Ask An Expert: Caterina Rando Grow Your Business With Heart- Ep.120

Hey welcome to she coaches coaches, I'm your host Candy Motzek. And I'm going to help you find the clarity, confidence and courage to become the coach that you were meant to be. If you're a new coach, or if you've always wanted to be a life coach, then this is the place for you. We're going to talk all about mindset and strategies and how to because step by step only works when you have the clarity, courage and confidence to take action. Let's get started. Hi, friends, and welcome back to She coaches coaches, I have a special guest, Caterina Rando, she is a master certified coach. And she's on a mission to teach, mentor and support women to be themselves. Like that's a big thing right to be themselves, to do their thing, serve their people and massively monetize their mastery. She shows female entrepreneurs how to be loud and proud about the value they bring so that their businesses can thrive, her clients grow, shine, expand, open themselves up to new possibilities, and take their businesses further than ever before. She is all about positivity, integrity, generosity, community, and providing massive value while uplifting others. She's a sought after speaker, an event producer and author. Her latest book is The ABCs of public speaking. And she has also written the book learn to think differently. And that one has been published in over 13 countries and several languages. Now, just before I welcome Caterina en, I want you to know that she and I haven't really met very much. But I will tell you just in meeting her in five minutes. Her bio is exactly what I see. Integrity, positivity, friendly, open, great conversations. And so I'm so pleased to have her on she coaches coaches, Catarina, welcome. So glad you're here.

Thank you candy, it's already been worth the visit with your kind words. Good,

I'm so glad it was you know, you never know, right? How you hit it off with somebody. But just to that conversation that we had a few weeks ago, I just really enjoyed it. And I just knew that this was going to be a great interview, and that the coaches who listen to the episode are going to just get tons of value. So let's start by telling me a little bit about your story. You know, how did you come into this space?

My first business was I owned a cafe and catering business. And I had this friend George Castillo, who I met at the Chamber of Commerce, and he was a sales salesman, he sold voicemail systems. And he asked me if I had a business coach, and I said, Well, no, I don't have a business coach. And he said, Well, I want you to meet my friend, Laura. She's my business coach. And so Laura Whitworth, who's one of the founders of the coaches training institute, was my first business coach. And she first by the way, our first my first job was to take a day off, okay. On that, and he thought that I would make a good coach. And I listened. And I was in the first class of coaches to certify for the coaches training institute. And I hung out my shingle and I started to to serve other women coaching them to grow their businesses. And that was almost 30 years ago. Very happy to have made that choice. Yeah.

Wow. And so, you know, some of my clients I'm a CTI coach to, they're now called the coactive. What do they call corrective Training Institute, but it's still the same organization was I didn't even know for people. Yeah. And so they change their name a couple of years ago, but CTI people are just like every coaching organization coaching school, they are wonderful, heart centered, amazing people. And just to think that you started in the very first cohort really is, I don't know, it's just like, mind boggling to me. And I know that there's a lot of CTI coaches because I have CTI coaches who are clients, they're gonna hear this and you're gonna go what? You spoke to somebody who coached with Laura Whitworth. That's amazing. So, so wonderful.

Thank you. Well, you know, the exciting thing about my relationship with Laura was that she was my coach, but then she became my friend and she invited me to be In her intimate friend circle in this group called the mermaids, which was her and for other, more seasoned women, and they let me in, and I was in my 20s at the time, and I felt so honored. And of course, they had huge influence on me,

huh? Yeah. What do you think? You know, like, a few years have passed under the bridge. Now, looking back, what's the one thing from that group that made all the difference for you?

Feeling seen and heard and valued. And welcomed, included? Like that's really, to be a young, young woman, not super confident, to be invited to hang out with these amazing women, to have them consider me to be worthy, was a huge gift in my life, and their life experience and what they shared with me and their wisdom. And their, their happiness isn't the right word, their comfortableness with being themselves, is what did it?

Yeah, there's something about that, to be comfortable in your own skin to be comfortable with who you are. And to show up that way. You know, so much of the world's stresses and thoughts. And all of that kind of falls away, when you're true to yourself. And when you can just be true to yourself. It's an amazing gift.

And when you have people around you that believe in you that support you that say, you're okay, however they say it. And that's part of our job as coaches to is to reflect back to people what we see in them. And I like to say that it's also our job to hold a bigger vision for our clients than they hold for themselves. Now, of course, as you know, it's their agenda. But that doesn't mean we can't tell them the possibilities that we see. And you know, what's amazing is, sometimes they live into those, and bliss, because they wouldn't have never thought of it if we didn't see it for them.

Yeah, yeah, like you can only see, you know, you only see the four walls that you live in, right, you don't necessarily see on the other side of the world or, and I just sometimes I think about that, because, you know, I do a similar thing for my clients, I just see that potential, and hold that belief for them and hold the, the belief in the who I see them as. And I think about what kind of a change that has on the world. Right, like, it's incredible, really transforms the world,

and what kind of change it has on them in their lives. You know, I think that we don't talk enough about the value of being acknowledged and seen for who we are and who we can be. And that's one of the beautiful things about coaching is, you know, your client hires you, and your job is to give them 100% of I know, it's more complex than this, but you know, you're giving 100% of your attention to them, when you're with them, for them, to serve them. You know, it's not a girlfriend conversation, it's not a catch up. It's intentional time, to uplift their life or their career or their business. And that is a huge gift that we get to bring. As coaches.

It's one of the reasons I love coaching so much. It's just a special place. Ah, mazing I know that one of the areas that you've definitely grown into and that you support people with is in selling, and then selling in that place of really being authentic to themselves. Talk a little bit about that.

Yeah. The thing is, none of us really have started our coaching business, Candy saying, hey, I want to do sales every day, you know, if we were we would have gone and got a sales job, right? But the thing is that if you can't sell you can't serve, because most coaching clients can't and I again, General, but most coaching clients come from a coaching conversation. And I actually perhaps controversial here, but I actually don't believe in Discovery sessions because I want people to build influence with their potential clients before they get on a call with them so that they're not trying to build influence on the call. And I know that's different than a lot of people think but the thing thing is that if we can build influence with people, then they're open to us asking if they want to work with us. And that is what I is the authentic way to do it. No scripts? No, no, you know, pain point pushing, just simply saying, Hey, here's some value, I can bring you build some influence, and make it easy for them to become a client. So that's my belief. And a lot of coaches haven't really mastered the art of doing that. And, and I do want people to be themselves in those conversations, to have it feel good. You know, here's the thing to know that some people are instant, yes, but some people take years to become our client, but they're not going to return our phone call the second or third or fourth time if if they didn't have a positive experience the first time?

And the second and the third time. Right, exactly.

Right. Right. And, you know, that's the thing is that we have to keep people engaged between when we connect with them, and when they're ready to go. And I actually like to say, don't wait till you're ready act, when you're willing. How do we get people to be willing is by bringing them value, through their engagement with us via a conversation or workshop, or podcast, however we do it.

So, and this is, this is something that is as important. So one of the, you know, one of the things that I find with new coaches is most of them have been very successful people in their life, but they haven't been self employed people, right sob, Ulus employees, or fabulous leaders or whatever. But they, they come to this place where trying to think of how to describe it. They forget, like you said that being a coach is a is a skill set, you know, like it's a an energy that you hold is a skill set that you have, and that there's no business if you don't have the business side of it, too. Right. Right. So when you're talking about, you know, having influence and and helping people, I talk the language of assets. This is why, you know, sometimes just with playing social media, I refer to that as churn and burn, you know, like, it goes out, it goes through the scroll, it's gone. But what can you do that has lasting value, that helps the people who could be in your circle, who may potentially be your clients, and that's building assets. So those are things like, really thoughtful?

So that's the thing of assets, you know, how do you create something that has lasting value, be it a podcast, be it, blog post, be it, video, or any kind of content that really helps your people. And that's the, you know, that's the side of building a business that has a bench of something that you can lean back on. So when you think about that, how does that align with what you're talking about, about influence? Well,

I love the idea of assets, you know, videos, podcasts, etc. And the way I feel you're gonna fill your practice, the shortest distance between a client, a coach and his next, or her next client is a conversation. The thing is that you want to have my recommended rinse and repeat strategy for building influence is a workshop that you can do every month. So you always have some people to something to invite people to, when you're getting referrals when you're networking, people are meeting you, but you're not building influence. So let's build influence in a one to many format, where you're not having to have 30 conversations, you're instead you're inviting 30 people to come to your workshop, you have that many smiles on the screen. And what's happening there too, is it's also I'll call it a group interview because you're checking out if these individuals are the right match for you. You know, when we talk about clients, we don't really talk enough about well, you have to make sure that you want them to and rather than having 30 combos, what if you had 10 combos with the people that you really want to be your client that really want to be your client, so that you're using your time effectively, but then the other thing is, like we said, another 10 of those people might not be quite ready for you yet. But you can continue to engage with them. Until they are. That's another reason why I love the workshop is it gives you a way to be of service for the people that are not ready to be your clients yet.

Sorry, go ahead.

No, well, the other thing Kandi is that I think that ways of in people in giving value where we're interacting with people is important, where they feel seen by us. And a workshop is a great way to do that. We can also do that in a clubhouse room. But podcasting or even Facebook Live, these are more we're doing the output. And I'm not saying don't do it. But I consider that more marketing, and the workshops marketing to but I think it's more direct pack direct to sales.

So just getting into conversation with people. Yeah, cool. Tell me, I have a question about selling. Because I mean, like you've already explained, and I agree, new coaches are often really nervous about selling, you're nervous about their skill, they're nervous about asking, they're nervous about all kinds of stuff around that dynamic. What do you think about that? And what kind of, you know, what kind of guidance do you give people? Well,

the thing is that if they've never sold, it's totally legitimate and appropriate for them to be nervous about it. I mean, I know I certainly was, and, and it's a new skill, you know, you become a coach, you think, Okay, I've got my coaches training, I'm ready to go. Well, that's maybe for the coaching, but not for the selling not for the operations, not for the client care, not for the marketing. So those are skills to develop. But let me say this, the big mistake coaches make is they're trying to do everything in their business. And I think that you have five jobs, not 25. Speaking. And I mean, speaking in the broad sense of the word, podcasting videos, speaking, selling, unless you have a sales team, look in the mirror, does anybody have a sales team? Yeah. That's where it is, okay. Speaking, selling, of course, serving your clients. That's your delivery of coaching. And then also the strategy, right, you're the decision maker for what's going to happen in your business. And your last job is self care, because you know, that you can't give from an empty cup. And if you don't have vitality, you can't be an awesome coach. Right? So, so that's five jobs. But notice, I didn't say marketing. I didn't say bookkeeping, I didn't say web design. I didn't say, graphic design, you know, people spending hours on Canva. is ridiculous, because because the other thing about your five jobs is that those are the five jobs that you have to master. But every hour you spend fooling around trying to learn how to search engine optimize our hours that you're not mastering those five things that are really your job. Now, eventually, you can have a sales team, you can have sales support, but but in the beginning, it's you. And what are your clients care about? They care about how can you help me? Right? And so you're the one that has to talk to them. And so you have to master that ability to talk to individuals and have them be a yes, to work with you.

Agreed. And I do see a lot of coaches of all, you know, like all levels of experience spending a lot of time fiddling on their websites, you know, should I have this blue, sirillium Blue or prussian blue. And you know, and while I really appreciate good graphic design and beauty, and the lovely website that gives a clear message and sort of really evokes your personal brand. I also know that sometimes that's the place where coaches hide, it feels like you're doing something really, you know, valuable. But in actual fact, unless you're actually talking to anybody inviting people to in conversation, you're really building the business like you could build website and never and never have a client. So right. Doesn't help.

Right? Because and I can tell you in 30 years, most clients 99% of clients don't come from your website. I mean, after they know about you, they go and look there, you know, and maybe some coaches have really great SEO, where they have clients come through their website, but most people are going to shopper Round, if they're doing a web search for a coach, they're going to look at a ton of coaches. And really the more people can engage with us personally, the more they're going to be a yes to be our client. But the thing is, we still have to ask. That's why sales is such an important skill. And what sales is, is it's inviting people to be your client. But if you're not doing it, you're not going to get clients. I talked to a lady today she's telling me about her next book. She's working on her new website, her new course or new this or new that. And she wants three to five new clients. Well, I said, How many people? Have you asked to be your client in the last week? Well, the answer was none. Okay, so that's a pretty circuitous route, to get another three to five clients. Yeah.

Yeah. She could work a whole heck of a lot less and impact a whole heck of a lot more. Right. Right. Okay. So our time is just about up. Last tip that you would offer to coaches in building a business creating influence.

My friend, I got a lifetime supply. Yeah. Let me say this. The more you speak, the more you will get clients. And if you're not embracing speaking and workshops, you're missing out.

They're good.

One speech can change everything.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like I say that, you know, every client is one thought away from saying, yes. You know, they're thinking, maybe she could help me. Maybe he does know, the right, the easiest pass, maybe this will make my life easier.

Now, my friend, that's the thing, they are out there thinking, maybe this coach can help me. But they don't let us know that they're thinking that. I want to give you an example. So when I do a workshop, I might have 30 smiles on the screen. And I say, hey, if you'd like to talk to me about the thriving sales program, put in the chat, and I'll follow up with you. One or two people do that. Now, we may get a lot more clients from that. But that's because I reach out to them. And I say, Would you like to talk to me? So it's very important that we don't wait for people to come to us.

Invite, ask welcome all of the things. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Well, this has been super helpful, and I know that my listeners are gonna get a lot of value out of it. So for those listeners that want to learn more about you, how could they find out more about you?

Thank you so much for asking candy. When you go to my website, Katarina rando.com There's a freebies button, Katarina rando.com/links. And there we have many free gifts. for coaches to thrive in their business, we have a bliss in your business checklist, we have an ebook on how to get booked, we have a we have a link to register for our next free workshop, I do one or two free workshops every month on selling speaking retreats, and there's a plethora there to support you to thrive more in your business.

That's awesome. And I'm gonna put the link both links, the one to your free resource page, and then the one just to your homepage. And then people can just click through and get into your world and sign up for your list and learn more about how to improve their selling. How to get more intentional about their asking notice I'm looking for the word that I really wanted to use. And I think it's intentional. You know, like, let's ask people, let's invite people. Yeah, thank you so much. It's been great having you.

Thank you my privilege.