CEO Hack: Scripture and the Daily Word & Book Mentioned “Called to Create”
CEO Nugget: Nike's “Just Do It” & Never Give Up
CEO Defined: Flexibility to be creative and create your own schedule
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00:25 – Intro
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from success successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.
00:53 – Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I had a very special guest on the show today, Cathy Harkless from Yattack and Stitches. Cathy, it's great to have you on the show.
01:03 – Cathy Harkless
Thank you, Gresham. Thanks for having me.
01:06 – Gresham Harkless
No problem, no problem. And if you don't know, Cathy is my mom, so I wanted to make sure to kick off the show. I wanted to have Cathy aka my mom on the show. And what I wanted to do was just kind of read a little bit about her and all the things that she's been able to accomplish. Cathy H. Harkless is the founder of Yattack and Stitches. Yattack and Stitches is an embroidery company offering embroidery and digitizing of logos, designs, and images.
They personalize individualize and customize. Their talented team consists of needle artists who have a passion for crochet embroidery. Personalizing gifts with bling and embellishments for gift giving, for life events such as babies, birthdays, weddings, retirements, memorials, gift baskets, and their gorgeous line of realtor baskets. The ATAK team strives to exceed their clients' expectations by imagining the possibilities in the amazing world of needle arts. So, Cathy, are you ready to get started and speak to the I AM CEO community?
[restrict paid=”true”]
02:06 – Cathy Harkless
I am. I'm very excited too.
02:09 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, the first thing I wanted to do was just kind of give you the floor to ask if you could tell your CEO story. What has led you to this part of your life and in your business?
02:21 – Cathy Harkless
I was in the corporate world for quite a few years and actually started attacking stitches about ten years ago, actually as a part-time gig. Actually, I started doing things for family, starting with you doing things when you went to college, personalizing things and doing things for your journey at college, college life, college logos, and then also doing things that. That people loved you, like basketball, people like pets. People have different passions in life, and it's nice to capture that in embroidery and the needle arts.
03:10 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Yeah, that's been very true. Sometimes if I'm wondering where I'm going throughout my life, I can look back and see what I have embroidered, then that means that's probably the stage of life that I'm at. So it makes perfect sense. So, I guess, could you tell us a little bit more about the products and services that you provide for your clients?
03:27 – Cathy Harkless
The products that we actually provide are a line of products that could be logos for a business, could be designed that are personal and could be images that people have, and we actually digitize those and we actually then embroider them. We do any type of embroidery. We do logos. We do monograms, we do names. There are a lot of people now that have unique names, and unique spelling, and sometimes it can be a family name, and we can carry that from one generation to another. We provide baby blankets. We provide prayer shawls. We provide everything for every life event that could happen in a person's life.
04:21 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And I know that, obviously, I know you're based in the DMV, the DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas, as I like to call it. So what do you think makes you and your organization unique from other embroidery businesses or businesses that might be in the area or around the world?
04:36 – Cathy Harkless
With the personalization and customization that we do, we actually do unique things for our unique customers. Just the other day, one of our projects was actually a retirement gift, a retirement gift that we, we actually embroidered the speedo with patches for a marine who is retiring. And then we personalized the back of the speedo with the retiree. Our orders are very unique. Our clients are very unique, and they come with whatever they can imagine. And then we take that and we imagine the possibilities. That's our tagline, and that seems to have taken us over the last couple of years, and it doesn't seem to stop. They get more unique and more specialized based on what the client requires or asks. We push the envelope.
05:35 – Gresham Harkless
That makes perfect sense. So it's funny because a lot of people have these ideas of all these great things that they want to do or they want to create, but a lot of times they don't know exactly how to create them. But it sounds like you kind of bridge that gap where you're able to see what somebody's vision might be, but actually able to execute them, execute that for their specific business or their specific vision, I should say.
05:57 – Cathy Harkless
Very true.
05:58 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, one of the big things that we try to do on the I AM CEO chat is really to Im CEO podcast is really to get the opportunity to see what CEO hack or thing that you use in your business or your life that kind of has helped you as a CEO or helped you as an entrepreneur, helped you as a business owner. Could you explain maybe one thing that you have used or continue to use that has been really great for your business?
06:24 – Cathy Harkless
I do a lot of embroidery for the church, and I'm led by scripture. I read daily words each and every day, and that kind of takes me as the business head in meeting a lot of different and unique people, and somehow they're led to me. And actually embroidering scripture is very exciting to me. To see it in print based on when I was a little girl growing up, my grandfather and I used to talk about the scripture back and forth. And it's kind of unique that I get the opportunity now to embroider it and stitch it out.
Whether I put it on a t-shirt for someone or a prayer shawl for someone, and to see their response and what it means to them, inspires me, actually reading the scripture. I have this book that I also am reading called To Create. I heard a lot about that, and it's an exciting book, and it talks about the things in your life. Sometimes we have a lot of clutter in our lives. And to be directed and driven toward what makes you happy.
And it makes me very happy when I get to embroider when I get to crochet a prayer shawl or a baby blanket, you know, that's the start of a life, or at a point in the life, at a point in a person's life when they may need something to inspire them, something that. That they can read, a scripture that they can wrap themselves in a prayer show, or that a baby can be wrapped in a baby blanket, I think that's just an awesome way to document and document things. Embroidery is just what we do.
08:09 – Gresham Harkless
That makes perfect sense. Yeah. It's funny because a lot of times when you talk with, you know, CEOs or entrepreneurs and business owners, you always hear about that higher calling. Like, this is the path that I should be taking. But it. It's awesome that you're able to kind of take time on a daily basis to review the scripture, but also able to understand how that aligns with what it is. That you're creating and what it is that you're doing.
So that's pretty awesome. Now, the next question that I had is really kind of like a word of wisdom or like I call a CEO nugget that you would kind of give to another entrepreneur and business owner that you've learned from being in business for the last ten years. What CEO nugget do you have that can help us be maybe a better entrepreneur or business owner?
08:48 – Cathy Harkless
I like two things. I like Nikes. Just do it. Because a lot of times you delay or procrastinate or put things on hold. I like just doing it. I just, I like being put out in a sense, just being placed on the ledge and jumping. Because there is no perfect time, there is no better time. And then something else is to never give up. Because when you take the leap of faith and you jump, sometimes things might look a little different than what you thought. And so when you never give up, you always look at what options you can take. Or maybe it's a different route in the journey than you thought or that you feel like you have to take when you do jump. But those two things, I think, drive me.
09:42 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And I know we have a lot of different, are going to have a lot of different types of CEOs on this business, whether it be part-time CEOs or people that are running big huge companies that have thousands, thousands of employees or people that are running their business, maybe out of their Paris garage. So what I wanted to ask is just for you specifically, what does being a CEO mean to you?
10:07 – Cathy Harkless
I think it's an awesome opportunity because in the last three years since I left the corporate world and have been devoting full time to your tack and stitches. The flexibility. The flexibility in meeting new people. The flexibility in being allowed to get up every morning, read my daily word, and take my walk. My walk of 7 miles a day. That devotion to my time with reading the daily word, listening to what God is telling me and leading me in my life, and then also taking the journey of. Of owning my business and doing my business. And again, the flexibility has been amazing. And having the time to be inspired, to be creative, to actually have your own schedule is just the most amazing part of this journey that I've had.
11:10 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Cathy and Mom, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule. I just wanted to give you the floor to see if there was anything additional that you wanted to tell our readers or our listeners. And just to see also too, how people can get a hold of you.
11:28 – Cathy Harkless
The thing that I'll say again is to get something that works for you. The daily word works for me. Reading that each and every day, there are days that I really can identify with it. Another thing I'll say again is to never give up doing your business and being able to share that passion. When I do logos for business clients, to see the glimmer in their eyes when they see their logo, to see their excitement excites me and that keeps me going. But something that I'll say is to always focus on what you want to do and always find a way to make sure that you do it. Because you sometimes can miss an opportunity.
But if you try, you can always look back and say, you know what? You don't have to say, “Coulda, woulda, shoulda.” Instead, say, “I did, and this is what happened.” And that's a different story. So I ask people to look at my business by visiting my website, www.utac, or call at 703-680-3416 that is where you can reach us and check out our website because it has been a great journey, more so in the last three years of what we've done and how we've done it. And I can only see that we're going to get better.
13:01 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. That's some phenomenal words of wisdom. And again, I just truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule to kind of speak with us. Let us know a little bit about you, and your background in the organization that you're leading. So again, thank you so much.
13:18 – Cathy Harkless
Thank you.
13:20 – Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
00:25 - Intro
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from success successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.
00:53 - Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I had a very special guest on the show today, Cathy Harkless from Yattack and Stitches. Cathy, it's great to have you on the show.
01:03 - Cathy Harkless
Thank you, Gresham. Thanks for having me.
01:06 - Gresham Harkless
No problem, no problem. And if you don't know, Cathy is my mom, so I wanted to make sure to kick off the show. I wanted to have Cathy aka my mom on the show. And what I wanted to do was just kind of read a little bit about her and all the things that she's been able to accomplish. Cathy H. Harkless is the founder of Yattack and Stitches. Yattack and Stitches is an embroidery company offering embroidery and digitizing of logos, designs, and images.
They personalize individualize and customize. Their talented team consists of needle artists who have a passion for crochet embroidery. Personalizing gifts with bling and embellishments for gift giving, for life events such as babies, birthdays, weddings, retirements, memorials, gift baskets, and their gorgeous line of realtor baskets. The ATAK team strives to exceed their clients' expectations by imagining the possibilities in the amazing world of needle arts. So, Cathy, are you ready to get started and speak to the I AM CEO community?
02:06 - Cathy Harkless
I am. I'm very excited too.
02:09 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, the first thing I wanted to do was just kind of give you the floor to ask if you could tell your CEO story. What has led you to this part of your life and in your business?
02:21 - Cathy Harkless
I was in the corporate world for quite a few years and actually started attacking stitches about ten years ago, actually as a part-time gig. Actually, I started doing things for family, starting with you doing things when you went to college, personalizing things and doing things for your journey at college, college life, college logos, and then also doing things that. That people loved you, like basketball, people like pets. People have different passions in life, and it's nice to capture that in embroidery and the needle arts.
03:10 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Yeah, that's been very true. Sometimes if I'm wondering where I'm going throughout my life, I can look back and see what I have embroidered, then that means that's probably the stage of life that I'm at. So it makes perfect sense. So, I guess, could you tell us a little bit more about the products and services that you provide for your clients?
03:27 - Cathy Harkless
The products that we actually provide are a line of products that could be logos for a business, could be designed that are personal and could be images that people have, and we actually digitize those and we actually then embroider them. We do any type of embroidery. We do logos. We do monograms, we do names. There are a lot of people now that have unique names, and unique spelling, and sometimes it can be a family name, and we can carry that from one generation to another. We provide baby blankets. We provide prayer shawls. We provide everything for every life event that could happen in a person's life.
04:21 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And I know that, obviously, I know you're based in the DMV, the DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas, as I like to call it. So what do you think makes you and your organization unique from other embroidery businesses or businesses that might be in the area or around the world?
04:36 - Cathy Harkless
With the personalization and customization that we do, we actually do unique things for our unique customers. Just the other day, one of our projects was actually a retirement gift, a retirement gift that we, we actually embroidered the speedo with patches for a marine who is retiring. And then we personalized the back of the speedo with the retiree. Our orders are very unique. Our clients are very unique, and they come with whatever they can imagine. And then we take that and we imagine the possibilities. That's our tagline, and that seems to have taken us over the last couple of years, and it doesn't seem to stop. They get more unique and more specialized based on what the client requires or asks. We push the envelope.
05:35 - Gresham Harkless
That makes perfect sense. So it's funny because a lot of people have these ideas of all these great things that they want to do or they want to create, but a lot of times they don't know exactly how to create them. But it sounds like you kind of bridge that gap where you're able to see what somebody's vision might be, but actually able to execute them, execute that for their specific business or their specific vision, I should say.
05:57 - Cathy Harkless
Very true.
05:58 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, one of the big things that we try to do on the I AM CEO chat is really to Im CEO podcast is really to get the opportunity to see what CEO hack or thing that you use in your business or your life that kind of has helped you as a CEO or helped you as an entrepreneur, helped you as a business owner. Could you explain maybe one thing that you have used or continue to use that has been really great for your business?
06:24 - Cathy Harkless
I do a lot of embroidery for the church, and I'm led by scripture. I read daily words each and every day, and that kind of takes me as the business head in meeting a lot of different and unique people, and somehow they're led to me. And actually embroidering scripture is very exciting to me. To see it in print based on when I was a little girl growing up, my grandfather and I used to talk about the scripture back and forth. And it's kind of unique that I get the opportunity now to embroider it and stitch it out.
Whether I put it on a t-shirt for someone or a prayer shawl for someone, and to see their response and what it means to them, inspires me, actually reading the scripture. I have this book that I also am reading called To Create. I heard a lot about that, and it's an exciting book, and it talks about the things in your life. Sometimes we have a lot of clutter in our lives. And to be directed and driven toward what makes you happy.
And it makes me very happy when I get to embroider when I get to crochet a prayer shawl or a baby blanket, you know, that's the start of a life, or at a point in the life, at a point in a person's life when they may need something to inspire them, something that. That they can read, a scripture that they can wrap themselves in a prayer show, or that a baby can be wrapped in a baby blanket, I think that's just an awesome way to document and document things. Embroidery is just what we do.
08:09 - Gresham Harkless
That makes perfect sense. Yeah. It's funny because a lot of times when you talk with, you know, CEOs or entrepreneurs and business owners, you always hear about that higher calling. Like, this is the path that I should be taking. But it. It's awesome that you're able to kind of take time on a daily basis to review the scripture, but also able to understand how that aligns with what it is. That you're creating and what it is that you're doing.
So that's pretty awesome. Now, the next question that I had is really kind of like a word of wisdom or like I call a CEO nugget that you would kind of give to another entrepreneur and business owner that you've learned from being in business for the last ten years. What CEO nugget do you have that can help us be maybe a better entrepreneur or business owner?
08:48 - Cathy Harkless
I like two things. I like Nikes. Just do it. Because a lot of times you delay or procrastinate or put things on hold. I like just doing it. I just, I like being put out in a sense, just being placed on the ledge and jumping. Because there is no perfect time, there is no better time. And then something else is to never give up. Because when you take the leap of faith and you jump, sometimes things might look a little different than what you thought. And so when you never give up, you always look at what options you can take. Or maybe it's a different route in the journey than you thought or that you feel like you have to take when you do jump. But those two things, I think, drive me.
09:42 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And I know we have a lot of different, are going to have a lot of different types of CEOs on this business, whether it be part-time CEOs or people that are running big huge companies that have thousands, thousands of employees or people that are running their business, maybe out of their Paris garage. So what I wanted to ask is just for you specifically, what does being a CEO mean to you?
10:07 - Cathy Harkless
I think it's an awesome opportunity because in the last three years since I left the corporate world and have been devoting full time to your tack and stitches. The flexibility. The flexibility in meeting new people. The flexibility in being allowed to get up every morning, read my daily word, and take my walk. My walk of 7 miles a day. That devotion to my time with reading the daily word, listening to what God is telling me and leading me in my life, and then also taking the journey of. Of owning my business and doing my business. And again, the flexibility has been amazing. And having the time to be inspired, to be creative, to actually have your own schedule is just the most amazing part of this journey that I've had.
11:10 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Cathy and Mom, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule. I just wanted to give you the floor to see if there was anything additional that you wanted to tell our readers or our listeners. And just to see also too, how people can get a hold of you.
11:28 - Cathy Harkless
The thing that I'll say again is to get something that works for you. The daily word works for me. Reading that each and every day, there are days that I really can identify with it. Another thing I'll say again is to never give up doing your business and being able to share that passion. When I do logos for business clients, to see the glimmer in their eyes when they see their logo, to see their excitement excites me and that keeps me going. But something that I'll say is to always focus on what you want to do and always find a way to make sure that you do it. Because you sometimes can miss an opportunity.
But if you try, you can always look back and say, you know what? You don't have to say, "Coulda, woulda, shoulda." Instead, say, "I did, and this is what happened." And that's a different story. So I ask people to look at my business by visiting my website, www.utac, or call at 703-680-3416 that is where you can reach us and check out our website because it has been a great journey, more so in the last three years of what we've done and how we've done it. And I can only see that we're going to get better.
13:01 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. That's some phenomenal words of wisdom. And again, I just truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule to kind of speak with us. Let us know a little bit about you, and your background in the organization that you're leading. So again, thank you so much.
13:18 - Cathy Harkless
Thank you.
13:20 - Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
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