How Katie Hess grew Menina Insight Consulting through trust
Katie Hess is the founder of Menina Insight Consulting, which supports women navigating personal or professional change through one-on-one services combining intuition work, strategic tools, and practical accountability. Hess explains how relationship-led referrals and organizational partnerships have shaped the business, and shares practical lessons on networking, planning, and keeping early costs lean.
For a service business, a smaller number of genuine relationships can create more value than attending as many networking events as possible. Hess also recommends building a sound financial foundation while keeping early systems simple until the business needs more.
What’s the short story of how your business started, and what makes it genuinely different from the other options your customers have?
Over the past decade, I’ve navigated divorce, breast cancer, burnout, and major professional reinvention. I understand what it’s like to reach a point where something needs to change, but the next step isn’t clear.
Professionally, I bring more than 20 years of experience across healthcare, public health, coaching, and program leadership. I hold a Master’s degree in Psychology, am a Project Management Professional (PMP), and a Certified Insight Coach (CIC). Throughout my career, I’ve led complex initiatives across state government, federal agencies, and Fortune 500 organizations.
Those experiences taught me how to navigate complexity, develop strategy, and turn big ideas into action. But they also reinforced something deeper: meaningful change requires more than a good plan. It requires clarity, support, and space to figure out what actually feels right for you.
That realization led me to found Menina Insight Consulting. I work with women navigating pivotal life and career moments, particularly those who know something needs to change but aren’t quite sure what they want their next chapter to look like.
What makes Menina different is the combination of strategic thinking and deeply human support. I don’t believe in handing someone a formula or telling them what they should do. Instead, I help women get underneath the question they’re asking, explore their options, make decisions with intention, and take meaningful steps forward.
It’s a space where you can think things through, feel supported, and move forward with greater confidence.
This is where clarity becomes action.
How did you win your first customers, and where does most of your new business come from today?
When I launched Menina, I invested a lot of time in building relationships. I made a point of not just showing up at networking events and passing out business cards. Instead, my goal was to have thoughtful conversations, get to know people, and build relationships where we could support one another. I want to be able to say, "I have someone you should meet," and have them also think of me when a conversation comes up where I might be a good fit.
Today, a majority of my business comes from those relationships and warm referrals from people who know me, understand what I do, and trust me.
What’s one decision that changed the direction of your business, and one mistake that taught you the most?
One decision that changed the direction of my business was expanding beyond a direct-to-consumer model and exploring B2B opportunities. I initially focused 100% on acquiring individual clients, but I began to see opportunities to work with organizations that serve a similar demographic: high-performing, successful women who know something in their lives needs to change but aren’t quite sure what that looks like.
I decided to invest time and resources in building those relationships, and that shift led to a six-month contract with a local university, working with women business owners.
One mistake that taught me the most happened early in my networking efforts. I was focused on volume, thinking the more events I attended, the more connections I’d make. I quickly realized that a handful of meaningful conversations and genuine relationships are far more valuable than simply attending more events. It changed how I approach networking and how I think about growing my business.
What has changed in your industry or in what your customers expect over the last couple of years, and how have you adapted?
I haven’t been in this field as a business owner long enough to speak definitively about long-term industry changes, but one thing I’ve observed is how much the pandemic shifted people’s expectations around work and life. Many employees began questioning the traditional status quo and exploring what they really wanted their professional and personal lives to look like. We’ve also seen more people step out on their own to become consultants, coaches, and entrepreneurs.
For me, that reinforces two things. First, we have to remain adaptable and responsive to what our clients need. But just as importantly, we can’t be everything to everyone. I’ve become much more intentional about defining my target audience, understanding what they’re navigating, and building trust by making sure the people I’m trying to reach feel seen and understood in how I communicate and market my services.
If you were advising someone starting out in your industry today, what would you tell them to do first, and what would you tell them to ignore?
First, get your foundation in place. Create a business plan, understand your financial needs and projections for at least the first year, and surround yourself with mentors, advisors, and other resources that will support your education and growth as a business owner. There are so many new decisions and unexpected scenarios that come with running a business. Having tools in your toolbox and people you can turn to for guidance makes a big difference and helps you feel less alone.
As for what to ignore: the idea that you need to pay for everything to run a successful business. Especially if you’re starting out as a solopreneur, you can build simple, low-tech systems for things like financial tracking, client management, and operations that work perfectly well in the beginning. You can invest in more robust tools as your business grows and you reach a point where you actually need them. Don’t create unnecessary expenses before you have the revenue to support them.
Thank you to Katie Hess and the team at Menina Insight Consulting for sharing what actually worked with Leaders Perception readers.
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