Katrina McCarter is a Marketing Strategist, Speaker, Best-selling Author, Advisor and CEO of Marketing to Mums, a marketing and research consultancy.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
I am the founder and CEO of a marketing and research consultancy, Marketing to Mums.
I’m a marketing strategist, best-selling author, international speaker and business advisor and I specialise in helping brands sell more effectively to the world’s most powerful consumer, mums.
I have more than 18 years sales and marketing experience working across diverse industries, so I’ve been communicating with mothers for a long time.
In 2016 I published my first book, Marketing To Mums: How To Sell More To Australia’s Most Powerful Consumer. It was very well received, going #1 on Booktopia’s Business bestseller list.
In October this year I will launch my second book, The Mother of All Opportunities, to help brands understand all the enormous opportunities which exist within the mum market. I can speak about mums because I’m a mum myself. I have three kids aged 16, 14 and 12.
2) What does a typical day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
My workdays are diverse. I have six core activities I engage in including:
- teaching Digital Marketing for ADMA
- speaking and running workshops at conferences around Australia and overseas
- consulting to clients
- undertaking market research about Australian mothers
- giving board briefings about the Mum landscape
- coaching business owners.
My work day typically kicks off around 8am after my kids head off to school. My work day tends to move to my car from around 4pm when the kids get back and need to go to their various sporting engagements (they all play lots of sport).
I’ll be in the car until around 7 or 8pm when we all regroup for dinner and then my husband will generally watch a Netflix episode at some stage before heading to bed.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
Being my own boss there’s flexibility however my workload is currently high and I’m looking to hire a new team member. The flexibility allows me to decide where I work from.
Most of the time that means working from home however sometimes I need some hustle and bustle (and a good Chai) so I’ll head to a local cafe. In fact, I wrote most of my second book at my local cafe.
4) Do you have any tips, tricks or shortcuts to help you manage your workload and schedule?
On Sundays I write down my three or four non-negotiable things I want to achieve for the week ahead.
No matter what comes up in my work week I try and stay committed to achieving those few things. I am also a good list maker and get enormous satisfaction ticking something off.
I’m currently building up my team to deal with an increasingly number of new clients. I still do all the client facing work however it allows me some added support.
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5) What does work life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
I believe very strongly that we have one life and we can actively choose how we allocate our time. We don’t need to fit the typical 9 to 5.
Having said this, I love working and I have to be careful not to overwork myself. It’s particularly easy to do given I work from home. Generally my 12 year old lets me know if I’m spending too much time by my computer.
6) What do you think are some of the best habits you’ve developed over the years to help you strive for success and balance?
As a child I was always encouraged to dream big. At 16, after working for two and half years, I was able to realise my teenage dream to travel to New York City.
By being able to make a dream come true whilst I was still young had a significant impact on my thinking as I became an adult. I realised that anything is possible, that we are limited only by our imagination and that if we really want to achieve something, we will find a way to make it happen.
As a parent, it’s really important to me that my kids understand what I do at work. Each year I take one of the kids with me on a speaking engagement interstate. My youngest was also involved in some of the editing of my book.
7) Are there any books that have helped you improve over the years?
The Big Leap by Dr Gay Hendricks is a fabulous book which really challenged my thinking. Another book I really enjoyed to stretch myself in my work is Bag The Elephant by Steve Kaplan. It was given to me by one of my trusted mentors and advisors.
8) What is the number one thing you do to make sure you get the most out of your day?
I’m a list queen. Writing down and committing to my key tasks for the day keeps me focused, particularly if I get distracted by some interesting marketing and advertising reads.
2018 and 2019 were the years that I really embraced Trello. I use it to collect all the great article ideas I have or may have read. It’s perfect for recording stories which I might use in a presentation. It was introduced to me by one of my business mentors and I love how easy it is to use.
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
A few years ago I started Bleisure travelling – attending a conference and then having a holiday around it. I’ve taken the family to travel around the US for a month and incorporated it in with a speaking engagement and conference.
This year my husband and I are travelling to New York where I will launch my new book and have a short break sans kids. We are really looking forward to it. On a day to day basis, I am really focusing in on my own health this year.
I’m in my late 40s and I sometimes my body won’t keep up with my mind so I’m working with a nutrition coach to maximise my energy and wellbeing. It is working really well in keeping a clear head and improving my sleep.
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