Finding Your Voice in Business and Beyond: Lessons in Confidence, Connection, and Communication with Catarina Rando

Emerging from my cocoon of shyness, I found my voice in the clatter and chaos of the food service world, a tale not unlike that of Catarina Rando, our episode's guiding star. Catarina's metamorphosis from a reserved cafe owner to a powerhouse in the realm of public speaking is a testament to the strength we harness when we truly connect and communicate with confidence. Throughout our conversation, she lays bare her convictions on creating relationships that prioritize rapport over revenue and imparts the audacious 'girlfriend strategy' for sales and networking, a refreshing take that envelopes you in its potential for business and personal growth.

We then set sail into the vibrant currents of live speaking and the unique challenges it presents without the crutch of PowerPoint slides, where Catarina and I share our proclivities for the tangible touch of flip charts that invite an audience's hands into the mix. Whether on the deck of a cruise ship or within the nurturing walls of a retreat center, we celebrate the collective breakthroughs that transpire when individuals come together to invest in their aspirations. 

Caterina Rando is on a mission to teach, mentor, and support women to be themselves, do their thing, serve their people and massively monetize their mastery. She shows women entrepreneurs how to be loud and proud about the value they bring in order to make their businesses thrive. Caterina is the founder of The Thriving Women in Business Giving Community. This group of big-hearted women, raise money for women and girls education and entrepreneurship training. 

Check out Catarina's Free Resources:
https://caterinarando.com/links/

Connect with Catarina:
Website
https://caterinarando.com/

Social Media
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/thrivingbusiness
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/caterinarando/
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/caterina_rando/
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/user/CaterinaRando/featured

Podcast
https://www.y

Chapters

• 0:04 Modern-Day Communication Strategies in Podcasting
• 14:18 Speaking and Retreating for Success
• 24:07 Podcasting Growth and Engagement

Transcript

Carl Richards: 0:04

Welcome to Communication Connection Community the podcaster's podcast. This podcast takes a deep dive into modern day communication strategies in the podcasting space. We chat with interesting people who make the podcasting and speaking spaces exciting and vibrant. We also dive into the podcasting community with news updates, latest trends and topics from this ever-evolving space. So strap in, it's going to be one amazing ride.

Carl Richards: 0:32

Let's dive into today's episode. You know we've been doing this podcast for almost six years if you can't believe it and we have had some amazing guests on our show. Today is no exception. We'll be talking to our guests momentarily. Obviously, podcasting is about speaking. It's about being on camera. It's about video. It's about audio. Wow, do we have a powerhouse guest today?

Carl Richards: 0:54

Catarina Rando is on a mission to teach, mentor and support women to be themselves, do their thing, serve their people and massively monetize their mastery. That's marvelous and magnificent. That's a lot of Ms. She shows women entrepreneurs how to be loud and proud about the value they bring in order to make their businesses thrive. She is a sought-after speaker, event producer and author. Her latest book is the ABCs of Public Speaking. Her book Learn to Think Differently, from Watkins Publishing is published in over 13 countries and several languages, and she's a podcast host. Yes, she's the host of the Expand your Fempire podcast. I am so blessed that she's here to chat with us today. We're going to cover a number of different things, Catarina, Welcome to the podcast. Thank you, carl, happy to be with you. We're going to talk about speaking a little bit, because you have a very unique way in which you do things. We'll get to that momentarily, but I want to just get a little bit of your backstory how you came into this speaking space. What brought you here.

Catarina Rando: 2:01

As a student in high school and college, I would always pick the oral presentation over the written presentation. Any opportunity to be on stage, not so much acting but more in a leadership role, I would take. And really, Carl, I was a very shy young person. I was a very shy young person. I believe I started to speak so that I knew I had permission to speak, if that makes any sense. And then I owned a cafe. That was my first business. I loved having a cafe. I loved business.

Catarina Rando: 2:37

I did not like food service. I did not like walking into a walk-in refrigerator. I did not like the dicing and the chopping. Walking into a walk-in refrigerator, I did not like the dicing and the chopping. And one day this lady came in and thanked me for some business advice and her gratitude literally touched my heart and I thought you know what this is what I'm going to do? I'm going to help other women grow their businesses. That was many, many years ago. It's been a very circuitous route, as you know, when you're an entrepreneur. Today, I help women entrepreneurs with their speaking, with their selling and hosting retreats, which I love to do.

Carl Richards: 3:10

I like how you mentioned Katarina right off the top there about you know, being in that space where you were shy and you almost needed that permission to speak. I used to stutter when I was a kid, so I was not the person who put up my hand to speak, I was the person who was more than happy to write. But I'm glad I grew out of that and did find a way to manage that. And the other thing that you and I share I think we're kindred spirits. I swear to God we are, because I also worked in the food service industry.

Carl Richards: 3:35

I worked in fast food and I remember working, you know, trying to get my first job in radio. I remember being on the drive-thru speaker saying hey, welcome to restaurant, can I take your order please? And really practicing my speaking skills on the drive-thru microphone. So it was an amazing place and you certainly, as you said, have done some great things in business, and I really appreciate the fact all the work that you do to help women and really empower them to have a voice and to strengthen their voice. You do things a little bit differently, though, when it comes to promotion and sales. You're all about selling authentically, and I know we use the word authenticity and authentic a lot, but explain how your methodology is different than a lot of ones that are out there now.

Catarina Rando: 4:21

I really believe that when you're selling to women specifically, carl, women do not want to be on the other end of a script, they do not want to feel soul and as saleswomen, they are so afraid of being salesy. I remember one day I walked into an elevator and I was about to go give a speech and there was this lovely woman in the elevator and I said to her is my hair okay? Is my makeup okay? And by the end of the elevator ride we were girlfriends. After that day she became my client and that's where I developed and realized the girlfriend. Strategy for selling, carl, is you get to know people, you build rapport, you communicate, you genuinely care. Of course, you also have to build influence, but all of that is essential for women in order for them to hire someone or buy Rapport communicating, genuine caring and building influence and we do that. Naturally, we know how to talk to people.

Carl Richards: 5:28

I was just going to ask that question Do you think that women tend to do it more naturally than men? They're more extroverted individuals. Even if they're introverted, they're still, I think, more extroverted. Or you know, let's go be friends, let's go have a coffee together, let's dare I say it, let's go to the bathroom together, like all of those things that women naturally do. Do you think that that makes that journey easier and that's why that building that rapport is so important?

Catarina Rando: 5:52

I think yes, because I think that women build relationship first. I always like to say relationship first, revenue second. And when you follow that guiding principle, it becomes very easy to then say, hey, do you want to hear about my thing? Hey, do you have any interest in my thing? Hey, do you think my thing might be something we want to talk about for you? And by that point rapport is built, the relationship is there and yes, now I want to hear about your thing.

Carl Richards: 6:23

Whereas I think the opposite to that is I'm not saying all guys, but I'm saying that a lot of guys are more about not that relationships aren't important, because I think they are, and I think that's the world that we're moving into. It's been a slow, moving process to get there, but relationships first, and then not just sales but service. But I think men are more like here's the product, do you want it? Yes, no, great, wonderful. I'll move on.

Carl Richards: 6:50

Thank, you very much, whereas there there's it seems like there's an opposite things going on here, where it is about the relationship first. Do you think that universally, in business, in coaching or certainly in the work you do, that we're moving more towards that, regardless of gender, that we're moving more towards relationship first?

Catarina Rando: 7:12

Carl, I think you remember, as I do, the years of hearing a speaker and running to the back of the room. And that's what people are selling. They're selling from the stage, running the back of the room Today, because we have a lifetime supply of options at our fingertips. 99.9% of your potential clients are going to require a conversation. They're going to want to talk to you one-on-one before they're going to be willing to write you a big check, and that comes from relationship. That is necessary and that's very different than many people were taught in terms of how to sell, especially from the stage, as speakers and coaches.

Carl Richards: 7:56

And I think that there are still some parts of the world where that high energy sales let's call it that still is accepted, but for the most part, we're seeing it slowly become eroded, because we really do want that relationship and that whole concept of. I've only got 10 spots. Oh look, there's six people already walking to the back of the room to sign up. You've got four. That that it's. It's smoke and mirrors, it's people are immune to it now right.

Carl Richards: 8:24

Right and they understand there's no authenticity. It's just like and again, feel free to jump in with your thoughts on this one but it's just like. I can give you the price or I can say, hey, it's usually $20,000. But because you're here today, it's only $10,000. $20,000. But because you're here today, it's only $10,000. And if you sign up in the next five seconds it's $3,000. And if you sign up before lunch, you know what I mean. It's lost its luster, there's not a lot of authenticity to it. And I don't know about you, but I hate sales and I have no qualms saying that I'm not about sales. If you don't want to work with me, don't work with me. I'm about service. And when I talk about service, all of a sudden the conversation or the technique changes. But would you agree that it becomes very inauthentic.

Catarina Rando: 9:23

Yeah, so let me say this Selling is service. That's the point I have to emphasize with the women. If you can't sell, you can't serve. The thing that is a challenge for women is they're so at risk of being salesy that they don't sell. If they don't talk to people, they're not going to get clients, which is why we want to support them, to build relationship so that they can sell. But here's the other thing, carl. I tell my clients we're not looking for clients, we're looking for long-term and lifelong clients, and that requires a conversation. You can see who's the right match for you. You don't want every Tom Dick and Harry, mary Jane and Sheila. You want those people that you feel you can bring value to and that you also feel they're going to enhance your client community. Because the one bad Apple principle definitely applies that you want people that are a match for you and your work, not anybody who can fill out a signup sheet.

Carl Richards: 10:21

I love that. Tom Dick and Harry, mary Jane and Sheila Funny, those were the six people in my last workshop, but no, seriously, I love that analogy too. And the other thing that I like about what you do is and we were talking about this just before we turned on the mics it's not about being an entertainer on the stage, it's about being a leader, it's about being of service, it's about and I'll let you carry on with some more words- it's about being of service.

Catarina Rando: 10:48

It's about and I'll let you carry on with some more words when I teach my speaking programs, sometimes I have to tell the gals that have had years of improv or years of acting I say, turn off the entertainer, be yourself. It makes a difference. They definitely shift when we're in front of the room. It's not just about the content, it's about us communicating that we genuinely care. It's about us connecting with the audience and making the audience feel seen and heard and valued and welcome and included in the conversation. And when we do that, that connection can result in clients. I tell my students, when you get off the platform, you don't want everybody to say, oh my gosh, you're such a great speaker. You want them to say how can I work with you? How do we get started? Am I the right match for you? And that's a very different goal than entertainers.

Carl Richards: 11:54

I think the other risk sometimes that we run as speakers if we're too entertaining, because, let's face it, unfortunately we tend to be in this world of edutainment. You know that mix of entertainment and education, so sometimes we can be a little bit more entertaining, but if we're too entertaining then we missed the mark. We're all about the entertainment value of what we're bringing out, as opposed to the value proposition or the. Here's why you want to work with me without saying those words, of course. But but here, here's what I have. That's real, that's going to ship things in your business, your, your life, whatever it is, and to be doing that in an entertaining fashion might be cutesy. It's great if you're trying to win a contest or something for speaking, but it's not necessarily going to win you over the, the client, because you haven't established enough of a real, deep, intentional relationship with them.

Catarina Rando: 12:46

And if your audience is feeling like they're being entertained, they're not so much looking at how is this serving me? Now, don't get me wrong, carl and you are so great when you present your very high energy and it's very engaging, and we want to be that. Let me give a super tip here, carl. I tell my clients you want to wear your cape, you want to be certain that's your confidence, you want to be authentic, because we want the audience to get that we're the same on the platform as off the platform. We, of course, want to be positive, we want to be uplifting, and the E is for enthusiasm. We want to be uplifting and the E is for enthusiasm. We want to bring extra energy, and this is extra important these days, when we're on Zoom so much, even though you're sitting in your office or your dining room and the other person might be sitting on their sofa. It's important for us to bring that extra energy and not be too relaxed, even though we're in a relaxed setting.

Carl Richards: 13:53

It's funny that you mentioned that because I attended my second in-person event since COVID-19. And I was. I can't remember off the top of my head how many in-person events I was doing every year prior to that. It was probably between probably about 12, something like that. So, as average, one a month, my second one since the pandemic.

Carl Richards: 14:18

And I had forgotten the energy that goes into being in front of a live audience where you don't have the luxury all the time of having, you know, notes in front of you, and especially when you're speaking to a group of professional speakers, you don't want to be reading off of cue cards and notes. Right, you want to be very free flowing, but you also are working off the energy of the room and you're so. I had forgotten because it had been about six months to eight or almost a year since my last in-person presentation how different it is. But you're right, you still need to be. When you're in a virtual setting, you still need to be engaging. You still need to be energetic, even more so than when you are on a physical stage. And it can be if you're also throwing in the entertainment piece where you're now trying to be entertaining. It can be extremely exhausting to do all of that.

Catarina Rando: 15:09

Yeah, it can be. It can be, and I still do a lot of live and in-person. Well, these days, back in Action Live, I still do a lot of virtual and, by the way, I'm anti-PowerPoint, carl. Sometimes I know it's necessary, but let's keep the slides to a minimum, especially because we're that little one inch box on the screen and too many people that don't feel confident in their presenting are relying on PowerPoint and it's putting the virtual office, it's putting the virtual audiences to sleep.

Carl Richards: 15:42

Or use it effectively, where and again this is all about technique. This is making sure you have the right software so it doesn't minimize you into that little box you sort of become. You know the PowerPoint ends up being behind you. It sort of becomes part of the virtual platform. But not everyone has that technology or is comfortable enough to use it, so we rely on that. I'm just going to share my screen. Here's my PowerPoint. Hide behind it, read some notes. Rely on that. I'm just going to share my screen. Here's my PowerPoint, hide behind it, read some notes. That's why, when I generally speak virtually, I like to as old fashioned as this is, I like to use a flip chart.

Catarina Rando: 16:16

No, it works very well. I've seen you do it, carl. I like it, it works.

Carl Richards: 16:19

Yes, it does work and it's also very engaging. The audience cannot sleep when you're using a flip chart and writing things down. And you're writing things down because in a lot of cases you're asking the audience for the input that you're writing down. I used to craft a lot of my presentations. I remember back when I was doing networking events in person a lot and I would craft my 15 to 20 minute presentations based on again had a flip chart, but based on what questions I was asking the audience. I'd say what do you think of 15 to 20 minute presentations based on again had a flip chart, but based on what questions I was asking the audience. I'd say what do you think of this? Great, and I'd write it on the flip chart. So, as we're going and I knew where I was going with the presentation, but it's that sense of we're building it together Right, even though I knew what the outcome was going to be.

Carl Richards: 17:00

But very true, I like how you shared that as well about the authenticity with not hiding behind your slide deck. And, yes, sometimes it's necessary. In certain organizations they want to have that as part of their video feed or whatever, but it's still again, it's that one thing. It's almost like standing in front of a lectern. It creates that barrier between you and the audience, especially when you're relying on it. So I'm glad you mentioned that. So, again, kindred spirits in that way too. Let's shift the conversation a little bit, because you do something that's it's not original, because many people have done this, but you do something that's very unique with clients, and it's it's partly about well, I'll, actually I'll, I'll get you to explain it, because it's about retreats. But you have a very unique reason for doing it the way you do it.

Catarina Rando: 17:45

Well, I do it two ways. One is that we have a center in San Francisco where I host my speaker mastermind retreats. We do that, and then I also host retreats on cruise ships, and I like hosting retreats because it gets people away from their daily lives, their offices, their regular environments. And even when we come to the center, it's very private, so there's no distractions. We get to treat the ladies VIP, Carl, which I love, but also they're stuck together and this facilitates connection community, facilitates connection community and creating a safe container for them to work on transforming their speaking or transforming their sales, or the other thing, Carl, is we do this when we get on the cruise ships is shifting their self-perception. I want everybody to get off the ship more confident, more clear and more connected than when they got on, and that's one of the reasons retreats work so well, because everybody is stuck together.

Carl Richards: 18:58

There's a synergy too. I think that's more prevalent when you're in that space, but not only that. Speaking of the cruise ship, you can't leave early, right? You can't just disappear unless you brought a good pair of water wings or a motorboat with you. You can't just say, oh, I can only stay here till Tuesday.

Catarina Rando: 19:18

I mean the cruise is going till Friday.

Carl Richards: 19:20

You can't leave early, so you really and I think the other thing too is it. It forces you to be in that space and set that time aside where you're focusing on what is important in that moment and I think that's one of the challenges that we face in our businesses is there's there's too many distractions right, pull us away and we don't. We say we do. I'm just as guilty guilty of saying I'm focused but no, there's those moments in in, in our days, in our weeks, in our, in our quarters, or years, where we know we weren't as focused as we needed to be.

Catarina Rando: 19:58

So the retreats really help us focus and do it in a way that's I love the cruise ship concept because we're doing it in a way that's unique carl, let me say also, even though we're there and we're working on I've done my speaker retreat on cruise ships or or we're coming together to grow our business we have a lot of fun. Yeah, we do uh, we do uh karaoke as a group. We do afternoon tea with fascinators. At our speaker retreat we do board breaking, we do all kinds of fun. So we do a jewelry exchange, which um for, for people that don't know what that is you bring your jewelry you're not wearing anymore and you share it with somebody else and they take it home and wear it. It's very fun. Anyway, we do all this girly fun things while we're talking business and this fills their heart and makes them feel good and has them fill their cup, if you will, while we're together also.

Carl Richards: 21:00

It goes back to the piece, too, that I think we started the conversation with, where you're having authentic and real conversations and building rapport and building relationships with people. While you're building be it your speaking platform or whatever, or your business you said you're having so much fun doing it.

Catarina Rando: 21:21

Yeah, sometimes business is so serious, carl. You know we're so serious in business. I really encourage my clients to infuse fun in their business with their clients, because your clients like to have fun too and, depending on what your business is, anytime you can infuse some fun in your teaching or your client service. It's good for everybody.

Carl Richards: 21:49

Oh, 100%, katerina. I love to talk with you all, day and night, and day and night, but I know that we can't do that, so I just wanted to let listeners know that Katarina is an amazing resource, a fount of knowledge. I guess you could say. What would you like to pass on to people though, today? Is there anything that you'd like to share with people?

Catarina Rando: 22:13

Let me share my link, carl, for my free resources. My free resource link is katarinarandocom slash links, and that's C-A-T-E-R-I-N-A-R-A-N-D-O dot com slash links. One of the things you're going to find there is my very comprehensive ebook on how to get booked for speaking. You're also going to find a link to my podcast, and every month I do one or two free workshops on speaking or selling or hosting retreats or some other exciting topic, and those are virtual and everybody's invited to join me, because I love to see new smiles on the screen and uplift women in business, even when they're not my clients. It's super fun.

Carl Richards: 22:59

I love it. We'll make sure all of those links are in the show notes. We'll put a separate link for the podcast and other things to social media connections as well. I'm just I'm assuming you'd like to connect with people there as well. Before I turn you loose, katarina, to help you save the world's problems, one speech at a time. I'll leave you with the final thought.

Catarina Rando: 23:21

As you listen to this podcast. Carl, thank you for the lovely discussion. Probably there's been something in here that you thought, oh, that might work for me. Maybe something around the cape or the selling. More relationships focused. Don't just listen, Pick something to take action on, because action is the answer to whatever challenge you're having.

Carl Richards: 23:45

Wow, I think that's a great place to leave it. Katerina Rando has been my guest today. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast.

Catarina Rando: 23:52

Pearl. Thank you, it's been a pleasure.

Carl Richards: 23:54

And thank you for joining us today. Special thanks to our producer and production lead, Dom Carrrilio, our music guru, Nathan Simon, and the person who works the arms all of our arms, actually my trusty assistant, Stephanie Gafoor. If you like what you heard today, leave us a comment and a review, and be sure to share it with your friends. If you don't like what you heard, please share it with your enemies. Oh, and if you have a suggestion of someone who you think would make an amazing guest on the show, let us know about it. Drop us an email, ask Carl at carlspeaksca. Don't forget to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter as well. You'll find all those links in the show notes, and if you're ready to take the plunge and join the over 3 million people who have said yes to podcasting, let's have a conversation. We'll show you the simplest way to get into the podcasting space, because, after all, we're podcast. Solutions made simple. We'll catch you next time.