Today’s episode is about value investing and crypto, intentionally creating your career, taking risks, and core values from an incredible and hugely present involved dad of 3, Benji Sucher.

Benji is someone as successful as he is modest, a tall order! I first met Benji at a PwC alumni event over a decade ago. We didn’t work there at the same time as I'm of an earlier vintage. Nonetheless we are both CPA CAs, we had mutual friends, and we connected right away. You will quickly see Benji’s energy and positive attitude is infectious! It stands out. 

At the time, Benji introduced me to one of my biggest clients of all time, Constellation Software, where he worked at the time. Constellation was recently called the greatest Canadian stock of all time, if you haven’t heard of it - I suggest you look it up. I have placed about 50 people there over the last decade thanks to Benji introducing me! I’m forever grateful. I have met and placed so many incredible people there, worked with their top leaders, which has also lead to many other beautiful relationships and other amazing clients.

Benji is whip smart, and deservingly as well-liked as he is successful. A very high bar!He is a peak performer and as importantly, you won’t find anyone say anything bad about him.This I can promise you. One thing I noticed about Benji from the first time we met is his incredible energy, and his hugely positive attitude. It truly stands out, and is very refreshing! Benji has impressively and intentionally carved out his highly accomplished career, taken risks with rewards, and continually created time for mentoring and helping others along the way. To know Benji is to love him. Today I get to share a bit of Benji’s incredible energy and a few of his many passions with you!

In today’s episode, you will hear about:

• How to decode or simplify crypto currency
• What drew Benji to the Crypto space and what he loves about it
• Benji’s view of the current market and the future for crypto
• How to stay on top of the quickly changing Crypto space
• Benji’s perspective about tech in the current climate
• Advice on how to weigh big career decisions and take risks
• Ideas for networking and making connections

Resources

• Meta Investments Newsletter
• Benji Sucher on Linked In

Today’s episode is about one of the best ways to differentiate yourself as a candidate in an interview process. How to ask not good, not great.... But, exceptional interview questions!

The best way to calm any natural nerves is to prepare and practice. Preparation and practice breeds confidence. Interviewing is a skill that gets sharper with practice. Simulated and real. 

You will also want to review the interviewer’s profile, review the company’s website, and any recent press, public financial statements, industry and relevant macroeconomic trends. Review the job description, review your resume, brush up on technical, and practice with behavioral questions. Prepare tangible examples of your experience in line with the job description. For any perceived gaps, think of examples where you’ve hit the ground running and ramped up quickly when you haven’t done something before.

Where I surprise people in my suggested interview prep, is when I give tangible tips on how to BEST prepare your interview questions.At some point in almost any interview, you will be asked if you have any questions. Failing running out of time, you will always get to “do you have any questions?”

Prepare good questions for every player in the process. Even if this maxes out at 10 or more people! Everyone wants to feel special. You want to leave the interviewer wanting to hire you. You can then walk away and decide your interest level. An interview is not you being wooed or deciding if you want a job. The goal of an interview if you winning over the interview so that they want to hire you! And unique well thought out questions are a great way to do this, as they show your intellect,passion, enthusiasm and again, they make the interviewer feel special.

What to avoid in your questions:

• Don’t ask any questions that could be asked for another interview for another company or role. 
• Don’t ask different interviewers in the process the same questions. They will talk. I’ve seen candidates get to a final round with C-suite, and not move ahead, because they didn’t have questions prepared. Asking no questions is a deal breaker.And asking lay up questions such as “how can I succeed in this role?” Is a missed opportunity to show your greatness.
• If you freeze, at a minimum you can say, while I already asked so and so this, I would love to hear your unique take on X.
• Never say that you already asked all of your questions when you are in front of anyone who has made time to meet you, whether it’s HR, C-suite, or anyone in between

Three pillars to hit in your questions:

• Show a genuine interest in the industry. To go a bit deeper, ask a whip smart macro question about the industry that shows you are well read, smart, and passionate about the space. Maybe incorporate a recent news article, head-winds coming,
• Show a genuine interest in the company. Acknowledge recent press, wins, gains - find something specific that they are doing different than their competitors, go deep in the MD&A, really show your depth here. Maybe acknowledge the business model.
• Show a genuine interest in the specific role. Don’t ask how the role can benefit you, ask how you can benefit the role. This will then show them how you are best for the role. 

While you may be a seasoned pro, please don’t wing your questions. Spend at least 45 minutes to an hour preparing well thought out strategic questions. The more senior the interviewer, the more they are hoping you value their time and perspective and show it by asking well prepared and thoughtful questions. Now DM me @KatherineConnected with some of your powerful questions!

"I like to focus on the word 'and' instead of 'or' and to come back to debunking society's belief that everything comes at the sacrifice of something else, with the qualification that the 'and' is going to encompass what you want. I don't believe that as humans, parents, moms, we actually want everything ... like doing all the cooking."

In this episode, I am a guest on Andryanna Gonko’s podcast, The Juggle Is Real. 

We discuss what  "having it all" means to us and how we can achieve it on our own terms. I share how I have learned to intentionally design my day and put myself at the top of my to do list so that I can be my best in my roles as an entrepreneur, mother, and wife. I encourage everyone to ask themselves, as they look at their day, how they can be supported. Often we are looking for ways our kids or other people in our lives need to be supported, but we leave ourselves out of that list.

We discuss the mindset shifts I have made in order to really go after what I want in life and make it happen. In my current season of life, I have had to really decide what my priorities are and decide how to spend my time based on those priorities. As a recovering people pleaser, I used to fall into the trap of saying, “yes,” to everything at the expense of something else, often self care or precious time with my kids. I have had to learn to say, “no” to preserve what is most important to me in this season.

Connect with Andryanna:

• Reserve your seat for Andryanna's virtual workshop You, First: Making the Shift to Better Balance
• On Instagram
• Join the Community Mailing List and get your FREE ’30 days for me’ Guide to recharge, reset, and re-establish yourself now!
• Andryanna.com
• By email: [email protected]
• Listen to The Juggle is Real Podcast

In this episode, we talk about the F-word…Failure. As hockey Hall of Famer, Wayne Gretzky famously said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Failure is such an important step in reaching any goal you have. Every time you fail, you have an opportunity to learn and grow that you wouldn’t have if you had never tried. I try to embrace this idea in both my personal and professional life.

Recently, I experienced failure in recording one of the first episodes of this podcast. I was nervous because audio recording is new to me and I wanted to make sure to implement all of the incredible coaching I’ve received from my business coach and my speaking coach. I also believe in just getting started, taking inspired action, rather than waiting for everything to be perfect. I learned so much through this process and I feel so good about the final product now! 

What have you failed at recently?

In this episode, you will hear about:

• What several of my role models have said about failure in their lives
• The value of failure in growth of any kind
• Creating goals to grow, not to get
• A story of one of my recent failures and what I learned from it

In this episode, I interview presentation and speaking coach, Wendy Chong. I met Wendy in a mastermind that we are both a part of. From the minute she introduced herself, she made such a strong impression. I knew right away I wanted to work with her.

Wendy helps her clients project confidence and competence when they address people in person, whether it be a large formal environment or a smaller, more casual environment. She emphasizes how important it is to maximize the face to face opportunities you have with people because of our increasingly short attention spans as a society.  Her clients come from a variety of industries and age groups, but they all share an openness to learning no matter how experienced they are. 

We discuss what my own experience was like working with Wendy and I ask her to share some tips for anyone preparing for public speaking. She shares how important it is to prepare your content and your presentations as two parallel tracks, simultaneously. You do not have to have your content completely prepared before working on your delivery. Wendy shares ways you can continue to work on your delivery outside of your content by practicing in your everyday interactions with people. We also discuss the pitfalls of under and over preparing.

I ask Wendy if she recommends tricks like the popular “picture your audience naked” idea to calm your nerves before a presentation. While neither of us like that tip, she shares several other ideas including finding music that “pumps you up” or spending a few minutes in a power pose. The power pose is a strategy I love and use regularly now.

Wendy has provided me with so many tools to help me with my speech habits. She shares some of her favorite tools to share with clients to help them feel and project confidence throughout their presentation.

In this episode, you will hear about:

• What a presentation and speaking coach does
• Types of clients that might benefit from working with a presentation and speaking coach
• A little about my own experience working with Wendy
• Tips for preparing for public speaking of any kind
• Tricks for calming your nerves before a speech or presentation
• Strategies for what to do when you're asked a question you don’t know the answer to
• Tools that Wendy uses with her clients most frequently

Resources & Links mentioned in the Episode

Wendy Chong's Website - Elevate Your Presence 

In this episode, I discuss how to attract your next move. Whether you are looking for a corporate role, a career change, a comeback, starting something entrepreneurial, a board position, or a volunteer role, these tips will help you get there!

Most people start looking for their next role by exploring the external – sending emails, networking calls, and coffee dates, but it should start with you. To be prepared when the right roles come up, start by taking these steps:

1. Update your online presence on LinkedIn and Social Media. I share my recommendations for how to take the best and most appropriate headshot for the role you are trying to attract. You will also hear tips for your LinkedIn settings, what to include, and what not to include on your profile.
2. Define your story or elevator pitch. You are either selling yourself, a service or a product and you should be able to explain who you are, what you’re selling, and what you’re looking for in a clear, confident, and concise way. Listen to hear my tips for creating a unique and captivating elevator pitch
3. Update your resume or pitch deck. How long should your resume be? What is best to include and not include? I answer these questions and more about optimizing your resume.

You never know when opportunities will arise and you want to be ready when they do. Once you have your ducks in a row, then start networking and sharing your story whenever you can!

In this episode, you will hear about:

• How to prepare yourself so you are ready for a new role when it comes to you
• Your online presence and how to optimize it for what you are looking for
• Tips for defining your story in a clear, concise elevator speech
• Guidelines for updating your resume
• Ideas for networking that are unique and respect the time of busy professionals

In this episode, I interview Peak Performance Coach and my personal coach, Hina Khan. We discuss her tips for success, powerful habits, and how to be the most important person in your life. Our work together has helped me leave “hard, busy, and hustle” behind and design a life and business that I love every day.

Hina shares the impact a strong morning routine has had on her success and allows her to respond, not react. We discuss how to build confidence with making decisions and how to “collapse time,”  as Hina says by making them quickly. Next, we touch on self Image, mental chatter, and inner conversations. Hina shares why you cannot outperform your self image because it is a match to your current results. You can control things like your word choice, your mindset, and your inner environment to create that change from within. Understanding this helps to focus on what you can change and stop attributing your success (and your failures) to outside factors.

In this episode, you will hear about:

• The power of a strong morning routine
• Strategies for making big and small decisions quickly
• How self image is linked to your current results
• Habits of top performers
• Tips for building your confidence in decision making
• Setting goals that really stretch you

Resources & Links mentioned in the Episode:

Possibilities Podcast with Hina Khan

Welcome to Unicorn! This episode is a chance for you to get to know me, why I started this podcast, and why I hope you’ll listen. I am a career professional, entrepreneur, mom of two and personal growth addict. As a business mindset and leadership coach, I love helping people attract what they want and stop chasing it.

I will interview the leaders, unicorns, as I call them, read the books, listen to the podcasts, and continue to coach and be coached so I can share the tips with you here each week.

Think of me as your happiness coach. I am your cheerleader and I can’t wait to help you unleash your potential!