Entrepreneurial Challenges & Building Authentic Connections with Marie Fratoni

Hello, everybody. Chuck Anderson here, and welcome back. This is the Creative

Collaboration Show. This is the show for business owners and entrepreneurs

and coaches and consultants and experts who are on their,

entrepreneurial journey, wherever that may be. You might be at the beginning of your

journey. You might be a year or 2 into your journey. You might

be decades into your journey, and, this

show serves business owners. Now regardless

of what stage of business you are in, there

are challenges that come up along the

way that challenge our sustainability, challenge our profitability,

even challenge how we feel, ourselves as

business owners and as leaders and as people who are

out there trying to trying to to create something significant.

And so we're gonna talk a lot about that today. Today, my guest

is Marie Fratoni, who is a transformational

business coach and, and has so much,

really cool stuff, to share with you. And she works with and

serves clients, to help them, create that sustainability,

that profitability, and a thriving business. So, Marie, thank

you so much for being here. It's a pleasure to have you as my guest

tonight. Awesome. I appreciate the opportunity. Let's have some fun.

Let yeah. Let's have some fun. So I think, you know, a great place

to start is, is your story.

Everyone has an entrepreneurial story. I know what mine was.

This isn't about me. What what what what's your story? What what's your

entrepreneurial story that has led you to do the work that you're doing

now? Well, you know, that's a big question.

Mhmm. And I've been doing this a long time, but it hasn't

always looked like this. But I would say one of the

things that I've always been involved in is educational service, training,

coaching, presenting, making a difference in communities,

in colleges, in businesses, and now in the

entrepreneurial world. So it's kind of had this this arc.

And I've been doing business development and sales pretty much my

whole entire life. I've had to be accountable for my own revenue my whole entire

life. Even when I worked in other organizations, I was

in the sales end of it, so I was accountable for revenue generation.

And I've I've did a lot of sales training, with major

companies around the globe, and, now I

love teaching my clients how they can actually make

money with their enterprise, their entrepreneur journey.

So, you know, I had to learn. I had a lot of good skills. I

had the right ingredients, if you will. I had to work on

myself a lot. I had to work on business or just my

own my own presentation. And I think those

some there were some days there that were not exactly pretty. They were

very challenging. And when I really went off on my own full time, when I

let go of the other stuff, the other revenue streams that I have for my

business, it was challenging. I had some sleepless nights there. And

I knew at that point that I really had to hunker down,

hire a business coach and say, help me figure this out because I don't

want to be in a situation where I'm in terror every month.

Am I gonna be able to pay the mortgage? Am I ever gonna pay the

car now? Am I gonna pay my health insurance? All of that. And so

what I find is that a lot of the people that I work

with have had really good jobs in corporate America. They've been very

successful, or they they they've been accomplished in some way. They

might not be at the c suite, but they've done really well, and

now they're doing their own thing for whatever reason.

And then when we're accountable for our own revenue, if they've never had to sell

before, if they've never had to interact with clients and get people through

the pipeline, so to speak, that's very challenging. And so

if I can take some of the examples from my life and some of the

training that I've done and help them create and be able to forecast their

income and even create their financial model, because a lot of people don't. They just

start playing. They just start serving people. But in the moment, it's

great. But in the future, it's like, oh my god. I didn't plan for

that. So, you know, I had to learn those things myself, and

I've spent a lot of time with different coaches, different training

schools, different certifications to really get what I say

good at what I do and really help my clients, build those businesses.

Mhmm. It's kind of a shorter answer to a big question. It is a

big question, and, you answered it wonderfully.

It's not an easy one because we can I mean, there's so much,

but I can relate to everything you said? I've had the sleepless nights.

I've wondered how I was gonna pay the bills and pay

the team and, you know, all of the

all of the things that, that rest on

our shoulders as as business owners. And,

it's it it can be kind of lonely sometimes because we don't go to

our fellow business owners and say, oh, man. I'm really having this struggle

today. We're always putting on our best face and

promoting ourselves and trying to get new clients and all of that, and there isn't

always that that opportunity. So, man, I can really relate to that.

And also reaching that point

of, oh, I need some help here. Maybe I need a business coach.

Maybe I need someone who can help guide me through this. And, you know,

that my your origin story and mine are very

similar in that way. I had a lot of those same struggles, and it was

a coach that lifted me out of it. Yeah. You know, it's you made me

think of something that, you know, at the time, I moved to

Atlanta from Massachusetts, and I bought a house and everything was

fine, and I was all excited to be here. At the time, I was I

was still running my business, but I worked full time for a financial

accounting firm as a headhunter. I was their top biller in the office here

in Atlanta, and it was so much fun. I mean, I loved the job. It

was just really great. I mean, it was all these great. What we built finance

teams for companies, you know, so it was really great. What I

noticed was I had no cash flow.

I had I had no control over when that client, the corporate

client, the big giant was gonna pay their bill. And so I

what I want everybody to know is sometimes the big clients don't pay their bills.

And but my bills kept coming in. On the 1st of the month, I had

those things. So there was a flag in the sand moment, and that's when

I did have to make that phone call to a good colleague of mine, a

good friend. I was petrified to do it, And

I called her and I said, with my hand shaking, we didn't have iPhones

or smartphones at the time. I just said, Lynn, I need a

favor. She goes, okay. And then I was like, I just

couldn't even get it out of my throat. And I said, I need you to

pay my mortgage, my car note, and my health

insurance. And then there was dead silence.

And then she goes, okay. And

so she knew who I was. You know, we had had some

relationship capital built over the years. And but that was my flag

in the sand moment, said, I just can't do that again. I mean, I just

I I felt terrible inside doing it. I just was like,

yick, big ick factor. And, that was when I decided

to really reach out to a business coach and said, put me together again. And,

you know, that was a flag in the sand moment. And I think I share

that story often because it resonates with audiences, and it's

amazing how many people will either call me or come up to me after I

speak. And they'll say, I'm making that same phone call tonight

to my mother, my father, my sister, my brother, my pastor. I

mean, there's a lot of people that get into that space. What if we didn't

have to do that? What if we what if we had clear sailing all the

way that we I mean, we're gonna have hiccups. I mean, life is life. Right?

But it doesn't have to be that drastic where I was, like, petrified. I bought

a house. I'm gonna go to a homeless shelter. I bought a house. I'm gonna

go to a homeless shelter. I mean, it was scary time.

You know, those are I've had to make calls like that.

And, wow, it brings back memories because

it's it's it's not an easy thing to do.

And it's a thing that once you do it, you swear I'm never doing that

again. I have done it multiple times, so swearing that I

was never gonna do it again didn't actually help. But I say this

because I think so many people that are listening in right now can relate to

this because that that describes sort of the ups and downs

of of being a business owner. I still wouldn't have it any other

way, you know, having been in corporate and

having been independent. I choose

independent and the struggles that come with it over any

day in the corporate world for sure.

And, other people may believe the opposite, but that

that's, you know anyone who tells you it's easy,

either hasn't done it or they're they're not telling you the entire

truth. There are easy moments and there are fun moments, and

I wouldn't trade it for the world. But, you know, those I I've definitely had

to make those phone calls. What in in terms of that,

because I know now that you you you you do the coaching and you're working

with business owners, and I just find it fascinating that, you know, people

who've gone through their own struggles, how they end up, you know, one of the

very first things they think of is, you know what, I'm going to help others

who are going through this, what I just went through, and this journey I

just went through. And I'm gonna go help others because I know there's others that

are going through that as well. And I just first of all, thank you for

doing that. And and and it's amazing. And, that's really what

motivated me to do what I do as well. What are you hearing?

So for of the people that are showing up in your world and and and

they're like, Marie, help me or, I'm having this struggle. Like, what are you hearing

from them? What are the some of the struggles and the challenges that they

are experiencing that they're coming you to you with?

Well, I mean, a lot of things. And I thank you for asking that question

question because I think it's really good to get the word out. You know, a

lot of times when I have something that I think is happening to me, I

think it's just happening to me. It's not just happening to me.

It's in the collective consciousness right now. I don't care if you're in a different

country or whatever. There's a lot of, like, people have constraint

have a lot of constraints on right now. Like, afraid, what's the economy gonna

do? Am I gonna be able to make it? Are people gonna be able to

hire me? I don't know what's happening in the world. Are we gonna have a

world? Are we gonna you know, there's just so many of that that's happening. Plus,

our marketplace today is so cluttered. I I use

this example a lot. You know, we all have one of these pretty much, and

the whole entire world is sitting in there in our hand.

At any given moment, it's like ping ping ping ping ping ping,

ping, trying to get our attention. There's like nothing that's missing.

And I think what happens is it's very it can be exhausting

to try to stay connected and strike try to be

aware of a lot of things. There's so many news outlets. There's, like,

9,000,000 coaches in the world. And then there's a lot of,

I think, some newbies that are coming up the shoot

that are adorable. And they have these little

digital things that say, you wanna make $30,000 in 5 minutes?

Here's my script. Download it. Well, I've done that to see

what they offer. They don't have the gravitas.

They don't have the experience. They have probably well

intentioned, you know, I mean, we're all out here to do our business and make

money and have fun. But I just think that there's some things that are missing

and because it looks like a pretty shiny object or whatever, I

think sometimes people fall for that, and they end up booking in with the

wrong people that could actually take them a lot longer to

get profitable and sustainable. So I think we all have to

vet people. It's very noisy out there. The marketplace is very noisy,

and everybody looks the same as we try to be cookie cutter. And I

think we need to be ourselves and play to our strengths

and look at how can our strengths really make a difference, for us

and for our, for our people. Even the way we dress. I mean, I have

some clients that are pretty edgy. I mean, they wear some pretty far out things.

But if they dressed up like, you know, the corporate boardroom, I mean, people would

go, really? I mean, it's just not who they are. So, I mean,

play to the edginess, you know, or play to the straightness or whatever it

is. You know? It's just we have to be who we are.

Absolutely. And I spent time early in my career

trying to be my mentor, and

he was amazing on stage. And when I got on stage,

I channeled him and tried to be him. And it

got me to a point, but it never really connected

until I dropped all of that and just started being myself.

So, thank you for saying that because it's, I think it's really

important that we do play to our strengths and that we that we

are who we are in this. And,

so what would you say to people who are kind of in their journey right

now? They're having some of the struggles that we, have been

talking about. What do you think would be their

first step or some of their next steps in terms of turning things

around? Well, you know, you can always

reach out and have a conversation. I mean, I don't know. I'm a big community

gal. You know? I would not be who I am without community.

So I probably just watch cooking shows on TV and sit

around on the sofa and eat chocolate. You know?

But I think, you know, inside of our communities, I think you've gotta align with

the right community or communities. There's lots of different ones,

and I think what people try to do sometimes is tough it out. You know,

they play the lone ranger. They, you know, kinda suffer in

silence. Assumptive people are just really curious, but they don't know where

to go. So, I mean, I think so many people offer complimentary

consultations of, of whatever sort. It's great to have those

because even, even if you're interviewing for a job, you

know, it's really fun to go sport fishing and go interview for places. And if

you get the interview, it's like you learn so much on the interview that you

can bring to the next one. You bring to the next one, and you bring

to the next one. So we all have, you know I mean, I think one

of my strengths is the acquired knowledge that I have. You know? Because I've

been around for a long time, and I've worked in several different industries,

and, you know, from nonprofit to college to private sector

to entrepreneur world. And so nothing surprises me at this

point. But I think most people try to figure it out by themselves. You know?

They can get a coach. They can have a complimentary sessions. They can go to

there's so many online conferences. I think its key is

what do we want to know? What would make a difference in our business?

Where do we think we can find that? Who do we know that does that?

And to really start and build that professional network as we have, and

here we are. You know? There's talent everywhere.

I love that message because what I really hear in this

is that the solution to whatever you're going through could be

that connecting with somebody else, whether it be a coach or a

consultant, having that conversations, having a conversation with someone else.

And, by the way, if you're listening to this and

you wanna have a conversation with Marie, check the show notes beneath this video.

And, in our podcast, we have her all of her contact

information there because that would be a great step, especially if you are,

resonating with what she is saying here today. But I think even

bigger picture here, Marie, is what so many people call themselves

solopreneurs or self made this

or, you know and it and it really communicates

this singleness that this this, you know, I did it

myself. And there may have been a point

I can't remember, but there probably was a point earlier in my career

when I was thinking that same way. And I've come to realize that

I haven't achieved anything alone. There's

always been, other players involved, either

partners or, team or

there's clients. Right? So we can't count them.

We didn't do it ourselves or, certainly, I haven't.

And so, you know, I'm big on relationships. I'm big on

partnerships. I'm big on collaborations, even with

team, having relationships. So,

what what I heard you say that, it's like, okay. Your your answer

may lie in a conversation with

someone else. Well, I think conversations are

transformational. We can never have transformation when we're

just in our head. There's no transformation here. It's just information.

But when you are in a conversation and somebody else says something, it's

like, oh, I never thought of that, or, oh, that's a great idea.

Let me try that. I mean, when you put those minds together, it's really

great. In a mastermind, in a group program, in a a

group event that it could be an hour event for in a group.

A lot can happen like popcorn. You know, it just pops here and pops there.

But if I'm over here by myself, sitting on my laptop, sending

emails, there's no transformation there. None.

Mhmm. So even if I'm working with AI, there's no transformation

there until I make that work for me in my voice and my

whatever. So it becomes alive, and it's like then people are

relating to me. I I think we play too

small a game sometimes. We don't think big enough. And it's like what

you do when you're connecting all these great people together and, you

know, manage affiliates and relationships and joint ventures. And, I

mean, all of that makes a difference for everybody because what's that old

saying that says no man is an island while no woman is either. So, you

know, it's it's like, here we are making a difference.

Absolutely. We're absolutely not islands. And this

whole, you know, solopreneur thing, I wish I could just erase that

whole, that word because it's it gives

newer entrepreneurs, newer business owners the wrong idea.

And and so if I if I think if I was to

dial the clock back, almost 30 years when when

I started my first business, I was

doing things a lot myself, and I would have

I knowing what I know now, I would definitely have

connected with other like minded people who are maybe,

offset my weaknesses. So I'm strong in a place,

where they're, and and and we kind of, like, complement

each other. One of my biggest mistakes was when I first started

doing partnerships was partnering with people who are exactly like me,

and then wondering why we were still struggling because we were both strong in the

same places. We were both weak in the same places. But having

partners that bring something to the table

that that we don't already have. And so that is

that's played a huge role in my business. How does it play a role in

your business, partnering and and and obviously, we've been

we went to the relationship part very, very quickly. So,

you know, has it played a role? And and what would you say

to people who are listening in who are still out there doing everything

themselves? Well, you

know, I I'm a groupie. You know, I'm

I'm not somebody who likes to be by myself and spend a lot of time.

I I like my alone time, especially after I'm running an event.

But, you know, I I wanna share with people. You know?

I lead retreats so that I can go and I can

eat a meal with people every day for a week. I mean, it's just, like,

really special. You know? So I think, you

know, partnerships, I speak a lot at different events, and

when I'm invited to speak, that's a partnership. We create the event together.

I bring my people. I bring I do whatever I need to do to make

that happen, and that's how I connect with people. And then I work the

conference. I mean, I'm connecting and trying to make a difference. I just came from

California where I was out in Long Beach at a conference, and it's a very

different type of conference. It wasn't my subject matter, but it was just I mean,

I was I was gripped by the information, and it was great to connect with

people. And, they allowed me to make an offer to a program, and several

people, you know, accepted that offer. And what that's opened up for me

is a whole new group of people, a whole new pile of people. It

also opened it up for them as well. And so I

think that there's a lot of things that can happen inside of a group, and

a group could be 2 or 3 people. It doesn't have to be a big

group. You know? Partnerships. I mean, I've been booking

speakers and featuring them in the women's network that I

run for 40 years. And it's like,

that makes a difference for people. They have access to my audience. Their

audience would come together. So I don't know. I mean, I include different

people in my masterminds and give them an opportunity to shine if they're

really good at what they do, and I think they have a service that is

gonna serve my audience, and it's something that I don't do. I wanna have

that holistic, that well rounded approach. And so I've been doing

that for a long time. I don't wanna do it all by myself. It's to

me, that's not fun. Some people really like to be by themselves.

They are a solopreneur. I do have

my moments where I appreciate my alone time, but I know

that the real productivity comes from when I'm

working with others, whether it be my team or my partners.

And like you said, being in the affiliate world, it's all about partnerships.

It's all about, what more can we do

with other people's groups and lists and, sometimes

integrating into other people's programs like we do all of these things. So and

that takes, that doesn't usually come

just from meaning someone. It takes there's an investment into relationship

building and and and building trust and and value and all and

all of that, which is a big, big part of it. And not being

afraid to have those conversations, You know, this being in a

digital world. And, I had a very, very short time

pre online. You know, I started my business before the Internet,

just barely. And so the you did have to do

business face to face. Now you see a lot of people trying

to let, you know, try to get the Internet to do the

business for them. And, you know, ultimately, humans do

business with humans. And and and, you know, that that's

really, you know, that's really what, that's really what it is.

So before we run out of time, I wanna make

sure that we hear a little bit about, you know, the your your coaching and

the programs that you offer, and, I think you have

a a freebie that you have on your website

that, that is very beneficial as well. Why don't you tell everybody about

that? Yeah. Well, you know, it's like, part of what I do is

work as a transformational business coach. I don't just give strategy or

how to do things or whatever. That's part of it. I really listen,

and I can really get what people are up to. And sometimes I

might take them a different direction, which opens up a whole new world that

might even be better than where they are. You know? And so

we do the stuff that we have to do, and then there's who

we're being in the matter of our business. Who are we being in the matter

of how we show up on a Zoom meeting? Who are we being in when

we walk into a conference room? Or, you know, the we work on

ourselves so that we shine brightly because in

a dark world right now, it seems that way. We wanna be like

the the diamond that's sparkling. So on my website, if

somebody would like to go there, it's just get clients everywhere.com,

you will see there's a document that says download my free gift,

and it's the 17 most ridiculously simple ways to

magnify your leadership. And it's a combination of it's a

working document where you can there's things that you can do. There's things that how

you can be, things that you can add to your life that have you show

up differently or brighter or quieter or whatever.

And people have used it. They print it out and they might take 1 or

2 of those and they'll play with those concepts for a week. But they could

use it and say, well, here's 3 or or they could use it in a

workshop that they're doing. So it's just a gift to help you look at. There's

so many things that you can do in a simple way that will alter your

molecules. And when your molecules are altered, the world sees you a

little differently, or maybe they even see you. So

Well, to make it easy for everyone who's listening in, we

have the links to Marie's website right beneath this video if you're watching it

on video. If you're listening on a podcast, just check the

player that you're in and, all of Marie's links are there.

Her website and her freebie, the

17 ridiculously simple ways to enhance your magnetic

leadership. You you have that memorized so well. I had to read it.

I'd love the title of that. I love a title.

Well, you know, I wanted to add one other thing for the women that might

be listening. I do a lot of things with women and women's communities, and I

have a complimentary Facebook community, that seems to get a

lot of play. People share on it, and I kind of post to do some

things on it. Anybody's welcome to, click on it, but it's

called connect and prosper community. My whole stand

is about connecting and prospering because without that connection,

nothing's gonna happen really. You know? But you're welcome to go there.

Connect and prosper community and, say hello.

That would be great. We'll we'll make sure that we include the link to that

here as well. And, look. The this has

all been really amazing, and I love your

story and your energy and just everything that you bring to the

table. And, and I'm really glad that we're getting to

know each other as well and that we can support each other's businesses as

we as we go forward. Because after all, as we've talked about for

the last 26 minutes, that is really, what we both

believe it takes to, you know, succeed. And it's all about the

relationships that we can surround ourselves. And you said community

is such a beautiful word because, you know, what communities are you part

of? And, and I think that's so important. Before I

let you go, I wanted to ask you a question that I ask of all

my guests. It started off as a social experiment. I didn't know what I I

thought I was gonna get the same answer all the time, and I don't. So

I'm very curious. But I ask all my guests, if you were to, out

of all of the books that you've ever read that have helped

you on your journey, and I know a lot of books have helped me on

my journey, if you had, to recommend just

one book as a must read recommendation to our

listeners, which one would you recommend? Well,

I'm reaching back into my archives. Mhmm. And

so you I don't know if you might know about this book, but, it's one

that has been around for a long time, and it's called The

Game of Life. It's by Florence Scoville

Shinn. And, I've been a fan for a long

time, and it just really talks about life. And I think it's a

book that is about life. It's not necessarily business, but

it's about the people business and our own business with

ourselves and what our beliefs are and and how we treat people.

It's just got some really wonderful rooted tenants that I think have

lasted many, many, many years and have served

me greatly. And so I speak about it. Can I give you a bonus book

too? Yes, please. Alright. Here's my other bonus book.

Anything by Catherine Ponder, I love. So, you

know, she again has been around for a long time.

She has a book that's called the dynamic laws of prosperity,

And I think it's very great to have as a wonderful handbook,

especially in those times when we feel like, oh, I lost that

client or my group didn't fill or that client wanted to cancel or

or when we were getting that fear mode or whatever. There's some wonderful

things, some great affirmations, some spiritual treatments

that can really help, and I think it really opens up the space to allow

for more. So 2 of my favorite books. You know, not

only have I not read that one, I'm not sure I've heard of it. So

I'm gonna add that to my list and we'll put the links to that, right

beneath this video and in the podcast. I'll check that out.

That's that's a great recommendation. This is where I get to learn about new books

as well. The Game of Life by Florence Scovel Shinn,

has changed my life. That

it's such an eye opener. The first, the first time I read it,

then I got the audiobook. You can actually get the audiobook for free

on YouTube, and I have the audio

recording on my phone, and, I listen to

it multiple times a month. Wow. Yeah. I never

knew you could do that. Thank you. Yeah. So that's the thing with some of

the, older, self help books back from

the Nightingale, Conant, and even earlier than that.

There is a, group called the Master Key Society. I think they're a

nonprofit, and what they've done is all of these, books that are now in the

public domain. They read them, and

they're available on the audiobook. So you can get that book. You

can get, like, The Science of Getting Rich and, all of these

other just amazing Classics. Yes. The

classics. But they're what I love about

them is they're not derivative work. They're, like, there

was there was some of them are really original where

there was an moment that caused them to to write that

book, and it was they're written at a time before,

you know, today, everyone can be an author. Right?

Correct. There was a time where that wasn't true.

And and and writing a book of any

kind was a huge endeavor. And,

and so I do really appreciate those classics because

there's so much to be learned from them. The Game of

Life has been, just a wonderful book. So we'll put all the links

there. And, yeah, go check out the Master Key Society on

YouTube that, you'll get a lot of the classics there for free on,

as audiobooks. So there you go. What a bonus

for me here. It's good. Awesome.

Thank you. Yeah. That that's great. So thank you

for the recommendations of the books. Thank you for all your wonderful information

and your stories. Your energy, your passion for this is just amazing.

And as we bring this, episodes to a close,

if you have any final words of wisdom or piece of advice for our audience,

what would that be?

Do it now. Do it now. Keep on keeping on.

You know, anything any of our setbacks is temporary,

and just keep forging, align, keep

moving. I love that. Those are beautiful words to end this

episode by. And you and I are just so on the same page about this.

I I I I love that. So go

ahead over to our audience. If you've got something out of this today,

make sure that there is one thing that you took away from this

episode, and go take action on that today. Maybe it's an

idea. Maybe it's a phone call. Maybe it's a converse, a conversation or

a connection you need to make that can make a difference in your business.

Maybe it's to schedule a a a call with Marie.

You can do that as well. We've got all of her links there,

beneath this video. And in the meantime,

in your journey, in your pursuit of business,

through all the ups and downs, remember that the only way to fail

is to quit, and, the path is forward. So

keep moving forward, everybody, and we will see you on the next one. Thank

you.