Elyse Archer (00:02):

Welcome to she sells radio today’s episode is such a fun one because it’s actually part of a new series that I’m rolling out featuring some of our very own 10 K club members after they’ve hit their 10 K a month. And so this is something that’s been on my heart and mind to do for quite some time. And I’m so excited to be able to just share with you some of the most incredible members of our community, um, in these, in these podcasts interviews that we’re doing. So before we do that, though, I want to just remind you to subscribe to the podcast. So if you were listening to the audio version of this show, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. And if you’re watching the video on YouTube, hit the red subscribe button so that you catch this and you catch the daily morning sales supercharges that I do every weekday morning as well.

Elyse Archer (00:51):

So let’s talk about today’s interview who this incredible woman is and what you’re going to get out of it. So one of the things that I admire most about our community is just the women in this community, their eagerness and readiness to really experience quantum leaps in their life. And, and the women in this program are really done playing small and are ready. As one of my mentors would always say, just to see how good life can get. And so our guest today is a complete example of that, and she’s made just huge quantum leaps in a short amount of time. Um, since I’ve been privileged to know her, and I know they weren’t all easy and she had to do the inner work that we all have to do to heal and rewire some of the limiting beliefs that had been running the show for her before, but she really showed up and played full out and was willing to do the work.

Elyse Archer (01:42):

And I’ll let her share about some of the growth that she’s had as a result. So my guest today is our, she sells and 10 K club member, Kaitlyn Duchien. She’s the co-founder of this really, really cool platform called face. The fear. It’s a podcast, it’s a platform that’s designed to help millennials navigate their finances. And she’s also a registered investment advisor consultant with the palladium group. And if you’re like I was for years before I started working in the financial services world, and that sounds like a lot of complex words, basically she’s a woman kicking butt and finance, and it was just such an inspiration and an incredible human being all around. So Caitlin, welcome to shoe sales radio. We are so excited to have you thank you so much, Elise. It is such an honor to join you. And I’m really excited to just have a conversation today.

Elyse Archer (02:33):

I am too, and I’m excited to have you on and just highlight your journey. And, you know, I was sharing this with you in the pre-chat. When I think about our, she sells community, like you’re such an example that I’m so inspired by of a woman who was willing to truly like face her fears, head on and released so many old stories and limiting beliefs that were holding you back from, you know, making more and crushing it the way you are now in. And so I would love, like, tell us just a little bit about your journey and where you were before joining does she sells community and the 10 K club?

Kaitlyn Duchien (03:08):

Sure. So, um, tobacco up even a little bit further, I, um, graduated from college with a social work degree. That was really where my heart was at, um, for a long time and still very much is, and a lot of ways. Um, but long story short, I ended up not being able to, uh, even pay my own bills working in my first social work job. And, um, I loved the heart of the, of the company that I was working for, but it just logistically wasn’t working out for me. So I very quickly had to make a shift and that’s how I ended up in financial services. Um, fortunately my dad has always kind of been in this world and he was a huge advocate for me just saying, you know, let’s just try this out. It will, you know, provide you a liberal income for a while until you maybe decide to do something else or return to social work.

Kaitlyn Duchien (04:01):

And I ended up just kind of falling in love with, um, financial services and really investing in my personal and professional growth there. Just wanting to learn as much as I possibly could. So over the course of a few years, I just started working my way up, um, in this company. And I got to a point, um, really kind of probably the middle to the end of last year where, you know, we’re in the height of COVID, uh, everyone had a difficult experience in one way, shape or form. I know for myself and a lot of others, um, we just came to this place of feeling various stuck, um, both, you know, physically stuck in our homes, uh, for a lot of that, but also maybe mentally stuck. We’re emotionally stuck. We’re just stuck in life in general. Um, and I realized that I had more or less juice out of my current position and my current role, everything that I could and my body and my mind and my spirit were telling me that I needed to take it further.

Kaitlyn Duchien (05:08):

I needed to go to the next step. I needed to continue expanding and growing. Um, but I really wasn’t sure what that looked like. Um, I wasn’t sure if that was in my current company, I wasn’t sure if that was a return to social work and maybe going back to school. So I was just exploring a lot of different avenues right around the beginning of this year, 2021. Um, and you know, you kind of get to a point when a big decision is coming in life, where you wrestle with a lot of in decisiveness, maybe of trying to choose different paths, not really sure which one bouncing back and forth. And I was very much in that stage, but it got to a point where the pain of remaining where I was and remaining complacent and kind of just cruising through and kind of maintain the status quo was so much more painful than taking the risk to just do something, just try.

Kaitlyn Duchien (06:10):

Um, and interestingly right around that same time was when I really discovered Elise and discovered the 10 K club. And it seemed like a clear just intuition decision of like, I need to be part of this because what Alyssa is doing in her life and what these women are doing in their lives is exactly what I want to be doing, which is always finding ways to grow personally and professionally always expanding upleveling, tapping into your fullest potential. Um, so I made that decision to join the 10 K club. And at the time that was a large financial stretch for me to do. Um, but right around the same time, uh, another position opened up in, in the current company that I was working for, but in a very different team, um, very different job responsibility is much more aligned with what I wanted to be doing and how I wanted to be growing.

Kaitlyn Duchien (07:10):

Um, and also what this role fit me much more inherently to what I was good at. Um, skill-wise but honestly, I was not qualified for this position. Um, according to the, you know, the job posting, they put out there, I really wasn’t qualified and a lot of self doubt going in, but I just said, you know, what, what does it hurt if I just apply for this role? Um, also small side note, that role would double my income. That was another big incentive. The worst case scenario is I don’t get hired, but the best cases I could literally double my income. And this would be a huge step in the journey of where I want to go. So needless to say, I, I made the investment in the 10 K club and then like two days later or something, I got the news that I was hired in this role and from the get-go I’m like, whoa, that just seals the deal for me of the importance of listening to your intuition and making those hard decisions, knowing that if you’re acting on your intuition and it’s telling you to do something, the rest will follow, the money will follow.

Kaitlyn Duchien (08:24):

The resources will follow, the support will follow. Um, so that was kind of a long-winded explanation of a little bit of my background and how I ended up in the 10 K club to begin with. Yeah.

Elyse Archer (08:35):

Oh my gosh. I love so much about your story. And you know, one of the, there’s a couple of things that really stand out to me. So one is just listening to intuition, right? And this is something I was actually doing a, um, a live stream this morning about like your intuition will always, you hear your intuition first, whenever you’re faced with a decision to make. And then, and it will always guide you where you want to go. But then the analytical brain, the logical brain, the self-doubt, the limiting beliefs will kick in and tell you all the reasons why you shouldn’t all the reasons why you’re unreasonable, et cetera. And if we listen to those, then we’ve literally stay. We just stay stuck. And so I love that you’ve demonstrated there, the power of listening to intuition. And the other thing, you know, I want to ask you about this because I think this is something where a lot of people get stuck is that self doubt, right?

Elyse Archer (09:25):

So you had this other opportunity that was in front of you, and it would literally double your income. And as you looked at it, you’re like, oh, I don’t necessarily have all the qualifications, which research shows most women, if they’re faced with an opportunity like that, they won’t apply for it, even though their male counterparts will, but you went for it. And how did you, how did you overcome that self doubt in that moment? Like, did you have to say something to yourself? How did you talk yourself through it? Because we’re always going to be faced with new doubts, right. As we rise to a new level, but you took action and you experienced the benefits, but like, I know that you’ve had to overcome doubt in that. So how did you do that?

Kaitlyn Duchien (10:05):

Yeah. Yeah. That’s a great question. Um, I think part of it is what I alluded to before, which was really getting to the point where I was just so miserable in what I was doing. That like the pain of that was worse than the pain of what felt like a risk to apply for this job. Um, but then also just recognizing internally that, you know what, Hey, you have worked intentionally to invest in yourself professionally to grow and to prepare yourself for when an opportunity arises. And for sure seems like an opportunity that’s arising. So, you know, what was the purpose of all of that hard work of putting in those extra hours of spending the money to invest professionally and all of those things, if you’re not going to be willing to knock on the door when it’s right in front of you. So it was kind of a culmination of those things, um, that, you know, that decision was not something that, you know, previous Caitlyn would have done.

Kaitlyn Duchien (11:09):

It was something that like, I really had to teach myself and because of the situation, because of me choosing to take that leap of faith and then seeing how it really, you know, came to fruition and, you know, I was rewarded for doing so that permanently has changed my mindset to how I approach pretty much everything in life, but, you know, any future opportunities that come my way, any future doors that you know are there. And I just need to knock to see if they’ll be opened. Um, it was so powerful to me and putting it to see how it applied in my own life and, and works following your intuition actually works. And that is, you know, permanently changed my mindset.

Elyse Archer (11:52):

Yeah. That’s so powerful. The other thing I want to ask you too, like I’ve experienced this and I’m sure you have too, is like sometimes when we, when we make that leap and then it’s like, we get everything we wanted and we’re like, oh my gosh, I guess this, this really happened sometimes too. The doubt can creep back in and be like, wait, like, is this okay? Like, is this like, whether you call it imposter

Kaitlyn Duchien (12:13):

Syndrome, whether you call it whatever, but did that, did that show up for you at all, even after you’d had that up level? And if so, like how did, how did you navigate that? How would you teach another woman to navigate through that? If she finds herself suddenly in this amazing thing, that’s actually really like a match for her, but she’s, she’s questioning herself in it. Yeah. I would love to say that, you know, boom, I got this job and all doubts just went out the window and I was a hundred percent confident and just blazing a trail. But, um, pretty much as soon as I got the call of, you know, Hey, we would like to extend this offer to you. I had maybe 10 seconds of like, wow, you know, celebratory joy. This is amazing. And then pretty much once that 10 seconds ended, it was, you know, the flood of, oh my gosh.

Kaitlyn Duchien (13:06):

Now what, now I have this more responsibility. Can I really do it? Did I make a mistake? All the things that, you know, have been pre-programmed in a lot of our minds from a very early age, um, especially women to doubt that we have the ability to, to show up and to really Excel, um, even in roles that maybe we’re not totally qualified for, or, you know, haven’t been 110% prepared for whatever it may be. But I think my support system really helps a lot. And, um, um, my now husband, um, my parents, and then, you know, just women in my life specifically that had this same mentality of, we all have these doubts. We all have these fears, but we recognize that we can overcome them. And, you know, these women that are constantly motivating and challenging us to be better and to, to walk on the journey together that came a walk from 10 K club, which again, just like God’s timing, um, of pulling that all together, that was a huge part of it because I wasn’t ever able to sit alone with my self-doubt for very long before I either had a conversation with my husband, had a conversation with my parents, friends in my life who are all, you know, motivated towards reaching their goals and dreams, whatever they may be having a 10 K club meeting that just snapped me back into reality and said, you really haven’t been qualified for anything that you’ve been doing professionally up until now.

Kaitlyn Duchien (14:44):

And you’ve still found a way to grow and to learn and to adapt. And this new role is no different. Um, so the support system was a huge part of me really overcoming those fears and being able to work past that.

Elyse Archer (14:57):

Gosh, that’s so important and so good. And it’s so true. Like our environment is everything. It is everything. And being proactive to route, placing people, groups, et cetera in your life to help you just cause we can all go there, right? Our minds love to go and create scenarios that haven’t even happened and bring up all the doubt and yada yada, and so proactively like knowing I’ve got, you know, this call this day with, with the group where I’ve got, you know, I’m going to go have a conversation with my husband right now. And like just having that in place. Because if, once we quiet down the mental chatter enough, eventually it goes away. But like the problem is if we believe it, it’s going on. So, you know, one other thing I want to ask you about Caitlin, cause you’re, you know, you’re in a very male dominated industry in financial services.

Elyse Archer (15:45):

And I think whether someone is listening and they’re in that industry or they’re in one, that’s maybe more female dominated, but so much of the sales world and what is taught is like, hyper-masculine right. And again, we, we all have masculine and feminine energy. It’s just, if you were born a woman, then you’re going to create most powerful results leading with your feminine. If you were born at man, you’re typically going to create the most powerful results leading with masculine. So I know for so many of the women in our community, it’s like all they’ve known for so long has been selling in a very masculine way, which can feel like you got a hard close for the sale. You gotta, it’s like push like always on. If you’re not always on, then it’s like, there’s something wrong with you. Um, and, and we’ve really talked a lot about integrating both and how to use both sides of you to create more powerful results. And so I’d love to know from you. Um, and it’s been a while since we’ve talked about this too, so I’m curious where you are now, but like how do you, how do you integrate more of that feminine energy in what you do and how do you stay mindful of that even when you’re in such a male dominated industry?

Kaitlyn Duchien (16:56):

Yeah. So going back to my previous role before I took my current position that I’m in now, um, within that role, it was much more structured in kind of that masculine sort of, um, day-to-day routine and expectations. Um, very much numbers based very much. You know, you have to just keep going, keep pounding, keep making those phone calls until you reach this number or, you know, this, this number, this goal that you have for your day. Um, you know, the only reason you aren’t getting sales is because you’re not driving hard enough. And, um, there’s not anything inherently wrong with that method by any means that a lot of success can come from that, from that hard work, determination, keep pushing. But to your point, that really falls into much more of, um, a masculine energy type of situation. Um, where I think you were the one that originally told me this, that really the, the Workday that eight to five, nine to five Workday was much more, um, cohesive to a males hormone cycle because they, you know, every single day have kind of the same patterns as far as their hormones go.

Kaitlyn Duchien (18:14):

So they have kind of the same energy levels. And it’s very cyclical from day-to-day women, obviously it’s hormone cycle over an entire month, and there’s a lot of different ebbs and flows. And we may be in one specific hormone pattern where, you know, certain levels are high and others are low for like a week at a time. So maybe full of energy for whole week and then the next week really low energy. And so it doesn’t necessarily aligned to this push, push, push, go, go, go. When our energy levels don’t fall into that pattern of, you know, your eight hour Workday, your five day work week, day after, day after day. And that had certainly started to weigh on me and the previous role where I felt as though I was showing up in authentically that I had to put on this total mask to, um, do my job and to do it well.

Kaitlyn Duchien (19:10):

And I, I really struggled and was, you know, just again, very miserable in myself because, um, I would, I would show up, I would do my job. I would do it well. Um, and you know, would get accolades from doing what I was doing, but I would end every day just completely emotionally drained, like on an ounce of energy left in me and feeling so unsatisfied because I wasn’t giving me my heart and soul to what I was doing. I was just going through the motions and doing what had to be done. And, um, what initially really attracted me to, um, what Elise was doing with the 10 key club is she said, there is a way that sales can be done differently. There is a way that you can sell and that you can run a business in a feminine focus way that much more aligned with who you are naturally with your energy levels throughout the month.

Kaitlyn Duchien (20:09):

Um, and also leads you to being wildly successful, maybe even way more successful than you would have ever been. Had you stuck to that very kind of masculine dominated way of doing business and of, and of doing sales. So, um, you know, moving into this new role, not only have I changed my mindset on the personal side, again, working through the 10 K club and learning so much from Elise and the other women of what that looks like. But fortunately I now have a, um, a female boss who really demonstrates what that looks like for me on a daily basis. And I’ve learned so much from her. She is a, you know, if my energy level is high from 4:00 AM to 8:00 AM, I’m working 4:00 AM to 8:00 AM. And then I am to noon. I am hanging out with my kids or I am running errands or I am resting or working out or whatever it may be.

Kaitlyn Duchien (21:05):

And then maybe my focus picks up for the remainder of the day. And she totally applauds that as you are doing your job and you were doing it to the fullest of your ability, and there’s no reason why it needs to be from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM at night. Um, there’s no, there’s no reason why you can’t take a week off because you need rest in order to be the most productive version of yourself. Um, that is wildly different than anything I’d ever heard from, um, a superior of mine leading up to where I am today. Um, but very fortunate to have learned from her and really been able to start shifting those patterns of thinking when it comes to how I approach what I do.

Elyse Archer (21:51):

Oh my gosh, I love everything you’ve just said. So it’s so refreshing to just to hear, okay, there’s sales leadership here. He’s like demonstrating this and modeling this and, um, shout out to, you know, shout out to you, shout out to her for, for modeling just a different way of doing it. Um, cause a lot of that stuff too is leftover from like the industrial revolution in factory work days. Like we have to work these specific hours at these times. And so I think just as a community, as a consciousness, it’s like we’re being invited to examine everything and say what’s actually most effective because when we do it that way you actually get better results that it doesn’t have to be the way we always did it just because that’s how we always did it. So, um, this is so great. I have a couple of final questions and then we’re going to, we’re going to wrap up. So first I just want to ask, you know, if there’s a woman who’s like, oh gosh, Katelyn, like, this is, this is amazing. Like I wanna, I want to have that type of quantum leap. Um, you know, I want to have that type of growth, but she’s not like, she’s not sure she’s not confident in herself that she can have, you know, that same level of results that you’ve had in, you know, this year in the program. What would you, what would you say to her?

Kaitlyn Duchien (22:58):

That means a lot to me because I’m in small ways, I’ve been able to speak to friends of mine who have been that woman asking me those questions of how did, how did you do this? Um, you know, you must be special. You must be extra smart. And my answer was always like, I am not special. My mom makes me otherwise, but like I am not some genius person out in the world who just knows so much more or has all these great connections or, you know, was on some other kind of level or pedestal than anyone else. It truly is mindset and 110% of the way. Because when you decide that you’re going to approach life, that you are going to let go of the things in your mind that are saying, you can’t do this because, or, you know, look at that person, they are so much more talented than you.

Kaitlyn Duchien (23:58):

And that’s why they’re making, you know, all this money or whatever it is, whatever your thought patterns are that are holding you back when you choose to make that conscious decision to release those or to switch that pattern of thinking everything changes, everything else will follow. Um, and I think, you know, it’s, it’s hard to do that by yourself. It’s hard to do that in a vacuum. And I think that’s again where the support comes in is finding a group of people who are pursuing a similar lifestyle that you are maybe not even, you know, same career path or anything, but just have that same desire to live life to the fullest, to let go of things that aren’t helping them in life, um, to always continue learning and growing. That’s where you can have somewhat of a mirror back to you of, you know, if you start speaking those negative thought patterns, someone else who loves you and cares about you when it’s on that same journey towards positive growth is going to say, that’s not true what you’re saying to yourself as false. And that can make all the difference to have that outside person speak that truth back to you. So that’s what I would say. It’s, it’s all about mindset and it’s about really finding your people to get you where you want to go.

Elyse Archer (25:25):

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Amen. Amen. Amen. This is, I just love this interview. I’m going to go back and listen to this because I just, I got so much out of it and hearing you speak and hearing about your journey. So thank you for that. And if, uh, you know, if anyone is listening and they want to connect with you, they want to work with you. They want to, you know, get more, get more goodness. How can people best connect with you? Kaitlin?

Kaitlyn Duchien (25:50):

You can absolutely connect with me on LinkedIn. I am on there all day and have a lot of great connections through there. So whether it be business, I’d love to connect with you that way. So send me a DM. Um, my dentist, just my name, um, which will be obviously in the, in the title of this podcast or in the show notes. So search for me, I would love to connect with you on there and have a conversation.

Elyse Archer (26:14):

Amazing, amazing. So yeah, we will absolutely like your LinkedIn down in the show notes. Thank you so much just for who you are for your heart. Um, for being a member of this community and for coming on today and inspiring everyone, myself included. So thank you, Caitlin.

Kaitlyn Duchien (26:31):

Thank you, Elise. It’s been such a pleasure.

Elyse Archer (26:34):

All right, my friend, well, you heard it go connect with Caitlin. She is just a wealth of information and really a model of how to do things differently in the sales world as a woman. And I’m just so, so excited and inspired by her and I hope you are too. So with that, enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you so much for joining today. If you want to find out more information about 10 K club, you can go to Elise archer.com/ten K club. And I am just so grateful for having you as a listener and a member of this shoe cells community have a beautiful day and I’ll be back next week with another episode. Bye for now.