Track: Business

A crisis of confidence is at the root of many business struggles: not charging enough, allowing clients to take advantage of you, nagging fears, and a lack of satisfaction from your work. In this session, Nathan will discuss two streams that feed the crisis – Imposter Syndrome and Hero Syndrome. Then we’ll talk about some strategies to escape.

Key Takeaways:

1. Why confidence is important as a web professional
2. How Imposter Syndrome and Hero Syndrome get in the way
3. How to build your confidence

The world of web design is changing, and if you’re not keeping up, you’re not going to make it as a freelance web designer. With drag-and-drop builders the barrier to entry is getting lower and lower.

Today, your parents, and even your grandparents can make a website.

In a day.

So how can you compete? How can you make any money when anyone can make a website?

In my talk I break down how selling websites is the WRONG thing to be doing, and how today, the tech skills simply aren’t enough. Instead, the focus must shift to providing value through strategic design that answers your clients’ problems by creating more leads, reducing workloads, and increasing profits. When the focus is shifted, you set yourself above the page builders and premade templates, and become a solution that your clients are willing to pay top dollar for.

What if you’d rather jump into a cage of hungry lions wearing a meat suit than wade into a room full of strangers?

We’re taught networking is important, but few of us are taught to do it well. For many people, networking causes real social anxiety, discomfort, and even distress.

In Lunching with Lions, Katherine shares the strategies she used to go from being terrified of networking to founding one of Denver’s leading women’s networking groups and becoming an influencer in the women’s entrepreneurship community.

You’ll learn how to:

• Use the trifecta of awareness, purpose, and intent to build a successful networking practice.
• Identify the right groups and connections.
• Leverage your investments of time and money to get the best results.

Best of all, you’ll get strategies and tools to build your networking muscle and help you overcome your fears.

You don’t have to be in every group, attend every meeting, shake every hand, or collect every card. KP shows you how to choose the right groups and connections to help reach your personal and professional goals in a way that feels good and gets the results you want.

Here’s what some recent audience members have said about “Lunching with Lions: How to Survive and Thrive at Networking”:

*** “just wanted to let you know I have been thinking about your presentation all day and told so many people about it! The cool kids part stuck with me and has made me really think about what I’m doing.”
Kendall Prine

*** Thank You for an excellent presentation at Polka Dot last night. I loved your energy and your information – very valuable. I can’t believe I’d never thought of some of your finer points about networking and about the cost of networking! You are the type of woman I want in my tribe! Thank you!”
Tonya Mecum

*** You were AMAZING Katherine McGraw Patterson! That is actually the first thing I did this morning was really evaluate my networking and the impact I want to make. You’re amazing sister!”
Stephanie Schoolmeester

*** A timely message at today’s meeting helped me to organize my time and energy at this expo. Thank you, Katherine McGraw Patterson, for your reminder to identify and focus on the people and situations which are most likely to be potential clients or otherwise build my business. 🌟
I stopped at tables which appeared to match and had lively, interesting conversations without rushing. I made lots of great connections! ”
Anne Moriarty

This presentation is based on Katherine’s recently-published book, “Lunching with Lions: Strategies for the Networking-Averse” which was endorsed by Ivan Misener, founder of BNI (the world’s largest professional networking organization) and New York Times best-selling author, who said “Lunching with Lions will help you overcome networking fears with insight and awareness. Katherine shares her own journey of overcoming her aversion to networking to subsequently leading one of Denver’s fastest-growing professional networks for women business owners. She encourages business owners to approach networking like everything else in their organization – by setting concrete goals, creating actionable strategies, and tracking their results. People will be using this book as a tool to expand their networks for a long time. “

Attendees may be thinking of starting a plugin business. They may already have a business and want to break through to the next level. This talk is for them.

In this talk, I will present for 15 minutes about the path I took to get where I am, and then I will take questions from the audience. At the end of this session, attendees will come away knowing more about what it takes to run a plugin business and how to address some of the challenges all plugin businesses face.

Some of the topics I am prepared to discuss include:

• Going from idea to product:
  • Identifying and developing product ideas
  • How to determine if your idea is good enough to be a product
  • Getting started cheap
  • Gathering feedback and building interest
• Setting up a business:
  • Structure of the company
  • Paying taxes
  • Outsourcing and contracts
  • Domains, hosting & social media
• Selling a plugin
  • eCommerce software
  • Deciding on pricing
  • Deciding on support models
  • Payment processing options (pros and cons)
  • Cart abandonment
  • Churn
• Providing quality plugin support
  • Is it hard give good support as a developer?
  • What tools to use
  • What to expect, in terms of support load
  • Best practices, resources
• Marketing & branding your plugin
  • How to develop a brand
  • Finding your voice as a brand
  • Advertising & Pay Per Click
• Growing & running a team
  • Company culture (hint: it’s you!)
  • Project management
  • Communication
  • Scheduling
  • Tools