Expand Your Fempire Podcast #116 Transcript

How to Embrace H.E.A.R.T. Strategies for More Business Success

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: Welcome back to another episode of the Expand Your Fempire podcast. This is your host, Caterina Rando, and I am listening to be with you today. Because we are talking about an exciting topic.

 This is the time of year that we have extra spotlight on gratitude. What I wanna say to you though is that gratitude is something that I invite you to amplify in your business every day. Now, gratitude is something we do with ourselves, but you know what expresses gratitude… is acknowledgement.

I’m gonna share with you right now the H.E.A.R.T. Method for you to look at several aspects of your business so that something very exciting is happening, and that’s what the H is for in heart. Happiness matters in your business. What I’d like to say is I want you to bliss all over your business. Heart matters.

And I said to the gals that were with me this morning in one of my groups, I said, “You know, this is the time of year for you to look at where are you blissing in your business? What are you loving doing? What’s making you so happy, and where are you not blissing?” And there’s two things that I think are gonna help you in making that decision.

One is to look at what are all the things that are not the highest and best use of your time? Because I can tell you something, those things that are not a good use of your time are also the things that are not making you bliss. Did you hear that? Cause you started your business to express your passion, to express your service, to be of service.

I’m looking at my friend Nancy, who is a dynamic, fabulous speaker, and Nancy, when you hear her talk about the courses that she’s helping people create for their companies, she is blissing! I also know like most of us, there’s certain things that she doesn’t love to do in her business. That’s for all of us, right? What are you doing that doesn’t make you bliss? Let’s get it off your plate.

Here’s something else I know that makes you bliss -seeing the amazing results that your clients are getting when they’re working with you.

I was with actually one of my clients, some of you know her name Stephanie. She is a personal trainer. And guess what, three times a week we get together via Zoom and I grab my weights. We work out together.

I met her at a conference when she didn’t even have a business. Now she’s been in our community for three years. She’s writing. She just got published in a book. She’s all over the place. Her success makes me bliss. That’s what I know makes you bliss in your business.

So I’m inviting you to put more attention on making sure that the happiness is all over your business. Are you with me, my friends? Bing. Bing. That’s the first one.

The next one: engagement is the queen of everything. That’s what the E is for. There’s a very important distinction I wanna make in business – promotion is not engagement. So what do I mean by that? You send out your emails, you send out your direct mail, you have great social media, and maybe you get some social media engagement.

But you know what engagement is, is when people feel seen by you. Face time is engagement. It’s very interesting. I was giving a talk a few weeks ago and the topic of my talk was building influence in business. And before I had the privilege of talking, the person running the meeting, the meeting leader, she said to all the ladies in the room – she said, “When you introduce yourself right now, share how other people build influence with you.”

And of course I’m listening attentively. Do you know what the ladies said? Did they say, “Oh, tons of experience. Oh, long client list. Oh, credentials.” Did they say that? Well, a couple of them said that. But of the 30 ish ladies in the room, do you know what they said? “They see me, they hear me. They value me.”

And I’m sharing that with you because we often think getting clients and engagement is about us sharing our expertise. And I’m saying to you that let’s take some of that attention and energy and resources and time off of all that. And putting it on engaging with the people that are our current clients and that we would like to be our future clients.

Are you with me on that my friends? Engagement is the queen of everything.

Now, why do I say engagement is the queen of everything? Because you’ve heard that content is king and I’m saying whether or not content is king, engagement is where I want to encourage you to put more attention. Does that sound good?

 Bing. Bing. Okay, good. So we’ve talked about happiness matters. Engagement is the queen of everything.

And the next thing I want to invite you to do is to amplify your acknowledgement. Gratitude is something we do with ourself. Acknowledgement is when we do it with other people. We take, “Hey, I’m blissing about this. Hey, I’m grateful for this” And we express it.

And this is something that I feel is essential to wearing your heart all over your business, which is the point of all of this.

You know, I’m gonna sidebar here and say that I’ve been talking a while about this idea that, you know, there’s this saying in our culture that it’s not personal, it’s business, right? Have you heard that? And I’ve said, you know, “what psycho came up with that saying?” Well, then I decided to actually look it up. And do you know that it is actually a psycho ish that came up? I mean, of course that’s, you know, open to judgment, but it’s actually a saying that Otto Beman, who was a ruthless accountant for the mob in the 1930s, he’s the one that coined that phrase!

Okay, my friends. I know that’s not a role model for you. So I’m saying to you, let’s be very clear business as we choose to do it as thriving women, as women with big hearts, is that we totally feel that business is personal.

Don’t you care about your clients and care about the great results that they get and care that you do a great job for them? I’m sure you do.

So I’m inviting you to wear your heart all over your business. This one I have, I love this one. This is my favorite one. Wear your heart all over your business and one of the big ways that you wear your heart all over your business is that you acknowledge people.

I’m gonna give you my two minute masterclass in acknowledgement. And some of you’ve heard it before, but guess what? The goal, and here’s the thing. Guiding principal alert, guiding principal alert for your whole business, okay? Ready for it? It’s not about learning stuff. It’s not even about doing stuff. It’s about mastering those things that we seek to master. And I’m inviting you to master, not just say, “Okay, I’m gonna wear my heart all over my business,” but to pursue mastery in wearing your heart all over your business.

And one of the ways is through not only acknowledging but mastering your acknowledgement. So here’s what I want you to do right now. Does anybody have a pen and a post note within arms distance or close? Okay, now, if you have it, go get it. If you don’t have it a piece of paper will do, okay and have it ready? And now we’re gonna do this.

I could say to my friend Theresa, I could say, “Theresa, thank you so much for your lovely introduction.” That’s an acknowledgement, right? But that’s just a “doing” acknowledgement.

And you’ve all been taught that. “Hey, say thank you,” That’s fine. But that is way too basic for a empowered woman who’s empowering others and wearing her heart all over her business.

Now, I could say, “Theresa, thank you so much for your warm introduction.” Not just what she did, but how she did it right? And that’s better, don’t you think? But that’s not good enough for a master of acknowledgement, and that’s what I want you to pursue. Don’t just say, “Okay, I’m gonna do acknowledgement,” pursue mastery.

And mastery’s got a third part. When I say, “Teresa, thank you so much for your warm introduction, you made me feel so seen and gotten.” That’s not just what she did, That’s not just how she did it, but it’s how it impacted me. And this is the part that we usually miss. And this is the part that I not only want you to remember, but I want you to master.

Because you know, I used to own a cafe. I’m not sure if some of you know that. And you know what’s great when you own a cafe, you get really good at names. Cuz every day the same people would come in and I wouldn’t just remember their coffee, you know, espresso beverage. I would remember their names. And you know what happens when you remember their names? They come in more because they feel seen, right?

And so after I sold my cafe, I was still very good at remembering names and it’s kinda like unconscious competent that I always remember people’s names. Well, I want you to get to unconscious competent with acknowledgement -where you’re so good at it, at it and you don’t even have to think about it. Does that sound good?

Okay, so are you ready to take my acknowledgement challenge? Bing, bing, bing.

Okay, here its you gonna take this post note and very simple, you’re gonna write three words. You’re gonna write “do” on the bottom, “be” in the middle, and “impact” on the top. Okay? Now I write it this way. Do be impact with the impact at the top. You could write it, do be impact with the impact on the bottom, whatever you like.

But you’re gonna grab this little post note and you’re gonna stick it on the corner of your computer, stick it right here next to your mousepad, where you are gonna see it constantly. And every time you talk to anybody on the phone, when you’re booking a doctor’s appointment, when you talk to your mailman, don’t mention the word mailman to me because I’m very depresso.

Those of you know my mailman has changed his route. Antonio, who’s given me outstanding postal service for the whole pandemic who delivers, who lets me text him at late in the afternoon to come and get my packages? Okay, I’m ready for my new mailman. I’m sorry. I get depresso so when I say the word mailman. But you know why I got outstanding service from Antonio?

Bing, Bing. You know what he said to me? He texted me, I asked him to come get some packages for me last week, and he said, “Catarina, I’ve changed my route.” And I sent him a note back expressing my gratitude. And you know what he said to me? He said, “You are the fav, my favorite person I have ever had in my job as a postal carrier.”

Now, while I like to think maybe that it’s my good looks and my outstanding personality, I know what it is. It’s this little post note with three words. Every time he comes to the door, he gets this. Why? Because it’s unconsciously competent. So my friends, I’m inviting you to amplify your acknowledgement and it will change your business and it will change your life.

And this little post note with three words is the key. Are you blissing, my friends? Cause this is one of the keys to wearing your heart all over your business. Bing, bing, bing.

Okay, I got more for you though. So the next one, the R, is for reach for more impact. I’ve been in this business for 29 years and that’s why I have a lot of attention on Bliss and heart because in the early years, first of all, at least for me, I’m just figuring out what am I doing okay? And then I’m having my attention on providing more service and bringing more massive value.

But now I got attention on what makes me happy and how am I blissing as I’m doing my thing every day. And so I’m talking a couple days ago with one of my early clients, probably 24 ish years ago. And one of the things that I told her to do, which I have told many people to do, but almost nobody does it. So I’m inviting you to do it, cuz now it’s super easy, not like 25 years ago.

I want you to make a recording in your own voice of all the things that you wanna remind yourself of. Like I attract clients with ease. Everybody wants me is a good thing to put on your recording. I have an endless flow of new, amazing clients.

Whatever it is that you want. I call them success statements like affirmations, success statements. Amanda, this lovely gal, one of the things that’s on her recording that, by the way, she has a new recording, but she still does this, which is why she’s very successful. Amanda has on her recording take a risk a day.

And this is something that I did so often in my early years. Now, I guess I’m, I’m putting it back on my list because that’s what I mean by reach for more impact. What is that thing that you wanna do but it’s a little bit scary?

A couple years ago we launched our app. I guess it’s been about two years we launched our podcast. We’ve done over a hundred episodes. Scary and Scary. Some of you know, I do retreats on cruise ships. Scary to have to promise to pay for all those cabins.

What is it that is scary that will allow you to have more impact? Some of you are doing one on one, but you really wanna do groups, but you’ve been dragging your feet cuz it’s kind of scary. Can you fill that group? Yes you can is the first answer.

And you know, here’s the other thing, super tip, alert, my friends. Super tip alert. Ready is a myth. Ready is a myth. It’s in the doing that thing that you wanna do, that you actually get ready to do it.

Stephanie, I told you about who I work out with three times a week. She was just, as I mentioned, published in a book that another one of my clients published, Sheya. She just went to Sheya’s conference with a hundred people. I remember when Sheya wanted to be a coach, when she hadn’t done anything. Now she’s training other coaches. She’s publishing books, she’s holding conferences.

But you know what her key to success is? Exactly what we’re talking about. Reaching for more impact. Being willing to be uncomfortable.

Now, the thing is sometimes as our business is thriving, we’re doing good, we stop with the willingness to be uncomfortable. Or we just forget about it. Or we just keep doing our thing.

And I wanna ask you right now, take a deep breath. What would make you uncomfortable that you really want?

You know what I really wanna do? I really wanna hold a conference on a cruise ship. I wanna get a hundred gals to come with me. I’m gonna have other speakers. It’s gonna be awesome. I don’t know when yet. That’s my uncomfortable thing that I wanna get on the calendar. What’s yours? Because you know what, one of the things that helps make your thing happen is what I just did being witnessed in whatever your thing is.

As women, we often underestimate the massive value we have to bring. And I’m gonna tell you to get going with that thing that you wanna do, because many of you, you don’t need any more credentials. You don’t need any more seminars. You don’t need any more classes. And this is coming from the gal sales classes and seminars and programs okay? You already have massive value to bring. In fact, you got so much massive value you could do at one eye closed, one hand tied behind your back, standing on one foot in high heels.

We all have massive value to bring in. So I want you to hear what we talked about earlier. It’s in the doing that we get ready. So I’m not saying don’t take that class, but everybody, you don’t gotta wait until you take that class to start bringing your massive value.

So here’s what I wanna say. So there’s the introduction price that you all know about, right? Introductory price, which is less than the regular price. There’s something I like to do before that called the pre publication price. Now, why we’re talking about this is that if you have that idea for that thing that you wanna do, but you’re not sure if it’s gonna fly, put together a list of all the gals or potential clients that you think would be interested in that thing. And then call them and tell them, “You know what? I’m doing this thing and I’m inviting you to do it before I even publish it at an extra discount price.”

‘And when you get the first few gals at your pre publication, then you’re gonna be confident enough to roll it out publicly.

Did y’all hear this? This is how I started doing my cruises. I said to some gals, and they, they were all insta-yes. And that gave me the confidence to do it bigger. Okay? So we can mitigate some of the risk with that strategy.

Everybody take a deep breath, think about what it is that would be more impact for you, that is a little bit un or a lot uncomfortable, and let’s not get ready to get ready to begin to think about getting going. Let’s get in action. Does that sound good? Okay. Bing, bing. Awesome. All right, I’m gonna continue.

Next one, take time to be together. Take time for one-on-one conversations. Take time to be social with the people that you do business with. My friend Tracie and her Gather community, which I’m privileged to be a part of, she has community game night. Every month we get together. It’s all virtual. We play games. Super fun.

You wanna be a yes. When your clients invite you to something, you wanna be a yes. When they invite you to speak, you wanna be a yes. Even if it doesn’t meet your criteria, they ask you for a little extra time. I got a client, I’m just out of the shower, “Caterina, I need 15 minutes today.” I said, “Hey, my friend, you can talk to me right now while I’m getting myself together,” rather than what? Not be available.

Are you following me? Be a yes for your clients.

By the way, some coaches, they say, “Oh, you gotta have all these boundaries.” Now, yeah, you don’t wanna have people take advantage of you. Let me be very clear. Generosity looks good on your business.

I just got a new client. You know why I just got this new client? Because the coach that she has told her that she is always available for her, but never seemed to be available for her. Are you following me, my friends?

Now I know my life is different than your life. I got no pets. I got no plants. I got no kids. I had a date this weekend. I’m still working on the boyfriend part. Okay? But the rest of it. So I know that your life might be fuller, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t take a little time when you can to serve the people that are in partnership with you to make a difference in their life: your clients.

Generosity keeps your clients coming back. And when I say generosity, I don’t necessarily mean dollars. I mean your time, being a good listener, giving people referrals, giving them resources. This is good for your business.

The other thing related to this is client appreciation. Do you have a client appreciation plan? If you don’t have a plan for client appreciation, it’s time for a plan.

And do you have a plan for when people send you referrals?

By the way, some of us are in the fundraising business, but you know what? Even if you’re not in the fundraising business, think of your business the way you would thank donors if you were in the fundraising business.

Do you know what they say? Seven times you thank people. You thank them in the newsletter, You send them a personal note. You thank them at the event. You thank them on social media. You thank them seven times. Are you doing that to people when they give you referrals?

All right, my friends. Take a deep breath. H.E.A.R.T. Wear your heart all over your business:

Happiness matters.

Engagement is the queen of everything.

Amplify your acknowledgement.

Reach for more impact and

take time to be together with your clients more.

The more you wear your heart all over your business, the more you will bliss, the more lives you will uplift, and most importantly, the more impact you will have.

My friends, I’m inviting you to reflect right now on our time together. I have a lifetime supply of more super tips on this particular topic.

If you are not in our Facebook group, please join us, Thriving Women in Business. Please make sure you’re subscribing to this podcast. Please give us a five-star review. My team and I, we put our whole heart in these podcasts that we do for you, because my mission, our mission is, to provide you massive value in order for you to grow, thrive, learn, and of course, bliss more.

Please join us for an upcoming free workshop. Send me a Facebook message. Send me an email. I would love to get to know you and your business more and support you however I can. As we wrap up, look at how you can wear your heart more all over your business, because you know what? You have an endless supply of love to give. The more you give, the more it replenishes. And more importantly, the more you uplift the lives of others and your own. I’m sending you some love. Call on me anytime, for any reason. And I cannot wait to be with you again on another episode of Expand Your Fempire.

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