Latest / Unshakeable with Human Design - A Human Design For Business Podcast / 326: How to Plan a Profitable Event w/ 4/6 Emotional Generator Cat Roten
Transcript
- 0:01Welcome to Unshakeable with Human Design, the show dedicated to
- 0:05helping entrepreneurs use human design to shift from hustle to
- 0:09flow without sacrificing results.
- 0:11Come here to become an unshakeable human and build an unshakeable business
- 0:15according to your human design.
- 0:17I'm your host, Nicole Laino.
- 0:22Hello and welcome to Unshakeable with Human Design, everybody.
- 0:26I'm your host, Nicole Laino, and I am here with a guest today.
- 0:30So happy to not be alone and to have some fun, new energy on this show.
- 0:35This is a woman that I met at an event over the summer, and
- 0:39I was instantly taken with her.
- 0:41We had a little connection call, and I was like, you have to be on the show, because
- 0:44I feel like she's endlessly impressive, but she's also got an expertise that
- 0:49I think will serve this audience and really be speaking to something
- 0:53that I know has been on my heart.
- 0:55I have sort of questioned whether I should take a step in this direction or not, and
- 0:58I know a lot of entrepreneurs do as well.
- 1:01Her name is Cat Roten.
- 1:03She spent a decade in the hotel industry where she found her
- 1:06passion and purpose strategizing, planning, and coordinating events.
- 1:11She's taken the leap into entrepreneurship, starting Impactful
- 1:14Event Co, where she is helping other entrepreneurs curate a
- 1:17personalized and profitable event.
- 1:20She'll take you from feeling lost on where to start or stuck on what to
- 1:23do next, into feeling confident in planning your event from start to finish.
- 1:29I'm actually hoping that she can maybe help me with that at some point.
- 1:32Hi Kat, welcome to the show.
- 1:34Hi, Nicole.
- 1:35Thank you so much for having me.
- 1:36I am so excited for today and we will get there one of these days.
- 1:40I know, and when we started talking, you definitely have that I've got
- 1:44this energy, which I think when you're going to plan events, when
- 1:47you're going to be that person that someone's entrusting you to sort of
- 1:51handle everything, you do have that sort of I can handle whatever happens.
- 1:57You have a very, unshakable sort of energy.
- 1:59Which is sort of why I was like, oh, you have to be on the show.
- 2:01I get why you do this.
- 2:03And then we talked a little bit about your chart.
- 2:04I should say that Kat is a 4'6 emotional generator.
- 2:09She is the cross of contagion, which I love because the cross of contagion
- 2:14is very much about helping people spread their message or sometimes
- 2:18it's about your own message and sometimes it's about helping others.
- 2:22Yours is really led by that need to support people.
- 2:26I was called like the agent, let me help you get your message out there.
- 2:29Let me help you get your unique quality out there.
- 2:32And I love when the chart starts speaking through what you do naturally,
- 2:37even before you necessarily are like actively working with it.
- 2:41So I'm very excited about having you here today and I want you to
- 2:46talk a little bit about events.
- 2:49I think when we think of them we think of these big, huge, large scale events, and
- 2:53I know from my own personal experience.
- 2:56I don't deal with imposter syndrome in my day to day very often, but when I think
- 3:01about having an event, there's definitely some of that, of like, I don't know if I'm
- 3:05that person, I don't know if that's me.
- 3:08And part of that is that just my alignment saying this isn't right for you?
- 3:12And then there's part of me that's like, no, I think there's a bit of fear there
- 3:15of me being like, come to my party.
- 3:18Let me, invest in this big thing.
- 3:20And, let me dazzle you for a couple of days.
- 3:23What do you find to make a really great event or a great event host?
- 3:28So I love this question by the way, I have not had anyone asked me this before.
- 3:33And I really think to be a good event host, you have to know your
- 3:38why and why you're hosting the event.
- 3:40And I talk about this all the time because I think it comes into your business.
- 3:43It comes into your life, into really anything that we do.
- 3:45If you don't know why you're doing it then you're going to start making
- 3:49decisions and kind of willy nilly doing stuff until like it happens.
- 3:54And then you're probably not going to be excited or happy with what happened and
- 3:58then you're never going to do it again.
- 4:00And that's what I've seen a lot to be completely honest.
- 4:03And that's where I actually have these five questions I bring people through
- 4:07before I even will work with them.
- 4:09And I have been very blunt to some people too.
- 4:11I'm like, until you can figure out why you're hosting this event.
- 4:15I will not work with you because you're going to start making decisions because
- 4:19you're seeing things that everyone else is doing and you're not going to do it
- 4:23for you because to be a good event host, you need to be making decisions based
- 4:26on who you are, who your attendees are, who your community is, your clients, the
- 4:31people that you're bringing in the room.
- 4:32You have to be able to make the decisions that are right for you in them, not for
- 4:36other people because then expectations can be blown out of proportion and
- 4:40maybe don't happen the way you want to.
- 4:42And I think that's where this alignment comes into piece even that once you
- 4:47start making those decisions for you.
- 4:49You're gonna see the attendees sign up.
- 4:51You're gonna see the money start coming in but you have to be doing it from like
- 4:55a place of your why not anyone else's.
- 4:59That really is it, so you keep it very simple
- 5:02I think that what you're getting to like, these are like these big whammy events,
- 5:05they're like, if this is a short period of time, we're going to have some big impact.
- 5:10And you do need to understand what's the impact that I want to make, I love
- 5:13that you start with the why, and I think the why thing, because of like the Simon
- 5:17Sinek craze behind knowing your why and, It can feel almost overused, where I
- 5:24think we can take some of those tried and true things for granted sometimes.
- 5:29Like where it's like, oh, like I've heard the Y thing.
- 5:31It does become your true north.
- 5:33It does become the thing that either makes you feel like this was successful,
- 5:37or getting to the end of something and being like, this wasn't what I thought
- 5:40it would be or this didn't feel right.
- 5:42And when you talk about alignment, In an event, I think about it the same
- 5:46way that I think about alignment in business, which is if it's a reflection
- 5:51of you, I'm sort of piecing this together and kind of what was coming through
- 5:55for me as you were talking about that was if your why feels really right to
- 6:00you, and this is what I think design helps a lot with is it is your truth.
- 6:05It is your authenticity and when you're leading from that place, Things will
- 6:11feel good, things will work out better than you maybe could have planned if you
- 6:14were orchestrating it some other way.
- 6:16I think an event is just a, one specific way of looking at
- 6:20how, don't copy other people.
- 6:22It's not going to work for you.
- 6:24We know that in branding, we know that authenticity is something that
- 6:28we sell and that we raise up as something that we want to achieve.
- 6:32But I think in an event, maybe you don't think about it that way, that it's so
- 6:35important for you to be authentic in your event, for this to really come
- 6:39from a place of like, this is mine.
- 6:41Cause that's why people will come to your event versus
- 6:43coming to somebody else's event.
- 6:45Exactly.
- 6:46They're showing up for you.
- 6:47And I think that's another key point that I think people get confused
- 6:51at as well, is an event is an extension of you and your business.
- 6:55It is not something completely separate either.
- 6:58So even finding your why for your event should still come back to who you
- 7:02are and what you do in your business.
- 7:03It's not going to be something completely different.
- 7:05It's an extension.
- 7:06It's there for you to keep spreading your message.
- 7:08This is going to go right back to my design.
- 7:10Is really the idea of that we are, you are spreading your message to
- 7:15more people and an event is a way to reach more people than just those in
- 7:19your direct community, direct clients.
- 7:22You are creating a room, usually it's in person, that's what I usually support,
- 7:26but there are virtual rooms as well.
- 7:28And hosting an event even virtually, you can reach more and more people,
- 7:31but the idea is that's an extension of who you are in your business.
- 7:35Yeah, I love that.
- 7:36When I think about an event, I think the thing that has held me back is
- 7:40I'm in a transformation business.
- 7:43That's what I do and that's where I have my greatest impact.
- 7:46People come to me for my expertise, for my way of explaining in simple
- 7:51terms, a way to transform your life.
- 7:54And a way to apply it to your business.
- 7:57And when I've thought about having event, my why is there.
- 8:00I don't know if I've seen how I can make that why a reality in an event, I have
- 8:06a very high standards, like if I'm going to tell people to like travel, come to
- 8:11this thing, come to my party, I really want it to have a very strong impact.
- 8:16And I haven't figured out how that looks yet.
- 8:19It hasn't come, the vision hasn't come together for me.
- 8:22And I think that that's why I've sort of pumped the brakes on it.
- 8:25Do you feel like the why and the vision are two pieces that are interconnected.
- 8:31Do you see them as the same?
- 8:33Or do you see the why and the how connected?
- 8:36Or are you like, no, no, focus on the why.
- 8:39The how is what someone like you takes care of.
- 8:42It's both and separates.
- 8:44So, it's kind of this in between.
- 8:46So, you have to know your why to know how it's going to come to be.
- 8:50Because you are the visionary.
- 8:52Me as a planner, me as someone coming in as that third party to support
- 8:56you, I'm there to support you.
- 8:57I'm there to make the vision happen versus just you say,
- 9:02well, this is why I'm doing it.
- 9:03Go for it because then I might have to still make decisions that might not
- 9:06be aligned or might not be what you wanted or see happening in your vision.
- 9:11So really the why and that vision are very similar.
- 9:15They're very interconnected and you don't need to see the whole vision.
- 9:19That's one thing I will say though.
- 9:21And I think that's where people get stuck honestly with their events
- 9:25is they feel like okay, I know why I'm doing it I know this is what
- 9:29I see, but I don't see everything.
- 9:30I don't know exactly how the day is gonna go I don't know the flow of it.
- 9:33So this is where that other part comes in that I mentioned It's the both and
- 9:37is that I come in to fill in those gaps.
- 9:42So somebody as a third party can come in and say this is the vision you see.
- 9:47And then I hope you might see how do you schedule that out and flow
- 9:50it throughout the day or the weekend or over the course of the week.
- 9:52I can come in and say, okay, and like what kind of sponsors or
- 9:55vendors do we see fitting into that?
- 9:57Cause that might not be something you can really picture kind of aligned with your
- 10:01why and what you want, but you know and have this idea of this is what I'm seeing.
- 10:07And then I help you kind of wrap it up with a bow and tie it
- 10:10up and then we make it happen.
- 10:12I love that.
- 10:12The sponsor thing is absolutely something that I never thought of, but I think the
- 10:18benefit of having somebody like you on board as an advisor, as a planner, as
- 10:23somebody who's helping you usher this birth of this baby into life is that,
- 10:28so I've been to certain types of events.
- 10:30I've been to, sometimes it's within the same circle where maybe you are
- 10:34seeing people put together an event based on what they've seen before.
- 10:38Somebody else's event where they didn't maybe have a strong why,
- 10:41or it was just to sell something.
- 10:43Oh, events, or I want to be a star where it's a little bit more of an ego thing
- 10:48than necessarily like a why for the group.
- 10:51I think what was hitting me there as you were saying that was having
- 10:54somebody like you who has seen so many different types of events.
- 10:58So when the how comes in, if I came to you and I said, this is my vision
- 11:01as far as what I want to create.
- 11:03I have no idea how I'm going to do it.
- 11:06I know these parts I want to have part of it.
- 11:08I don't know what it feels like.
- 11:10You can pull from that vast experience that you have of working in different
- 11:15types of events to say, well, I've seen this type of thing done before.
- 11:19I've seen this type of thing.
- 11:20This has been received really well.
- 11:21I haven't seen anybody do this in a long time and it's super impactful.
- 11:25I think it would be great for you, which then you're in collaboration with
- 11:29somebody, which for all of my generators out there, we love collaboration.
- 11:34And I'll say this too, when you were talking about needing to know
- 11:37the whole how, needing to know how it will all come together.
- 11:40That's death for all types, but particularly for the generators, we
- 11:44can really get stuck in needing to know what step 10 is and not taking step
- 11:49one before we know what step 10 is.
- 11:51And the truth is, is that we don't ever know what the whole path will look like.
- 11:55Manifesting generators, we have to have something that's like, I see the makings,
- 12:00the foggy vision of the finish line.
- 12:03And I'm excited about that and that gets us excited.
- 12:05Now you got to take step one and then step two comes once you take step
- 12:09one, you pick up those breadcrumbs and now you're on the path.
- 12:12A lot of times we'll wait until we're like, let me see all the breadcrumbs.
- 12:15And they just don't drop like that.
- 12:17That's not how it really works.
- 12:19So I recognize I have been in that place with it.
- 12:22And I'm like, I know it's coming.
- 12:23It's just, it's not here right now for me.
- 12:25But I am excited about the idea of bringing people together
- 12:30for something around what I do.
- 12:33And I have so many things that I would love to expose people to and shift people
- 12:38with that I get excited about that.
- 12:40And then the how gets me stuck.
- 12:41So I love that people like you exist for that reason.
- 12:45But let's just shift and for everybody who's thinking about a big event.
- 12:50So I just went to an event here in Austin, that was like 200 plus people.
- 12:54That's not how they all are.
- 12:55That's not what every event is.
- 12:57Can you give everybody a breakdown of the types of events, just in case
- 13:00they're thinking about this in too grand a fashion that they're like, I don't
- 13:04know how to throw a 300 person event.
- 13:06Will 300 people come?
- 13:07It's like, well, you don't really need to do that necessarily.
- 13:10And it might not be the right event for you.
- 13:12Can you run through the different types of events that are possible for people
- 13:15that you see people running with success?
- 13:17Of course, and I'll go ahead and say this up front too.
- 13:20Don't start massively big if you've never hosted an event before.
- 13:24I have heard some horror stories where people are like, I'm hosting like
- 13:27a two, three hundred plus people.
- 13:28person event and they've never done one and they don't fill the room because
- 13:31they get caught up just wanting the people to be there and again, not
- 13:35aligned with everything else that's going on and why they're hosting it.
- 13:38So different types of events.
- 13:40There's so many different names.
- 13:41So I'm going to go with like some core names that I hear most often.
- 13:44But nowadays we're starting to hear more and more different ways
- 13:47of calling these events things.
- 13:50So the smallest and most more intimate are normally your retreats
- 13:54and or a mastermind style events.
- 13:56So this can be anywhere from five people to about 25 ish people
- 14:00max is what I see in those rooms.
- 14:02Your next step then goes into along the lines of like a workshop
- 14:06maybe or a training of some kind.
- 14:09These are usually about a single day, maybe two days and then you're
- 14:13around anywhere from that kind of 30 person mark up to about a hundred.
- 14:17And that's also where you can have some more of your
- 14:19social, some community events.
- 14:21I see that a lot of people I've worked with in the past that hundred person
- 14:24mark is that sweet spot where you also can keep the personalization,
- 14:29a little more intimacy you as a host can still usually over the course
- 14:33of the one, two, three days you're hosting the event can touch everyone
- 14:36at some point and make some type of interaction and touch point at the event.
- 14:41When you start to get over the 100 person mark, that's when
- 14:45things start to be more broad.
- 14:48You're definitely more umbrella trying to encompass everybody that's attending.
- 14:52You as the host might not get to speak to every single person, and
- 14:56just be aware of that going into it.
- 14:58But then yeah, so then there's anywhere from 100.
- 15:01I usually say the next range is, range is bigger because we're
- 15:03getting to the larger events.
- 15:05You go from about 100, 150 to 500.
- 15:08I say that's a large event.
- 15:10It's not your large conference per se.
- 15:12That's going to be anything above 500.
- 15:15But this is something where you usually have a lot more options for venue spaces.
- 15:19It still can be fun.
- 15:20You can still have a lot of things happening but it is getting
- 15:23big and you are getting broad.
- 15:25These events are definitely more When you're established is kind of what
- 15:30I say, you've hosted those few kind of 50, 100, 150 maybe person events.
- 15:35So now you're starting to grow those to reach more people, get new people in the
- 15:39door that could be potential clients, potential community members even just
- 15:43people who just start following you and want to keep up with what you have.
- 15:46Your message is starting to be very honed in at that point too, I will say.
- 15:51So you have really clarified and who you are in your business.
- 15:55This is not always the case, but your message is starting to be reached because
- 15:59you are starting to feel into it more.
- 16:02Great example I'm going to give because I feel like giving an example of
- 16:05this will help also those listening.
- 16:07If anyone knows Lindsay Schwartz of Powerhouse Women, she started with
- 16:11the first few events of Powerhouse Women around that hundred person
- 16:14event, and it grew to about two-three hundred and it continued to grow.
- 16:17I attended my first event last year.
- 16:19There was 600 women in the room, 550, 600.
- 16:22And then this last year she jumped to 800.
- 16:24And she has grown this very quickly in seven years, but at the same time she
- 16:28is a great showing a progression and her honing into who she is and what
- 16:32her message is and what powerhouse is.
- 16:34It is a community and who she's pulling in is very similar
- 16:38women that come into that world.
- 16:40That's what kind of a tier in growth will look like as you are getting more and more
- 16:44zoned into who you are and your offers.
- 16:47I don't always say a large event is for everyone though either.
- 16:50Nicole, we talked about this.
- 16:51Like, I don't think I would see you really hosting something massive that's
- 16:55hundreds and hundreds of people because that just is not who you are as a person
- 16:59and what you teach, yes, you could teach it that way, but that doesn't
- 17:03really match with what you're going for.
- 17:06So don't feel like you have to eventually grow also to these hundred
- 17:10plus thousand plus person events.
- 17:12You can keep it small and intimate and keep it 50 people and under if you
- 17:16really want to, and still be profitable.
- 17:19still create a system behind it.
- 17:21And honestly, once you host your first few, you get into a groove that it just
- 17:24gets easier and easier over time anyways.
- 17:27I know we've talked about that and it's not that, I love a stage, I was an actor.
- 17:32Like, give me a stage, give me all the people.
- 17:35I love to talk about what I do and what, particularly what human design
- 17:39can do for people and all of that.
- 17:40But when I do envision my own event, I don't see it being that
- 17:45big, I just don't see it that way.
- 17:47I see it more at max, that kind of that hundred people sort of feels like
- 17:52the right size room at the maximum.
- 17:55I actually look at it even smaller than that.
- 17:57At this point, I feel like I'd like to be able to walk around the room.
- 18:01There were only 90 people at my wedding.
- 18:02I didn't have a 300 person wedding.
- 18:07I had 90 people, I talked to everybody, I danced with most I have memories with
- 18:12every person and I like that feeling.
- 18:15It felt very alive, but it also felt intimate at the same time.
- 18:18So let's talk a little bit about, that we brought up that
- 18:21word profitable a few times.
- 18:23Now let's talk about what it takes to have a profitable event.
- 18:27Take us through all of it.
- 18:28And then I think there's one thing that I think most people, myself
- 18:31included, never even thought of about how to make a profitable
- 18:35event, which is partially sponsors.
- 18:37But how do you see, what are the elements of a profitable event?
- 18:41And then what have you seen that people have done that has
- 18:43caused them not to be profitable?
- 18:45So we'll go to kind of the core profitability side first.
- 18:49Contracts, negotiations, making sure that you have contracts for all your vendors.
- 18:54I recommend this for speakers, especially if you're paying them to come.
- 18:59Anything like that.
- 19:00Vendors though are very important as well because you want to make sure
- 19:04they're holding up their end when you're hiring and paying them on.
- 19:07Nothing has to be complicated.
- 19:08When I talk about contracts, It does not have to be a complicated contract.
- 19:12You just want to make sure it's in writing and everyone has signed
- 19:15off, both parties have, to in agreeance of what's going to happen.
- 19:18And then the last one would be, I would say is sponsors.
- 19:21When it comes to contracts, negotiations, all those things, those are going
- 19:25to kind of be the three things.
- 19:26So speakers, vendors, and sponsors.
- 19:29Those three people also you can negotiate with.
- 19:33And I highly recommend negotiating with your speakers and your
- 19:37vendors and your sponsors.
- 19:39In the sense of this, and I know we kind of hit on sponsorships a
- 19:43little, but you were saying not many people know about these things.
- 19:45But sponsors are a way to cover you financially in your event.
- 19:50And honestly can be the driving point to make you extremely
- 19:53profitable at your event as well.
- 19:54But also, sponsorships do not have to be financially like, here's money,
- 19:58I'm giving you 1, 000 for your event.
- 20:01It also can be a service or a product.
- 20:04It can be a venue is willing to give you their venue in
- 20:07exchange for these services.
- 20:09It can be a catering company gives you 50 percent off the food in exchange
- 20:13for promoting them and mentioning them and seeing their logo everywhere.
- 20:16There's other ways to utilize sponsorships that tie into your vendors.
- 20:21As well as potentially even the speakers.
- 20:23So that's the first thing I would say, contracts, make sure you have contracts
- 20:26written, you're negotiating those contracts and then utilizing sponsors.
- 20:31The other areas I will also say is when you start hosting events at the
- 20:36beginning, do not think you need all the frill and everything, everything
- 20:41decorated these huge balloon arches, these massive, amazing meals and everything.
- 20:46Remember people are coming for you.
- 20:48They're coming for you and your knowledge and your message and to connect with
- 20:53one another in that room as well.
- 20:55So create and prioritize what needs to be in the room to make the difference,
- 21:00to really make that transformation and get your message out there.
- 21:04Make sure you are covered in that.
- 21:06And then Okay, if you have an extra thousand dollars,
- 21:09all right, what can you do?
- 21:10What can you make as that little extra touch?
- 21:12What could you get donated maybe that's going to be worth a thousand
- 21:15dollars as that extra touch?
- 21:17Again, sponsorships always come back into this, utilizing your
- 21:21community, supporting your community.
- 21:22You're bringing them in and in turn you're helping promote them, but
- 21:27then they're also helping support you in a beautiful and wonderful
- 21:30event you're going to put on.
- 21:31But I think that's the two aspects I would say is contract negotiation, sponsorships,
- 21:36the nitty gritty, not so fun.
- 21:38Nobody wants to handle mixed with the idea of have your priorities and get
- 21:44those covered first before you start adding all the frills and everything.
- 21:48Get your base budget done where you're like, this is the core of what we need
- 21:53and then how much extra do we have?
- 21:54I mean that's just good business Before you think
- 21:57It all comes back to that.
- 21:58stuff.
- 21:59I mean even like renovating my house.
- 22:01It's like, okay Well, let's see what we have left after the cabinets,
- 22:04the flooring, like all of these big things that are like, you can't live
- 22:08without these, and then it's like, then we pick which tile based on the,
- 22:13what's left, and these other fixtures.
- 22:15I think one of the things that you brought up, so getting like a venue
- 22:18to sponsor you, I want to call out for the person who is listening to this and
- 22:23saying like, will a venue really do that?
- 22:25Are they really going to like, sponsor you, they're the venue.
- 22:29Wouldn't everybody be asking for sponsorship then?
- 22:32Does that actually happen?
- 22:33Like, where venues will sponsor events like this?
- 22:38Yes, especially, so I have one client who got 50 percent covered then they
- 22:43ended up getting actually a little bit more afterwards because of some
- 22:46things that happened, but they did.
- 22:47They got 50 percent sponsored by the venue and it's because when you
- 22:51present them and this is where I'm actually doing a whole training on
- 22:54this at the end of October because what you include in these sponsorships.
- 23:00The packages is sometimes and usually you can include something different that
- 23:05they're not using as a marketing tool.
- 23:06So them sponsoring you is that exchange without them having to go out and
- 23:11spend more money and pay someone.
- 23:12So utilize those extra things you have, whether it's a podcast, it's a different
- 23:17community of people who will travel in and see and maybe want to host an event there.
- 23:22But I'm also not going to say every venue is going to do this.
- 23:23I have another client that has an event in January and that venue said no.
- 23:28They said well, you know sponsor a 300 this little mini AV package thing
- 23:33and that's all they're willing to do.
- 23:35So it just depends on where you are But it never hurts to ask.
- 23:39No, definitely, and I think that's something that I would just never
- 23:41have thought of, I would've been like, well that's the price of the
- 23:44venue and that's the cost of the venue and that's just what it is.
- 23:46Which is why having somebody like you in your corner, either directly helping you
- 23:52plan it, or with one of the resources, or something that you offer, to just
- 23:55open you up to these possibilities.
- 23:57Like, I already got, like, creative ideas about, like, oh, well, What if I offered
- 24:01them this or what if we came in and did a couple of things and I mentioned
- 24:05them every week on the podcast twice a week for X amount of time and then I
- 24:11leverage like the networks that I have here and like it got my brain going in
- 24:14a direction it never would have gone.
- 24:17Because I'm just someone who pays people.
- 24:19I'm just like, oh, is that your price?
- 24:20Here you go.
- 24:21I'm not, I'm a terrible negotiator.
- 24:23Just because I just don't normally do it, I'm like, here, like that's your price?
- 24:25Okay, fine.
- 24:26With some exceptions, of course.
- 24:28But I wanted to ask you, you have, Do you want to tell everybody
- 24:31a little bit about something?
- 24:32You have something very exciting coming up.
- 24:34And I don't know if you want to give, I don't want to put you on the spot.
- 24:37We can delete this out if you're like, shh, don't tell anybody.
- 24:41But you have something really exciting.
- 24:42I think this is a, you've got something cooking.
- 24:45Do you want to give everybody a little taste?
- 24:47Yes, I'll give a little taste so I taste I have had something on my heart for a
- 24:55few months that we were talking about before we hit record and It has been
- 24:58something that I have kept coming back to and I realize I have to make happen.
- 25:01And there is a gap currently in this event host world that we live in, especially
- 25:06for women entrepreneurs who, there is simple events that we can put on that
- 25:11don't really take us out of our business or take us out of our zone of genius.
- 25:14And then we get to a point where we can hire someone.
- 25:16But there is a gap between those two, where people want to still keep hosting
- 25:19events or want to finally host an event for the first time, but they're
- 25:21being pulled out of the business, they're being pulled out of the zone
- 25:24of genius, away from the client,
- 25:25community, their family, their friends, and I am working to create a place where
- 25:31all of these women can come together and be supported through resources,
- 25:36through each other, through myself, and ultimately still be able to put on
- 25:41those events that are on their heart and that kind of extension of their
- 25:45business and them without it being pulling them away from everything else.
- 25:49So, I'll leave that there.
- 25:50There's more to come.
- 25:51January is when things will be rolling.
- 25:55There's so much more to come.
- 25:56I'm very excited about this because I'm like, I'm all over this, but
- 26:00it's also just from a human design perspective, this is so, like, 4 6,
- 26:04which you are putting on, and I get very excited when I see people doing
- 26:08something where it's like, oh, this is so you, this is so in alignment.
- 26:11And I want to also just say, though, it doesn't mean that 4 6s have to do things.
- 26:16Someone else who's a 4'6 is going to do something wildly different than you.
- 26:19It's just, when we pick something that feels so right, and then for me, when
- 26:24I look at the chart and I'm like, I know why that feels right for you.
- 26:26I get it.
- 26:27It's sort of, this is in the wheelhouse of what you were born to do.
- 26:31Whether it's this thing, or if this leads you to the next thing
- 26:34that's the thing, we never know.
- 26:36But I love it.
- 26:38I'm super excited about it selfishly, because I think it serves me.
- 26:41But I'm also, I'm very excited for all the other people that it will
- 26:44serve, and I love just seeing people do what is their jam, and what they
- 26:49really are meant to do in this life.
- 26:51When your expertise is starting to match up with your design.
- 26:55I think that's where we become just happy, fulfilled.
- 26:58And that's what alignment is to me.
- 27:00Did you have anything that you wanted to
- 27:01I know I'm lighting up definitely inside.
- 27:04And I know as that generator, when I start to light up about it and I feel
- 27:08more energy, just myself, cause I definitely did not feel that for a while.
- 27:12I've been like, I know something's right.
- 27:14I know I'm sitting much more into who I am.
- 27:17That's the thing too.
- 27:19So how long have you been dabbling in design?
- 27:21Have you been in the world long?
- 27:23Okay.
- 27:24Six months?
- 27:25Five months?
- 27:26Not
- 27:26So, fairly new, but you've seen truth in it.
- 27:30Yes.
- 27:30Oh, a hundred percent.
- 27:31And the generator thing, and you're emotional, so we have that like, when
- 27:35we're emotional, we can sometimes get that little bit of interference, so
- 27:40to speak, with am I really excited, or am I just emotional at this moment,
- 27:44and emotionally brought up, so there is that little like, we can not
- 27:47trust the sacral necessarily as much.
- 27:49When I talk to people who are pure generators, they're just like, oh
- 27:53yeah, I know what it feels like.
- 27:54And I go, and when I talk to emotionals, they're like, I know what it feels like.
- 27:58I know what it feels, but we just have this little bit of, because we're
- 28:00supposed to wait, we do have that tentative kind of, I just have to feel
- 28:04into it a little bit more before I know, but when we know, we know when
- 28:08we wait, then we know, and I love that
- 28:11I've learned, and I've learned so much about that.
- 28:13And I, it was the moment I got my human design reading, I think it was May.
- 28:17So it's been like three, four months at this point that someone actually read
- 28:19my design a little bit more for me.
- 28:21When she said that I had been making gut decisions, especially once I found
- 28:25out I was a generator, I was like, yeah, like, oh yeah, I feel this way.
- 28:27Let's do it.
- 28:28And then I realized the emotions tied to those sometimes I have to strip
- 28:32those away and allow the space to know truly what my gut's telling me and if
- 28:36it's truly a heck yes or a heck no.
- 28:38And I've leaned into that so much the last few months and I think that's helped me
- 28:42get to this point where I've made some larger pivots than I expected and put
- 28:46things on the back burner, but I realized it's because they were never heck yeses.
- 28:50They were this, yeah, maybe.
- 28:52And so now I've learned more on how to like listen and sit back.
- 28:55Well, that's why the authority with the emotionals is, it's waiting,
- 28:59but it's waiting for clarity.
- 29:00And that's often not what we're doing, because we're not clear.
- 29:03We get excited and then usually it's coming from something where it's saying,
- 29:06like, Now, because I want it, or we're running out of time, or I'm on this
- 29:11timeline, or then I'll hit my goal.
- 29:13There's something outside of us that's really driving that, us to act on the yes.
- 29:18But really, if you pay attention, there's something inside of you
- 29:21that's calling you to say like, it's a yes, but hang out for a moment.
- 29:26And when we hang and we honor that, that was the big shift for me too.
- 29:32When I first found design was to honor that weight and I realized
- 29:36how much I wasn't doing that before.
- 29:38Like it can feel like a big screeching halt when you do it, but
- 29:41it's really interesting to notice how much more confident you feel
- 29:44about going all in on the yeses.
- 29:48And you didn't realize that like, oh, I powered through, I made things happen.
- 29:52But it didn't necessarily feel like my energy was always behind it.
- 29:55I didn't realize how much I was pushing until I waited, got clarity,
- 29:59and then my energy just went places.
- 30:02And it was just allowing it to go there and then things became so easy.
- 30:07So, have you noticed something similar with the way that you've kind of found
- 30:12that emotional waiting for clarity?
- 30:15Yes.
- 30:16Very much so.
- 30:17And I think that's where this community basically that I'm wanting, and I'm
- 30:21wanting, I am launching in January.
- 30:24I have sat on it for so long because I think I was letting all the noise
- 30:29and emotions drive me in other ways.
- 30:32And it's taken a long time for me to strip all that back and
- 30:35realize, this is my purpose.
- 30:37And it's what lights me up.
- 30:39And now that I've started voicing it to people, people are like, oh my
- 30:42gosh, tell me when, oh my gosh, how can we like get this out to more people?
- 30:47And I'm hearing it left and right.
- 30:49Like I haven't in the last few months since I've had this idea.
- 30:52And it's because I finally sat back and got clear on what it is so yes.
- 30:57Well, and you did push another idea first, and then you, you hit the brakes on it.
- 31:03Was that one of those things?
- 31:05If you're, because Hindsight's 2020, and I do think with our design, it isn't
- 31:08about making all the right choices.
- 31:10It's about recognizing when something didn't work out.
- 31:13Can you look back and go, Oh, I actually see what happened here.
- 31:16Do you feel like you maybe didn't wait?
- 31:18Did you move on an idea more than like something you were truly in response
- 31:23to and felt like was on your heart?
- 31:24Yes, it was something that came afterwards and I was like, Oh, I can do this quicker.
- 31:29This is something I can get going and let's just do it
- 31:32because I can just do it so fast.
- 31:34And then one, it took me longer to get everything together the way I wanted to.
- 31:39And then two, it was just not right.
- 31:42Something did not feel aligned with what it was.
- 31:45And I realized it was actually interesting.
- 31:47I've realized recently that I was trying to tie in this community to this course
- 31:53I was creating versus, and so everything was getting meshed and mushy and just
- 31:58not what I really pictured And honestly coming back to what we talked about
- 32:02with the events, it's just like business It's not my vision was showing me.
- 32:05And I had to come back to what was that vision of this community and realize.
- 32:08Well that course isn't a part of it, at least not right now
- 32:11I think what design is teaching us and just, what you're doing is you're
- 32:14listening to your real intuition.
- 32:16Because when we do something, oh, I'll make this course, it'll be faster.
- 32:19That's your mind making up a solution.
- 32:22It's saying Oh, this'll be faster.
- 32:24That's not your intuition.
- 32:25Probably what got you excited was your intuition.
- 32:28And then the, how it came out, your mind started to get involved.
- 32:32And then it's like, Oh yeah, I'll do that faster.
- 32:34And then it's not working.
- 32:35And this is, I think where business is going is that we do
- 32:39have to listen to our intuition.
- 32:40And I think every great businessman, cause it's usually men, but businessmen
- 32:44and businesswomen, if you hear them talk about, they've followed their
- 32:47intuition to their best ideas and their best creations they've ever made.
- 32:52We just call it something different or we're tapping into it a different way.
- 32:56So I love that you're doing that and I'm super excited for this.
- 32:59Can you tell everybody where they can stay in touch with you?
- 33:02How do they find out about this thing when you do launch it?
- 33:05And I know you have some free and discounted offers for them here.
- 33:08So tell everybody all the things.
- 33:10Yeah, so best way to connect with me is on Instagram.
- 33:13It's @cat.roten.
- 33:14So C A T, literally like the animal and then my last name R O T E N.
- 33:19And then for me, so I will send Nicole an updated link because
- 33:23I've kind of reorganized it all and everything's in one place.
- 33:26So it's very easy depending on what you're looking for.
- 33:28I have the community waitlist that's happening right now.
- 33:32So you can jump on there.
- 33:33That's where all the updates in the next few months will come.
- 33:35If you're interested and feel like you're sitting in this gap of you
- 33:38can't hire a planner yet, but you want to really get going on your events.
- 33:42And then also on there is my free resources, which is ready set event.
- 33:45And it's the five key foundational questions you have to answer
- 33:48before you can even start planning.
- 33:50So if you can answer the five questions, I say you can do it.
- 33:53Just start, but if you can't answer them, then it's not quite time yet.
- 33:57You're still lacking, I think, a little bit on that vision and your why.
- 33:59And then the last thing that will be on that link will be my event profit planner.
- 34:03This is for individuals who, if you've hosted a few events,
- 34:06and maybe you don't even know.
- 34:07Did you make money?
- 34:08Did you not make money?
- 34:09You really didn't keep up with the numbers specifically for the event.
- 34:11This is the place for you where it's all plug and play.
- 34:14So you can use it for past events or your upcoming.
- 34:17But you can budget and then you literally just track actual sponsorships that
- 34:21you've gotten everything in one place to really be watching the numbers and
- 34:24know Am I on track to make a profit?
- 34:26Am I losing money?
- 34:28Am I gonna break even?
- 34:28All of those things.
- 34:29But it's all in one link, so I promise very simple that you just whatever
- 34:32you're called to you'll find it there.
- 34:35Awesome.
- 34:35And you have a podcast, right?
- 34:37I do.
- 34:37Oh yes, I do.
- 34:38Imperfectly impactful, which Nicole is going to be on soon.
- 34:41I can't wait to have you on there.
- 34:43Yes.
- 34:43So that's where I get to share a lot about my entrepreneurship journey.
- 34:46I mean, it's also a personal development journey that we go
- 34:49through in entrepreneurship and a lot of it comes out there.
- 34:52So I have that.
- 34:53I bring on wonderful guests as well to share their story and dive into
- 34:56their expertise and their knowledge to share with all of you who listen.
- 35:00So It's fun.
- 35:01It literally, to me, it's become almost like my hobby where I really get to
- 35:05share and kind of inspire and hopefully motivate people with everything I do.
- 35:09Spoken like a true cross of contagion person.
- 35:13So, well, follow her, download the resources, get the planner.
- 35:18If you're like thinking about actually pulling the trigger on
- 35:20event, go get the planner and follow Kat because she's amazing.
- 35:24She really, really is.
- 35:25She's the real deal.
- 35:26I encounter a lot of people.
- 35:27I was like, this woman is someone I would trust with my event.
- 35:31So if you're thinking about booking one, get it.
- 35:33Please go visit Cat and get on the wait list for the community because
- 35:36it's going to be, I know that whatever you build will be top notch.
- 35:40So I'm super excited.
- 35:41Thank you for being here.
- 35:42I appreciate it.
- 35:43Thank you for sharing your wisdom, your expertise with us.
- 35:46Thank you, listener, for making it all the way to the end of this episode with
- 35:50us and being part of this conversation.
- 35:52We appreciate you.
- 35:53And remember, in order to have an unshakable business, you must
- 35:56first become an unshakable human.
- 35:57So thanks for letting us help you become unshakable with human design, everybody.
- 36:01We'll see you next time.
- 36:03If you love this episode and you're a fan of the show, please show
- 36:05us the love on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you're listening to
- 36:08the show and leave us a review.
- 36:09And if you'd like to connect with other entrepreneurs on their human
- 36:12design journey, join our free Facebook community, Human Design for Entrepreneurs.
- 36:17Go to nicolelaino.me/podcastlinks to join the group, book a human
- 36:22design reading with me, or access our free human design resources.
- 36:25We'll see you there.