Latest / Beyond Fulfillment Podcast / Building Big Dreams With Petite Steps: How Consistency Propelled Christiane Schroeter’s Impact
Transcript
- 0:04Sometimes there is definitely an uphill battle.
- 0:08But you know that it's not always going uphill.
- 0:10When most kids dream about ice cream, they're thinking about the flavor.
- 0:14When today's guest was a child in Germany, she was thinking about the business model, specifically how to sell it so she could master the perfect balance of work and play.
- 0:25That early spark led Dr.
- 0:27Christiana Schroeder across the ocean to to become a professor of innovation and entrepreneurship.
- 0:33But she quickly realized that in the world of high stakes business, we often get so obsessed with the big goal that we trip over the daily reality.
- 0:42Today, she's sharing the secret behind her trademarked petite practice.
- 0:46It's a framework that proves your massive breakthroughs don't come from giant leaps.
- 0:51They come from the small, consistent habits that keep you sane.
- 0:55We're diving into why actionable progress beats perfect strategy every time.
- 1:01How to pivot your brand without losing your identity, and the art of setting boundaries so your business serves your family, not the other way around.
- 1:10If you're ready to stop overthinking and start doing, then this episode is for you.
- 1:15As always, if you found value from this content, please like and subscribe.
- 1:20All right, Christiana Schroeder, welcome to Beyond Fulfillment.
- 1:24Thanks so much for having me.
- 1:25Audience.
- 1:26I'm really excited to be here today.
- 1:28Yes, we are excited to have you.
- 1:31So, Christiana, could you just walk us through your backstory and how you became an entrepreneur?
- 1:37Yeah.
- 1:37Love it.
- 1:38Thank you so much.
- 1:38I think for me, it started early on.
- 1:40In childhood, I always was passionate about doing something creative and starting a business to make money.
- 1:47Fun story audience.
- 1:49When I was a child, I lived in Germany.
- 1:51You can hear that in my beautiful accent.
- 1:52And I thought, how cool would it be to be running and operating and selling ice cream?
- 1:59Because then I would actually have half the year off.
- 2:03During the summer, I would sell high ice cream.
- 2:05During the winter, I would have the half time off.
- 2:10And of course my parents were like, that doesn't work because you don't make any money.
- 2:14But as a child, it sounded pretty brilliant.
- 2:16Selling something you're passionate about and doing only half a year of work.
- 2:21It's pretty much an entrepreneurial win win, isn't it?
- 2:24Absolutely.
- 2:25Absolutely.
- 2:25So you're already thinking about how to leverage your time and have time off.
- 2:31Right.
- 2:33Tell us more about that and how you became an entrepreneur.
- 2:37Yeah.
- 2:37So I want to kind of like I used this story to kind of jump into what's really important when I work with entrepreneurs today.
- 2:44And I'm going to take a really Big jump right now.
- 2:46So the passion and the time is really what I frequently emphasize with entrepreneurs that I work with.
- 2:54So I'm a full time professor at the university.
- 2:56I do teach innovation entrepreneurship to college students, to high school students, but then of course also to clients that work with me one on one and really scaling their business.
- 3:07Usually they're stuck, overwhelmed.
- 3:09They are doing great on paper, but they are not doing great in their mindset.
- 3:14And that's really where I come in.
- 3:16I also work as a keynote speaker and I talk exactly about my trademark on the stage that I also share with my clients and with my students as well.
- 3:27So I have a trademark on something that's called petite practice.
- 3:30Taking small, petite steps to reach your big goals.
- 3:34And that's really, if you think back about being a child and selling ice cream, that's really, back then what I took.
- 3:42I'm now in the United States, I work in California, and I took a lot of small steps to get here, but I reached my big goal.
- 3:48Super happy where I'm at today.
- 3:51Okay.
- 3:52All right.
- 3:52And so you talk about those, those childhood dreams of how cool it would be to have a business.
- 3:57And the first thought was selling ice cream.
- 4:00And of course you evolved into, all the way up until what you're doing now.
- 4:03I mean, how did your upbringing and your, your previous experiences shape the way that you, you built your business?
- 4:11Yeah, there's kind of like two important things.
- 4:15And I also emphasize that to all the business owners and entrepreneurs that listen to this right now.
- 4:21Number one, I always read a lot of books and I think that's really what you, what, what everybody could be doing to further their mindset and get out of being overwhelmed.
- 4:32Because you're learning from the best.
- 4:35On paper, you don't spend time with electronics all day, but at the same time, it's, it's sometimes really needed to get out of this mode of feeling stuck because you're learning from the best.
- 4:46So I always read a lot of books and I think that was something from early on, from being a child that really helped me about a book per week is really where I would set my, my reading scale.
- 4:58And I love talking about books too.
- 5:00So audience, if you have any, like, I feel stuck, I don't know what to read next, just reach out to me and I would love to help you.
- 5:06So that's like the number one thing.
- 5:08The number two thing is I always felt being a listener so much more important than being somebody that just kind of talks, talks, talks.
- 5:18So I really tune in on my Audience and I really try to figure out who they are, where they're from and who they want to be.
- 5:27Right.
- 5:27So this past, present and future.
- 5:30And that I think is really what always set me apart as a child.
- 5:33That I really had a lot of empathy, but I also had the ability to really figure out, is there something beneath that layer of what I see right now?
- 5:43Is there maybe even more there that I kind of can trigger out a little bit?
- 5:48And I love doing that.
- 5:50Okay, so you were reading a book a week even since, since childhood?
- 5:55Yeah, about.
- 5:55Yeah, that's.
- 5:56That's really what it comes down to.
- 5:58Okay.
- 5:59All right.
- 5:59And so how, when did you come to the United States?
- 6:03So I came to the United States just, just before I finished my master's degree in Germany.
- 6:09I knew that finishing my master's degree would lead to job applications and that would make my travel probably very minimal.
- 6:18So I started using my side hustle that I've been doing all along.
- 6:24So I've been working as a merchandising assistant for some large scale companies all along during, while I went to college.
- 6:32And I thought, well, here's my marketing, my sales experience.
- 6:36But I feel I need to really go to the global scale with those skills and figure out what else I can do.
- 6:42Started applying to various master's programs and then from there to PhD programs and earned my doctorate degree at Purdue University.
- 6:50And then from there I went to work as an assistant and then associate and then full professor.
- 6:56So you can kind of see that sometimes you are at that intersection, at that fork in the road where like, well, if I take that one route, I know I will never be able to fulfill the dream of
- 7:06going abroad, of traveling, of maybe seeing what else is out there.
- 7:09And that's really what happened for me.
- 7:11When I came to United States, I felt like I'm really glad I took that big leap because I knew that was the next best step.
- 7:19Very scary because I didn't know anybody when I came here.
- 7:22I had no family, no friends, no nobody.
- 7:25I had a piece of paper with a name, all the international student coordinator of the university on there.
- 7:31But I think that's who I am.
- 7:33I'm really a risk taker.
- 7:35If I know that has been on my bucket list.
- 7:38I am the person that will go for it and try to achieve it.
- 7:42Okay, wow.
- 7:43So you took a big leap coming to the U.S.
- 7:45didn't know anybody.
- 7:47You started a new life here and you began working as a professor and then you still had your side hustle, which you've had all along.
- 7:55And then talk about how you developed, like, the speaking and that you've written four books also, too.
- 8:01We'll get into that.
- 8:02The speaking and the writing and the coaching career.
- 8:04How did that all develop?
- 8:06I think it came from realizing that people don't learn all in one way.
- 8:11Sometimes we are good listeners, sometimes we like to read a lot, and sometimes we just like to watch.
- 8:19Right.
- 8:20And some people learn best when they're actually kinesthetic learners, so they like to experience it themselves.
- 8:27Being a professor really means that you understand that students learn in different ways, so they all get to the end result, but they don't all go through the exact same funnel.
- 8:38They go and take different paths to get there.
- 8:41So I realized I can't just stand here and click through slides.
- 8:45I can't just ask them write an essay, because not everybody is a good essay writer.
- 8:51So I started developing my books, and the books are really approaching learning from four different angles.
- 8:58Right.
- 8:59So in my books, you have barcodes where you can actually listen to my podcast episodes.
- 9:04There are also interactive exercises like word searches, where you test your own knowledge of the sales process or the marketing funnel.
- 9:13And then, of course, there are also pages where you can write about yourself and really reflect.
- 9:18What's important to me.
- 9:19What.
- 9:20What is something I would tell myself if I were to think about myself five years ago?
- 9:25What's a letter to myself?
- 9:26And what would I tell myself?
- 9:28So I feel that if you think about life and learning as a little variety of things, you really approach learning from the best angle.
- 9:38Because I'm really opening it up, and I'm saying, I'm here for you and meet me where you are, and I'm willing to take you then to that next level.
- 9:49Okay, so it sounds like your work as a professor really opened up your mind to the different way people learn and these different mediums you could use to get your message out, whether it be the books, the speaking
- 10:00you mentioned, your podcast, all these different avenues of.
- 10:05Of getting the information out.
- 10:06Is that fair to say?
- 10:08That's very fair and very brilliant to say.
- 10:11Okay.
- 10:12All right.
- 10:13And as you're getting out there, Right.
- 10:15Because again.
- 10:16Right.
- 10:16You read a lot, you went to school, you became a professor.
- 10:20You're starting out in a new country, which is very scary.
- 10:23And then on top of that, you're launching this business in terms of the speaking and the writing.
- 10:29I mean, what type of challenges did you face early on?
- 10:33Yes.
- 10:33At the beginning, you're sometimes really wondering, like, why am I doing this?
- 10:38I already have a full Time job.
- 10:40Right.
- 10:41But I think there's only so much you can do with regard to teaching innovation and entrepreneurship.
- 10:48I always say you actually have to practice what you teach in the classroom as well.
- 10:53So how can you be a successful professor if you don't run your own business?
- 10:59How can you share with students how it feels like to actually experience a failure or to hire employees or to really be a good team leader if you don't do this yourself?
- 11:09It's, it's textbook knowledge versus applied knowledge.
- 11:13And I'm very much a practical applicant myself.
- 11:16Of my knowledge I share with my students if something didn't work out in my business or if I dropped the ball on something for them because I was busy dealing with clients or traveling to a speaking engagement.
- 11:28And I think being honest and being vulnerable and being authentic is really what they appreciate.
- 11:34Because at the end of the day, when we are not just one lane people, we have so many different things that we all do.
- 11:41And I always encourage my clients.
- 11:44Don't just think of yourself as this one dimensional person.
- 11:49There's so much more you can do.
- 11:51But why don't you start tapping into all these different interests because you'll be surprised.
- 11:56It actually, at the end of the day, compliments each other.
- 11:59So I'm a better speaker because I teach and I'm a better teacher because I speak.
- 12:05Ah.
- 12:06Ah, okay.
- 12:08All right.
- 12:08And so you, you mentioned, right, like the challenges, the failures and then.
- 12:12But yet you're very big on being open and honest and vulnerable and love that too, because that's one of the things we hear about people's criticism, you know, even of learning.
- 12:22Business in college is like, well, you're not learning from someone that's actually running a business.
- 12:27And so you, you had that awareness to say, look, if I'm going to teach this, then I need to actually be doing it.
- 12:34So in those early years when you're just getting out there and launching and you're going through some of these failures, was there ever a point in time where you considered giving up?
- 12:42So many times.
- 12:46So many times.
- 12:48It definitely, I would say pivots are points of strength, not weakness.
- 12:55But sometimes those pivots are pretty hard.
- 12:58When you get to the point, you're like, oh, I guess I could keep going on, but I don't think this is going anywhere.
- 13:05And then maybe you need to pivot.
- 13:07And just last year, for instance, right.
- 13:10So my podcast is a really big feeder in terms of really bringing people into my email funnel, into my ecosystem.
- 13:19So last year I decided to rotate that and really put YouTube on the top and changing my brand from what was my podcast brand to Dr.
- 13:28Christiana.
- 13:29And that's a really big step.
- 13:31First of all, of course, it's putting my title on there.
- 13:34But second of all, you know, some people sometimes struggle with my name.
- 13:38And I do this very intentional because I think, this is my name, this is who I am.
- 13:43Right.
- 13:43This is my business.
- 13:45But what that all entails, to change a business name and really making sure that everything aligns under this new umbrella is absolutely tremendous.
- 13:56So at the beginning, I was very hesitant.
- 13:59I was like, oh, no, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing.
- 14:01But then I was like, it really doesn't make any sense because at the end of the day, if somebody does business with me, it's with Dr.
- 14:08Christiana.
- 14:09And that's really who I want to be known as.
- 14:13So it's.
- 14:14It's.
- 14:14Let me tell you what actually happens with the knowledge that runs your business.
- 14:20Someone spends a week writing an.
- 14:21So it goes in a binder.
- 14:24The binder goes on a shelf.
- 14:26And when a new hire has a question, they find the person who knows and they ask them.
- 14:31That's tribal knowledge.
- 14:33It's valuable.
- 14:34And it walks out the door.
- 14:35Every time someone leaves with Quickly Doc, you just film your experts doing the job.
- 14:42It takes five minutes.
- 14:43Quickly Doc turns that into a professional searchable documentation and that your team can pull up right from their phone.
- 14:51So when someone searches how do I reset the controller?
- 14:55There's the answer straight from the person who actually knows.
- 14:59Film it once, reference it forever.
- 15:02Go to quickly doc.com beyond for your free pilot and stop losing what your best people know.
- 15:09Sometimes there is definitely an uphill battle, but you know that it's not always going uphill.
- 15:15There's going to be the point where you pause on the top and you're like, okay, I did.
- 15:19This is.
- 15:19Actually felt really good.
- 15:21Okay, I can.
- 15:22Can you talk too, about a pivot where, like a really important time where you had to switch things up and it led to a breakthrough.
- 15:31Oh, for sure.
- 15:31Just that branding that I just talked about.
- 15:34That was good.
- 15:36Okay.
- 15:36Because I think when I applied to be a TEDx speaker, that completely set me apart from a lot of the.
- 15:46The other speakers right there.
- 15:48Because it immediately established me as like, all right, I'm not just here to share something about myself.
- 15:55I'm actually here to share an idea worth sharing that really moves momentum in the audience.
- 16:02I think that frequently people really underestimate of, like, what it really takes To.
- 16:10To come up with something like a storyline where there is a beginning and a middle and an end.
- 16:15And that, especially when you run a business too, that why is just so important.
- 16:22So when you are at a point where you feel you need that big breakthrough, just come back to that why and revisit that.
- 16:28Why are we actually doing this?
- 16:29Why are you doing this?
- 16:31Is that really something that you feel is important to you, yourself, your unique value?
- 16:37Does it come through in your why?
- 16:38And if so, then keep doing what you're doing.
- 16:41Otherwise, maybe we need to tweak things a little bit.
- 16:44Okay.
- 16:45All right.
- 16:45And so let's talk about, like, I guess, your.
- 16:50Your.
- 16:51Your patented program that you teach petite practice, right?
- 16:57So you're talking about taking small steps to achieve big goals.
- 17:01Can you just expand on, like, how you came up with that and.
- 17:04And what it really means to you?
- 17:07Beautiful.
- 17:08Yeah.
- 17:09To me, it really means that all of us can figure out how to write down big goals.
- 17:16We are all dreamers.
- 17:18Deep down, we can.
- 17:19We can come up with big goals, big priorities.
- 17:21I mean, here we are in January, and everybody has New Year's resolutions.
- 17:24And that's amazing.
- 17:26And most people don't even need a strategy, right?
- 17:29But when they meet with people, I'm like, so tell me a little bit about yourself.
- 17:33What's really going on?
- 17:34And they have great strategies and have big goals, but the problem is to connect the bridge between those two.
- 17:42How can I get for my strategy?
- 17:44How can I use it as a vehicle to reach that big goal?
- 17:47So my work really comes in.
- 17:50In translating the big goal into small steps that you can take, even on the days when there is a lot of pressure to really feel you're accomplishing process, a progress that sticks.
- 18:03And that's where the petite practice comes in.
- 18:05So you're taking small steps consistently to build momentum, to then eventually reach that big goal.
- 18:11And it's petite, small, but it's also a practice because you don't know that every step you take is going to be brilliant.
- 18:17There might be some days you're taking a small step and you're like, oh, I don't know about that, but it's okay.
- 18:22It was a small step.
- 18:23So next day, try something a little bit different, but you have to keep up that consistent momentum.
- 18:30Okay, and how did you develop that too, throughout your career?
- 18:35Beautiful.
- 18:36I think that all my life, I used that same concept for myself.
- 18:40When I wrote my dissertation, I wrote two pages per day.
- 18:44Two pages per day.
- 18:46And I accomplished my PhD in five years.
- 18:50And when I graduated.
- 18:52There were other people that were still doing their literature review and they had started with me because they were just thinking only about the big goal about the PhD, the doctorate degree at the end.
- 19:03And I just thought, I'm just going to write two pages per day, two pages per day.
- 19:06I'm just going to keep sitting down every day.
- 19:09And when I got those two pages down, I can do something else.
- 19:12But I got to write those two pages per day.
- 19:14And that's how I graduated.
- 19:16And that's just one example.
- 19:18So if you think you have a big goal, whether that's a degree, a promotion, bringing your business to the next level, there's always a way to get there.
- 19:28But you have to do it consistently and most importantly, take that first step today, okay?
- 19:35And given some of the challenges you faced early on and then up until where you are today, where like you said, you have a top 1% ranked podcast, your keynote speaker, you've done a TEDx talk, you, you have
- 19:49a coaching practice, you're still a professor.
- 19:52Given the success experience, was there a particular moment where everything just started to click and the trajectory really took off?
- 20:02Yes, for sure.
- 20:03They all have 24 hours in the day.
- 20:06And there was a moment when I realized that some things I have been really worried about, which is, weren't that important anymore.
- 20:14We're like, you know what, at the end of the day, I don't even know what, what, why I got so bent out of shape over this.
- 20:22And you just have to let go of those things and some other things that are really important to you where you actually see the traction in your business, you're going to keep doing those.
- 20:34But really, really importantly, audience, you have to take maybe even a full day at the beginning of each month and sit down and reflect on that because otherwise you're not going to come to this realization.
- 20:45So for me, doing all these different, I call them opportunities, right?
- 20:52They all come with obstacles, but I have to sit down and figure out, all right, so for me to be a TEDx speaker, what does it mean in my day to day life?
- 21:01All right, so for me to be a good mom, what does it mean my day to day life?
- 21:05So I have to really sit down and figure out what is it that I can do and what is it that, that I, I'm just not going to be able to and I have to say no to.
- 21:14So you have to create those boundaries because otherwise you're just going to drive yourself crazy, right?
- 21:19So that is really a point that I had to do.
- 21:22I had to really sit down and say yes to this.
- 21:26Absolutely no to that one.
- 21:28This one may be back burner, but it's just not going to work right now.
- 21:34Love that.
- 21:35Okay.
- 21:36And Christiana, after everything that you've been through and getting this far, what's one piece of advice that you would give to someone that's just starting out on their entrepreneurial journey?
- 21:48Yeah, just start looking at your own progress.
- 21:52You have to praise your own progress.
- 21:55If you think about a book, right?
- 21:57And you just pick up a really big book, let's say you're on page one or maybe 10 or something.
- 22:03Don't compare your page one or page 10 to somebody's page 100, which frequently leads to this procrastination and this.
- 22:11I'm feeling stuck.
- 22:12I'm feeling overwhelmed.
- 22:14So if you read the beginning of the book, you have to keep turning the pages.
- 22:17You have to do the work, because nobody that's on page 100 and has been operating a business for 10 years got there quickly.
- 22:26They didn't just flip it and they say, oh, I'm there.
- 22:29This is not what happens.
- 22:30Everybody has to go through the hard work to get there and take those small steps.
- 22:35So if you're just starting out, just keep plugging along consistent, petite practice steps and high five yourself.
- 22:44Kind of think, all right, so this week I did that.
- 22:47Okay.
- 22:47This month I did that.
- 22:48Over the last six months, I did that.
- 22:50So really write down and document your progress and share it with somebody as well, and you'll be amazed in what you accomplish.
- 22:57But that is the most important thing.
- 23:00Don't Compare your day one to somebody's day 1,000.
- 23:04Right.
- 23:05So, I mean, if I.
- 23:06If I think about myself, really, that's frequently can.
- 23:09What can lead to this inability to keep moving because you feel, oh, I'm never going to get there.
- 23:15Of course you will.
- 23:16You just have to keep going.
- 23:19Reminds me another quote I love.
- 23:20It's.
- 23:21No one gets to skip the messy middle.
- 23:25Right.
- 23:26Beautiful.
- 23:28The middle of the book.
- 23:29You have to keep reading.
- 23:31Yeah.
- 23:31Keep turning the page.
- 23:33Okay.
- 23:33And so after everything, what would you say has been the most fulfilling part of your journey?
- 23:41I think having children.
- 23:43You know, it's great to coach clients.
- 23:47It's great to coach students.
- 23:49You know, it's great to coach, you know, people.
- 23:52I.
- 23:52I initially don't know at all how they came in my life.
- 23:54Maybe they came through my podcast, through my emails, through my YouTube channel, but really seeing that my children are actually picking up some of the messages that I'm sharing and looking at Me as a role model, that's tremendously
- 24:08fulfilling.
- 24:08And to all parents out there, that's definitely like the one moment where like, oh, my gosh, this is hard.
- 24:16But at the end of the day, I think frequently people forget about that.
- 24:20Right.
- 24:21We want to be good leaders.
- 24:23We want to be, you know, running successful businesses.
- 24:26Especially if you operate a business yourself to spend more time with your family.
- 24:32You need to remind yourself that that's the reason why you're doing this.
- 24:35Because I frequently see this with my clients.
- 24:37They're like, yeah, I started my own business to spend more time with my family.
- 24:40And then we go through the calendar and it's like, wow, well, hold on.
- 24:44How does the family come in?
- 24:45Do you have client meetings with them?
- 24:47Because I don't really see that right now.
- 24:48So you need to remind yourself at the end of the day if that's your goal to spend more time with your family, I love it.
- 24:55But you actually need to do that as well.
- 24:58And if it takes scheduling date times with your children and your husband on your calendar, I do that.
- 25:04Right.
- 25:05That's awesome.
- 25:06Yeah, I do, you know, I do like date night, date time, coffee breaks.
- 25:12I do, you know, I call it blondie time as my daughters have blonde hair and I schedule a little blondie time with my girls.
- 25:20And yeah, I mean, I think that's so important because otherwise you just get swept away in the day to day operation and you look back and your children are moving out of the house and like, whoa, what has
- 25:29happened?
- 25:29Right?
- 25:30So don't do that.
- 25:31That's the most important leadership lesson.
- 25:33You have to put yourself forefront, take care of yourself, so you can be a really good leader in your day to day life.
- 25:42Love that.
- 25:42Okay.
- 25:43And Christian, if people are hearing this and they want to learn more about your, your coaching practice or the other things you do or how they can get in touch with you, what's the best way that people can
- 25:52reach out to you online?
- 25:54Yeah, check out my YouTube channel.
- 25:56It's Dr.
- 25:58Christiana.
- 25:59Of course, tune into my podcast, the Happy Healthy Hustle.
- 26:03Repeat that a few times to really get a good tongue twister out of that too.
- 26:07And then of course, check out my website, drchristiana.com to see my podcast, my books and speaking engagements where I'm currently at.
- 26:16Okay.
- 26:17All right, we will link all that in the show.
- 26:18Notes for everyone.
- 26:19Thank you.
- 26:20All right, well, Christiane, thank you so much for taking the time to be here and sharing all this valuable wisdom from your journey with our listeners.
- 26:27We greatly appreciate it.
- 26:28Thank you, Sam.