Want to know how to get from Point A, where you are, to Point B, where you want to be? If you are interested in learning the most effective process to success in business and in life, listen to Catherine M White, author, speaker and business coach. Visit her website to learn more.
Emmalou Penrod
I’m talking to Catherine M. White today. She is a speaker, author, coach and consultant, and the creator of P.O.W.E.R.R.™. Catherine, welcome.
Catherine M White
Thank you Emmalou.
Emmalou Penrod
Now, I want to hear about P.O.W.E.R.R.™ But I also want to hear the story of the journey to create it.
Catherine M White
Okay, do you have a preference on where I start?
Emmalou Penrod
You choose.
Catherine M White
All right, well, POWERR, it’s kind of jumping ahead, but I would love to share the story about POWERR. And POWERR came about shortly after I started my business, which I opened up about six years ago. And one of my very important beliefs is that, as a business owner, I need to be different than every other coach and consultant out there. There needs to be something about me that is unique. And I believe that is true for every business owner. And I really hone in on that when I’m working with a client. And I was here, I was starting out my new business and realizing that there were a lot of other coaching consultants in the marketplace. And that was one of my concerns. I know that I’m different. I know that nobody can do a lot of things the way that I do them. But how can I demonstrate that? And one thing that came to mind was around goals. And I was actually focusing more on goal setting at that time. And, and the term SMART goals popped up into my mind, I had been familiar with SMART goals for many years. And I was actually getting a little tired of hearing about SMART goals, because I heard about SMART goals everywhere. It seemed like everybody was using SMART goals. And I remember when I first heard about it, I thought it was pretty brilliant. By this point, I’m thinking, I’m just tired of this. Too many SMART goals out there. Anyhow, so I was actually getting ready to head out to a networking meeting that was composed of women. As I was going through this thought process of how can I set myself apart, make me really stand out as being different? And, and I thought, Okay, so, goal setting, like I said, I was focused on that, I was thinking about how can I really accentuate the importance of goal setting and how to set goals? And I thought I need to have an acronym that’s mine and mine alone. And the word power just literally instantly popped in my mind. And I thought, yes, of course, I love the word power. It’s been a word that I’ve really grown fond of, since I was in this phase of, and maybe I’ll get to the story in a bit. When I was younger, I was very shy and insecure. And when I started to come into finding my self worth and my confidence, I felt more powerful. So power became a word that was important to me. Anyhow, that was the word that popped into my mind. So I started going through this thought process of Okay, so if I use power as an acronym, what can it stand for? And I literally, as I’m driving to this meeting, I’m forming this acronym and what it means within my mind, I get to the meeting. And there was another business coach in that meeting, who spoke that very day. And guess what she spoke on?
Emmalou Penrod
SMART goals?
Catherine M White
She sure did. She spoke on smart goals. And I knew that I was in the right direction. That was a confirmation to my feelings toward the SMART goal system. So anyhow, by the time I completed the process of figuring out what power stood for, I knew, this is it. And funny story is, as I was coming up with the acronym, and I got to the letter R, I had two or three different words that could represent the R. And there were two that really stood out to me and I was struggling between which one do I choose? Or do I choose both? And I spoke with a friend of mine who is also an entrepreneur, and she said, “Use both, Catherine.” And I said, “Well, I don’t want to look like I don’t know how to spell a simple word like power. And if I spell it with two R’s, then that’s the impression I’m going to give out.” And she said, “No, Catherine, that is going to draw attention because it’s spelled wrong. And people are going to want to know what does that mean?” And I took her advice, and she was absolutely right. Now, oftentimes when people see the word power, spelled with two R’s, one of the first things that they say is, well, what does that second r stand for? And I find it a little funny and ironic, because I’m thinking in my mind, well, what about the other five letters? You don’t even know what the other five stand for? So why do you jump to that second R? But that’s just how our brains work. It catches it picks up on that one thing that doesn’t look like it belongs.
Emmalou Penrod
Yeah.
Catherine M White
So that’s how I came about that. And real quick, what POWERR stands for is P stands for possibilities. And that means looking at what is possible, not what you think is possible, but what is truly possible. In other words, what is your true potential, which is something that we all live well below. So I work with my clients to help them reach their true potential. O stands for outcome, and creating the vision of what is the outcome of that goal that you want to achieve when you get to that. Or when you get to the point that you achieve that? What is it going to look like, and I take my clients through a process of really visualizing from the use of every sense your sight, smell, taste, touch, emotions, etc. W stands for workable steps. And that’s very important. Because after I’ve had you create this big vision that probably for most people feels unattainable. The next thing we want to do is we want to make it attainable. And we do that by breaking it down into small micro steps that are easy for you to achieve. And when we achieve these small steps, then it does two things. It gives us a sense of accomplishment, and it motivates us because we feel accomplished, we feel successful, we then want to do more, we want to take bigger steps. E stands for empowering environment. And I look at your environment, from two viewpoints, your internal environment, and your external environment. Your internal environment has to do with your mindset, your belief system, your self talk, and your external environment has to do with everything outside of you that you’re surrounded with. It could be what you have in your room physically, it could be the people that you’re around, those kind of things. And then the first R stands for resources. And that’s where I get into digging with my clients and finding out. Now that we’ve got all these goals and these steps, how are we going to accomplish them? What resources are needed? And, and how do we look outside of the box to find resources that we aren’t aware that are even there or present. And then the last R the one that everybody wants to know, stands for rewards. And there are two components to rewards. The first thing that most people think about in regards to rewards is they’re thinking about when I finish this goal, this is what I’m going to do. So for instance, a lot of people choose to take a vacation or maybe buy a new car or some big, big reward. And I encouraged that. I also encourage my clients to look at rewards from the perspective of how are you rewarding yourself along the journey? What are the simple acknowledgements that you allow yourself to recognize that you are accomplishing something each step of the way to keep yourself motivated to keep going. And that’s an area that most of us lack doing. And what happens when we don’t do that is we keep this big goal ahead of us. And we look at it and it feels like it’s so far away. And we think oh my gosh, I’m never going to get there or I promised myself I was going to be there by this time and I missed the goal. And I knew it was too big. I couldn’t do it. I was kidding myself and we go down this spiral of negative self talk. So by creating this system of rewards throughout the journey, I’m allowing my clients to, and encouraging my clients to, look at, as I said, each step of the way. And even if we don’t hit that goal in the timeframe that we wanted, or maybe not the manner we wanted, we always have the ability to see that we made huge strides, regardless.
Emmalou Penrod
Wow. All right. I love that. And I was quite anxious to find out what the acronym stood for. That’s powerful. So what about your story? How did you come to this point?
Catherine M White
Well, it was quite a journey. And I did not know this was quite the direction that I was going to be honest. I just knew that when I was young, I learned how to work hard. I learned how to be independent. I learned how to work for what I wanted. I grew up in a family of poor circumstances. And we didn’t have much so I learned to work at a very young age. And through that work ethic that I developed, and the independence that I developed, I knew that I loved that independence, and I loved the ability to make my own money. And by the time I got to college, I knew that I wanted to start my own business. And because of that, I chose a degree that I felt would be a good option for starting a business in and that was accounting. And after getting my accounting degree working, or starting into the accounting field, starting a family, having young children, becoming a single mother of four children, I realized that starting a business in accounting was not what I was looking for. But I realized that it was still a great tool to have in my belt. And so as I went through this journey of working in a corporate field and working in accounting, I worked in a variety of other sides of business from human resources, business management. I did some substitute teaching. I worked in financial services. And I was one of those parents that had one or two side gigs going on while working full time. And my goal was to find that one thing, that career path that I knew, really resonated with me. And it took me through all of these experiences, to really find what that was. And what happened is that I always kept my options open and looking for what is out there, what is it that I really want to do. And I came across an opportunity to take a course in becoming certified as a coach. And when I found out about that I knew that was right in line with what I was looking for, because I love to help people. And I love to provide tools for people to better themselves. And I jumped right on the opportunity. And then once I started my business, I found that I was naturally attracting and working with entrepreneurs. And as I was working with these business owners, I came to realize that I really enjoyed that work. And part of the reason I enjoyed it was because, not only did I get to work with the coaching and the mindset and helping people better themselves and their lives and their families, I was also able to bring in my skills that I gained in business management and accounting. And so it’s been this continual natural progression for me, that has developed into the business that I have now.
Emmalou Penrod
And that is quite the journey and I love how you were able to combine your passion, what was meaningful to you, your purpose, with a way to provide for your family.
Catherine M White
Thank you.
Emmalou Penrod
That is wonderful. You mentioned that you coach, business owners, entrepreneurs. And, and I’m noticing that I think more people are considering a business. You know where job markets are kind of unstable. I’ve talked to people who have done just that, or just want a way to increase the family income. But above that, I think that mindset, you know, I think that is a key. Having a positive mindset is not only important in business, but in being a good parent. Anytime you become a better person, you become a better parent. Talk about what you do with helping with mindset.
Catherine M White
Well, mindset, like you said, is key in everything we do from our families and raising our families to running a business. And I’m often asked, I actually, a few years ago, I published a book called Overcoming Roadblocks to Success. And since the publishing of that book, one of the top questions I would get is, well, what is the biggest roadblock that business owners face? And the very thing that I say is, well, it’s your mindset. And that is because just about everything in business we can hire out to, or delegate to somebody else. The one thing that we can never hire out or delegate to somebody is our mindset. We are in control of that; we are in charge of that. So your question is, how do we manage that? Or how do we maintain that. And it starts with a choice, a conscious choice in how we want to handle things, and understanding that no matter the situation, or the circumstance that we’re in, life has its ebbs and flows. And we see that in business, we see that in our economy, we see that in our families, where sometimes things run smoothly. And sometimes it’s a really bumpy, rocky road, and we want to pull our hair out. We want to quit. And so first of all, recognizing that this is a part of life, to have those ebbs and flows and the bumps. And secondly, is to make a conscious decision on how am I going to react when these things happen. And the best time to make that decision is when things are going well, when things are running smoothly. Because when that is happening, we’re able to think more clearly. And when we’re thinking more clearly, we make wiser decisions, and we can make better plans. So making that decision before we get into the big challenges of life or business. And the reality is that, well, we may not be in a place right now, or your listeners may not be in a place right now, to feel like they can make those good decisions, or those wise decisions, because maybe they’re already in the slumps. Maybe they’re being affected by the challenges that we have in the economy right now, with a lot of businesses closing, a lot of people are losing their jobs, and they’re scrambling to figure out how to financially support their families. And so when we’re in that space, what I recommend is that you reach out, utilize your community, reach out to mentors, reach out to friends, somebody that you can confide in, and reach out and find resources that can help you take that next step that you need to take to get to where you need to go and to do what you need to take care of your family.
Emmalou Penrod
And that, you know, that applies. Parents need support, too. And they can look around and form a network from extended family, neighbors, other parents and move forward. I think that’s great.
Catherine M White
Yes, parenting is a tough thing. And as a parent, and nowadays, most parents are out in the workforce. And it’s a challenge juggling the workforce, whether you’re working for another company, or you have your own business, or you’re trying to juggle all of that and deal with all of the stress from that and then you go home and you’ve got your family and all the responsibilities there and the stress there, and it really is a lot to handle.
Emmalou Penrod
You know a lot of people are working from home, overseeing their children with their online courses, trying to keep everybody happy and calm and even when they don’t feel so calm themselves. So absolutely. These are excellent tools that would help anyone. I also love your example of your determination, growing up in poverty, learning at an early age to work and to set goals, and persevering. Just, you know, persistence. That’s the word that really comes to mind. So, you’re a speaker, author. So how do people contact you?
Catherine M White
Well, they can reach me directly via email at Catherine@acceleratedresults365.com and that’s Catherine spelled c a t h e r i n e at a c c e l e r a t e d 365, just like 365 days a year.com.
Or they can also go to my website at https://www.acceleratedresults365.com/ and they can reach me through there as well.
Emmalou Penrod
Well, Katherine, thank you so much for sharing your story and your wisdom and experience.
Catherine M White
You’re welcome. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Emmalou Penrod
And you have a great day.
Catherine M White
You too.