Expand Your Fempire Podcast #109 Transcript

The Five Pillars of Your Fempire Revisited

Welcome to Expand your Fempire with Caterina Rando, the podcast for women in business on a mission. Sharing ideas to support you to grow and thrive. Now here’s your host, Caterina Rando.

[00:00:00] Caterina Rando: This is Caterina Rando. Welcome back to another episode of the Expand Your Fempire podcast. As I speak with you today, we’ve recorded and released over 108 episodes. At this point, my guess is that you probably haven’t listened to them all. I wanna share with you today our second episode, which was about the Five Pillars of Fempire Builders.

[00:00:59] And the reason why this is so important and why I want you to embrace what I have to share with you in this episode is because in business, in your business, it’s not simply about becoming aware of new ideas. It’s not simply about taking that awareness to action. It’s not even about getting good at the actions that you take. It’s about becoming masterful.

[00:01:30] And I am so excited for you to listen to this episode about the five pillars because we talk a lot about this at our Expand Your Fempire Summit.

[00:01:44] And this year that’s happening November 4th, 2022. You are invited. If you haven’t already registered, you can use the code Cat V I P C A T V I P to register at a super inexpensive price because we send you a crown and some other fun things in the mail to remind you that you are the queen of your Fempire.

[00:02:15] And this episode is not just something I wanna encourage you to be able to recite and know. It’s really a key part of mastering these five things in your business and taking your attention off everything else so that you’re blissing more, you’re in your zone of genius more.

[00:02:36] Please enjoy episode two, which is now gonna be episode 109 of our Expand Your Fempire podcast. And if you haven’t listened to all the other amazing episodes and interviews I’ve done within the episodes- I encourage you, download them or put them wherever you put your podcasts and listen to them.

[00:02:59] Because remember, it’s not just about hearing and becoming aware. It’s not just about action. It’s not even about consistent action. It’s about mastery.

[00:03:10] And my desire for you is that you master these five pillars. That you are blissing in your business. And by the way, myself and my thriving women in business community are here to support you, and I encourage you to connect with us.

[00:03:26] Enjoy.

[00:03:27] Caterina Rando: This podcast is for women on a mission. Women on a mission that use their business – your business – to be of service in whatever way is most important to you. If you have your own business bing, bing, bing! Let’s celebrate! I am so excited for you. I am so excited for you because you are living an authentic life.

[00:04:09] You know, many times over the years, I’ve had a new client in a new business who has come from working in a corporate organization or another type of company where she didn’t get to be her true self. Where she didn’t get to be in her feminine power, where she didn’t get to hug people or, or be kind to people or be a gracious listener in the way that she would in her regular life because she had to be the way the company or the organization wanted their people to be.

[00:04:52] You know what’s awesome and amazing and fabulous about having your own business? You get to do it any way you want. I blow kisses to my clients when I’m finishing up a zoom chat. We say bing, bing, bing during lots of meetings, because it’s fun. I like door prizes, and I like to have great food at our events when we meet live and I like to shine the spotlight on all the amazing women in our community and celebrate what they’re doing on a regular basis. In other words, my business is 100% a reflection of me, my values and not only the mission for my business, but the purpose I give my life.

[00:05:53] I have clients that do all kinds of different things. They’re aroma therapists, they’re channels, they’re sales coaches, they’re event planners. They’re whatever you can imagine, a woman in business being… I’ve hosted and coached and consulted with many different kinds of women over the years, the more traditional businesses, financial planners, real estate agents, all of those kinds of women as well. Here’s what I want you to know. None of them, nor I, nor you are just in that kind of business. The other business we’re in is the empowerment business.

[00:06:44] When I was 14 years old, I was in high school. I went to a Catholic school. I wore a plaid skirt to and from. About six blocks from my high school was the San Francisco office of the equal rights amendment campaign. Yes, this is going way back.

[00:07:09] When I went after school to volunteer at that office to stuff envelopes and do whatever else they asked me as a 14-year-old to do. I learned that women earned only 49 cents on the dollar at the time – women of color, less. Now, even today when the number of cents a woman earns to a man’s dollar is higher – I believe we’re at 79 cents right now – at that time, it was very upsetting to learn that.

[00:07:54] It was also very upsetting as a young person to become aware that the President was not going to ratify the ERA, the President didn’t think that women had equal rights under the law? This saddened me. This, this hurt my soul. And that’s when I decided that I was going to dedicate my life to helping women uplift their lives economically.

[00:08:33] Eventually I became a business coach. Now I’m telling you this because I want you to recognize that I’m not just in the business coaching business, and you’re not just in the personal training or the nutrition or the life coaching or the image consulting or the interior design business. You, my friend, are also in the empowerment business. I hope with all my heart, that you will embrace that. And you will realize that that is what your business is all about. And whatever means you have selected, whatever medium you have selected as your focus, your secondary focus is empowerment.

[00:09:29] Now I’m talking to you about this today because I want to talk with you -and I told you in the last episode of this podcast, that we would talk about the five pillars of building your Fempire. And the reason why this is so important, and the reason why we are shining the spotlight on this today is because as women we are good at many things. Not only are we good at many things, we do many things. We are capable of doing many things. Many of us have so much energy, we go from early in the morning till late at night. And as a result, we don’t always do what’s the highest and best use of our time.

[00:10:23] And I’m going to discuss with you now, the five pillars of building your Fempire, or if you already have a Fempire, which is a woman-owned business set up for the purpose of doing good and positively impacting your community. If you already have a Fempire, then you know what, we’re going to talk about? How to expand your Fempire. Because guess what my friends? The more you expand your Fempire, the more women you get to serve, or the more people you get to serve, the more lives you get to uplift. And guess what also, you know, I’m going to say it, the more people you get to empower – bing, bing, bing! Isn’t that awesome?

[00:11:10] Here they are: the five pillars of your Fempire are Speaking, Selling, Serving, Strategy and Self-care. Speaking, Selling, Serving, Strategy and Self-care. Now I want to be very clear that these are in no particular order.

[00:11:34] Oftentimes ladies say to me, “Caterina, why is self-care last?” It’s only last because that’s how I say it. It’s not last because it’s least important. In fact, we could put it in the front and we could say it’s most important because if you’re not taking great care of yourself, and let’s start with that pillar, then how are you gonna take care of everyone else? We cannot give from an empty cup. Our cup has to be full. It has to be runneth over. And then we have surplus to give. And by the way, let’s be very clear. I believe that you have a lifetime supply of value to bring. Let’s be further clear though, that your value is not just your expertise, your skills at bookkeeping, your skills at whatever your focus is. Catering, whatever it is. That’s not only your value.

[00:12:41] Your other massive value, if you’re doing it right, is your heart skills. Now I shine the spotlight on this, because like I touched on earlier, if you had a career before entrepreneurialism you may not have been fully utilizing all of your amazing heart skills in your business.

[00:13:06] And now, excuse me, in your previous career, now in your business is an opportunity to bing, bing turn them up and amplify all of those skills. If you’re a good listener, let’s amplify that. If you’re good at acknowledgement, which is absolutely a skill by the way, let’s turn it up. Let’s amplify it. If you’re good at having fun. If you’re good at humor. If you’re good at keeping things light, let’s amplify that heart skill. Are you following me?

[00:13:40] You have massive value to bring in what I want you to recognize before we dive even more into these five pillars, is that your value is not just the business stuff that you sell or expertise or strategy or brilliance that you bring. It is also who you are. And let’s be very further clear that guess what my friend? Who you are is monetizable.

[00:14:12] Let me say that again, who you are is monetizable. What I mean by that is that there’s probably a lifetime supply of people that do something very similar to what you do.

[00:14:27] I used to work a lot with image consultants. I could swing my feather boa in, in any networking women’s business situation. And if I swing my feather boa, I’m going to hit five image consultants or real estate consultants or financial planners or life coaches. I’m sure you would agree.

[00:14:49] Why though do people pick you? They don’t pick you just because you know how to sell a house or you know how to help them with their endurance or how to help them with their health. They pick you because of how you make them feel when they are with you. And hopefully if you’re doing it right, you are doing what I’m going to share with you now, which is very significant. You’re making them feel, seen, heard, acknowledged, valued, cared for, welcomed and included. That my friend, is about who you are, not what you do.

[00:15:43] And I share this with you because as we talk about your five pillars, you might be thinking about your business expertise, but I’m saying, no, my friend who you are, you bring your whole self to your business. And that is why you thrive. And that person that you are, guess what? That person is the person who gets to lead your Fempire, who is Queen of your Fempire.

[00:16:13] And you get to be the advocate for what you want to be an advocate for. You get to have guiding principles with your clients that you share. You get to spotlight or uplift or promote anybody you want. You get to be extra generous with whomever you want. You get to add a little extra something to serve whoever you want. Because you know what? It’s your party, it’s your Fempire.

[00:16:45] The thing is though, that if you are doing everything you are not being much of a leader, you are being a worker bee. Now we love worker bees. We need worker bees. That’s different though than being the leader of your Fempire. That is why I’m saying, my friend, five things that you put your attention on: speaking, selling, serving strategy and self-care.

[00:17:14] We touched a little bit on self-care. I want you to put yourself on your calendar. Now I come from an immigrant background. My parents were born in the U S their parents came over from Italy, through Ellis Island. They had their own businesses. One of my grandfathers was a shoemaker. The other grandfather had a grocery store, both neighborhood businesses with which they used to raise their families, to buy real estate, and to send their children to college. I am so proud and grateful that they were courageous enough to get on that boat and come here. Because you know what, my friends? I’ve been there and it’s a nice place to visit, but it’s not the place like our amazing country where you can get an idea and turn it into a Fempire.

[00:18:19] The thing about being an immigrant, of an immigrant lineage, is that you get this attitude of work, work, work, and work more. Seven days a week. From the AM to the PM. And when I first started my business, that’s really what I did. My first business was a cafe and catering business. That’s what I did. I worked hard from the early in the morning until late at night. And I would be exhausto at the end of the day or exhausto on my one day off. And I began to realize that you can’t live that way, because you can’t serve when your tank is empty.

[00:18:58] And as I’ve gotten older and been doing my thing, I have done and developed certain things to support myself. Now, by the way, be very clear. I am not the master of self-care. I have lots of ladies in our community that you can call on that in a much more masterful at it.

[00:19:18] The thing that I want you to recognize is that when we think of self-care, we don’t necessarily think of our boundaries, of asking for what we want, of saying no, of not giving our time where we don’t want to give it. And those are my self-care strategies that I want to encourage you to have your attention on in your business. That’s the self-care pillar. And by the way, we have an upcoming podcast with Aeriol Ascher, fabulous expert on self-care. And we’ll have more. And there are so many other people that that’s their whole wheelhouse.

[00:20:01] My wheelhouse is speaking and selling. And let’s talk a little bit very brief because my friends, I want to give you more of the concept of the five pillars and we’ll have more detailed podcasts on others. Speaking works because it allows you to build insta-influence.

[00:20:21] If you’re not speaking, what are you waiting for? Zoom speaking counts also. Get some people in a room, share your massive value, and invite them to take the next step with you. Speaking, selling.

[00:20:39] Now we are going to talk more about selling because I have a lot of ideas about selling authentically and femininely that conflict with some of the things that you’ve learned, if you have been traditionally trained in selling. We will talk about this more.

[00:21:02] The thing is though, the reason why this applies very strongly and importantly, as we discuss the five pillars, is because most of you are not spending enough time on selling.

[00:21:17] Selling is inviting people to work with you. Marketing is letting everybody know how amazing you are and what you have to offer. Now, by the way, you will notice marketing is not one of the five pillars. You know why? Because it’s not the highest and best use of your time. You get a team for that. You get a team to help you with your marketing, because people are not paying you – unless your business is marketing – people are not paying you for your marketing. They’re paying you for your area of expertise. That’s the serving – speaking, selling, serving – serving your clients. Or building influence to gain more clients, or meeting with potential referral partners.

[00:22:14] You need time for that, but if you’re the bookkeeper and the marketer and the admin assistant, and by the way, the house cleaner, you are not having enough time for speaking, selling, serving, and strategy. Forget about self-care. We know you’re not doing that. Speaking selling, serving, strategy.

[00:22:42] You probably have read the book, “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. If you have not, you can probably get it on audio books. There’s even some videos on YouTube of Napoleon Hill going way back. In that book, and I mentioned him because he was one of the first experts on personal achievement. He shares that you take time every day to plan for the next day. I want to make sure that you are doing that. Every day. You take today and you plan for the next day. You take tomorrow, you plan for the next day. End of the week, you plan for the next week. End of the month, you plan for the next month.

[00:23:28] The reason why this is so effective is because your subconscious gets busy working for you when you have told it, “Hey, tomorrow, we’re going to be writing a blog.” Okay, great. Your subconscious gets busy … that’s one thing I hope you have your attention on.

[00:23:46] We will discuss more on all these five pillars. I want to introduce the concept to you today, and more importantly, have you look – which of these five pillars is not getting enough attention in my business? Am I speaking once every blue moon? And not on a regular basis? You know what? I’m going to give you a super strategy for success right now.

[00:24:12]  One of the things that my clients have been doing lately that has been working so well for the new business owner and the very seasoned business owner is every week have a thing.

[00:24:27] Now that thing might be a virtual zoom meeting, it might be a webinar, it might be a Q and A session where you invite people to come and bring their questions about money or health or whatever your area that you focus on is. At the thing, what do you do? Invite them to the next thing. By the way, this is a very important guiding principle of your business: at the thing you invite them to the next thing.

[00:24:58] Do you have a thing? Do you have a consistent thing? A regular thing. Something to invite them to? Because guess what? We have clients and gain clients after we have built influence. Do you have a thing to invite people to? You need a thing to invite people to.

[00:25:22] I do every month two afternoon teas, where we have a theme and we get together and we meet via Zoom. About 12 ladies. Some of them are my clients. Some of them are ladies that I’ve invited to my thing. You know, what happens every single time? I meet new ladies that usually become my clients because I have a thing or a workshop. I host one to two workshops every month. Why? Because I always have a thing to invite people to. Do you have a thing? This is around your selling. Really you’re building influence for selling.

[00:26:04] Serving. Are your clients getting enough attention? Do you have systems in place? Do you have support in place to serve your clients? Speaking, serving, strategy. Are you reviewing your goals every day? I hope so, my friend. Are you looking at your action plan every day? I hope so. Because this will keep you working even at a subconscious level to make upgrades. Another guiding principle for your business – always be upgrading.

[00:26:37] And my friend, the more you put attention on these five pillars, speaking, selling, serving, strategy and self-care, the more your business will thrive. The more you put attention on what am I doing that is not under my five pillars and who can I get to help me with this? The more you will thrive in your business.

[00:26:57] By the way, personal support. I mentioned earlier about your house cleaner. Your house cleaner, a personal assistant that maybe comes half day a week or other people that do in your life what is not the highest and best use of your time. And frankly, what you may not feel like doing. Henry the Gardener comes once a month and he makes my backyard looks so beautiful. We even put in a system to water back there, so that I don’t even have to water it. Bing bing! I love it. And it looks lovely. And it’s uplifting! Ellie who has her own Fempire. She’s the lady who brings her team to my house, cleans it, makes it look fabulous every two weeks. And when she walks in the door, I say, mwuah, you are one of my favorite people on the planet because she uplifts my life with her service.

[00:27:55] Let me also sidebar here to say, look for how you can support other women in your business. Look for women vendors, look for women that are as amazing as you with their own Fempire. I have my marketing gal who lives in Kentucky, Angela. She is amazing. She helps me so much in my business. My admin assistant and my client care person. She’s in Texas. They both have their own Fempires. And my Fempire is their client.

[00:28:30] My friends, so much to talk to you about, we are going to get to know each other so well. Please join me again and frequently and often for the Expand Your Fempire podcast.

[00:28:45] Also, if you are not in our Thriving Women in Business Facebook group – run don’t walk – to join us, because that is where we can connect more frequently and get to know each other more. And please look at our website, CaterinaRando.com/events if you want to join me for any of my virtual workshops or even for afternoon tea.

[00:29:13] Sending you some love, reminding you, you have massive, massive value to bring. There is a lifetime supply of people to serve. Be loud, be proud with your massive value so that you can sell more, serve more, empower and uplift more lives…bing, bing, bing.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Expand Your Fempire with Caterina Rando