Life & Work with Kate Kruse of Northeast

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate Kruse.

Hi Kate, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I joined EPS as the second employee during my senior year of college. As a startup, I loved being involved in everything from helping build the team to working directly with clients on their podcasts. Within a couple of months, I knew it was something I’d be interested in doing full-time and dove in head first. Part of what I love about my job is that it’s remote! We’re based in Iowa City. I’ve lived here for a year and have loved growing my network in the best city! I grew up in eastern Iowa and graduated from the University of Iowa in 2020. So after over 20 years of living in Iowa, I decided it was time to try somewhere new and moved to Kansas City.

Please talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned. Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nope! COVID hit five months after I joined and three months before I graduated college. There was uncertainty around everything. Being in podcasting, demand for our services boomed, and we were overwhelmed for a while at the beginning. Internally, we’re still fine-tuning our budget and the best marketing strategy. A good problem to have is that everyone on our team has perfect ideas, so we’re always trying to see how we can combine them to optimize a service or solve a problem!

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We specialize in full-service podcast production, helping clients start with an idea for a podcast and working with them on every episode. Most podcast hosts are professionals in other careers, so we let them focus on what they’re good at, and we take care of the rest (production, publishing, promoting, etc.). We can build great relationships with our clients, and I’m proud to produce the shows we do.

Fun fact: Everyone I’ve worked with is nervous for their first few episodes. It’s so rewarding to get to 20, 30, and 50+ episodes with them, see how their confidence has grown, and hear their podcast opportunities. One of my recent favorites is with one of our clients in private aviation. I was helping him look for guests on his show, reaching out to leaders in the space on LinkedIn. One guy I connected with was eager to do the podcast, had an amazing recording with my client, and went on to become one of his biggest clients today!

What do you think about luck?
While I like to give luck a lot of credit, it’s more every stepping stone that fell in place to get me to this spot. I am lucky for several people that have come into my life who have opened up incredible opportunities for me or just trusted me more than I trusted myself. One opportunity truly leads to the next.

Contact Info:

• Website: executivepodcastsolutions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katekruse/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katekruse/
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/executivepodcastsolutions/

Image Credits
Headshot – Allison Schurr