Welcome!

Katelen here, the human behind The Rest of the Iceberg. 👋

Back in April (yes, I know it’s the end of May. Better late than never, right?), I asked my 200 Internet friends if they wanted to learn about tech for small business owners and entrepreneurs. I got great responses, some aligned with the plan in my head and others giving me new ideas. A bunch of branding work and back-end setup later, here we are.

Let’s back up even further, though.

Who the heck are you, Katelen?

Professionally speaking, I’m a teacher-turned-designer and writer. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota and spend Monday-Friday rocking the WFH life for a tech company.

Non-professionally speaking, I’m an introverted multipotentialite who absolutely loves learning. Currently, I’m dusting off my 10th grade Spanish-speaking skills and uncovering a passion for Minnesota sports.

I launched my first ever Etsy shop on March 24, 2023. At the time I had very little idea what I was getting myself into, but I was in the midst of a career change and needed a creative confidence boost.

For me, my Etsy shop Keep Growing Design Co was a low-pressure passion project, a break from the depressing monotony of scrolling LinkedIn and being ghosted by corporate recruiters. 🙃

I realized that while I love making cute stickers and bookmarks, what I love more about running my Etsy shop is…all the other stuff. The web design, the third-party integrations, the efficiency tools, the accessible color palettes and fonts.

Imagine your business is an iceberg.

The ice that sticks up out of the water is the part of your business that everyone sees. The product photos, client testimonials, and social media posts are only the tip of the iceberg. (See where I’m going with this?)

You and I both know that there’s a lot more to running a business than the stuff your followers and customers see. All that other stuff - the rest of the iceberg, if you will - can keep some really talented creators from sharing their wisdom with the world.

Mmkay, so what are you going to do about it?

My goal with this newsletter is to help you sift through some of the Internet noise and pave a practical roadmap to set up, scale, and optimize your business. The tech side of entrepreneurship can be overwhelming, but it’s very learnable.

Here’s what you won’t find in The Rest of the Iceberg:

• the “one secret” to making thousands per week without leaving your couch

• strategies “guaranteed” to go viral

• stories of people who went from $0 to $10k revenue in their first month of business, with no followers or customer base

I have nothing against those things, and I’m sure they’ve happened to someone out there, but those scenarios are unrealistic.

Here’s what you will find:

• bite-sized tutorials that you can follow TODAY to set up, scale, and optimize your business one click at a time

• an ever-growing archive of resources curated by someone whose 9-5 job is teaching tech (yep, that’s me)

• probably a meme or two

My hope is to empower someone (if I’m lucky, multiple someones) to navigate small business tech in a way that allows them to focus on what they do best: creating and connecting.

You’ll find the entire archive of my content at technicallykatelen.com. If you’d like this newsletter delivered to your inbox, subscribe.

I’m really excited to see where this project goes, and even more excited to have you along for the ride. In the words of Anthony Edwards, bring ya a**.

Talk to you soon!

Katelen 💙