Meet Catherine Roten

We recently connected with Catherine Roten and have shared our conversation below.

Catherine, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?

For most of my life, I didn’t take risks. Growing up, I lived well off, never struggling for money or things. Traveling the country with my family, competing in gymnastics, & living what overall seemed to be a good life. Even in gymnastics, I was not the risk taker. I played it safe, scared to do any big skills, making it to level 8 and not past as I was too afraid I might hurt myself if I took the risk & learned the skills.

Then, in the last 2 years, something started to change. My whole life I had played it safe, done everything I was supposed to do & expected to do. I had worked my way up in the hotel industry & thought I was supposed to continue this path. But in October of 2022, I didn’t know what happened but my love, passion, excitement, whatever you want to call this, felt wrong. I didn’t know what to do and was so scared because for once in my life, I didn’t know what was next for me.

It took until August 2023 for me to take a chance and attend a women’s development conference on my own free will. This event opened my eyes to the possibilities out there aside from the hotel industry.

My first big risk was investing $2,000 after this event in a program to help me work through my blocks & may be start a business, maybe change my career. I had never invested anything close to this prior & to be honest, do not know what came over me except deep down in my gut, it kept telling me I had to do this.

Within 3 months, I hired on a life coach, a business coach, started my own podcast, and had left the hotel industry for a new industry.

It took making a financial risk to see the ripple effect of what taking risks means. For myself & many others I know, when you make a financial risk, you show up in a different way. So how did this translate into taking a career risk? Putting myself & my story out in the world risking what will people say?

It wasn’t instant but took a lot of time working on myself, my limiting beliefs, the negative thoughts I tell myself, to realize it is ok to be me. When I went to take my first risk, investing $2,000 in a program & then when I left the hotel industry, my first thought was, I am letting my boss down, letting my team down, letting my parents down by leaving all of this.

But guess what? I didn’t. Every risk I have taken, my family & friends might have questioned a little why I am doing this but they have loved me through it all. No matter how big or little the risk, we usually think about everyone else around us. Sometimes, we just need to turn to ourselves and take the risk if it is right for us.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am the founder of Impactful Event Co, as well as the host of the Imperfectly Impactful podcast.

After almost a decade in the hotel industry, and over 15 years in planning & hosting events, I entered the entrepreneurship world. I attended multiple in person events, connecting with other entrepreneurs on a deeper level, including the event hosts.

Planning & hosting an event takes energy, time, & money. Many entrepreneurs have the desire to host an event, and may have been hosting for a while, but it is taking so much of their time & energy away from their business, their community, their family, & themselves with no guarantee of making money. The question I started asking myself is, “What if it didn’t have to take them completely out of those areas of their life or business? What if they didn’t have to spend thousands on a planner if they are not able to yet? What if they could profit from their event day one?”.

My answers to these questions continued to come back to simplicity, energetic exchange, and knowledge. This is where my business, Impactful Event Co, comes in. I am on a mission to teach entrepreneurs how events do not have to be as complicated or expensive as we think, especially when we first start. We don’t have to do all the planning alone when we are surrounded by a support system unlike any other. And probably most importantly, helping entrepreneurs understand planning & hosting an event is an energy exchange just like working with a client in their business.

After sitting on an idea for months, I have created a space where entrepreneurs can come to learn how to host an event, provide them resources to help keep them in their business & zone of genius while planning an energetically aligned event, as well as not have to do this all alone!

Impactful Events Community is launching in January 2025. It is a membership community where all I mentioned above & more will be included. I am thrilled to finally be able to fill a gap that has been there for too long!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

In the last 12 months, I have been able to hone in on my skills & expertise. The three most important would be action taker, task master, & high energy motivator! None of these I would have said one year ago. I have done a lot of work on myself & listened to those around me as well. If you are currently in your journey & don’t know or question what your own qualities, skills, or expertise is, keep going.

1. Turn inwards, ask your self questions, get curious, take time & space for yourself.
2. Look to your community & support system. Ask them what they come to you for, what do they trust you with, and why!
3. Give it time. You may not know this instant and/or they will change over time as well.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

With everything I have shared, there has been a lot of moments of overwhelm, self-doubt, & fear. I questioned whether I could do this or not, what if I fail, what if I actually succeed, how do I manage all that is going on.

In the last 12 months, I have learned a lot about the importance of prioritizing self-care.
Self-care looks different for everyone. As a perfectionist & people pleaser, I always did everything for everyone else or with them in mind. I was all in or out when it came to taking care of myself. There was no middle.

But, now, I have learned that prioritizing myself can be 5-15 mins in the morning to journal, meditate, breathe, go for a walk, etc. It’s taking one entire day off per week with no work or social media (when not in launch season). It’s stepping away from my work mid-day, taking 5 minutes to ground & re-center.

Instead of having a checklist I have to complete every day, I have a menu of self-care items I can choose from and depending on what I feel could benefit me that day or moment, I do.

Recently, this has looked like going on 30 minute walks with my dogs every morning, journaling before bed at night, and fitting in 10 minutes of strength some time during the day.

So, figure out what works best for you. Is it 5 minutes in the morning? Is it 30 minutes in the evening? Is it journaling, or going outside? List out 5-10 things you would love to do to take care of your self. Have the list nearby and start setting aside 5 minutes to start doing something for yourself!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Last two photos of meal & living room event-> Social Rebel, Cat & Shelby

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