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If you are seeking new ways to increase your ROI on marketing with your commerce platform, or you may be an entrepreneur who wants to grow your team and be more efficient with your online business.
Talk Commerce with Brent W. Peterson draws stories from merchants, marketers, and entrepreneurs who share their experiences in the trenches to help you learn what works and what may not in your business.
Keep up with the current news on commerce platforms, marketing trends, and what is new in the entrepreneurial world. Episodes drop every Tuesday with the occasional bonus episodes.
You can check out our daily blog post and signup for our newsletter here https://talk-commerce.com
Brent Peterson (00:01.058)
Welcome to this special down under edition of Talk Commerce today. have Katrena Friel. Katrena, go ahead, do introductions for yourself. Tell us your day-to-day role and one of your passions.
Katrena Friel (00:11.585)
Yeah, so I'm out here in Sydney, Australia, loving you all from the other side of the world probably. And my business, I've been around for about 25 years and I've got a business called Becoming the Expert where it's like business in a box, startup in a box. It's where I put together people's seven streams of income in 90 days. And we'll talk about that today, I'm sure. But yeah, I've been doing it for ages, still not.
are bored with it yet, loving every second of it. And one of my, well, I've got a couple of passions. One is I've got Yorkshire terriers, beautiful little dogs all my life. And they're always called whiskey. And so we're up to whiskey the fourth at this stage. And I've got 89 houseplants.
Brent Peterson (01:01.76)
Wow, that's great. You'll never guess what kind of dog I have.
Katrena Friel (01:05.827)
Oh, what kind of joke do you have?
Brent Peterson (01:07.374)
It's a Jack Russell. Anyways, we don't have to talk about dogs today. All right, but before we start talking and before we get into the content and branding, I'm gonna tell you a joke and all you have to do is give me a rating, eight through 13. And I wish I would have picked a koala joke, but well, here we go. Apparently to start a zoo, you needed at least two pandas,
Katrena Friel (01:09.699)
I hate to eat.
Brent Peterson (01:36.568)
grizzly and three polar bears. It's the bare minimum.
Katrena Friel (01:45.411)
Well, it made me laugh and two, I haven't heard it before. So I'll give you a eight out of 10 for that, eight out of 13 for that.
Brent Peterson (01:51.534)
All right, that's great. Thank you. I should have said koala bear, right? I should have said that koalas are one of the bear minimums.
Katrena Friel (01:59.539)
Yeah, it's a crowd-pleaser, that one.
Brent Peterson (02:02.786)
Yeah. All right. So Katrena, tell us a little bit about yourself. Tell us how you got into what you're doing and yeah, start there.
Katrena Friel (02:10.903)
Well, I was out coaching and speaking and training and every time I trained or I was with people, someone would always come up to me and say, I wanna do what you're doing. And so I started to think about, well, how do I do what I do? And I started to break it down into a bit of a process, a bit of a system and it started out as a bit of a soup, you know, doing group work and.
After doing a few groups, I realised that they weren't doing the work, they actually weren't putting it all together. They didn't have the technical skills or they didn't have just the focus to do it. So then I started to realise, look, these people need way more help than just a group course. So I actually started to do it for them. And that's when it really flipped the switch on because now I could get it done for them and then they could get on with it and start.
doing their business and launching properly. So now after 25 years, it's not a soup anymore, it's this refined sauce, a very rich, fine sauce. And you know, I make the complex look really simple and they can feel when they're sleeping me having a rummage about in their field, doing all their little things like magic. So yeah, it's just, I think key. And I think you've seen,
in the marketplace done for you now is picked up in popularity because people need help. They really need help and they need hands-on do it for you type help.
Brent Peterson (03:48.14)
Yeah. And so tell us your ideal client. is it that, what type of client do you typically look for or maybe people that seek you out?
Katrena Friel (03:58.133)
Yeah, so I know it when I see it. I am searching for my gold nuggets and what I'm looking for is somebody that has pretty good basic to intermediate computer skills because if they don't have any computer skills they're really going to struggle in business today and I haven't got time to teach them computers so I really need somebody to come in at that level.
I do predominantly work with women, I've got quite a, I've got a man on the books at the moment. So I'm happy to work with men. I just seem to attract a lot of women. Women love the idea of getting the support they need from a technical perspective. So yeah, people that are in J-O-Bs, about 75 % of people who are in jobs that are just unfulfilled, no meaning, they know they've got some sort of talent.
and some sort of focus and some sort of story. So I'm looking for projects that I'm really interested in working on for a year. Because while I build it in 90 days, I'm coaching you for over, you know, for 12 months. it's, I've got to love the project. I love, got to love the topic. And so I'm looking for interesting non-compete type topics. And it's usually sitting in that business field. People want to help people from a business.
leadership type perspective and also spiritual development, personal development, that tends to be my back.
Brent Peterson (05:32.526)
It sounds like coaching is the main part of what you're doing and then maybe helping them with a formula. Do you typically work with new entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs that have been around the block a few times or tell us the type of people that you end up talking to?
Katrena Friel (05:53.685)
Yeah, what I really love is people right at the beginning before they've wasted heaps of time and heaps of money. So I do really attract those people that are still in their JOBs. Let's run a dual strategy. Stay where you are. Let's build it in the background and then let's get you out there a little bit in your spare time doing it so that the model can prove itself to you before you're resigning and before you're getting rid of.
this revenue stream that has funded our project together. So I really love it at that really early stage where they haven't even left their job yet. But I do seem to get people that are further down the track, five years in business, struggling. They just wasted heaps of time and heaps of money. And they always say to me, geez, I wished I'd found you at the beginning. It would have saved a lot of angst. So I'm happy to help them at that.
and those people appreciate me even more because they can they've got context. Whereas the ones that are not hurt at this stage. they don't appreciate me as much because they really don't understand what is ahead of them and what it's like to be an entrepreneur and how many hurdles we have to overcome to survive.
Brent Peterson (07:13.614)
Yeah. And do you think right now, well, I guess in the US at least, there's a challenging economy coming in front of us. And I think that plays both ways for entrepreneurs. Sometimes they're forced to do something because they get laid off. And sometimes this presents opportunities that normally wouldn't be there in a downturned economy. Do you find it any different in an up economy or a down economy? Tell us a little bit about that.
Katrena Friel (07:43.179)
Well, I loved COVID, put it that way. What COVID did was made people laser focused on their happiness and their mental wellbeing and they realized life's too short. So I really loved what COVID did to people's mental faculties. While it was sad on so many levels, of course, don't get me wrong, but I got, it was my highest income level I've ever had in 25 years.
during that period. So I think through adversity and any entrepreneur will tell you this, through adversity comes creativity and innovation. So, you know, while these things on the surface look bad to people, people like us really understand that anything that's a catalyst to focus you on your destiny and your talents and your personal brand is going to be a good thing.
And if that means that you get retrenched and now you do something about your dreams, well, so be it.
Brent Peterson (08:48.43)
Yeah, and so are you finding anything particulars or a pattern or is it everybody's kind of thinking of their own ideas and or, you know, back up, how do you choose which are the best ideas that you like?
Katrena Friel (09:01.387)
Well, I think it's intuitive. So I've got really great gut instincts and I can feel it. I really do feel it from a, it's sensory for me. My whole body will light up about this particular person and this particular project. What I love about my gifts is that they don't need to come to me knowing what their business is gonna be. In fact, quite often that is not that creative, what they come with.
I just allow people in and then once they have a sort of about 15 minutes in, I've gone and listened to their story. I can see straight away all the clues that bring this brand together and what they should specialize in. And they often will say, geez, I have never had that sort of clarity. My body has lit up with the idea of that.
and you go, well, that's how you tell it's a good idea. Your body will respond with excitement and trepidation and fear and fear and excitement. It's all very close together, but good. Feel the fear and do it anyway. Let's build this thing, you know.
Brent Peterson (10:14.146)
Yeah. You talked a little bit about branding. We talked a little bit about branding in the very beginning. How important is that personal brand and then being able to move that personal brand into your business?
Katrena Friel (10:26.947)
So I think you can have just a whole business that is your personal brand that you can have seven streams of income attached to. But if somebody's got a product-based or service-based business, they've also got a personal brand within that. And there's seven streams of income that they can bolt on. But it's also, I use your personal brand as a way of sales and marketing. So marketing first and then sales.
If you're out there doing it, you'll find that it will be an inbound sales strategy rather than an outbound sales strategy, which is a lot easier. So yeah, so I have my tricks of the trade and I have my secret sources and I've got lots of things that I'm very strict about in what model we're building here and what your seven streams of income are going to look like. so yeah, it doesn't really matter whether they're
just going to do a pure personal brand business. I think that's nice and clean in a lot of cases. But yeah, I don't tend to work with product-based businesses. That tends to be a different thing altogether, different beast.
Brent Peterson (11:41.366)
And you talked a little bit about having to be technologically savvy. I'm assuming most younger people are savvy to technology. so I'm hearing maybe there might be some older folks or people that aren't so in tune with computers, or do you come across younger people that want to do something that aren't on their phone all day?
Katrena Friel (11:49.26)
Yes.
Katrena Friel (12:07.967)
yeah.
Brent Peterson (12:09.474)
Could you introduce one of them to me? Because I haven't met one yet.
Katrena Friel (12:13.707)
Look, the young people that I work with tend to not love computers and not be wanting to be on their computers all the time. So it's difficult for me to try and bring them back into focusing. There is going to be some strict screen time to run a business. So it's a little bit funny how we perceive young people as always being into computers and they're just not. There's a whole bunch of people out there that just love to do hands on.
And whereas most of the clients that I work with are over 40, probably even over 50. And that is a wonderful target market for me because they're ready. They're really ready to put it all together. They've earned their first stripe, they've earned their second stripe at about 30, they've earned their third stripe at about 35. My belief is that you step in to the beginning of your peak at 40.
And by then, you want to be thinking about what's my next couple of decades going to look like? Is it more of the same stuff from before? Or am I really going to step into my own personal power, own it and help people through my teachings?
Brent Peterson (13:32.886)
And do you help them understand maybe what platform they should be on for some of the selling and maybe cold email or tell us a little bit about the idea of once they've kind of, once they've developed this brand, they have to sell themselves, right? Do you kind of just work with whatever vertical they're in and then help them to come up with that plan to, to sell themselves or sell their service?
Katrena Friel (13:59.875)
I give them all the processes and all the systems and all the platforms. So the platforms are all set. They don't really negotiate that. And the reason that I've chosen what I've chosen over the last 25 years is because I've got to it over to you. So I've picked things that I can train in that I know are going to be easy to maintain as opposed to highly complex systems. So we have a system called Wix.
Wix I've grown up with over the last however long they've been around. And what I love about Wix in particular is because it houses everything inside of it. It's all the email, all the shop, all the everything is all inside there. And so they don't need another system to run their business. you know, while it's probably not the most sophisticated thing in the whole planet, and yes, there's lots and lots of different things you can use.
That's not what this is about. This is about me handing over to somebody that isn't that focused on technology that needs to run their business. So Wix has got a great system. They've evolved it over time. They're particularly good now and it's affordable and it's easy to run and they've got great customer service where you talk to an actual person and that is key for what I'm selling.
Brent Peterson (15:27.182)
That's a great plug that we just had the head of e-commerce for Wix Global on the show a couple of weeks ago. he would be very happy to hear what you're saying. yeah, Wix has a ton of really great built-in AI tools as well. So I can only say good thing about Wix and it allows you to go from a content-based to e-commerce-based as well. And it has some really cool e-commerce tools that people...
Katrena Friel (15:35.799)
Well, I'm editing something.
Katrena Friel (15:44.066)
Yes.
Brent Peterson (15:55.01)
don't understand how sophisticated it is already.
Katrena Friel (15:58.367)
Yeah, yeah, look, I'm a huge fan, as you can tell, because I've been with them since the beginning. But they've come out here to Australia, which we were thrilled about. And we've met them all when they launched Wix Studio. And now we're all little agencies selling these Wix Studio websites. And, you know, I put all the training in behind that. But I also know when I'm gone, long gone, Wix will pick up that customer service for me. And I know they're in safe hands. So.
Yeah, I think what they're building is pretty cool and AI is only going to make it cooler.
Brent Peterson (16:31.778)
Yeah, it does a lot of things like not just content generation, but it does some data analytics and it'll do image generation, does all kinds of really fun stuff.
Katrena Friel (16:42.027)
Yeah, I'm working with Sintra. Have you interviewed Sintra yet? Yeah, Sintra, S-I-N-T-R-A dot A-I. I'm working with them because it's an all-in-one system, so it doesn't matter what AI you need, you've got a little bot to help you. And I really am playing with that one because I just find there's so much out there, so easy to get distracted by 10 or 20 different
Brent Peterson (16:46.446)
Uh-uh.
Katrena Friel (17:11.683)
Whereas Sintra I'm loving because it's all inside the one program. So I'm thinking that my business will evolve to weeks with Sintra and I think my clients will be in great hands from a content perspective.
Brent Peterson (17:25.486)
That's great. Katrena, we are rapidly running out of time already and this has been such an enjoyable conversation. As we close out the podcast, I do give everybody a chance to do a shameless plug about anything they like. What would you like to plug today?
Katrena Friel (17:29.601)
No worries. Thank you,
Katrena Friel (17:38.455)
Well, I just think having a free discovery session is just a nice easy next step. We can have a cup of tea together. We can talk about your dreams and you you've found the how that you've been looking for. So why not pick my brains and see where I would take it based on my 25 years experience. And so a free discovery session I think is a nice easy next step. They can just jump on the website and book that themselves if they want to.
Brent Peterson (18:04.59)
Yeah, and tell us how we find you.
Katrena Friel (18:06.635)
becomingtheexpert.com.au guys. So becomingtheexpert.com.au. Look forward to seeing you.
Brent Peterson (18:18.136)
That's perfect. And I'll make sure we get all that in the show notes. Katrena, it's been such a great conversation. Thank you so much.
Katrena Friel (18:25.111)
Thank you, Brent. Lovely to see you. Bye.