Clarity brings confidence in our ability to take action.
Meet Catherine Thiry. A former German teacher in France for many years who changed her career in her 50s and became a self-employed career transition coach for senior professional women. She believes 50 is the golden age for women to reinvent themselves and achieve big goals. Passionate about change and identity, her aim is to help senior women launch their dream business and get cash, influence, autonomy, which they often have missed in their careers.
Catherine is a big advocate for Women’s Leadership and Entrepreneurship. Her conviction is that entrepreneurship can be a vehicle to promote gender equity, empower women economically, and foster inclusion of senior women in the market who face double discrimination linked to age and gender.
Tell us a little bit about your current projects. What exciting milestone would you like to share with our readers? (Don’t hesitate to delve into your achievements, they will inspire the audience)
Catherine Thiry: As a career transition coach helping women transition into online entrepreneurship, I’m also passionate about empowering women to live up to their financial potential and help them rewire for wealth. As a teacher I was underearning, not earning what I was worth, internalizing the belief that women are not good with money and do not need to earn big money, that money is a male skill. I radically changed my beliefs around women’s relationship with money. I believe women need to become financially savvy, learn to invest their money, and plan for a comfortable retirement. I’m convinced money is power, it gives you the power to choose, to experience freedom. Knowing how to earn money and how to invest it is power. That is the reason I’m excited to partner with a female financial planner who can educate, advise, empower women on money matters.
Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up?
Catherine Thiry: I made the mistake when starting as an entrepreneur to focus on building a funnel instead of building a community. I thought I would attract clients with a webinar funnel and they would buy my coaching program, but I learned the hard way that we must build the know like trust factor first before considering selling something to someone.
We have to consider the buyer journey, not everyone is at the same stage in their journey, and that it is very difficult to convert a cold audience with a webinar funnel. Sales is a process that can take some time, so be prepared to educate your audience through content marketing before making sales.
What are the most common mistakes you see entrepreneurs make and what would you suggest they do?
Catherine Thiry: As I said previously most entrepreneurs are eager to build a funnel before building a community and they often do not validate their offer before building the funnel, they often skip the market research phase which is the starting point of any business, they should ask these crucial questions: Who is my client, what is my message to attract this client, is my offer relevant to solve his/her problem.
Resilience is critical in critical times like the ones we are going through now. How would you define resilience?
Catherine Thiry: Resilience is the ability to bounce back after a failure, setback while learning the lesson without considering yourself a failure rather considering failure a learning experience to progress and evolve on the entrepreneurial path. We must be willing to fail before starting the entrepreneurial path, we have to take action and not spend time figuring out the best approach, strategy to market. Action will always provide clarity
What is most important to your organization—mission, vision, or values?
Catherine Thiry: I think values are a big driving force in any mission, vision. If the values are well, clearly articulated, and customers can identify with them, we will stand out in the market. My values are helping senior women who make a career transition don’t compromise on their desires, aspirations because they feel age is a barrier to fulfilling their potential: It is never too late to start over and become the person you always wanted to become or are meant to become.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success?
Catherine Thiry: Having clarity, confidence, and a sense of commitment are success factors in any enterprise. Clarity brings confidence in our ability to take action, and achieve goals. Confidence brings commitment, when we feel confident we stick to our goals although we might experience failures, we understand they are part of the success.
What have you learned about personal branding that you wish you had known earlier in your career?
Catherine Thiry: I learned that branding is the power to attract clients and influence their decisions to buy. A strong brand should carry, reflect the mission, vision, and values of the company. Without a brand we can not market, we have no voice. The brand is what helps us stand out in the competition
How would you define “leadership”?
Catherine Thiry: I would define it with this quote “Leadership is more who you are than what you do ” Brian Tracy. Leadership starts first with self-leadership, having a level of self-awareness, knowing who you are, what you want, and how you are going to get where you want to go.I think clarity, confidence, and commitment are traits of any leader who want to serve a higher cause not their own interests.
Do you think entrepreneurship is something that you’re born with or something that you can learn along the way?
Catherine Thiry: You must have a great business idea and have a passion to develop this idea into a solid business model, considering first if your business idea is economically viable if you will be able to make a living from it. Lots of skills can be learned along the way: marketing, sales, finances …..
If you possess the right mindset, if you are willing to take some calculated risks,if you are willing to fail and believe in your agility to adapt you have great chances to succeed
What’s your favorite “life lesson” quote and how has it affected your life?
Catherine Thiry: “Keep earning respect, keep earning value, and keep earning your legacy with every action every day ” – Marshall Goldsmith.
Understanding that our mission is to serve others while providing value is the best way to leave a legacy. Every leader wants to serve, be valuable and leave a legacy.
This interview was originally published ValiantCEO.