Coffee with Squarespace Educator Kerstin Martin
Kerstin Martin
Squarespace and Online Business Educator, Creator of the Eule Planner
Age: 58
Zoom call: London UK to Bellingham, Washington State USA
How I met Kerstin
As regular readers of The 50:50 Project will know, one of the motivations behind the project was a personal one… to help me figure out my own third act. One of the options I have been considering and actually have decided on is web design (more on that in a separate post) and that’s how I discovered Kerstin.
By her own definition Kerstin is an “accidental entrepreneur” and in her early 50s she moved countries and started a web design business. Over the next 5 years she became a Squarespace Authorised Trainer and Circle Leader, launched six eCourses and grew her business from zero to six figures.
That in itself is pretty impressive. But what I find truly inspiring is how without quite realising it, Kerstin championed her experience and weaved different strands of her past careers into something she loved doing (blogging as a creative outlet) and turned it into a business she loves.
Describe your career path in two or three sentences including any twist or turns ending with where you are now.
That's tricky, when you get to this age (I’m 58), to describe almost four decades in two or three sentences!
I never had a straight career path. I've always called myself a Jill-Of-All-Trades and went where the wind took me. As a result I've moved around a lot in my life and lived in four countries and moved house at least 35 times.
When I was younger, I wanted to travel so I decided to work for an airline. I became a flight attendant for Lufthansa and after a few years I got a ground job at Heathrow Airport. Eventually, I moved to their UK head office in London where I got involved in technology and systems. After 12 years with Lufthansa I was headhunted by an IT company, still in the travel industry, and became a project manager.
From project management I went to corporate sales in the finance industry. I kept moving around though and before starting my own business in my 50s, I had also managed a hotel in the Pacific Northwest, was the Registrar of an International School in Germany, and the secretary of the German Department at Amherst College in New England.
What is interesting when I look back at my career there are these red threads that weave themselves through everything. For example, I’ve always enjoyed using technology to improve processes and efficiencies. I’ve also always loved working with people so there's been a customer service element throughout my career as well. All of which positioned me perfectly for starting my own online business in my early 50s!
I am an accidental entrepreneur.
In 2005, I started blogging and web design became my creative outlet, I was always redesigning my blog! So when a friend asked me to build a website for her business in 2014 I jumped right in. My husband and I had just relocated from England to the US and the plan was for me to find a new job. But then we launched my friend’s website and it was a huge success, so I decided to become a Squarespace web designer instead!
So today, I am a late bloomer entrepreneur. Within five years of starting my business I designed more than 80 websites, became a Squarespace Authorized Trainer and Circle Leader, launched six eCourses and grew my business from zero to six figures. I also teach Squarespace at our local community college and created the Eule Planner, an analog planner specifically designed for digital entrepreneurs. It’s been a wild ride and I am loving every moment of it!
What decision / experience proved to be the most helpful to your career? This could include a failure that set you up for later success.
I can’t think of any one decision that was most helpful to my career, other than perhaps having an open mind and never being afraid to learn and start new things.
As for my business the best decision was probably to rent an offsite office for the first year. It helped me establish a routine and created a mindset that I still had a ‘proper job’.
Plus, working in an office building allowed me to tap into the local business community and to make important connections. As a result I’ve had a steady stream of local clients from the beginning.
What advice would you give your 20 year old self knowing what you do now? And what advice would you tell her / him to ignore.
Oh, that's always a tough question. I think the advice I would give my younger self is to take an interest in and learn about money management. I had a lot of debt in my 20s and 30s, it was a real struggle and I tried to ignore it for a long time. Thankfully things turned around in my 40s and these days I love managing my money!
Where or to whom do you look for inspiration?
My mom. She passed away in 2015 and she was an amazing woman. She didn't have an easy life - growing up in Germany during WWII she dealt with a lot of trauma. My parents got divorced when I was seven and she became a single mother of three in the late 60s when being a divorcee was still frowned upon. It was hard financially but my mom was very resilient and creative, and she never gave up.
My mom loved books and her lifetime dream was to be a librarian or to manage a bookstore. She couldn’t follow her dream while bringing up three kids on her own. But when she retired in her 60s, and the internet had happened, she started selling books online. She did this for 10 years and ran a very successful Amazon bookstore. She was the first online entrepreneur in our family!
When you are feeling stuck or uninspired, what actions do you take or what questions do you ask yourself?
I do a few things.
I go for a walk. I find if I take myself out of a situation and just move, it can change how I feel. When I walk, ideas and inspirations often pop into my head and I record these on my phone.
Making lists also really helps. It gets things out of my head when I feel stuck. Then I choose one item from the list that I know will help me move forward and do that.
The other thing that helps is to identify the “energy drainers” – the little things that drag on and block my progress. Sometimes they are things that have been on my To Do list for months and I either kill them or do them!
In the last 5 years what new belief, behaviour or habit has most improved your working life (or your approach to creating your post 50 work life)
The biggest has been to turn self-doubt into self-belief.
In the past, because I’ve had such a non-linear career path, I often felt a little rudderless with no real purpose. That did affect my confidence at times.
“Having my own business changed everything because I realized that my experience and age add a lot of value to what I offer. It’s like there is a convergence of everything I've done before and it is flowing beautifully into my business now.”
Self-doubt never goes away completely but believing in myself at a deeper level has made a big difference to my life in general.
If you could put one quote or piece of advice on a big billboard for everyone over 50 to see what would it be?
Probably this one: “It is never too late to create the life you want.”
What is the book or podcast you most recommend for someone thinking about designing their post-50 work life?
I have a lot of unread books! However, one of the books that has defined my outlook in my middle years is “The Enneagram: Understanding yourself and others in your life” by Helen Palmer. Discovering the Enneagram and my type (9) was a game changer in how I moved forward into my 50s and my business.
As for podcasts I really like these:
Brene Brown’s Unlocking Us
On Being with Krista Tippett
Courage and Spice by Sas Petherick
For more information on Kerstin go to her site and follow her on Instagram.
