We were lucky to catch up with Katherine Danesi recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Katherine, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
As a business coach and strategist, I encourage my clients to uncover their “why.”
We discuss the importance of knowing your “why” and the positive impact it can have on your business growth, your overall life trajectory, and life satisfaction. It’s one of the key elements we use to help them move forward in their business and life.
If you’re a follower of writer and motivational speaker Simon Sinek, you may have read his famous quote:
“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”
And he’s shared:
““What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief?””
What’s key here is that your “why” is the hub that drives the “what” and “how” of what you do, not the result.
When it came to discovering my own “why,” I often like to say, “the cobbler’s children have no shoes.” Meaning it can be very difficult to do for ourselves what we do for others, especially when we’re service providers – coaches, consultants, designers, etc.
This was absolutely the case for me in this instance. I neglected sort of key area of my life that I actively worked on with my clients.
One day I woke up and realized that I’dnever put myself through the process that I take my clients through. I call this process, THE QUESTIONS, and one of them is what is your “why?”. And I realized there was no escaping it anymore. That I needed to sit down and do this. So, one day I did; I sincerely asked myself the question, what is my “why?”.
My immediate response? “I don’t have a ‘why’.” Clearly, I needed put on my coaching hat and move to the coaching side of my brain, which basically said, “hogwash.”
So, I asked again, I sat down with a pen and paper, as I suggested you do, and did some writing. And nothing was coming that really hit home.
Then I decided to take the suggested approach of the German poet Rilke, which is to live the question. So, I sat with it; I stayed with it. I let it be in my mind without forcing it and being okay with not having an answer.
Eventually one day out of nowhere, the answer came to me. And I knew that my “why” is to awaken people, especially female entrepreneurs, to what the possibilities are for them, in their business and their lives.
Now, given that I’m a business coach and consultant, of course, a part of my client work is to help clients develop a plan, to bring those possibilities into reality. But where the energy lies for me — my purpose — is in the first part, because if we never get to what the possibilities are, then we never get to create the plan with the potential to be life-changing.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m a former Fortune 500 executive turned business advisor to female founders who want to profitably launch and grow their businesses.
I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to business building.
For the last 11 years, I’ve refined my approach — one that aligns each client’s business with their unique goals, strengths, vision, and resources. And that looks different for each person.
Oftentimes, coaches will have you believe there’s only one way to grow a business. This can leave founders spinning in circles, trying to tackle all the “must-dos.” And meanwhile, part of them is sounding the alarm. They’re burning through time and money, but not moving toward their goals.
I work with each client’s uniqueness (and reimagine what’s possible).
I see the human behind the business to create their plan to move from being frazzled and stuck to taking purposeful action. I want to help them remember why they went out on their own (or want to) in the first place. In the process, they reconnect to the joy of being the CEO of their business and their life.
I’ve worked with small business owners across a variety of vertical markets, including public relations, marketing, fashion, luxury retail design, high-end fitness space, healing, wellness, and creativity, among others.
Helping women turn their visions into reality is my jam. I do this via Monthly Business Coaching. And I’m launching a new program designed to help established founders move from being Solopreneurs to the CEO of their businesses.
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?
The three qualities I believe have been the most impactful on my journey are:
1. Following my curiosity where it leads.
And my curiosity has not let me down. It led me to Goldsmiths College in London to study 20th-century literature. To Sicily for a month, in the high season, with no plan. And more. All of which led to experiences and personal interactions that shifted my perspective – in my life and my business.
2. Being willing to hang out in the unknown.
I love to write. But I am one of those writers who builds her house from the ground up, without a plan. This requires faith. This requires being comfortable hanging out in the unknown and working with what comes up, whether it’s writing a newsletter or a novel. As a founder being comfortable with uncertainty is key.
3. Being a lover of beauty.
I am a beauty seeker. Beauty in all its forms. A beautiful sentence. The azure blue of the sea. Birdsong. A leaf fallen on the path in Prospect Park. The “how-did-they-do-that” shot in a movie. Rainbows over bays. Paintings, anywhere. Laughter. Ruins. I want it all. I look for the beautiful in all I do.
The common theme is a willingness to try new things and be “comfortable with discomfort,” and to view failures as a constructive part of the process. Start by assessing where you’re at. And then start testing: move slightly outside of your comfort zone, make small bests in your business, learn from each endeavor.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
Having a series of advisors, coaches, and healers over the past 8 years has helped me lean into being who I truly am and be more impactful in my work with clients.
Business strategies and tactics, offering creation, business development/marketing, and mindset – getting an outside perspective is critical.
Even coaches need coaches!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.katherinedanesi.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katherinedanesi/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherinedanesi/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAIPaE9ThSGu44LwJWLHuzw
Image Credits
Katie Levine Magda Ehlers
