Episode 106: Katrina Purcell

Katrina Purcell

Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Pretty Powerful Podcast, where powerful women are interviewed every week to share real inspiring stories and incredible insight to help women or anyone break the barriers, be a part of innovation, shatter the glass ceiling, and dominate to the top of their sport, industry, or life's mission.

Join us as we celebrate exceptional women and step into our power. And now here's your host, Angela Gennari.

Angela Gennari: Hello, welcome to another episode of the pretty powerful podcast. My name is Angela Gennari and today I'm here with Katrina Purcell. Hi,

Katrina Purcell: Katrina. Hi, Angela. Thanks so much for having me.

Angela Gennari: My pleasure. So Katrina Purcell is an accomplished operations professional who launched her own firm last year focused on enabling small businesses and nonprofits with the tools needed to efficiently scale and grow.

Perfect. Thanks. Absolutely perfect topic for this audience. So tell me [00:01:00] Katrina, what made you want to number one, start your own business and number two, go into the sector?

Katrina Purcell: So starting my own business was a journey that I was not expecting. Okay. It was not something I set out when I was little to say, Oh, I'm going to run my own company.

Um, because I always felt like my skill set was in the execution, not in the big ideas. Yep. Um, and I will say I was feeling sort of disillusioned with, um, you know, the corporate world and even the startup world and feeling like I was using my talents to sort of make other people successful and they weren't always people that I admired or that I wanted to be successful.

Uh, and so, yeah, so last year I just thought, you know what, what if I took my talents and I put them to use for underrepresented founders, people who didn't have access to, um, you know, some of the source of capital or some of the educational insights or. You know, things where you could actually start to make little ripples and kind of change how funding is working, change the businesses that are [00:02:00] successful, um, and help people who you truly felt passionate about live their dreams.

And, you know, I think in my career, I've been what I would call a jack of all trades, although a executive coach reframed that for me to be a queen of the chessboard. So instead of a jack of all trades where you, you know, you might not be a master of anything, the queen of the chessboard is very strategic, right?

And she can make moves backwards and forwards. And, and so really kind of framing it in that I can kind of do anything. Um, but what I love to do is, is manage chaos. I love to take, you know, things that don't make sense and make them make sense and help to make visions become reality.

Angela Gennari: Very cool. I love that.

I, uh, we, so I'm in the stopping and security industry. So I feel like I manage chaos on a regular basis. So I understand that

Katrina Purcell: when I say that everything is chaotic. I mean, yeah,

Angela Gennari: yeah. And, and honestly, like as women, I think that's what we also do very well is we manage [00:03:00] chaos because between, you know, community, family, you know, everything else, we're.

We're managing chaos all the time. So

Katrina Purcell: exactly. I'm an oldest daughter, so I definitely feel that. Yes,

Angela Gennari: absolutely. So you started your own business. So tell me what challenges you had to overcome to start a business.

Katrina Purcell: Um, I think I was my biggest challenge.

Angela Gennari: Really?

Katrina Purcell: So I'll start there. Yeah. Okay. My, my husband thought I should do it long before I did.

Um, in fact, he was the one who kind of said, you just need to do it. Do it now. Um, I was a little miserable in my, in my job and he, you know, I think when you're miserable in your job, we don't realize how much of that we bring home. We, we, we try to do our best, you know, to come home and, and be, um, you know, happy, healthy partners.

Um, but when you're not feeling. You know, fulfilled and you, and you don't feel like you're spending your day, right? Because let's face it, we spend the majority of our time at work. When you don't feel inspired, you know, you, you bring that home. And so, [00:04:00] um, I was nervous about it. Uh, and he said to me, one thing that stuck out, which was sort of, well, if it doesn't work out, just go find a new job.

Both: And I thought,

Katrina Purcell: oh, I guess it's not a one way door. I guess it is a two way door. I could always go back to, you know, doing something. Um, and so, him helping me to reframe that was very helpful. I think the other piece that I, and I just talked with someone today who's thinking about quitting her 9 to 5 and it's, it's, being open to how things might evolve.

So I didn't originally plan on helping nonprofits. Oh, interesting. It came about because someone contacted me and said, I think your services would be really worthwhile for my nonprofit. We're trying to scale. We're trying to grow. We have a lot of similar problems to a tech startup, but we're not a tech startup.

What do you think? Um, and so being open and listening and, and realizing the challenges were really exciting and, and they're now, um, the client I have the most fun with.

Angela Gennari: Oh, that's so awesome. It's very cool. Yeah. Nonprofits are, it's a beast. I worked on the nonprofit side, um, on the events [00:05:00] side as an event manager, uh, as the director of events for.

A little while and I tell you that it's complex because you have fundraising, you have budgeting, you have, you know, you have various different events and fundraisers that all kind of are together but separate. You have boards, you have, you know, volunteers. There's a lot of moving parts. So I think that's brilliant.

Katrina Purcell: Making an impact while you're managing all of that. And so, and that funding is so directly tied to whether or not you can make a positive impact.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. And that, that can be challenging because sometimes you feel like you're just not doing enough. You know, sometimes it feels like a drop in the ocean and, you know, you're working so hard and, you know, fundraising is difficult, but, um, but yeah, kudos to you for helping out on the, on the nonprofit side, that's amazing.

Okay, so what do you think small businesses struggle with most?

Katrina Purcell: I think a lot of times they struggle with how to actually [00:06:00] operationalize things that they're doing. And so oftentimes when you're in the very early stages, and I did this in my own business, you tend to just get things done.

Both: Yeah.

Katrina Purcell: Right? So you don't actually document how you're doing it because you think to yourself, well, it's just me, so who cares?

Yep. Um, and then when you try to scale, you say, well, wait a minute, I have to teach someone how to do that. Yeah. But I don't know how to do it, I just do it, right? And so, oftentimes I think that the main thing is you plan and you, you only document for where you are currently without thinking of where you want to go.

And so then when you get where you're going, you say to yourself, I have no map of how I got here. I don't know how to train someone. I don't know how to go from being a generalist to a specialist. I don't know how to, how to hire the right specialist because I have no idea what they would be working on.

Because I can't hand anything off.

Both: And

Katrina Purcell: so I think we just, we play too small in our own minds, right? We don't think about that big future of what if I scaled this? What if it's not a lifestyle business? What if it becomes this larger than life thing? Um, and so we [00:07:00] don't necessarily have the organizational mind to think of, okay, what would my first hire be and why?

And what processes would I need documents? And even when you're bringing on, I've brought on an, a virtual assistant, even when you're bringing on someone like that, what am I going to get them?

Angela Gennari: Right.

Katrina Purcell: How am I going to give it to them? What does that look like?

Angela Gennari: And I think that's one of the things that we struggle with as small business owners, because I know that was one of my struggles.

You know, I knew I needed help. I knew I was working too many hours, but I didn't know how somebody could help me because I just assumed everything that was being done had to be done by me. And then when I did finally say, okay, there's just, Too many hours in the day and I can't keep up. I hired somebody, but I had a really hard time delegating because it was one of those like, well, then I have to teach them how to do it.

And then I have to, I don't have the time to teach somebody to do this. It's easier for me to just do it. And so I'm just going to do it. And so, you know, that person would be over there twiddling their thumbs and here I am working until 11 o'clock at night trying to get it done. And [00:08:00] yeah, that it's, it's a constant struggle.

So that's absolutely. Correct response to say, you know, we have a hard time operationalizing. And I, and I think

Katrina Purcell: the funny part is like, even I do, right. My virtual assistant last week, she goes, am I being helpful? Is there stuff you should be giving me?

Angela Gennari: Right. Probably,

Katrina Purcell: yes, there is. I should be handing off to you, but I'm a control freak and I still need to, you know, have that.

Yeah.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. And sometimes it's hard to just wrap your, wrap your head around what can be delegated. And so that, that's. The other thing it's like, you know, I'm reading through this stuff and I'm like, okay, I got to figure this out. I got to figure this out. I got to figure this out. When it would just be so easy to say, Hey, who can take this on?

And if you just ask the question more than likely, somebody's going to raise their hand and be like, I think I can figure that out. I mean, if I'm going to go to Google and YouTube and all the other things, why wouldn't they? And so. So why, why can't they figure it out just as easy as I can figure it out?

So, yeah, I [00:09:00] struggle with that too. I am, I am guilty as charged for sure. So when you're helping businesses, um, and they're starting to tell you, Hey, I have a hard time delegating. What's your advice to them?

Katrina Purcell: Yes. So, uh, it's advice I don't follow myself, but where we generally start is essentially creating a master document and, and it can be wherever they want it to be.

I try to stay technology agnostic at the beginning because I feel like a lot of founders get stuck in, like, technology will fix everything or I'm stuck in the process my tech has. And what I like to start with is what are the processes you already have? Whether they're documented or not, but what are they?

Right? And then let's start to document them. What does that look like? So what are you doing on a daily basis? What does your day look like? Do you get up? You check your emails. Do you go to LinkedIn and create posts? Do you, you know, have a social media presence? And start to really dig into what is the day in the life?

And then I think for me, and I don't know if this is true for you, but for me, the easiest things to pass off were the [00:10:00] stuff I hated. Yeah. That was so easy to pass off. I thought, here you go, have at it. The harder stuff to pass off is the stuff you actually like, you just don't have time to do anymore.

Both: And

Katrina Purcell: that's where you really have to sit down with the founder and kind of say, does this truly have to be you, or do you just enjoy doing it?

And could someone else be doing this and freeing up your time for, you know, something different that's either more revenue generating or something that that could be building the business in the long run. And that's where I find people have the most trouble. We're very good at delegating the stuff we don't like.

Very hard. It's very hard for us to delegate the stuff that we we enjoy, but we don't have a time for either. It's time consuming or. Um, you know, it's not something that's actually building the business. It's running the business. And those are two separate things. Yes. And I find that that's sometimes where founders have a difficult time.

It's spending time on their own business versus spending time on client businesses. And yeah, you know, trying to figure out what is that really good balance where you feel like, yes, I'm [00:11:00] growing my business enough and I'm giving my clients as much as I can. Because I don't know about you, but I'm a very difficult boss.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, I know, me too. Well, and so there's a phrase I love called, are you working on your business or in your business? And I find that I'm working in my business much more than I'm working on my business. And as the CEO of my company, you know, if I want to continue to scale, I've got to step away from the operation.

I've got to step away from the day to day being on site, making sure everything is going well. That's why I have mail. I have a team and I've got to trust my team, but the problem that I have is that I love that part of it. I really, really, really enjoy it. But then I go on site and I spend the whole day somewhere at an event that we're managing or staffing.

And then I get home, I'm like, crap, I still got to do invoices. All the other stuff. I still got to do this. And it's like, all the things that I was supposed to be doing to work on my business, I wasn't doing because I was too busy working in my business, even though I love what I [00:12:00] was doing. So yes, I get caught in that trap for sure.

Katrina Purcell: It's easier to break. And that's where I find having a thought partner. And so that's where it's really easy for me to help other people with that problem. Yeah. Because that outside perspective is so much better, right? It's, it's easier to listen to someone and to kind of toss it back and forth and have that aha moment than it is to do that on your own, which is also why it's so important as a solopreneur, as someone who's leading a business to have a network of people who are having similar challenges, people that you can go to and say, Hey, I have this problem.

Is this normal? You know, is there some other way I should approach this? Uh, because when you're kind of trying to ideate by yourself, You're not really going to come up with any new and innovative ideas. You can try Gemini or chat GPT, you know, insert your AI, but they're only going to bounce back to you what they know, whereas when you're kind of iterating with someone else, you can come up with better ideas.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, a hundred percent. So when you're, when we're talking about all of this, like working on your business, not in your [00:13:00] business and all that, how do you help people achieve work life balance? What does that look like?

Katrina Purcell: So first of all, I believe that work life balance doesn't exist.

Angela Gennari: Good. Yeah, me neither.

Katrina Purcell: Um, I think life is a series of choices that you have to make.

And in some instances, you might be putting more time into your business. And if that's a discussion you've had with your family and, and everybody understands it and everyone knows where you're coming from. And you feel good about the outcomes you're going for. And to me, that's the most important thing.

Um, you know, I did an executive MBA program, which meant working full time and going to school full time.

Both: So during that

Katrina Purcell: time, was I cleaning the house as often? Was I cooking as often? Was I doing, no, I was not right. And was I attending all the family events? No, I couldn't because I was at school every weekend for two years.

And so I think. We make choices and we have to feel firm in our own belief that those are the right choices for us in the moment that we're making them. And then we can shift our focus during the next [00:14:00] season of life, right? So once I graduated, I went on, you know, the offensive of, I'm going to every family event, you know, I'm going to do all the things.

Um, and so, you know, we go through those phases and we have to feel good. for ourselves about those phases, so not what society is telling us, not what, you know, the other moms that pick up are telling us, not what all the other people at work are telling us. We have to feel good about that for ourselves, and you have to have a tribe that supports you in that, because it's never gonna be all at once.

It's just not.

Angela Gennari: Well, and I, and I find that as women, we kind of, we hold ourselves to an impossible standard because there is, you know, like there's so many different, like if you're, um, let's just say the, the husbands who work and they, you know, the only thing that is expected of them is that they work and that occasionally they show up and manage, you know, life with the family.

So that's their expectation. And as long as they're hitting that mark, they're good that for women, it's totally different. Like we have, we have the expectation of. [00:15:00] Being the caretaker of the home, of our parents, of our children, of our spouse, of our community, of our church, of our schools, of our, you know, like there's so many other things.

And then we're also being compared to, you know, if you're a working mom, you're comparing yourself to, well, I'm not as involved in my, Child school as that stay at home mom and I'm not as, you know, involved with my church as you know, these retired, you know, women, you know, like we're holding ourselves to a standard and we're comparing ourselves to people who, you know, the way, like you said, life is a series of choices.

They've made different choices, but we feel like that's still the bar. The bar is still way up here and we have a hard time reconciling. Hey, it's okay. If this is my path and this is my choice right now.

Katrina Purcell: Yeah, and I think it's, it comes down to being your own friend. Yeah. So, I don't know if you've realized this, but I, I definitely have done a lot of work on this, where I'm so nice to my friends, and I'm so supportive, and I'm always like, yeah, and then to myself, I'm terrible.

Yeah. Like, [00:16:00] you didn't do this well, you did a terrible job, why didn't, you know, and it's so, be your own friend, right? Be, you know, when you're, when you feel like you dropped the ball, or you feel like, Build yourself up like you would your friend, not, you know, kind of that inner monologue that we tend to have, which is sort of, you weren't good enough and you could have done better, and here's a list of things you could have done to improve.

You would never tell your friend that.

Angela Gennari: No. I would never tell my friend they're a complete loser. Like, you missed a deadline, you loser! But you better believe I'm gonna tell myself that if I miss a deadline. That's an arbitrary deadline that I made up for myself anyway. But I gave it to myself. And I am going to berate myself over and over and over for missing a deadline that nobody else even knew that there was a deadline.

It was just my deadline. It shouldn't exist to anyone else, right?

Katrina Purcell: And so, you know, we do this to ourselves. We, you know, we, we box ourselves into these corners where then we can't be successful. And so I think work life balance is one of those things that we just kind of have to all admit to each other that it just, you know, it's not a thing, [00:17:00] you know, and it's, it's all about choices and feeling good about the choices you make.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. So, speaking of choices we make, you ran an Ironman, or you can, you, you participated in an Ironman. I

Katrina Purcell: did. I did.

Angela Gennari: Tell me about that. That's amazing. Tell me all about it.

Katrina Purcell: So, um, talk about surrounding yourself with the right people. Uh huh. So, I have a very good friend of mine who was helping me through a pretty challenging, uh, Uh, time in my personal life.

And she said, you should run. It's like, I don't run. And she said, no, you can run. And I said, I don't, I just really don't, I don't think running is for me. Um, and I did my first race. It was a half, half marathon and I loved it. The thrill, the adrenaline. I hated training for it.

Angela Gennari: You talked to

Katrina Purcell: me while I was training for it and I was like, no, I'm growing up in gutters.

I do not want to do this. No one's chasing me. Um, but after I crossed the finish line, it was like this addiction of, of accomplishment. Right. And as a type a personality, you always need that sort of accomplishment. Right. And [00:18:00] so she got me into running and then she convinced me, she said, I'm training for this race.

It's called an Ironman. I was like, what is that? And she's like, well, you swim. And I was like, I can't swim. She goes, then you bike. And I said, well, that's a little iffy. And she goes, then you run. And I'm like, oh, the one thing I can do. Okay. Um, and so I signed up for a half Ironman initially, uh, without even ever having swam.

Wow. Um, and had to take swimming lessons as an adult, which is a lot of fun. And I live in, uh, Brooklyn, New York now. At the time I was living in Manhattan, had to find a pool, had to figure out how I was going to learn how to swim as a, you know, 30 something. Um, Um, and what a humbling experience because you're learning to swim in a pool with children who are, you know, four and they can swim across and you're like drowning on the buoy.

Um, and then it's really about the camaraderie. It's about the people you meet during the training. You train. So for the full Ironman, I trained for a full year. Um, I was slow, but I did it. And. [00:19:00] It's really more about the mental training and the mental fitness and getting up every day when you don't feel like training and going out and doing it and showing up.

Um, and I feel like the discipline that it teaches you and just the concept of you're not doing it because you're fearless. You, you are afraid. Like, I was like, am I going to drown? I tried to, you know, strategically pick a race that was sort of, they called it a downhill swim because it was with the current.

Uh huh. Uh huh. Um, but you know, you, you learned how to push yourself to your limits, and then when you hit that limit, how to push yourself a little bit farther, because guess what? You still got to get to the finish line, uh, even if you don't feel like doing it anymore. So, yeah. I, I sit, my husband says I'm retired now because it does take a lot of time and energy and it is very expensive.

Yeah. Um, but it is one of those accomplishments that, you know, when you're going through something tough, you kind of look back and you're like, well, wait a minute, I did that. Yeah. Early, I can figure out how to make this week work with the pack schedule and all the things that are happening. [00:20:00]

Angela Gennari: Well, good for you.

What an amazing accomplishment that is.

Katrina Purcell: Thank you. Luckily, my parents were there to cheer the whole time.

Angela Gennari: Oh, that's awesome. And they

Katrina Purcell: really should have trained because I think they ended up walking like 10 miles between all the different viewing points. My dad said we really should have had training himself.

Angela Gennari: That's hysterical. I love it. And so do you think that might have been, um, a good setup for you when you are starting your business? Because you're like, I can do hard things, right?

Katrina Purcell: I do think so. I think, um, you know, I've always been one to sort of challenge myself and, and always come up with the next goal, right?

So shortly after the Ironman, then I did the MBA program. And, and so there's always something out there, right? Um, I think if you're setting goals and striving for something, it's inspiring to others, um, and inspiring to yourself, right? You're never complacent. Um, so I do, I think also the structure of the Ironman, I was so calendared, I was so, you know, on top of things, right?

And I think that structure helps you [00:21:00] to then accomplish other things in your life because you start to learn, okay, It's on the calendar. It doesn't happen. Right. And my husband knows that too. It's like, if it's not on the calendar, it's not happening. I'm not, you know, um, and some, some Saturdays are very calendar where it's like every 15, every 15 minutes, here's where we're going.

This is what we're doing. Um, and then other days it's like, okay, here's my three hours self care block. And yeah, you know, chill and relax. And, um, and so I think it, it helps you to understand what that looks like because even during Ironman training, there are rest days.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. So do you have to have a trainer?

Like, do you have to have some kind of mentor? So I

Katrina Purcell: had a coach. Um, and I do think the coach is, you know, I, I think in all aspects of our life, we tend to think, and I mentioned this earlier that we'll just go it alone. And I think that's never a bright idea. Um, I don't think it always has to be someone you pay.

I do think it can be, you know, a community that you have or, or, uh, but in this case, I, uh, had a coach who was the one to kind of tell me, Hey, [00:22:00] You've been running a little too hard lately, like take a step back, you know, and she would, she would write in my little, we use this, uh, tool called Training Peaks.

She would write in there, do not overdo this, Katrina. Yeah. And so sometimes you need someone who's going to push you, but also someone who's going to kind of pull you back and say, yeah, you're not going to make it. Cause one of the biggest things about an Ironman is actually making it to the start line healthy.

Both: There are so

Katrina Purcell: many people who overtrain and get burnt out or get hurt or, you know, and so, um, bringing on a coach in that aspect, and like you said, also some swimming, right? So, so figuring out what you're good at and what you're not good at. And then being able to bring in people to help you with the things where you feel like you need to improve.

And it is really very much like a business, right? I was about to say

Angela Gennari: a very good analogy for a business because it's the same thing.

Katrina Purcell: It's the same thing. Like I said, Oh, from the beginning, I said, I'm getting a CPA. Yeah. I don't want to deal with any of it. Don't want to look at it, you know? and I found one who's amazing.

I love her. She's fantastic. Um, and that's another place where you just put your money where [00:23:00] your mouth is. It took me forever to find a female CPA. You wouldn't think it would be so hard, but I got to find one. Um, And so it just, it really is a good metaphor for, for sort of the act of building a business and even running it.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. So what would you have done differently if you could change anything? What would you go back and do differently?

Katrina Purcell: Oh, what a question. Um, in general, or just about the business?

Angela Gennari: About the business, about the business. Yeah.

Katrina Purcell: I probably would have done it sooner.

Angela Gennari: Really?

Katrina Purcell: Um, yeah, I think I, I would have done it sooner.

Um, I think I didn't have, I didn't have that confidence and faith to sort of go out and jump on my own, but I think I probably should have.

Both: Yeah.

Katrina Purcell: Um, you know, other than that, I think it's turned out in many ways better than I imagined. Um, I think there's definitely always something that you want to scale and grow or something new you want to do.

But, um, I wish I had started it sooner.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Would you say [00:24:00] that to other people? What's, what is generally your advice when somebody says, I think I want to leave my nine to five and I think I want to start a business. What would you say? Have, have this ready or be ready for this. I

Katrina Purcell: had this conversation with someone this morning and she said, well, I'm just going to keep running in on the side and keep my nine to five.

I said, why? What are you waiting for? Right. Um, and so what I like to tell people is you need to build what your exit plan is.

Both: Okay.

Katrina Purcell: And I'm not saying ignore the things. I'm saying put the things on the exit plan, figuring out health insurance, right? How much money do you need in the bank that you're going to start to debit?

Because understanding that even if the business brings in money, you may not be bringing in money until you get with your CPA and figure out how you're drawing money out of the business and what that looks like. So for me, That period was about four months where the business had money, but I had no money.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, yeah. Uh

Katrina Purcell: huh. Um, and so understanding what that looks like, what is that exit plan? How much money do I need in the bank? You know, how am I figuring out my health insurance? What are the other perks that my job has that I really want? Because I think oftentimes what [00:25:00] ends up, we get addicted to that paycheck.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. And I

Katrina Purcell: will say, that first pay cycle that came around, and I was like, oh, no money's going in, huh? Okay. Is that how that's going to feel? I mean, my whole adult life, right? Every two weeks. And here it comes, you know? And so, we become slaves to that paycheck, and it's hard to walk away from. But you have to make a plan.

And you have to feel resolute in that plan and understand what it looks like. And you can't do it alone. You have to do it with your family. So whoever your, your, your partner, whoever's financially responsible, um, whoever you're financially responsible to, um, you know, to really sit down and say, okay, if I'm going to do this, what does this look like?

And we cut out expenses. We cut down on a lot of things to make sure that, you know, we had longer runway. Um, so that I had time to be successful because I think sometimes people put too much pressure to be successful right off the bat. And it takes time to gain traction. It takes time to start to develop your client base.

It takes time [00:26:00] to groom that network and make sure that you're talking to the right people. And so giving yourself that time, whether that means doing it. Alongside the nine to five for a few, a few months, but really giving yourself that eject button of, okay, once I hit this point, I'm going,

Angela Gennari: yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, and I think people quit way too soon. You know, they're like, okay, I'm freaking out. This is painful. I've got to hurry up and bail. Right. And so they bail out too soon. And, you know, it takes it, it's hard. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. You know, starting a business is hard. You're going to have those moments where you're like, ah, you know, I don't know if I can continue doing this, but it's the grit to get through those tough times that, you know, it's character building.

I always say when somebody is going through something hard, it's on where it's character building. You get through it. Yeah, it's

Katrina Purcell: character building. It's true. I think, you know, that's why I like to put it in numbers terms too, because it shouldn't be a feeling. It shouldn't be a, I feel like I'm done. It should really be like the [00:27:00] numbers, everything is pointing to I'm done and that I can successfully pull this off.

Um, because if you go by how you feel in the moment, you might feel differently. Yeah. And a week, right? A project could shift, something could happen, your boss could quit. Like, you know, you don't know, right? And so that's why I like to make it a little bit more, you know, uh, numbers based and a little bit firmer in terms of like why and what is the, what is the actual KPI you're looking for?

Angela Gennari: Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great point. Great way to put it, actually, because you're right. I mean, emotionally, you could be, you know, going through, you know, roller coaster of like, yes, this is working. No, this is terrible. This is the best decision ever. This is horrible.

Katrina Purcell: And to be fair, you do that on your own business too.

It's, yeah, there are some days where you're like, what have I done? Yeah. Um, and then there are other days where you're like, this is fantastic. And you wish you could bottle that feeling for the days when you feel like everything is falling down around you.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Well, and as many hard days as I have, you know, and, and owning a business, as you know, [00:28:00] there's a lot of hard days.

There's a lot of days where you're like, what was I thinking when I did this? But, you know, at the end of it, everybody was like, so would you do it again? I'm like, absolutely. Absolutely. Best thing I've ever done. Hard. It's very hard, but it's definitely the best thing I've ever done. So what advice would you give to your 18 year old self?

Katrina Purcell: Oh, so I would tell my 18 year old self not to care what everyone thinks.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. I think that's um,

Katrina Purcell: You know, I spent a lot of time in my twenties building a life that based off societal expectations was supposed to make me really happy and didn't.

Both: Um, and then I

Katrina Purcell: spent my early thirties unwinding that, and then I spent my thirties figuring out what I actually wanted.

And then I launched my business in my early forties and you know, I, I. I do think you have to honor the journey you're on because it brought you to where you are.

Both: Um,

Katrina Purcell: but I wish I had known earlier more about what made me truly happy versus what made everyone [00:29:00] else truly happy. Um, and that I felt stronger in my own conviction that what was going to make me happy was what I was going to do.

Um, and I do think Gen Z is really rocking that. Um, but you know, I think that's, that's definitely something I wish. That I had felt better about. But I, and I think whenever I have someone in my life turn 30, I'm always like, it's going to get so good now. Like it's just going to get so good. You're, I promise you, you know, people freak out about it.

I'm like, no, it's going to be amazing. Yeah. You're going to love it. Um, And it's like, why couldn't I just have gotten rid of all those things in my 20s?

Angela Gennari: I know, I know. Well, uh, like I tell my son, don't even think about getting married until you're 30. Don't even think about it.

Katrina Purcell: I know. I, I, you know, I did it the first time in my 20s, late 20s, uh, later than a lot of my friends.

And then I had to be like, oh, sorry. This was really like, 27 year old me did not know what she really wanted from life, and here we are. Um Yeah, I did much better the second time. [00:30:00] Yeah,

Angela Gennari: exactly. Absolutely. Um, yeah, yeah, I agree with you. Yeah, I didn't know anything in my twenties. And if I could dial back some of those choices that, you know, I made just out of pleasing other people or doing what I thought should be done.

Yeah, I'm going to save myself a whole lot of grief, but.

Katrina Purcell: But we learned, right? And I think that's, that's, it was character building for sure.

Angela Gennari: Uh huh. That's okay. That's okay. So as women, we give away our power a lot. So can you tell me about a time that you've given away your power, whether that's, you know, giving somebody else credit for your work or allowing someone to treat you poorly when you know, you know, you deserve better.

Can you tell me about a time that you gave your power away and then another time that you stepped into your power?

Katrina Purcell: Yes. And I will give you the example. In relation to the same person. So, so someone took my power, um, it was a boss. Um, and I guess I, I gave it away in a sense, um, [00:31:00] because I was. Feeling like I was advancing a greater good.

Mm. And so, you know, I felt like I was standing up for the team. Um, and in standing up for the team, I was really allowing myself to be walked all over. Oh, okay. And I didn't truly recognize it until a moment where this person was really sort of disparaging, let's say. Mm-Hmm. . We'll, we'll put it that way. Um, and I was really taken aback by it, and I realized in that moment that.

Even though I thought this person respected me and that was my thing. I don't have to be liked. I have to be respected in that moment. I realized there was no respect,

Angela Gennari: right?

Katrina Purcell: Um, and in that second, I actually realized it was on both sides. Like I had lost my respect as well for their authority and just for their overall, you know, thought thought process.

And in that moment is when I took that power back and, and really kind of flipped the dynamic. On its head and decided, well, I'm actually going to tell you that [00:32:00] I'm quitting. Wow. I'm launching my own business and that's what this is going to look like. And, you know, this person said, well, you can't do that.

And I said, well, I can, and this is going to be my last day. And, you know, if you would want to continue further services, like this is what it would look like. And I realized. I just needed to approach more things with this attitude of like, if it doesn't go well, who cares?

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Because in

Katrina Purcell: that moment, you're powerful because you don't care about the outcome.

The outcome can go either way.

Angela Gennari: Right.

Katrina Purcell: And, you know, sometimes we get so caught up in things having to go exactly perfectly or exactly how we imagined them that, that we give away our power without realizing it because we, we really want one particular outcome.

Both: And when you

Katrina Purcell: don't care about the outcome and you just feel, you know, you just want that moment.

To go, and that moment I, he could have said, I don't want to work with you anymore, and I would have been like, okay, fine, I already told you that first.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Katrina Purcell: Okay, um, and in the end, they did hire me, and I did do work for them, you know, and, and I think, but I didn't [00:33:00] care one way or the other, right?

And I think that, to me, that was the sense of power, is that, you know, regardless of the outcome, I'm gonna turn out just fine. Absolutely. And I think we need to do a little more of that because as women we tend to want, we tend to be people pleasers. We tend to want people to be happy around us. We, you know, for me in particular, I think I always like things to be nice and copacetic and I don't want there to be any friction and no drama.

And sometimes you kind of have to go in and be like, no, that's how this is how it's going to be. It's my way or the highway. And you know, if the highway is the choice. Okay.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, yeah, I agree. I actually just had this conversation with somebody and I, I said, you know, sometimes you just got to be okay with not being liked and that's what we struggle with.

Sometimes is we want everybody to like us, like, just, just, you know, let's be likable. And as women, we, we tend to prioritize that over respect. And so I love that you said, I don't need to be like, you need to be respected. And that's really important.

Both: Yep.

Angela Gennari: So good for you. [00:34:00] So this has been a really fun conversation, but um, I have one more question for you.

So what do you wish more people knew?

Katrina Purcell: What do I wish

Angela Gennari: more people knew?

Katrina Purcell: I wish more people knew how fast life goes.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Katrina Purcell: And how sometimes the things they spend so much time worrying about just don't actually matter.

Both: Yeah.

Katrina Purcell: Um, I'm also terrible at that. So, uh, but I think it's, it's sort of, It's in a blink of an eye, right?

You're in your forties and you're like, wait, what's my impact and what am I doing? And how do I leave a legacy? And what does that look like? And I think having those conversations earlier and understanding that, you know, that's something that's important to you and making sure that you can make career moves or life moves around what's important to you, I think is, is really, um, is really powerful because you build a life.

that you're happy with and proud of.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. Well, thank you so [00:35:00] much, Katrina. This has been such a fun conversation. I've really enjoyed it.

Katrina Purcell: Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed it too.

Angela Gennari: So how can people find you?

Katrina Purcell: Yes, I am on the web at katrinapurcell. com, a beautiful website that my husband built for me.

Nice. Shout out to him. Um, and then I'm also pretty active on LinkedIn, where I do post a lot about just managing the chaos of startup life, and I have a podcast where we talk about that as well.

Angela Gennari: Awesome. Well, and you can also find Katrina Purcell on prettypowerfulpodcast. com. So we'll make sure to have all your links up there.

So um, thank you so much again. This has been a really, really fun conversation and I hope our listeners have learned a bunch from it. So thank you so much for joining us for another episode of the Pretty Powerful Podcast. We look forward to seeing you next time. Bye bye.

Intro: Thank you for joining our guests on the Pretty Powerful Podcast.

And we hope you've gained new insight and learned from exceptional women. Remember to subscribe or check out this and all episodes [00:36:00] on prettypowerfulpodcast. com. Visit us next time, and until then, step into your own power.