’m getting a new website built out right now and they’re putting in all the tracking and all the things for me, but I’ve run it thus far with just purely like I get intuitive hits of what content to make and I run make it and it goes viral. So I’ve been just kind of like in every business decision, every opportunity has been inbound leads. So every press opportunity, every podcast opportunity, every, you know, like business deal, corporate deals, keynote speaking, everything just comes to me. I’ve never like blast emailed.

35:59
And then I like, it’s been a lot. So I have to like say it. And like, asked myself intuitively, like, is this the right fit in terms of like being able to navigate what I actually want to do? Cause I’m very big into not trading time for money right now. I’m trying to make everything as passive as possible. So really just like being cognizant of my time. So that begs the question, do you use Excel? Yeah.

36:23
still use Excel, not as much as I did in my corporate job. My corporate job, was doing 60 hours a week in Excel, just like automating things, building things, studying these financial models. Where right now it’s more so teaching purposes. I use it when I do corporate trainings. do these big- It’s a manager of finances and your performance and stuff. Do you use it for that?

36:46
or not for that more so just to keep myself organized by like ideas and things like that. But I haven’t been the whole thing just kind of like, it’s so wild. I swear the business has just run itself. Like it’s been just so easy. The whole thing just scaled so fast. just like stay in my zone of genius and it just keeps like growing, scaling, growing, scaling. And I’ll get the idea like, Ooh, make your course in this bundle it with this. And I run over and make it and I whip them out in a week. Like the whole thing has been just kind of like a dance.

37:15
Okay, so you just mentioned that you want to go into coaching. So let’s say I came up to you. How do you teach me your intuition? So biggest things are like really clearing out any limiting beliefs that you have that is like the groundwork right there. So really going inward, we’ve been through meditation through different prompts, getting super clear of one, what’s your purpose, what you actually want to do, and then two, why are you not doing it?

37:44
So many people have these limiting beliefs that hold them in place, but do not realize that the brain is completely malleable through neuroplasticity. So we are able to essentially go in and rewire our minds. So you don’t have to sit there like, like, I, like, for example, I was shy with an anxiety disorder my whole life. I hated any attention on me. had a public speaking disorder. And this is what the entrepreneur article coming out is going to be about my journey with this, but I essentially rewired my mind.

38:12
And I got myself to a place like this hilarious. So I started doing this inner work in March of 2020 hardcore. Like every day I was going in and like listening to binaural noises and prompts and things, putting myself into more of a trance, like a subconscious state where my subconscious mind was forward and going in and reprogramming certain memories and beliefs that were holding me in place. And then by April I turned to my mother and was like, this is before Miss Excel even existed.

38:40
Like Miss Excel wasn’t even a thought in my mind until June. So I was literally in my childhood bedroom, working my day job, going in my room, doing some weird meditations, coming out of my room, being like, mom, I’m going to be rich and famous soon. So I need you to prepare your nervous system for that. And she’s cracking up. She’s like, Kathleen, go clean your room. But every ounce of my body knew something massive was coming. And I had been the only one standing in my own way. And once I cleared that out, I knew I was unstoppable. I was like,

39:09
And I literally had nothing going on. And then the second I went and actually created something, the whole business just flowed completely inbound leads, the whole thing, because I was fully in my authentic worth and I had nothing holding me back. Like people who were like, why are you spending, you know, a hundred hour weeks? Like when I saw the day job, I was booking it. Like I was still working the side hustle, the day job and Miss Excel at the same time. And people were like, why are you working a hundred hour weeks out of your childhood bedroom? And I was like, if you knew.

39:39
with 100 % certainty that if you did X, Y, Z, you would have everything you ever wanted. Would you do it or would you sit there? And that is where I like was with everything. I was so sure of myself and taking that bet on me that nothing else mattered. I was like, I’m going in. So getting yourself to that place where it’s just like pure and then learning how to tap into your creativity is another whole fun part of like.

40:06
For me, I learned that leaving the space has been huge where so many people like in corporate, for example, it’d be like, let’s book a 30 minute calendar block for a brainstorming session. If you just came off a bunch of meetings, you’re like lit up with a ton of iced coffee and you just like wailed at a bunch of emails. We’re not in a creative flowy state. You are in, it’s called masculine energy. There’s masculine energy and feminine energy. So it’s not necessarily like male, female. It’s two different energy types. And masculine is like,

40:33
go, go, go to do less cranking through things like executing. And the feminine energy is more flowy receiving energy. Like on my feminine energy days, I don’t work and I make the most money on the days I don’t work. So everything I do pretty much now is passive income. So like I’ve been able to kind of see like on the days I don’t work when I’m out in nature doing yoga, going for a hike, getting super flowy. And then I’ll sit down and just all these ideas come out and leaving the space for that.

41:02
is a really big part. then learning how to essentially stay in that flow state was another thing that I studied. Like that was my biggest, if people ask like my challenge with the business, really the only challenge I had was like learning how to optimize myself so I can hold all the abundance that was coming through. So it’s a lot when people, for example, I’ve gone like viral on the internet, but I’ve also gone viral in the media and had articles go completely global and like Forbes, entrepreneur, Daily Mail, Business Insider, like.

41:29
Things just blasting off. And when there’s a lot of people thinking about you, even if you’re not like there, like I don’t even read all the comments. Like I was going viral on Twitter. Like I wasn’t going through everybody, you know? But like when there’s that much attention on you, even from an energetic perspective, it’s a lot for your body. So really like getting myself to a place where I can hold on it, always just reflected in the business. So really just like teaching people how to do the work on themselves to get themselves to the place where they’re like, okay.

41:58
we can just like wail out right now and just bring in all the opportunities, the abundance, and then knowing how to navigate them. So you said a lot in the beginning. I don’t even remember what the terms you use, binaural beats or something like, can you just kind of walk me through that process for you? I mean, it sounds like that a huge effect on you, right? Yeah. So call it my trifecta of what I did. Okay. So I first read the book, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Dr. Joe Dispenza.

42:25
Dr. Joe Spenza is one of the leading researchers in the space of essentially making the mystical, unmistakable. He backs it with science. So if you’re like, meditation seems woo woo, know, manifestation seems woo woo, like what? I needed that personally, like for my conscious mind to get on board with all this. So that was the first thing I did. Cause I mean, people were telling me, you know, think positive, good things will happen. And I’m like, okay, you know, but I…

42:53
Excel gal, I’m a nerd here. I’m like a geek in the numbers. I’m like, I need some science. I need some constructs. So I read that book, was beyond inspired, changed my life after the first hundred pages. I just never looked at the world the same. Then I did Lacey Phillips has a program called To Be Magnetic. There’s a bunch of different modalities out there for these types of things, but hers worked really well for me. And it’s essentially a structured way to reprogram limiting beliefs. So you get

43:21
into a hypnotic state. listen to, if they’re like these 20 minute little meditations, there’s binaural noises, there’s different things that essentially bring your subconscious mind forward. think about if you go to therapy, right? If you go to a therapy session, the therapist is asking you questions, like trying to get through the layers that you essentially have. You have like barriers. Your subconscious is like, don’t come in here. This is, you know,

43:46
95 % of what we do runs on programming and automatic programs. And it’s like, don’t come in here. This is what we do, you know, and they have to ask and drill and drill and drill. With these techniques, you essentially go out for 20 minutes and your subconscious pops forward because you’re in this parasympathetic nervous system state. And essentially what happens is she then prompts you to bring up memories and you’ll start thinking of things from your childhood that go, whoa, I have not thought of that ever. But essentially you can see these limiting beliefs as they pop up.

44:14
and show your subconscious there could have been another way to neutralize the electromagnetic chart of the memories. for example, this is a good one. So in kindergarten, I wrote my yearbook that I wanted to be a rock star. And in first grade, I had a toy microphone and I was singing in front of my parents. And they’re like, Kathleen, you’re great at a lot of things, but you can’t sing.

44:38
Little me took that as you are not worthy of being on the stage, right? Like I don’t think it was necessarily being the singer, like motivational speaking wasn’t a thing to my kindergarten mind, you know, but it was being the one on the stage. I had always seen that for myself. Age zero to seven, we don’t have critical thinking skills yet. So things that happen are much more dramatic and form the conditioning that then goes out and manifests into our day to day. So what your brain tries to do is

45:05
Find things through your reticular activating system, so it’s essentially your brain’s filter. Find things that match your beliefs. So it’s going to find things that it’s like, I’m right, I’m right, I’m right. So what group of friends do I call in in middle school? The drama cadets, where I was the one friend in the audience and they were all on the stage. Further reaffirming this idea that I’m not worthy of being on stage.

45:27
Then it turns into whole anxiety disorder, public speaking disorder. By high school, I turned bright red. I could only raise my hand. I don’t want any attention on me. And really just learning about myself and getting down to like, whoa, this is where this thought formed and reprogramming that. That’s what allowed me to without dance moves on TikToks, left functions and just run around the internet. Interesting. So the term I call that is baggage. I have a lot of baggage too, right? From childhood.

45:55
that needs to be overcome. So how did you actually overcome that speech part? Like what were the exercises that you did? I’m just curious. Yeah. So first part, like that’s something I started kind of working on really in college. And in college, I put myself into the leadership consulting major, which was forcing me to get up and present. never forget. I was terrified. I had to present for 10 minutes on a topic with no notes, no nothing on a future technology in front of a whole class.

46:23
And like doing things like that, like really started pushing me out of my comfort zone more to expand that space. Cause every time you do something, brain’s like, oh, you can do that. Maybe we’ll go a little further, a little further. So I had that kind of going at first. And then when I went in and started doing this reprogramming is really where I started pulling those beliefs out. So then I was at a spot where I’m like, whoa, I’m worthy of whatever I want. Now what am going to go do? So that, and then I also do Kundalini yoga, which is

46:52
essentially a different type of meditation where a lot of people struggle with meditation. So they’re like, I can’t sit there and clear my mind, clear my thoughts, say, you know, like people, meditation gets a bit of rap sometimes because people can’t resonate with that particular style. So really finding a style of meditation that works for you is massive. Like meditation isn’t the occasional bubble bath you give your brain. Meditation is daily mental hygiene. And so many people don’t do that. And essentially when you meditate,

47:20
it helps turn on the right side of the brain, which is the creative side. The left side is more of the structure and the analytics and really being able to go in and balance those more and not be 90 % structure and 10 % creative and finding that 50-50 balance is what allows you to adapt and think on your feet and then tap more into that creative flow state. So it’s interesting. Like I don’t meditate. I have had problems doing it, but, and you can tell me this is similar. When I go running and I get into this weird runner’s high state,

47:50
where I actually think of a whole bunch of things. That’s what works for me. So it sounds like, if I can summarize what you just said is, you put yourself out there and got outside of your comfort zone. And then slowly by slowly, you started developing confidence in yourself. And it was a gradual process, but you just kind of kept pushing it further and further and further until you are the Miss Excel that you are today. Yeah. And really just taking that time. Most like I never did work on myself.

48:18
until really I was in my like mid-20s. And that’s a narrative I kind of want to read, write in the collective, because people don’t tell you to do these things. Most people don’t realize you need to do things every single day that make yourself a little bit better. I had never been taught to do work on myself and to analyze myself and to journal and to figure out why I am the way I am and decide if that’s actually how I want to be or not.

48:44
you know, and like understanding that I’m not locked into any beliefs that I have. Like I can go in and change anything I want to and be the person I’ve always dreamed of being and just doing things to get myself there. You know, it’s funny. This whole conversation just kind of ties in to the students in my class. I’ve noticed that there’s always a subset of students that sign up and they don’t do anything or they don’t get started. And it’s always a mindset issue, right? They’re afraid that if they launch something and spend all this time that it’s going to fail.

49:13
And then a lot of the time is actually convincing people that it’s possible, right? It’s all about getting that first sale, which then gets them excited. And then they’re so excited to follow through, but getting that first step is actually very difficult. So I will start recommending those books. I’m going to read those first myself. And then if it worked for you and if I like it, yeah, it sounds like it’s a great way to overcome mindset issues.

49:37
Yeah, absolutely. Mindset is everything. It’s the root of everything. I think it is a huge part of entrepreneurship that’s often overlooked. It’s not always about the scaling, the systems, all that stuff. It’s working on yourself because no matter what you do, if you have all the things in place, but then you’re blocking yourself energetically, not as much is going to come through your filter as if you’re completely opened up. Then in terms of just the TikToks and the videos that you make,

50:05
If you haven’t worked on yourself and you’re trying to do this, are you just destined to fail? mean, do you have to tell yourself, like, need to tap into my creative self and just tap into my energy to make these successful? I mean, it kind of depends on where you are in the journey. Everyone’s kind of at a different spot. I was in a spot where I hated any attention on me. So there’s no way I would have even put myself on TikTok, let alone come across the way I want to come across.

50:34
in a fully authentic and magnetic state where people look at my content. I have people that follow me that don’t even use Excel. They just like my energy. You know, and they’re like, I watch your stuff and it makes me smile. And I’m like, Hey, good music. Like I have people that literally don’t even care about Excel that follow me. So it’s really just, you know, getting yourself to that place where you know, your content’s awesome and you know that you deserve everything that’s going to come your way and you can accept that. me ask you this just to kind of conclude the interview. Do all the little

51:04
tips and tactics about TikTok really matter that much? Like hashtags, when you post and all that stuff. I mean, do you pay attention? Okay. Energy overrides the algorithm. I think that’s the fastest way to get where you’re trying to go. Because yeah, you can follow all the rules, but if your content’s not there, if you look tired, if you’re just like, oh, and people can tell it’s not going to blow up even if you use the right hashtags and all the things. And I usually break all the rules. know, I don’t really, everyone’s like, you’re supposed to post every day and like twice a day. I post maybe like once or twice a week.

51:34
You know, and I know when things are going to go viral and things. So it’s really just like finding your own style and what lights you up at posting every day, lights you up. And yes, I have so much to say then go for it. But if posting every day means you being like, Oh my God, I have to do this. Like scarcity mindset. If I don’t do this, this is going to happen. Da da da. Like just operating from that frequency. Scarcity is the opposite of abundance. It’s the opposite of abundance. So

52:00
If you’re operating in scarcity, the abundance is not going to come through. So I just flip the narrative and I’m like, when I show up, things are going to work for me and just having that mindset. And then things just fall into place. And that’s another way of saying quality over quantity, right? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Each of my TikToks take me like an hour or two. Like I will sit there and edit them over and over for 15 seconds. I take talk to get them meticulously the exact way I want them. Wow. Okay. And so right now, frequency wise, you’re just posting a couple of weeks.

52:30
Yeah, really when I feel called to, like if I, you know, like all of I got like 20 amazing ideas and I just filmed them, like, okay, now I want to show them this and that, you know, I get excited and I’ll post more. Or sometimes, you know, if I have other things going on, you know, for example, right now I’m in middle of house hunting and running around, you know, I’m not like down on myself, like, oh, I haven’t posted in five days, you know, it is what it is. Love it, Kat. Love it. Thanks a lot for coming on the show. If people want to find you on TikTok or Instagram or wherever you’d like them to find you, where can they find you?

53:00
Yeah, so my handle is at miss M I S S dot Excel E X E L on Instagram and on TikTok. And you can find me on LinkedIn as well under Kat Norton and ORTLN. And thank you so much for having me. This was so fun chatting with you. Your energy is amazing. Oh, is it really? Yeah. Oh my gosh. You’re so high five. That was so great talking. I don’t think anyone would ever call me high energy, but uh, Oh, you, Yes.

53:29
I did enjoy chatting with you and just in case anyone’s listening, go check out her TikTok. I personally find Excel, or I found Excel boring until I found you. And you’re right. I’m actually, my wife’s really into Excel. But for me, you know, I’m not interested in, but I find myself just watching you because it’s, you just have to watch. It’s funny. And yeah. And then sometimes like you act really dorky, but that actually makes me laugh.

53:58
You know what I’m saying? I play characters. Exactly. Exactly. It’s great. Well, thanks a lot, Kat. Really appreciate the interview. Thank you.

54:08
Hope you enjoy that episode. Now, if you’re not on TikTok yet, you are missing out. Now, I’m not as dynamic as Kat, but I’ve still managed to get 65,000 subscribers in about a year. For more information about this episode, go to mywebcoderjob.com slash episode 405. And once again, I want to thank Clevio, which is my email marketing platform of choice for e-commerce merchants. You can easily put together automated flows like an abandoned cart sequence, a post purchase flow, a win back campaign, basically all these sequences that will make you money on autopilot.

54:36
So head on over to mywifequitterjob.com slash KLAVIO. Once again, that’s mywifequitterjob.com slash KLAVIO. I also want to thank Postscript, which is my SMS marketing platform of choice for e-commerce merchants. With a few clicks of a button, you can easily segment and send targeted text messages to your client base. SMS is the next big own marketing platform, and you can sign up for free over at postscript.io slash Steve. That’s P-O-S-T-S-E-I-P-T dot I-O slash Steve.

55:04
Now I talk about how I these tools in my blog, and if you are interested in starting your own eCommerce store, head on over to mywifequitterjob.com and sign up for my free six day mini course. Just type in your email and are sent to the course right away. Thanks for listening.