Welcome back to the show, my fellow extraordinary Americans. For today’s guest, we have Catherine Knotos. Catherine is an entrepreneur as well as a transformational life and business coach. 

Catherine founded Retreat Boss, a company that helps retreat leaders, corporations, and organizations curate their dream retreats and events for their business; with over a decade of experience in retreats in the hospitality industry and retreat design and facilitation, she has served thousands of clients worldwide and created impactful experiential retreats and corporate events that refresh participants. Inspired Catherine is also a TEDx motivational speaker, published author, and podcast host. 

She has traveled to over 90 cities and participated in various adventures and uplifting activities. She has also LED a viral event involving nine Canadian Parliament ministers and helped change policy for families separated by border closures during the pandemic; she’s passionate about helping others live life with purpose and sharing her versatile business and life experience, as well as her international connections, to make any retreat aspirations a reality. 

Catherine has been featured in television, magazine, newspaper, and radio news coverage, including Wellness Tourism Association, iHeartRadio, thought leaders, and ethos Psychology Today Duo 106.7 CJAD, 800 AM. She’s an extraordinary personality, and I’m glad to have her on this show. Catherine, are you there?

I’m here. What a beautiful introduction. Thank you so much.

Catherine, thank you so much for taking the time to do this podcast for me. I know that you’re an entrepreneur. You’re a transformational business coach. You’re published, you’ve published books, and you’re also a podcast host. Please tell the audience more about yourself, your background, and how you got started.

So, throughout my life, I was always very involved in the psychological aspect of people. I was very enthralled by the human mind. So, initially, I started as an artist because I was very creative. But then, you know, my business fell into the realm of things. And I was like, my goodness, there’s so much money. To be made. I can’t live off as an artist, right? 

So, I started a business at 23 when I bought my first real estate, and it exploded from there. And the next, like, 10/15 years, I bought 100 properties. And that’s how my business started, and I also started buying, launching, and flipping businesses after three years. 

So basically, I was doing that in real estate and business. A few years into it, I was thinking that I would like to return to school. I got my degree in psychology, and I could do that because of everything I had accomplished till that point. 

I also got pregnant while I was in university, and I finished my degree quite quickly. I was running my businesses, so I wonder how I did all that. Honestly, I have no idea.

How did you do all that?

I have no idea, but I’m the type of person where people don’t understand how I can do everything that I do. You know, this is my personality, my character. I have, like, even when I was an employee for, you know, a company. What would the other employees be like? Can you slow down?

1. And I realized there’s something different about me because I’m just. I am still determining what it is. Honestly, I can’t tell you – my employees, not my staff. It took me a few years to realize not everybody’s like me, so I had to give them an extra two days of what I thought I would accomplish in one day, right? So, I had to learn patience and understand that only some are made like me. Yeah. So that’s like we went a bit off on a tangent. Yeah, I do a lot. 

Yeah, I’m going Fast forward. I wanted to use my psychology, creativity, and real estate knowledge and create one business to utilize all of them. 

So, I bought an inn in the Laurentians of Quebec, well-known worldwide for its skiing and beautiful lakes. And there was overlooking this beautiful, beautiful lake in the mountains. 

I flipped it. I transformed. Into a place, a retreat space for addictions and mental health. But as soon as I opened it, I felt very ill with stage 3 breast cancer, and I had to shut the business down. Was devastating. It was devastating. I was just, you know, obviously, with a diagnosis like that, you are very emotional. You think your life is over, and you’re like, what will I do now? I can’t even work. 

So for a few months, it was just empty burning money, you know, because having a big building like that costs much money. I have no business in it. But what I did is on my laptop in between surgeries and chemotherapies and radiation and all of that stuff and even a divorce, I launched my new business that exists today. 

So, it’s been around for almost 12 years, and the brand name is now Retreat, Boss. And what we do is curate retreats internationally, and that’s? Where was it launched? Literally off my laptop in bed, I hired teams. I started my website, you know everything. I talked to clients while in, but nobody knew what I was going through. 

And if I can do that, this is my mental if I can do that during a state where you know I shouldn’t have been doing any of that, it should have. It’s been just, you know, my health or whatever, but I felt like I had no choice, right? I was desperate to figure something out. And I did. 

So, if I could do it in that state, anybody could, you know, any entrepreneur could launch any business and get through it, and this is the motivation I give people with my story: no matter what happens, you’re still you. You could still get through this stuff, and you could still achieve whatever it is. It’s all about mindset, having faith in yourself, you know that confidence, and don’t take away the experience you’ve gained. All this is very important when you’re struggling to do something different. 

So. I was able to pivot and did what I did, and it’s an award-winning company, and we won an award like, I think, two or three years after I think it was three years after. And we just won another award right now. So, you know I’m very proud of it. You know where it started and how it, you know, converted itself and continued and transformed throughout the years. And here we are today. 

Your story is amazing because you’ve gone through all these hardships, right? You went through it like you had to raise children. You went to divorce. You went through breast cancer. But how did you manage to be distracted by all these things? 

I want to understand your motivation at the start of this. What motivated you, and what was your mindset so that the audience can understand how to do business even if they have hardships going on in their life?

I had much faith; I spoke about it in my TED talk. Well, my TED talk did not get published on Ted’s platform. I did go on the TED talk stage and speak about it, but unfortunately, it was, I think, a little too controversial for them their platform never got published on their website, but it’s still a very important talk, and people could watch it because I published it on my own. After all, it was the message that I felt would help people in what? What you’re asking, right?

So, my mindset was extreme. You go through fear through grieving. At the beginning, right? Like it’s very scary, and I, you know, I became a single mom overnight during that time and going through the divorce, it was just a lot of stuff just piling on. You know, suicidal thoughts were going through my head like I couldn’t have been in a worse mindset to start. 

But then, something changed in me where I was like, when I got that diagnosis, I was like. I’m not ready to die. Where is my legacy? What have I done so far? I was 40 years old at the time. I’m like, I’ve wasted my life. Where’s you know, if I were to die today, what? What will people Remember Me by? And who am I like? What? What did I do wrong? And I was like, no, I’m not ready to die. Right. 

So, my mindset became the opposite of what it was before, where I was kind of surviving and struggling to be happy, the basic thing of being happy and fulfilled. So, when that mindset switched in me, it was like. I can’t even explain it to you. It was like I was hyper-focused. It’s almost like that football player is ready to get that final run. And I was so hyper-focused on knowing that I would be fine. I was convinced there was nothing that was more sure in me than saying that this will pass. I’m going to be fine. 

And I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to write a book. I’m going to launch my business. My business is going to be successful. I will write a book because I have to speak about this. I have to help other people. I’m going to speak on stage because people need to hear. You know what I went through and what I did? How I got through it. And how and why? 

Literally, since that day, I’ve been very purpose-driven. My business is about transformation. Anything I speak about is about transformation. Even when I’m business coaching, everything I learned during that time when I was going through cancer.

People sometimes can’t see how. But then when I speak about it, they’re like, my God, you have resilience. Yeah, it taught me a lot. It taught me to become super focused on a goal and achieve it. OK, these are things that you need in business. OK? You know, trust and just getting that confidence and all of that stuff I learned during that short time, even though it felt like forever during that short time with that disease. It gave me all these gifts that I put into place in my personal life, business life, and relationships with people in my retreats. All of that comes into play when, you know, I need it. When I want it, but it’s also part of my life. 

I don’t wake up a day thinking like, what am I going to do to, you know, be better today, you know? And then yesterday, what will I do today to enhance someone’s life? How can I be kind to somebody? How can I transform somebody today so everything every day is purpose-driven for me and the long term? It is impactful for everybody that’s involved in anything that I do. I’m very philanthropic, you know, all of that stuff. So, it changed my life.

So, Catherine. If you were to like pinpoint one of the greatest lessons you learned during your entire entrepreneurial career, including the darkest moments of your life. What lesson did you learn regarding just life and business and all that?

I’ve learned through myself and other people that you need more confidence in your actions. It takes much work to succeed as an entrepreneur. OK. Because number one, you don’t if you don’t believe in yourself or your product or service, you will also have that energy come out whether people, whether you think it or not, actually feel your energy. 

So if you need more confidence about what you’re selling, OK, quote. Vote. Then why should people be confident in your product if you aren’t? Even if you’re not even confident in your product? So confidence is key, especially for new entrepreneurs, even entrepreneurs starting something new. Like any kind of new service or product, you’ve got to be So confident about this product; you have to believe in it and be passionate. About it, it resonates whether you know it or not, it resonates. 

I don’t care if you’re on social media behind the camera. I know when someone doesn’t believe in their product or themselves, or they’re doing it too, it’s kind of superficial. You could see, feel, or feel in your gut, even if you don’t realize it mentally. At that moment, you can feel it. It’s in your gut, like I don’t want to buy it from that person. 

Or, you know, you are just this instinct we have amongst people. I do believe in energy. I do believe that when you walk into a room, there’s a reason why you’re attracted to some people and put off by other people. I believe that your gut tells you right away you know you have instincts on if you can trust somebody and believe in what they’re saying, and it has nothing to do with what they’re saying. But behavior is a language. 

So when you’re watching behavior, we don’t even realize we are. If you want to call it, we’re translating that behavior as language into our head and soul. 

So, behavior is language, and some people will call that energy. Some other people call it something else. But in the end, if you are not confident about yourself and the product or service you are selling, you will have a very, very difficult time convincing other people to believe in you and your product. That’s probably the biggest lesson and hurdle—for most entrepreneurs, especially new ones. New entrepreneurs battle with that; that’s the one thing that they have to conquer. Once they conquer that, everything will fall into place.

So, as Catherine, this is a really interesting conversation. So, as a transformational coach, right? Let’s say you have somebody who wants to start and needs more business confidence but is determined to do it. 

What advice would you give this person to get the confidence to believe in their powers and have faith? Yes, you’re right; energy does translate.

It depends on the person. OK, there are limitations. Everybody has limitations, OK? Have you ever heard of that research project where they put you? Could you Google this? They put a bunch of fleas in a jar. Have you heard of this? 

So, the thousands of fleas are in a jar, and they put a lid on it. OK, so wait. I think first, they had the lid off, and they were jumping out. But then they put a lid on it, right? And they left it there for I don’t know how long. I need to find out the details. 

And then, when they removed the lid, the fleas were no longer jumping out of the jar. They were jumping up until where the point of the. Then the lid was. So, what happened is, psychologically, they didn’t. They no longer believed they could escape the jar, so they jumped to that limit. Wow. Yeah, look it up. 

So, this is the same thing with humans. We all have different limitations, OK? And when I’m speaking to any businessperson, whether it’s someone that’s been around for a long time or whatever, we all have certain limitations. Nobody’s perfect. And when I see it, I tap into that with them, and as soon as they realize that number one is realizing that even we have that limitation, and sometimes we know, but then we don’t know how to get past it right. As soon as we open that lid and make them say, look, you can fly out and show them. Look, you can fly out, right? It changes the game literally. I’ve seen strategies and where failure was bound to happen. 

Literally months of struggling with something and going nowhere. Hitting that wall, hitting it, and then, you know, looking at this client, finally talking to them, and seeing what’s happening. With them and guiding them all of a sudden, you see from almost failing to flip it around and becoming hugely successful and had nothing to do with their business. It concerned their mindsets and the strategy they put into place because of their mindset and limitations. 

That strategy would only work for them if it were limiting them to their success. As soon as the mindset changed, the strategy changed. She pivoted because the perspective was different now, so they knew they could go from A to B. They knew that they could go from A to Z. And because they put that strategy into place, they became successful in their pursuit. 

So, you know, people always say why? Why do you say business and life coach? Because there’s a bit of life coaching in business. People could only tell me someone is in business if they just do a financial strategy. That’s different, but when you’re looking at, you know, creating strategies and goals and achieving and all That, you, the person, have certain limitations you must overcome. If the life coach part of the business coaching doesn’t come into play, I’m sorry you’re not a good business coach. 

You’re just talking about stuff that is just. It’s not even relational. It becomes more of a, you know, transactional. Meanwhile, as businesspeople, we must have relationships to succeed, and everything is like that one thing opens; it’s like a Domino’s effect. Everything changes once that limitation is removed, and you see it, recognize it, and know how to deal with it. It becomes not even a limitation; it just leaves. And you’re you. You just become this new person. And with this new perspective in your business, 

So yeah, that’s where the confidence, you know, it hurts your confidence, all these limitations hurt your confidence. And that’s the key thing to open up those limitations, remove them, and you will have a different perspective on your business and your strategies and goals. It becomes like… oh  I think I could just go here, too. You know what? It’s possible I could achieve everything I want. I usually make my clients dream like the most impossible dream. Let me know what would be ideal and perfect in your life. As far as your business. And they’ll tell me that strategy, and then we’ll move towards it. We’ll have phases getting to it, OK. 

Once it closes, each phase opens up the next phase. Now, if they don’t achieve, you know, the final thing, even if they achieve 50% of that, trust me, it’s huge. It’s huge, but you must go towards it. 

And you know what? Maybe you will achieve that final thing that you were hoping for. You know, so everybody has to do the phases, and they have to do their best. And sometimes, during those phases, something stops them. 

Another limitation: we have to work on it, right? And maybe we have to hire other coaches to help them because I don’t know everything. You only know some things. I know what I know, and then I’ll hire a coach for myself and my business and say, you know what? I am still determining when it comes to social media marketing. You know, maybe I’m not the best at it. I think I need to hire out or hire a coach to help my team. You know, you’ve got to understand where your goals and your powers lie and your geniuses and where you have to let go and say, you know what? I need to hire out for this. 

So these are all things a business person is starting off or in business for a while. Maybe I’ve made a few $1,000,000 up until now, but why am I stuck here? It’s because they don’t have the tools and the knowledge that they need to go to the next step, and that’s where you need to look out and outsource and see where you could get that help to move forward with your company—maybe be going from entrepreneur to enterprise, right? That’s also usually a big one.

So, Catherine, I wanted to elaborate on this one point. So, yeah, I agree with what you’re saying about the limitations. We need to figure out the idea of the fleas and the jar, right? 

So, many people stick to their limiting beliefs because they become a part of their identity. And they also think that it’s just a delusion if you try to go to a limitlessness. 

And that’s the greatest excuse they give themselves. They’re just being delusional versus reality, like the idealist. That’s just a romantic fantasy versus reality, like to such people. Let’s say they’re rooted in this so-called like when they say I’m not being. I’m not being a pessimist. I’m just being a realist. How would you address such a mindset?

I consider myself a realist. OK. And very much so, which means I’m not a person. And so I’m not like someone who just dreams and does nothing about it. A realist has very big dreams. Would that be OK? I’m not saying everything. I’m going just to say what I’m like and what I feel like people, you know, could work to be like because you could be a realist and have big dreams. The difference between a realist and a pessimist is that a pessimist will never try. OK, a dreamer will only have the dreams but never put, you know, strategies in place to go for them. 

A realist will say, OK, well, this is what I’d like to achieve whatever it is, and say I’m going to put things into place to go to, to get it. OK. That’s a realist. They’re not just dreaming and not being pessimistic about it. They’re putting. You know parts, positions, people, and everything in place to achieve it, whether they do or not. In the end, that’s a different story, right? That has to do a lot with many other things, like I said, like maybe not having—the right tool and not having the right people, not having the. Whatever could be, there could be things beyond the person himself at that point. They have to identify what’s going wrong because the people that brought you from A to, like, from A to B, are not necessarily the same people, the same staff, the same coaches, the same whatever they’re going to bring you to the final goal. And sometimes, that’s hard to let go of. But this is what a realist is. A realist is a person who dreams but puts strategies into play. So I don’t know what my definition of it is. That’s how I view it. 

No, it’s well said, you know, because that’s the number one thing like many pessimists. For example, they see the thing as half empty; they consider themselves realistic. But you can still attain the goal. You just have to have the strategies, and then they miss out on them. But mindset plays a lot into that factor. You have to be optimistic, and it’s kind of like a balance.

Yeah. And you know, I have people around me who are dreamers, who are always, like, I’m going to want to do this. And I want to do that. But you see, they try maybe for a month or two or three and then stop because something else got more interesting for them, and they’re going for the next room. 

And then, you know, they’re kind of like bouncing around, you know, so those are, to me, dreamers that get excited over something. And then, as soon as that excitement of newness wears off and they see it’s a bit difficult, they give up. Our realists will understand there are difficulties, challenges, and obstacles in place, and they just accept that as part of the journey of achieving their dream, so that’s another way of looking at it. It is as well.

Catherine, Speaking of overcoming mindsets, right? So, you know, in the 21st century, many women are becoming entrepreneurs and doing business, and things have changed. But let’s say there’s a single mother like that who’s raising children. And she’s got all these difficulties in raising children. 

She’s doing her job, but now she wants to start a business to become financially free. But she doesn’t believe that she can pull this off. How would you go about advising such a person about business?

Well, you know, it isn’t easy. It is challenging to do. OK, I won’t say it’s easy because these children depend on you, right? And you’re by yourself. You’re a mom. I don’t know if you, you know, this person has skills they’ve achieved until then. It depends on what. What their past looks like, and what their experience is. What would I do if I wanted to be a first-time entrepreneur, OK? And I’ve been working for a business. What you do is start a side hustle, OK, something that you’re passionate about because it will take up more of your time away from your family, friends, and energy. 

So you start a side hustle while you’re still working. OK. And that side, so make sure your Y is big, OK, like this is like because it’s going to be hard for you to do all of that, and when that hide side hustle equals the income of what you’re making at work, you could let go of your job. And make your side hustle your primary income. That’s what I would do. If I were starting all over again and I was concerned, you have to be financially responsible, too. 

So, you know, you start that side as so grow it grows to the point where it’s me it’s, you know, replacing your income. And then you could go full-time and go for it. That would be my responsible way of doing it.

So Catherine, it requires resources, right? And like, like you’re already, you have children that are dependent upon you and then and then on top of that, you’re doing the job which is taking up time, and you’re not doing the side hustle, and it’s kind of like a risk, right? You don’t know if we’ll succeed. So how would you go? 

How would the single mother go about calculating and assessing the risk? And doing it in a way where she can, she can pull it off or monetize it in that regard.

I would hire coaches first, OK, to give me my strategy to help me because, in the end, it’s about your dream and your goals as a, as a, as a. And you need the tools. OK, so confidence also comes with knowing stuff and knowledge. OK, so often, it’s very fearful because you just don’t have the tools or knowledge, and you don’t know how to achieve it. You know, it’s possible because you see everybody doing it. But how are you going to do it? 

So you are the best thing to do. For a new entrepreneur, that will save them time, money, money, and energy because you are taking time away from your family, right? So you want to do this as quickly as possible? Hire the coach, take a course, and get into a program where I’ll teach you what you want. Look for mentors who are doing what you want to do, and just follow them. Be with them. Be around them, get their knowledge. You know what I mean? And. Hire them if you have to. Whatever it is, because they’ve achieved what you wanted. They’re cheap and will give you the tools that took them forever to build and learn. You know, they’ll give them to you in a day. You know what I mean? Like, because they have it. 

So when you’re ready to get to that point, that’s the fastest way because many people don’t want to invest in themselves. That’s another lack of confidence. OK, that’s where the mindset comes into play. They want to avoid investing. Themselves, and if you say that to them, they’re like they don’t see it that way, they’re like, well, I don’t have the money, or I don’t, you know, you have credit cards, you’re spending money on, let’s say, coffee every day at Starbucks, you’re spending 6-7 dollars every day, times that by 350, whatever days a year. Let’s say, you know, or 300 days a year. How much of that? Could you invest in yourself instead?

Catherine, they’ll say that I will fall asleep if I don’t have coffee.

But I’m just saying, right, people will go out at night and spend $150 on dinner or 200 or 100, whatever it is, but they won’t take, like, and they’ll do this once a week, right? So that’s what accumulates. 

So it’s about a mindset like taking the time to invest in yourself. Sometimes you have to say no to that dinner or Starbucks coffee, or that, whatever it is, you know, start brewing at home. Whatever it is you have.

A lot of people like food, Catherine. The food is pretty delicious.

I know, I know. But you know, there was a moment when I wasn’t going out. I wasn’t going out with my friends. I wasn’t doing things; I stayed home and focused on two things. Was the gym to be healthy, and the other thing was in me, you know? 

So, I invested money in my business. I invested money in learning more and coaches. And all that stuff I sacrificed, I didn’t buy the fancy car, you know, I stayed with what I had. I didn’t. I have been very responsible from a young age. I was very responsible. 

My father went bankrupt at 15 when I was. 15, and I would play myself through college. As you know, we had like homes, a beautiful big home, and other homes. Cars, beautiful cars, and we ended up in a two-bedroom apartment. You know, my father, mom, brother, and sister had already left the house, and it was devastating to see my father. Fifty-five years old at the time, you know, just lost everything and worked for the competition. 

So that taught me that gave me that fire to succeed, like I never wanted to be in that state. You know, back then, my dad used to smoke. He used to ask his 16-year-old. Let’s say it was 15 through 20 until you know I left the home; he was struggling to make ends meet and would ask me for money. You know, so, you know, five bucks for cigarettes cause you used to smoke or whatever it was, you know. And now you know the fridge was empty at times. You know, it was just a very difficult time in my life, and that’s why I initially started art school; it was a passion of mine. And then, when I made the money, my real passion was the mind, learning about the mind.

 So I went back to school. I did psychology. I learned about marketing, consumer behavior, all of that stuff. But it was, and it was. It was beautiful. For my father to see in the end that I could provide for him, you know before he passed away, I bought him a home with my mom, you know, like, and they were staying there and stuff like that, so. He was, you know, very proud to see that, you know, even though he was a very good example in many ways. He had some bad luck at the end, you know, because he took the big project that he couldn’t handle, and that would, that’s what made him go bankrupt because they didn’t pay. And it was a very big project. 

So, in the end, I learned a lot from him. I learned a lot from him, and just to say, sometimes you don’t start with money in your pocket. Some people are lucky they, you know, they’ve learned a lot from their parents because they’re successful business people. But sometimes you don’t have that, and you start from nothing, and that’s what the fire in you is like. I don’t want to be there again, and you hustle; maybe that’s why I’m just the way I am. Like I hustle, I hustle every day to achieve what I achieve. I always want the next level of my business, you know, like. Like, OK, I accomplished this. Now, let’s go for the next thing. And you know, let’s do this now, you. I know, and I don’t know if that’ll ever stop. 

Maybe I’ll get tired and be like, OK, well. I’ve had enough. I’m. Good, but I am. I’m an overachiever. I admittedly say that I’m an overachiever. I look at something and say, how can I make this better? How can I enhance this? How can we level it up? You know, it’s always the case. Do you feel that sometimes you feel like an overachiever? Do you feel like? You’re always.

Sometimes, I feel like I have too many expectations and must get something done. Sometimes, but then. But then I try to take a 30,000-foot perspective on everything and realize there’s going to win. There’s going to be losses. It’s about the overall victory, you know.

Yeah, absolutely. And that’s the right mindset because you can’t always expect to win when the challenge is hit; you have to be able to take them and say, OK, well, what did I learn from this? Please don’t do it again. OK, let’s continue now.

Yeah. Like so. What I’m seeing is that I interviewed many people, right? I see a common pattern in all entrepreneurs. Right. You have to have mentorship. You have to invest in yourself and your education. 

And you have to have a good work ethic. And you have to be financially responsible as well. These are some common themes that I’ve noticed. And a lot of it is about. How do you overcome limiting beliefs? Because that’s where half the battle is done. Honestly, it’s in your mind; that’s where half the battle is. Once you overcome that, the external will merely be a projection of your internal.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. People don’t realize that, you know, and when people, you know, some people call it manifestation, other people, you know, it depends on whatever you want to call it. In the end, you attract literally how you behave. Because if you look at psychology, if I’m a negative person, OK. And I look at things. I don’t know that from a perspective. I’ll give you an example. Someone who always thinks, oh, you know, that overthinks their behavior. With that overthinking, we’ll make them do things that a person who doesn’t overthink won’t do. 

So they’ll attract the possible negative outcome. So, for example, and I’ve seen this because I was part of the whole immigration thing, like you mentioned at the beginning, during COVID and stuff—people, because of their fear. OK, so let’s say they were. They were separated by their family by the borders. OK. Their husband was in, I don’t know. Wherever they were in India and Canada, they couldn’t get their husband to come over because of the border closures. 

Their behavior was one that was run by fear. We’re doing things like paperwork and stuff like that, that got them. Denied because they were, they acted in a very desperate way to the government, and they thought, well, I don’t know what you’re up to. Looks suspicious. Gone, and they were just, they were just fueled by fear and acting in a behavior that didn’t make sense to someone unbiased and looking at this more like a cold, you know, and other people who were run by, like faith and love. Let’s say you saw them. Everything was just flowing to them like then, you know? OK then. Whatever the husband, wife, whatever it is, the family got reunited. But the people that were running on fear, oh my goodness. They would e-mail a lot. They would call a lot like we’re talking about government towards the government. They would do that, and the government would like a red flag. 

So, this is a perfect example of someone overthinking and running by fear. The same thing goes with businesses that will attract—negative outcomes versus someone who isn’t. I don’t know if I’m explaining myself properly, but that’s what happens. That’s what I see as manifestation. You’re manifesting that because you’re just because of your overthinking and stuff that you’re doing. You are getting the result that you fear the most. So stop, you know, like you got to stop. So, yeah. So I’ve seen a lot of that happen. A lot of that happens.

Wow. Like, you just blew my mind away cause, like, like, I already know. That mindset plays a big role. I like to hear that it affects even immigration. The government can sense the energy, and that’s big like you have to operate. You can’t operate from a fear-based reality. That’s what I’m getting at over here.

Yeah, absolutely. I have a friend going through the migration process right now, and they did something out of fear. And I told them you’re lucky you got approved. I will go next, and in the future, from now on, do not do more than you are told to: do not call or e-mail. Do not do any of that. You’ll get red-flagged, and this is just because, out of fear, the intentions are good. Everything you know. And I’m like, you just do this. This is how it’s got to be. You can’t act like that. You know. 

So, just to show you there are consequences to fear, there are consequences to it. But people don’t see that you are not. Another example for an entrepreneur is they will not pay for ads, OK, because they’re afraid. If I pay the ads, how do I know I will get my return?

And it’s like, did you put all the systems in place? Do you know who your niche is or your you, you know, test it a little bit, you know, like, there are ways of doing it, but they won’t make that plunge, or they won’t invest because they’re like, well, what if I don’t get my money back? What if I lose a few $1000 by placing those ads? Well, if you’ve put everything into place and we’ve tested it. It, and it works. Then why won’t you put that money into place? I and all the other fearless people who are super confident are placing, let’s say, $500 in ads and getting like $5000 in return because they don’t have that perspective. 

So you know all these limitations. What’s happening? This guy is staying here and probably doing much less work because of his confidence. This means the long term is booming in business. Right. So this is where mindset does play a huge role in business.

And I would want the audience to understand that mindset and not having a futuristic approach plays a massive role. But Catherine, on a different note, I wanted to ask you about your company retreat boss. And the premise of how it got started and like, what it is about, what it is about.

So retreat, just like I said, started about a dozen years ago. It has morphed into different, you know, ways throughout the years. During COVID, I had to shut down. It’s a business about gathering and travel. We had to shut down, but we did completely shut down. What we did is we shut down—obviously, the retreat part of it. And what I did was convert it into that time.

I love your ability to pivot like it’s amazing. That’s also.

Oh, my God. Yeah. You have to know how to do that in entrepreneurship. But yeah, that was a big pivot again, right? Twice, we were shut down and, in a sense, in 10 years, right? So this time, what I did was, you know, I took some time, you know, like everybody else, trying to realize what was going on. And I said, well, why don’t you? I saw that online courses were very popular at the time. 

So, I started online courses on how to build your dream. Retreat. So, anybody looking to plan and design experience retreats could take a step-by-step course from the beginning to the end of my retreat program. And what’s great about it is that it kept me busy. I launched it then, and it has become an accredited course. 

So people could get a certification. Have it. So that’s what I did during that time to pivot that whole situation, and when things opened up, I rebranded and all that stuff. And when you know, things started opening up, the business started opening up, and we planned internationally for any type of retreat. We have the planners; we have the eyes and feet everywhere. 

So if anybody’s looking to plan a retreat where the people were the authority in this space if anybody is looking to do that or learning to or want to learn. How to do it? That’s what we specialize in.

Catherine, I would recommend that them to reach out to you because I know you’re good at whatever you do, so I recommend my audience to you. That’s the case. And so, Kathy, are there any other projects you’re doing right now that you want the audience to glimpse?

Well, the latest thing is getting those programs accredited. They are ICF accredited, meaning a third party came in, the International Coaching Federation, which is the authority in licensing coaches. Business coaches, life coaches, and whatever coaches they have to go through their program usually, and we partnered up with them and retreat. Boss has an accredited course from them, so you get certified by retreat boss and ICF. And anybody who is a coach also gets ours. This is how you renew your license every year.

So whoever’s a coach gets ours. But anybody could take the course. So, I would tell people to look into that and see if they could do it for themselves.

1. So, Catherine, how can our audience learn more about you and your work, and how can they connect with you?

So, I have two websites. If you want to know more about me, catherinecontos.com Catherine with the C cantos with the K. But if they want to know about my business, it’s retreatboss.com. OK, either way, if you contact us through there, you know, eventually it goes through my team, and if you want to speak to me directly, you just say I want. To speak with Catherine directly, I’d be happy to meet with you.

1. Catherine. Catherine, I’m so glad and grateful you took the time to, like, give your wisdom because of the way you managed to multitask and like pivot and everything; my mindset is so true that the audience has to know that it’s all about how you see and perceive the world because that plays a big role in entrepreneurship. Like, I’m grateful. Take the time, and I would want to have you at the show at a later time.

Thank you so much. Being here and talking to you, Cosmo, was enjoyable.

And I want to conclude this episode by letting my fellow extraordinary Americans know that, hey, look, there’s an extraordinary within every one of us, and we must awaken it and unleash it until next time. Bye for now.