Katrena’s $30,000 lesson
Katrena’s first step out of her corporate job cost her $30,000. She purchased a course with someone who had promised everything and delivered nothing. “There was nothing. There was absolutely nothing,” she told me.
When she went to talk to her friend, a solicitor about fighting to get her money back, he asked her a simple question:
“Is there any chance you’ve learned a $30,000 lesson?”
She realised she had. “I had more in my big toe than this guy had in his entire body”. “I really shot up with confidence.” And that confidence held and is still holding “me in good stead the entire 26 years of doing this.”
She also got an extra lesson for free: “Listen to your intuition”
Tip 1: Listen to your intuition.
What sparked Katrena Friel’s personal brand?
Katrena started her personal brand by cold calling. She had worked in sales prior and used that knowledge to springboard her personal brand.
Tip 2: Pick up the phone.
Her training and coaching business took off and she was running workshops. At the end of every one of her workshops, someone would come up to her.
“Oh, I’d love to do what you’re doing” and asked her how she had done it.
Katrena didn’t know how she had done it, so she reversed-engineered the process and “becoming the expert was born from that.”
How does Katrena Friel build personal brands in 90 days?
Katrena today helps others build their personal brand through her 12 month program. The first 90 days she builds everything a business needs to get started.
It all starts with a book. “I do the book first because people don’t know who they are. … I pull the philosophy out of them and that becomes the book outline.”
Tip 3: Know who you are
Then everything builds from there. “The book becomes the brand. The brand becomes the website. The website then sets up all your socials. And then from there you create your keynote. And finally we create your $10-$20k signature program.”
“Everything setup in 90 days.”
Where does Katrena Friel show up for her personal brand?
Katrena shows up for her personal brand in a range of different ways and has built this up over the years she has been building. This includes:
1) Cold calling
2) Networking
3) Her website
4) Her books
5) Speaking
6) Podcast Interviews
7) Socials (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin)
Her advice for socials and how to show up is: “You don’t want to be like Oprah. You want to be interviewed by Oprah.” The expert is the content, not the host.
Tip 4: Be the guest, not the host.
How does Katrena Friel use AI for her personal brand?
But for years Katrena has not been on socials. “I couldn’t post on social media,” she said. “It was awful, absolutely awful.” Editing video was too slow, so she waited until AI made it feasible.
“Only now am I bothering to do that” she said.
Katrena films her workshops and gets her VA to use AI to break them up into “lots of little video vignettes” for Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn then schedules those out.
Her prediction: “Everyone will need a VA and a VA will manage the AI.”
Tip 5: Hand the busywork to AI.
What is Katrena Friel’s #1 piece of advice for building a personal brand?
“Just speak. Educate, really, is what I call it. Educate, educate, educate.”
Further tips from Katrena Friel
· Avoid shiny pebble syndrome. “If you’re doing so much variety, it means you’re not doubling down on anything.”
· Stick to your brand look. “Anyone that’s not a graphic artist is going to mess up their brand most of the time.”
Find Katrena: Becoming the Expert | LinkedIn | Instagram @katrenafriel | Facebook | Becoming the Expert on Facebook
Katrena is an internationally recognised Business Mentor, celebrated for her expertise in guiding entrepreneurs toward mastery in their Field of Excellence. Katrena has empowered clients for 32 years, drawing from her experience as an award-winning author, sought-after speaker, and TEDx presenter. Her unique "Done for You Program" transforms hidden dreams into reality within 90 days, offering a clear pathway to success through 7 streams of income. For those ready to become experts in their field of excellence, Katrena is the "how" they’ve been waiting for, providing the clarity, strategy, and inspiration needed to thrive authentically to future-proof your business, career and life.
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