Ep.96/ {Live Episode!} Luminary Founder Cate Luzio on Entrepreneurship & Success
SHOW NOTES:
Please leave a rating and review for the show!
++++++++++++++++++
The Exit Interview took it on the road and is LIVE at Luminary Headquarters in New York City! I interviewed Cate Luzio, the founder of Luminary, who climbed the corporate ladder and now she’s crafting a new ladder for women of all backgrounds. Luminary is a global membership-based professional education and networking platform created to uplift, upskill, and propel women forward through all phases of their professional journey. She discusses her transition from corporate banking to creating Luminary, community building, and the 3 biggest mistakes business owners are making (and what you should do instead!). Cate shares her journey with candor, humor and heart and dishes on her most embarrassing work moment and her weirdest job. Kim and Cate share their thoughts on not doing work for free, vs offering ‘discounts’ and what’s a dealbreaker!
In this episode you will learn:
Challenges faced in corporate banking and why she started Luminary
The 3 major mistakes entrepreneurs make - and how you can avoid them!
Cate’s advice for business owners and the importance of community building
The essential components you need to have in your business plan
Why you should never do anything for free
Cate’s most embarrassing work moment
Are you ready to show the world what you’re all about? Finally put yourself out there with the high-quality professional presence you deserve? Stop getting passed over for clients, speaking engagements and press features?
Connect with Kim about her VIP THOUGHT LEADER ACCELERATOR PACKAGE. It’s the perfect combination of a VIP video and photo shoot day, on camera media training, and messaging and pitching package so you create the high quality professional presence online and in-person to get the clients, speaking engagements, and press you deserve.
Did you love today’s episode?
1. Take a screenshot and share it to your IG stories. Tag me @kimrittberg
2. Leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!
LISTEN BELOW! And don’t forget to ‘follow’ and leave a rating & review!
Click below to Follow, Review & Give a 5-star rating to Mom’s Exit Interview Podcast.
Are you ready to start your business? Are you not sure where to start?
Cate Luzio, the founder of Luminary, a global membership-based professional education and networking platform created to uplift, upskill, and propel women forward through all phases of their professional journey. She discusses her transition from corporate banking to creating a platform supporting women in various industries. Cate also talks about launching a business, community building, and overcoming challenges as entrepreneurs. She touches on personal experiences, including embarrassing work moments and the importance of asking for help.
In this episode you will learn:
Challenges faced in corporate banking (3:23)
The importance of community building (8:37)
The essential components you need to have in your business plan (9:14)
Doing what makes sense for you and in your life in your business (14:50)
Quotes from our guest:
“Entrepreneurship is the biggest risk you could ever take in your life. Having a business plan, understanding your financials is the number one thing.”
“If you are starting to build your own platform, you want to be out talking about it. Going and speaking allows you that avenue to talk about it in a very organic way.”
“To be successful, you have to keep pushing yourself.”
“Never do anything for free. As an entrepreneur, you have to get paid. That is your business…You can think about it in discounts.”
Follow host Kim Rittberg on Instagram
Subscribe to Kim's YouTube Channel to Make Better Videos that Convert
FREE DOWNLOAD: Top 5 Tips To Be Confident on Camera Click Here
Follow host Kim Rittberg on Instagram & Subscribe to Kim's YouTube Channel to Make Better Videos that Convert
CATE’S LINKS:
Follow Cate on Instagram
Kim Rittberg (00:02):
Hi everybody. I'm Kim Rittberg. It's going to be so fun. This could be basically the most fun you've had all year, only February. So that's not saying much, but that's not the point. We'll get into, sell Yourself in 30 seconds right after Cate and I chat. This is the exit interview with Kim Rittberg. The podcast focuses on people who are working for themselves and crushing it while also still having a life. That's the dot, dot dot. And each episode has interviews with people on how they've carved their path, but also what they're making time for, what they're making room for, as well as lots of tips and advice. And my background is I was a television news producer for about 10 years. I'm going to say this again later, but I then shifted into digital and I was the head of video for US Weekly.
(00:46)
I launched their first ever video unit and I loved it. It was an incredible opportunity to basically build a business within an existing business. I didn't love it when I found myself working while delivering my child. So even though I loved my career, and it had been just really honestly a very cool media career at that point, I was sort of like, this isn't quite how I envisioned this going. And at that point, I was truly objectively successful. I had worked really hard and had sort of earned my keep in media and I decided to launch my own business. It was like, what does that mean? Who's going to hire me? What does this look like? I didn't really know. It took me two full years and two other short stints, full-time jobs to actually launch my business. And so from that, I started meeting all these people in New York City that I was like, oh, actually all these people are running their business on their own terms.
(01:43)
And so the tagline is, exit the Grind and enter success on your own terms. And so the exit interview really focuses on that. People like Cate and others who are carving a path that works for them. And so that's my story. And even I'm very honest about the fact that it's not always like, and then I launched my business and it was amazing and it took me two years. And then I was like, what? And I knew I wanted to launch this podcast. And even though I literally make content for huge companies and small business owners, and I speak around the country, it took me a year to start my own podcast. We all have the same different versions of the same voices in our head that tell us who wants to listen to you? Why is your voice important? Are you really making something different?
(02:26)
But I am making something different. And it has been awesome. The podcast has been featured in Business Insider, news Nation, fast Company, and I've spoken with so many incredible business people. Cate right now, Rebecca Minkoff, Gretchen Rubin, and just all of these really cool people who have so much to add to the conversation. And without further ado, I now going to kick off. This is very exciting that we're going to do a live podcast recording with Cate. We are here at Luminary in New York City. This is really just for the podcast, not for you guys, but I'm going to introduce Cate to anyone who doesn't know more about Cate. Cate is a founder and CEO of Luminary, a global membership-based professional education and networking platform created to uplift, upskill, and propel women forward through all phases of their professional journey. And she launched Luminary in 2018 with the mission to create an ecosystem of high touch engagement to address and impact the systemic challenges faced by women across all industries and sectors. Before starting Luminary, Cate spent two decades in financial services leading global multi-billion dollar businesses. Previously, she was the global head of multinational corporate banking for HSBC, managing more than 2000 employees worldwide. And prior to that, she served as head of multinational corporate banking at JP Morgan EMEA based in London. Wow. Cate, quite a resume. Super amazing. I
Cate Luzio (03:47):
Miss it. No, I know. You're like, why I do this.
Kim Rittberg (03:50):
Talk to me about why you started Luminary. What did you feel like wasn't, what didn't exist that made you want to start luminary?
Cate Luzio (03:57):
So I had been in corporate investment banking for the better part of two decades, which I loved my career. I tell everyone this, I didn't leave because I didn't like what I was doing anymore, but I wanted to have bigger, broader impact. So for anybody that works in corporate, oftentimes if you're from an underrepresented community, you will likely volunteer for one of the ERGs or an Affinity Network. And I was doing that for a very long time, whether I was leading it or sponsoring, and I just wasn't seeing the numbers move, I wasn't seeing the impact. And at the same time, I'm running a big business, I'm managing thousands of employees, and I'm still seeing women sort of sitting in the middle or below. I wasn't seeing more women around me at the top. I said, there's got to be a better way to do this. And not just in one industry and not just for corporate women. There are thousands of women starting businesses every single day. And how do we do it where everyone feels welcome versus you have to look a certain way, you have to make a certain amount of money and fill out multiple applications forms to be part of a community. And so wrote a business plan in March of 2018 and eight months later, we launched the business. I love
Kim Rittberg (05:10):
That. Well, I'm a New Yorker, so I'm very honest. I want to know the good, the bad, and the ugly. There's a lot of ugly, yeah. Talk about the ugly. I want to know, as you're starting to build Luminary, what's that point where you're like, I'm going to crawl under my desk and cry right now
Cate Luzio (05:25):
At least once a day? I think, and I had a great conversation last week actually, one on text with a founder friend of mine that I would never have known if I hadn't started Luminary. And then I went out to dinner and had the same conversation with a founder friend. I think that media has done entrepreneurs a little bit of a disservice where it's all glossy and it's amazing. You start a business if you maybe raise money and it's all just going to work, right? Because you have this incredible determination and perseverance, and I underestimated how hard it is. It's not how hard it was because five years into this, it's still hard. It's hard every day. You're constantly grinding. I have an incredible team, but still it's mine. And I'm the sole founder and sole investor, so I don't really have a safety net of others to go back to. I think the other piece is the mental challenges. It's very lonely. I don't have a co-founder right there. I have a co-founder. I did that by design too. I didn't want a co-founder. But I think the hard part is it is so isolating and lonely and when you're, there's multiple ups and downs, by the way. For me, it's every single day. It's hard to get out of them.
Kim Rittberg (06:48):
Yeah, it's so funny because every year or two, so I have someone who's kind of like a mentor, someone who's sort of opened doors for me, and he is more senior than I am in media. And every year he'll be like, Kim, do you want to go back to media? There's this really? And I'm like, no, I do not want a full-time job right now, but then the next month I have, I'm never going to know another client. I'm never going to get another client. Why am I doing this? And so I think it is that I feel like you need that clarity or a passion, purpose, clarity, impact. Something has to drive you something. What is it? There needs to be a magnet that is driving you and pulling you towards it. Because pushing away is not enough because it's really
Cate Luzio (07:29):
Hard. It's so hard. And I think that I was asked about a year ago on a panel, what's next? I'm like, what's next? I'm still so early in this, it's only been five years, but what's next for me is definitely not starting another company. I will never do this again. This is my only company that I will start. And I'm very honest about that because I'm an older founder. I'm going to be 49 this year. So I started the company five years ago, and this is my one company that I will start and I thrived in corporate America. Like I said earlier, I didn't leave it because I didn't love it. I wanted to do something different. So for me, those voices are pretty loud. Should I go back? Why did I leave? And I think what pulls me back into why I'm doing this is we hire a great employee or I get an email from a member saying, this is the impact that you've had, or My business is still thriving thanks to Luminary, or I got a promotion. So that now multiplied around thousands of people around the world is why I keep doing this every day.
Kim Rittberg (08:44):
Okay. So talk about business owners. What do you see from your perspective, what could business owners be doing better when you advise them? When people say, what's your advice for another business owner?
Cate Luzio (08:53):
Well, for anyone, that's to me, before you got to have a plan, I talk to so many founders that do not have a business plan and for anything in life, I think you have to have some kind of plan. And if you are taking, I think entrepreneurship is the biggest risk you can ever take in your life. You're putting it all line to build something on your own. So for me, having a business plan, understanding your financials is the number one thing. You should be living and dying by your numbers because knowing what's coming in and what's going out every day allows you to make decisions. Whether you're hiring someone, you're investing, you're doing paid social media, you're going to South by Southwest, you have to understand your numbers. And I think the third thing is really making sure you've got a viable product that the market wants. I mean, we could all launch something, but does that mean there is a product need or a market fit? No. So really do your due diligence. And that goes back to the business plan. If you do a business plan, right, you will come to that answer pretty quickly.
Kim Rittberg (10:09):
I basically got the cold sweats. When you're like, know your numbers. I'm like, yeah, of course. Obviously that's most No, it's true. I think what I love what you're saying about this is these are the things I personally am learning as a business owner. So all of us have strengths in one area and weaknesses in another. And so last year I'm like, I'm going to get a financial coach because that is what I need. I don't need a marketing coach. I don't need a on-camera coach. That's what I do. But I do think it's helpful to understand where you're upleveling,
Cate Luzio (10:33):
But think what you just said. So I hear so many founders like, well, I don't know how to do that. Well, you have to invest in your business, and you took the step to invest in your business by hiring a financial coach, which is going to help you the, I always say short-term pain for long-term gain, and there are so many resources available online around building a financial model that it's not, just because I'm a banker doesn't mean I knew every single thing. I think that's also why for the last five years I've been teaching my business plan bootcamp every single month because I want founders, whether they've had their company, they're thinking about it or they've had it for 15 years. And there are lots of founders that have been around for a long time that still don't have those plans. Do you want to keep doing what you're doing? Do you want to eventually sell it one day? Do you want to leave it to your children? What's the plan?
Kim Rittberg (11:25):
I find that really interesting. One of the things, so I realized, I'm like earlier, I didn't even explain what I do anyway. My business is that I help professionals become thought leaders through video and podcasts. So that means everything from messaging to on-camera training to video strategy, podcast strategy. So that whole piece of your business, that's what people come to me for. I've actually shifted from my first, when I first started my business was corporate jobs. That's who knew me, that's who trusted me. I went from media to being a consultant for media, advising them on video strategy. And what I realized, I actually wanted to have more impact and help business owners directly. But you need many more business owners to equal one corporate client. And so to your point about the business plan is the online coaching model is something that I literally had never heard of five years ago.
(12:15)
So we're talking about a business plan for something that I'm like, I don't know what, this is the only reason I know this exists because my friend over there did it first. So I think that's really interesting that there's actually all these new ways to have businesses today, obviously because of the internet Zoom facilitating it. But I think to your point, there still needs to be a plan of what's your business plan for this year, for three years, whatever. But I do think that the way things are structured now, people are coming to me for how should I do online coaching? I'm like,
Cate Luzio (12:46):
Right, you have the model.
Kim Rittberg (12:47):
Now I have the model, but I'm like, wow, I didn't have the model a year ago and now I've launched five times and I'm speaking across the country. So I've had thousands of people have heard me speak and I teach it across the country. But it is interesting to, it's not a business plan where I'm like, oh, I'm opening a clothing store, or I'm starting a beauty brand.
Cate Luzio (13:04):
And often that's often the challenge for services based business and how to price it and how do I go get my first client? I was speaking at an event last week and a number of people that asked a question was like, well, I do a lot for free. Never do anything for free. As an entrepreneur, you have to get paid. That is your business. The amount of times people have asked me, including my friends for free memberships at Luminary, it's like if I gave everybody a free membership, we don't have the business anymore. So you have to value your time. I always say, you can think about it in discounts, right? There's a sliding scale around discounts versus just giving it away. At the end of the day, this is your business. I used to say this, and I say this to anyone in corporate America, nobody cares about your career more than you do. Your boss doesn't. Your company doesn't. It's your career. It's the same with your business.
Kim Rittberg (14:02):
It's so true. I feel like, and actually that leads me into my next question about community building and collaboration, which by the way, speaking of not doing things for free, I've been doing a lot of speaking engagements, and someone asked me to fly to the Middle East, speak at a thing for whatever they call them, world luminaries, blah, blah, blah. I said, okay, what's the budget? Oh, we don't generally pay speakers. I said,
Cate Luzio (14:24):
It'll give you exposure.
Kim Rittberg (14:25):
But then I said, oh, no, I'm not going to fly to the Middle East for that. And they said, okay, well, if it's a deal breaker, send me your rate. I'm like, of course it's a deal breaker. What are you talking about? It's like a day of travel just to go there. Anyway, so everyone tries to get everything for free. And so it's on, the onus is on me to say, no, no, no. First of all, this is days away from my business. So it's already three working business days that costs money. I have children I want to see, and that doesn't make sense for me business wise, balance wise, all that. But anyway, speaking of community building, I would love, obviously you're an expert at community building. I'd love to know your tips on community building, but also community building to really drive your business. Thinking about it from that strategic way of partnerships, collaborations, community, what are your best advice to people for that?
Cate Luzio (15:13):
So when I wrote the business plan, again, all roads lead back to the business plan. For me, it was, I knew building a one-to-one to-one is really hard. It takes a long time. And as someone who self-funded the business, I didn't want it to take a long time. I left a very lucrative career to build this. So I said, okay, I want to have the one-on-one impact, but I need also the volume impact because why did I leave corporate America? Because we weren't seeing the numbers move. And so I said, I'm going to have a B2C model for our community and a B2B. So we have both. So we work with individuals and luminary members that are individuals, and then we work with now close to a hundred companies around how do they think about investing in particular in women, but also underrepresented communities in their pipeline.
(16:02)
And so we do trainings and workshops for those companies, and then they have access to all of our programming at the same time. That's helping to fund all of the one-to-one to one memberships that one physical space can hold. And then also, we started from day one, I knew I wasn't going to have luminaries in every single city, but there were all these great women's spaces popping up. And so I've reached out to a few and said, Hey, we should partner together. And that way we kind of build the old boys club where they can go to each individual club when they're traveling. And so now we have close to 33 spaces around the US and growing abroad. And that also helps build community. So whether they're living in Puerto Rico and they're popping into New York, they're still getting access to all the digital programming that we do, the community aspect and the network. But then more importantly, when they're hopping around, they can go into these spaces and feel in a safe space.
Kim Rittberg (17:01):
And how should a business owner, when they're thinking about, I feel like everyone here is like, oh, build a community online. Just build a community. It's hard for an online person. I'm like, for me, for her, whatever. For an individual trying to grow their brand through marketing, through online social media, all that stuff, what are some ways in which they can think about it? Is there partnerships, referral? I think of it when I teach video strategy and social strategy and showing up on camera, I'm like, there's different ways you're bringing people into your orbit. Some could be refers, some could be cheerleaders, some can be clients, some can be conduits to speaking engagement. So I think of them in different ways, but what are some ways to think about it? So
Cate Luzio (17:39):
One is in order to build community, again, we're still so young, but one of the things that I learned, we were only a year old when the pandemic happened. And so what I learned pretty quickly is you got to be in touch with your community all the time, whether you're in physical space or the virtual space and understanding what they want, right? It's not about what you want. Part of it is like, I've got this great content, but it's finding out what they want to hear. If they're coming to the physical space, why? If they are engaging in programming, why? So really listening and we do that. I think that's one way. I think two is developing a thought leadership platform. I think 80% of our LinkedIn traffic, and then our website traffic for Luminary actually starts in my LinkedIn. So as a founder, you need to figure out who you want to be online.
(18:31)
I use LinkedIn because it's the platform where I engage the most. It's for me a very professional platform. I'm less active on Instagram. My social media coordinator wouldn't say I should be more active, but LinkedIn is my platform. So I know that helps to drive that also for me, helps drive the things that I'm passionate about. Women in the workforce, access to capital community. So think about the different tools that you can use as a founder, not just to build it for your business, but to build it for yourself. And then talking about speaking engagements. I think if you're early on in the journey around building a community, it's less about I need to get paid immediately, that will come. But if you are starting to build your own platform, build that community, you want to be out talking about it, going and speaking allows you that avenue to talk about it in a very organic way. Everything that we've done at Luminary has been really word of mouth. We've done very little paid social. The only thing that we've really done paid social on is to when we're on the road for Luminary Live, to make people aware we're coming to your city. And then our fellowship program, which is a paid membership for women and women of color business owners. And so that's really what we've done. So our community is our mouthpiece, our cheerleaders, our ambassadors, our staff talking about the impact. And that to me is organically how you build that community.
Kim Rittberg (20:04):
I love when you're telling people to get online. I always tell people, I'm like, if you want to be a thought leader, I have actually, when I work with people, I call it thought leadership through content, TLC, I'm like, that's you become a thought leader. Someone's not unconscious. Knock on your door and find you. You have to be out there spreading your own message. Exactly.
Cate Luzio (20:20):
If you look at the different, again, where do you feel the most comfortable? Which platform? I'm not going to be dancing on TikTok, but I will be talking about what's important to me and the community and the things in the world on a LinkedIn. That's where I'm most comfortable.
Kim Rittberg (20:38):
I only dance ironically on social media. Okay, there you
Cate Luzio (20:40):
Go. I'm a
Kim Rittberg (20:40):
Really bad dancer. Okay, we're going to jump into
Cate Luzio (20:44):
rapid fire, but before we go into rapid fire, what does success mean to you?
Cate Luzio (20:53):
This is a tough question because I am an overachiever. I am a perfectionist. I am a competitor. That's what my dad has called me my whole life. I joke about it When we were growing up, I have two brothers and myself. We weren't raised as boys or girls. We were raised as competitors, and we still compete with each other. For me, I think my definition of success is changing. Yes, I continue to want to achieve and do great things and have impact, but I think being content is something that I strive for. Not complacent, but content. And that's hard for me because I seem to never be content, and I don't know if that's just how I was raised or that's an entrepreneurial thing, but that's really now what I strive for.
Kim Rittberg (21:45):
Well, I think of it as to be successful, you have to keep pushing yourself if you're always pushing yourself and you're never content. So really finding that balance of saying, oh, I'm going to pause, pat myself on my back for doing this great thing that I'm proud of. But also what's next? It's
Cate Luzio (21:58):
Hard, right? Right. And it's hard because it is that what's next? I mean, any of that are listening that are the entrepreneurs. And even if you're in the traditional workforce, it's like if I'm climbing the corporate ladder, what's the next rung? When am I going to get that next promotion, the next raise? Then it's as an entrepreneur, the next deal, the next client. So I'm a Gen Xer, right? That is what was ingrained in us as we grew up. It's the next, it's the next. So I think part of that is I'll probably never be content, so I can always strive for it, but it keeps me motivated. My team would tell me sometimes I need to slow down. But I think also that's that part of that achiever and the competitor I just did for the first time. Well, in 15 years, the StrengthsFinder Clifton strikes and I went back. I found my old one. I'm exactly the same as I was when I did it 20 years ago. I should do that. Yeah. So I've never changed. So
Kim Rittberg (22:53):
I just realized we were raised similarly, by the way. Oh, my dad was always like, no, I had two older brothers. My dad was like, he told me when we're grown up. He's like, you were always the best athlete. I'm like, I know, I know that. But it wasn't, he just didn't tell them. It made them feel bad. Exactly, he’s like, I know that you knew that. Yes. Okay. Rapid fire, weirdest job you've ever had.
Cate Luzio (23:15):
Weirdest. My first job was a foot locker, so I wore the little referee outfit. Yes, yes. That was my first job. Probably my weirdest, because you smell a lot of things.
Kim Rittberg (23:29):
I was a caterer waiter. It's not a weird outfit, but you end up like I was dressed in a tuxedo basically. Yeah. Embarrassing work moment.
Cate Luzio (23:37):
Embarrassing work moment. Okay. So my first trip to Saudi Arabia, so when I was a banker, I spent a lot of time in the Middle East and in Saudi Arabia. At the time, I was going there quite a bit. You had to wear a full abaya and hijab and we had to stop on the side of the road to go to the bathroom. There were men's bathrooms, there were no women's bathrooms. So I had to basically figure out how to go to the bathroom in a full abaya on the side of the road without getting arrested.
Kim Rittberg (24:08):
Wow. Okay. That's memorable for sure.
Cate Luzio (24:10):
Yes. I did it though, and I'm still here, and I didn't
Kim Rittberg (24:13):
Get arrested. Did it end up being embarrassing?
Cate Luzio (24:14):
It was very embarrassing. I was only with men. I only work with men. So yes.
Kim Rittberg (24:20):
If you had three days entirely to yourself, but not healing in a good way, if you had three days entirely to yourself, how would you spend them?
Cate Luzio (24:28):
Only by myself. I don't sleep very well, so I wouldn't sleep in beach shop. Read, alright. I love the shop, I love the beach and I love to read, but it have to be in a remote, exotic location because I love to travel.
Kim Rittberg (24:49):
What always gets a yes from you
Cate Luzio (24:56):
Professionally or personally? Professionally, if you present me a business case, you'll likely get a yes around whatever you want personally. You always get a yes from me if you ask for help.
Kim Rittberg (25:11):
What always gets a no from you
Cate Luzio (25:14):
If you don't build your business case, meaning don't give me context, right? I'm a person that likes to think and say, give me the facts so I can make a decision. So if I have no facts, how can I make a decision? And my team knows this. If they come to me and just say, Hey, this is what I need. Tell me the facts. If you give me the facts, there's very little times I'm going to say no. I
Kim Rittberg (25:37):
Love that. Cate, this was so fun. Is there anything I didn't ask you'd like to share?
Cate Luzio (25:42):
Let me ask you a question. Is that okay? Yeah. So I'll kind of flip it back to you for one moment. You've now had the business for how long?
Kim Rittberg (25:52):
Four years, five
Cate Luzio (25:53):
Years, four years. When you look back to that time when you're in labor and you're getting your iPhone out, and is there anything that you would do different in this last four years building your business?
Kim Rittberg (26:04):
I would say to myself, don't be scared of anything. And I'm always surprised because objectively I look at myself. I have a really good resume in media. I really had good jobs, I worked hard, blah, blah, blah. Climbed the ladder. And the fact that even I with my resume was like, can I do this every quarter? I don't know. Does this make sense? Is anyone going to hire me? Going to, I feel like fear is something that has held me back just in weird ways. In other ways, I'm super confident I'll be an extrovert, talk to everyone at the party, but fear is really powerful. And even in things that we don't say, it's fear, it's usually fear. When there's something that's been on your to-do list for six months or 12 months or 18 months, it is, it's usually fear.
Cate Luzio (26:48):
Yeah. And thank you for that because the reason I ask is, I think one thing that when I was leaving my banking job and one of my mentors, I met with him and he said, what's the worst that can happen? You gain a bunch of new skills and new experiences and you can always go back.
Kim Rittberg (27:06):
Well, my husband and my mom have two totally different advice on when I'm really feeling really stressed about doing something. My husband will be like, well, what happens if that does happen? Am I, oh, that's going to be horrible. But my mom will say, write it down on a piece of paper, fold it up and you'll look at it back in three months and it won't seem that big. I like that one. Oh, I like that one. I don't like my husband's such a pragmatist. Not that helpful. It's very sort of doomsday. But yeah, I think that I look back and I would say, oh, I wish I wasn't scared. I wish I weren't so scared of trying new things and now I feel like I'm really living without fear and really putting myself out there in new ways. And I basically, last year was such an incredible year.
(27:51)
I got to help so many business owners around the country. I got to speak across the country, but it's like I'm actually helping people. This has been really fun. And to see how the skills that I have picked up in media apply in this new world, literally new world of business. And it's been fun. And I also did it to have flexibility. I was like, I don't want to work in a hospital again. I want to have some moments that are just for me that I don't need my iPhone there for. And I have that. I feel like I have that no one has perfect balance, but I have flexibility.
Cate Luzio (28:19):
Flexibility is the word, right? I think that, and I think for many the reasons many people start companies is because they want that flexibility. But thank you for answering my question.
Kim Rittberg (28:31):
Yeah, thank you so much, Cate. This was
Cate Luzio (28:32):
Awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Alright.