Starter Girlz Podcast

I Quit the Hustle: How Leaders Avoid Burnout (with Cathi Coridan, Founder of Grit & Grace Consulting & Leadership Strategist)

• Jennifer Loehding • Season 7 • Episode 105

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Feeling like you’re doing everything yet getting nowhere? In this episode of the Starter Girlz Podcast, host Jennifer Loehding sits down with Cathi Coridan, founder of Grit and Grace Consulting, to talk about how mission-driven leaders can step out of the operator seat and into true leadership without burning out in the process.

Cathi shares her real-life journey from constant hustle to calm, sustainable leadership. You’ll learn how to avoid burnout, redefine success, and lead with clarity, focus, and compassion. If you’ve ever struggled to let go, delegate, or set boundaries, this conversation gives you the mindset and tools to finally lead with grit and grace.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✅ How to recognise the early signs of burnout before it costs your health
✅ The mindset shift from operator to leader and why letting go is key to growth
✅ Practical leadership burnout recovery tips for entrepreneurs
✅ How to stop hustling and build sustainable systems that scale
✅ The power of StoryBrand messaging to make clients the hero
✅ Simple strategies to protect your work-life balance as a leader
✅ How to define success in different seasons of life and build a business that fits you

Whether you’re a leader, entrepreneur, or career shifter chasing impact without exhaustion, this conversation will help you reclaim your energy and focus, lead your business instead of getting buried in it, build systems that work without burnout, and step into leadership with confidence, clarity, and calm.

Connect with Cathi Coridan:
🌐 Visit: https://www.cathicoridan.com
💼 Learn more about Grit & Grace Consulting

Connect with Starter Girlz Podcast:
🌐 Website: https://startergirlz.com
🙌 Partner: Walt Mills Productions

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Cathi Coridan:

I'll get up and go and do that extra thing in the yard. And I said to my husband that day, you know that little extra piece? I don't have it. But today. And I don't want p other people to have to go there. Because that little extra piece is reaching out to a friend and saying hi. That little extra piece is calling your grandma and her birthday or just calling her to talk about what's going on. That little extra piece is showing up at a networking meeting and meeting three or four new people. And if we those are the things that fuel us. And if we get to the point where we can't do that, I have fortunately recovered that, but I use it very judiciously.

Jennifer Loehding:

Welcome to the Starter Girlz Podcast, your ultimate source of inspiration and empowerment. We're here to help women succeed in every area of their lives: career, money, relationships, and health and well-being. While celebrating the remarkable journeys of individuals from all walks of life who've achieved amazing things. Whether you're looking to supercharge your career, build financial independence, nurture meaningful relationships, or enhance your overall well-being, the Starter Girlz Podcast is here to guide you. Join us as we explore the journeys of those who dare to dream big and achieve greatness. I'm your host, Jennifer Loehding, and welcome to this episode. Welcome to another episode of the Starter Girlz Podcast. I'm your host, Jennifer Loehding, and wherever you are tuning in today, we are so glad to have you. All right, well, I am ready to get this started. We are in the fabulous meeting place here in the Farmers Branch Addison area. It's so exciting because we're doing this at a studio and I love it. So much fun. All right, so let's open this up today. So, what does it take to navigate big big change without burning out? Today we're going to be talking about that with someone who's helped countless leaders reinvent themselves while staying true to their mission. So before I bring her on, you can see her here, but before I let her talk, we have to do a quick shout out to our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by Walt Mills Productions. Need to add excitement to your YouTube videos or some expert hands for editing? Look no further. Walt Mills is the solution you've been searching for. Walt is not only your go-to guy for spicing up content, he's the force behind a thriving film production company with numerous titles in the pipeline. Always on the lookout for raw talent, Walt is eager to collaborate on film and internet productions. With a background deeply rooted in entertainment and promotion, Walt Mills leverages years of skills to give you the spotlight you deserve. Want to learn more about Walt and his work? Head on over to Walt Mills Productions.net and let your content shine. All right. And with that, we do want to make a mention to head on over to startergirlz.com. I say this every episode. And why? Because one, if you have missed an episode, it's a great place to catch up on all of them. They're all there, even the beginning ones. You can also sign up for our community newsletter, and then you can stay in touch and also keep up with all the episodes that are coming out. We've got lots of good ones. And then, of course, if you are an aspiring entrepreneur or maybe you're in the thick of it right now and you want to find out what your number one subconscious block is that may be hindering your success. Well, guess what? We've got a fun two-minute quiz over there that you can take right now, and it's a lot of fun. I built it, it's fun. And it'll tell you what it might be keeping you in that stuck position right now. So again, head on over to startergirls.com. And as I always say, do your thing, whatever that is. All right. So my guest today is so exciting, C athi Coridan, founder of Grit and Grace Consulting. With over 50 years of experience in nonprofit leadership and small business development, Cathi helps mission-driven leaders navigate change with clarity, compassion, and guts. She's a coach, author, and strategic guide who blends bold strategy with story-brand-powered messaging to help leaders grow without burning out. And so, Cathi, I am so excited to have you here today. This is going to be so much fun as I'm getting to know you and learn about you and hear your story today. So, welcome to the show.

Cathi Coridan:

Well, thank you. And I am so excited to be here. You are my first podcast in my new grit and grace consulting life.

Cathi Coridan:

So I am just thrilled to be here and um can't wait to hear what we're gonna talk about.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, and you know what, you got the shirt happening today. It's got the whole grit and grace and bold all written on it there. It's great. I love it. No, and this is gonna be so much fun, and I'm so glad that this is like your first, you know, in-person kind of post moving into this new phase here kind of thing. So yeah, it's gonna be a good one.

Cathi Coridan:

We've done lots of podcasts, but they've they've all been on Zoom. So it really makes a difference being in the studio. It really does.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah. Well, and you know, when we started this, and just so you know, I told the the guests that we just interviewed before you came in here, our friend, your friend with Darin, I'm friends with Darin, um, that this month is actually our sixth-year anniversary of this episode, or excuse me, this podcast. That's how long it's been around. Pre-COVID podcast. Um, but when I started this show, we started in studio. That was the original. We started in like a co-op working space. It was Adventure X. We had foam things on the wall. We were doing everything live. Oh my goodness. That's why I say go check out those episodes because the growth of this happened. I mean, we've I started with the podcast partner on the show with me. Still great friends. She left. We brought another one on, launched another show, and here we are back at the roots of guess what? I'm in a studio doing the podcast. Six years later, we've learned a lot of stuff.

Cathi Coridan:

Right. So, so and the meeting place is a great place to have it. I love, I love officing here. And it's the can just so convenient and filled with really interesting stuff and people.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, a lot of neat people in here. As we said in the beginning, we are over here at the meeting place, so it is a great place. If you're here locally, come check it out. We've got uh a lot of fun people here, a lot happening, and um, we love the view. It's a great, great view. So all right, Cathi. So let's talk about you. Let's talk about what you're doing. Let's talk about this grit in Greece and what you got going in the consultant today. Tell us how you're helping your clients, and then I want to kind of talk about a little bit about what brought you here.

Cathi Coridan:

Okay. Helping my clients, many times when people start a small business or they start a nonprofit, it's about being the technician. It's about being being, for instance, I was in real estate for eight years. It was about being a realtor. I wanted to sell houses, and I didn't step back for a while until I had a coach tell me. Really clearly it was a different, whole different game than I thought I'd gotten into, is that I ran a small business. And so I want to help people move from being operators to get into their CEO and leader seats to really understand the not just the difference it can make in the business and in the growth of the business, but the difference it can make for their employees and the community and their families. It's it's a different mindset and it's a different perspective. I love to do that. I have what I call my can-do leadership mindset. Um and it's it really does. It's a it's about possibility, it's about exploring, it's about gratitude, it's about coming from contribution, it's about playing well together, it's about networking, it's about really understanding the whole piece of leadership and being the best parts of those for yourself. The second way is, and you and you mentioned in the intro, the um I'm a story brand certified coach, and Donald Miller has the story brand, um, How to Build a Story Brand 2.0 is a book I would recommend. That oftentimes when we talk about our businesses, we talk about us. My company was founded in 1946, right after the war, when my grandfather and well actually it'd be my father, but when and we've done this and we've done and it's like and then sometimes it's a nonprofit, it's that I came in to help these kids, I came in to help this um people who don't have, I want them to have, and the focus is on us. Right. The focus needs to be flipped. We need to be the guide in in the story, and our clients and our donors and our employees need to be the heroes. Yes. And our job as a leader is to guide them through a process that they can get the results that they want. They can get um be part of a productive team and a healthy organization. They can do whether it's plumbing, accounting, real estate, it makes a difference in the community and to the clients that they serve. And the third thing is something you and I love, um, which is the networking piece of it. Building partnerships. It isn't just about trading business cards and let's have a one-on-one and we drink coffee and we never see each other again. Or one of us sends an email and it's never answered because there wasn't a connection there to start. And that partnership piece I think is really critical to forming and and uh contributing to a healthy community. And then this so that's what I do with the small business leaders and the nonprofit leaders that um that are feeling like they're not getting their goals and they're not they're not getting where they want to go. And I can come in from the outside, do a couple of assessments and and help them shift some pieces around. Because they usually have most of the stuff. Yeah. It's just not in the right order.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yes, yes.

Cathi Coridan:

But the other thing I'm really excited about is that I'm developing into next year, into the spring, um a model and a program for uh primarily leaders in uh either communities, in businesses and even in corporations and nonprofits that are feeling burned out. Yeah. That because of what's what I've been through in the last four years, I'm very clear on two things. One is I'm not ready to quit, and I have lot lots more to give. The second is I don't want people to end up in the situation I'm in. Yeah. And that the having to make the hard decisions I've had to make because of the damage I've done by pushing too hard, by working through stress, by oh, I can do one more thing. Oh, do you know I I worked for an organization once that we were so competitive. I've been here for 40 hours and it's only Wednesday. Yeah. And it's that mentality is so destructive and it is so prevalent. And people think I, you know, I would pick people would send me gift cards to go to the spa, and they would send me little pillows and bot maps. And and that's not the answer to it. It's it's kind of repositioning yourself in the process, um, holding yourself a little bit differently and being part of a process that's g that's geared up for success so that you're not running against the wind all the time.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah. And you said a lot of really good things, and um, I agree with you on the burnout because it's a lot of the stuff I I work on. Um I want to back up though, you were talking about like the story branding, because interestingly enough, I had a gal that I interviewed, I just released her episode a couple weeks ago, and we were talking about she was she's a branding expert. And so what you were saying about that storytelling thing is really relevant in any capacity of branding. Any branding expert would agree with you. But this is something that stuck with me that she said because she said so often we offer people a stapler when they need a sandwich. I you won't forget that now. See, like every now when I see that girl, her name, I've in fact she commented on one of my things and I said, we don't need a stapler when we need a sandwich, you know. And it's so true because in order to find out what they need, like you have to become client-focused, right? Like you gotta really become toward the client. And if all you're doing is focusing on you and talking about you, you're not finding out that information. So you may be giving them a stapler when they need a sandwich. Right. So that just made me think of that when you were talking about that.

Cathi Coridan:

Then they spend money and they say this doesn't work. Exactly. And they stop trying. Exactly. And then it gets even worse. Yes.

Jennifer Loehding:

So everything you said was good there. I love that you're working on the burnout, um, you know, working with leaders on the burnout piece of that. I think that's so important. And um, all of this that you're talking about, you know, helping them, you even going back to the beginning when you were talking about being the operator versus the leader, because as business owners, there is a shift. And I think that we do, we get, you know, it's something like my 22 years I was in Mary Kay, we used to talk about delegate, delegate, delegate. Being in the operator mindset, it's very hard to want to learn to delegate because you don't think other people can do what you're, you know, the work that you're giving them, you don't want to part with it for whatever reasons, which happens to be one of my blocks on my my thing, control and delegation. Okay, right. In order to become in this mindset, if you're talking about a leader, you have to shift from that operator mindset to that leader mindset. And it is, it's a mind shift, it really is. And delegation is part of that, learning to have the wisdom enough to know your strengths and your weaknesses, the areas that you're not excelling at, you know, there's a lot to it. And I think for a lot of entrepreneurs, that shift is is a tricky, it's a delicate thing to do. So good for you for to do it dealing with that. Yes, because it is. And I and I actually talk about it in one of the programs I built, kind of the last phase of this, it's the last module in one of my courses where we talk about that shift, right? Moving from it's different. You I think you get into more of a collaborative state too, which you're talking about, like the networking state, building partnerships. You're able to see big picture. Right. You know, it's something that I feel like sometimes it drives me crazy in the entrepreneur space because I will see something going down and I'm like, but you're just kind of missing the big picture. You're missing the overall big picture of this right now. You might not be getting the immediate gain here right this moment, but the larger gain is far greater than this little thing you're getting hung up on right here.

Cathi Coridan:

Right. And you can also, I think one of the trap, though there's two traps.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

One is bright, shiny objects.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yes.

Cathi Coridan:

Oh. And being the next thing that you you buy these leads, or you have this um social media program or this Maven that comes in and does it for you and it's gonna solve all your problems. Yeah, I know. When it it's like carpeting over a rotten floorboard. Yeah. The the other pieces to get into the well, I have staying without delegating to I have to do the posts, I have to do the email, I have to answer this I have to do this proposal right now. And while those things can be okay, they aren't the work of a leader. No, no, they're meant to be for somebody else to do that. Right, and it's I think that what people fail to realize in that delegation piece is that you are mentoring someone else to know what you know and passing along. Yep. Um, I think real important that's what that's kind of what stopped me when the doctor said she said she's I said I was working four days a week, and she says, well, I'd really prefer three. And I said, So you're sending me in that in cash or in checks? Ooh. Uh because you know, I need my money. I I need yeah. So um and so I'm not ready to quit. And so I came to this thing about it, it was a year ago when I had the test results that showed my body was in the double red. You know, it went green, green, green, green, yellow, yellow, red, red, red, and I was in red, red. Okay. Uh for my body. Yep. And it told me that my body was eight years older than I was. Was not having it. It wasn't wasn't having it. And that my brain, because of all the pushing and all operating in such a stress mode for so many years, a variety of different things is was in red. It wasn't in red, red, so that was good news. I just this light bulb came on, and the next day I started letting people know I was only working from ten to four and I was sleeping when I could and doing all those things. Because but I don't think people should have to go to that go through that red light. To get to that red light, um, I could have said, oh God, this is kind of the end of things. I'm gonna find three or four nonprofits that want to use me as their grant writer, and I'm gonna stay home and I'm gonna write grants and that because I can do that, and that's still contributing to mission-driven organizations. And I said, No, I I have a boatload of experience. I have a very diverse, isn't that a wonderful way to say it, a very diverse work history in a number of different um industries and operations and organizations. And I've spoken on big stages and little stages. I've worked for you know, service organizations locally, and I've done work on a national level in several different organizations. And I want to be able to make sure to pass that information on and those experiences on and to have it make a difference in what happens for the nonprofit sector for the small businesses and for people to do it and stay healthy.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

And that's kind of where you and I have that next week.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, we have the the the combined, I guess, interest in that. And I think a lot of that's because of the health stuff that I went through and had to overcome. And really, I don't even know when mine happened, if I even recognized for the first probably, I mean, it the first in that book, I mean, I I got diagnosed with something else after that. Did not take me near the time it took me to go through this one because at the beginning of this, I was still in victim mode for a long time. And when I I was like, we have these defining moments, you know, when I my defining moment was I was sitting in, there's two, actually, two defining moments. I had one where I was sitting in the doctor's office and she told me that I was a conundrum, and I realized that it was going to be up to me to solve the problem. The second big one was when I was seeing a holistic practitioner and he said, What were you doing at the onset of this? And I was like, What? What did you just ask me? What was I doing? I was being a mother. I was like carpooling my kids, I was running a business, being the field trip mom. I was running, I was a Girl Scout troop leader for my oldest, I was the field trip mom, PTM. I was doing all things. See what I'm saying? But it was that defining moment. And it, and that's when I realized that yes, all the stress, all the things I was doing had contributed that. And then that kind of opened everything up to then it became, why was I doing that? It was no longer just the fact that now I know that I'm doing that. It became the search for why was I doing this repeated cycle of that? So I love that, I will say I hate that, you know, we have to go through these hard things. And you kind of mentioned that, you know, having that moment with the doctor, you know, when you were in the red, red, red, realizing that and you don't want other people. Unfortunately, I feel like we're all on our own timeline, right? Right. Those of us that are really stubborn have to hit our heads a few times into the wall and then we go, don't do that anymore, right? Right. But I think we our our interest is in that helping leaders to do things in a healthy way so they can thrive in all the areas and feel successful.

Cathi Coridan:

Right. And if we don't tell our stories, they don't have specific examples of it, you know. I one of my my kind of core key um professional position was as the CEO of a um child welfare residential treatment program for 90 high-risk adolescent boys. Oh my goodness, wow. And 80 acres, a hundred-year-old um agency. Wow. And i it was at a a change in the state's decision about how they were going to support the kids, and they began to close residentials. So I was uh had up talk about conundrum. I had things going on all over the place.

Jennifer Loehding:

Right.

Cathi Coridan:

And so I um I look back at that and the the call to me that these kids weren't gonna get left behind on my watch pushed me so hard. But I did it in such when I passed the baton, I passed it in a in a healthier place than I than it had been for those previous five years. Yet I did it in such a way that was I was diagnosed with cancer while I was doing that. That didn't stop me. I pushed and pushed and pushed anyway. I worked, you know, and I was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Wow because 90 high well at that point, 60 high-risk adolescent. Boys, I don't have to tell you all the things that can happen. Sure. So but my heart was in it. I had taken on somewhat the identity of the organization, so I took things personally. And in doing that, I reacted and I I worked out of tired that I can't even begin to describe right now. And I would always say, It's okay, I can handle it. And that is like one of the dumbest things to say. And I want to say that specifically in those kinds of situations so people hear.

Jennifer Loehding:

Right, right.

Cathi Coridan:

That's a really stupid thing to say. That's at least a yellow light.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

And I and when you're in your f you know, I was in my f early 50s, when you're in your forties and you're on the way up, and and when I was in my sixties and I'd already gone through chemo and I had rebuilt and everything was fine, and oftentimes I didn't even remember that I had cancer, I I just kept on going. And I I I laugh because I've worked with adolescents for so long and we always talk about, you know, they think they're invincible. Right. And I think sometimes we and I don't think it's just women, I think we do it differently.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

Is that we think we need to do it all.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yes.

Cathi Coridan:

And that we can we we can shoulder it no matter what it is. And I guess part of what I'm gonna work on, I have a couple of psychologists that I'm um in conversation with to the one who works specifically with um brains.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

And the impact of a variety of different issues on on the brain. And I, you know, I'm doing doing it thoughtfully and gonna build on it. I really want to give folks where the egg is starting to crack, or the f you're getting to get f before you've got, you know, somebody wanting to divorce you, before you've got all falling apart, yeah. Yeah, before the kids start acting out, before all those things happen. Right, right. Or to use those as as signs and signals that you can do things differently.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

And it's in the society that we're in, production equals success, numbers are what drives things, and that's I don't think it has to be that way. No. I think the numbers can matter.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

Numbers do matter. And production does matter. Right. Execution does matter. But if you've got the system set up to move effectively and efficiently, then the there's not as much friction and and there's not as much stress.

Jennifer Loehding:

It's so good that you said that because my as we're talking, I'm like, Cathi, I want you to tell me how do you define success? Because I think this is such a good, and you just kind of rolled right into that smoothly. And I agree with you. I think, you know, we so often, yes, we have we talk about you have to have goals, right? We have to have, if we want to achieve something, we have to have goals. But I think, you know, I just had this conversation um with Darren who was in here before you, and we were talking about how, you know, like used to be you would like I would and I'm not gonna ever say that I don't ever get in stressful moments because we do. We're especially those of us that are dri achievement driven. You are care clearly a caretaker, you're a fighter. I'm sensing every bit of it in you, obviously. I kind of embody a lot of those same things too. I tend to think sometimes I can do it all, and but our bodies are not forgiving. And I should say they are forgiving, but they they do get tired. And and the thing with all of this is I've had to learn in the aftermath of all of my, you know, what I wrote about my book and my other thing that I got, my other diagnoses, that I have to be very mindful of what I do with myself because I my body can't do the same. It can't even handle it. And I was thinking the other day, we were my husband and I were joking about um, because we used to, my husband was an endurance athlete. He's done like 24, 2500 mile races. He's a crazy runner. I've also done marathons. I was a trail runner, and every now and then I'm like, man, I miss, you know, being able to do some of that. And I'm just like, Cathi, I work out every day. But listen, some days it's I'm on a stationary bike. Some days it's yoga, some days I'm on the elliptical. I'm happy that I'm just moving the body and I'm going. I'm still doing it, you know, because I can't do what I used to do. And I think that we have to give ourselves permission. Yes. Give ourselves permission to be okay with not pushing hard all the time, right? Not so I think, yes, to what you're saying about the success, you know, how that that those those systems and stuff. I think it's important that one, we recognize that, but yes, also get those systems in place because our bodies are not going to keep running like that. They're not going to keep operating like that.

Cathi Coridan:

Somebody said to me last week, it's like having a Maserati and running it at 75 miles an hour all over the time. I know. I I I phot physically thinking about that just makes me have a physical reaction. But it's like I, you know, I just got new tires on the car yesterday. You know that cars with new tires feel different. Yes. And um, but it's taking care if we took as good a care of ourselves as we take of our cars, exactly.

Jennifer Loehding:

We'd be fine.

Cathi Coridan:

If we take as good care of ourselves as we take of our kids, we'd be fine. And it's it's not I think people think I had a situation, this is the way I want to talk about it. I had a situation where I said to my husband, and this was probably back the spring, when I was feeling a little bit better, but I ha just had this the a fatigue. And and for me, I have immune system issues because of my um cancer, and the immune system issues really cause me to have cancer fatigue because they have cancer. And so sometimes but I've always been able to get that little extra piece. You know, I'll get up and do what I have to do. I'll get up and go and do that extra thing in the yard. And I said to my husband that day, you know that little extra piece? I don't have it. Don't have it today. Yeah. And I don't want p other people to have to go there.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

Because that little extra piece is reaching out to a friend and saying hi. That little extra piece is calling your grandma and her birthday or just calling her to talk about what's going on. That little extra piece is showing up at a networking meeting and meeting three or four new people.

Jennifer Loehding:

Right.

Cathi Coridan:

And if we those are the things that fuel us.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

And if we if we get to the point where we can't do that, I have fortunately recovered that, yeah, but I use it very judiciously.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, that's so good. I love it. And thank you for sharing that, Cathi, because I I think it is so important, and you're right, because there are there are sometimes I I do that too. I feel like I don't have that little extra piece, and I have to just guard myself and say I need to re-re-energize, I need to pull back, scale back a little bit to to so that I can, because yes, I do think, you know, you're talking about that making those calls and getting out. We we strive as a species connecting. And when we're not able to connect, yes. And I can tell you, I I I know this for a fact. Like when I stay hibernating in my house for too long, I'm not a happy person. I have to get out and talk to people. And I don't have to do it every day, but I do need to get out. So I think we do. And so if you don't have that extra piece, it's detrimental to your health. It is. You need that extra piece.

Cathi Coridan:

And to your relationships. I agree. I agree. And I want to go back to asking my definition of success. I think everyone's definition of success is their own. Yeah. And that's the piece that I encourage clients and colleagues to look at. Yeah. Is to say what is your definition of success? Because it can take into account what's going on with you. I was just talking last week to a potential client who has been in real estate for like 37 years, so she's really well established. And she's trying to kind of decide what she wants to do next. Sure. And she has responsibilities as a caretaker now for a member of her family, in addition to doing the running her business. And her definition of success has now shifted. And that's part of what we were talking about working together to help her resolve is that how can she take and shift this so that she gets the income she wants, she can make those dis determinations not by saying, drives me crazy. I'm gonna do twice as much business as I did last year. Based on what?

Jennifer Loehding:

Right, right.

Cathi Coridan:

So to be able to say, if I can do this, and then one of her things is that she wants to retire. So she, like I, has a very small runway.

Jennifer Loehding:

Okay.

Cathi Coridan:

You know, I'm four or five years.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

And so I don't want to go build big and I don't need to change the whole world. I just want to help people make a better difference in the world we're in in not just our community, because part of the part of the gift of COVID is the fact that we can have worldwide reach. Part of the gift of the networks that we're in is that we can have we're online and we can have wider reach. I've just had conversations with a a woman from Connecticut and a w um a woman from I think she was from New Jersey, that you know, want to have follow-up conversations so we we can do that differently. But I don't need to go build this I really do want to build a four-day-a-week business.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

With with the income that satisfies what I need. So I have to be very thoughtful and very focused on what that means. And it means I'm not doing some things. Right, right. And that's the hard part, saying no.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah. I think this is good, which kind of leads me into the the next piece that I want to talk to because you mentioned, you know, having this window of time, you're not trying to build big. What would you say? Because here's the thing, there are a lot of older generation people starting businesses, like right? Like I mean, senior preneurs. Exactly. They're they're deciding to, and there's nothing wrong with that. I am a firm believer, age does not matter. I mean, if if you physically can do it and you want to do it, go for it. But I do think within alignment with what we're talking here. So maybe what would be some advice? I've said a lot of really good things, but maybe somebody right now that's sitting in this space, maybe where you are, they've got a little window of time, they want to start a business, and we want to keep them, you know, healthy, sane, all the pieces, then do what makes your heart happy.

Cathi Coridan:

Do what connect with what part of your life. You don't some people start a business from a hobby rather than going back in an accountant going back into bookkeeping uh or into accounting work. Um they they may have had a hobby of actually I have a friend who who is in uh international corporate mergers, travels four times a month, but he also does woodwork and he's trying to figure out how he wants to monetize that and how he wants to set it up as a business.

Jennifer Loehding:

Right.

Cathi Coridan:

I had a friend that was in the corporate setting doing um work on medical device development and working on the patents and the legal pieces of it, and he learned a lot, but he was in a leg he was in a law office environment where billable hours were the the rule. And he said, I I just don't want to do this anymore. He did the math and figured out that he can sit in an office in the lower level of his townhouse, he can read, he says, My best thing is getting up in the morning, having my breakfast, drinking my coffee, and reading the paper. Yeah. Which he couldn't do if he had to go downtown.

Jennifer Loehding:

Right, right.

Cathi Coridan:

And so, but it's the work that he loves and it's people he's already established relationships with. He's working around the world, and he's still continuing to make an impact with the gifts he has and and making making the money he wants to do. So it's it's how do you blend those pieces together? Right, right. And um that's each individual person. Yeah, that's the magic, the magic hit button, right?

Jennifer Loehding:

Like figuring out what you enjoy doing and how do you make money doing it, right? Right. It's making me think of Gary V. I don't know if you know who he is. I do. Um, I'm actually interviewing his one of his like former associates that helped him build his, like is the co-founder of his CO comp. I'm excited about it's gonna be fun. But it made me think about something he was saying about how when sometimes we get so hung up on the thing we want to do, like maybe we want to be a musician musician, but we're not really gifted in that area. But maybe we could find a way to find something else that we're passionate about within that industry, right? You know, and so I think yes, finding that, you know, that what brings passion to us and what we're good at and kind of blending those together, and then that's how we find that. And then how does that get back to society? How do we get back to people to help bring all that together so we can make a difference, make a difference and and make the money that we're wanting to because we have to sustain. We got we're gonna be entrepreneurs, let's face it. We gotta make a little money or we're just like doing charity work all of it, you know?

Cathi Coridan:

And and it doesn't have to be a little money. I think that that's the other thing. There's a saying in Keller Williams in the training programs that that Gary and uh the others in the um Keller Williams group have put together, but this is his, it's going from entrepreneurial to purposeful. Yeah. Entrepreneurial is kind of all over the place, and it's got these ideas, and that's one of the ways that the bright shiny objects can get really in the way. Purposeful is intentional, it's it's and it's part of my it that's why I have that included in my can-do leadership mindset is because it's it's it pulls the boundaries in. Yeah and it helps you stay focused on what you want to do and keep your eye off the rest of it. Um you can put it in a parking lot, you can put it in in the to be considered later, you can put it in a dream wish, you know, a dream list, sure. But to keep getting all these things is doesn't help you focus. And so I think if you you asked what what uh um advice would I give to folks, the senior preneurs as I like to call them, is make sure that you're able to focus on one thing and that you decide what you want to do and you know what you're leaving behind.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

And don't wander around, but really commit to doing that well.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah, get get the clarity. I love that you were talking about Keller Williams because my background's Mary Kay, and both of them have impeccable training. And so it's funny because a lot of the work that I do, Mary Kay's really a core foundation of a lot of the things that I do. I had 22 years in that industry, you know, in that organization, and um there's just and I've we've always talked about Keller Williams being great, you know, great with her training as well. There's probably a lot of parallels in the way they they do things. And so um so all good advice, you know. I love it, Cathi. Is there any particular, I'm sure you have a lot like I do, mentor, maybe a book, something that you feel like had a profound impact on the work that you're doing today?

Cathi Coridan:

Going back to the Killer Williams world, the one thing that Gary wrote with Jay Papazan, um, I I try to ask myself, what is the one thing that by doing it other things are made possible and the bad things are the op bad options get reduced. Um and to focus on that one thing. And so people say, What are you doing this fall to build your business? I'm meeting people, and that's my one thing.

Jennifer Loehding:

That's what you need to be doing.

Cathi Coridan:

That is what I need to be doing. Um the second book is Um The Road Less Stupid. I'm gonna have to it's gonna take me a minute to get his name. Uh Cunningham, Keith Cunningham. Okay. I say we can look it up. Yeah, we can look it up. It's also in the library. I know he is in the library here. Yes. And I um he says to take time to think. And that is some of the best I have a thinking notebook with the questions in the structures that he has them. Yeah. That when I need to make a decision, and it's uh I as as you know, because you've just known you know me for a couple of months, that I started out saying, you know, I I'm gonna be a a coach, trainer, a consultant, then I'm gonna, you know, small businesses, nonprofits, whatever. And it's like, no. Now I have really pulled it down to focus it where I want. I have I have the I want I want small business and nonprofits that are um about 750 to 2.5. I want it established, I want it moving and wanting to grow and become more dynamic and efficient. Um so to be able to write those things out, what are the things that are getting in the way, what are the things that I will I will default to? Um I don't run errands, but I do do email. Yeah, yeah. Yeah as a default kind of thing. So what and to to take the time every week I think he says every day, and I I don't think I could do that, is to take every the time every week to kind of review what's gone on and to see what the question is.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

And he says, look for the unasked question.

Jennifer Loehding:

It's good.

Cathi Coridan:

Yeah. And the secondary consequences.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah. Yeah.

Cathi Coridan:

You know, if you're gonna do this, that's fine, but what's gonna happen when it's gonna happen afterwards, yes.

Jennifer Loehding:

That's good. And we were, you know, we were talking no kidding, in the episode right before this about taking the pause. Yeah. Especially when you're working with, you know, ADHD, which are a lot of entrepreneurs, I think. And you tell we mentioned the shiny, you know, the shiny objects, all of those things, squirrel, right? Right. Um, it's it's taking that pause. But you also said something about the first book that I really liked about the people, because I think every pretty much every problem can be solved by having a conversation. So if we we need to be meeting people all the time, because I you know, even when I was in all the years I was building teams, I used to say people would get hung up on having the correct flyers and the websites looking, having the, and I'm like, you just need to talk to people. You need to just get out there. You're worrying about all of this stuff. Nobody cares. There's a really good book, by the way. I think it's called Getting Naked by um Leanne Sioni. But right. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Where he talks about like the two, the two businesses. The one goes in there, they're all prepared. They got their, they're all, and the other one just goes in and sits down and has conversation, you know, and the difference between ask questions. Right. And so, yes, I used to tell them all the time. I'm like, we would get so hung up on everything being right. And I'm like, you learn so much just by having conversation. I will tell you, probably in all of the years that I was in Mary Cash, I have said this. I learned a lot. I built teams, I learned a lot about leadership. It it helped me evolve. But I've had probably the most significant growth in the last six years doing this podcast because I have met, I've interviewed over probably 500 people and I've been on podcasts. And so between that, you can imagine. I have talked to I'm every day, I'm like, who's the different person I haven't that I have not had a conversation with because I've had so many conversations and I've learned so many great things. But I will tell you a lot of the universal, the principles are universal with the people. They're very principle. They they say a little bit different, but the overall messaging, the theme, they're pretty congruent.

Cathi Coridan:

Uh Stephen Covey's seven habits of finally affected people. Right. That's the thing. Yep. And um and what you say about I also listen to a wide variety of podcasts.

Jennifer Loehding:

Good.

Cathi Coridan:

Um, most of them business podcasts. Um and one of my friends who runs a phenomenal nonprofit in um Los Angeles that uh helps get um gang member recovery uh wow. And i i I I love him as a person and and I follow him. He just started a podcast, and now I have that one. But I you know, whether it's listening to Mel Robbins or whether it's listening to um the Keller Williams um Millennial Millionaire Real Estate Business Podcast or uh Simon Cinex um podcast, all these people and ideas. Yeah, um you're right. I mean, I don't I'm just now getting out and meeting more people after having kind of needed to pull back for four years, and it's it's a lot of fun. But I've also I think continuous learning and looking at things through different perspectives helps people understand people it in a in a in a more subtle and complex way than some of what's going on in today's culture, and I'm just gonna leave it at that.

Jennifer Loehding:

Yeah. You you hit the nail on the head because when you are having dialogue, it I think I've had this conversation over and over. It allow it gives you the ability to have empathy for other people because you can actually I've had so many interesting, I was on a I'm I'm a guest host on another podcast that by the way it's called the Maker's Bar. They have like 300,000 followers. That show is going crazy. But I've been a guest host on there a few times, and we just did a show where all of the hosts came on and we all talked about different things. And one of the things I talked about is that I had to interview a politician. And he was up in the the West Coast, which is, you know, there's a lot of, it's a different than this being in a red state down in Texas. And I went into that with a very open mind, but I was actually kind of nervous because I didn't know I didn't know what to do with it. I had no like preconceived ideas really going in. I just, but I was kind of nervous because I'm like, I'm gonna interview somebody from a different state up on the East Coast, which is we're in the red state down here in Texas, and how's this gonna go? But here's the thing. When I listened to him talk, I didn't necessarily agree with everything that he said, but I actually could understand where he was coming from and why he was seeing it this way. He was actually considered legally blind. So when he was talking about things like healthcare and stuff, like I couldn't necessarily agree with his stance on everything, but I actually had could feel empathy and compassion for why he was saying the things because he's experiencing it. He is living it. And so, to your point, we don't have to get any more into this, but I just want to say that is why I've learned so much because I've had these conversations with people that have come from different parts of the world, different economic status, political status, religious status. I'm gonna leave it at that, but I have been able to put myself, have these conversations with them, and maybe I don't necessarily agree with everything, but I can hear where they're coming from and respect them from where they are and understand that. And so I think that yes, having these conversations are important. And that's why when I bring people on my show, look, I'm just looking for the human being. I just want to know you're a good person. I don't care about all those other things. I just want to know I like you and you're a good person, and you're giving back to society, right? Because at the end of the day, we all have the same universal needs and wants, and we're all we're all living, you know. So I'm with you on that, Cathi. Good conversation. It's good conversation. It's good. So um, Cathi, this has been great. Anybody in may want to catch up with you. They might want to learn about the book, learn about your work. Maybe they want to know about this new program coming out. Where do we send them?

Cathi Coridan:

Cathi Coridon.com. And it's Cathi C-A-T-H-I, corridonc-o-r-i-d-a-n dot com. Pretty easy. And um, or if you want to email me, it's grit and grace Cathi, one word, C A T H I, at gmail.com. Perfect.

Jennifer Loehding:

We'll make sure too when we get this all, get all the bells and whistles on, get the show notes, we'll get all those links in there too, so they know how to find you. So um, pretty easy. I always tell you it's like mine. I can never like my name is my last name is so hard to spell, but if you start it, just you'll it'll pop up. You'll get it. So, but we'll make sure it's all in there. And I want to tell you thank you for your time and and what you're doing. I think it's awesome. And I hope that you continue to, you know, stay in your zone and and um do you know whatever else.

Cathi Coridan:

Thank you for the kind of first opportunity in my fully in my new mode to um to be able to talk about things that are important to both of us. Yeah. And I think that are important to healthy cultures and healthy people in organizations.

Jennifer Loehding:

I agree. I agree. So thank you, Cathi. All right, and of course, to our audience, we appreciate you and hope you found this episode both inspiring and informative. And if you did, you know what to do, all the things. Hit like, subscribe, comment, share, so we can keep sharing all this fabulous content. And then, of course, as I always say, in order to live the extraordinary, you must start, and every start begins with a decision. You guys take care, be safe, be kind to one another, and we'll see you next time.

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Jennifer Loehding

Host
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Cathi Coridan

Guest