I am super excited to share this conversation I shared with one of my business besties, Kathryn Hocking who shares her story on pivoting her business to follow her passion and create a business she loves.
Kathryn is an incredible practitioner, with a very unique skill set in understanding the business aspect of the launch phase and blends it perfectly with energetics and astrology. She has helped in the launch of countless e-courses and has now melded her talents into identifying the right time to launch through her love of astrology.
T: I am super super excited to introduce you guys to an incredible practitioner and somebody who I have been business besties with for quite some time. This person has a very unique understanding of business, particularly in the launch phase of things, and blends it perfectly with all of her other gifts and talents including energetics and astrology.
I am so excited to welcome Kathryn Hocking!
K: Thanks, Tammy. Love that introduction that’s kind of exciting hearing myself described in that way.
T: Well, it’s a very unique meld. And I really appreciate it because my background is in science, so my head does get in the way sometimes of my heart and my woo-woo side.
But you have this wonderful blend, bringing in your background in business and all these other elements that you just really blossomed into in the past few years. You’ve really created some extraordinary programs around these and I am super keen to pick your brain about all of it!
K: Let’s get into it can’t wait.
Pivoting from Corporate to Coaching
T: All righty. At the moment, you are helping us with NatEx to align ourselves with the sequence of launching a product – an online product or anything really – and how that actually aligns with astrology and the stars. But it hasn’t always been like that for you.
When I first met you, you were actually in corporate, and just starting out in the online business world a decade ago. Can you tell us about how that shift occurred for you?
K: Yeah, so I was very much a corporate girl. I went to university, then got a corporate job and stayed in corporate for 10 years. Did a lot of really interesting things. But ultimately, after I had my first child, very soon after I went back to work I can remember thinking, “Oh my gosh, I don’t want to wake up in another 10 years and still be sitting here doing this.”
The words, “Wake Up” are quite significant because I felt like I was sleeping through life
So I made a commitment to myself to explore what else might be out there for me. My requirements were pretty simple. I wanted to work from home. So I started looking into what were all the different things that I could potentially do from home.
I looked at things like web design, graphic design, things like massage, and I also looked into coaching. In the end, coaching felt like the thing for me.
And I actually had this funny memory from years earlier. When I literally was just graduating from university 10 years earlier, I’d been to see a naturopath and I saw a brochure about life coaching in her office. And I can remember picking it up and looking at it, thinking, “Oh, wow. That would be really cool. That’s what I’d love to do.”
But I just finished my degree and I’d been conditioned that I was meant to go out and get a professional serious job. So I forgot about it.
Then there I was 10 years later, deciding to enrol in life coaching. So it was a bit of a full-circle moment there for me. So, I started a business really as a coach to mums in business. I thought I was going to help mums returning to work. That didn’t take off, but I started having mums in business coming to me for my strategic and business mindset.
I had a lot of really creative mums in business that had beautiful ideas they wanted to birth out into the world but they really didn’t know how to do all the business side of running a business. The online world was very new. And I realised there was this great potential, particularly for my market of mums, to create online courses for them and teach them in that way. So I did.
The Rise and Fall of An e-Course Business
Then very quickly, they started asking me to teach them how to create online courses. And I said, “Sure, why not? No worries.” Not expecting it to really be anything more than any of the other courses I created. But it instantly took off. So I spent probably five or six years growing my programme, The e-Course Launch Formula into a million-dollar eCommerce business.
And as you know, I got adrenal fatigue a lot. I was burning out every year because I was still coming from a very masculine orientated ‘hustle’ place. After having adrenal fatigue twice, I just said to myself, there has to be a better way. There has to be a more sustainable way of running a business.
So that’s when I started exploring all of these other modalities and practices and ways to be in business.
T: Fantastic! Oh my goodness. And e-Course Launch Formula – it’s, oh my goodness, absolutely gorgeous. Amazing program. Wow!
Then there has been this exploration since. And you’ve dived so deep into the launch process of e-Courses, in particular. I love that you’ve identified a way to ground all of us creative, empathy, loving types just long enough to understand a strategy and the step by step processes to get our thing out into the world. It’s really quite cool.
Going From A Million Dollar Business To Looking After Herself
So you went on a bit of a journey over the past couple of years, internally. Going from a million-dollar e-course to exploring how to look after yourself. What are the highlights of the things you’ve learned as you’ve become not only a life coach but really exploding into those places and spaces of being a practitioner?
K: I have to tell you, as well as highlights, there have been lots of really hard times over the last few years. One of the things that I had to really work through is ego. Because I went from having this exceptionally successful course, being on this massive trajectory, to making a decision that that wasn’t my soul-calling, even though it was financially very successful.
So I’ve had to do a lot of work around ego and I still do, to be perfectly honest. There are still difficult times because I’m still shifting and moving. And I’m really creating something new. You know, when we create something new, it takes time it takes time to build.
From Corporate To Practitioner
T: I think that’s actually a common thing that I hear as a mentor of practitioners, particularly those who have come from a corporate background. We’re so used to having built our reputation – our name on the desk kind of scenario – after possibly a decade in corporate. Then to come around and start to nourish ourselves and become a practitioner, we feel like we’re starting at the bottom again. It can be a really interesting identity shift. So I think that happens for a lot of practitioners.
K: Absolutely, and I don’t think we talk about it enough. As much as I have lots of creative types, I also have clients just like that who have had really high-powered careers, very successful and they’re used to getting a lot of recognition.
Then they’re starting out and it takes time for that to happen. They can really struggle with it a lot. And so it does take a lot of faith and it takes having to detach from your ego and believe in the purpose and soul of what you’re doing.
That’s been a really big journey for me over the last few years and one that I’m still going on. But I’m really driven by knowing that I’m creating something that is very soul-driven, something that I absolutely love. For me right now, that is my Embodied Soul Astrology Academy that I’ve built.
When I spoke at NatEx last year, it wasn’t even a thing. It didn’t exist. So speaking this year, I now have a year’s worth of astrology training in the Academy. It’s kind of incredible what can happen in a year. There’s been a hell of a lot of trust involved to get there and lots of great times as well.
When you talk about highlights – you know, last year at NatEx, I had a beautiful new photoshoot done, got beautiful new photos that I now use all over my astrology work. And speaking at events, there are lots of amazing things. But business can be hard, too, and it’s a lot of personal development work in there, as well.
The Biggest Personal Development Journey
T: For me, business has been the biggest personal development journey I’ve ever taken in my life like it. It is the biggest “course” for myself that I’ve taken is just being in business. You can look at that one way as, “Who would ever do that??”
But you can look at it another way, as “I’m in charge of that. I’m in charge of what I create and what I learn.” Which is very different from being inside an organisation that you might not entirely be aligned with.
K: Absolutely. I’ve always been someone who was very clear that we get this one chance in this lifetime, at least. And I want to be doing things I believe in and work that I love. That’s really at the centre of what drives me. I don’t have to be the absolute, most successful person ever or the wealthiest person. But I do want to be doing work that I really love and that I feel makes a difference. That’s what drives me every day.
T: So, before we get on to the theme of the conference, I have a bit of a burning question. Because I actually know a lot of practitioners who hide the fact that they use astrology. Some very well-known naturopaths who do extraordinary work in the science-based realm, evidence-based medicine. But they are the biggest astrology buffs I’ve ever met. And they are extraordinary at it.
I’ve seen some use it for medical reasons, some use it for herbs and how they choose different things that are grown at different times of the year based on the astrological calendar. And then there are others using it as you would out of the newspaper on the weekend. You know, giving advice based on what part of that person’s life cycle they’re in, what’s happening for them, and what could possibly happen in the future. To give them some solace, help, and guidance on what could be.
Why Astrology?
Why astrology for you and how have you found it meld with the business world?
K: I just love hearing all those different ways that people in your industry could use astrology. So I just want to say that. That’s incredible. And also I was kind of giggling because one of the reasons I have struggled to get more testimonials for my site is because no one wants to admit they’re actually studying this. It’s quite funny. There’s this quite big stigma almost, particularly in Australia, around using and learning astrology. So it’s quite funny.
How Different Cultures View Astrology
T: Yeah, and it’s funny you should say Australia. Quite a number of these people speak overseas and it’s a completely normal thing to have conversations in Asia, especially in China around Chinese astrology. And then, Europe is very open to and has been for millennia. So it’s really interesting.
K: Yeah, it’s so interesting. It’s one of the reasons why I loved travelling through Europe last year. I saw astrology everywhere and in the ancient building and art and all of that. Then a few years ago when I first went to Bali, I remember it really being this moment of seeing all these god and goddess statues everywhere. And it was kind of a confirmation that just because you live in Australia where a lot of people might think it’s a bit funny, there are whole cultures where it’s very revered and believed in.
That was really special for me. Sometimes I feel a little bit fish out of water in Australia in that way.
The Personality Test For Your Soul
In terms of why astrology, I’ve always loved any sort of personality test. Taking any of the different tests that are out there, whether they’re entrepreneurial type tests, or when I was looking to change careers, start a business, did a whole heap of career-based testing. In a way, I see astrology as the ultimate personality test. I often refer to it as the ‘personality test for your soul’.
So it’s like this really deep level personality test. I think I’ve always been about self-exploration and self-knowledge. And astrology is like a lifetime meditation about yourself. It’s not something you get in one session or in one course. You will literally spend your whole life meditating on it. It really just resonated.
I’d studied a soul and energy medicine practitionership, so I’m a qualified soul medicine guide. I also studied Reiki. But they weren’t quite fitting for me as the thing I wanted to give my full focus to.
T: It’s an interesting mode of learning, life coaching. It encompasses the archetypes and hero’s journey. And I think there’s a lot of that within the 12 different aspects of astrology as well.
K: Yeah, absolutely. And I really love archetype work. So then I decided to study astrology and it was just like coming home. I just felt, “Yeah. This is the modality for me.”
I think one of the reasons is that whilst I am very soulful, I’m also very analytical and I’m a Virgo rising. Virgos can be known as ‘the grounded healer.’ Pisces is kind of the spiritual up in the clouds healing archetype. Whereas Virgo is more of the archetype of the grounded healer, healing with tools of the earth but also the mind.
So astrology, whilst it is intuitive, it’s also quite analytical. And I like being able to see it right there on the page. I like being able to show other people and give them something concrete that they can see right there in front of them. Those are the reasons why astrology.
It’s All Right There, Isn’t It?
Then as I started working with it, I started using it to time my launches, decide the best time of the year for things, and understand why I’m going through certain things at certain periods. And the more I’ve learned, the more incredible it’s become in terms of how it helps me in life.
As I’ve started working with clients, it’s just phenomenal when I have someone say to me, “Oh, my gosh, it’s all right there, isn’t it?” Or, “I knew this, but you’ve given me permission. Seeing this has given me permission.” It’s just incredible.
T: I love hearing your passion for it! And I love finding all the different unique ways people are melding their passions. The insights that I’ve personally had around things like the moon cycle. My science brain was not too keen on the moon cycle, you know. But I’m a woman so it kind of kicks in at some stage that there’s something in this stuff. Given that the moon, the sun, and the stars work together, understanding that there are different times when you are more out there talking to the world and communicating versus the quiet, reflective, thinking time.
Even the most simple of versions of that and noticing those things have really changed the way that I do business without burnout. Having that full astrological understanding for where your chart lies over lies over what’s actually happening with the world in its current situation is really quite cool. It’s amazing.
K: Yeah, it is. I’m really looking forward to talking to people at NatEx around how they can work more with the moon cycles and which parts of the moon cycles are going to be most powerful and potent for them. And also helping people to understand that different moon cycles are going to have different energies and how they can harness that.
T: It’s gonna be a juicy one at NatEx. It’s exciting!
So we are excited to have you back at NatEx this year and bringing in this next deeper layer. Last year was amazing about e-course launching, but this year is going to have that beautiful twist on it. The themes for NatEx is, ‘Love your work, love your life, and love yourself.’ You’ve obviously shared how much you love your work.
Loving Your Life And Yourself
What is it about your work that allows you to love your life and take care of yourself now?
K: I think that particularly being a mum if we can do work that we love, and have a sense of purpose, that then helps us to be a better parent as well. In so many different ways. Firstly, because we’re just going to be feeling better and more engaged with the world. But I think it’s also a really amazing example for your children. That they can follow their dreams and passions, that they can be a great parent but also have their own lives and interests.
We’re heading off on a trip soon, Tammy. And I’m really happy for my kids to see that mum goes off and does things that she’s interested in and that’s okay. That’s healthy and that’s what I want them to aspire to when they’re older, in their partnerships and when they are parents. So I think that loving your work helps you then just be better in all aspects of your life.
Avoiding Or Managing Burnout?
T: I agree. And so one final question is about loving yourself and self-care. Unfortunately, there’s a rampant issue with burnout in our professions. You just described at the beginning that you’ve experienced burnout. What have you learnt that you do either daily or weekly to actually look after yourself now?
K: I would love to tell everyone that I totally, radically revolutionised everything and I’ve stuck to it for the last however many years. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s true. But what I would say is that I was very heavily in the masculine. And my thesis, I guess you’d say, is that the reason I was burning out was that I was so heavily in the masculine and I needed to bring more feminine energy into my life.
So the main thing I do is just try and keep that in as much balance as I possibly can. It’s not always possible. But in particular, I love massage. I love treating myself to massage. To even say ‘treating myself’ is just a nice self-care thing to do. So I try and get a massage every one to two weeks and I absolutely love that time for myself.
Then I also like to tune in with tarot cards every morning. So I like to pick a card and meditate on that each day. Those are probably the two top things I do to care for myself. Again, I feel like reading books that I’m interested in, writing my courses that I love – to me that is also self-care because it’s just doing the things that I love. That is self-care for myself.
Obviously we have to balance that, because too much and it becomes burnout. But I think there’s a sense of just following your passion and purpose is also self-care.
T: Hmm, beautiful. So many lovely golden nuggets in our conversations. Kathryn, thank you so much for being here today.
Take Action
If you got something out of it or know someone who would, please share it with them. If it didn’t resonate for you, that’s fine too. There is a whole back catalogue of conversations just like these.
My goal is for everyone to experience something like Kathryn’s story of following her passion and creating a business and lifestyle she loves. Wherever your passion lies, you can incorporate that into your dreams and build a business and life around it. To make this a reality for you, we have a variety of mentoring opportunities to help you get there.
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