We were lucky to catch up with The Catalyst & Company recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kym, Kathryn, and Lesley, founders of The Catalyst & Co, thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

We define success as doing what you love, helping the people that you care about feel heard and supported, and offering something of authentic value. We strongly believe in the power of the human element as the most important component of success, and we’ve seen this success in our respective professional careers.

To be successful requires persistence and consistency in showing up, communicating, and connecting to strengthen relationships and create harmony. This doesn’t just apply to business, it applies to all relationships in our lives.

In our own communication, we prioritize consistency by creating space for regular check-ins because the reality is that something will always impede the process. Something will always come around to challenge your commitment and what is meaningful to you. And since we’re constantly checking in, we’re very aware of when things need to shift. Having a plan, approaching things with an open mind, being adaptable, and having consistent realignment allow us to honor the moments in our lives that are important outside the work we do.

We didn’t arrive here by accident. We’ve each used prior experience in unsuccessful situations to define what success looks like. Strong, supportive relationships and the benefits that come with them are our measure of success. When you have this harmony as a business, it radiates out to your customers and allows you to connect with them over shared values.

Before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We gathered our collective expertise in 2023 to help small business owners, entrepreneurs, and project leaders grow.

In our professional careers, we’ve seen what happens when there isn’t adequate space to consider the humans being affected by the decisions being made. Sometimes this shows up as a misalignment of objectives or rushing to achieve vague outcomes, and it usually involves wasted time and resources. Not giving time and attention to intentionality and proper planning has negative outcomes.

It’s really appealing in the digital age to chase trends in an effort to get in front of tons of people. And while digital marketing has benefits and can be used to form connections with people, nothing can truly be accomplished without investing in building relationships with both your customers and your teams.

People are awash in performative gestures and political maneuvers by brands and they’re craving authenticity. We know what it takes to be authentic, to connect with your community, invest in your team and structure your ideas to achieve success.

We founded The Catalyst & Co. to share this knowledge with others. We aim to alleviate overwhelm, provide support, and offer clarity for people driving projects by equipping them to plan with intention and consideration of the people and desired outcomes.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

All three founders have built professional reputations rooted in consistent integrity, persistence, and consideration of people. We’re focused on establishing trust. Although we have different areas of focus, we are all In the business of people, and these things matter to people.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Connecting through story, establishing trust, proving value, developing emotional connections, offering support, being genuine, helping people identify their needs through their story, creating structure and being focused on feedback.

We best learn from the people we serve by encouraging them to tell their story. We pay close attention to the details to identify the problems that can be solved. We aim to work with each client to tailor a solution that works best for them because when people are satisfied, they return and tell their friends and nothing beats word of mouth.

Contact Info:

• Website: thecatalystandco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecatalystandcompany/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/catalyst-and-co-consulting

Image Credits
Jess Graye