The Next 100 Days Podcast Interview
- Katrena Friel

- Nov 25, 2025
- 2 min read

Katrena is an expert in personal brand development and the founder of the Business Mentor Institute. A leader in business mentoring with over 25 years’ experience, Katrena transforms professionals into industry leaders and is a pioneer in personal brand development and business mentoring. As the creator of the acclaimed Becoming the Expert methodology, Katrena has guided thousands of aspiring consultants, coaches, and executives to build thriving, purpose-driven businesses.
Summary of the Podcast
Key Takeaways
Katrena offers a unique 12-month coaching program with unlimited access, focusing on building personal brand businesses
Her approach includes creating multiple income streams (book, speaking, training, coaching, facilitation, consulting) for clients
Katrena emphasises the importance of addressing psychological barriers and balancing masculine/feminine energies in entrepreneurship
The podcast hosts reflect on the value of personal branding through podcasting vs. book writing
Katrena's Coaching Approach
12-month program with unlimited access for clients
Focuses on deep, meaningful relationships rather than arm's-length coaching
Maximum of 20 clients per year, with groups of 5 active at a time
First 90 days involve heavy lifting: building assets (book, website, brand, signature program, social media)
Combines business strategy with therapeutic coaching to address psychological barriers
Personal Brand Business Development
Creates 7 streams of income for clients: book, speaking, training, coaching, mentoring, facilitation, consulting
Writes the client's book in 7-30 days, based on a two-day kickoff session
Builds website, brand, and signature program (valued at $5k-$20k)
Targets both career transitioners (often 50+ years old) and young entrepreneurs
Therapeutic Coaching Elements
Addresses introvert vs. extrovert challenges
Balances masculine and feminine energies
Tackles limiting beliefs from childhood experiences
Uses a light trance state to access the unconscious mind for rapid change
Public Speaking and TED Talks
Katrena prefers a free-flowing, channelled speaking style
Found the TED Talk format too restrictive and memorisation-heavy
Trains clients to speak confidently without scripts or extensive memorisation
Podcast vs. Book for Personal Branding
Hosts reflect on podcasting as a potentially quicker route to personal branding
Podcasts offer exposure to new audiences and showcase a personality more easily
Books are still valuable as "expensive business cards" and confidence-builders
The Next 100 Days Podcast Co-Hosts
Graham Arrowsmith
Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.
Kevin Appleby
Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com




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