Episode 838: Wednesday Weekly Win Live From Set: How Katherine Beck Built a Multiple 6-Figure Dialect Coaching Business for Hollywood's Biggest Stars

Speaker A: You're listening to the Mind your business podcast. This Wednesday weekly Win features one digital CEO here to show you how they did it. So stay tuned. Hi, I'm um, James wedmore. And with 17 years online, I've built my business to over $12 million in sales per year. And this is the first non business business podcast that shows you how to apply the principles of sp, spirituality, energy and mindset to grow your business beyond your wildest dreams. All from the inside out. This is the mind you'd business podcast.

Speaker B: Welcome to the Wednesday weekly Win, our business breakthrough story series. Each week we sit down with real entrepreneurs from our community who are building digital businesses and creating results that once felt impossible. These aren't overnight success stories. They're real stories of clarity, momentum, and the breakthroughs that happen when you finally stop guessing and start following a proven path. From first digital products to six figure launches to building audiences and scaling systems, every conversation pulls back the curtain on what actually creates growth in a digital business. Because when you see someone just a few steps ahead of what you're doing, something powerful happens. You realize, maybe I can do this too. So let's dive into this week's business breakthrough story. This is the Wednesday weekly Win. Hello, hello and welcome to my favorite segment of the week, the Wednesday weekly Win. Today we have one of my favorite business by design students on Katherine Beck, who has one of the coolest niches and is joining us live from set in Australia. Katherine, will you please introduce yourself and tell everyone what you do and what you teach.

Speaker C: Absolutely. Hello everyone. My name is Katherine Beck. I am a voice and dialect coach and I help non us actors to master the American accent and book us roles.

Speaker B: So exciting. And can you tell us where you are right now?

Speaker C: Yes, now I can sometimes.

Speaker B: Sometimes you can't report what set you're on, but yeah, tell us where you are, tell us what you're doing.

Speaker C: Yeah. So, well, I made sure that I could have permission as I knew I was coming on this podcast and the producers said I am, um, able to share with you then. I am currently working on the set of Cockroach, which is a feature film starring Chris Hemsworth and some other very exciting actors as well. We've got Taryn Edgerton, which you might have seen him on the film Apex that just came out.

Speaker B: Love, um, Mr. Edgerton. Such a talent.

Speaker C: Yeah, he's amazing. We've got Alec Baldwin, we've got Zazie Beats, and we've got Rachel Sennett on board. So it's been an incredible experience.

Speaker B: That is awesome. So we're going to get into how you developed your digital offer. And I, uh. One of my favorite things about Katherine's story is it is a testament to the phrase repetition is the mother of skill. Because you're one of the only people, I think I can count on one hand the number of people I know and in business by design who have taken James up on the offer. Get back to me after you've done 20 webinars, and you were one of the people that were like, 20, I'll do 25. And like the results that happen when you're in repetition. So I want to break that down. But let's go back to the beginning of your journey. How did you find your niche, and how did you craft your offer?

Speaker C: Okay, so the beginning of my journey, I think, was back in 2012, which is when I first decided to become a dialect coach. So I moved from Los Angeles. I was living in Hollywood as an actor and voiceover artist. And in 2005, I fell in love with an Australian, moved halfway around the world to Sydney, Australia. And I thought, well, how am I going to be an actor in Australia? Uh, because back then, there wasn't as many US Productions filming over here. And I thought, well, okay, I'm going to have to learn the Australian accent if I'm going to continue to be an actor in Australia. So I spent four months working with a dialect coach. I put something down on tape. I presented it to my agent. My agent was like, m, it's okay, but you need to keep working on your accent. And in reality, nobody's going to hire you over an Australian for an Australian role. And I was devastated. I was like, I just spent four months working on this. All this time, energy, money, and my agent's basically telling me it's not going to happen. But me being the stubborn American was like, nope, I'm going to get this. I'm going to do whatever it takes to nail this accent, and I'm going to book Australian roles. So I spent a year trying to figure out what was the thing that was holding me back, and I started speaking in the accent every day and really looking at the key differences between how Americans speak and how Australians speak. And I started to discover things that nobody else was talking about and were the things that were helping me to sound authentically Australian. And when I did that, I booked my first Australian role, and then I booked the next one. And I thought, I've got to teach actors this process, because I never learned this in any of my training. Anywhere. And I think I could be helping so many actors who are not from America to be able to book American roles. So in 2012, I made the decision to become a, uh, dialect coach. I started teaching actors my process. And then I remember I met with a marketer out here and I said, how do I get myself out to more places in Sydney? Like, how do I advertise? How do I market? I don't know anything about that. And he said, well, why limit yourself to just Sydney when you could be teaching what you're doing globally? And I was like, oh, I never even thought about that. And so that was like the first inkling of I could take this online and I could be global and I could work with actors all over the world. So in 2017, I purchased an online program that taught me how to create an online program. But what I did was I spent nine months creating the program before I sold it. So when I sold it, I was so devastated because I only sold one and then two more sales trickled in right after I closed the cart. And I was like, I can't. What am I doing? Like, I spent all this time making this thing and nobody wants it. Like, what am I doing wrong? So for two years, I was lost. You know, I'd launch, I'd sell a couple of sales, and that was it. But then in 2020, as we know, everything kind of changed. And just prior to joining BBD In June of 2020, I had my first sort of like mini explosion. Everyone was home and wanted to work on their accent all of a sudden. And I did a launch and I made $24,000 in sales all of a sudden. So I'm like, okay, something's shifted. But now I need support on marketing because I have no idea what that really means. I don't know what messaging is. I don't know what to say to the people, like, what do I do with this little amount of success that I have? What do I do with it? And that's where I met James. I stumbled across somebody's Instagram who was the BBD Breakthrough of the year. No, it was the Case Study Contest of the year winner. And I was like, who is this James Wedmore guy? He was doing this eight part video series. I binged it and I was sold within four days of knowing the guy. I found myself siding up and I was in. And it changed my life because for the first time I realized what I needed to be able to take that next step and to really create a global business. I was overworked I was burnt out. I was needing so much support and system in my business, but I didn't know what to do. And so when I made that purchase, it was like it opened the doors and opened my eyes to this whole new world where I could actually now have a sustainable business that wasn't going to overrule my entire life.

Speaker B: What's the first thing? Because since you came in with a product that you had made, what is the first thing that you used in business by design? And um, where did you start to see some traction and results?

Speaker C: So I would say the challenge launch 2.0, because I was doing a challenge launch prior to joining bbd. And so what I found was going into that, I was able to get much clearer on my process, my messaging and I started to see sales coming in. So by 2021, I remember it was a really pivotal moment for me because I had a launch that I did that had a $91 EPL and I made over $15,000 in sales, which was the most I had ever done prior to that point. I thought, okay, now I'm um, onto something. Now I've found a process that I really love and enjoy and I'm getting results and I can do something with that. So that Challenge Launch 2.0 really changed everything for me in terms of what I thought about launches, how I could approach it in a way that really worked for me. The previous launch I was doing was a five day challenge and it was pre recorded videos versus this one. I could get on live and I could work with the students and I could try things in a way that worked for me. And I, I think that's what's so great about BBD is there's all these different options out there, but you find the one that works for you. There's not one way that you can run your business or launch your product or program. You find the one that works for you and when you find that and there's alignment there, then you know you can really soar.

Speaker B: Yeah, it always blows me away that he's done every kind of launch that you can do. Because usually people, even if you hire a coach, usually it's like, okay, this is like the Evergreen coach and this is the uh, challenge launch coach and this is the live launch coach. And he's got every single process that you could think of to launch something digital in business by design. And it is kind of this blend of your offer, your audience and you as a teacher, how you want to teach people or how you want to engage with them. You know, people. Some people love prerecorded, automated. James loves being live in a room with people and the energy that comes and the relationship that comes from being in the moment with someone. He has a lot of, you know, spinoffs of like this is you can do a challenge, but it doesn't have to be all pre recorded or pre downloaded PDF content. You can actually do a live challenge series over a couple of days and you'll build rapport and relationships with people. That's cool. So what are your results like today? Like where have you taken the business to?

Speaker C: Well, the business has really shifted over time, if I can speak to that. Because there was a really pivotal moment for me that happened in 2023. I think, you know, when I joined BBD I got really excited about all the different things I could do and I think I got caught up in a moment of looking at where the business wasn't working and making really extreme choices to change my business. Probably being the typical entrepreneur of following a shiny new object or thinking if I work with this audience, things will get. I still found myself at a point of okay, I hit my first goal of after being in BBD of uh, I wanted to make a hundred thousand dollars. And I hit that in that first year, which was great. But I still found myself in a place of not really enjoying what I was doing. And instead of having a real clear understanding of why that was, I thought I had to pivot to another audience. I thought it was my audience and I thought it was what I was teaching that was heavy. But in reality now looking back, I realized that it was more the things that James talked about. Not having a team to support me, not setting clear boundaries with my clients and customers, not valuing my time and energy, not paying myself my worth. So it was a real journey over the past years to really get to that place of understanding. And it wasn't until 2023 that that really hit home. My son that year was diagnosed with autism and it was a late diagnosis. He was in his teens and that really shook me because I thought I need to change the structure of my business. Now what was working prior to this point isn't going to work anymore because I need to be there to take him to his appointments and to figure out how I can best support him. And I want to be there for him every step of. And if I'm working the same amount of hours that I'm working now, the same times that I had structured in my schedule would not work. And so I, I literally had to reconfigure my business in 2023. That meant a pivot that I thought I was taking of working with entrepreneurs at that time couldn't happen anymore. I was still working with actors, I was working with entrepreneurs. I found myself running two different businesses, two different podcasts at the same time. It had to end in that moment and I had to make a choice. And I remember once I had a conversation with James and it was a conversation I wasn't really ready to, uh, approach or listen to at that moment when I was telling him that I had two podcasts and two different businesses running at the same time. And I remember him saying to me, you can do whatever you want, you know, you could do whatever you want in your business. You want to run two podcasts, you want to run two businesses, fine. But you can never turn your back on your passion or your purpose. And I was, in this moment prior to 2023 of like this struggle of do I follow my passion and my purpose or am I meant to move on and do something else? And it was in that moment of restructuring my business and making a choice that I realized what I had been doing for the past few years, which was not trusting in myself, that my passion and uh, my purpose was enough, which is where I really needed to be. So I closed down my business with working with entrepreneurs and just went full force on working with actors. And it was that decision that then helped me get the results that I wanted to. So in 2024 I completely restructured my business. I created a six month group coaching program that within six months of starting that from idea to six months later, I had already created a, a six figure business in those six months. I then said to myself, in 2025, what would it look like if I went back and I revisited that American Accent program that I kind of put to rest for a while while I was focusing on entrepreneurs. And that's when I decided to do the weekly or the bi weekly webinars. And what would it look like if I just stuck to that one offer? And I kept doing it week by week, day by day, you know, refining and tweaking it. Where could I take it? And that really changed things for me because not only was I starting to see, ah, real results, I was starting to believe that I actually could have a successful business working with actors, which I did not have that belief when I first started this business, but I started to see things happening. I started to see an evolution in my messaging each and every week because I had a sense of knowing in and out who my audience was, what they needed to hear, and I could quickly make shifts and pivot my messaging each and every week based on the results and the data and the things that I was noticing in the previous launch. So it was the biggest gift when he said, do 20 webinars and then come and see me. And I remember I got to the 20, I said, hey, James, you remember? He said, Do 20 webinars. Come and see me. Well, I've done it. And it was so cool to get to that point and realize that I had stuck to something that I didn't go off on this tangent and that tangent and this one, I stuck to the one thing. And each and every time I did that webinar, the results just grew and grew and grew because I didn't distract myself with the next, you know, shiny new object.

Speaker B: It is so cool. I asked him once, I was like, why 20? And he was like, because it's the number that's just big enough to be shocking. And it's probably twice the amount they need to do in order to start seeing the result. They'll start seeing a difference after they've done five in a row or 10 in a row. But to do 20, I love that story. Two things stand out to me that I want you to extrapolate on. One is that moment when you're asking James, should I pivot? I've got two things going at once. I have my eggs in two baskets. And I think what stood out is that is what I love about him as a coach is he's always going to come from what is lighting you up as a person. What do you want for your life? What do you want for yourself? What's your self expression? Not, let's only talk about the thing that's gonna have the easiest audience, the easiest way to make money, the most lucrative choice. And he really believes if you're passionate about something, you will attract the people that are also passionate about it or are passionate about learning it. And you will be successful at that by the nature of that's your calling. So it is. I, uh, feel like some people listening could be like, yeah, it's probably a, uh, pretty niche market to teach foreign actors an American accent. And if you were just vocal training entrepreneurs effectively, you're broadening your client pool. You know, your avatar is, like, a little bit broader, so that on paper, that might look like a safer bet. And I love that in that moment, it wasn't about that. It was about you and what was going to make you feel lit up. So I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about that.

Speaker C: Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Speaker B: I mean, and the other thing that maybe is connected is I hear all the time when I do these interviews that people are in a space of things feeling heavy or they're doubting, is this my purpose? And they are thinking that exact same thing. It's my audience, maybe it's what I've chosen to teach. And then they find out when it starts to crack open and succeed that actually, that they weren't in the wrong niche, they weren't teaching the wrong thing. They were absolutely right with what they wanted to offer and teach. It just felt like a, uh, heavy lift because your effort wasn't getting you the results that you want. And when you have the system in place that starts to create that machine that he talks about, then you realize, oh, no, that was, that wasn't true. I wasn't out of alignment. I wasn't off purpose by offering this thing. So I don't know if those two things are connected for you.

Speaker C: Totally. Yeah. Because when I joined BBD and I just started to get that little bit of success, like my first year in, I doubled my sales. And then I hit my first goal of making a hundred thousand dollars, and I was like, okay, we're onto something. I joined next level. And then suddenly I went, but why does my business feel heavy? Why am I starting to not enjoy who I'm working with? Why. Why do I have this feeling of like, I'm meant for more and maybe it should be entrepreneurs? Because people say, you know, it's a big. And it would be that much easier and I'd make more money working with people who have profitable businesses. So I'm like, okay, I'll do it. But I realized that I was taking all of the problems and issues and worries and fears from working with actors, was just transpiring into working with entrepreneurs. And it wasn't easier, if anything was harder. And I was hitting roadblock after roadblock after roadblock, wondering what. Why is it not getting easier? Meanwhile, I couldn't fully leave my business of working with actors because that was sustaining me. So that's where I started, having two different businesses going at the same time. And when I reflect on what was heavy about it is what I didn't know in being a new entrepreneur in the online space is you think of your audience as like, well, I'm just working with actors. Okay, Now I'm just working with actors. That aren't from the US but it gets even more intricate and defined when you can get really specific on, well, I don't have to work with every single non US actor who. The ones that really light me up, the ones that get results, the ones that I'm excited to work with and are going to put in the work. So in working with James on messaging, I was able to clearly define that and to really listen in to those actors, what they were saying, what their needs were, and then start to shift my offer and my messaging to speak to them. So there was a massive shift in my messaging of being a little bit more broader to more specific. And that helped me to craft exactly the offers that I wanted to present to my audience that actually lit me up. So. So my offer really shifted quite a bit. But when I saw him in Sedona, I think it would have been in 2022. We're doing like a little mini mastermind for breakthrough of the Year. And I remember telling him about my problem of having two different businesses and I was getting burnt out and. And I don't know what to do anymore. And I remember him saying to me, well, what do you want and what do you want to be known for and who do you want to work with? And I couldn't answer the question. I said, I don't know. And then the first thing I told him was, you know, I wanted to work with entrepreneurs and helping them with their voice. But he knew that I was not being truthful. I didn't know in that moment that I was not being truthful, but he knew, and he kept asking me questions and diving deeper until finally it came up to the surface. And I remember the one thing I remember him saying in that conversation that really hit home and took me on this journey of discovering and kind of like rediscovering my passion and purpose again that had been subdued, was you can do anything you want, meaning you can have a million different businesses, but you can't turn your back on. On your passion and your purpose. And when I was trying to pivot, that's exactly what I was doing, is I was trying to subdue the past, subdue my passion and purpose. Because I thought, I'll never be successful creating a business for actors because I thought, well, I didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve as an actor. And so as taking my past history as an actor and putting it on my business and reflecting my thoughts and feelings as being an actor and putting that on my audience. And it was the greatest gift because it took me on this journey of self discovery, figuring out, like, well, why is that? Why don't I have that belief in myself? Because if I don't have that belief in myself, how can I have that belief in my business and for the people that I'm working with? And I don't know exactly what happened. I think it's more a matter of, like, taking one step and then the next and trying new things and just opening up the door to saying, what if it does work with actors? What if. What if I can create a business that I do love, that's based on my passion and my purpose, one step after the next after next, and finding a business that looks totally different to what I had envisioned in 2017, 2018. Different offers, different ways I'm selling, different ways I work with the actors to a business that I really love that is way more successful than I ever thought would be, that has opened the doors to opportunities that I'm doing now. You know, I never imagined that I would be dialect coaching on the set of a massive US Feature film with one of the best, the biggest movie stars in the world. Uh, Thor. I'm working with Thor. That wouldn't be possible if I didn't have that belief in my passion and my purpose. And that comes from a conversation that I had with James on, um, that.

Speaker B: I remember that. I remember when you guys were talking and then us privately talking, and I was like, what were you talking to? We say Beckonator or Beck's. We rarely say Catherine. I was like, what are you talking to Beck about? And he was like, well, you know, she's got these two businesses. And I was like, I will support her with whatever she wants to do, but I just. When I. You and I geek out on film conversations. And I was like, when I talk to Katherine about film and acting, she just oozes excitement and passion for acting. And I would be so sad if she decided not to do that. I just think that she. She loves it and she's really good at it, and that's where I want to see her go after it. And he was like, I completely agree with you. But if she does decide to just pivot completely and work with entrepreneurs, and I'll be like, go for it. And I love that he has such restraint as a coach, too, because he won't say that. Yeah, he won't say, well, I think you should xyz. He always just says, you have to find the answer. But, you know, you also got to believe in what's in your heart to do. And it's so exciting to watch you grapple with that and really wrestle with it and then decide to go all in on working with actors. And then, you know, a year later, be like, me. I walked in, I'm like, I wasn't allowed to tell you, but now she says, I could tell you. Guess where Beck is. Like, what? And I go, she's on set with Chris Helmsworth. And he goes, what? So I think it's such a cool story that, like, sometimes you did such a good job of reflecting on. Is it the outside thing? Like, is it the external results? Is it the niche? Is it the clients? Is it the business? Or is it something that's in conflict within ourselves that's bringing up that feeling of, am I not aligned? Is this the right path for me? And James always encourages me to take the action and be like, you're going to find out if it's the right path by going further down the path. So what you're going to do is commit to that path, do 20 webinars on that path. And then if you get 20 webinars, then you will be clear. I did this. I went all in. I just got chills. I gave it everything. And then I reflected and I went, this isn't for me. But as opposed to. Sometimes we can do this fantasy of our mind of, like, I'm going to imagine what both paths are like, and I'm going to try to create this vision of the future to sense which would be a better choice. I'm going to imagine this future A, and then I'm going to imagine future B, and then I'm going to try to mitigate my risk and not have pain and not feel like a failure. And then I'm going to choose which path to seems like it's more secure. And James is like, stop doing that. Just go down the path and repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. Do it over and over and over and over. And if you still hit a wall after 20, then we gotta look at the data and see, like, what's going wrong. But I think what you said was really cool about messaging, because messaging is one of those things where it's so common for people to come in with an expertise and you know how to teach something, but you don't know how to sell. You don't know how to talk about it in a way that attracts the client, because it is a different thing. Talking about how to solve the problem is not talking about how to sell a, uh, solution. There's uh, two different art forms. And I love that you said that in the repetition of delivering to clients on a webinar where you're selling at the end, you get more familiar with what language works, what language doesn't, what are the actual words that they use to describe what's holding them back? And then you take that into your messaging. So it's almost faulty thinking to think, oh, I can just prep my way into being a really great marketer. You have to go and do it. Like, uh, you have to learn through doing it. Because even if you have the perfect script, so to speak, of, like, let's say you have a great sales script, there's a level of being comfortable that's going to come from when you've done it 20 times that isn't going to be there the first time that you do it. So it's not all about what you say. It's how you are when you say it. And that repetition for. For anyone listening who's like, yeah, I really struggle, uh, with sales or messaging. The repetition is the way to cure that, because you will gain knowledge about your client while you're repeating it, which is why he says, go, just go do it 20 times, and you're gonna get the data that you need to be successful at it. Yeah.

Speaker C: And every time I would do a webinar, I would. Things would pop up as I was doing it. So I would notice, like, oh, that's an area that I still need to refine the messaging. Or I didn't get engagement in that particular slide, or I just got this objection. How can I address that in the next webinar? So each one got better. Because in the moment, I'm addressing the areas where there was ambiguity, where I felt like something was off or an objection that I hadn't addressed. How can I add that into the webinar? So each time I did, I was like, I got that objection, and I got that one, and I got that one. You got nothing left. Like, if you are meant to be in my world and in this program, you are in, and if you're not, that's great. But I know for those that are meant to be in my world, I have addressed every objection under the hood, and if something else comes up, you better believe I'm going to address it in the next one. Yeah. So it becomes like this fun, exciting adventure versus before, before doing multiple webinars. And I was waiting, like, three months, four months to do the next one. All this fear and anxiety and worry would come up because I hadn't addressed it. And in doing the weekly or the biweekly webinars, I didn't have time to lean into that. It was more intrigue and curiosity of like, okay, well that didn't quite work how I thought I would. So what if I do this? Okay, well that worked better. So now I can address this. And it just became this like really cool puzzle instead. Mhm.

Speaker B: Yeah. That's so funny. It's so congruent with actor process because what that brought up was like rehearsals. Like I've been in productions where, um, when I was stage acting, I've been part of plays where you have like two weeks and then the play is up and it becomes like this. Every rehearsal starts to feel like, oh my gosh, we have to nail it. What if we don't have it? But then you have other productions where you have three months of like really playful, lots of different rehearsals and you get to do it over and over and over. And I told my mom that one of the things that is hard about like a live event, like BBD Live, where we just do it once and it's done, is I told her I was like, I miss doing something live where you do it live. And then you get to refine it. Like you all come off stage and you go, oh, I love how you said that line last night. Or you know, what moment really worked was this. And maybe next time we can, we can like dial it up a little bit more. You know, what fell flat was this. So let's change it tomorrow night. And that collaborative, artistic. We're just going to do it again, do it again, do it again. Makes it more fun and less pressure because it's less about getting the results. You know, it's more about, let me refine how effective I can be with people. And I like that you said that the objections became fun in a way because people can get really intimidated by what do I do when people say that they don't want to be in my program? And James is like, wait, wait, did they say they don't want your stuff? Or did you say an objection? Because an objection is actually they do want to be in your program. There's just something in the way. And I love that reframe around it. Because I think people experience objection as rejection and they're not. It's separate. Like there will be people that are like, now that I understand what this is, Katherine, this is a no. You know, I want to learn, I want to learn a French accent. I thought you taught French accents. You teach American accents. I'm a no. And you're like, correct. That's what the webinar was for. But people who have an objection, it's them saying, yes, but, yes, I want this, but I'm worried about X, Y, Z. And as you get better at addressing the concerns, it does become fun. It because it starts to feel like, like if you've ever had, uh, people listening, if you've ever had like a friend that always has a reason of something that gets in the way of why they can't do something, and you just become the person that's like, what's in the way? You need to buy groceries. I will instacart them right now. What's in the way? You, you can't afford a plane ticket. I will pay for it right now. Like, you become the person that's just moving the problems. And you learn how to do that through practice. And then you're not intimidated by it. I think it also, when you're not intimidated by it, it allows people to feel like you are not approaching them with high pressure sales. It's this spacious, like, if you want to move this out of the way, we can move it. And I'll be here when you're ready. And then that really ironically makes people lean in more when you push at, uh, like selling it can be repellent versus, like, when you're comfortable around the objection, you're aware of it, you get it. And you're like, yeah, I get it. That's relevant. And you know, you could still say yes. What did you say that where I went like, oh, uh, yeah, that's so good. I mean, the sheer art of repetition I think is something that everyone can take away, that if there's something that if you want to find out if it works, repeat it and have some process to track the data. And I think that's where James is really great at. Being a very nuanced coach is that there's no process inside of business by design that doesn't also include what numbers do you need to be looking at to see if this is successful. And it, it ain't how many sales you made. It's all the statistics of like, how many people registered, how many people attended live. What was your cpl, your epl? He's got all the data and it can make it feel less personal and more of a formula of like, oh, wait, I get it. This is working. I've got traction here. I just need to repeat it. And then the second thing that I think everyone can take away is knowing that inside of that repetition, you will transform into a different version of you that's able to deliver in a different way for your clients through repeating, right?

Speaker C: Oh my God, a hundred percent. Yeah. I, first of all, I always told myself, well, I'm bad at math, so I'm not good at numbers. I'm going to avoid numbers. I'm not going to look at numbers. But doing the weekly or bi weekly, because I did biweekly webinars, I, I don't want to say I was forced to look at the numbers, but it got, I don't know, maybe it got easier to look at the numbers and track the data and see what was happening from webinar 1 to 5 to 10 to 20 and to, to keep looking at the numbers and having it all in a spreadsheet and being able to see where I could do, do these tiny tweaks. It made it from an avoidance and a fear of looking at it to like, this is really cool and fun and a detachment. Where I wasn't so emotional about my launches to now I could look at it from more a clinical perspective, which is great for somebody who is an empath, who is an actor, who's always working in emotions, working with actors and emotions, it can be very easy to bring emotion into your business. And doing the regular webinars, it allowed me to take emotion outside of the business and look at it from a more clearer perspective. So the data really, really helps. And, and ah, it does sh. Identity. I mean, I cannot tell you how much changed for me since starting the webinars in January of 2025. Obviously, like, my business grew tremendously solely working in my passion and my purpose. But I've now also gone back into acting, which is something that I closed the doors to in the past. I lost about 30 pounds as well over the past year. I, uh, am now working reference everybody.

Speaker B: Catherine is a tiny human being. So her saying she lost 30 pounds is like probably 50 pounds for a normal sized human. She's, she's not a big person.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Where would you lose £30 from, Catherine?

Speaker C: Well, no, I was overweight. You know, like, I really went through probably like a lot of people, like gained a little bit of weight during lockdown. Yeah, my, you know, my son getting his diagnosis, it put on a lot of stress and worry and I just found myself not myself anymore. And I, I wanted to get back to, you know, feeling good about myself and my body and, and so I found that my mindset was shifting As I was doing the Levinars, which is weird to say, but it gave me more confidence to like work on myself in different areas physically, you know, being one of those areas to where I found myself shedding all of this weight. So it's kind of like I was shedding this internal weight that I had on my shoulders, as was physical weight as well. And, you know, coming back to acting and allowing myself to open up that chapter again was. It was like coming full circle of going back to solely working with the actors because I was proving to myself that my business didn't have to be a fallback career. I didn't have to have a fallback career that I could truly find success in my passion and my purpose, both personally, you know, as an actor myself and as an entrepreneur in working with actors. So it was like this full identity shift that happened with doing these webinars on a regular basis. It was amazing. So I highly recommend it to everyone.

Speaker B: In the world of entrepreneurial coaching, there's a big conversation about mindset alignment, uh, thinking. Right. Which of course is a component of it that will never change. Like the way that you think about things, the way that you relate to yourself, obviously, very magic ingredient. And James does coach on that. However, the belief shift has to be coupled with a shift in how you do things or you won't produce the result that you want in the identity. And that's something that he touches on in his three part live training that's coming up about like, why, why is it that you can't just think your way into a new identity? And one of the examples I always tell him is like, now at our age, I've watched so many of my friends become mothers and the, the thought shift that starts to happen when they decide I want to have a kid and then the thought shift that's happening while they're pregnant and then the identity shift that comes after they have the baby. I'm like, to me, that's such a perfect palpable metaphor for. And I talk more to my female friends about it. I'm sure this happens for men as well when they become fathers. But I'm speaking to it in terms of motherhood because I've talked more to my female friends about it, but that, uh, all of them have agreed with me that there is a shift when you decide that you want to be a mother. But the identity shift is when you become a mother. When you, every day you're waking up and you're taking care of your child and you're putting Your needs behind their needs and that there's actions that you take and the repetition and the being there and the being present and the caretaking. And that's when you are now in the identity archetype of mother. And a lot of them have described even like, even being pregnant wasn't that identity yet. You know, it was like uh, that because the action yet wasn't. They weren't doing the muscle of motherhood yet. And so there's something to be said for you can create the mindset shift for yourself or believe in yourself, but really you can also reverse engineer it, which is like just start taking the action. And then in taking the action you will produce the belief and the proof in yourself that will start to transform you from the inside out. And I think we get in our way so much in the beginning of things because especially people. I know that at this stage of the year we're coming up on the free training. There's so many people listening that are like, I'm um, at the starting line, I've got something. But it plateaued. Or maybe where you were pre2020 where it's like, I made this whole thing and it sold three and I don't even know if this is worth pursuing. And we get stuck in this wheel of I don't want to keep doing it if I'm not going to get a result at the end. Or like maybe I just need to have an identity shift first and then I will be able to take action. And it's really, you got to find what actions to take. Which is where I think BBD really makes it a lot easier. And, and also the business breakthrough experience in the training. Like James as a coach giving you these are your next 30 steps. Like you're we're gonna do A, B, C, D, E and F. And then it gives you something to do and in the doing of it, you start to shift the identity and then you start becoming because you're doing different. So you're being different and then, then you're becoming is like the, the becoming is the bridge between the thinking and the being in the mindset and the action and the, and the doing, you know? Does that resonate?

Speaker C: Oh, totally. I don't even know what to say because you said it so accurately. It's funny because I was literally having this discussion with my actors on a coaching call right before us having this conversation. I was trying to communicate to them. We were talking about like, what is that 1 to 2%, whether it's consciously or subconsciously that might be preventing you from true authenticity in performing with an authentic American accent and trying to dive deep into like, what is that thing? Uh, and of course for quite a few of them it was self doubt and not trusting themselves and getting to the point of talking to one of the actors about him saying to himself, I am going to get this accent. But then not fully believing in himself that he would get it and basically saying, well, it's not enough to have the affirmation to say I'm gonna get this accent. Or whatever their affirmation or, or mantra might be in their mind of I will do this, I will achieve that end result or outcome. But what are those tiny steps that you're doing each and every day to get yourself there? Because the reality is it's not going to happen in a day or a week or a month. It's going to happen over time. And so what are those small little actions that you can take to get yourself to that identity shift of uh, where you actually fully believe in your capabilities, that you are able not only to authentically speak in the American accent, but actually book those roles. And they started to understand that, you know, it is a journey for all of us. It's a journey. Whether you're an entrepreneur, an actor or whoever, it's a journey. And it's how you show up each and every day and keeping laser focused. And how does it feel? What is that feeling that you get when you think about that thing that you want in the future? How does it make you feel? And if you can remind yourself of that each and every day in that tiny little step that you take on those days where you start to self doubt or you feel like, I don't want to do this today, keep reminding yourself of what is that feeling of where I'm headed to. And it helps you in that moment to ignite that excitement and that inspiration to keep going and to know that it will happen for you. But you've just got to trust in the process and trust in yourself and believe and keep, keep moving down that path.

Speaker B: Yeah. And that for everyone, repetition is a mother of skill. If you find yourself going, it hasn't happened yet, which means then you're going into a fixed mindset instead of being in that growth mindset of like, I just have to repeat this over and over and over. And I would imagine like in entrepreneurship there's an element of digital business that I think becomes scary because by nature you're putting yourself in front of strangers on the Internet and so you're exposing yourself to criticism, which I see, as I'm sure with the actors that you're working with at their level, I'm sure there's an element of, if I don't learn this accent, if I don't get this right, it's going to be written about, it's going to be talked about, I'm going to be criticized, the movie's going to tank or whatever it is. And so there's this added level of even if it hasn't happened, like, the fear of critique, of like, if I don't get this, people are going to say things, think things, you know, I'm never going to be cast again in an American role because you get this one shot and then you're like, oh, no, he can't do an American accent.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: And the entrepreneurs do that to themselves of like, well, what if I put this offer out there and my audience is like, what are you doing? And I think like, we have to, you've got to allow yourself to take a risk and just know if you keep going, then you'll get it. Like, I remember James, I just saw an interview yesterday. It was, it was actually about a producer working with a very famous musician and changing her sound. And the production team firing this other producer because they were like, they have a million fans and this is going to off put the fans and the producer that got fired saying, you may lose 2 million fans, but you're going to gain 10. And that's exactly what happened, was they had to let go of this old audience to bring in more. And James had to do that. At one point he was like the video guy on YouTube. And when he decided, I'm gonna start teaching digital business, I'm gonna teach people how I built my YouTube business. He said he got like his email list, he lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers because people were like, I thought you were the video guy. What am I? What am I on this email list for? And he was like, I had to trust in that moment. I know the pivot that I'm going in. You know, like, I know if I just keep going in this direction, I will attract the people that I want to help. And what I love about your story is that it takes courage to put out a new offer and keep doing what you're doing, but also not go, oh, now, now I'm going to pivot back to working with actors. What are people going to say? What are they going to think?

Speaker C: Are people going to be like, I

Speaker B: thought she was working with entrepreneurs now what is she doing? And you just. You did it and you went all in on it, and now you're on a set with huge movie stars teaching them American accent. Yeah.

Speaker C: I mean, it just goes to show that anything's possible and you just got to be open to it and believe in yourself. But. But that 100% was the first thought in my head is, what are people going to think if I pivot back?

Speaker B: Yeah. James always goes, you know what? They don't think about it that much. They might.

Speaker C: They might.

Speaker B: They might say, like, oh, I thought Katherine was doing something. Well, I guess she's doing that now. And they keep scrolling. And in our mind, it's like this. Oh, my gosh, people are going to be chatting about it in the grocery stores. No, they're not.

Speaker C: Yeah, that's, uh, one of the biggest lessons is the only person that cares is you. Nobody else cares because they care about what's going on with them. They're all thinking about themselves as well. So everyone's in their own world. Nobody cares. So you do what you want to do. And if it's pivoting back, pivot back. The thing that I remember him saying to me and was like, oh, duh, of course you don't have to limit yourself. Like you said, you can do anything you want to do, but you can work with entrepreneurs one on one. You don't have to have a whole nother group coaching program and a podcast and a this and that. You can still be open to it and people can come, um, your way, but you don't have to have a million businesses going at once. And I was like, oh, I don't really. Okay, well, that makes things easier. So let me focus on the one thing that truly lights me up. And it's going to be easier to create a business around that. And so that's what I did. And that's thanks to James and then of course, his wonderful business by Design, helping me each step of the way with his structure and processes to keep me fully aligned and, you know, on the path that I was destined to be on the whole time.

Speaker B: Oh, I just love that so much. What do you want to leave people with? Like, I know we have a lot of people listening this time of year that are. They're usually one of two places listening to these episodes. They're either trying to get traction in their business, but they don't have the results that they want yet. Like, maybe they've gotten some results, but it's not. They haven't hit that. That was my annual goal. This is where I'm not at the finish line of where I really, I'm not at the top of the mountain. And now I'm going to create a new mountain. They're like, like striving and then the other is they're at the starting line and they're thinking, this looks like a really tall mountain to climb. And at the I'm at base camp. So how am I going to do this?

Speaker C: Okay, well, if you're just starting out, the only way you're going to get to where you want to go is that first step that you take, you know, so everything you want is on the other side of that very first step that you take. And it's okay to change paths, meaning if you find yourself trying things and it's not working great, those are lessons that you're learning along the way that's showing you that potentially there could be a different way. So honor how you're feeling and allow yourself to course correct if need be. There's this quote that I've always loved from Robert Frost poem I think it is, which is two roads of diverged in the wood and I, I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference. And I think it's allowing yourself to be open to change paths. If you see that there is another path that is right for you to give yourself the courage to try it out, try it on for size. And you know, as you go through that path, there's, there's going to be be things that test you along the way. There might be fear that pops up. That's okay. It's how you handle the fear. You know, fear is always going to be there. But, you know, how do you move through the fear instead of trying to let the fear, you know, overtake you and just keep going. You know, if I had stopped, there are many times along the way where I could have stopped and given up. But I was stubborn. I kept going because I knew I had that belief in myself that I will work this out, I will figure it out. And I'm so thankful that I did. And I don't know that I ever would have gotten to this point and doing what I'm doing had it not been for James. And, um, business by design.

Speaker B: I love that. Well, by the time this episode drops, I believe I'm doing the math. I believe we're going to be like right in the middle of training time. Like by the time this episode's airs, he'll be doing his three part Free training. So if you're listening to this and you aren't in the business breakthrough experience, now is the time to come and get the biggest, most comprehensive free training that James says. I hope you're listening to this and we're in the middle of the training together. But yeah, it does. I've watched this for years and I used to say on these episodes I study the entrepreneur type. And then this week we had the breakthrough of the year finalists out here in Sedona. And I said, I guess I need to stop saying that. I study people who have online businesses, but I don't have one because this year I lost a membership and now, now I have one. But what I've learned is, is I look at James all the time and I go, I don't know why anyone would want to do this without a coach. Like, why would you want to try to figure this out without the instruction manual? That's like, like going to Home Depot, buying a bunch of wood, a hammer and some nails and being like, I think I'll build a house. Um, no, totally. I am m getting the IKEA furniture with the Allen wrench and the instructions. And we are building whatever James says we're gonna build. That's a table came with instructions. I can build it. And that's really what he does in the free trainings. And inside, obviously inside business by design, it's more in depth. But, but no matter if you're starting or if you, if you've plateaued or just if you're in business in general, get a community that can support you and get a coach that you want to take advice from. I told James the other day, I was like, you know, I've listened to people be coach for you by so many years. And the, the thing that is congruent with the people that I have on the wincy weekly win is they focus on the coaching that you're giving and then they apply your coaching and they go all in on your coaching. And what I've noticed is that the more digital entrepreneurship becomes popular to even like everyone have a digital offer, even if you've still got a brick and mortar, even if you're still doing one on one clients, even if you still want to teach in person, have a digital offer. And so that's created a lot more variety in who you can learn from and uh, what process you can follow. And I, I've said last year, I said, I think what's happening is people are being too, too broad with where they take coaching from and Too stringent on what coaching they apply. And what I think they should do is reverse that and be super stringent on who you decide to be coached by. And then be very broad with you. Do everything that they say instead of being like, like, I'm gonna pick James as my coach, but I'm gonna pick and choose what I'm gonna implement that he's telling me based on what I've read on the Internet or heard from other people or asked about, or my, my friend's doing this, and maybe if he tells me that or maybe if I saw this process, I'll do it. But not quite. It's the people that go, whatever coach you choose. And there's lots of variety. But if you choose James as your coach, come in and just do everything that he says to do and talk to me in a year. Because, uh, you're gonna, you're gonna get the result if you follow the path. It's like that. Chase five rabbits, catch none. You know, you gotta pick your coach and then be very, very open with how you receive coaching from them versus picking a coach, but being really particular about, we'll do this piece and then that piece and I'll make a patchwork quilt of all the coaching I've received in the last five years.

Speaker C: Yeah, the coaching aspect of working with James in BBD and then in Next level has been tremendous. And I can't imagine doing this on my own with the amount of support I've had from James, from his coaches, and the incredible community of entrepreneurs. It's been life changing for me. And it does make a business which sometimes can feel quite lonely because a lot of times you're working on your own to feeling like you've got other people there for certain support who have your back, who understand what you're going through, who can support you and coach you into making clear and smart decisions. I fully, fully support. You know, find a coach who works for you. And James has a way of really knowing what needs to be said and how to say it in a way that gets you into action. Yeah, Agree time. Yeah, big time.

Speaker B: Uh, where can people find you if they want to work with you or if there's anyone out there listening that wants to learn the American accent.

Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, not just actors. You know, there are people who want to refine or enhance their accent as well. I'm also a voice coach, so I do other things.

Speaker B: You could ask Thor's voice coach people, huh?

Speaker C: That's right. Best place to find me is on Instagram. It's Atherine. Karen Underscore. Beck underscore.

Speaker B: Amazing. We'll link that up in the show notes. I'm gonna pick your brain about James and I just this morning, who's asking me about Australian accents, because I said, guess who I'm interviewing today? And he said, how come when I'm listening to Australians, sometimes there's an accent that it sounds different, like. And I was like, oh, yeah, once you live in Australia, uh, you'll be able to pick up, like, that's Adelaide, that's Sydney, that's Melbourne, that's Cans. And I was explaining to him, like, the placement in the mouth of, like, dialects. And he was like, fascinating. This is fascinating. So you're moving where you're putting your voice. And then I said, yes. And I told Catherine, you tell those Australian men not to put their voice in the nasal cavity. And he was like, what's an example of someone doing that? I, uh, was like, I will find it. I'll listen to movies sometimes, and I'll go, why do I not like their voice? And then Jillian will go, because they're British and they're trying to do American. So they're doing, like. They're doing, like, a Boston nasal, you know?

Speaker C: Yeah, well, what happens a lot of times is most actors will do an accent based on mimicry of what they hear, but they're not physically changing the placement of sound. So, like, if you're going from Australian, for example, they tend to close up the sound in the back of the mouth. Their tongue is really high and pulled back, so that closes up the space. So, uh, it goes through the nose. So as soon as I close up the space, the lower jaw and stop using my lips, it goes through the nose. And so then a lot of Australians, they won't change the placement, but they'll try and sound American. So then it has this sort of nasality to it, versus as you shift the placement, you teach them well, this is how Americans play sounds. They start to open up, and it's got a more warmer, richer, resonant tone. Now the space can actually go out through the mouth. And so, yes, that's what I told him.

Speaker B: I was like, British is in the front. And I go, it's almost like if you do this to your mouth, if you, like, duck, cup your mouth. And then she closed your lips. And then now try to do the. Do your version of a British accent, but do this with your mouth and pull all the sound to the front. And he was like, wow, you don't think about that when you're speaking. And it's just so neat to work with a coach like you, where once you, once someone tells you how to open up your voice, then you can feel it and you, you hear like all the different places, uh, resonating. It's fascinating.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: I'm so excited. I mean, you and I could geek out all day on dialogues and film and acting. I love having you on the podcast. Catherine, thank you so much for making time out of your busy, busy, busy schedule. She was so generous, you guys. She's on night shoots. She has been. This woman has been up to like 4:30 in the morning on a film set. She's tired and she made her time come and share and talk with us and share her success story. I just love doing these episodes because for me, it's just the most inspiring thing to hear is to listen to the path of people who have created something in a unique niche with a passion that they have all the different ways that they've applied coaching and Business by Design. And it really makes it feel like it's accessible. You know, you can do this too. And that's my hope, is that as you listen to this, you can be like, like, yes, repetition. That's what I need. I need to follow Katherine's advice. So if you want to reach out to Katherine on Instagram, I know all of our guests love it when you let them know that your episode made a difference. Please send her a dm. Send me a DM if you want. And we'll see you next time on the Wednesday weekly Win.

Speaker A: Hey, James here, and I want to take a moment and thank you so much for joining me and watching us in our live training. And if you're here, then chances are you already know, know that enrollment into Business by Design is now open. And we open the doors just once a year for four short days to welcome our new members into the community and the program. So no matter what stage you're at, right, whether you're just uncovering your niche or you're really trying to unlock your offer, or you're ready to scale your digital product to the the moon and beyond, I want to invite you to learn more about Business by Design. Notice how it's different from courses and other online programs out there because it gives you the structure, the processes, the execution guides, and the training necessary to hand off so much of the aspects and assets of running a business to a team. Your first va, your first first assistant, or if you want to do it yourself, it gives you the step by step LEGO instruction manual so you don't make a mistake. So you do it right the first time and you start getting results. So there's a link to learn everything about the program. What includes all the live training you're going to get from me, access to my amazing team of trained BBD coaches, and so so much more. And you have just a few days left to decide to see if Business by Design is a right fit for you. Thanks so much and I'll see you there.

Speaker B: Head over to businessbydesign.net to see everything that's waiting for you inside of Business by Design. Remember, enrollment closes in just a few days, so if you're on the fence or want to see more, it's time to head to www.businessbydesign.net to view everything that's included in this year's 2026 class of business by Design. Need to talk to someone one on one to see if it's the right fit for you? When you head over to www.businessbydesign.net, you'll have an opportunity to book a sales call with a real Business by Design alumni so that you can chat one on one about where your business is at and if what you need is supported inside of Business by Design. Everything you need to make a decision that's right for you and your business. Or you can head to the Show Notes and click the link there. See you on www.businessbydesign.net.