Expand Your Fempire Podcast #163 Transcript

Caterina’s Essential Work-from-Home Strategies to Grow Your Fempire,

Part 2

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.

[00:00:27]

Welcome back to another episode of the Expand Your Fempire podcast. I’m your host, Caterina Rando, and I am blissing to be with you today because we have a very hot topic.

What I wanna talk to you about today is strategies for you to be more productive, have more soaring sales, and bliss more in your business while working from home.

 Because this is such a big topic, I have so many [00:01:00] super tips for you and things to support you to bliss and thrive more in your business while working from home we are gonna take two episodes for this. Today’s episode is gonna be part two.

Caterina Rando: Okay, my friend. We’re continuing now with more strategies for you to embrace to bliss and thrive more when you are working from home. That’s what I want for you.

One of the things I was talking about this today in my sales class. I wanna make sure that you are paying attention to the numbers in your business.

One of the things that happens when we work from home is there’s so many distractions. And there’s also so many to-dos in your business and aside from your business, that gals are not taking enough time sometimes to look at the numbers.

I [00:02:00] wanna make sure that you are setting goals for how many sales conversations you wanna have every week. That you are making a plan that you’re blocking out that time on your calendar.

I wanna share with you though my specific equation that I wanna recommend you follow, because if you want, let’s say 10 new clients this month…

I follow what I call a four by four by four equation to get those 10 clients.

If I want 10 clients, I’m gonna times that number by four, and that comes out to 40. That means I’m gonna have 40 conversations. Here’s where you say Caterina, “That’s too many.” No, it’s not because that’s only 10 a week. And I hope that you’re talking to at least. 12 people a week, if not 15 people a week.

And the [00:03:00] reason is because not all conversations really are sales conversations. Some of them are connection calls, some of them are consideration calls, and some of them are closing calls. Sometimes we get lucky and a connection call turns into a consideration call and a closing call. However, you don’t know what’s gonna happen before you get on the phone.

If you want 10 new clients this month, you’re gonna times that number by four and have at least 40 conversations, but you don’t have to do ’em all in one week. I want you to be talking to at least 12 to 15 people a week.

Now you say, “okay, Caterina, that sounds good, but how do I get that many appointments? That’s where the next four comes in. You take that 40. And you times it by four and that comes out to 160. 160 reach outs. Reach outs.

What is a reach out? It is reaching out to someone to see if they [00:04:00] wanna talk to you.

Reaching out to past clients, reaching out to potential clients, reaching out to people through DMs on Facebook and LinkedIn, and Insta, whatever platform you’re using and inviting them to a workshop or inviting them to a conversation.

I recommend, you know, if you’ve hung out with me at all before, I recommend that you start by having a brief connect call and then invite them to a workshop where you can build influence. At the time they say yes, they wanna come to the workshop, book that follow-up call also to talk to them after the workshop to get your new clients.

Now, this is a lot of time for reach outs and a lot of time for conversations. That’s how you get clients. And I am sure, my friend, if you are not getting the number of clients you want, you are not talking to enough people.

How this relates to [00:05:00] working from home is you’ve gotta, at home, track your numbers. You can do this on your laptop or you can do it on your wall, which is also fine. Something visual will help you do even more.

Okay, next one. I hope in your business that you are embracing and leveraging technology. Now, when we think of technology, we think of maybe ChatGPT or the latest technology.

There’s other more simple things like an online calendar to send people a link to book a time with you. Having a wall calendar, which is where you can see the whole year at once, so that you don’t put too many events all together on your calendar and you can block out time for family, you can block out holidays, you can see everything, and it’s a tool that helps you be more proactive versus reactive.

There’s all kinds of technology, more advanced, more simple, that can support [00:06:00] you to be more effective and efficient, and look at what technology tools you’ve been thinking about to try them. I’m sure you have a CRM, a client management system or client management software. If you don’t, make sure you get some, because we wanna run our business like a business, and that means we have some automation.

However, Make sure that you are being high touch, not just high tech in your business. That’s why I don’t believe in only email marketing in terms of reaching out to your list.

I believe in DMing direct messaging to people because that is personal. I believe in text messaging if you know them more, not people you don’t know. I don’t think it’s good to text people you don’t know, that’s what dms are for. If you know them and you’re closer to them, then you send them a text.

You can still send a [00:07:00] phone call. That’s what I like to call the double dip, where you send a DM and you leave a message. You can also use the audio messaging feature in direct messaging, which is great when people can hear your voice and your enthusiasm for connecting with them.

Now, how this relates to working from home is I want you to block all that time on your calendar. And let me say this to you: I want you to block time for sales and reach outs on your calendar, and if you’re not happy with your sales, then you wanna block out more time.

If you want 30% more block out 30% more, meaning 30% more sales. If you want 50% more sales. Block out 50% more time. If you want a hundred percent more sales, block out a hundred percent more of the time that you’re spending on sales. So if you’re spending five hours a week, do [00:08:00] 10 hours a week.

Now I know I’m giving you more stuff to do, but let’s be clear. In the beginning of a business or in a period where you’re not having sales, that’s where you wanna put your attention. Because that is where the scaling of your business comes from. That’s where new revenue in your business comes from. And revenue is required, and more revenue is required, to grow and scale and bliss in your business.

In order to give yourself more time, you’re gonna to be more strategic with your time, and you’re gonna have to be more protective of your time. Time is the resource that you cannot renew.

I just got asked today, “hey Caterina, can you make this call on this day? We’re gonna talk about whatever it is we’re gonna talk about.”

Lemme tell you something. You know what? I responded. I said, “you know what [00:09:00] that is right after my Fempire Summit. I cannot commit to adding a call.” Now the truth is I have the time on my calendar, but that time is in a few weeks, and that time is for sales conversations.

Sales conversations are my priority.

Yes, I love connecting with the ladies. And yes, I love the personal discussion and I love the masterminding that we’re gonna do, and I love all that. But my priority the week after Fempire, what’s my priority? Sales.

I wanna emphasize with you that you have to be protective of your time because you have to focus on your priorities.

I say to my gals, “what are the revenue producing activities? Those are the activities that you wanna make sure are getting your attention.”

Related to this, you wanna look at [00:10:00] how you can diminish or eliminate distractions. You really wanna look at where are you spending your time?

Are you getting ROI on your time? What do I mean by ROI On your time?

Where are you investing your time?

And is that time that you’re investing in this committee, or this class, or this networking group, or this get together group, is it giving you the results that you wanted?

Now maybe you joined this group to be more engaged in your community and that result you are getting. Maybe you joined it to get more clients. Are you getting that result? Maybe you joined it to fill your cup and stay connected to amazing women and have better mental health [00:11:00] and to be more uplifted. That’s great. If you’re getting the results you wanted, great.

Sometimes what happens with gals though, is we add groups, we add activities, we add committees, we add projects. And when we start, we think it’s gonna take, you know, a few hours a month, and it starts taking more time and more time.

And you have to always be constantly looking, am I getting the return on my investment that I wanted?

And I pay a lot of attention: what is on my calendar that I’m leaving that activity less uplifted than when I showed up. That is enough of a reason to get it off my calendar.

My girlfriend, I hope you are hearing me on this.

If you’re not uplifted, then it’s bringing you down for your business. Make sure you’re with people and engaged in [00:12:00] activities that are lifting you up. Bing, bing, bing.

Now related to that is look and see where you wanna be uplifted. I want you to get together with the gals that uplift you and do some co-working.

Co-working, as you know, is we get together on Zoom or we get together live and in person, and we work together. You start by everyone introduces themselves and you say what you’re gonna do and however much time you have.

And then you put your head down and you do whatever it is you said you were gonna do. Then at the end of that time block two hours, 90 minutes, one hour, you report back and you all celebrate what you all accomplished. And then depending on how much time you’re taking for co-working, you do another time block and you do the same thing.

In a couple of days at my center, I’m hosting [00:13:00] co-working, inviting gals to come connect, meet some gals, and put our heads down and work. Virtual or live and in person, co-working is great.

But if you’re working from home, you’re not necessarily needing to go to a co-working location. Although you might wanna do that sometimes in your area, if you have a great co-working space. Work most of the time from home and every week go maybe once or every two weeks, go and hang out at the co-working space.

Or invite gals to come hang out with you at your place. Or invite gals to join you in a Zoom room once a week, twice a month, whatever you decide for some co-working. Because I promise you, you will be more focused and more in action than if it’s just you by yourself. When you tell the gals, “Hey, we’re doing some co-working,” and you tell them what you’re gonna do in that time block.

I love [00:14:00] coworking. I think it’s phenomenal. And I encourage you to have more of it in your life. Virtual or live and in person.

Okay. Take a deep breath with me.

Now, we have talked about so many things. But you know me, I got a lifetime supply for you. I’m gonna give you a few more.

I’m gonna remind you that there’s a handout with more tips than we have time to talk about that is available to you. The link is in the show notes. It’s also on my caterinarando.com/links/ page.

By the way, while you’re there, sign up for my upcoming free workshop on speaking on scaling, on selling, on retreats. I like to do one around Valentine’s Day on “Wear your Heart all Over Your Business.” I usually do something for the new year.

I would love to see your smile on the screen. I would love to support you in a workshop [00:15:00] setting to get some more ideas so that you can bliss and thrive more, not only working from home, everywhere in your business.

Okay. Let me give you a few more super tips before we wrap up.

 I want you to remember that perfection is not required and it’s not encouraged. And one of the things that sometimes happens when we’re working from home and we don’t have the deadlines that we would have if we were at a job and the boss says, “I need this by five o’clock.”

Sometimes when we’re working from home and we’re our own boss, we take more time for things than they need. Because we are not willing to finalize things until we feel like we got it so right.

And I’m saying to you: enough with the research and the figuring everything out and taking all the extra [00:16:00] time, give yourself a deadline and keep that deadline.

Okay this is gonna take me 20 minutes, okay? This is gonna take me 30 minutes, okay? I’m gonna do this on Friday and write it down what you wanna get out on Friday.

Now, sometimes things do take longer, but start to notice if you’re taking too much time for tasks, because you’re afraid of releasing them or you’re even just a little uncomfortable releasing them when you don’t know if it’s 100% right.

Like social media is a great place for this. Take five minutes to do your post, not 50 minutes. Okay. Very, very important.

Because that is s omething that can help you with revenue in your business, but it’s also taking away from other things when you’re taking so much time for it. So please start to do this with yourself because this is a big thing working from home gals can have a challenge with, [00:17:00] because we don’t have any deadlines set by anybody else.

Related to that, my friend, take regular breaks.

I want you to take a lunch break. Now it doesn’t have to be an hour. It can be 20 minutes, it can be 30 minutes. Take a break, eat something, drink plenty of water. You’re probably not drinking enough water, even though working from home it’s easier.

Make sure you have a big cup. One of the things working from home is you can have one of those huge water bottles on your desk, it can be plastic, it can be metal, it can be ceramic, . A big container of water that you fill three, four times a day so you get plenty of water.

Because my friend, a hydrated entrepreneur is a thriving entrepreneur. Also one that is prioritizing their self-care.

That good night’s sleep, that exercise, that hydration, [00:18:00] that good food, all of these things help you have more effective time when you are working from home.

I hope that you are spending time with loved ones, ideally every day, but if not every other day, or every few days.

One of the things you have to watch for if you are working from home is not leaving the house.

Make sure you are getting out, ideally every day. If not occasionally there’s a day you don’t get out. You really wanna get out every day, go for a walk, go to the beach, go somewhere, because otherwise you may start to have it impact your mental health.

And be with people. Please. Don’t only be by yourself.

Now I know a lot of us are ambiverts. We like a lot of [00:19:00] individual time. Or you may be an introvert. Y ou know what the right equation is for you. Make sure you’re with people as much as you know really supports you to be with people. We really have to watch this sometimes when we’re working from home. Too many days not leaving the house.

My friend, we talked about this a little bit earlier. I’m gonna begin to wrap up and say, Remember, you’ve gotta be your own best success coach. You’ve gotta be your own best friend. I want you to make sure that you are really putting attention on maintaining a positive disposition in all of this because, your mental health, your positive disposition is essential for you blissing in your business, and have those things that you know support you.

I know if I don’t do my self-care things, my attitude is impacted. I know if I don’t have things that I’m doing, [00:20:00] or for me, being with people I love is very cup filling. Speaking is very cup filling. Talking to gals about their business is very cup filling. All of those things help me feel phenomenal to do my business.

What are those things that make you feel phenomenal? Do those more when you are having a potential mental health challenge.

And you know what? It’s okay not to work. Take a break and go fill your cup with whatever it is works for you.

 And the last one, I’m gonna say there’s a couple more in here for you, which I’m gonna leave in the handout for you to explore on your own.

The last one I’m gonna say is Celebrate your wins daily. At the end of the day, what are all the things that went great today?

You know, one of the things that happened for me today, I went to my favorite [00:21:00] place to have a beauty treatment and I thought I lost one of my mom’s earrings. I was a little distressed because my mom passed away, and I have this lovely pair of pearl earrings that she gave me. They’re long fashion pearl earrings. They’re not real pearl earrings, but they look really cute. And today was the first day I wore them. I went to this appointment. I looked in the mirror. As I was leaving, I only had one earring. I was like, “oh my God. I lost my mom’s earring that she gave me that I love.” Looked all over the place, couldn’t find it. Then I got home and it was on my desk. I must have pulled it off earlier in the day.

That made me so bliss. That’s a win. I got a parking space insta in a very busy area. That was a win. I talked to a great new gal. I met a great new gal today. We had a nice conversation. That’s a win.

Look for all the [00:22:00] wins in your day. Celebrate them at the end of the day. Because of course, I want you to get more sales. Of course, I want you to get more speaking. Of course, I want you to serve more people. But at the same time, life offers you many wins and celebrations, and I hope that you are taking time to focus on those, not the negative things.

‘Cause there’s gonna be disappointment and challenges to jore. Forget about those things. At the end of the day. Celebrate your wins.

M y friend, I am celebrating you.

What I want you to do now is review what we’ve discussed and pick a couple things for you to work on.

Because my friend, listening is one thing. Action is what is gonna make a difference for you. Pick a couple things to work on and get started right now.

Caterina Rando: Thank you for joining me for this episode of Expand Your Fempire podcast. We’ve got tons of [00:23:00] episodes for you. I’m hoping that you’re subscribing to this podcast because I got a lifetime supply. I had a gal tell me, Caterina, I listen to your podcast twice a day. That made me super bliss.

I wanna encourage you to listen to all of our episodes. They’re info packed. I’ve got so many super tips for you. I wanna be your partner in thriving in your business and blissing more in your business.

Connect with our amazing Thriving Women in Business Community. Come to our retreats, come to our center, come to our free workshops, that’s always a great place to start.

Because you, my friend, have massive value to bring. I’m here and my amazing community is here to support you to bliss and thrive and flourish more in your business.

Can’t wait to be with you again, live and in person, on Zoom, or right here with our Expand your [00:24:00] Expand Your Fempire podcast.

Sending you much love, sending you much inspiration, and much bliss for you and your business. This is Caterina Rando, we’ll talk again soon. Bing, bing, bing.

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