Cat Kom is the founder of Studio SWEAT, an online fitness streaming service and community of thousands of users from around the world. Studio SWEAT features cycling, bootcamp, yoga, pilates, HIIT and other kinds of high intensity workouts.
In Kat’s episode, you’ll learn:
- Why it’s essential you honor your intuition—even if it doesn’t make logical sense.
- How to create success as a woman in a male-dominated industry.
- How to stay grounded in the midst of fierce competition.
Key lessons from Cat’s episode:
1. It’s Never Too Late to Seize Your Dreams. Cat’s success in the fitness industry is inspiring not only in its own right, but because it followed a long career in the corporate IT world. Cat chose to work in the tech industry because it was a viable way to support herself and her newborn as a young mom in college. She climbed the corporate ladder and found traditional success—a high salary and a prestigious job title—yet she felt something was missing.
Her intuition was getting louder and louder, calling her to her passion of fitness. Though it didn’t make logical sense, Cat decided to take a leap of faith into the fitness industry. It was challenging at first, but through hard work and perseverance, Cat was able to make her joy passion her source of revenue.
If you’ve ever told yourself “I’m too old,” or “It’s too late for me to start a new career,” think again. Cat’s victory shows us anybody can start over in a new industry, no matter how old. It’s never too late to seize your dreams.
2. Don’t Let Your Gender Hold You Back. As a woman in the fitness world, Cat was outnumbered. The majority of the figures in the space were men by far, about 3:1. While this was certainly intimidating for Cat, she didn’t let it stop her. Instead, she developed thicker skin. “I became a bulldog. You need to stand your ground and not be intimidated when your ground needs to be stood.”
Are you a woman in a male-dominated industry, or a man in a female-dominated industry? While gender norms can be discouraging, they are only norms until somebody changes them. Be the change. Be a trailblazer. Stand your ground.
3. Don’t Let the Competition Change You. When you’re up against fierce competition, the pressure is real. It can be hard not to compare your brand to theirs, or not to check in on what they’re doing and try to one-up them. But it’s important to your sense of well-being and the integrity of your brand not to.
Cat says, “Believe in the value of your service. Stay on your course and continue to provide an amazing service at a fair price point. If you just try to constantly react to everything around you you start to make decisions based just on money. You have to think about it from the customer’s standpoint—continuing to serve them well. The money will follow if you do that.”
