I’m Kate Martin, and I’m the answer to all your tech-and-systems-related problems while you’re busy building your business.
You’re putting in a lot of hard work. You’re creating content, finding your audience, networking with other people. You’re trying to thrive in your zone of genius – but you’re struggling with some of the most important things in online business; the technology that keeps your business going, and the systems that allow you to scale your business.
You want to be doing the things you do best, not trying to figure out how to make your WordPress theme look pretty, or the components you need to produce that course, or deciding if it’s time to hire a virtual assistant. Maybe, like me, you’re an ADHD entrepreneur mom who wants a business that won’t take her time away from her family.
I can help. With over two decades of working on websites and being around the blogging industry, and over five years as a virtual assistant, I’ve done all sorts of things for different online businesses. I’ve discovered what I’m bad at (Pinterest, social media), what I’m good at (copy, design), and what I’m freakin’ excellent at – tech and systems. I can do everything from building a website to documenting SOPs, helping you plan out your next quarter or helping turn lead magnets into funnels.
How I Got Here
I was willing to clean up as much animal poop as it took.
It was late 2017, and I had spent five years as a deputy for the local sheriff’s office – mostly working in the jail. Incompetent supervisors and co-workers had drained my patience. I was looking for jobs at the local aquarium and zoo, because I liked animals over most people anyway and especially when I was badly burned out. I didn’t care what it was, I just needed to do something else. Hence, why I was willing to clean up whatever I needed to. I was actively looking to change my life when I got the biggest life change of all – two lines on a pregnancy test.
I knew I wanted to stay home with my baby, so a month before my daughter was born I finally escaped from the jail and started looking into ways to make money online. I’d built websites for fun in my teens, and been around the blogging industry for years – I discovered many of my skills were perfect for this new-to-me job called a “virtual assistant.” While I waited for my daughter’s birth, I started finding odd jobs online.
Figuring out how to make websites do certain things, or how to tie one service into the other – that was my jam. Systems and organizing were how I coped with my ADHD and it was easy to start bringing those to my clients. I experimented with job titles before finally realizing what I was – a tech and systems specialist.
With my two daughters finally approaching school age, I was able to devote more time to my business – now I’m going from “hobby VA” to someone dedicated to making this a significant portion of my family’s income. I love getting to do a job where every day is a little different, where I can have the flexibility to take my daughters to the park after school, and where I can down pots of tea at my desk while helping my clients and my family.
What I’m Bringing To Your Party
First, you don’t just invite anyone to your party, so I’m always going to make sure we click because that’s vital to the success of both our businesses.
I’ve got years of virtual assistant experience and we’ll just say a LOT of years using WordPress, CSS, and HTML. I’ve built websites from scratch, implemented themes, built pages that matched themes – all sorts of stuff. I’m proficient in a large number of apps and software (I tried listing them, there were too many), and I can usually pick up anything pretty quickly.
I have team management and project management skills starting from way back in my college days, when I was the office manager of my college agriculture department.
I will never forget having to helm a Future Farmers of America workshop (90+ schools, 2,300+ students) AND an international trip (ten days in England and Ireland for thirteen people) – three weeks apart! I found my first gray hairs that semester.
Most importantly – I treat your business as my own. I take it very seriously, because your success is my success.
Get to Know Me
My entire family is neurospicy (mostly ADHD), so keeping up with my two young daughters (born in 2018 and 2021) can take a lot of effort. Those kids can literally make a mess out of ANYTHING.
I’ve lived in southwest Missouri since 1999 – but I grew up in Las Vegas (yes, Sin City).
I like to say that I was born American by accident, because I drink a lot of tea, listen to a bunch of BBC podcasts, and dream of having a nice little cottage in the Cotswolds (a la Agatha Raisin, but without the murders). I’m happiest in drizzly weather and probably know more British history than American history at this point (to be fair, there’s a lot more).
Working five years in the local jail taught me so much about addiction, mental health, and dealing with people in emotional pain; I’m passionate about all those topics now. It’s impossible to insult me because I’ve been called every name in the book. I’ve also seen more naked people than most people ever will outside a long residence in a nudist colony. Working in a jail is absolutely wild, and yes, I have a lot of stories.
I’m a sci-fi geek and a history nerd, and yes, there are differences between geek and nerd, and I’m not sure what knowing that makes me.
My college majors were Animal Science and Agribusiness; I have not used them at all.
I’m a minimalist because owning as little as possible is the only way I can keep my sanity with children who can make a mess out of literally anything.
Organization is my love language. And if my husband sees this, so is him cleaning his side of the closet.
I wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD until I was 35, which was a huge relief but also kind of annoying because hellllloooo, what could I have done if I’d known that was going on in school?!
The bottom line: if you want an organized business that will allow you to scale without working more, where all your tech plays nicely and funnels people right to you, you should book a call with me because I’ll get you there.
