Conscious Success Co (00:00.994)
Hello, Caitlin. It's so fun to have you here on the Conscious Success… Sorry, let me start again. Hi, Caitlin. It is so fun to have you here on the Conscious Success podcast. Thank you so much for being with us today. Yes. So we know each other from college and through friends, and I've gotten to see your career at least from afar progress from your days working at Bravo and NBC Universal to…
Caitlin (00:12.984)
Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Caitlin (00:19.894)
Yes.
Conscious Success Co (00:29.632)
I still remember when you announced on Instagram that you were becoming a doula and then starting this Instagram account where you were like, hey, follow me over here at Wilder Beginnings if you want to see this doula journey. And it has been so cool to watch you build this brand and this community and all that you've done with it has really been very inspiring. And also, my girls are two months younger than your second.
Caitlin (00:34.348)
I know.
Caitlin (00:40.556)
Yup.
Caitlin (00:49.134)
Thank you.
Caitlin (00:56.962)
Yes.
Conscious Success Co (00:59.052)
We're both pregnant with our third. And so your content, all about being in those postpartum months and navigating what that feels like and all the shit that comes up, I've personally benefited from so much. And I know so many of our listeners, especially if they're in that new season of motherhood, will too. So thank you for being here. And I'm just so excited to dive into that journey and how you've built your business.
Caitlin (01:00.471)
Yes!
Caitlin (01:07.214)
Mm-hmm.
Caitlin (01:23.202)
Yeah, I'm so excited too!
Conscious Success Co (01:25.546)
Okay, so why don't you start by kind of give us the like whistle stop shop of your background and career journey before founding Wilder Beginnings and becoming a doula.
Caitlin (01:36.108)
Yeah, so I will say, you mentioned we went to college together and I, in college, did not know what I wanted to do. Side note, think it's insane we expect 18 year olds to be able to figure out like, I'm gonna do this for the rest of my life and then study that? Yeah, it's actually insane that we do that.
Conscious Success Co (01:51.926)
Yeah, like pick your major, define your career, you should know.
Caitlin (01:59.15)
I went to USC for broadcast journalism. That was what I was there for. I really wanted to be a news anchor or a reporter. And I loved it. I loved what I was doing. But it was more of like a practical school. And I miss being in a classroom and reading books. And I'm, I don't want to say codependent, but maybe that is the best word with my family. And I'm born and raised in LA. My family is all in LA.
Conscious Success Co (02:03.265)
Hmm.
Caitlin (02:28.533)
And to be a news anchor or reporter, you have to move to a small market somewhere. And I didn't think I could do that. I didn't want to do that. I, yeah, I'm sure South Dakota's beautiful to all of your South Dakotan listeners out there, but I just was like, I don't think I can do that in a small town that doesn't feel right. If I could immediately start in LA, that would have been fantastic, but that's not how that industry works.
Conscious Success Co (02:36.214)
Like I don't want to live in South Dakota. Like that doesn't, yeah.
Conscious Success Co (02:42.753)
Yeah
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (02:53.282)
and we'll
Caitlin (02:54.325)
I've always loved history. I've always loved, like I said, being in a class and learning. So I decided to change my major to history, which there wasn't a lot of forethought of like, where will I go once I graduate with that? Because you really just go and, yes, exactly. Exactly. Like you're actually just doing it because you like learning it, but there's no thought of, well, where do I go from here? And USC is not a cheap school. So.
Conscious Success Co (03:06.944)
It's kind of like an English major, like a history major.
Caitlin (03:20.337)
You basically would never make up the tuition with a history teacher salary from that degree. So as I was graduating, I didn't have a job lined up and everybody I was friends with had jobs lined up, knew they were going on to law school or med school. And I was just sitting there like, I have no idea what I'm doing when I graduate because if I become a teacher right now, that's all I'll ever do. And I don't know that that's what I want to do. And I will never forget.
I sat down and I made a list of things that I loved and pop culture was one of them. I've always loved pop culture and I've been a Bravo fan since they first opened the gates of Cotto to Casa for us in like 2006 or whenever it was. I'm an OG. mean, I was watching boy meets boy. Like I was watching queer. I was there from the beginning. So Bravo was on the list and I remember looking up job postings for Bravo and they had an internship and
Conscious Success Co (04:00.6)
You're like, I'm an OG Bravo fan.
Caitlin (04:17.077)
not to age us, at this time interns had to be college students because it was all unpaid. So.
Conscious Success Co (04:23.052)
Yeah, and you have to like literally get credits and like pay to work. Otherwise, you couldn't do it. was like, is this scam or what?
Caitlin (04:25.611)
Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, 100%. So I was so lucky that I convinced my parents to basically bankroll me signing up for a class at UCLA Extension, because at this point in time, I had already graduated college. But I had to sign up somewhere for these credits to go to count as a college student. So I signed up for UCLA Extension. I did the interview.
at Bravo before they were looking for students who were in like the cinema school or in communications. And again, I was a history major, but in my cover letter, I was like, I majored in history. I unofficially majored in Bravo programming. Like what I do not know about what's happening here. I will make up for it passion and enthusiasm and excitement. So I ended up getting hired, which was amazing as an intern. And I will never forget. I think I had two weeks left on my internship.
And I went up to my boss and I said, I cannot leave. I will not leave when this internship is over. Like we have, you have, because I loved it so much and I couldn't believe I could be paid to be around these shows and these people and this culture. And it was so fun. And so I ended up getting a coordinator job in a different department. And then I kind of moved around there, which was amazing. And it was so much
Conscious Success Co (05:29.56)
because you loved it there so much.
Caitlin (05:49.774)
fun and you think of the entertainment industry as being really cutthroat. And for the most part, it really is. But for whatever reason, maybe because we all knew we were making Bravo shows, like it was not like that at all. It was so no, so much fun. And it was such, it was like a family feel and I loved being there, but I did not care about my actual job. I did a really good job at my job, but
Conscious Success Co (06:01.696)
Like we're not taking ourselves too seriously, we're having fun.
Caitlin (06:17.789)
I was passionate about Bravo. I was not passionate about production management, which was my ultimate job that I did there.
Conscious Success Co (06:25.1)
What did production management actually entail? What was the day to day?
Caitlin (06:27.945)
Yeah. So we basically, in my team, did everything behind the scenes except give creative notes. So we approved the budgets for the shows, the talent fees. We paid all of the invoices to all the production companies. We were the liaison between the production company and the network during filming. So if they were going on a trip, we vetted the activities they were going to do. We helped get the trade-outs for the hotels that they were going to stay at. We did all of that. And then
When the show was airing, we were the ones that got everything, like clips to go for digital that got it to the broadcast facility, that clips for Watch What Happens Live, like all of that kind of stuff. So all of these little things that go into making a Bravo show a Bravo show is what we did. And it was fascinating because so many people, it makes sense now that I think about it. Most people that work there don't watch Bravo shows or care about Bravo shows. They're not fans. Yeah, it's.
Conscious Success Co (07:21.356)
Really? That surprises me.
Caitlin (07:23.711)
Yeah, like they care about it because it's their job. But I was sitting there. If I saw something pop up, I would run into an EP's office and be like, what's going on with Tom? Like, is it about Tom? Like I was so, I would constantly be emailing. There were points where things I would ask then would be leaked out and I would have to be like, I promise I'm not a leak. I'm not selling stories. Like I'm just a very excited fan who also happens to work here. Yeah. And I mean, every day my card swiped.
Conscious Success Co (07:46.786)
Just a super fan. Yeah.
Caitlin (07:52.078)
through, was like, I can't believe this is real that I'm here. And it was, it really was amazing for a very long period of time until it wasn't anymore.
Conscious Success Co (08:03.017)
And what shifted that went from like amazing can't believe I get to work here every day to knowing that this is no longer where you want to be and it's time for that chapter to complete.
Caitlin (08:14.059)
Yeah, I think it was two things. So one, the nature of the industry changed in that we went from just working on Bravo shows to, and this is happening everywhere, but all of the sudden you are doing so much more work for the same amount of money and people are getting laid off and you're doing their work. So we were doing shows for Bravo, Peacock, E, USA, Syfy, NBC, and it just lost that kind of family feeling it had.
And the biggest thing was that I had a baby. I had my son. my priorities shifted in a way that you know your priorities are going to shift. But before, I really was devoted to, OK, what's the next step? How can I climb higher? What do I have to do to get promoted? And there's a side effect to having a baby that no one warns you about, which is that you might fall off or willingly jump off the corporate ladder in a way that you never anticipated.
I did not care at all about doing whatever it took to get promoted. And I knew I never would after I had my son because I was never going to come in early. I was never going to stay past 5 PM. I was never going to go above and beyond, which before I had my son, I was more than happy to do. But I was like, I'm not going to do anything that's going to take away time from being with my baby. I'm not going to check my emails after 5 PM unless it's an emergency because I'm with my baby.
and
Conscious Success Co (09:42.375)
And was that hard for you to set those strong boundaries or was that just innate and you knew your priorities? Was there any like, but I should or any ego tied to how you used to do your job or wanting to be the high performing good girl? Any of that that came up?
Caitlin (09:54.55)
Yeah, you know what's so crazy? Because I really was a real type A teacher's pet, like had to be the best person. And the second, yeah, the second I had my son, I was just this like DGAF, do not give a fuck. Sorry if we can't curse on here, energy filled me.
Conscious Success Co (10:03.787)
I think everyone listening can probably relate.
Conscious Success Co (10:16.927)
No, please, go ahead.
Caitlin (10:19.403)
that I was like, dare someone to challenge my boundaries because I have no question about this being the right thing to do. And I know I'm very lucky that I was in a place where I could. But ultimately, I realized because I don't want to climb the corporate ladder, I'm going to be stuck in this middle position forever. I don't want to miss my child's basketball game because I'm like,
Conscious Success Co (10:23.135)
Yeah.
Caitlin (10:46.541)
cleaning out my Microsoft Outlook inbox and moving emails around. So I realized I was at this stagnant place of, I'm not going to go any higher because I'm not going to miss time with my son. So I'm just going to be stuck here, but then I'm going to be miserable because I'm stuck here and I'm still missing important things in my son's life. And I needed a paycheck. I wasn't in a house. I wasn't in a household where it was one income. I could just rely on my husband's. We needed my paycheck also. So there was definitely a period of time that was
a real time of growing pains of figuring out how do I satisfy both parts of what I wanna do because I used to think growing up my mom was a stay at home mom and I used to think that was what I wanted, but I get such personal satisfaction out of being praised and feeling like I'm accomplishing something and I need my own things and so,
while being a stay at home mom is such a difficult job, I also didn't wanna do that. Like I wanted to have some kind of job. So it was a very, was, I would say the first year after I had my son was a very difficult time of figuring out what could I even do? What could this look like? And I'm also a person that I feel like sometimes I have to already be in the place that I'm going towards, if that makes sense. So it's like,
right now I want to be successful. I want to make this amount of money right now. It's hard for me to accept that you have to start somewhere and then you get there because yeah, exactly. Exactly. Like why am I not already there? And I just remember too telling myself like, it's okay for me to not be there right now. It's okay for me to not be there for five more years.
Conscious Success Co (12:23.037)
I just want to be at the top of the next mountain peak. don't want to actually have to scale down this mountain and then scale up a new one. Yeah.
Caitlin (12:41.845)
I will get there. I will still be able to provide for my family, but also my kids can see me grow something and do something. It doesn't have to already be set before you have your baby.
Conscious Success Co (12:52.929)
Where did you source that internal confidence or belief that, hey, if I work towards this vision in five years, I will get there, even if I'm not there for years while I work towards it?
Caitlin (13:03.563)
Yeah, you my secret, my number one secret, and I was telling somebody this recently, is that I'm very delusional. And in the most wonderful of ways, where I'm like, well, why wouldn't it be me? Why wouldn't, like, of course, if I want it to happen, it's... Yeah, okay, it's, Yes. Okay, did you, do you do to be magnetic?
Conscious Success Co (13:16.801)
I call that expanded, not delusional by the way. You're just super expanded.
Conscious Success Co (13:24.629)
I have in the past. Yes. Love it.
Caitlin (13:25.899)
Okay. Yeah. So I'm all about expanders and expanded and all of that. And I'm just, that's always been how I have been. Like I have an, kind of crazy level of self-confidence in certain areas where it's just like, well, I want to do this thing. So I'm going to do it. And of course it's going to be great. And if it's not great, then that's just because there's something even better around the corner. That's going to be great too. So I never worry about that.
Conscious Success Co (13:30.465)
Yup.
Conscious Success Co (13:48.95)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (13:53.002)
And I mean, I you said you're codependent with your family and didn't want to leave LA because of that. So it sounds like you have a really close, healthy relationship. mean, you joke about the codependence, but like a good relationship with your family where you want to be near them. And so do you feel like growing up you had like unconditionally loving parents that like instilled that belief that you can do anything you put your mind to and that like delusion or expansion also came from them?
Caitlin (14:17.549)
1000 % and sometimes I'm like, Oh God, I wish you guys would have pushed me a little more because I could be like a doctor or something and doing something like really important, but you all just kept telling me how special and wonderful I was. Yeah. So true. So true. No, they really did. And I was very, very lucky and my dad.
Conscious Success Co (14:24.298)
I'm
You could be a doctor in the bureaucracy working so many hours, or you could be this amazing content creator, podcaster, doula extraordinaire.
Caitlin (14:45.225)
was still a dad of the 80s and 90s and he was a lawyer, he was working all the time, but he was so supportive of us and anything we wanted to do and obviously my mom too. But to get that encouragement also from your dad, I think is huge when you're a young girl. And so I never had any doubt that I was gonna do something great, but actually it's so funny. I just was on Instagram and I saw this collection of memes.
that was like, congratulations. If you were a gifted child and you were in all the gifted programs in your school, are you filled with debilitating anxiety now? And you start 10 projects and you don't finish anything. And you actually haven't achieved any success in your life because you spent so much time being told it would happen for you that you're like paralyzed by it now. And I did have a little bit of that. I've realized, think in college, when I had that hard time of figuring out what I wanted to do, because I just kind of expected something.
special to land in my lap since I was told that would be what would happen and it didn't. And so that a little bit plays into my mindset now, but I do tap back into that. And when I did the TB magnetic, the manifesting thing, you're supposed to like, go revisit your childhood. And so, yeah. And I just kept tapping into all the times of like, people told me I was special. People must've seen something. So of course I am special. You know, it's the whole delusional thing. It's like a circle of
Conscious Success Co (15:56.567)
and her child stuff, yeah.
Caitlin (16:07.681)
delusion that has worked for me and makes me feel good and confident. And so I, it's so funny when I was talking to somebody, she was saying to me, my cousin recently, she was saying, you know, I just, I'm impressed. You just do things. You say you want to do it and you just do it. And I said, well, my two keys are one being delusional and two, you can't think about it. Like if I decide I want to do something, I do it. If I sit,
And I'm like, OK, what's going to be my launch plan? And what are the pros and cons? And how I do this to make this the most successful? And da-da-da. You're never going to do it. You're going to get so in your head about it. So you just have to do it and believe that it's going to be great. And it's going to do exactly what it should do, if that makes any sense.
Conscious Success Co (16:36.684)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (16:50.271)
Yeah, I mean, it makes total sense. And as a recovering perfectionist myself, that is not my default approach to life or launching or business. It's something I've had to like work very hard to overcome because I am the person that wants to plan it and have the perfect strategy and know exactly how I'm going to get from point A to point B. And I think when I launched my business, I wasted the better part of a year.
Caitlin (16:55.874)
you froze.
Caitlin (17:16.768)
Yeah!
Conscious Success Co (17:16.863)
sitting on the starting line, trying to figure it all out versus understanding that the path would reveal itself as I took steps down it. And the fact that you've just like not had to deal with that and you can just move straight into action is such a superpower and it is such a hard lesson for I think a lot of us, myself included, to learn. But when you can actually start to do that, you learn so much faster, you get the feedback, you see what works, and you can test and iterate and actually
Caitlin (17:25.022)
Exactly.
Caitlin (17:37.43)
Yeah.
Caitlin (17:43.723)
Yes.
Conscious Success Co (17:46.293)
fail your way to success so much faster than you could ever do at the starting line.
Caitlin (17:49.198)
So much. Totally. I was talking to another friend. She went to business school. Her husband went to business school. She was working at all of these high companies. She left them. She's a stay at home mom right now, but she wants to do something. And so I was like spit balling things with her and she was like, okay, but you know, then I'm thinking about scalability and like all of this, and I'm like, no, cause then you're never gonna actually do it. You just have to figure out.
something that makes you happy, start, and then like you said, let the path reveal itself. Like let those things figure itself out. But I think if you, that's your focus too, and that's all you're thinking about when you start, then it's most likely too not gonna happen the way you want it to, or as quick as you want it to. And then you're gonna be disappointed, and then you're not gonna like your idea as much, instead of just letting it unfold and being excited and surprised by where it takes you, and then going from there.
Conscious Success Co (18:35.925)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (18:40.727)
100%. Yeah, you can get so trapped where even that initial inspiration or energy or idea does drop in. We all have them, but then you think your way out of it and you're like, but I don't actually know if this is going to be scalable long term. And so you don't even get off the starting line, which would lead you to the next thing and the next thing.
Caitlin (18:50.43)
Exactly.
Caitlin (19:01.065)
Exactly. then you lose, just like you said, you're talking yourself out of it and you lose that magic and that spark when that idea first came to you that made you think, my God, like I could do that. You completely like stamp that down when you put all of this other stuff on top of it. And that's the key. That's what's going to make you successful is that emotion behind it, not your scalability plans and your launch plans and your marketing and your email funnels. Like that will all come eventually, but
The most important first step is just nurturing that initial idea and putting it out there and then seeing what happens.
Conscious Success Co (19:34.807)
100%. If you don't have that energy and inspiration behind the initial idea and it's all just like practical and logical and rational and strategy, like you're missing the aliveness that's actually going to be the sense of intrinsic motivation and energy to see an idea through to then incorporate all the strategy and the funnels and the yada yada yada.
Caitlin (19:44.693)
Yeah!
Caitlin (19:52.244)
Exactly. Exactly. And nobody watching is going to be like, I'm so pulled into the funnels and organization of this idea. Like, nobody's going to pick up on that. It's all an energy exchange. People are going to want to do whatever you're selling or sharing because of your excitement about it, not because of whatever you've built behind it.
Conscious Success Co (20:15.307)
Yeah, it's so funny. I had a guest on this podcast, Alexi Panos, and she was talking about balancing the masculine and the feminine energy and how the feminine energy is that aliveness and that inspiration. And it is that creativity and the flow of it, which you're very much talking about. And the masculine is the structure, the container, the strategy. And we do need both. But when you think about women and that energy, we birth life, right?
Caitlin (20:42.934)
Yes!
Conscious Success Co (20:43.511)
Creative power. So first we need to allow ourselves to create and then sure you can bring in the masculine for that structure and that strategy, but it cannot come before the creative birthing process.
Caitlin (20:48.054)
Yes.
Caitlin (20:55.637)
Yes. I just got chills. Yes, that's so true. And it's so good. it's also women are amazing and we will never not find a way to make it work. Men have to have all of those systems and all of that because they're useless. No offense, but they don't have, they can't birth life. Like, and they also, if there's something that goes wrong, they're going to abandon it or they're going to blame somebody else. But there is nothing like a woman, if not also a mom.
Conscious Success Co (21:12.727)
They can't birth life. They don't...
Caitlin (21:25.505)
who will figure out a way to get something done and make it work, especially if she has family behind her or she wants to have kids. There is no motivational factor like that to make something work. And I also think that drive and passion is something that men are also lacking a little bit.
Conscious Success Co (21:45.228)
Yeah. so, okay, so you wanted to leave. You knew that like your current career, you're going to be like stuck in like whatever, middle whatever, and you knew that that wasn't it for you. You had your son. Where did you land on the idea of like being a doula? How did that drop in? How did you start to like have this idea of like being a content creator? Like talk us through that.
Caitlin (21:51.295)
Yeah.
Caitlin (21:56.727)
Yeah.
Caitlin (22:02.24)
Yeah.
Caitlin (22:06.751)
Yeah, so when I gave birth to my son, I had a doula for my own birth. And I just was like, I can't believe women give birth without doulas. This is crazy to me because you're left alone. Yeah, true. No, it is crazy, you guys, that we expect our husbands to help us.
Conscious Success Co (22:20.449)
What's your husband gonna do? He's never experienced it before.
Conscious Success Co (22:27.603)
No, in what world? When I was literally having the twins and my husband's like trying to remind me of breathing exercises, I was like, fuck right off, I will murder you.
Caitlin (22:34.975)
Yeah!
100%. It's like, you're going to tell right. You're supposed to remember comfort positions for me. And then also there's, you know, they should be allowed to be emotionally present too to what's going on. But there, so I had my doula and it was amazing. And as I was thinking about, you know, if I was going to miss something in my son's life, I wanted it to be for a reason that he was proud of. And he wasn't going to be like, my mom's not at my basketball game. Cause she's organizing her inbox.
Conscious Success Co (22:50.583)
Yeah.
Caitlin (23:07.509)
If it was my mom's not my basketball game because she's at someone's birth. Like it had to be something to me that I felt proud of and that I wanted my son to feel proud of. And the second I was like, maybe I should do it to be a doula. I found this amazing looking class. then the next day, Lori Bregman, who's like the biggest celebrity LA doula here announced that she was doing her first ever doula mentorship program.
So immediately I was like, the path is being laid out because I thought about it. Yeah, exactly. And I'm a big person too who believes in signs from the universe, who believes that if things are happening right there, they're supposed to be happening. I'm not to get too wooey, but I'm very into my human design, which I also think can be huge, which I eventually also tapped into when I was building Wilder Beginnings. And that was huge for me in a business sense also, but.
Conscious Success Co (23:39.573)
Hello, synchronicities and signs from the universe.
Conscious Success Co (23:54.635)
Yep, totally.
Caitlin (24:04.341)
All of these things started happening. I started this mentorship. I was like, this is amazing. I had a couple of friends who were having babies after I had done the class that they said I could be their doula for them. And we weren't back in the office yet. So we were still working remotely. So I was like going to births with my Blackberry because nobody, or just being like, yeah, yeah. Like, don't worry guys, I'm on this call. For some reason, my camera's not working on this Teams meeting. And then I'm literally like, push, you can do it.
Conscious Success Co (24:23.445)
Like, yeah, I'm working, but also push.
Conscious Success Co (24:35.393)
Thanks, COVID.
Caitlin (24:35.469)
Yeah, yeah, it worked out honestly very well. And then when we went back into the office, I was like, okay, this Bravo thing is amazing. The vibe was so off when we came back from COVID. And I'm sure it was like that way for so many people where we had been out of the office for two years at that point, like almost two years to the day. And our jobs had all changed. We were in a new building. It just was not it. And I was so
unhappy and before COVID, was somebody, you know, walked down the hall and I would say, I was excited and say hi and all of that. And somebody would walk by my desk and I wouldn't even acknowledge them because I just didn't, I didn't feel like I wanted to take on the emotional responsibility of being like the peppy person in the office when I wasn't happy to be there anymore. So, you know, they say, be careful what you wish for, because I was putting a lot of energy into the universe of I don't want to be here.
I don't like it here. I hate this job. I'm not taking on anything else. Like this is sucking mice, the soul of me. And then wouldn't, you know, I got let go. They did a restructure. The, were in this like one vertical and the two, was the senior manager. The two top senior managers got let go VP on each side got let go. I had been there for 12 years though, at this point. So I got an amazing severance and it's so fascinating because
Every single person that day I got let go came up to me and they said, this is the best thing that will ever happen to you. Everybody said it to me. And I was like, I know it is, but I don't want to hear it today. Like just tell me tomorrow. Like I'm upset today. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I've literally told the universe a thousand times, I hate this job. And it was.
Conscious Success Co (26:07.98)
Mm-hmm
Conscious Success Co (26:14.487)
You're like, I want to lick my wounds and wallow a little bit today, even though I hate this job right now and I want to do something else.
Caitlin (26:24.961)
So clear to me that the universe was like, I'm so fucking sick of hearing you complain about this, Caitlin. This is not for you. Yes. Like we are pushing you out. You are wasting our time and your time doing this. And it's so funny. I ran into somebody that I worked with on the street two days ago. I hadn't seen him in three years. And he was like, I knew that he said you would have never left. You know, you would have never left.
Conscious Success Co (26:30.325)
Yeah, we're closing the door for you because you're just not doing it.
Caitlin (26:51.819)
and you would have spent more years. And then it's like, I would have been let go when I was 43 or something and had kids. And then where would I start over? The timing of it was so perfect. So I got let go and I said, okay, I'm gonna do this doula thing. I'm gonna really do it. I'm gonna make it happen. I started my Instagram. I ended up, this is so funny and like very corporate specific, but I was still on Cobra for a whole year after. So like my subsidized healthcare.
Conscious Success Co (27:19.703)
as part of your severance package.
Caitlin (27:20.805)
That was part of my severance. So I was like, I know I want to have a second baby. I have to have this baby within this year because I need the subsidized health insurance. Yeah. I'm like, listen, I understand me being let go two weeks later telling you it's time to have another baby sounds insane, but you got to jump on that copra. Like a lot, literally not in that way, but you know what I mean? Like you have to take advantage of that subsidized health care. Yeah. So I.
Conscious Success Co (27:28.343)
You're like, all right, husband, let's get to work.
Conscious Success Co (27:46.455)
100%.
Caitlin (27:51.192)
got pregnant and then I was really focusing on doula work and being a doula and my Instagram started very organically in that, you know, in this day and age, if somebody wants to hire you for something, they're gonna check your Instagram and they're gonna see what you're sharing and what you're doing. And so I started sharing, you know, tips and I am somebody also who believes, and I think Candy Burris from Real Housewives of Atlanta said this also.
You have to spend money to make money and scared money don't make money. So you have to spend the money, but you also don't, you have to be like happy you're spending it. So I will never forget before I got let go. This is also why I mean, I was such a bad employee at the end, but I had like a two hour long social media call about my wilder beginnings account, like at the office, like they knew that it was time for me to go. Yeah. I've like, don't worry. I'm doing it. And then I'm like, so what about a hook for that real? But
Conscious Success Co (28:21.324)
I was in perfect.
Conscious Success Co (28:41.975)
You're like, I'm on a call. Yep. Okay.
Caitlin (28:48.041)
I spent, didn't know how to start. was not a big social media person, even in my personal life. And so I hired a social media company to do like an audit for me to help me come up with a month of content ideas to kind of give me some info and tips and tricks. And it was like $2,000 or something, which was a lot of money, but I was like, I don't know how to start. And I want to start from a feeling solid place where I've got these ideas and then go from there. And I.
did it and it was amazing and I just kept sharing and it was so funny because I know I mentioned I'm somebody who's like, you said I want to immediately be at the next mountain top. And I didn't feel that way about this. Every time I got a new follower, I was like, my God, I can't believe there's another person following me. And exactly like you said, I shared on my personal account, like, Hey everybody, follow me.
Conscious Success Co (29:37.109)
This is
Caitlin (29:44.074)
I mean, I literally started from zero followers. I think my first 200 followers were all people that I had convinced in my personal life to follow me.
Conscious Success Co (29:46.999)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (29:52.671)
And even your personal account, it's not like you had a big personal following.
Caitlin (29:55.906)
No, have 400 followers on my personal account. was, I literally was.
Conscious Success Co (29:59.36)
You are like rolling them over, right?
I'm like, no shame in that, but it's also like, think so often it's easy to see someone like you who has hundreds of thousands of followers now and be like, well, she must have like had something else to get those. It's like, no, you literally started from zero.
Caitlin (30:05.229)
Where is it?
Caitlin (30:14.901)
No, from zero. And I know too, that can be so overwhelming for people. And people will talk to me personally that want to start a business and they say, I just don't know where to start. And I say, you just have to start. Like you literally just have to do your first post. Your first months of posts are going to be so bad probably, but who cares? Like you figure it out. Exactly. also, you know, I have a friend who's starting a business and she was like,
Conscious Success Co (30:35.866)
It's only way you learn.
Caitlin (30:42.229)
I've barely any followers and nobody's liking my videos. And I'm like, that's how it goes at the beginning. You're not, that's part of it. You just have to keep going. And I'll never forget to, every time I posted something, I would take a minute and I would say, and this is a little wooey, but it helped me. And I would say like, this post is like for the highest good, please let this find somebody who needs to see it. And that was my pure intention behind everything I posted. It was not.
please let this post go viral so I can gain a thousand new followers today. Or please let me get at least 200 likes on this so I feel better about myself. It's all ego.
Conscious Success Co (31:12.823)
Right.
Conscious Success Co (31:17.975)
Well, that's all about ego, right? to be able to, because I've had kind of a similar mindset or had to work towards that where I'm like, if this resonates with a single person, that is enough. If it finds one person that actually impacts, I did what I set out to do here. It's not about, did this get a billion likes? Does this make me look impressive? Because if we're coming from those outside in versus inside out motivations,
Caitlin (31:29.653)
Yes. Yes.
Caitlin (31:40.555)
Right. Right.
Conscious Success Co (31:46.081)
we're chasing the wrong thing and very often then you feel that in a person's content and it like severs the relationship and the authenticity and the like spirit behind it.
Caitlin (31:48.237)
Totally.
thousand percent.
Caitlin (31:57.294)
100 % people are not dumb and they can feel it when they're watching this of like, this is just somebody's trying to go viral or sell me out. This isn't genuine at all. But when you really, your driving force is, I just want this to find the person who needs it. And sure, that would be great then if that person who needs it ends up being a client in some way. But I also trust that if they don't, then maybe they will follow me. And then maybe they'll share me with somebody else who will want to be a client or
Conscious Success Co (32:00.682)
Yeah.
Caitlin (32:26.239)
You know, maybe that post will convince somebody who looks on my Instagram to hire me, but that has to be, especially at the beginning, your only motivation.
Conscious Success Co (32:34.615)
100 % and being able to just put yourself out there, learn as you go, serve in that way, and find what starts to resonate with people and then continue to hone in on that. So I'm curious, so you started your Instagram account because it's kind of like anyone who's going to potentially hire you as a doula wants to look you up and see what you're all about. Was the initial vision to use Instagram to just build your doula clientele and business or
Caitlin (32:48.748)
Yeah.
Caitlin (32:55.501)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (33:03.507)
Were you also at the beginning being like, I'm going to be a content creator and this is a niche that I can really serve?
Caitlin (33:07.947)
No, no, absolutely not. was not, I had no interest in being a content creator. I did not, I to this day have a very hard time claiming content creator as a title of mine, but that was not.
Conscious Success Co (33:22.785)
What do you claim instead?
Caitlin (33:25.389)
I don't even know what I, I'm like, I. No, I'll be like, truly I'll say to people, you know, and I do some stuff on Instagram and that's like, I downplay it so much. And now that I'm on this side of it and really in it, it is low key so much work and it is not easy. But at the time at the beginning, I didn't think about that at all. It truly was, I want to get clients.
Conscious Success Co (33:26.345)
Like, I'm just a really funny person online.
Caitlin (33:55.04)
it would be great to have a presence where people saw a number and were like, this person must be legit. But it was not at all a goal of mine to be a content creator by any means. That was an accident.
Conscious Success Co (34:08.823)
And when you started the Instagram account, if I'm correct, was like mid 2022. Your son was like one, right?
Caitlin (34:15.477)
Yes. No, it was 2023. So I started it earlier, but when I was still at Bravo, I did not post really on it. There was no strategy. I really started it. I consider my start date January, 2023.
Conscious Success Co (34:19.511)
2023.
Conscious Success Co (34:25.729)
post.
Conscious Success Co (34:33.163)
Right, and so at this point you're like, okay, I'm pregnant, like I'm going through that with my daughter, my second kid, and now you're starting to like post content around that, is that right?
Caitlin (34:36.801)
Yes.
Caitlin (34:45.055)
Yes, so I started sharing more of my personal pregnancy experiences and still education was really education focused, but in the way that I would talk to a friend, like I, my tagline was for a while your birth and baby BFF. So it's like, I'm talking to my friend, but she also did training who has, you know, actual backup and has been at births, but I'm speaking to you the way you want to be spoken to and the way that you understand.
Conscious Success Co (35:02.241)
Yes, that's
Caitlin (35:14.241)
versus a lot of doulas are very wooey and like intensely woo wooey or you're just getting only OBGYNs on your Instagram who are.
Conscious Success Co (35:21.963)
Yeah, it's all just like educational, informational and like no human connection.
Caitlin (35:26.701)
Exactly. So I just was sharing my thoughts and in my unique voice. And I think that's also the key to my success is I never tried to be someone else. I never tried to do what somebody else was doing. And I never tried to make myself be a specific way. So I never was trying to, you know, I wasn't going to be doing like dances and I wasn't going to be super buttoned up. That's not me. I just was me and I
Literally to this day, when I post something or I'm on stories, I don't think about the fact that people are actually watching it. I'm not trying to be anything to anybody. I'm just being myself. And that came from the doula training. Also, Lori, one of the biggest things she would say is you cannot try to be like this doula or that doula. You have to be the doula that you are because that's why people are going to hire you. They're not going to hire you because you're, you do a good impression of someone else. They're going to hire you because of who you are.
And that was really what I took into my Instagram too of I block accounts that are similar to mine because I don't ever want to accidentally do something that they're doing, or I don't ever want to see somebody's content and then think, my gosh, like I should do something more like that. Or why didn't I do that? So I preemptively block so many people. don't follow anybody who's in the same niche as me because I don't ever want to get in my own head about it. I want to keep having my blinders on of just like,
I'm doing what I'm doing and I don't know what anyone else is doing and I'd rather keep it that way.
Conscious Success Co (36:59.413)
It's so interesting. I think like beyond whether or not someone's gonna pick up on that you're shape shifting and trying to be like somebody else, the experience of trying to create content or to put yourself out there when you are trying to like, yeah, put on this like mask or do it in the way you think you should or show up in a certain way, like it doesn't feel good. It feels taxing. It feels heavy, right? And it's so.
Caitlin (37:22.357)
No. Yes. Totally.
Conscious Success Co (37:26.695)
I mean, still content creation is a job, but I imagine that at least if you're just being authentic, that can feel there's a certain level of ease even though there's also effort within that. Whereas if you're like, I need to be other doula or ex-content creator, all of a sudden every single post feels really hard and heavy.
Caitlin (37:42.22)
Right.
Caitlin (37:46.424)
So draining, and then you're also never gonna get the response that you wanna get. And then, like you said too, people watching it will be like, well, I would rather just go watch the original person. Like, why am I watching a bad copy of whatever's going on here? And I think my Instagram really took off after I had my daughter because I really just was sharing what I was personally experiencing and feeling and.
I didn't, hadn't seen anybody doing that. My first postpartum with my son was really tough because I was obsessed with like Instagram sleep trainers and all of these people saying you have to have schedules and you shouldn't hold your baby to sleep and all of that. And it ruined my first postpartum experience because I thought there were certain ways I had to do things and certain ways you should do things because that was all I was seeing. And my goal once I had my daughter was to just show people there's a different way of doing things. You don't have to do any of that and you can enjoy.
not doing any of those things and not be stressed out about it. And from there, it really took off.
Conscious Success Co (38:48.843)
Yeah, in that it's like a returning to your inner knowing and trusting yourself and that you can figure out the way of motherhood that works for you. And while you were kind of delivering this like subtly empowering message, you were doing it in a way that's like really funny and really relatable and saying the thing that so many women in those postpartum months and years are feeling but don't know how to put words to or feel shame about and because you were doing it from a place of just sharing it so authentically like.
Caitlin (38:53.922)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (39:16.533)
I think that resonated so much and people wanted to send that to their bestie who's also pregnant or going through it. I mean, I watched as after you had your daughter, it seemed like within a matter of months, your account had gone completely viral and scaled really fast. Was that the truth or your experience of it?
Caitlin (39:20.747)
Yeah.
Caitlin (39:33.568)
Yeah, yeah, I grew in the first year. I gained 100,000 followers in the first year, so it went from like zero to a hundred thousand. And I, my friend Rachel, she, her account blew up kind of in COVID times and it was a lot easier to grow then. And I'll never forget one day she was like, that growth is not common anymore. And I've steadily, basically every year gained
Like a hundred thousand a year. And I'm so thankful. And I think the key to that is that I keep going back into being what feels right to me and myself. And the more I try to over plan or overanalyze or schedule and all of that, it just doesn't hit the same way. And my account also went through iteration. So I was started with all pregnancy as a doula education and then
Conscious Success Co (40:05.847)
This is
Caitlin (40:32.117)
was my postpartum experience. And I kind of realized, I'm actually more passionate right now about helping women in postpartum. And so I kind of stuck with that. And then now it's going back a little bit into pregnancy content, but I just keep telling myself the people that want to be here will be here and it will find the people that it needs to find. And you know, the algorithm is changing all the time and it's the views and the engagement are not what it used to be, but it is.
If you keep doing again, like I said, what feels right and you, you listen to your audience, but you also can't listen to them too much because I think sometimes people will be like, look at your insights, what's working, what's not working. And it's like, if you're basing all of your content off of your insights, you're again, losing that core emotional piece of exactly, exactly.
Conscious Success Co (41:10.316)
Hey
Conscious Success Co (41:19.979)
Yeah, you're back in your head and just the strategy. Yeah, and something I talk to and work with almost every client that I support in redesigning their career, one of the core focuses that we inevitably come to is understanding what is in their zone of genius and what is it that actually lights them up and gives them energy and allows them to just be their authentic self and really shine in that. And as a,
Caitlin (41:35.821)
Mmm.
Conscious Success Co (41:46.294)
Outsider looking in at your business and how you've built it like it feels like you've done it in Perfect alignment with your zone of genius like that to me and I could be off-base but it feels like it's an amalgamation of like your love of Bravo and reality TV with like You're being really funny like that's just who you are and have always been as a person and being like Relatable and messy and like the best possible way where I mean
Caitlin (42:01.175)
Mm-hmm.
Conscious Success Co (42:12.351)
saw you post something the other day where people ask if you got like lip injections. You're like, no, these are cold sores from pregnancy. You know, you're like not trying to like put on a filter and be like, I can't record today because I have a cold sore. You're like, look what's happening in my life. Like, is this real? And all of that is like, you are just being you in such an authentic way that it is so captivating, right? And it seems like you're just doing it in a way that
Caitlin (42:15.799)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Caitlin (42:31.659)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (42:40.671)
energizes you and feels super aligned. Do feel like that was intentional? Did you know these were things in your zone of genius or was it more of just this natural unfolding?
Caitlin (42:50.515)
No, I think it was really just more of a natural unfolding and that I also didn't know what else to do. I didn't know any other way of being. And I am somebody, if something doesn't feel right, I'm not going to keep doing it. So what felt right was just being me and showing up. And sometimes I'm like, this is embarrassing and maybe I should have some boundaries. But then I'm like, you know what? I remember I saw somebody on Instagram who had a cold sore and they were on there and I
It made me cry. Like I was so moved by that and somebody showing that. I'm like, what's the harm? Like that's life. Who cares? And it's that, you know, it's like such a small example, but that's kind of my entire account and way of being. it's, I really want people to go back to themselves and trust their guts and trust their instincts and also just chill and have fun. And
Conscious Success Co (43:41.975)
Chill the fuck out.
Caitlin (43:43.15)
Chill the fuck out. It's not that serious. And we have made motherhood, especially, and being a new mom, feel so intense and serious of, if you don't do this and this, you're going to ruin your baby forever. they're never going to sleep. And you have to have them on this strict schedule. it's like, it is ruining so many people's experiences. to see, think that, again, there's another way. And I'm very clear, too, of I'm also not.
Conscious Success Co (43:47.211)
Yeah.
Caitlin (44:11.773)
on the opposite end of there's no schedule and maybe sleeps whenever they want. And like, we do this and that, like, no, I, my baby goes down at a pretty standard time and all of that. And I was big about naps at home and you know, that kind of thing. But I also just didn't like sweat the small stuff. And I, that's okay too. Like you're allowed to have fun. And I never had, when I started of like, okay, that's going to be my through line. It just kind of revealed itself that way. And
I yeah, so no, I didn't know any of that was in my zone of genius. I just kind of was doing my own thing and it translated so well to people, think because it was so authentic.
Conscious Success Co (44:53.695)
And what you're saying, you've always done what felt good. And like when it stops feeling good, like when it stopped feeling good at Bravo, you're like, I need to make a change and this feels good. So I'll lean in and that's something I talk to clients about all the time. It's like to find your zone of genius, find what feels good, find what gives you energy, find what lights you up, find what feels expansive and do that. But so often we get in this trap of like, well it has to be hard if it's work or like, you know, I need to like force it into existence. And actually like there is a more like,
Caitlin (44:56.918)
Yes.
Yes.
Caitlin (45:08.15)
Yeah.
Caitlin (45:17.035)
Yeah
Conscious Success Co (45:22.259)
easeful path that you can find if you follow what feels good.
Caitlin (45:23.968)
Yeah!
Yeah. And also you're allowed to have a life that feels easy and good. And it might look very different than what you thought it would look like. And maybe you won't make as much money as you hoped to be making. And maybe you'll have friends who make way more money than you, but would you want their actual life or do you want a life that you enjoy that again, looks maybe different and you have to let go of that piece. You know, we have friends who are lawyers that I'm like,
my God, you make so much money. And then on the flip side, I'm like, my God, you are working so much. Like you are constantly working. I don't want that life. And so you have to also accept like, okay, I'm never going to get to that place or maybe I'll get to that place and it's going to look really different. that exactly. maybe you previously did want those trade-offs and you were okay with them. And it's also okay to one day say, I don't want that anymore at all.
Conscious Success Co (45:57.879)
100%.
Conscious Success Co (46:13.079)
where I don't want the trade-offs that getting to that place requires.
Conscious Success Co (46:25.483)
And I mean, that was very much my story. Like I was making seven figures a year in tech and I was like, I'm walking away and I'm building my own business. And now I make a quarter of that, but I work 30 hours a week and I love my life and I actually feel lit up and it feels sustainable and I feel like free and in control. And would I trade that to go back to making a million dollars a year? Like I really wouldn't. And that's the whole, you know, idea behind my brand of conscious success is like,
Caitlin (46:32.736)
Yeah.
Caitlin (46:38.229)
Right.
Caitlin (46:43.072)
Right.
Caitlin (46:50.859)
No.
Conscious Success Co (46:55.329)
Figure out what success actually looks like from you, not from fear, not from a survival response, but from your desire and your authenticity and what actually lights you up. And then go execute and go see that through it because you are someone who has done that and has continued to do that. And conscious success did look like Bravo for you for a lot of years. And it did look like tech for me for a lot of years. But that also shifted. And it's OK for it to shift and to keep redefining it.
Caitlin (47:02.541)
Yeah.
Caitlin (47:13.878)
Yeah.
Caitlin (47:20.939)
a thousand percent and that it's worth also being scared. And that doesn't mean if you're scared of it, that it's wrong. And it's like we talked about too, it's also okay if it takes you five years, 10 years to get back to whatever your previous salary was. But again, think about what else is happening in those five and 10 years. Are you happy? Are you waking up and you're not a miserable person because you hate your job and the people you're around? Like that is so valuable. also, this is gonna be a
Conscious Success Co (47:36.372)
percent.
Caitlin (47:49.73)
little woo woo, but it's very LA for me to say. I had a call with a psychic and he was like, he was like, one of the things that you really need to work on is redefining what success looks like for you and redefining what rich looks like for you. that used, know, success used to be really being really high up, making a lot of money, being rich meant literally being very rich in terms of money. And now I think about the fact, you know, my sister has one child,
Conscious Success Co (47:52.023)
Love it.
Caitlin (48:19.401)
I'm going to have three kids. So I will always be spending more money than she is. She will be able to go on a luxury vacation with her one child. I will most likely not be able to do that with my three children. And that would have been something that bothered me. And now I'm just like, but I'm so lucky that I'm going to have these three kids. And like that feels so rich to me. And that feels so successful to me. And
before success was getting the promotion and now success is when I get a DM from someone who says, you completely saved my postpartum. I am so thankful for you. I share you with everyone else. Like, and that to me makes me feel a hundred times better than seeing whatever my paycheck from Bravo used to be.
Conscious Success Co (49:04.983)
100%. And I feel like that is like soul-filling success versus like ego, you know, filling success. And it's like, okay, working for the title or just more money or it's, you know, kind of just for the self, like self-interest versus like, I actually feel like I'm helping people and connecting with people and changing even one life. And I think very much the same for me. Like, you know, at the end of every client container, I ask for a testimonial and reading them back and seeing the depth at which
Caitlin (49:09.409)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Caitlin (49:20.14)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (49:35.006)
I've had a part in impacting these women and changing their lives. I'm like, I would do this for free. Like, it's great that I get paid for it, but to actually feel like this is energizing in and of itself and feels purposeful. And I think that's what so many women, especially in corporate, find themselves missing. They're so disconnected from that sense of like purpose or impact that it doesn't feel fulfilling. But it can be hard when you've got the golden handcuffs or when it really does.
Caitlin (49:36.726)
Yeah!
Yeah!
Caitlin (49:55.211)
Yeah.
Caitlin (50:00.878)
Totally.
Conscious Success Co (50:01.494)
stroke your ego in a lot of ways, or what would people think if I started over? What if I fail? And all of those things. And so I just really commend you for being able and willing to start again and to follow that and to figure it out and to value what actually felt rich to you along the way.
Caitlin (50:19.137)
Thank you. Yeah, I think about how, you know, I was very lucky to be pushed out, but the easier answer would have been just go work at a production company that I know and go do the exact same job somewhere else. But I was like, I can't, I cannot do that. I just cannot do that. And I also think, you know, too, obviously very privileged in that I got that severance and I was able to then work from there. But I also think, like I said, women and moms will make things happen.
and they will do what they need to do. And I don't have any doubt about that.
Conscious Success Co (50:53.749)
And when, and this is a personal question, so feel free to not answer it, but when you decided to make this pivot and become a doula and then started creating content, was your husband fully on board with your decision not to just go back and get a production job? Did he see and believe in that vision or did it take him some time? Because that can be a difficult transition for a partner who's your financial partner as well to be brought along on.
Caitlin (50:57.697)
Yeah.
Caitlin (51:19.115)
Yeah, no, he was very supportive and I think he knew he was supportive because he knew I would not make it. I wouldn't not make it happen or whatever the right way to say that is like he knew I would make it happen. And he also knew if he wasn't supportive, I would murder him and he didn't have a choice and he had to be. So I was very thankful about that though. And he is a very supportive person. And you know, I would say, I have to like go to these births. And he would say, absolutely. That's great.
I would say we're still working on him being able to take good Instagram content for me. He's a horrible Instagram husband in that way. I'll be like, I need you to take some B-roll of me doing something. Yeah, and he's horrible at that. And I actually did have to have a conversation with him about that because he wasn't taking that seriously. And I was like, this is part of my job. I have to take this video for something. You need to treat this like this is important work. This is how we make, yeah, like this is how we make money. This is how we're sending our kids to school. So.
Conscious Success Co (51:55.031)
I'm still coaching him.
Conscious Success Co (52:09.419)
This is how we make money in this home.
Caitlin (52:15.425)
You need to put a little pep in your step and get better lighting and figure out what's going on here. But it is also interesting a little bit too in that, you know, people still look down on content creation and don't think it's a serious job or think it is the easiest job in the world. And listen, I'm not performing like heart surgery. I get that, but.
Conscious Success Co (52:17.207)
You
Caitlin (52:36.521)
It is also a lot of work and I do think people are starting to take it more seriously, but there was also weirdness too. Like I mentioned where I still have a hard time like claiming that because it doesn't feel the same as saying like, I'm the VP at a company. Like
Conscious Success Co (52:46.295)
Yeah.
Totally, but I think a lot of it also is like, okay, let's look at like who traditionally have been really successful being content creators and it's been women. And we devalue anything that women do as a society and in our patriarchy. And so it's like, if this was like a bunch of like well-educated men being content creators, we'd see them as like business leaders and visionaries. But because it's women, we're like, cringe. And it's like, shut up, you've built a thriving business doing this. And it has taken...
Caitlin (52:56.843)
Yeah
Thousand percent. Yeah.
Caitlin (53:09.335)
Totally.
Right.
Right.
Conscious Success Co (53:17.461)
vision and execution and iteration like truly hands down and I feel like when I started showing up, you know on social media, it is not in my zone of genius and part of my shifting to a podcast is to better align with it because I'm just not really a short form person. But even so like it took me just being willing to be like, hey, I'm gonna put myself out there and even if other people find it cringe, it says more about their
Caitlin (53:19.328)
Yeah.
Caitlin (53:31.796)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (53:44.458)
level of consciousness and internalized shame than it does about me because now when I see people trying on social media and like go girl, you're a badass way to put yourself out there so proud of you versus sitting on the sidelines like judging people or thinking being a content creator is like a shitty way to make money like it doesn't even like land for me anymore and I think that as you do and as you're in the arena as Brene Brown says and you're getting dirt on your face like then you can judge but before that like
Caitlin (53:45.676)
Yes.
Caitlin (53:49.217)
Yes.
Caitlin (53:54.07)
Yeah.
Caitlin (54:00.45)
Yeah.
Caitlin (54:10.774)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (54:13.153)
Fuck right off.
Caitlin (54:14.103)
Totally, totally. And I think a lot of it also is jealousy of like, that they don't realize of like, I wish I could get paid to do that, but I'm not. And so instead I'm gonna make you feel bad about the fact that you do.
Conscious Success Co (54:18.261)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (54:27.715)
And envy and jealousy often points us in the direction of our own inner longings and desires, which we haven't yet allowed ourselves to honor or go after. I I used to feel jealous of coaches who had these businesses supporting women. And I had to really look at that and be like, maybe that's actually pointing me in the direction of what I want to be doing. And there's a lot, obviously, for many people to have to work through and a lot I had to work through to be able to honor that desire.
Caitlin (54:41.696)
Yeah.
Caitlin (54:50.315)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (54:56.619)
But being able to see in yourself, where am I feeling envious or jealous? And like, what is underneath that? That is also a way to point towards your path.
Caitlin (55:02.049)
Yeah.
Caitlin (55:05.953)
Totally, and that's also something too I learned from 2B Magnetic when we're talking about expanders is I used to look at somebody who got a bigger deal or whose video did this or that, or they were on this path and think, I'm so jealous, why wasn't that me? And I worked hard and now when I see that I'm like, that's amazing, they could do it. So of course it's gonna be, yeah, it's gonna be me next. Like, this great idea I had is actually possible, fantastic. So like that worry of.
Conscious Success Co (55:23.767)
possible for her. Yeah.
Caitlin (55:31.918)
could it even happen is gone. Now I know it can happen. So now I know it's gonna happen for me too. And like switching that and it is so huge, but I do think jealousy can be, like you said, a very powerful emotion because the reason why you're jealous of someone is because you want to do it and there's something inside of you. Negative emotions I think are so powerful. When I'm not in my flow of what I should be doing with my human design, my emotion is anger and I'm not an angry person.
Conscious Success Co (55:36.886)
Yeah.
Caitlin (56:00.632)
But when I was at Bravo that last year, I was so angry. Like somebody would send me an email and I'd be like, how dare you email me? And it's like, no, it's literally my job. It's not about the person, but it's like that negative emotion was so strong and it was such a flashing light of like, this is not what you are supposed to be doing because you are not supposed to be an angry person. And I feel like that's the same with jealousy too of like.
Conscious Success Co (56:09.055)
Not about the person.
Caitlin (56:23.947)
Okay, this is negative emotion is flashing for a reason and it's trying to tell you something and it's not just trying to tell you like, I'm a jealous person. It's trying to tell you there is something in that that is meant for you that you are not hearing.
Conscious Success Co (56:36.629)
And all my clients will know I'm such a deep believer that all of our emotions are clues and they're all productive, whether it's to go heal something or a past that is being triggered or it's trying to get us to take some action like, hey, you're jealous because you want to do this thing, like go do it. And when we can start to shift jealousy to like curiosity like you did and being like, it's possible for them, so it must be possible for me, how can I get there?
Caitlin (56:46.379)
Yeah.
Caitlin (57:01.43)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (57:02.711)
Part of the reason I started this podcast and wanted to have women like you on is I deeply believe success leaves clues. And so when we can talk and listen and learn from people and instead of just getting trapped in the jealousy, being like, wow, okay, that's how Caitlin built this successful business. So, what can I learn from that? I might just need to get started. I can't let all this go. It's my way. if anyone listening takes even like one or two nuggets from that and applies that towards stepping into
Caitlin (57:22.07)
Yeah, yeah.
Conscious Success Co (57:31.595)
whatever success looks like from them, that's how you get there.
Caitlin (57:34.635)
Yeah, totally, 100%.
Conscious Success Co (57:37.857)
I am curious, when you have been posting and sharing so intimately on social media, how have you navigated what is off limits or what is it? Is everything truly open? as you think about your kids and digital footprint, how do you navigate that in this crazy world?
Caitlin (57:52.674)
Yeah.
Caitlin (57:57.088)
Yeah, so everything with me feels pretty open. There are two things that I take very seriously. One is my location. I do not share the outside of my house. I do not share the view across from my house. I don't share anything about where I live. I am blown away when people on social media do that. That freaks me out.
I also do not share my kids' faces or their names. I shared my daughter's face when she was a baby because she was a baby and babies, they changed like every single day and she was never away from me. Being in LA, I have had so many instances where I've been at a park and I've seen a celebrity's kid or an influencer's kid and I've known the child's name, I've known their favorite thing, I know exactly who they are, I could easily be like,
Conscious Success Co (58:33.527)
It's faint.
Caitlin (58:51.141)
Hey, your mom sent me over. I've got your favorite toy in the car. Your mom just told me cause they're sharing all of these personal details, this and this and this like come in my car or whatever. Like that freaks me out so much. So I don't share their faces. I don't share their names. don't share any like specific details about them. I'm it's interesting with this third baby. I'm fine sharing the face because again, they're babies. And I stopped sharing my daughter's face when she turned one and it's hard with.
Conscious Success Co (58:56.865)
So scary.
Caitlin (59:20.499)
sharing the name now because I do think I have such a community on Instagram and I'm so thankful for my audience and I feel like they kind of deserve that. Like I want them to know that, but I had a time too where I was deep into Reddit snark threads, is, it was like self-flagellation. was horrible. And I don't go there anymore. Haven't been like, I'm like a year clean of Reddit, which feels great, but thank you.
Conscious Success Co (59:46.997)
Congratulations on your sobriety.
Caitlin (59:49.24)
Thank you so much. But one of the things that is the most disgusting to me is that people on Reddit threads will use like an influencer's child's name as if they like know that child being like, I felt so bad for Bob. Bob needs a shower. Like, can you believe she dressed Bob in that? And I'm like the thought of somebody using my child's name in a negative way, that almost is the bigger thing to me versus the privacy. So
I don't know, I'm really torn. think I might share my baby's name and then do what I did where I then never mentioned it again. Like I share it one time and I never mentioned it again, but we'll see. The digital footprint of it all, I I spent like $500 on Delete Me to like delete as much as I could from the internet. It's just so scary and you hear so many scary stories, but there's, I'm blown away and I don't wanna judge people, but like this is a little judgy.
when these big accounts are showing their kids faces so much or like showing clearly using their kids for content. And I miss out on a lot of deals and brand deals because I won't include my kids in it with their faces and brands don't want that, but I'm not going to give up my child's privacy and safety so I can make money.
Conscious Success Co (01:01:08.279)
100%. And on that, brand deals, so at the beginning of your business, were like, your revenue streams were making money from doula clients, essentially, right? Like how has that evolved over time? What do your revenue streams look like now? And what would you say is like the percentage each of those revenue streams makes up?
Caitlin (01:01:17.504)
Yeah.
Caitlin (01:01:26.893)
That's a great question. And I don't think I could tell you what percentage, but I don't have doula clients anymore. It's just too hard with young kids. My last doula client was in March. So it's mostly right now from partnership deals and affiliates. Hopefully our podcast that I have with Rachel, my co-host, will be able to start doing ads soon so we can make money from that.
but it's mostly brand deals and affiliates. And then I'm hoping in the new year to record some courses like baby prep courses and postpartum prep courses that people can buy because I do want to diversify my streams of income. But for the most part, it's brand deals. also had some merch that I did last year.
Conscious Success Co (01:02:16.459)
And what does affiliates look like for you? Are you promoting other people's courses or something like that and getting a percentage, or what does that look like?
Caitlin (01:02:19.222)
Yeah, so.
Caitlin (01:02:26.317)
Yeah, so for me, mostly my affiliate comes from Amazon and ShopMy. So on Amazon, if you're part of their influencer affiliate program, if I share a link on Amazon and people click it and buy something, I'll get a percentage of, like, some things are 3%, some things are like 15%. So I'll make money off of that. They'll also do sometimes bonus programs where it's like, OK, if you hit this amount of shipped revenue, then you'll get a flat fee bonus of $1,500 or something.
Conscious Success Co (01:02:30.901)
Right.
Caitlin (01:02:56.117)
So that and then ShopMy, which is like a shopping site where, you know, I posted jeans yesterday and I've like 20 people order it. So I get a percentage of that. And then I don't really do affiliates for brands because that doesn't feel as worth it to me. I try not to overload my audience with links. That's something you have to think about too. So if I'm sharing a link, it's either it's something that I like that I'm gonna get like a small Amazon or ShopMy from.
totally unrelated or it's like a bigger brand partnership deal.
Conscious Success Co (01:03:29.335)
Right. That makes sense. And I was listening to Your So Right, your podcast that you have with Hey Sleepy Baby, Rachel, which is amazing. Everyone should go listen to it. But if I understand correctly, your third baby will be your last baby unless there's a new fear. So, okay. So I'm curious, like, given that your niche is very like, you know, postpartum or pregnancy content, like…
Caitlin (01:03:35.071)
Yeah. Yes.
Caitlin (01:03:43.797)
Yes. Correct. Correct.
Caitlin (01:03:54.327)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (01:03:56.034)
Do you think about how that will continue to evolve across seasons when you get out of this chapter of early motherhood?
Caitlin (01:04:03.455)
Yeah, think that's, it's so funny. I texted Rachel the other day and I was like, my God, I was thinking about what the fuck am I gonna be doing five years from now? And then I thought about our podcast and I'm like, okay, we got it. The podcast has got to be the big moneymaker. Like that's what we need to turn this into. But I do think that's because I will not turn into a like traditional mommy content creator in that I'm not showing my kids. I do think sharing more of my life feels nice, but
That's also why I want to build up a bit more of like the education piece of it with courses so that even if I'm not personally currently postpartum, you can still see, this is a postpartum doula. I can still get value and information from her. Like Lori, the celebrity LA doula that I mentored with, she hasn't had any kids and she still, you know, is the biggest doula. So I also tell myself too, like, you don't have to be exactly in it.
to still be able to talk about it. That's what I tell myself when I'm panicking at night. I'm like, what am I gonna do? Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (01:05:04.855)
Mm-hmm.
Well, I think it's great that you're thinking about diversifying. mean, once you've built an audience of hundreds of thousands of people, like there's so many directions you can take that. And you've built so much trust with your audience. And I think that's also an important thing to touch on. Like, I feel like you've really invested in the community aspect of it. Like you've encouraged mom meetups and like...
Caitlin (01:05:20.044)
Yeah.
Caitlin (01:05:28.639)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (01:05:28.895)
live podcast events and stuff where people don't just feel like they're like a follower, but they feel connected and they're so much more likely to buy a course from you because of that connection. Has that been an intentional strategy and focus?
Caitlin (01:05:37.024)
Yes.
Caitlin (01:05:43.072)
It was not intentional. was more like, people are here. Let's chat. And I'm alone with my baby. I'm lonely. Like, let's all be friends. And it kind of grew from that. And I always say the comment section in my post is like the most supportive place you'll ever find. Everyone there, luckily, is so cool. Like, there's no bad seeds that are following or they would unfollow me.
But I realized how key that community is because like you said, they'll be more likely to buy things from me. They're more likely to share from me. So it's really important. I try to respond to as many DMS as I can. Like I want people to feel like we're friends and sometimes it can be like a weird parasocial relationship. But like I said, for the most part, people are pretty chill and people are more likely to stick around. I said something the other day. I was like, you know, if you're, I know I'm posting a lot of pregnancy stuff.
If you're not pregnant, please don't leave me. I'm very fragile. Like I don't want all of my followers to leave me. And I got so many DMS from people that were like, we would never leave you. Like we don't follow you for just that. We follow you for you. And that I was like, wow, it wasn't really fishing for that. But I guess maybe I was a little bit because this feels great to read. Yeah. I really needed this. but I think that's what's so important too, is you have to still cultivate a community and an identity where people are like, this might not apply to me specifically, but
Conscious Success Co (01:06:51.191)
But I needed it anyway.
Caitlin (01:07:04.405)
I still want to see what you're doing and I still want to be a part of it.
Conscious Success Co (01:07:07.755)
Yeah, absolutely. Okay, I want to end with some rapid fire questions. So what does conscious success mean to you?
Caitlin (01:07:11.263)
Okay.
Caitlin (01:07:16.517)
I think conscious success, it's so funny because I feel like my key to success is being like unconscious to it basically and not trying to like control it or micromanage it. But I think it really is just doing what actually feels right and good to you and not what you think you should be doing or what you thought 20 years ago was what you should be doing. But instead really like betting on yourself and believing in yourself.
Conscious Success Co (01:07:46.753)
Love it. Even the people that we admire most are still growing and evolving. So what's one area of your life where you're currently being stretched or learning something new right now?
Caitlin (01:07:55.526)
God, every area of my life? I would say trying to legitimize my business a little bit more and come up with some more like, okay, you we have this community, we have like, how do we work with bigger brands or how do I, you know, do these more courses, which maybe not a lot of people are gonna buy, but it lends me that legitimacy. So I think it's kind of trying to make it more of a.
Conscious Success Co (01:07:57.387)
Ha
Caitlin (01:08:24.789)
an actually walkable business, like a reliable business path, if that makes sense.
Conscious Success Co (01:08:29.355)
And with that, do you invest in your own coaching and mentorship or are you just kind of figuring it out on your own?
Caitlin (01:08:35.081)
Yeah, I, you know, I did do a business coaching and it was not good and it was so much money and I regret that, but I'm a big believer in coaches and I'm a big believer in that. just took a chance and was signed with like this management company and Rachel and I for our podcast are going to start working with somebody to help us with that. So I'm a big believer in coaches. Well, like I said, you have to spend money to make money. And sometimes that's
Conscious Success Co (01:08:39.712)
interesting.
Caitlin (01:09:03.415)
betting on yourself. like, again,
Conscious Success Co (01:09:04.715)
And you've got to be discerning about who you invest your money with. It's not that all coaches are good or bad, but it's like you actually need to take responsibility to do diligence and to find someone who you resonate with who can actually help you.
Caitlin (01:09:08.403)
a thousand percent.
Yes.
Caitlin (01:09:18.527)
Yes, and I also think sometimes the best coach, know, when you're starting business, you're like, I need a business coach. I actually think you need a somebody like you, who's also a person coach who's going to help you figure out what you should be doing and not again, your email funnels on Thinkific and things like that. But what is your zone of genius? Like that is more important. If you don't have that nailed down, your funnels aren't going to get anybody.
Conscious Success Co (01:09:35.009)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (01:09:42.584)
100%. And I had a long time where I was trying to figure out like, how do I define myself? Because business coach didn't feel quite right, even though I do coach people in business once they figured out their zone of genius and what they want. But it's like, first, you've got to figure out that messy middle piece. so career redesign and helping people to transition into their aligned path, like that's the like juicy thing. The strategy is like so easy to layer on top, but you can't skip ahead.
Caitlin (01:09:52.213)
Right.
Caitlin (01:09:57.229)
Totally.
Caitlin (01:10:05.151)
Yes. no, a thousand percent. And if you do skip ahead, it's not gonna work. And that's why it's not gonna work.
Conscious Success Co (01:10:11.319)
100%. 100%. Who is someone in your world today who you admire for how they live, lead, or succeed, and what is it about them that inspires you?
Caitlin (01:10:21.325)
You know, I would say Rachel, my podcast host on Instagram at Haste Sleepy Baby, just because she built everything from scratch too. And she is somebody who is constantly thinking of new ideas and evolving. And a lot of what we've done together, I've just presented to her. And she jumps and says yes. And she could easily say no, but I think
saying yes and taking a chance and being like, sure, let's see what happens is just as important as being the person who comes up with the initial idea. But I do think I'm very impressed by how she has really taken what she built into something serious and structured. And that is something that I definitely want to work towards as well.
Conscious Success Co (01:11:09.291)
And you know, you are in similar niches to Rachel, right? But like you have collaborated with her instead of competed with her. And I think that that is so cool because now you can continue to learn from her and build something together that is even bigger than each of you could do individually.
Caitlin (01:11:12.928)
Yes.
Caitlin (01:11:16.799)
Yes.
Caitlin (01:11:21.857)
Yeah.
Caitlin (01:11:25.631)
Yeah, I would say too, if you can find somebody doing something similar to you and have them as a friend and somebody you can check in on and not feel competitive with. And there were other people that was, I was kind of coming up who copied me or who did all of this and Rachel, we are in similar niches, but luckily hers is really like sleep focused. But to have somebody that I can text and be like, my God, my real got two views today. Like what is going on? Is yours bad too? Or like, what do you think about this idea?
Because especially if you're doing like content creation or something like that, it feels really isolating because you don't have somebody. And there's probably not a lot of people in your life doing that same job where, you know, when you were in tech, there were other people you could talk to you about working in tech. And it's like, there's not a lot of other people you can talk to you about your insights and things like that. So finding somebody who is in a similar niche that you trust that doesn't feel competitive with, that you can talk to is so helpful. She's the only one I haven't blocked.
Everyone else blocked.
Conscious Success Co (01:12:26.519)
100%. If you could give your 10-year-old self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Caitlin (01:12:33.793)
Honestly, I would say just keep doing exactly what you're doing. I wouldn't want any piece of advice because I wouldn't wanna change anything that I did that led me here. I mean, maybe I would say like, when you hear about Bitcoin, like buy that, invest, Google Bitcoin, like get down on that. But literally everything else, I would just say like.
Conscious Success Co (01:12:48.567)
It's best.
Caitlin (01:12:58.347)
You know feed into that dilution. You're doing everything exactly right. You are amazing and perfect. It's all going to work out. Keep doing you. And buy Bitcoin.
Conscious Success Co (01:13:06.463)
And for the women who are in corporate but thinking about like, this isn't lighting me up. They're where you were, where you felt angry and you felt like stuck. What do you wish they knew or believed? What would you want to say to them?
Caitlin (01:13:13.485)
Yeah.
Caitlin (01:13:20.257)
that it is so much better on the other side than you would ever think it is. And that it's OK. Like we talked about for your definition of success to be different than someone else's. It doesn't mean their version is better than yours. You will find exactly what you should be doing. And also imagine if you had a daughter. And what would you tell her if she came to you and was like, I'm miserable. I'm killing myself at this job. This cannot be all there is to life.
That's what you have to tell yourself too. We have this short, I mean, you're like, Mary Oliver says this one wild and precious life. Like, do you really want to waste it chasing some sense of what you thought felt was important years ago? Or do you want to be happy and enjoy your life and have kids that see you being happy and chasing your dreams and doing what you want? And also, you know, it's like, will the world exist in 20 years? We really can't say. We're not sure.
Conscious Success Co (01:14:12.215)
We're not sure. So just do the damn thing.
Caitlin (01:14:14.985)
Yeah, there's like a lot happening with the climate. There's a lot happening with like possible world. You know, they're really, we're in a real time in life where there are no guarantees. And it's like, when that missile is hitting, are you gonna be like, I'm so glad I stayed at this desk for 20 years. Are you gonna be like, I'm so glad I lived my life the way that I wanted to.
Conscious Success Co (01:14:17.697)
Hahaha!
Conscious Success Co (01:14:34.121)
Yeah, you can get frozen with fear. You can be like, fuck it, I'm just going to do what I actually desire and build a life I actually want. Yeah.
Caitlin (01:14:38.035)
Exactly.
Caitlin (01:14:43.561)
Exactly, exactly. And that it's also OK if it stumbles. But I have such an insane belief in myself that I'm going to make it OK, and I'm going to make everything OK for my family, that if you believe in that too, you have to be the first person to buy in on you. And once you do, you can't ever let it go. And also, surround yourself with positive people. If your partner isn't supporting you, then you have to sit down with them and be like, this is not OK. You have to support me. Find friends or to support me.
Our mutual friend, Caitlin Crisp, she was like one of the first people who shared my Instagram and was like, hey, follow her. And like the most supportive, but those, you have friends, I mean, this is content creation specific, applies to other places too. Like if your friends aren't liking your posts, if they aren't commenting on your posts, if they aren't telling you like, this is amazing, those aren't your friends. Your friends are the ones that should be supporting whatever change you're doing, not being like, are you sure you don't want to go back? And like, you know, was so much safer there. Like that's not your friend.
Conscious Success Co (01:15:19.115)
the most supportive.
Caitlin (01:15:42.817)
You have to find the people that are gonna be like, you know what, take that leap. That's amazing. You're gonna crush it.
Conscious Success Co (01:15:49.611)
Yeah, and I mean, I even feel like with that, it's a bit nuanced and that like they might not be expanded enough to believe in themselves or to believe. It's like not personal, but like they're not yet in that space. But you have to find the people who are, who do believe, who are, you know, supportive and championing you. It's not like you have to get rid of all the people who can't necessarily. But if you want to build something that feels truly yours and truly good, you have to be in the room. You have to be in community with people who can support and see you in that vision.
Caitlin (01:15:55.646)
totally.
Caitlin (01:16:02.614)
Yes.
Caitlin (01:16:09.621)
Right.
Caitlin (01:16:14.966)
Yes.
Caitlin (01:16:18.711)
Totally, totally. And that might be finding a coach or finding like a group coaching program or something and being with other people. And you might have to spend a lot more money before you make that money back. But again, you are worth that investment.
Conscious Success Co (01:16:34.936)
I have loved every minute. I love speaking to you. You're the most fun person. Like, I could do this for hours and hours. So you are at Wilder Beginnings on Instagram. Is that the best place for listeners to follow, keep in touch, anything else you'd say to those listening if they want to work with you or stay connected?
Caitlin (01:16:37.739)
Me too!
Caitlin (01:16:46.092)
Yes.
Caitlin (01:16:49.897)
Yes. Yeah.
Yeah, so on Instagram at Wilder Beginnings and then my podcast is You're So Right with Rachel at HeySleepyBaby. And it's a very fun, lighthearted podcast. It's just like two best friends chatting. You know, there's so much, there's podcasts like this that are informative, inspirational, helpful. And then there's podcasts like ours, which is just like, mine is the opposite of that, but sometimes we need a little bit of that in our lives. So.
Conscious Success Co (01:17:17.4)
You're like, mine is not that.
Conscious Success Co (01:17:23.202)
I do respect.
Caitlin (01:17:24.309)
It's very fun, you're so right. You can find us wherever you get your podcasts. And then yeah, that's mostly it for now, but who's to say what the universe will guide me to next where you might find me.
Conscious Success Co (01:17:34.55)
I can't wait to see where you'll be in five years and I can't wait to follow this next postpartum journey alongside you as we're going through it together. I'll be DMing you and be like, how's three going for you? Yeah, can I send it back? No, just kidding. Won't want to do that. But no, this has been such a joy. Thanks for making the time and for being here.
Caitlin (01:17:37.973)
Yes.
Caitlin (01:17:41.792)
Yes!
I love that. I'm so glad. Yeah. I'll be like, this too late for you to turn around?
Yeah.
Caitlin (01:17:59.937)
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I loved it.
