#491 - Katrena Friel - Personal Brand Development

Katrena is an expert in personal brand development and the founder of the Business Mentor Institute. A leader in business mentoring with over 25 years’ experience, Katrena transforms professionals into industry leaders and is a pioneer in personal brand development and business mentoring. As the creator of the acclaimed Becoming the Expert methodology, Katrena has guided thousands of aspiring consultants, coaches, and executives to build thriving, purpose-driven businesses.

Summary of the PodcastKey Takeaways

• Katrena offers a unique 12-month coaching program with unlimited access, focusing on building personal brand businesses
• Her approach includes creating multiple income streams (book, speaking, training, coaching, facilitation, consulting) for clients
• Katrena emphasizes the importance of addressing psychological barriers and balancing masculine/feminine energies in entrepreneurship
• The podcast hosts reflect on the value of personal branding through podcasting vs. book writing

Katrena's Coaching Approach

• 12-month program with unlimited access for clients
• Focuses on deep, meaningful relationships rather than arm's-length coaching
• Maximum of 20 clients per year, with groups of 5 active at a time
• First 90 days involve heavy lifting: building assets (book, website, brand, signature program, social media)
• Combines business strategy with therapeutic coaching to address psychological barriers

Personal Brand Business Development

• Creates 7 streams of income for clients: book, speaking, training, coaching, mentoring, facilitation, consulting
• Writes the client's book in 7-30 days, based on a two-day kickoff session
• Builds website, brand, and signature program (valued at $5k-$20k)
• Targets both career transitioners (often 50+ years old) and young entrepreneurs

Therapeutic Coaching Elements

• Addresses introvert vs. extrovert challenges
• Balances masculine and feminine energies
• Tackles limiting beliefs from childhood experiences
• Uses a light trance state to access the unconscious mind for rapid change

Public Speaking and TED Talks

• Katrena prefers a free-flowing, channeled speaking style
• Found TED Talk format too restrictive and memorization-heavy
• Trains clients to speak confidently without scripts or extensive memorization

Podcast vs. Book for Personal Branding

• Hosts reflect on podcasting as a potentially quicker route to personal branding
• Podcasts offer exposure to new audiences and showcase a personality more easily
• Books are still valuable as "expensive business cards" and confidence-builders

The Next 100 Days Podcast Co-Hosts

Graham Arrowsmith

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He's the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin Appleby

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He's the COO of