Episode 15 - Katie Page - Business & Mindset Mentor For Reflexologists

Katie spent much of her life hiding behind pleasing others, quietly dimming her own voice to make those around her proud. Her mask was subtle but telling - her bangles, a symbol of the persona she showed to the world while her true self stayed in the shadows.

The turning point came when she realised she could step out of pleaser mode and allow herself to be fully seen. In that moment, she chose herself over expectation, her authenticity over performance. Since then, Katie has built a life and a business rooted in balance, connection, and self-care, helping therapists grow with confidence while staying true to who they are.

For Katie, visibility isn’t about being loud or perfect. It’s about showing up fully as her human self, embracing vulnerability, imperfections, and passions alike. Her story is a testament to the power of choosing yourself, standing in your worth, and creating space for others to do the same.

Katie once hid behind people-pleasing and subtle masks, but she stepped into her truth, embracing authenticity, vulnerability, and balance. Her journey shows that real visibility comes from choosing yourself, even when it feels uncomfortable.

https://www.instagram.com/katiepagebusinessology/

https://katiepage.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-page-businessology-50831168/

www.joannawoodphotography.co.uk
www.instagram.com/joannawoodphotography
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-wood-photography-6747a7235/
https://www.facebook.com/joanna.wood.13/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hi, I'm Joanna. And this is Stories from Behind the Masks, the parts we edit out. Every week, I'll be 16,000 entrepreneurs who've built businesses, created legacies, prepared to show up in the world. And we talk about the stories that usually keep themselves. The doubts, the wins, the personal challenges, the moments that changed everything. This is about being sustained. Unpolished. So if you're ready for honesty and truth, it's time to share today's story from Behind the Mask. Hello everyone and welcome to Stories from Behind the Mask, the parts we edit out. Today's guest is the beautiful Katie Page, who is obviously another one of my unmaskers from 2025 Project. Hello, Katie. How are you? I'm fine, thanks, Jo. How are you? Done really, really well. So I'd like you to introduce yourself to the listeners and tell them a bit about who you are and what you do in the Blind Date style. Thanks, Stella. I'm Katie Page and I ran Katie Page Businessology as well as Nightingale Therapy, which is my hands-on reflexology business. And my new niche, it's been I've re-rebranded and I re-looked at what I really wanted to do over the last 12 months. And um it's come out slightly different to what I thought it would. So I guide reflexologists and therapists, move beyond the couch so that they don't solely rely on that income from the couch and help them create a business that protects their time, energy, as well as their bodies. So we all are wanting income beyond the couch. Absolutely. All therapists, all people beyond beyond the chair, I think. Or beyond beyond the camera, whatever, you know, you could change it for a lot of things, couldn't you? Could you could? So tell us a bit about you, Katie. Um you work with um therapists now, but what did what did you do in a previous life? Is that something you've done for a long time? Um so I qualified as a reflexologist in 2004. However, I was in corporate at the same time. And I worked my reflexology business side by side with my corporate business or my corporate world. So I was um in the finance world and I worked for a company based in Warsaw, and I looked after all the bonuses for all the employees that were out in the field. So it was pretty stressful, pretty high intensity, especially at pay week when everyone was wanting their money and wondering what they were going to get or not get. Um, so the intensity was quite high. Um, but whilst I loved the job, I loved my reflexology more. And in 2018, I was made redundant. So I worked with reflexology for 14 years alongside my corporate role. And I was getting to the stage where I knew something had to give. I was so damn scared about taking that step to handing in my corporate notice. And corporate made that decision for me, and the rest they say is history. They say once you've been made redundant and you get another job role straight away, then you it was the right thing for you. Um, and whilst I didn't get a new job straight away, I was able to submerge myself and my business to the slight detriment of my health. So when I realized that I was really digging deep into my um my reserves, because if I take you back to 2004, the reason why I got involved in reflexology is because I had chicken pox at 32. Never had it before. I was covered inside and out. I thought it was going to be a bit of a doddle. Wrong, not me. I was off work for nearly nine months, and I got what they called postviral syndrome. So a little bit like ME, yuppie flu, if you're of that era. Um, so yeah, so I know I have to manage my energy. Um, so I was going for this reflexology and I was like, What are you doing? Why is it hurting? What's happening? What are you doing? Why is this? And she says, Why don't you just train to be a reflexologist? And I said, No, no, no, I'm doing such and such. So I don't need to do that, but I want to know what you're doing. Um, and then when I was working at a job in on Magna Park in Lutterworth, and I had that hour drive home, um, I saw on a big billboard, and it was before the days of mobile phones, so let's go back, let's go back a while. Um, and I saw a great big banner that said train to be a reflexologist here. And I was like, oh my goodness, that's a sign, isn't it? And I was like, No, don't be stupid. And every day I saw this great big sign and it said train to be a reflexologist here. And it piqued my interest. And I then had to drive with a pen and paper on my drive on my passenger seat, hoping that the traffic lights, you know, the displaced traffic lights at Whedon, it was in that hotel on that corner. So the traffic lights did stop you quite regularly, and then I had a car in front of me, no, lorry in front of me, and I couldn't see the number. And I was like, and then the next day I got something else in front of me, and I couldn't quite get the number down quick enough because the lights were changing. And then eventually I got the number down and I applied and they accepted me on the course, and the rest, as they say, is history. But going to 2018, when I got made redundant, unfortunately, my husband got diagnosed with prostate cancer. He is okay now, but that was a big thing. And had I still been in corporate, I wouldn't have been able to go on all those appointments every day for I don't know, nearly two, two months, right over Christmas, a lot. So December, January time. And that's really hard when you can't support your loved one on a journey that they're doing as much as you wanted to do. But because I wasn't working and because I was my own boss, I could mark that time out in my diary. And I didn't start work till 12 o'clock those days, so that I could support him. And it meant a lot to him as well as to me. So when I say that I guide people or guide therapists to earn income beyond the couch, I know because I then had to do that, because I couldn't be working in the couch all the time. I had to preserve that energy. And, you know, I've started businesses and some have been extremely successful, but within 12 months I've closed them down because they were causing me to use too much of my energy. They were amazing, but I couldn't sustain it. So I did the grown-up thing and stopped them. I've also done things that haven't worked, but it's taught me what to do with the next one. So everyone said, Oh, that business failed, didn't it, Katie? And it's like, no, it didn't fail. It just taught me something new to not do in the future, and it's how you then perceive it. It's it's tough. Yeah, it is tough. But having the foresight to go, actually, this isn't working. Let's move on, let's do something that is going to work for me. Definitely. I mean, I've got a number of income streams now. I I still do hands-on therapy because I totally love it. You know, if I'm sitting in a room and somebody goes, Oh my god, my back's sore, I'll take their hand and I'll start doing odd bits on people's hands. Um because I love it. I love seeing that change. But it's not my sole income. It's not my sole income. I've got a number of income streams that work side by side with my couch work. And when I worked out what I could do, I then re-question it. Is it what I really want to do? How much time is it going to consume? How much energy is it going to consume? And then some ideas I have, because I do come up with some absolute brain farts on occasion. Um, I have to then double check myself. I have to pull myself back and go, is it gonna work? Because I've got to that stage in my career that I don't want to do something that doesn't work anymore. I know what hasn't worked, but I now know what would work. So I have a gua shar shop on Etsy, and it's fabulous because it looks after itself, but I have to do some work for it. But every morning I get to package up my parcels and walk down to the shop to deliver them to get them into the post office, but that gets me out of the house. Um, so it's a double-edged sword. So whilst it's great and it works side by side because I do go after Shah Reflexology, and I got so fed up at waiting for people to sell me tools, and sometimes they were crap. I'm not gonna beat about the bush, they were crap. Some took five, six weeks to get delivered. Well, as a therapist and as a photographer, I'm sure, if you want a new lens, you want it now. You don't want to wait six weeks' time for it, do you? So I have stock that I can get out to most people within 24, 48 hours. And that's the SLA that I wanted. I wanted to be able to deliver within that quick time. I didn't want to charge the earth because there's some tools that are absolutely amazing. And you look at the price of them, and you're like, I can't afford that. Oh my god, I can't afford that. So I started going back into my corporate roots when I first started going in corporate, which was in purchasing and procurement. So I then started the negotiations with China and in Thailand to be able to get the goods that I wanted when I wanted them at a price that was sustainable for my end users. And that works side by side with what I do now. Um, I do events, I do writing, I've got Amazon bestsellers, but all these things work hand in hand with what I do now. And that is part of the new Katie that everyone's going to get in the next 12 months is helping people earn money beyond the couch. That's fantastic. And I love that. I love that for you. Tell us a bit more about the the not the old Katie, but the Katie that was a little bit hidden. Um you said that you in the story that we went through for our mask that you uh hid behind people pleasing. Big style, people pleasing. And that you were dimming your own voice. Yes. Tell me a bit more about that. Um I didn't have as much confidence as I have now. And some of that was from childhood, some of that was from my teenage years, and some of it was from life, I suppose, and corporate. And I I realized when I started being a reflexologist that my learning skills weren't run-of-the-mill, they weren't what everyone expected. I know that I have to write everything down and I have to write it in my own words. So I listen. One of the skills that I have is that I do listen, but I transcribe it in my head down on paper in my words. So mainstream schooling, whilst I was okay, it wasn't my bag. And one of the things when I turned around to my parents and I said, I'm going to learn to be a reflexologist, um, my mum came out with, well, what do you want to do that for? Because when you, when you're at school, you couldn't be bothered to learn, even though that you're not stupid, you you just didn't learn. But when I started looking at what I needed to learn and how I needed to learn, I do doodle and I do write things down in my own voice of how I hear what other people say. So whilst I love my parents dearly, there are a number of things when your father is ex-military. Um you don't voice your own feelings, if at all, because feelings don't come into it. So I I've probably known you what, 12 months over. Um, and I'm very honest, and I will cry and I will laugh, and I will cry laughing, and I will come out with cheeky comments. That never would have happened before because I didn't have the confidence to do it, because I was just waiting for someone to say, Well, what are you doing that for? So I dimmed my own personality because I was conscious that some people just couldn't deal with that. So when you um when we were sat there and you said about it, it struck such a chord with me. Um, and I just turned around to you, and I think that was the first time we'd met in person, and I just went, I'll I'll do that for you. I'll do that for you, absolutely not an issue. Now I don't have a massive story behind it, but to me at the time, it was it was such a heartfelt reason because I do come out of my shell now. I do say what I like, I do say what I think. Sometimes it's perhaps not appropriate, however, it will come out. Um and why can't people be themselves? I mean, I go over, I I'm big style into my rugby, and there's some kids that go to rugby who have the most well have the hardest ways of learning because they do not concentrate at school, they're not engaged at school. But when you're coaching rugby, these kids are so focused on what you're telling them, and as long as they're busy, they do it. And their parents come up to you afterwards and they said, How did you keep my son engaged for the whole hour and a half? Because we did it in small chunks, because we did it in small groups, because we did it in easy actions. And that's I think helped me from my learning that I couldn't sit in a school classroom for I don't know however long it was, an hour at a time, 50 minutes at a time. I was out the window. What's going on out the window? Or I start flicking my pen, or I start flicking my nails, or whatever, doodling in my books. That was the bigger one. I was doodling in my books. So I knew doing short, sharp, focused actions was a great way for me to learn, and I brought that then into the rugby, and that then helped me train those kids to understand that they could do it, and I don't think I ever felt that I could do anything until I started to listen and work out for myself. And bearing in mind I started learning reflexology at 32 and I'm coming up 60 this year, it's taken a long time for it to sink in. And there'll be other people in my shoes going, oh yeah, that's a little bit like me. And maybe haven't realized it yet. And that's the story that I want to tell. Yeah. That everyone can do something once you've worked out the trigger. So you felt like you say your dad was um he was an army man. R. R.F. Um or family and then carry that through to school as well. Um I suppose I was a bit of a bugger at school. Um my brother went to private school and I refused because I wanted to be with my friends. I didn't want to change my friendship group. I didn't want to be different. I wanted to fit in. However, knowing now what I know now, I wish I had done it. However, I didn't. Um, and I probably was a bit of a handful at home. And I'm a bit of a handful through my teenage years. However, me and my dad are quite tight now. In fact, my mum and I were tight before she passed away. Um but there was odd little things that you just wanted them to say, I'm proud of you. And you very, very, if at all, heard those words. I love you. So easy for us to say very hard for them to say. And I don't know if it was because they were brought up during the war or if it was because of their age or because of their family life. I honestly don't know. Um but yeah, just turning around and going, love yay, it doesn't happen. It does for me to them, but it didn't often, if at all, happen the other way around. You get the cards that said lots of love or love always or whatever, but it was never physically said. And then you started chasing it. You were doing things that you thought would instigate, oh I'm proud of what you've achieved. Oh, yeah, really love that. Love you for doing that. No, it didn't happen. So every time also later in life, did they ever say, did it change? No. No, no. I get different comments now. Um, so when I achieved something in business, so once I hit my first 2k, my first 3k, my first 4k, my first 5k month, I went out and I bought silver bangles, all from the same jeweler. Um, and they were all individually made, they were hammered, and they were beautiful. I don't know why I'm saying past tense, because they are. Um, so whenever I had a new height. Target per month, I would go out and buy a bigger, thicker, more expensive, heavier bangle. And I always have silver bangles on. But I have taken them off today because they clank on my desk, and all you would hear on this podcast would be clank, clank, clank. So yeah, so the bangles became my mask. So even though I knew that they were proud of me and they do love me, don't get me wrong. I just played with my bangles when I wanted that extra support. Because I knew what they meant. I knew what those bangles meant to me. It was like, well done for getting an extra K a month. Well done, I'm getting an extra $2K a month, 3K, 4K, 5k. You're building on it. That's fabulous. But they and it's not just my parents. My husband does it too. And he just doesn't say it because he just doesn't think. So emotionally, I need different things to what they've grown up with and they've had in their lives. Because they get my energy, they get how I interact with them. And that's what is so important that nobody feels alone.

unknown 23:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

And being a therapist, we are lone workers. So it's hard. I don't think anyone would feel alone in your company. Don't you? No. That's good. But there's so many people who work alone that think they're the only one that's going through what they're going through. And they're not. They really aren't. You know, I just so many people say, Oh, I'm giving up my business because I can't do it anymore. And then you talk to them and you say, Well, why this and why that and why the other? I just feel alone. I hear it so often, it's so sad. There's a big community of people out there if you go and find them. That's why networking is so important. Yeah. Was there a moment that you felt like something started to change in you? In me. Being able to use your voice and to stop people pleasing. I went on that business retreat in 2019 to Thailand. I went on a fabulous 10-day holiday inverted commerce. That's not true, actually. It wasn't a holiday. I worked bloody hard. Um, I went on a 10-day retreat, business retreat to Thailand. Um, the reason why it was good is that Thailand is six, seven hours ahead of the UK. So when I got up in the morning and I started working and I started doing all the actions my coach was asking me to do, and it was intense because we were all together 24-7. The only time we got off was when we went out for dinner in the evening because our coach didn't come to dinner with us, so we could relax. And we it was intense. So what she would probably teach us in six months, she teached taught teached us, taught us in 10 days, and it was intense, and we were sat there, and you know what? I nearly didn't go. Nearly didn't go. I put every obstacle in my way. So it was my dad's ATF, put that in the way. My husband hadn't had the all clear from his cancer. I put that in my way. And by the way, I got we got the letter three days before I flew that everything was okay and it was the all clear. How do you think I'd have felt if I'd have then not gone? I turned around and said, Oh, I'm sorry, I can't go, I don't have enough money. And she goes, but you've never asked me how much it is. Oops. Okay, right, fine. Um, and the men's world cup was on. Men's World Cup, rugby cup was on, and again, I nearly didn't go. But do you know what? On my Emirates flight, on the screen was the rugby. So I got to switch it on the flight on the way out there, and I got it on my iPad while we were away. So there was so much I put in my way. And you know, the big thing was that my husband, when I got home, he said, My wife's never come home from Thailand. And I went, What do you mean? Of course she has. I'm here. And he goes, My wife never came back from Thailand, but I got a better wife instead. Oh, and he could see the change in me in the first 13 days that we had ever been apart since we met. And he said, No, I've got somebody completely different. She's more confident, she knows what she wants, she knows what she doesn't want, she's not afraid to go. No, that's not right. No, I don't agree with you. Um, so since 2019, he's had a very different wife and one that's not afraid to speak her mind. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's even more fun. But you know, I I don't suffer fools gladly. No, however, I can be very good fun to be around. Yes, you can. What feels um more honest and aligned these days? Being myself. Being myself, speaking my truth. And turning around and going, actually, you're teasing me off. So come on, let's talk about it. Whereas before, I'd probably go, you're cheeseing me off, shutters were down and you were gone. Um you get more you get a chance to talk it through. But that never used to happen. And sometimes we do get things wrong. Sometimes we do, but it's always best to talk about it. The written word can be harsh if you're not in the right mindset to read it as it is given. Um and that's why normally I will pick the phone up and go, shall we have a chat about this? Some people don't want to chat about it, they've already made their minds up, and that's fine. But I do give people the opportunity to talk. And it's hard. I think people find it harder to talk, don't they? Definitely brings things up, at least with a and you can misconstrue a piece of writing or a text message or an email so badly, but it wasn't meant in the way it was, because people read things differently. And it depends where your hormones are at the time. If your hormone if your hormones are high and you're feeling extremely sensitive, a text message or an email or a WhatsApp message, whatever communication channel, they'll just go. And it's like, oh calm down. I didn't mean it like that. This is what I meant. Um, but yeah, listening, listening's a skill a lot of people don't have either. Because they'll listen and they'll be like we are now, and then they'll start looking over their shoulder or looking over their other shoulder, or anywhere but where you are, and you just want to grab their face and go, I'm talking to you. There's too much going on in their head, or like yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I it it's it's great doing new things, and when you do new things, you have a new outlook about where to channel your energy. So when you're doing something new, you have to keep your boundaries, and if you don't keep your boundaries, then you are absolutely up a gum tree. So those people who are listening to this and you take your phone, your phone is on 24-7. I'm just going to give you one tip. Why don't you put it on do not disturb from half past eight in the morning or to half past eight in the morning and turn it off at eight o'clock the previous night? So if you choose, and it's your choice, to go and look at your phone to see what's coming in, then that's your prerogative. But that incessant beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, or whistle, or kaching, or whatever noise you've got on your phone, you don't hear it unless you go looking for it. And I tell you what, it was a game changer for me because it gave you the some freedom. It gave you that freedom from constantly being on call. Because you don't have to be in your business all the time. No, mine goes on silent, it goes on do not disturb from I think it's nine o'clock until eight or nine. Yeah, I do 8.30 till eight. And I am about to change it to 7:30 and 8. Yeah, why not? But originally it was a big block and then it's just got wider and wider. It's just too easy, isn't it, to pick it up and go. What's been going on? And you don't actually achieve anything because you spend too much time on your phone. Yeah. And then you go down the scroll hole. Oh, yeah. And the scroll hole is a the scroll hole is a bugger. It is. Mine's normally dogs. Mine's usually rugby. Springer Spaniels. Yeah. Um what what do you know now that you didn't before? And what does a masking mean to you today? If I could live my years as a reflexologist again, having the structure in place in the beginning and listening to my gut and not chasing silver baubles, that's what I would choose not to do. I would put those boundaries in place, I would listen to my gut, I would do what I wanted and not what other people thought of me. And unmasked really helped me come out a little bit more than I did before. Whilst I haven't got a big story behind Unmasked, to me, it was huge. It was deeply personal. Um, and I probably haven't told a lot. I've told some of it, but I still haven't told all of it. Um, and maybe one day I will. But at the moment, I've told people what I'm comfortable with sharing. And that is the big thing about unmasked, is I felt it was like having, whilst it was the mask, it was also like having a big heavy velvet coat cloak that I could switch and lighten and be able to walk taller and walk prouder, and be able to go, yep, I've done that. I've talked about it, I've ticked the honesty box, and I've spoken from the heart about something that I find extremely raw to deal with. And to others it might not have felt that raw, but to me it did. Everyone's on their own journey, everyone is unique, everyone has a everyone has got a backstory. It's whether people want to share it and how much they're comfortable with sharing. And that is what Unmasked helped me with because I was in the right frame of mind to be able to share more than I had ever done before. And I love that. That's yeah, it's it's being able to share a part of you that might have felt uncomfortable, but you feel like you can now. Yeah, definitely. You don't have to share it all. No. You can if you want, but you don't have to. And it's that choice. Yeah, it's it's being able to have that choice to go, you know what, this is what I'm gonna share this time round. This is what I feel comfortable with. I might be able to help someone else who has a similar story, and I don't have to give it all away. No, it's it's working out what's right for you and being comfortable within that skin, and sometimes it's weighing up the pro and the con. There's a load of cliches coming out in this podcast, aren't there? Um, but that pro and con list is huge, it's huge, and you share what you're comfortable with sharing, you don't have to share what's all, you don't have to make yourself feel uncomfortable. You share what you're comfortable with sharing, and unmasked to me really did help me do that. So I don't know if you know this, but I did my mask four or five times before I came up with the cream and pink one that I did. Because so I did what I thought, and then I was like, Oh no, I don't like that. That's not the story I want to share, and then I did it again, and I was like, No, I don't like that, and then I showed it to my husband, and I said, Oh, this is my unmasked mask, and he says, But Katie, it's not pink, and I went, Yeah, I know, but not everyone relates to pink, and he goes, But you do, and I was like, Right, okay. So, anyway, I then did half and half, so one was the side of me that was grey, and the next, the other half was the pink, the bright side of me. And then um, I was like, There's no sparkle on here, and that's why I then put the sparkle on it, and it's covered in diamantes that were all individually stuck on. Um, and you know, it's it sits still down in my lounge with the picture. Um and every time I see it glinting in the sunshine, that then sparkles on the walls, it's like, yeah, that's me, that's me, that's what I needed to do. And I I didn't know what I wanted to do on my mask, and I went through this really big, oh, this is what I'll do, that's easy. And it was like, but that's not you. Okay, so I did some more, and I was at one stage going, Joe, have you got a spare mask? Because I've absolutely bought this out. Um, but no, it we just keep kept going with it, and like in life, life is layers, my mask is layers, because there's layers underneath the layers of what I thought was the right thing to do, and actually I just needed to blossom. You did, and you have. Oh, thank you, Katie. This has been wonderful. Um, where can everybody find you? Oh they can find me probably the most on Instagram under Katie Page Businessology, all one word. You can find me on LinkedIn. I'll be perfectly honest. I'm not on there that much. Um, but yeah, Instagram you'll catch me the most. Everyone can find you. But thank you again for your honesty and your warmth and your kindness. And yeah, you're just a wonderful soul to be around. Thank you. It's lovely to catch you. Yes. And um, we'll speak again very soon. Thank you so much, Katie. No problem. Thank you for having me.

unknown 40:12

Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

Thank you for listening to stories from behind the mask. The parts we edit out are the ones that matter the most. If something in this conversation stays with you, let it. You don't need to rush to fix or frame it. And if you're in a season of unmasking and finding your story, know this. You don't have to do it all at once. I'm Joanna, and I'll see you next time.