Mindset & Manifestation: A dialogue on how you can elevate your life & business

Being an advocate of female entrepreneurship and mindful living, I often use manifestation and mindfulness as tools to obtain success and clarity in my everyday life. Hence, I’m happy to introduce this new interview series on the blog targeting female entrepreneurs and freelancers who wish to elevate their lives (and businesses) by simply taking charge and manifesting what they truly desire. My first interview is with a fellow Female Entrepreneur, Canadian coach Katie Potratz. 


Hi Katie! Could you please present yourself in a few lines; who are you? What do you work with? Where do you live?

My name is Katie Potratz, I’m a mindset coach from British Columbia, Canada, and I work with women who have a desire to do more with their lives. I am extremely passionate about guiding women to pursue their dreams and live the lifestyle they’ve always dreamt about.

We hear a lot about mindfulness and coaching these days, but what is the definition of a mindset coach? And why did you choose to become one?

That is true, mindfulness is becoming more mainstream and I love that! Being mindful is relevant to my work as a mindset coach, but I like to think the premise of mindset coaching is that we have complete control over our minds, and therefore, our lives.

Most of us don’t realize the true potential of our minds, and tend to think that life happens to us, but in reality, we choose life, even the choices that we don’t like. So I like to think that I help my clients open their mind, and help them understand that whenever they want to change something in their life, they can just change it.

I got into coaching, in short, because it felt so incredibly right to me. I’ve always felt a calling to inspire people. One of my favorite questions to ask people is “what are your dreams?”, I’ve always felt pulled to inspire people and help them feel a sense of empowerment. When I discovered life coaching it was like all the stars aligned. It was everything I wanted in a career and everything I felt so pulled to do, I couldn’t believe I could do this for a living! I’m beyond grateful.

More and more women all over the world are taking the plunge into freelancing and entrepreneurship – but it’s still a world dominated by men. Why do you think that is?

I am so proud of women who are brave enough to enter the world of entrepreneurship and freelance! I’ve always known that I would be an entrepreneur, and this is actually the third business that I’ve started over the years.

My parents were entrepreneurs from the time I was very young, so it’s kind of been bread into me. Watching my parents with the highs and lows of owning your own business prepared me for the life of an entrepreneur, but for others who didn’t have those role models in their life, it can be super scary going out on your own!

It may be a male dominated field right now, but I definitely see it becoming a more even playing field in the near future. Women are catching on that we really can do anything we set our minds to, and that includes being a self-made girl boss.

There are without a doubt a lot of things to take into consideration when running your own business and sometimes it can be quite overwhelming. What do you think is the #1 struggle for women in business today, e.g. female entrepreneurs?

There are so many things to think about when you are your own boss! It’s kind of insane. I think the main struggle for female entrepreneurs is understanding that you don’t have to do everything at once. Especially because social media is so popular for growing an online business, it’s so hard to resist trying to be on every single social platform, every single day.

Speaking for myself, I get really hard on myself sometimes for not being more present online, and not having an account with every social media platform, but honestly, we are only one person and we have to just give ourselves a break sometimes! And besides that, I think female entrepreneurs should think more about the number one spot their audience is hanging out and target that platform, instead of trying to spread themselves too thin and not making a significant presence on any. Prioritize! Once you have your main social media figured out and somewhat automated, then move onto the next.

What does it – in your opinion – mean to ’elevate life’? Can anyone do it? Does it take a lot of practice?

I actually use that expression a lot, and to me it means to take your life to the next level. Absolutely anyone can elevate their life, but it does take dedication and time.

The thing about making your life better, in any way, is that making change is simple, but maintaining the changes takes dedication. If you don’t truly want to make your life better, or if you don’t truly believe it’s possible for you, then you’re going to prove yourself right.

Truly elevating your life means making sacrifices. You have to leave some aspects of your old life behind if you want to step up into a better version of it. It’s like the saying “If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done” doing the same things is only going to result in the same life.

I like to use the donut example. If your beliefs about donuts are that they are delicious, they taste great, they are a “treat”, etc. and when you see a donut your mouth starts to water and you start to imagine yourself biting into it, then it would be torture to try to resist!

But if your beliefs about donuts are that they are too sweet, they make you feel gross and bloated, and all you can picture is them adding to your problem areas, then chances are it would be no sweat to skip the donut.

That’s the power of mindset work. When you chose to look at things from a new perspective, everything changes.

Mindfulness is one of the buzz words of the modern era, but how can one practice mindfulness in a busy everyday life?

This is a great question! Life is busy and it’s hard to remember to be mindful when things are crazy. I struggle with this too, I’m only human. But some of the ways I like to incorporate mindfulness in my day are meditation and limiting my screen time as much as possible.

I love meditating! I don’t do it every day but I believe meditation can be whatever feels right to you. You don’t have to sit cross-legged on the floor humming to meditate. I think that any time you have alone with your thoughts is just as good. Being an online entrepreneur and being a work at home mom, I don’t spend a lot of time around other adults, which is hard sometimes but can also work in my favor. I think being alone (or just around small children and not other adults) allows my mind to quiet and for any new ideas to surface or thoughts to process, and that’s really what meditation is all about.

There are many amazing women in business today; can you name a few that inspire you?

There are so many inspiring women in business today, it’s hard to name just a few that have inspired me! I would have to say my Mom has been a huge inspiration to me, and watching her and my Dad navigate the world of entrepreneurship has proven to me that it’s possible, and that anyone can succeed if they have the determination.

Other amazing women that have inspired me are Carrie Green, her book She Means Business was a huge inspiration to me! Rebecca Campbell, author of Light is the New Black is my idol, her book spoke to my heart in the most profound way. Jen Sincero with her books You are a Badass and You are a Badass at making Money were huge hits for me. And I follow a ton of hugely inspiring women on social media, including Reese Evans, founder of Yes Supply, Aileen Xu, founder of Lavendaire, Kathrin Zenkina, founder of Manifestation Babe, and Marie Forleo, from MarieTV.

Read Katie’s blog by clicking here.

 

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