Kathy Rast
Thought Partner (business)
Specialist Generalist (business)
I work with business owners to rebuild their businesses to (actually) work with them.
About
Heya. I’m Kathy, and I like making things work. I’ve worked in places and spaces that make no sense here, and yet they’ve offered opportunities not many get to gain skills and experience that bring a breath of fresh air to the experience of being a business owner, especially a solo business owner.
Through experience, I’ve learned to leave the business strategy, planning, and projects to others who light up in these areas (I know some peoples who are guns in this area, reach out if you want a name or two).
Instead, I give the goods best in working with business owners, typically when there’s something technical or tiring to be done. Together I work with them not as an assistant or technician, but as a fellow business owner.
You know that person you knew to go to for that thing or who’d at least know what it’s called and who to go to for that thing, that was me in my ‘proper job’ roles. I was the one who had already done it for someone else or would sit with you to nut it out (including the thinking behind what needed to be done).
Now, I do the same thing with business owners for business owners in the business space, especially solo business.
Specialist Generalist (business)
Through my almost 20 years of working in roles in state and Commonwealth government and private organisations, paired with my six-plus years in my own business, I have acquired and finally tuned mad swag of skills, knowledge, and experience.
This translates to me having and being able to offer access to my general business knowledge, skill, and experience, and my specialist skill, knowledge, or experience in technical business tasks that require attention to detail and delivery.
Business owners have saved thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours, and some have even saved their own business by asking for help.
Usually I get a call to help one or more of the following:
Tech (including setup and troubleshooting)
Comms (including troubleshooting and brand voice harmonisation)
Documentation (inlcuding process design and procedures)
Organisation (including digital or physical storage)
Depending on the task/output, we either do it together, I do part of it for you, or I work out a way it can be done and show you how to do it.
Thought Partner (business)
Now while many start working with me to make something work or to get something done, usually there’s a fault or flaw getting in the way because the thinking is incomplete or has not even come to mind.
Now the thinking behind a business is usually done little by little over time. Yes, there are some things that can be done in offsite workshops and retreats, but a lot of the time, especially in solo business, the thinking behind the business is considered in the context and alongside specific tasks.
So, as a thought partner, little by little over a long time we build those parts of the business's big picture so that soon enough it already feels familiar.
My role as a thought partner is usually one of always being on and noting where parts of the big picture are at play. Little by little over a long time, each part is added to a specific structure of the big picture, which can include the business:
part to play/change to see/difference to make
business operating model, or
values as applied in the business delivery.
Approach
I’m a mirror (not a mimic). I work with the words within the layers of language in use to learn, lean on, and leverage the words to make the work more workable, the lessons more learnable, and the thinking feel more focused to support the actions to be more actionable.
It sounds as weird as sometimes it feels, but it actually works. While everything comes from you, I help with the processing part so that you can free up some much-needed 🧠-space to be clear to move forward.
By working with language as a lens, it’s the closest we can get to being a non-biased build in business, which means all of the main business players (i.e., money, marketing, and operations) meet with a shared priority meaning you can grow that true sense of being fully across your own business.