Expand Your Fempire Podcast #46 Transcript

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Seven Values to Embrace for Your Business to Thrive

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.

[00:00:25] Caterina Rando:

[00:00:24] Welcome to the Expand Your Fempire Podcast. I am your host Caterina Rando, and I am blissing that you are with me today. One of the reasons I’m blissing is because we have a very hot topic today that shockingly, I cannot believe I did not talk about way back when. Because, as I’m sharing this with you now, we have already released 45-ish podcast episodes, and I have not discussed this hot topic, which is getting clarity on the values by which you run your business.

[00:01:10] And more importantly,  I’m going to share with you the primary values by which I run my business, that I invite you to embrace.

[00:01:21] You’re going to want to take some notes if you can. If not, listen to this one two, or three times. Because what’s going to happen is, as you start to think about these values for you, you won’t be listening to the next one and I want to make sure that you get it all.

[00:01:40] First. Number one value, regardless of what your business is, integrity.

[00:01:48] Now, why is it even important that we talk about values? Because your values impact your behavior in your business, your decisions, they impact your brand. They impact people’s experience of you. And this is why your values are so important.

[00:02:12] I start with integrity, because the truth is that all we really have to sustain our business is our reputation. If you do not operate your business with integrity, the marketplace will know that very quickly. Because, as I’m sure you are aware, when you get a great result for a client, they tell a few people. When somebody does not have a good experience with you or a brand or a product or a company, they tell about 40 people.

[00:02:49] Now there are specific statistics on this, which I did not research and that’s okay because I have more important things to do. What I want you to get though, is that the number is about 10 to one for people that like your service and rave about it versus people that don’t like it and tell everyone.

[00:03:12]Very important that you operate your business with integrity. Not only for this reason that I’m starting with, which is so that you maintain an outstanding reputation in the marketplace. The other reason to run your business with integrity is so that you are blissing in your business every day. And that you are getting more confident and more clear and more certain that you have massive value to bring.

[00:03:45] My father said to me many years ago, he said, “any problem you can solve with money is not a problem.” And this is one of the guiding principles that I live by. Now, if you have no money, you can’t necessarily embrace this guiding principle, which is why I want you to massively monetize in your business.

[00:04:11] And part of the reason I am doing this podcast is because. I want to eradicate financial struggle for women entrepreneurs, and I want you and all women with businesses on the planet to embrace and be having massive monetization.

[00:04:33] The thing is that you do not cultivate massive monetization by holding on to every dollar. You cultivate massive monetization by running your business with integrity.

[00:04:49] Now, what that means to me and you think about right now, what it means to you, what it means to me is that when people sign contracts and their situation changes: their spouse loses a job, they have just found out that their parent is needing some care and they have to step away from their business. I do not enforce that contract. I do not say “I am sorry for you. You signed a contract”.

[00:05:22] I think about what is best going to serve this client. Now don’t get me wrong. There are many clients who have an ailing parent or have a spouse who loses their position, who also stay focused and in action and determination is prevalent for them to make their business grow. There are other people who pause their business in this situation.

[00:05:51] I’m saying this to you because business is about relationships. And I have heard, so many times, of people that signed a contract with a coach, their situation changed, and the coach would not give them a credit, would not let them move to the next year, would not let them do anything other than pay that contract.

[00:06:20] And I’m going to say this to you. This is, in my opinion, very short-sighted. Because let me tell you something, having been in business many years, I have people that I have given a credit to, or let them pause their payments or let them move their program to the next year or let them not move forward with a contract because their situation has changed and had them come back anywhere from one month to two years to five years later and sign up for another high- ticket program with me. Because they know that I’m going to take good care of them and make sure that they get massive value. And they know that they can trust me based on their personal experience with me previously.

[00:07:18] Now this is part of what integrity means to me in business. Relationships first, revenue second. Did you hear that? That’s the guiding principle.

[00:07:32]Integrity is also doing what you said you’re going to do. That means fulfilling all the promises of your marketing. And I can remember all the way back to when I signed up for a coaching  course to be a coach. I won’t say the name, with a coaching person that you would absolutely know who I’m talking about.

[00:08:03] And this is before he was quite the phenom all over the coaching industry. And I took a course with him in someone’s living room. And he did not fulfill the promise of the marketing. He did not give us the templates. He did not give us the worksheets that he said that he would in his marketing. And I actually brought this to his attention and he said, “Oh, did I promise you that?” and did not proceed to fulfill his promise.

[00:08:35] Now, even though he became a world phenom, I never gave him one more dollar and never had anything good to say about him if someone asked me directly, because I would not walk around just spewing that he wasn’t a great guy. It impacted his relationship with me.

[00:08:54] Now, it didn’t necessarily matter I’m sure to him, but my point is that when somebody does not fulfill the promises of their marketing, they are not going to have a good reputation in the marketplace. And they are not going to ever get another dollar from you. That’s the point I want you to get.

[00:09:17] I remember another situation where I paid for a woman’s program on how to create a lifestyle brand. Now, this was a self-study audio program and I had never taken a class from her before I was hoping to go and do some of her live events and I heard her speak and I thought she did a great job. I was thinking she’s going to be my next mentor. I ordered this program.

[00:09:48] It was overpriced for what we got. It was only four hours. There was no workbook. It had beautiful packaging. As you started the audios, they said “This conference call is being recorded,” which was a clear indicator that she did not even bother to edit these sessions that she did this program on. And I was so poised to take lots of notes. I listened to it, I did not take one single note.

[00:10:19] What I’m telling you is that she never got another dollar from me. Recognize that you have to fulfill all the promises of your marketing. That’s integrity. And when people are not happy with their financial interaction with you, they will never give you another dollar.

[00:10:41] Very, very important. Think of your business in terms of gaining long-term and lifelong clients, which means it’s not just about the sale. It’s about the next sale, and the sale after that, and the sale after that. And how do you get the second, third, fourth, fifth, 10th, 20th sale? By fulfilling the promises of your marketing and then taking it one step further and over- delivering what you promised.

[00:11:19] Now we could talk all day about integrity. Let me say integrity is also when you say you’re going to send something to someone, sending it. When somebody asks you a question and you say, you’re going to get back to them, making sure you do.

[00:11:34] Now, I know that there will be times when you’ll forget or it’ll slip through the cracks. Perfection is not required. The idea though, is that it is your intention and your plan to be a hundred percent, a hundred percent of the time. And occasionally you won’t meet that. That’s okay. The thing is though that when you don’t meet it, you acknowledge that you didn’t meet it.

[00:12:03] Like I sent a Facebook message to a lady yesterday and I said, “Hey, let’s talk tomorrow in the morning.” I realized in the middle of the day that I did not look and see if she messaged me back. Well, after this podcast, I’m sending her a note, which will say, “Hey, my friend, I realized I did not get back to you this morning. My apologies.” And I will invite her to talk to me another time.

[00:12:31]That is another example of integrity. And integrity shows up, also, of course being your word. That it’s not just in your written marketing materials. In all that you say and do, being consistent in your word.

[00:12:48] I mentioned a moment ago about under promising and over delivering. That’s a guiding principle for your business. Another value, which goes along with under promise and over deliver, is generosity.

[00:13:06] I want you to embrace generosity. Because I’m going to tell you something. Being stingy does not look good on your business. And being generous looks good on everybody.

[00:13:22] I remember I signed up for a mentorship program with a high level coach. Now I do think this coach is amazing and I loved working with her. I will tell you, this program cost me about $35,000, and this is several years ago. And I went to this elite program and there was about 25 people in the room, which was fine.

[00:13:55] Then it was lunchtime. And we were supposed to buy our own lunch. And I thought to myself, that is inappropriate for this level of elite mentorship program. Now, fortunately, she got smart and the next time the group met, we had lunch included. My point is, that’s an example of not being generous with your clients.

[00:14:24] I remember, actually the same coach, had a graduation dinner and I was bringing someone with me to the graduation dinner. This was out of town. And, for me, I would absolutely have said, “Oh yes, bring your guests” because there’s always somebody that’s not showing up.

[00:14:45] But instead I was told to pay $60 for the dinner. And again, I felt that that was a stingy move. Look for how you can be generous, not stingy. Again, this is being penny foolish. Because the potential clients and the clients are going to keep coming back when they feel like you over- deliver.

[00:15:12] In fact, when I signed people up for a program and then I decide later to add extra things for the new people, I always give those bonuses to the people that signed up before we had those bonuses.

[00:15:25] For example, this year I’ve added quarterly planning sessions with my clients. I’ve added monthly networking for my clients. We have three sales blitzes a month. Those are all extra bonuses that were not promised when most of the people started these programs.

[00:15:48] I’m sharing that with you because again, when you add extra value after they’ve already started paying you or paid you, that is generous and that looks great on you and your business.

[00:16:02] There are so many ways to be generous. Now I’ve given you some examples of different things. There are others though, that you may not think of- being generous with your time.

[00:16:15] I have one-on-one coaching clients. Mostly what I have are clients that are in group programs with me. When they say to me by text, by phone, by Facebook, hopefully they’re not emailing me because I’m not seeing those, email is my least favorite platform, just so you know… and they say, “Hey, Caterina, I need a few minutes or I have a question or can you review this for me? Can you answer this question?”

[00:16:43]Do I say, “Sorry for you, you’re not a one-on-one client?” or do I say, “Absolutely. Let’s set up a time to talk?” And sometimes my calendar is full for the whole week. And then I put a little note on my calendar that so-and-so wants to talk to me.

[00:17:00] And I tell them, “I will reach out to you when I have an opening, when I have a cancellation, and I will do my best to let you know in advance.”

[00:17:11] Because I want to do everything I can to make my clients successful. And that means, if they need more than what they’ve contracted for just for today, then I’m absolutely going to do what I can to accommodate them.

[00:17:27] In my opinion that’s how you keep your clients coming back. Up to you to decide. But if somebody says to me, “I want to half an hour of your time” I’m going to say, “You can have five or 10 minutes at no cost. If you want to half hour, then we’re going to have to set up a coaching session and I’m going to have to give you the VIP client price for that.”

[00:17:51] You have to find the balance between generosity and making sure that you’re not over-giving. Now I got to tell you, I really hate that term, over-giving, I’m using it here so that you know what I mean.

[00:18:07] Generosity looks great on you. It looks great on your business.

[00:18:12] Generosity is also gifts, it is being a good listener, it is making connections and putting people together.  It’s sending people referrals, it’s giving them introductions to people that they don’t know, that you know can help them. It’s also inviting people to go where you’re going when you know they will benefit.

[00:18:40]It is also writing checks for your clients charities when they ask you. Absolutely. It doesn’t have to be a big check. Showing support for causes your clients care about is essential.

[00:18:56]Okay. We’ve talked about integrity. We’ve talked about generosity. Let’s talk about my favorite value, love. I want to encourage you to not just wear your heart on your sleeve. I want to encourage you, I am encouraging you, I’m inviting you to wear your heart all over your business.

[00:19:23]Love is not something to turn down in business.  You may have started your career in a corporation. You may have started your career in an institution that had their own culture that included not bringing your big heart to the office.

[00:19:46] I’m encouraging you to recognize that you have your own business and you get to bring all of your heart, all of your love, all of your kindness, all of your graciousness, your empathy, your sweetness. You get to bring it all to your business.

[00:20:10] Remember that I don’t just want you to massively monetize in your business. I want you to bliss every day in your business. And the way you do that is when you are showing your genuine caring for your clients and they are feeling that. And that, my friend, is love.

[00:20:37]Another part of love is making sure that your clients feel seen, heard, valued, cared for, that they know that they matter, that they know that they have massive value to bring and that they can get their goals, and that you are going to support them.

[00:20:58] Yesterday, I’m going to jump in my car, I’m going to go see my mom and dad. I couldn’t do it because there was a car blocking my driveway. I called my dad and I said, dad, I can’t come over right now because there’s this car in my driveway, I can’t get out. My dad says to me, “Caterina, let me come get you.” My parents only live a few minutes away. I didn’t even think of that. My dad gets in his car, he comes to my house.

[00:21:28]When we get back to my dad’s house, I thank him for coming to get me and giving me a ride and he says to me, “Caterina, do you remember what you said to me when you were a kid one day when I was giving you a ride home after school?” And I said, “No, dad, I don’t remember.”

[00:21:52] And he says to me, “You said to me, thank you so much for giving me a ride. You make me feel so important.” Now I’m laughing as I say this to you, because this was 45 plus years ago. My dad remembered this. And the reason I’m mentioning this is because, when we acknowledge people, we often acknowledge them for what they’ve done.

[00:22:24] I said, “Hey dad, thanks for giving me a ride.” If we’re really good, we acknowledge them for how they’re being while they are doing whatever it is they’re doing. Like I could say, “Thanks for your kindness in coming to get me.”

[00:22:44] The thing that people often miss though, is that we often forget to tell people how it impacts us.  As a kid, I did not know the art of acknowledgement, I did it naturally. And still, it had the same impact of touching my dad’s heart. Not because I said “Thank you for coming to get me.” But because I let him know how it made me feel, how it impacted me.

[00:23:16] I’m sharing that with you because in your business, I want you, as I said, to wear your heart all over your business, and that is acknowledging your clients, acknowledging your vendors, acknowledging your team members,  not just for what they do, also for how they’re being while they’re doing it.

[00:23:36] Very important to acknowledge them and let them know how it impacts you. And this will have people remember how you make them feel. I love that story. And I want people to remember how you make them feel for 45 plus years. Acknowledgement, wearing your heart all over your business. That’s how you do it.

[00:24:04] Another way you demonstrate love in your business is by embracing the five love languages. A quick reminder, words of appreciation and acknowledgement as we’ve discussed, gifts, quality time, acts of service, and physical touch. Those are the five love languages. When we were living the pandemic lifestyle, I couldn’t hug my clients, I wasn’t even in the same room with them. What was I doing?

[00:24:35] We sent a lot more gifts. Big gifts, little gifts, tokens, cards. Why? Because that is a way to touch people without actually physically touching them. Embrace the five love languages in your business, not just one or two. All five. Be a polyglot. Be a polyglot.

[00:24:59]All right. We’ve talked about integrity. We’ve talked about love. We’ve talked about generosity. Let’s talk about community. Community is a value that I didn’t know I had until a community of women popped up around me. Since the day I remember that I had the “Aha” when a woman came to me and she said, “Well, Caterina, I’ve taken this program with you, I’ve taken this program with you. I like being with you, I like being with the other ladies. What else do you have?” That was the day I realized I had a community.

[00:25:45] Since that moment, I have consciously curated my community. Part of consciously curating my community means that I do everything I can to not only have our Thriving Women in Business Community be about me, I have it be about all the ladies in the community.

[00:26:11] For example, on Fridays, we have our Weekly Wrap Up on Clubhouse, five o’clock Pacific, eight o’clock Eastern, you’re invited. And everybody’s voice gets in the room. And many times when I’m on Clubhouse, running rooms, I do everything I can to get everybody’s voice in the room because I choose a community culture over a celebrity culture.

[00:26:41] This is important to note. A lot of speakers, authors, coaches, it’s all about them and everybody’s in their community. This is why I call it the Thriving Women in Business Community and not Caterina’s community.

[00:26:59] Because I want everyone to know that they have massive value to bring in my community, that their voice matters, that they’re welcome to speak up, that they’re welcome to lead.  I have invited all my clients, if they want to host a room in my club on Clubhouse, they are welcome to.  I have bonuses in my community for my clients of other women in my community. I choose to showcase other ladies in my community as much as I can because we have a community culture and not just a celebrity culture.

[00:27:36] This is very important to note. This is a big part of fostering community. And, with love and generosity and acknowledgement, as we’ve discussed earlier, everyone in my community and hopefully your community is feeling seen and heard and valued and cared for. And that they know that they matter, that they know that they have value to bring that they know that they’re welcome. All of this is my intention whenever a woman walks in my community.

[00:28:11] Here’s the other thing: I want to provide excellent client care. From the moment that woman says, “Yes” I want her to be blissing that she has stepped into our community. I want to answer her questions, celebrate her, acknowledge her for stepping in, and then I’m going to make sure she gets engaged right away, because you can not have community  without engagement.

[00:28:40]Community is a value and I have seen other coaches and other mentors that they are not good at cultivating community because they have it be about them. Oh, my gosh. I want to have so many amazing ladies in our community. I want to feature them. I want to showcase them.

[00:29:01] And by the way, my client criteria that you may not know overall, my client criteria is this: a woman that is going to gain value in our community. I know that she will gain value and a woman that will bring value to our community. That’s who I’m looking for. And I want you, I invite you, to have the same client criteria when you are cultivating your client base, because I will tell you that I consciously curate our community based on that criteria. And of course, my longer client criteria that they have to meet to make sure that I know that they’re going to get value from their investment.

[00:29:46]One thing also to note about community. We have a basic human need to belong, and when people feel that they belong somewhere in a community of like-minded, a community of like- hearted people, a community with a shared interest, they relax in their being in their life.

[00:30:17] They feel like they’re home. They found their people. Do not underestimate the significance of this.

[00:30:28] When the pandemic first started. I immediately started hosting all community meetings, which means I invited all my clients on Zoom. We talked about the funding. We talked about the recommendations I had for them to shift their businesses to doing more on zoom. To immediately doing their own virtual workshops.

[00:30:56]I wasn’t only there to impart information. I was there to be of support. To provide a feeling of everything’s going to be all right, because you know how insecure the whole world was and also those of us with businesses, about what’s going to happen with our business.

[00:31:23]Having a community where you can bring your struggles, your trepidations, your questions, your need for clarity, your uncertainty, and get some answers? This is significant. This is huge. This will make a big difference for your client, and this will keep them coming back and engaged on an ongoing basis in your community.

[00:31:51]I also want to let you know that community has been one of the biggest gifts in my life. And I’ve heard this many times from many of my clients. They don’t feel alone. They have other people to go to. They have people to network with and collaborate with and do whatever they need with, because of the power of community. Many, many of my clients have cultivated their own communities as a result of what they experienced in our community.

[00:32:29] If you are not cultivating community run, do not walk. It will not only enrich your business and keep your clients coming back. It will enrich your life in more ways than you can imagine.

[00:32:41]Now, I’ve got so much more to say on values. I can see that we’re already well into this podcast. Let me mention a few more briefly. We’ve talked about integrity, generosity, love, community. Next value, massive value.

[00:33:05] Value, massive value. This is the value. Make sure that you have bringing massive value as one of your values. It’s not about sales. It’s not about marketing. Of course, we have to do that. It’s about having your clients feel that they got so much value from every dollar they’ve invested with you.

[00:33:33]How do you know that your clients are getting massive value? You ask them, you survey them. The truth is, if they’re getting massive value, they will tell you.  

[00:33:45] I hope you’re paying attention to what your clients are saying online. And if they’re tagging you, you’re reading what they’re saying, because they will rave about you publicly without prompt when they are getting massive value, if they keep coming back, you know they’re getting massive value.

[00:34:08] There are many ways we deliver value. Community is part of that, that we’ve discussed. Giving them more than just education. Remember that there are several ingredients to create massive change. I have done another podcast episode on this. I’ll remind you of what they are right now.

[00:34:33] There is of course the education or the awareness. Educating people, expanding their awareness, that’s part of the value they get. Also ongoing guidance , ongoing support, a structure that facilitates accountability that creates focus, encouragement, celebrating people’s successes, reminding them of where they were and where they are now of what you’re seeing, reminding them of their growth. These are all ways that you cultivate massive change. And that is where you are delivering massive value.

[00:35:18]Take a look, make sure your clients are coming back. If they’re not, upgrade your massive value.

[00:35:25]Two more values I want to touch on with you. The first one is personal growth and business growth for you as the CEO, as the founder of your company. And when I say business growth, I don’t mean sales, I don’t mean growing your business, scaling your business. I mean you growing in your skills. You growing in your learning. And not only learning new things, mastering new things.

[00:35:59] You’ve heard me mention a few times in this episode about Clubhouse. Clubhouse is a new platform. I’ve only been on a couple months, myself. I’m getting better and better at it all the time. My goal is to master it.

[00:36:13] Speaking, writing, networking, these are all skills that I have gotten better and better at. I’m now very good at managing the financials of my business and talking finances and looking at projections and profit and loss and understanding all of this, where I didn’t have those skills significantly before.  I want to learn all about the implications of taxes in business.

[00:36:44]There are so many more skills to learn and master. Every year, identify a new skill or two that you don’t want to just learn about, that you want to master. Now, you can’t necessarily master all of this in a year because remember it takes a long time to master something.

[00:37:03] Are you, though, committed to ongoing personal growth? And ongoing business development. This is a value that you bring to your business and as a result,  this impacts your client retention.

[00:37:21] Because, as you continue to grow, your clients continue to grow and they feel that you have more for them because you have continued to grow and advance and expand, and they see that there’s more for them staying with you than if they were with a coach or a mentor or a business owner that was doing business the same way today as they did business five years ago or 10 years ago.

[00:37:52] Innovation is one of the things that will support this and innovation I would put along with personal growth and business development, because there is always more to learn and explore.

[00:38:06]The last value that I want to make sure you’re embracing. Now, there are others like fun and of course, positivity and bliss. These are values by which I run my business. I talk about them a lot. I’m going to simply mention them here.

[00:38:25] The value, though, that I have to shine the spotlight on is a value that I gained from one of my mentors. I was in her conference and she was doing what we’re doing right now, talking about the values by which you run your business. And because I teach values all the time, I was listening, I was present and I was having this little convo, like, “Yeah, yeah. I know, I know this stuff.” Okay. Well, fortunately I was listening and not looking at my phone or anything like that because she shared this value and a light bulb went off and I had a huge aha moment.

[00:39:10]The last value that I want to make sure you’re embracing in your business is efficiency.

[00:39:18] The purpose of business is to make profit. Now, if you are a socially responsible business, which I’m sure you are, it is not only to make profit. It is also to uplift the lives of all your clients. I make the assumption that that is who you are because that is who I am. And if you’re listening to this episode, this late in the episode, I am sure that you’re vibing with me and my message.

[00:39:49] And that’s probably because your thinking is similar to mine- which is we are in business to uplift other people, to empower other people, to transform other people. I would even go as far as to say, to heal other people. And when you feel that’s why you’re in business, efficiency is not always the top of mind.

[00:40:17] Creativity, looking at how do we serve people better, that is top of mind. How can we do more? What else can we do to serve our clients? Remember, I want you to reign in your brilliant idea syndrome. Brilliant idea syndrome is when you have all of these brilliant ideas and you want to follow them all at once.

[00:40:39] Well, you can’t do that. You have to be massively monetizing what you’ve already got before you start a new idea, okay? And I know you’re a creative, which means that you like to pursue all of your brilliant ideas. Only one new brilliant idea at a time, write them down, get to them later, because we also have to be efficient.

[00:41:02] We have to have policies, procedures, checklists, rinse and repeat areas of our business. Where can we do this better rinse and repeat it? Have a procedure that we can implement over and over, delegation, all of these things. These impact efficiency.

[00:41:23] And I want you to look at, where can you be more efficient in your business? Because that is going to allow you to be more productive, which is going to allow you to serve your clients better and also increase your profit, which will allow you to bliss more in your business.

[00:41:44] Not only because you’re being profitable, but because you’re being productive and hopefully you’re having more impact and you’re serving more people. And I know that will have you bliss more in your business.

[00:41:57] My friend, I know you have massive value to bring. I want to remind you that there is a lifetime supply of people to serve. I’m inviting you to embrace integrity, love, generosity, community, massive value, personal growth, business development, efficiency in your business. Because this will have you not only bliss more, it will have your clients bliss more, and it will allow you to continue to grow and scale, love what you do, serve more, and most importantly, uplift more lives.

[00:42:45]By the way, feel free to send me a direct message on Facebook, I will respond, or LinkedIn or Instagram. Please follow our Thriving Women in Biz Club on Clubhouse. Join our Thriving Women in Business group on Facebook.

[00:43:05] Check out our amazing programs and workshops at caterinarando.com. I host a free workshop on Zoom every month. Come to my next one. You’ll see them listed there. Let’s get to know each other. Let me support you to grow and thrive and bliss more in your business.

[00:43:31] I look forward to having you with me again. Oh, by the way, if you don’t have our app, Expand Your Fempire up on your phone, run, don’t walk because we’ve added a lot of really cool business development tools to our app.

[00:43:48] Sending you love. Can’t wait to be with you again. Go bring your massive value.

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