Kati Stage on Facebook Attraction Marketing and Branding YOU, Inc
Kati Stage started MLM in 2013 and quickly realized that she needed a different approach. She discovered attraction marketing and branding you for 2023 network marketing success. Learn more about her powerful story in our exclusive interview below.
Thanks for accepting this interview, Kati! I am excited to learn more about you. So, let’s get started.
Where were you born and raised, what was childhood like, and what did you want to be when you ‘grew up?’
I absolutely LOVE where I grew up because it had a small town feel even though South St. Paul, Minnesota was ranked the city among America’s largest meatpacking centers.
Interesting enough, I grew up in the first house “On the Hill” where at the turn of the century my family’s home was the first residence built in the area for the meatpacking employees and their families.
Take notice the image below, you will see the name Willwerscheid in the description, a family that lived in the house I grew up in and a family that is still around today. Four generations later the Willwerscheid Funeral Home and Cremations Service are owned by two brothers not far from South St Paul.
My childhood was pretty normal. I am the youngest of four and a child of the 80’s. I have always been the positive, quick witted, goofball child. To this day, it is my daily goal to make someone smile.
I did really well in school, however, I was not the “popular kid” because I kept my head down and did the work. I am a total introvert to be completely honest.
What did I want to be when I ‘grew up’? I had my phases. I wanted to be a stunt driver, a movie star, stand up comedian, crime scene investigator, then a private investigator, and being a superhero didn’t seem like such a tall order.
If it involved sneaking around, putting pieces together and solving the problem, I wanted to do that! Maybe I should just admit that all I wanted to be was a ninja. In any case, I wanted to be any of those things more than being a princess or mommy.
Did I achieve any of those dreams? If I were a ninja, you would be dead before you knew that answer. So there is that. All jokes aside, what stopped me from being any of those things listed above was the idea of going to college, be in debt for who knows how long only to ask myself the scariest question, “What if ….”
So I played it safe by working for a living instead of taking risks by going after my childish-like dreams. But are they childish? It is kind of funny thinking about how I ended up asking that scary questions after all.
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What did your parents do for a living and was there any Entrepreneurship in the family?
Mom did a lot of customer service jobs like fast food or banquet work and Dad retired from the Post Office after several decades.
However, even though my dad worked full time, he has had his entrepreneurial spirit passed down from his father so he has done things like Amway and Shaklee (which I thought was one company back then haha), sold children’s books, and owned a custodian franchise.
Fast forward to 2013, my Pops (as I call him) and I are in business together, working online. He is my most valued mentor.
What profession(s) or jobs did you eventually get into, and was Entrepreneurship always calling?
Nope,, I didn’t even know the meaning of the word “entrepreneur”, per se. Okay, I am not saying I was illiterate but it was never something I knew about formally.
Being that I was not interested in going to college and being in debt forever, I decided it was a brilliant idea to keep paying my bills and work for the rest of my life.
Not to say there is something wrong with working for someone else! Oh heavens, no! We need people to do that! Otherwise nothing would get done around here.
Could you imagine if everyone worked for no one? We NEED employees! I just don’t want to be one. And it only took me 31 jobs in 17 years to figure that out.
You read that right. I have had 31 jobs in 17 years. And by all means, judge me by what I told you about what I wanted to be when I grew up, you wouldn’t be surprised the interesting jobs I have done.
Some of these random jobs include fast food, housekeeping, housemaid, retail, restock clerk, meat cutter, meat packer, meat tray assembler, maintenance, grocery cart repair, process server, judgment recovery, customer service, nanny, secretary.
I have had various delivery jobs driving a school bus, delivering bread and mail in a box van and straight truck. I have done pretty much every entry level job I deemed more interesting than the mediocre.
So you can guess how much my eyes lit up when I discovered the possibility of being an entrepreneur! “You mean I get to call the shots? Take a vacation anytime I want? Go to the restroom without asking anyone if it is okay? I can choose to have PAID LUNCHES? Sign me up in entrepreneurship!”
Okay, you and I are smart enough to know that it isn’t all that and a bag of potato chips. There is a lot that goes on when being an entrepreneur. More about that later. In any case, I loved the idea! Even though it was a whole new world for me, I was up for the challenge!
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When did you discover network marketing, what was your first two years like, and can you tell us what you would change if you started over today?
Just like most of us, we get introduced to network marketing by someone we know. In my case, it was my Pops. It was April 16, 2013. I was sitting on my computer getting discouraged, searching endlessly for my next entry level job.
But I have already done most of these jobs and if I wanted to get paid more, or have something more challenging, I had to have a degree in something. On one hand, I wanted to make money. But on the other, I didn’t want to be an employee anymore and be in debt.
That is when my Pops introduced me to his new project he was working on. At that point, he was working with an affiliated cellular company, and to be honest, I was skeptical. However, it looked better than working for someone else so I went all in.
For the next 2 or 3 years after investing in this project was the roughest time of my life! I have NEVER struggled to make money ever. Yet again, it was a better option than the alternative.
And if I had to start over with what I know today, the first thing I would do is make sure I have the right mentor (not talking about my Pops. I learned later that he was one of my most valuable mentors).
Even though I am responsible for my 2.3 years of failure, I believe I would have had success sooner if I had a mentor to teach my Pops and me a strategy that worked!
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You have an offer on your site called, Attraction Marketing on Facebook. Can you tell us a little about that and how we can attract prospects to us using Facebook?
The answer to this question is in the question: attraction marketing. There is a lot of noise out there and the only way for anyone to notice you is to become quiet.
Attraction marketing is a learned skill to becoming the hunted, not the hunter by giving valuable content that people can use.
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Instagram is also a good place to generate leads. Can you tell us what the 5 keys to monetize Instagram are?
I am so glad you asked! Instagram is so misunderstood. I am still learning myself but I have discovered some really interesting information about how to generate leads without a massive following. Oh, and I don’t use automated posting or messaging.
#1. Your Instagram is not about you!
Rather, it has to show the lifestyle THEY want.
#2. Allow your brand to build through your story.
Learn to connect with your audience. What moves them (inspiration)? What do they want to learn (education)? And what are they getting out of it (entertainment)?
#3. Much like your posts, your Instagram bio is not about you!
You have 150 characters to tell them that you have a solution to their problem.
#4. Layout with intention!
Your first 9-12 photos combined with your bio, should start with “What do they want” and ends with “How I can help”. What they don’t know is they want what you are selling.
#5. Hashtags.
Avoid too many hashtags that look spammy. It makes you look desperate for attention and too little doesn’t give your photo the attention that it needs, and using 10 is pretty much the magic number of hashtags you use per photo. And always change the hashtags so they are relevant to that photo.
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I love your blog! How old is it, how many posts are on it, and what is your daily traffic like?
Thank you so much, Erik! I love your blog too! And I am not just saying that. Not a lot of people know how to make a nice, clean, easy to navigate site.
How many posts are on my blog? Well, I just logged in and currently (at the time of this interview) I have 60 posts and 5 pages. I created this site back in May of 2016.
If that doesn’t sound like a lot, in my defense, this is my third blog since 2013 and back in that time I used to blog every day.
However, I have since learned that I would much rather write one compelling blog a week than forcing myself to write daily – which cuts down on creativity and burns me out!
If I were to tally up a number of how many blogs I have published, I would have to say it is in the lower 1,000’s. My current site gets over 150 unique visitors per month.
What is the hottest way to generate leads for you these days, and can you share a technique?
YouTube! Well, video in general really. Specifically, I built my business on YouTube and that forced me to learn the skill of video marketing.
But I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my mentor. The second best is my blog. The technique behind it all, and it doesn’t matter where you generate leads from, is to give give give give VALUE, then provide a good call to action, and you got it!
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You are a home business coach, can you tell us who you work with, and what steps you walk your clients through?
Great question, Erik. I mainly work with other online business owners who need that extra push in helping sell what they are selling better. This includes finding the right niche because most people either can’t figure that out or they are going after the wrong niche.
I also teach attraction marketing, providing a list of the right essential tools needed to run a successful business online.
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What is your favorite book right now, and why?
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is my favorite and it is no contest. The first time I read this book was back in 2004. I had no clue what this book was trying to tell me.
So there it sat on the shelf until 2015. Then my paradigm was shifted from employee to entrepreneur, I dusted the book off and read it a second time. I still didn’t know what the book was trying to tell me.
Then, at the end of 2016, a box came in the mail with my name on it from a fellow marketer I have known since 2013. I opened up the box expecting chocolates and here was the brand new Think and Grow Rich Deluxe Edition, hardcover, gold edged pages. I was speechless and excited to read it! I still read it now in 2023 actually.
I opened up the book and read it that night. After page 3 – all of a sudden I was hit! There it was! You know, the very thing that makes this book the “Bible” for all entrepreneurs.
It is said that this book holds the ultimate money-making secret in every chapter and there is was on EVERY PAGE! Staring right at me.
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What are your goals for 2023?
This is a nice transition to tell you exactly how Think and Grow Rich has changed the way I think. Since discovering the online world, it has been my goal to travel full time around the States, and eventually the World.
Because I have understood and applied the philosophy from Think and Grow Rich, and by applying the six definite practical steps for desired riches and the thirteen principles of money-making essential to accumulate sufficient money for financial independence TWICE A DAY, my dream of traveling has come true.
For 2023, it is already in forward motion (pun intended) that my Pops and I will be traveling full time around the US for at least one year. I am researching on the best camera to document our travels and what is so great about what we do, together, is we can work remotely.
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What is your favorite quote and why?
Do I have to pick just one? That is a toughie!
Here, let me do this. I will give you my top three favorite that have helped me along my entrepreneurial journey and I know it will help you too. I am sure you have seen at least one of these quotes. Even so, please take a moment to READ them thoroughly.
Success: “If you are ready for the secret, you already possess one half of it, therefore, you will readily recognize the other half the moment it reaches your mind.” – Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich
Mindset: “You are what you are and you are where you are because of what has gone into your mind. You can change what you are and change where you are by changing what goes into your mind.” – Zig Ziglar
Spiritual: “Jesus wasn’t sent down to start a religion.
He came to start a relationship.” Eric Anderson, Crossroads Church, Woodbury, MN
Thank you, Erik, for reaching out to me and giving me an opportunity to share my story on your blog. You have inspired me to do this very thing in my own business.
Thank you so much for this interview Kati!
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