Katrina Barry

Full transcript: Katrina Barry on London Real

1:16 This is London Real, I am Brian Rose. My guest today, Katrina Barry, recent graduate of Business Accelerator. Welcome. Thank you Brian, thank you for inviting me, thank you. No, my pleasure. Pleased to be here. My pleasure. Tell us about you. Where are you from? What do you do? I’m a coach and a business consultant. I live in Germany, but I’m from here, I’m from London, or North London, but I left here when I was 16.

1:42 So I’ve been gone a long time, and I’ve been living in Germany for the last 30 years. And tell me more about your business. Yeah, I do lots of different things. I have a language school, I teach people English in Germany, I lecture at university, teaching English, and I also do coaching and consultancy work. So I do lots of different things.

2:07 And what was going on inside your own head when you started thinking about taking, you know, a Business Accelerator type course? I was good actually, I was good. But I was doing lots of, as I said, lots of different things, and I wasn’t focusing on doing what I really am passionate about doing. I know now that. And you just popped up, without a plan. I didn’t have a plan to do this.

2:37 You just popped up and I found out about you through my son. He’s a great fan, and watched some videos of yours and saw how you connect to people, especially people like Rupert Sheldrake, who I’m a great, great fan of. And I remember seeing you in a park, I think, somewhere you were following him or trying to get him, to interview him or something. And it just fascinated me, your energy and the way you connect to people.

3:06 So I thought, hmm, and then the ad came up and I just saw this Business Accelerator, and I thought yeah, for some reason I had a feeling that that was right for me. Okay, what did your friends and family think of you doing this? Well, Baron said, my son said, “Awesome, awesome!” Because he’s such a fan. Yeah, everybody said good, go for it, they’re used to me doing things.

3:33 So nobody was really surprised. Nobody actually thought, or I didn’t know what it was going to entail when I started, and so they didn’t either. So everybody was really positive and supportive, that was good. Okay, let’s talk about the start. So you pulled the trigger, as they say, and you jump in and you get hit with Business Accelerator in all its glory, so you’ve got now 150 new best friends from around the world asking you to upload video of yourself, which is always challenging for people.

4:03 You have me on live calls and there’s things to do, accountability, docs. What’s that first two weeks like? That’s intense. I couldn’t believe that I was going to get myself in front of a camera. I mean, that’s just my thing, talking. So that was really, really challenging, but then I just, I kept hearing, yeah, once you’ve done it it’ll get better, it’ll get better. So, and I just, you said trust the process.

4:28 Or I think a lot of people said, just trust the process, and I did. I just said okay, I’m gonna trust it and do it. So I just went with it, and I mean, I’m used to, I’ve been in business a long time, I’m used to goals, I’m used to accountability. I’m used to going green when I have to go green, so that wasn’t the challenging bit for me. Which maybe would have been for some people.

4:53 And what was a big win for you on the course? When you look back you’re like, I’m really glad I did that, or I’m proud of doing that? I think it’s gonna come. I mean, I’m proud of doing all the tech. I mean, I thought it was gonna be a lot of tech, check the boxes, do the technology, get things done. I didn’t realise that it was gonna be connecting me with my passion. I didn’t realise that was gonna happen.

5:23 I thought it was just gonna be all, you know, here’s the blueprint, do the thing. I didn’t realise that something was gonna come up that would connect me to… and that came from this micro-niche, find your niche, find your thousand true followers. I didn’t know that was gonna happen. So that was a big thing for me. Can you speak about that a bit more?

5:43 Yeah, well because I was forced to do it, and I’d always been doing all these different things, and I was forced to get to the point, and it came out that I want to empower women. That I want to work with women, and I’ve never thought that before. I’d always thought okay, I coach, I can coach anybody, you know, I can… well, but then it came out: women, they’re my target group.

6:13 And then experiences in my life came up through doing all these exercises, that I realised that, you know, maybe I could have done with some empowerment along the way, and I mean, it was a little bit different when I was younger. And I have two daughters, I have two daughters-in-law, and two granddaughters, and I want things to be different for them, and I want to be part of making that change. And since I’ve started going into this niche, all things of information is popping up, and I’m hearing stories from other women, and I think it’s something that’s just right, really right for me, and I hadn’t realised it before.

6:57 That’s kind of a big breakthrough, Katrina. It is, it is, Brian, and I can, I can feel it. I can really feel it, and the way you say changing the world and doing things, you know, I really feel it. And I feel that it’s something that I really wanna do, and I wanna, even if it’s just a little difference, I want to make that difference.

7:21 Because I mean, my youngest daughter’s only eight, and I teach her that she can do anything she wants, she can be what she wants to be, and I want to do my bit to enable her to do that. And I want to support other women to do what they want to do, and I mean, it’s a huge field. You can talk about equal pay, you can talk about this, that or the other. But I think we women, we have to support each other, and I think there’s not so much of that going on, and so it was amazing to find that in this course.

7:54 I can see by the smile on your face. And again, just a little bit is a great way to start, and every little bit, that it counts. You know, change one life, change your family’s life, change some five random women you’ve never met before. I mean, it can have a huge knock-on effect on you too. Yeah, yeah. Talk to me about your classmates. What were they like, what’s this experience like? You’re here in London now meeting a lot of them for the first time. Explain that. How do you explain that to people in the outside world?

8:29 It’s very, it’s special. I mean, when you… it’s unbelievable that you can get such a relationship with someone online. I mean, even with you on a Sunday night, you looking at us, I mean it’s already, you can feel the energy, and you could feel that with your classmates. You could feel the energy connecting to people, even if you… it’s just virtual!

8:48 No, if somebody told me about that before, I wouldn’t really have believed it could make that much of a difference, and in our class, I mean in our group, there are connections. I mean, they’re gonna go, they’re gonna carry on. Everybody’s so supportive of each other, and how can we help, how can we support, you know, JVs, you’ve got… it’s incredible.

9:12 I think everybody’s been through the process, we’ve all been vulnerable, we’ve all come through it, you know, yeah, come to the end together and looking forward to the year ahead, and there’s plans for how it’s gonna go on. And then meeting people here, walking down the street and just seeing someone you just know virtually, then all the sudden they’re in front of you. It’s special. Yeah, and what are your plans for the next 12 months? What do you want to do with this?

9:38 I’m looking forward to having the time to really just carry on and develop it and research and find out where, you know, what can I do? And carry on just building my coaching and consultancy business, and I’d like to also bring women together. Because I think all’s virtual, all’s good, and webinars and coaching and everything. But people also love to come together, and you can see that also here at the graduation.

10:07 They love to meet together, so I think that’s always another step. I’d love to have some kind of event with women and bringing people together, that kind of thing. That would be a big goal of mine for the autumn. ‘Cause I’m used to also organising events of different kinds, so that would be something that would be, is a goal. And what about you, how have you changed? If we walked out on the street of London and we bumped into Katrina who didn’t take this course, what’s she like?

10:35 Well, I’ve caught up with social media. I can just get my phone out now, and I mean, there’s not too good. I’ll probably have to take your Broadcast Yourself calls or something, or not Broadcast, Speak to Inspire. But I’m more comfortable, I can do it now. I couldn’t have done that a year ago, or a few months ago. And I enjoy doing it, and I think you don’t have to be perfect, you can just get out there and do it, tell your message and connect with people. So it’s given me more confidence to do that, definitely. And I enjoy it!

11:10 It’s addictive a little bit. Is it? And it’s an amazing way to communicate. I mean, like you right now have just showed everyone watching that you are super passionate about this thing, and it’s like lit a spark in you, and when you pull that phone out and capture that piece of video, it’s just like you transfer that energy and magnify it to all these women or men or whoever across the world. So, you know, by you getting uncomfortable you’re actually helping all these other people, and it looks like you’re embracing that.

11:40 What would you say to someone who’s watching us, is unsure? ‘Cause a lot of people have doubts whether to join something like this. You know, they don’t know if it’s gonna too big. I thought you probably worried about being, not enough time to do it, that kind of thing. Yeah, I mean, I remember you saying, and my husband keeps reminding me, “Yeah, Brian said you could do this in your lunch hour.” That’s one point. Well, I’m speechless, Brian, because it’s just, there’s been so much in this course.

12:11 You give so much value, and you do say even yourself, it’s too cheap, but it is actually, and when you add it all up, what you do in this, what you pack into these eight weeks, it’s incredible. So I mean, not even the technical side. I mean, I can do the website, I can do this, I can do that, and now I think, wow, you know, I’ve managed to accomplish all that in such a short period of time.

12:36 So it’s just, it’s just an incredible journey, so anybody who wants to have their own business just has to do it. Just has to do it, they really do, and I’m not being paid for this. No you’re not. Well, thank you for these kind words, I really appreciate, and we love teaching, and I remember seeing your face on many of those live calls, and I’m telling you, you’re a tough customer, Katrina!

13:01 You’re always looking, and I’m like, man, I gotta step up my game a little bit. You, why did you call me Katrina “No Love” Barry? Because I always give you love, but I… No love, no, I… Are you serious? ‘Cause you’re always looking at me like, I don’t know about that, Brian, I don’t know if he’s convincing me with what he’s saying. But it was good though, because I was like, alright, I gotta go bigger, I gotta really make a better example for Katrina, I gotta get her on board.

13:21 So yeah, I didn’t mean to call you No Love, but it’s a, you know, it’s a compliment. But yeah, I mean, you were there and I was just like, okay, well, how can I communicate this better and deliver this better to you? So I take away your nickname, you’re now Katrina “Love” Barry. And look, thank you for going all in, you know? A lot of people would see the material and say okay, I’m just gonna do it my way.

13:42 But I appreciate you trusting the process and going in, and I love seeing this new passion of yours. And you know, I always say to people, whenever it gets hard or you’re not sure the direction, just think about the people you’re gonna help and make it not about you. And if you can think about your daughters and granddaughters and all these other women out there, I mean, it just gives you so much energy. And so yeah, really looking forward to what you do for the next 12 months, and your classmates, welcome to the family, and really looking forward to just you meeting everybody here at the graduation this weekend. So thanks for being a part of this, and let’s do some big things. Yeah, thank you, it’s been an absolute pleasure. Thank you.