May 22, 2025 • 46 mins
In this episode of the Healthy, Wealthy, and Smart Podcast, host Dr. Karen Litzy welcomes visionary business strategist Kareen Walsh. With nearly two decades of experience, Kareen is an expert in optimizing performance across various industries, helping C-suite executives and entrepreneurs achieve significant returns on their investments. She shares her journey of becoming an entrepreneurial and business executive coach, emphasizing the importance of sustainable leadership and empowering others. Tune in as Kareen discusses her approach to overcoming fear, avoiding burnout, and turning visionary ideas into tangible results through her business, Revampologist, and the Hey Kareen app. Don't miss this insightful conversation, which offers valuable strategies for leaders seeking to elevate their business success.
Time Stamps:
[00:01:15] Transitioning from corporate to entrepreneurship.
[00:05:12] Evolved mindset for business success.
[00:09:05] Seven figures revenue strategy.
[00:11:26] Embracing change and control.
[00:15:32] Leadership qualities for team empowerment.
[00:19:33] Onboarding process effectiveness.
[00:25:26] Embracing vulnerability in leadership.
[00:28:20] Leveraging time for business success.
[00:32:55] Busyness versus business ownership.
[00:34:10] Role identification for entrepreneurs.
[00:40:04] Entrepreneurial challenges app.
[00:45:04] Have more fun and be present.
[00:45:35] Embracing daily gifts.
More About Kareen Walsh:
Kareen Zahr Walsh is a visionary business and people’s strategist, author, podcaster, investor, and a 7-figure business-building entrepreneur, making her the ultimate Business Healer. With nearly 2 decades of experience optimizing performance in the health & wellness, eCommerce,
technology, and finance industries, running top-performing teams in complex environments, Kareen has a proven track record of helping C-Suite executives turn their vision of impact into action, often resulting in 10Xing their investment. Kareen is on a mission to help you integrate your inner business with your vision for external impact so that you can get out of your own way and stand in alignment.
Resources from this Episode:
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Healthy, Wealthy, and Smart Podcast. I
am your host, Dr. Karen Litzy, owner of Karen Litzy Physical Therapy in
New York City. And today I'm really happy to
have on the program, Karine Walsh. She is a visionary business
strategist, author, podcaster, investor, and
seven to eight figure entrepreneurial guide. With
(00:24):
nearly two decades of experience, she excels in optimizing
performance across industries, helping C-suite executives, and
entrepreneurs turn their vision into tangible results, often
achieving 10 times a return on their investment. Through her
business Revampologist and the Hey Kareen app,
Kareen provides consulting and coaching to help
(00:46):
leaders overcome fear, avoid burnout, don't
we all need that, and achieve their ultimate vision. So
Kareen, welcome to the podcast. I'm happy to talk all
I'm so excited to be here, Karen. Thank you so much for having me.
Okay. So first things first, let's let the listeners get to
know you a little bit more. So how did you become
(01:10):
who you are today, this entrepreneurial and business executive
Yeah, so I mean, it's been a journey, right? Like we all have had,
I would say, I think I've always had a coach's stance
as a leader. I was always someone with the foresight of,
as I build within my role, make sure I also find someone and
build them up to replace me. Because I found that I
(01:33):
would not be able to grow in my career if I did not
make sure the trail I left behind was sustainable. And
so in the beginning of my career life, it was really all about
career climbing and I was a big hustler in the tech game
out in California. I went there straight from college. I had a
business degree and I really built up my chops on understanding
(01:56):
business systems, people management, leadership style,
and just put my all into it. So I went from like a business analyst
to a senior director of mergers and acquisition operations
within five years. Like I was a very aggressive career focused
person, but Because you're in the health game, you know what
it's like on your health when that happens. So I ended up
(02:18):
resigning at 29 because I didn't want to be
anybody that was like an executive above me. When I
looked at the company, I was like, yeah, no, that's not for me. Like
they are all in their own spot and I don't really want to climb there. And
growth was a really big value of mine. But then my health
was really crappy. So I
(02:39):
ended up resigning and I bought a house in Denver, Colorado. And
at that time was a much smaller pace than
it is today to slow down and really find
work that actually fit into the lifestyle of what
I needed to do to actually take care of my health. Because I
had proven that I had resourcefulness and skill
(03:00):
set for a career. And then it was like, OK, well, what about my
life? And that's when I was the first step into
self-employment, entrepreneurship, whatever you want to call it.
At that time, really, I was self-employed. I like to say pimping myself
out, you know, from project to project. But what that gave
me was some more time to focus on my health.
(03:22):
I was doing less work, getting paid the same, to
then also make sure that I could, like, get to the gym and
see my therapist and follow my nutrition patterns, et
cetera. And really, health and wellness was a big focus of mine in my
30s. and relationships, right? Like I
wanted to have a relationship life. So then
(03:42):
I went into finding someone that I then married, but
happened to be out here on the East Coast. So I relocated again. I've
hopped around this country over 13 times. I'm about to do another big
move soon. And it's like, it's crazy. I should have owned a moving company.
But I never went to that business. Out of all the businesses I've supported,
I've never supported a moving company. I should. But coming
(04:03):
out to the East Coast, I realized, you know what? I'm very competitive in
the consulting game here. So I joined startups
that were looking to scale and gave
me some bi-coastal living for a while again, but allowed
me to also just focus on relationship while earning a check.
So I'm one of those rare breeds that kind of went independent, went
(04:25):
back into corporate. And I did that for another three years
before I launched this company, Revampologist, that I have today. So
Revampologist has been around now 10, 11 years.
We're on 11 now, which is wild. And it originally started
as me, again, just being the consultant. But
what I found then was like, I really loved working with leaders. And
(04:46):
I became an executive leadership coach during that time. go
in and out of companies, not only transform team dynamics,
but deliver very complex projects because that's what my acumen
was at the time. And then I scaled
past myself by challenging myself to think a
little bit differently. And I think we were going to talk about the evolved mindset a
(05:08):
little bit, but really I found this philosophy of
minimal effort, maximum reward. And that is what I've
built my business on that I have today. So
that's really all about getting out of my own way, um, leading
what I know really well, staying in my lane of the things that light me
up. So I show up for it more and help others through
(05:29):
that, learn how to build seven, eight figure nine figure businesses
by really knowing who they are. Cause that's, I
think number one, if you're going to lead your life, you got to know who
you are inside of it and then find the ways to monetize that
through different avenues of revenue streams. So really just to integrate
in a way that is more like a pull versus
(05:52):
a push is what I've done. So there's
a lot there, but there's a lot of history, but I just, you
No, I love it. I love knowing how, like what
spurred someone to get them to where they are now. And
hopefully the listeners have a better picture of you. And
(06:13):
then as we go on and we talk about the evolved
mindset and some other things, they'll understand where you're coming from.
So you had mentioned that in your history. So
I think everyone likes the idea of
working a little bit less and getting paid
a little bit more. Like no one wants to work 100 hours a
(06:34):
week. We just don't, like we're not built for that, right? So
let's talk about, if you wouldn't mind, the evolved
mindset, that kind of 90-10 ratio,
Yeah, so it was an interesting lesson for me when I
was in the hustle of I was the only employee of my
company, right? Like I had employed myself to earn. Now, it's nice to
(06:57):
have the choices of how you show up in it all. But truly,
I felt so burdened by certain tasks in my business. And
I realized that if I'm not consistently evolving my own skill
set, to be an owner of this business right so evolve
mindset also you know falls under my owner
method basically it's like we really have to shift from operating in
(07:19):
all the areas of our business and really find
our zone of genius that the area that we really
shine in because we'll show up 10 times better with it if
we can just do that thing and delegate the rest or find partners
to do it or automation to do it. We have to think differently to
truly have sustainable revenue streams and
(07:41):
income creation from the businesses we're building. Otherwise, you
really are your own entrapment of
staying stale because you're just comfortable in
the pain of it all, right? So the 90-20, I'm sorry,
the 90-10 rule, the 90-10 evolved mindset is
really like 90% of you needs to be consistently evolving
(08:02):
and thinking about how best to steer the ship. right?
It's sitting in like more of an owner seat. And then 10% is
really all about the doing. It's about the strategy and the how, because
we're all masters of how we were born to do. That's
what we do. Right, right. But if we actually
start thinking more strategically of how we are placed in it,
(08:23):
who do we have to come to lead into that vision and
spend 90% of our time doing the things we're meant
to do as opposed to have to do. Right.
That then actually increases what comes back to
you in your business. And it's pretty wild when
you put it on. So I'll give you an example. And
(08:44):
when 2017, yeah, 2017, I
basically questioned myself. I was like, you know, I've
only really thought in six figures because I've only really thought about
income for myself. Most people sit in
measures when you go into business for yourself to make enough
to have the life you want, right? So that's income. But
(09:07):
then I was like, well, what if I wanted to make seven figures in
revenue into my business? And I started using different language, but
only use 10% of my time to do it. Now,
Yeah. Please. That's great. If
you think about businesses that are out there that have scaled to
(09:30):
multi-million dollars in earnings that can pay six
figures over time and time to multiple people, it's because they
scaled past themselves. They had to have
the vision for where they're trying to steer the ship. So act like an
owner. and then go and bring in the
people to make it happen so that they could sell more of that.
(09:52):
So for example, like in the medical field, you have partners
of a clinic that then have to hire a team to
then service how many clients per day in order to
have a margin per visit that then goes into
the practice, right? So that's just the medical field. But that's a multi-million dollar
practice that then those partners of that practice,
(10:14):
if they ever want to exit, can leave for more than
what their income was during the time that they worked there.
That's the investment model for them to walk away with something, right? But
it's scaled past themselves where they're not having to see the hundreds
of patients a day. I mean, it's still atrocious what, you
know, doctors and I know what you've got to go through. Like, it's still.
(10:35):
Yeah, that's a whole other can of worms. Yes.
And I definitely have strategies on how to solve for that. Like if anybody wants
to go through that model, because I've helped doctors scale past themselves
from their clinics to figure out the ways to distribute services
that allows them to earn seven figures in income and not have
to deal with all that stress. So there are abilities to
(10:58):
do that. You just have to be able to evolve past who you
are to be open to those possibilities. And I think that's
the part where we sometimes hold on to what we know, because
that's all we know, because we're afraid to ask, can it be different? Because
change is hard. People have that story in their mind. To
me, change is a freaking blessing. If we don't embrace
(11:20):
change, and if we don't evolve past what's not working, then
Right, right. But I think the hard part is,
and you you sort of hinted at it is letting
go of that control of like, I
can do this really well. How is someone else supposed to
(11:41):
do what I can do? So in the medical field and
fitness and things like that, right? We go to school. So I'm a physical
therapist, right? So I went to school to be
a physical therapist. I know how to do that and I do it very well. So
it's like, how do you give up that control when it's
Yeah. Well, it's all about how you present the services
(12:05):
and the level of service that you provide versus
what that client needs and who else on your team might be
a good fit for that. Right. So, of course, you can be
the be all end all. Of course you can. I built my reputation on
my brand too, right? Like on me, like literally
every single client I have is because someone said, you need Kareem,
(12:28):
like get Kareem in this. And then that kind of can definitely corner
me, which is also why I launched my whole AI app because
I was like, I can't be cornered. I'm not a good cornered person. Like don't,
no one puts baby in a corner. Like that's literally me. But
still, there's this ability though to expand past yourself
in how you train others, how you build them
(12:50):
up to your methods, how you make sure they're on brand
for you. It requires nurturing to
get that additional support in your practice if
you want to scale that way. The other thing I want to give people permission to
is just what you're doing could be just enough, but stop stressing
about being more if you don't really want to be more. Because I think
(13:11):
that's the other game that's happening out in the marketing world right
now, where this whole not enough story is going on. And I
always give my clients permission to stay exactly where they
are if they're feeling fulfilled by it. But if there's one
small thing to tweak, or one small thing that could be a little bit
better, then that's part of the evolved mindset. Let's focus on
(13:32):
that small thing then just to dial it up a little bit for you.
It doesn't have to be these long stretch things because when I set that goal
for me, myself of the seven figures, I literally was like, I want to make
seven figures in my business, 10% of my time. What
am I sitting on in my business that would allow me to do that in my acumen
that would allow me, it just made me think differently. I had
(13:52):
to get out of my own way to do it. And I'll tell you, Karen, I did it in
six months. I was sitting on it, but
I never thought about it before. And so having
the ability to pause and question and say, what if?
What if I only wanted to work 30 hours a week? What if I only wanted to work 20 hours
a week? I built that first seven figures in my business in
(14:14):
six months because I was selling other people's expertise
into my clients that I had already. And then it
wasn't me doing the implementation, but I had oversight. So when
you ask that question, well, what if it is you? Well, it is me.
It's my reputation, but I have oversight on how everyone else behaves and
I'm helping them get paid. in a way that
(14:36):
they would not otherwise. And my clients are happy because
I got them the services they want, but I'm still associated with
Right. But it's building that team up,
building the team around you, which is
not easy. And I'm sure that's a huge part
(14:57):
of what you do. is to build a team
and build leadership within your team. So how
do you how
do you work with executives? We talked about in
let's say medicine, but you've worked with executives across
(15:18):
a lot of various industries. So what
leadership qualities have you found to be
most critical for steering and
Yeah, so I would say the top skill sets to
look for in leaders who
(15:39):
are wanting to empower their team and steer the
ship, right? So they still want to know the direction
of where the deliverables are going or where the
end result is, but they want to make sure the team feels empowered to
do it. They have to be able to listen really well.
They have to be able to ask really good questions. And
(16:01):
they also have to be able to be comfortable with the testing
time frame. And what I mean by that is you won't know how
someone performs until you actually give them the opportunity to
perform. But if you want them to perform a certain way once
you give them the opportunity, knowing the feedback loops
on ensuring that it's going in the direction of your brand, of
(16:22):
your business, of your culture, you have to
have measure in place to say, hey, that
was really good. These three things, these two things we need to work
on. And you need to be consistent about the growth of
your team in order for them to grow into what
you need them to be for your business. And
(16:43):
I think we forget that, like, especially in specialties like yours,
where you have yourself the interpretation of
the skill required to have the impact you want with your patients, right?
Well, someone else has the different interpretation of
that. But if they're coming in under your brand, if they're coming in under
your business, then it's really important for you to
(17:06):
be able to see how they are doing with their clients,
ask for the feedback from their patients, and also
potentially be a patient yourself to them, if you can, to
see what it's like to be on the receiving end of their care. Because
if we don't know, then you can't steer. And
so that's what I look for. And that's what I've helped my leaders do. Because
(17:27):
sometimes there's a lot of, well, they can't and
they won't. And there's a lot of these walls coming up. And I
say, well, what did you try? Did you put yourself in
a situation where you allowed them to express what was possible? Did
you tell them what you would like it to be? Give them a
chance to show you with a measurable time. I'm not saying
don't let it go on forever. If it's not a fit, it's not a fit. But then what
(17:51):
did you actually do? Or are you just judging at a distance because they
didn't do it the way you would have done it? And I think that is
the biggest hangup of that has caused problems
in people management is that there's a lack of communication, a
lack of listening skills, and also a
lack of the models of trial and error to mold somebody
(18:12):
into what's needed. We don't train people anymore. We assume. We
assume someone knows what they're supposed to do on the job. Always,
always be training. Always be showing them what your brand is all about.
Always show them what the quality of service is. Just always,
because until you have proven with them that they measure
up, then they are not part of the team. You haven't like
(18:35):
really inducted them into what it's meant to be
there. So those are the things that I've commonly seen
across leaders as challenges, but the top
leaders, the ones that are excelling and can hire people and
the people stay with them and they grow with them is because they have
that willingness and they also start to build that trust
(18:55):
in the person by empowering them through these tests
And what is a reasonable timeframe
for this, right? Because of course now we're in a world
of everything has to be done right away, right? But is
it three months? Is it six months? Is it a year? Does
(19:17):
it vary based on the industry? Like
what have you seen among your clients that is in a reasonable
time to have someone come on board you're
working with them, you're training with them. What
I mean, I personally think you would know with the right onboarding
process, the right measure checkpoints and the right attention
(19:41):
in the first 90 days, you know whether or
not you want to continue to invest in that person to continue to
grow with you. And the reason why I give it 90 days is
that it takes 90 days to build any sort of new habit, right?
So there's the onboarding time period in
the beginning can go really fast or really long. I like it
(20:02):
to go fast. So I map out exactly what needs
to happen within the first 10 days of that person coming on board. And
it's laborious for me because I have to monitor it. Right.
So you can't just give them assignment and not monitor. You want
to give them assignment and monitor the results so that you understand what
is their true acumen. What happens in an interview process can
(20:23):
be totally different than what happens on the job. Sure. It's up
to you when they're in there to be monitoring, training,
acutely moving them in the right direction. If it's not to give them
opportunity to see what's true. And then by the 10th day, you're
challenging them with something. So you're giving them even something more
to be like, do they rise to the occasion? Mm hmm. Then that's
(20:44):
how you build the trust and you assess, can they do
it over and over and over again within that 90 days? Right.
So I would say 90 days is a good measure. It's what I
encourage because I have a recruiting side to my business as well. So
when I do bring in people for my clients, that's
the time frame I give them to as we kind of map out the
(21:07):
plan. And then both parties are assessing. Right, right.
All right. It's it's not just it's not it's never one way
anymore. It was job opportunities, the way you can earn these
days, way different than it used to be. Yeah. And commitment
is way different than it used to be. Yeah. Work ethic is way different. So
how you build your culture and how you lead your people critical
(21:32):
Just want to be seen and heard. and who
I mean, it's simple. Keep it simple. Yeah. But it's really about how consistent
And do you use any specific
tools to measure progress? Are there any standardized
tools that you use or is this, you know,
(21:58):
So my most favorite way to track performance,
just because it's simple, is that every job has a job description. You
take that job description, all the different line items of the things that
you expect this person to do, you stick it in an Excel spreadsheet or
a table in a document, and then you score
on performance after a period of time of how did that person actually
(22:20):
do. have themselves score and have you score on
how they're doing in that position. And I would give it, you could
do it at that three month mark, six month mark, but then it
gives you data. It gives you data on
how to enhance, how to celebrate them
and also see like, okay, we're
(22:41):
like 80% here. Like that's not bad for the
three month mark. So how are we gonna get to a hundred? You know,
and what do we need to do? And what do you need from me as your manager, as
your leader to help you get there? Right.
And have that dialogue. So that's the quickest way
I like to do performance tracking of an
(23:02):
actual job and then project tracking. Right. Like so assignment
tracking, I should say. where it's like, how quickly are
they following through on the tasks given? I do
like to track that too, because I want to know capacity
wise, how much more could I give that person? And
or if they are slower to respond, do I need to actually hire
(23:24):
an additional person because maybe capacity for the work
could be too too much right like we might not have
enough so it's too much work so then gives me indication to
hire someone else got it and i would also think
that using these tools to track
progress or to uh look
(23:47):
at how they're aligning with the job description is also a
way that you can see oh i think they're struggling here so
what can i do to help them especially if people are
nervous or uncomfortable bringing that up to
Yeah. No one ever wants to come in with the, this
(24:09):
is where I'm struggling, but they love it if you ask
them. You know what I mean? Like, if
you give your team members an opportunity to say, hey,
you know, out of all these things, this is, you know, what I hope your role would
be here and the impact you would have here. And this is where I want you
to take with like, where are the areas that you would like to improve? And
(24:30):
you give them opportunity to tell you, because then there could be some really
easy ways for you to help them solve that, or opportunities for
you to be like, oh, you know what, go take this course, or go get certified
in this, or go talk to so-and-so who has done it
before to show you how. It gives
an opportunity also for a deeper connection that you want them to grow
(24:53):
Right. And the solution can be really easy from
Right. So back to what you said, something that
a leader needs to have is good communication. And
Yeah. And also to be comfortable with what's what feels like a
(25:16):
To me, a challenge just allows me to be
resourceful. You know, and I don't think we give ourselves enough
opportunity to be resourceful anymore. We feel
like we have to have the answers, but no, it's like, and it's okay to
say, I don't know. A hundred percent. I had these t-shirts made
when I launched my app and it literally says, I don't know, across the top. And
(25:36):
then the back says, ask Kareem, because it's like, literally get
comfortable not knowing and go ask. And it's
okay also to not know in front of your team.
Oh, I think I think that garners more respect better
than like making something up. You know, we
do the same with patients. If a patient asks me a question, I'm not going to
(25:57):
make something up about their diagnosis or plan of care. I'm
going to say, I don't know, but I'll look it up and I'll ask around and
I mean, it just shows a little bit of vulnerability. And
then what I think it also helps is with innovation. Yes.
So you like we as business owners, get
(26:18):
used to doing things the way we do it until someone says, well, wait a
second. I don't understand why you're doing something this when you're like,
huh, to your point, let's sit back and look at it.
And you might have an innovation that takes something off your plate.
Right. It's so true. Yeah. I mean, I run this weekly.
I'm sorry. Not weekly. It's a monthly live coaching call. And
(26:40):
I run through my retrospective exercise in it. And the
first thing we ask is like, what's going really well? Do you want to keep doing? The
second thing we ask when you do this assessment and imagine doing this monthly,
taking the pause because we don't do it enough. Right.
Like I said, it's a business where you take the pause and say, what's what do we need to
stop doing? like what is in our way what
(27:01):
are the things that just didn't work we tried doesn't work let's stop it
uh and then you ask what do you need to start doing that's the third question
and then we go into like what's the one action you're going to take for the next 30 days
and and just by doing that the reason why i bring that up it's the pause that
you were just bringing up to give yourself permission to say, hey, we
tried it. We've gone this direction. Let's just stop doing that. Let's
(27:23):
shelve it for now. It's not working. It's distracting all of
us. Because if you don't, then all of a sudden the year passed and
you've been in the go and the doing, and you're only
doing annual strategic thinking maybe to then
figure out what's happening the next year. So I think it's just really critical, which
is why I encourage people to do it monthly. Because it's
(27:44):
faster to pivot if you start going down
a direction towards some arbitrary goal you set at the start of the
year, right? Or it's like, you know what? That goal is not for
us. Let's switch it up. Or we're winning. Yes,
And I also think you kind of have to park your ego at the door. Like
if, like if you made a goal and you're like, this was my goal.
(28:08):
This was part of it, how can I abandon it. But to your point
if it's not working and it's stressing you out and it's not working for your
team, and also it's taking up your time it's not making any
Yeah. Because then your your your time is the most valuable
in your business, especially as the owner. I always say you're the most expensive
(28:28):
resource on the team. Right. So how you leverage your time is
what gives you the most freedom. Right. It really does.
And so if you are doing the the the expensive task
of showing up to something that's no longer a fit or not going to you're not
going to steer the business that way. Stopping it faster makes it just
Where you're spending your time. Totally. And I think we're kind
(28:51):
of skirting around this issue, talking about
like ego and stressing out.
So, you've kind of
worked with using strategic
elements to organize and emotional elements
or the human elements. So could you share an example
(29:14):
of how addressing the emotional aspects of change
maybe that has dramatically improved outcomes for
Yeah. So I would say that I've had a
lot of tears in my sessions, a lot of the
pressure release happens in my
one-on-one coaching space, because there's so much that
(29:37):
we should all over ourselves, and then we see
the reality of we just don't want this anymore, but didn't know
how to navigate out from under that hill. So I'll
give you an example. medical practice that
I worked with where there's two partners together. One of the partners hired
me because she was feeling very,
(29:58):
very overwhelmed and carrying most of the practice, like
all the administrative things, et cetera, and was a full-time doctor.
and had a full patient list like it was it was all the things and
she's like i just i don't know how to get out from under this i
really don't and i don't know how to shift
my own behavior because i don't have the space to so that's why she
(30:19):
hired me right and so we would have these sessions where we finally
got to the root of her people pleasing tendencies Right.
And most of us have it. Oh, yes. We were trained to
be that way to survive. And we get it. And especially if
it came from family dynamics or whatever that looks like. So the behavior behind
how we show up as leaders can be some deep rooted things.
(30:41):
Now, I'm never I'm not a therapist. I do not claim to
be. And I always send my clients to the therapist when they need
it. But in these moments, getting just to the
root as to why they were so
emotional about the stress of carrying the
business because of the modality they showed up in, because
(31:01):
that's all they knew. As we worked together and started
to build the confident side, started to build the boundaries of
what to say no to in business, started to shape the
role she wanted to play in that partnership, started
to make decisions from that place, it's shifted everything
for her. She went from a practice that was barely getting
(31:25):
by, to now earning, personally, seven
figures, doing way less in her time, because
we got to the root of when boundaries were crossed as
how she made decisions, it affected her time. And
then when she's put her boundaries back into place saying yes
and no to the things she would do, she then could say yes to the
(31:45):
things where her time actually earned her more because it was
a higher level of service, like a
concierge type service to specific clients. And
that's what she wanted. So less clients, deeper work, and
now she's able to make more and not have this
clinic and partnership weighing her down. So the navigation,
(32:07):
though, came from an emotional place. Yeah. Right. And if we didn't get
to the root of why why you show up in
it this way and then ask the question, well, what do you want it
to be? Because I always like to know the vision. Where are we
trying to go? Because that's my MO that I like to get you
there. But I always hold the space of
what do we have to release that really doesn't serve you anymore, what
(32:30):
might have been a survival skill that is stressing you out now, to
then really build the acumen to stand in the vision and know
And it reminds me of something
that you talk about, and it's the busyness
(32:50):
of business versus the business of business. So can
Yeah, so I always love to challenge my clients. And
even when I run my workshops, et cetera, it's like, are you running a busyness
or a business? Or are you owning a business? Because as
owners, we think about business, it's detached from who
we are. It's an asset that allows us to earn. Like
(33:13):
you really have to figure out the detachment of
this entity that you're monetizing. And
yes, if you started it off who you are, right, like in
your skill set and your acumen and your everything, there needs to be a little bit
of detachment to come up to make it so that it doesn't feel
so busy all the time. The busyness happens when
(33:33):
we tell ourselves, I got to do it all. No
one can do it like me. I'm telling you, there are so many people
out there that could probably even do it better than you do in most areas. But
you have to decide and you should decide on the things you want to you
want to actually do and become better at and literally find
those other people who would do it at much lower price than
(33:54):
yours as the owner of the business to do it. So that's how you kind
of get out of the busyness. But what I found was If you don't actually
understand where innately you're meant to spend your time in
your business, it truly keeps you busy. So I
created the CEO quiz to allow you to
identify if you're a creator, an entrepreneur, or
(34:14):
an operator in your business. So that's CEO. It's an acronym. And
when you take this quiz, it helps you identify one of those three
roles, but then it also tells you where you're best suited
in your business based on those three roles so that you could delegate the rest. And
then it walks you through like the process of how to do delegation because
I found those were the biggest aha moments working with
(34:35):
my clients. And I wanted more people to have that aha moment because
that's what actually shifts from busyness to business because
now you're aligned in the role you're meant to play and you know clearer
what you should delegate. And when you know that,
then you're leading and steering your your company in a
way or your business in a way as an owner, not
(34:56):
just a doer, because we're all masters of how. But
you choose entrepreneurship. You got to treat it like a business and
build that business if you really want it to sustain for you long term.
Absolutely. Oh my gosh, I'm just so many thoughts are
running through my head right now as you're speaking. I'm like, Yeah, that's
a little bit of me. That's Yep, that's a little bit of me too.
(35:19):
Yeah, I need to let go of that. Yeah. So it's all resonating. So
if it's resonating with me, it's definitely resonating with the audience as
well. Now, let's look a little more towards
the future. So the future of leadership and
of work. So what emerging challenges do
you see leaders facing in the next three to five
(35:41):
years? And what can we do
to prepare for these shifts? What's coming up?
Well, I mean, I think we're in a very chaotic time right
now, where stressors around us are starting to
create more emotional imbalance. If
I'm really seeing the landscape of what's happening around now,
(36:05):
and also not knowing where the
outcome will be in three to five years is really about
consistency, I think is what's needed for leaders to
show up for their teams in a very transparent and
consistent way for the teams to stay with them through
these times. It is so critical to
(36:26):
be able to voice and say, I'm feeling challenged also, but
we are in this together. We don't breed enough leaders
today, which is why I love talking about what I do
to help more leaders stand up. and lead from
the place. I'm a heart-centered leader. I started
to integrate true love as a word of my core values in
(36:48):
my business. And I know that can be so taboo for business, but
it's actually so needed to show up because we spend so
much time working together. So if
I were to say trends in the next three to five years, it's
really about how can you ensure that
you're helping people be a part of where you're taking your
(37:09):
business, even if it's just sustaining business for
now, let them be a part of it. It doesn't always
have to be a growth strategy to include your team. But
what it does need to be is aligned with a mission that
they can latch on to and be a part of with you to
move forward. And I would say that with AI
(37:30):
coming into play and the ease of getting information,
articulating information, and how you leverage information, I
think is really a good use of time
in these days to have better conversations. to actually
stay connected and find different ways to connect on
things that will move the needle versus just information sharing
(37:53):
like a status report. AI helps you
deliver faster in certain arenas, but it doesn't replace how
we need to come together and work together and build something
going forward because there's still humans behind everything we consume.
So we need human connection through it all as
well. But I would say in those trends, we need sustainability in
(38:16):
the connected time and the, what are we in this
for? So reiterate your message, reiterate transparency
on why the business is reacting a certain way or what we need to
do for our clients or what we need to do health-wise
for ourselves, et cetera, and for our patients, even if
you're in that field. But that's where I think things
(38:39):
Yeah, so it's really staying connected is
it sounds, that's what I took from that is really staying connected, staying
connected to yourself, to your employees,
your team, your clients, yeah, the mission and
the vision and using tools
(38:59):
like AI to take a little bit off your plate.
Yeah, to be able to articulate sometimes. I can't even tell you
how many times I'll go in and just ask, how can
I say this better? I'm feeling challenged by this. How
can I say this better? And then it just gives it to me in a way where
I'm like, bloop, that was easy. And then that saved
(39:20):
me time, but now I'm actually having the conversation I need to have. You
know, like I'm not sitting in this hesitation of the reaction of
something, you know, because I figured out this is the right finesse way
to deliver that message, you know. So
yeah, I do think then there's so many tools now to leverage for so many different things,
but I mainly use them for communication. And
(39:41):
then, you know, and then I built my app to assist those
who are feeling challenged. just in the everyday, right?
So any of these leadership questions, you know, are really key.
You have a place now to go where you can dialogue with me, which
Yeah, so can you talk a little bit more about the app, Hey Kareen? Yeah.
And where can people find it? What's it all about? Who needs it?
(40:04):
Yeah, so this has been such a labor of
love, this project. So Hey Kareen is like your
Hey Siri, Hey Alexa for entrepreneurial challenges
you're facing or just the guidance that you're looking for. I
found a lot of people wait too long to ask what they really
want to ask in order to move forward in what's going on
(40:25):
in their business. And I also found that my clients would constantly say,
I wish I could carry around in my pocket. Like
sessions, right? Like you only have so many sessions and then the in between
time and, you know, and I only have so much capacity. So
I built this app. The Hey Karine app is is centralized. All my
content, any conversation, this podcast will be on it, like every
(40:46):
single conversation I've had. articles, et cetera. But
then I cloned myself in AI so members who join
can actually chat with me and my 30 years
of business acumen and every new thing I'm
doing, learning, et cetera, gets put in there as a centralized way
to get the support you need as you're building your business. So all these questions
(41:07):
on like, hey, Karine, how do I hire somebody who
has this skill set? What are the qualifying questions I should ask? You
know, like, Hey, Korean, if I'm, if I'm feeling this challenge in my business and
I'm, I'm a creator, I found out from my CEO quiz, I'm a creator. Now
that means I got to get myself out of operation. So how do I
(41:28):
hire an operation? Can you give me a job description for that, for
this business? Like she'll give it to you. Like literally all
the things that I've been doing in my own practice. I
was like, she needs to do it because she could do it much faster, but
it is dialoguing off my data set, you know? It's
all me, like millions of records of all these years, coaching
(41:48):
sessions, et cetera, live in there. And it's really cool because
the impact that I'm seeing from those who are using it, being
like, I talk to you every day, I should still call you. And I'm like,
yeah, you should. But call
me about the things that, you know, maybe you need to
dialogue on further. Right. But let's you know,
(42:09):
I love that it's helping people and it's I'm no longer the blocker. It's
Right. Right. Oh, that's amazing, because for all
of the people out there listening who are in the coaching space
or in the health space where often everything it's one on one
and there's only so much time in the day. So you figured out a way to
(42:30):
Yeah. And it's not, I'm not the limitation, but
also it gives the answer so much faster too.
Like sometimes she's, she's way more succinct than I can be
sometimes. I'm like, I use her. I'm like, Hey, Hey, Kareem. Like
how do I, you know, and she helps me all the time. Like
I'm like, great. You know, that's what I would say. You just
(42:52):
said it's so much better. It's very meta. It's very like dimensional.
But I'll tell you that it's given me, Just when
I got the first test of the AI and I started playing
with her and I was like, holy crap, like I felt free.
Like I felt like this is my legacy. I literally can
become someone completely different if I wanted to. And she
(43:14):
can still serve. Right. And she could still serve up to that
version of me that, you know, helps help so many. Whereas
like I, you know, I'm no longer that blocker and
it doesn't block me from growing anymore because I can defer people to
(43:38):
Yeah. It's very cool. Very cool. Now, where can
people find out more about you, more about the app, or if they
I love that. Thank you for asking. So heykarine.com is
where you can get all things about the app. If you want to take the quiz, it's
also heykarine.com slash CEO, just so in
(43:58):
case that identity work will help people advance. And
then if you want to work with me directly, that's karinewalsh.com. And
there's all different ways we can connect. I run retreats. I
have quarterly workshops. I do these live
coaching calls. You can join as well. But truly, just
ask me. If there's something going on, just ask me. And if you want
(44:20):
to connect with me on the socials, I'm on LinkedIn mostly
and Instagram. Karine Z. Walsh is
where I'm there. You'll get to see my morning workouts and then also my
crazy what I'm doing in my workday. But I
add a lot of tips that I can to help you through
Awesome. And we'll have links to everything. So wherever you're
(44:44):
listening to this podcast, whatever platform you're on, just scroll down
a little bit. And in the show notes, one click will take you
to all of Kareen's resources. So
as we wrap up, one last question, and that's knowing
where you are now in your life and career, what advice would you give
(45:04):
I would tell her, because I talk to her sometimes, but
my 20-year-old self, I would tell her to have more fun. I did
have a good time, but I worked really hard and
I feel like it didn't have to be that serious. I
would tell her that and to be
more present. You know, sometimes when we're always forward thinking, I
(45:26):
mean, I still tell myself this today. That's why I know I would have to tell her too,
because, you know, I'm still not that far from who she was. But
yeah, to be more present, like really, really embrace the
gifting that we have each day and like make the best of
it, because you really don't know what the future holds. And it's
(45:49):
Perfect advice. Great way to end the podcast, Karine.
Thank you so much for coming on the podcast, sharing
all your wisdom. And again, if you want to check out the
app, go to heykarine.com and
check it out. Sounds really cool. So Karine, thanks so much for
(46:09):
My pleasure. And everyone, thanks so much for tuning in. Have
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Healthy, Wealthy, and Smart Podcast. I
am your host, Dr. Karen Litzy, owner of Karen Litzy Physical Therapy in
New York City. And today I'm really happy to
have on the program, Karine Walsh. She is a visionary business
strategist, author, podcaster, investor, and
seven to eight figure entrepreneurial guide. With
(00:24):
nearly two decades of experience, she excels in optimizing
performance across industries, helping C-suite executives, and
entrepreneurs turn their vision into tangible results, often
achieving 10 times a return on their investment. Through her
business Revampologist and the Hey Kareen app,
Kareen provides consulting and coaching to help
(00:46):
leaders overcome fear, avoid burnout, don't
we all need that, and achieve their ultimate vision. So
Kareen, welcome to the podcast. I'm happy to talk all
I'm so excited to be here, Karen. Thank you so much for having me.
Okay. So first things first, let's let the listeners get to
know you a little bit more. So how did you become
(01:10):
who you are today, this entrepreneurial and business executive
Yeah, so I mean, it's been a journey, right? Like we all have had,
I would say, I think I've always had a coach's stance
as a leader. I was always someone with the foresight of,
as I build within my role, make sure I also find someone and
build them up to replace me. Because I found that I
(01:33):
would not be able to grow in my career if I did not
make sure the trail I left behind was sustainable. And
so in the beginning of my career life, it was really all about
career climbing and I was a big hustler in the tech game
out in California. I went there straight from college. I had a
business degree and I really built up my chops on understanding
(01:56):
business systems, people management, leadership style,
and just put my all into it. So I went from like a business analyst
to a senior director of mergers and acquisition operations
within five years. Like I was a very aggressive career focused
person, but Because you're in the health game, you know what
it's like on your health when that happens. So I ended up
(02:18):
resigning at 29 because I didn't want to be
anybody that was like an executive above me. When I
looked at the company, I was like, yeah, no, that's not for me. Like
they are all in their own spot and I don't really want to climb there. And
growth was a really big value of mine. But then my health
was really crappy. So I
(02:39):
ended up resigning and I bought a house in Denver, Colorado. And
at that time was a much smaller pace than
it is today to slow down and really find
work that actually fit into the lifestyle of what
I needed to do to actually take care of my health. Because I
had proven that I had resourcefulness and skill
(03:00):
set for a career. And then it was like, OK, well, what about my
life? And that's when I was the first step into
self-employment, entrepreneurship, whatever you want to call it.
At that time, really, I was self-employed. I like to say pimping myself
out, you know, from project to project. But what that gave
me was some more time to focus on my health.
(03:22):
I was doing less work, getting paid the same, to
then also make sure that I could, like, get to the gym and
see my therapist and follow my nutrition patterns, et
cetera. And really, health and wellness was a big focus of mine in my
30s. and relationships, right? Like I
wanted to have a relationship life. So then
(03:42):
I went into finding someone that I then married, but
happened to be out here on the East Coast. So I relocated again. I've
hopped around this country over 13 times. I'm about to do another big
move soon. And it's like, it's crazy. I should have owned a moving company.
But I never went to that business. Out of all the businesses I've supported,
I've never supported a moving company. I should. But coming
(04:03):
out to the East Coast, I realized, you know what? I'm very competitive in
the consulting game here. So I joined startups
that were looking to scale and gave
me some bi-coastal living for a while again, but allowed
me to also just focus on relationship while earning a check.
So I'm one of those rare breeds that kind of went independent, went
(04:25):
back into corporate. And I did that for another three years
before I launched this company, Revampologist, that I have today. So
Revampologist has been around now 10, 11 years.
We're on 11 now, which is wild. And it originally started
as me, again, just being the consultant. But
what I found then was like, I really loved working with leaders. And
(04:46):
I became an executive leadership coach during that time. go
in and out of companies, not only transform team dynamics,
but deliver very complex projects because that's what my acumen
was at the time. And then I scaled
past myself by challenging myself to think a
little bit differently. And I think we were going to talk about the evolved mindset a
(05:08):
little bit, but really I found this philosophy of
minimal effort, maximum reward. And that is what I've
built my business on that I have today. So
that's really all about getting out of my own way, um, leading
what I know really well, staying in my lane of the things that light me
up. So I show up for it more and help others through
(05:29):
that, learn how to build seven, eight figure nine figure businesses
by really knowing who they are. Cause that's, I
think number one, if you're going to lead your life, you got to know who
you are inside of it and then find the ways to monetize that
through different avenues of revenue streams. So really just to integrate
in a way that is more like a pull versus
(05:52):
a push is what I've done. So there's
a lot there, but there's a lot of history, but I just, you
No, I love it. I love knowing how, like what
spurred someone to get them to where they are now. And
hopefully the listeners have a better picture of you. And
(06:13):
then as we go on and we talk about the evolved
mindset and some other things, they'll understand where you're coming from.
So you had mentioned that in your history. So
I think everyone likes the idea of
working a little bit less and getting paid
a little bit more. Like no one wants to work 100 hours a
(06:34):
week. We just don't, like we're not built for that, right? So
let's talk about, if you wouldn't mind, the evolved
mindset, that kind of 90-10 ratio,
Yeah, so it was an interesting lesson for me when I
was in the hustle of I was the only employee of my
company, right? Like I had employed myself to earn. Now, it's nice to
(06:57):
have the choices of how you show up in it all. But truly,
I felt so burdened by certain tasks in my business. And
I realized that if I'm not consistently evolving my own skill
set, to be an owner of this business right so evolve
mindset also you know falls under my owner
method basically it's like we really have to shift from operating in
(07:19):
all the areas of our business and really find
our zone of genius that the area that we really
shine in because we'll show up 10 times better with it if
we can just do that thing and delegate the rest or find partners
to do it or automation to do it. We have to think differently to
truly have sustainable revenue streams and
(07:41):
income creation from the businesses we're building. Otherwise, you
really are your own entrapment of
staying stale because you're just comfortable in
the pain of it all, right? So the 90-20, I'm sorry,
the 90-10 rule, the 90-10 evolved mindset is
really like 90% of you needs to be consistently evolving
(08:02):
and thinking about how best to steer the ship. right?
It's sitting in like more of an owner seat. And then 10% is
really all about the doing. It's about the strategy and the how, because
we're all masters of how we were born to do. That's
what we do. Right, right. But if we actually
start thinking more strategically of how we are placed in it,
(08:23):
who do we have to come to lead into that vision and
spend 90% of our time doing the things we're meant
to do as opposed to have to do. Right.
That then actually increases what comes back to
you in your business. And it's pretty wild when
you put it on. So I'll give you an example. And
(08:44):
when 2017, yeah, 2017, I
basically questioned myself. I was like, you know, I've
only really thought in six figures because I've only really thought about
income for myself. Most people sit in
measures when you go into business for yourself to make enough
to have the life you want, right? So that's income. But
(09:07):
then I was like, well, what if I wanted to make seven figures in
revenue into my business? And I started using different language, but
only use 10% of my time to do it. Now,
Yeah. Please. That's great. If
you think about businesses that are out there that have scaled to
(09:30):
multi-million dollars in earnings that can pay six
figures over time and time to multiple people, it's because they
scaled past themselves. They had to have
the vision for where they're trying to steer the ship. So act like an
owner. and then go and bring in the
people to make it happen so that they could sell more of that.
(09:52):
So for example, like in the medical field, you have partners
of a clinic that then have to hire a team to
then service how many clients per day in order to
have a margin per visit that then goes into
the practice, right? So that's just the medical field. But that's a multi-million dollar
practice that then those partners of that practice,
(10:14):
if they ever want to exit, can leave for more than
what their income was during the time that they worked there.
That's the investment model for them to walk away with something, right? But
it's scaled past themselves where they're not having to see the hundreds
of patients a day. I mean, it's still atrocious what, you
know, doctors and I know what you've got to go through. Like, it's still.
(10:35):
Yeah, that's a whole other can of worms. Yes.
And I definitely have strategies on how to solve for that. Like if anybody wants
to go through that model, because I've helped doctors scale past themselves
from their clinics to figure out the ways to distribute services
that allows them to earn seven figures in income and not have
to deal with all that stress. So there are abilities to
(10:58):
do that. You just have to be able to evolve past who you
are to be open to those possibilities. And I think that's
the part where we sometimes hold on to what we know, because
that's all we know, because we're afraid to ask, can it be different? Because
change is hard. People have that story in their mind. To
me, change is a freaking blessing. If we don't embrace
(11:20):
change, and if we don't evolve past what's not working, then
Right, right. But I think the hard part is,
and you you sort of hinted at it is letting
go of that control of like, I
can do this really well. How is someone else supposed to
(11:41):
do what I can do? So in the medical field and
fitness and things like that, right? We go to school. So I'm a physical
therapist, right? So I went to school to be
a physical therapist. I know how to do that and I do it very well. So
it's like, how do you give up that control when it's
Yeah. Well, it's all about how you present the services
(12:05):
and the level of service that you provide versus
what that client needs and who else on your team might be
a good fit for that. Right. So, of course, you can be
the be all end all. Of course you can. I built my reputation on
my brand too, right? Like on me, like literally
every single client I have is because someone said, you need Kareem,
(12:28):
like get Kareem in this. And then that kind of can definitely corner
me, which is also why I launched my whole AI app because
I was like, I can't be cornered. I'm not a good cornered person. Like don't,
no one puts baby in a corner. Like that's literally me. But
still, there's this ability though to expand past yourself
in how you train others, how you build them
(12:50):
up to your methods, how you make sure they're on brand
for you. It requires nurturing to
get that additional support in your practice if
you want to scale that way. The other thing I want to give people permission to
is just what you're doing could be just enough, but stop stressing
about being more if you don't really want to be more. Because I think
(13:11):
that's the other game that's happening out in the marketing world right
now, where this whole not enough story is going on. And I
always give my clients permission to stay exactly where they
are if they're feeling fulfilled by it. But if there's one
small thing to tweak, or one small thing that could be a little bit
better, then that's part of the evolved mindset. Let's focus on
(13:32):
that small thing then just to dial it up a little bit for you.
It doesn't have to be these long stretch things because when I set that goal
for me, myself of the seven figures, I literally was like, I want to make
seven figures in my business, 10% of my time. What
am I sitting on in my business that would allow me to do that in my acumen
that would allow me, it just made me think differently. I had
(13:52):
to get out of my own way to do it. And I'll tell you, Karen, I did it in
six months. I was sitting on it, but
I never thought about it before. And so having
the ability to pause and question and say, what if?
What if I only wanted to work 30 hours a week? What if I only wanted to work 20 hours
a week? I built that first seven figures in my business in
(14:14):
six months because I was selling other people's expertise
into my clients that I had already. And then it
wasn't me doing the implementation, but I had oversight. So when
you ask that question, well, what if it is you? Well, it is me.
It's my reputation, but I have oversight on how everyone else behaves and
I'm helping them get paid. in a way that
(14:36):
they would not otherwise. And my clients are happy because
I got them the services they want, but I'm still associated with
Right. But it's building that team up,
building the team around you, which is
not easy. And I'm sure that's a huge part
(14:57):
of what you do. is to build a team
and build leadership within your team. So how
do you how
do you work with executives? We talked about in
let's say medicine, but you've worked with executives across
(15:18):
a lot of various industries. So what
leadership qualities have you found to be
most critical for steering and
Yeah, so I would say the top skill sets to
look for in leaders who
(15:39):
are wanting to empower their team and steer the
ship, right? So they still want to know the direction
of where the deliverables are going or where the
end result is, but they want to make sure the team feels empowered to
do it. They have to be able to listen really well.
They have to be able to ask really good questions. And
(16:01):
they also have to be able to be comfortable with the testing
time frame. And what I mean by that is you won't know how
someone performs until you actually give them the opportunity to
perform. But if you want them to perform a certain way once
you give them the opportunity, knowing the feedback loops
on ensuring that it's going in the direction of your brand, of
(16:22):
your business, of your culture, you have to
have measure in place to say, hey, that
was really good. These three things, these two things we need to work
on. And you need to be consistent about the growth of
your team in order for them to grow into what
you need them to be for your business. And
(16:43):
I think we forget that, like, especially in specialties like yours,
where you have yourself the interpretation of
the skill required to have the impact you want with your patients, right?
Well, someone else has the different interpretation of
that. But if they're coming in under your brand, if they're coming in under
your business, then it's really important for you to
(17:06):
be able to see how they are doing with their clients,
ask for the feedback from their patients, and also
potentially be a patient yourself to them, if you can, to
see what it's like to be on the receiving end of their care. Because
if we don't know, then you can't steer. And
so that's what I look for. And that's what I've helped my leaders do. Because
(17:27):
sometimes there's a lot of, well, they can't and
they won't. And there's a lot of these walls coming up. And I
say, well, what did you try? Did you put yourself in
a situation where you allowed them to express what was possible? Did
you tell them what you would like it to be? Give them a
chance to show you with a measurable time. I'm not saying
don't let it go on forever. If it's not a fit, it's not a fit. But then what
(17:51):
did you actually do? Or are you just judging at a distance because they
didn't do it the way you would have done it? And I think that is
the biggest hangup of that has caused problems
in people management is that there's a lack of communication, a
lack of listening skills, and also a
lack of the models of trial and error to mold somebody
(18:12):
into what's needed. We don't train people anymore. We assume. We
assume someone knows what they're supposed to do on the job. Always,
always be training. Always be showing them what your brand is all about.
Always show them what the quality of service is. Just always,
because until you have proven with them that they measure
up, then they are not part of the team. You haven't like
(18:35):
really inducted them into what it's meant to be
there. So those are the things that I've commonly seen
across leaders as challenges, but the top
leaders, the ones that are excelling and can hire people and
the people stay with them and they grow with them is because they have
that willingness and they also start to build that trust
(18:55):
in the person by empowering them through these tests
And what is a reasonable timeframe
for this, right? Because of course now we're in a world
of everything has to be done right away, right? But is
it three months? Is it six months? Is it a year? Does
(19:17):
it vary based on the industry? Like
what have you seen among your clients that is in a reasonable
time to have someone come on board you're
working with them, you're training with them. What
I mean, I personally think you would know with the right onboarding
process, the right measure checkpoints and the right attention
(19:41):
in the first 90 days, you know whether or
not you want to continue to invest in that person to continue to
grow with you. And the reason why I give it 90 days is
that it takes 90 days to build any sort of new habit, right?
So there's the onboarding time period in
the beginning can go really fast or really long. I like it
(20:02):
to go fast. So I map out exactly what needs
to happen within the first 10 days of that person coming on board. And
it's laborious for me because I have to monitor it. Right.
So you can't just give them assignment and not monitor. You want
to give them assignment and monitor the results so that you understand what
is their true acumen. What happens in an interview process can
(20:23):
be totally different than what happens on the job. Sure. It's up
to you when they're in there to be monitoring, training,
acutely moving them in the right direction. If it's not to give them
opportunity to see what's true. And then by the 10th day, you're
challenging them with something. So you're giving them even something more
to be like, do they rise to the occasion? Mm hmm. Then that's
(20:44):
how you build the trust and you assess, can they do
it over and over and over again within that 90 days? Right.
So I would say 90 days is a good measure. It's what I
encourage because I have a recruiting side to my business as well. So
when I do bring in people for my clients, that's
the time frame I give them to as we kind of map out the
(21:07):
plan. And then both parties are assessing. Right, right.
All right. It's it's not just it's not it's never one way
anymore. It was job opportunities, the way you can earn these
days, way different than it used to be. Yeah. And commitment
is way different than it used to be. Yeah. Work ethic is way different. So
how you build your culture and how you lead your people critical
(21:32):
Just want to be seen and heard. and who
I mean, it's simple. Keep it simple. Yeah. But it's really about how consistent
And do you use any specific
tools to measure progress? Are there any standardized
tools that you use or is this, you know,
(21:58):
So my most favorite way to track performance,
just because it's simple, is that every job has a job description. You
take that job description, all the different line items of the things that
you expect this person to do, you stick it in an Excel spreadsheet or
a table in a document, and then you score
on performance after a period of time of how did that person actually
(22:20):
do. have themselves score and have you score on
how they're doing in that position. And I would give it, you could
do it at that three month mark, six month mark, but then it
gives you data. It gives you data on
how to enhance, how to celebrate them
and also see like, okay, we're
(22:41):
like 80% here. Like that's not bad for the
three month mark. So how are we gonna get to a hundred? You know,
and what do we need to do? And what do you need from me as your manager, as
your leader to help you get there? Right.
And have that dialogue. So that's the quickest way
I like to do performance tracking of an
(23:02):
actual job and then project tracking. Right. Like so assignment
tracking, I should say. where it's like, how quickly are
they following through on the tasks given? I do
like to track that too, because I want to know capacity
wise, how much more could I give that person? And
or if they are slower to respond, do I need to actually hire
(23:24):
an additional person because maybe capacity for the work
could be too too much right like we might not have
enough so it's too much work so then gives me indication to
hire someone else got it and i would also think
that using these tools to track
progress or to uh look
(23:47):
at how they're aligning with the job description is also a
way that you can see oh i think they're struggling here so
what can i do to help them especially if people are
nervous or uncomfortable bringing that up to
Yeah. No one ever wants to come in with the, this
(24:09):
is where I'm struggling, but they love it if you ask
them. You know what I mean? Like, if
you give your team members an opportunity to say, hey,
you know, out of all these things, this is, you know, what I hope your role would
be here and the impact you would have here. And this is where I want you
to take with like, where are the areas that you would like to improve? And
(24:30):
you give them opportunity to tell you, because then there could be some really
easy ways for you to help them solve that, or opportunities for
you to be like, oh, you know what, go take this course, or go get certified
in this, or go talk to so-and-so who has done it
before to show you how. It gives
an opportunity also for a deeper connection that you want them to grow
(24:53):
Right. And the solution can be really easy from
Right. So back to what you said, something that
a leader needs to have is good communication. And
Yeah. And also to be comfortable with what's what feels like a
(25:16):
To me, a challenge just allows me to be
resourceful. You know, and I don't think we give ourselves enough
opportunity to be resourceful anymore. We feel
like we have to have the answers, but no, it's like, and it's okay to
say, I don't know. A hundred percent. I had these t-shirts made
when I launched my app and it literally says, I don't know, across the top. And
(25:36):
then the back says, ask Kareem, because it's like, literally get
comfortable not knowing and go ask. And it's
okay also to not know in front of your team.
Oh, I think I think that garners more respect better
than like making something up. You know, we
do the same with patients. If a patient asks me a question, I'm not going to
(25:57):
make something up about their diagnosis or plan of care. I'm
going to say, I don't know, but I'll look it up and I'll ask around and
I mean, it just shows a little bit of vulnerability. And
then what I think it also helps is with innovation. Yes.
So you like we as business owners, get
(26:18):
used to doing things the way we do it until someone says, well, wait a
second. I don't understand why you're doing something this when you're like,
huh, to your point, let's sit back and look at it.
And you might have an innovation that takes something off your plate.
Right. It's so true. Yeah. I mean, I run this weekly.
I'm sorry. Not weekly. It's a monthly live coaching call. And
(26:40):
I run through my retrospective exercise in it. And the
first thing we ask is like, what's going really well? Do you want to keep doing? The
second thing we ask when you do this assessment and imagine doing this monthly,
taking the pause because we don't do it enough. Right.
Like I said, it's a business where you take the pause and say, what's what do we need to
stop doing? like what is in our way what
(27:01):
are the things that just didn't work we tried doesn't work let's stop it
uh and then you ask what do you need to start doing that's the third question
and then we go into like what's the one action you're going to take for the next 30 days
and and just by doing that the reason why i bring that up it's the pause that
you were just bringing up to give yourself permission to say, hey, we
tried it. We've gone this direction. Let's just stop doing that. Let's
(27:23):
shelve it for now. It's not working. It's distracting all of
us. Because if you don't, then all of a sudden the year passed and
you've been in the go and the doing, and you're only
doing annual strategic thinking maybe to then
figure out what's happening the next year. So I think it's just really critical, which
is why I encourage people to do it monthly. Because it's
(27:44):
faster to pivot if you start going down
a direction towards some arbitrary goal you set at the start of the
year, right? Or it's like, you know what? That goal is not for
us. Let's switch it up. Or we're winning. Yes,
And I also think you kind of have to park your ego at the door. Like
if, like if you made a goal and you're like, this was my goal.
(28:08):
This was part of it, how can I abandon it. But to your point
if it's not working and it's stressing you out and it's not working for your
team, and also it's taking up your time it's not making any
Yeah. Because then your your your time is the most valuable
in your business, especially as the owner. I always say you're the most expensive
(28:28):
resource on the team. Right. So how you leverage your time is
what gives you the most freedom. Right. It really does.
And so if you are doing the the the expensive task
of showing up to something that's no longer a fit or not going to you're not
going to steer the business that way. Stopping it faster makes it just
Where you're spending your time. Totally. And I think we're kind
(28:51):
of skirting around this issue, talking about
like ego and stressing out.
So, you've kind of
worked with using strategic
elements to organize and emotional elements
or the human elements. So could you share an example
(29:14):
of how addressing the emotional aspects of change
maybe that has dramatically improved outcomes for
Yeah. So I would say that I've had a
lot of tears in my sessions, a lot of the
pressure release happens in my
one-on-one coaching space, because there's so much that
(29:37):
we should all over ourselves, and then we see
the reality of we just don't want this anymore, but didn't know
how to navigate out from under that hill. So I'll
give you an example. medical practice that
I worked with where there's two partners together. One of the partners hired
me because she was feeling very,
(29:58):
very overwhelmed and carrying most of the practice, like
all the administrative things, et cetera, and was a full-time doctor.
and had a full patient list like it was it was all the things and
she's like i just i don't know how to get out from under this i
really don't and i don't know how to shift
my own behavior because i don't have the space to so that's why she
(30:19):
hired me right and so we would have these sessions where we finally
got to the root of her people pleasing tendencies Right.
And most of us have it. Oh, yes. We were trained to
be that way to survive. And we get it. And especially if
it came from family dynamics or whatever that looks like. So the behavior behind
how we show up as leaders can be some deep rooted things.
(30:41):
Now, I'm never I'm not a therapist. I do not claim to
be. And I always send my clients to the therapist when they need
it. But in these moments, getting just to the
root as to why they were so
emotional about the stress of carrying the
business because of the modality they showed up in, because
(31:01):
that's all they knew. As we worked together and started
to build the confident side, started to build the boundaries of
what to say no to in business, started to shape the
role she wanted to play in that partnership, started
to make decisions from that place, it's shifted everything
for her. She went from a practice that was barely getting
(31:25):
by, to now earning, personally, seven
figures, doing way less in her time, because
we got to the root of when boundaries were crossed as
how she made decisions, it affected her time. And
then when she's put her boundaries back into place saying yes
and no to the things she would do, she then could say yes to the
(31:45):
things where her time actually earned her more because it was
a higher level of service, like a
concierge type service to specific clients. And
that's what she wanted. So less clients, deeper work, and
now she's able to make more and not have this
clinic and partnership weighing her down. So the navigation,
(32:07):
though, came from an emotional place. Yeah. Right. And if we didn't get
to the root of why why you show up in
it this way and then ask the question, well, what do you want it
to be? Because I always like to know the vision. Where are we
trying to go? Because that's my MO that I like to get you
there. But I always hold the space of
what do we have to release that really doesn't serve you anymore, what
(32:30):
might have been a survival skill that is stressing you out now, to
then really build the acumen to stand in the vision and know
And it reminds me of something
that you talk about, and it's the busyness
(32:50):
of business versus the business of business. So can
Yeah, so I always love to challenge my clients. And
even when I run my workshops, et cetera, it's like, are you running a busyness
or a business? Or are you owning a business? Because as
owners, we think about business, it's detached from who
we are. It's an asset that allows us to earn. Like
(33:13):
you really have to figure out the detachment of
this entity that you're monetizing. And
yes, if you started it off who you are, right, like in
your skill set and your acumen and your everything, there needs to be a little bit
of detachment to come up to make it so that it doesn't feel
so busy all the time. The busyness happens when
(33:33):
we tell ourselves, I got to do it all. No
one can do it like me. I'm telling you, there are so many people
out there that could probably even do it better than you do in most areas. But
you have to decide and you should decide on the things you want to you
want to actually do and become better at and literally find
those other people who would do it at much lower price than
(33:54):
yours as the owner of the business to do it. So that's how you kind
of get out of the busyness. But what I found was If you don't actually
understand where innately you're meant to spend your time in
your business, it truly keeps you busy. So I
created the CEO quiz to allow you to
identify if you're a creator, an entrepreneur, or
(34:14):
an operator in your business. So that's CEO. It's an acronym. And
when you take this quiz, it helps you identify one of those three
roles, but then it also tells you where you're best suited
in your business based on those three roles so that you could delegate the rest. And
then it walks you through like the process of how to do delegation because
I found those were the biggest aha moments working with
(34:35):
my clients. And I wanted more people to have that aha moment because
that's what actually shifts from busyness to business because
now you're aligned in the role you're meant to play and you know clearer
what you should delegate. And when you know that,
then you're leading and steering your your company in a
way or your business in a way as an owner, not
(34:56):
just a doer, because we're all masters of how. But
you choose entrepreneurship. You got to treat it like a business and
build that business if you really want it to sustain for you long term.
Absolutely. Oh my gosh, I'm just so many thoughts are
running through my head right now as you're speaking. I'm like, Yeah, that's
a little bit of me. That's Yep, that's a little bit of me too.
(35:19):
Yeah, I need to let go of that. Yeah. So it's all resonating. So
if it's resonating with me, it's definitely resonating with the audience as
well. Now, let's look a little more towards
the future. So the future of leadership and
of work. So what emerging challenges do
you see leaders facing in the next three to five
(35:41):
years? And what can we do
to prepare for these shifts? What's coming up?
Well, I mean, I think we're in a very chaotic time right
now, where stressors around us are starting to
create more emotional imbalance. If
I'm really seeing the landscape of what's happening around now,
(36:05):
and also not knowing where the
outcome will be in three to five years is really about
consistency, I think is what's needed for leaders to
show up for their teams in a very transparent and
consistent way for the teams to stay with them through
these times. It is so critical to
(36:26):
be able to voice and say, I'm feeling challenged also, but
we are in this together. We don't breed enough leaders
today, which is why I love talking about what I do
to help more leaders stand up. and lead from
the place. I'm a heart-centered leader. I started
to integrate true love as a word of my core values in
(36:48):
my business. And I know that can be so taboo for business, but
it's actually so needed to show up because we spend so
much time working together. So if
I were to say trends in the next three to five years, it's
really about how can you ensure that
you're helping people be a part of where you're taking your
(37:09):
business, even if it's just sustaining business for
now, let them be a part of it. It doesn't always
have to be a growth strategy to include your team. But
what it does need to be is aligned with a mission that
they can latch on to and be a part of with you to
move forward. And I would say that with AI
(37:30):
coming into play and the ease of getting information,
articulating information, and how you leverage information, I
think is really a good use of time
in these days to have better conversations. to actually
stay connected and find different ways to connect on
things that will move the needle versus just information sharing
(37:53):
like a status report. AI helps you
deliver faster in certain arenas, but it doesn't replace how
we need to come together and work together and build something
going forward because there's still humans behind everything we consume.
So we need human connection through it all as
well. But I would say in those trends, we need sustainability in
(38:16):
the connected time and the, what are we in this
for? So reiterate your message, reiterate transparency
on why the business is reacting a certain way or what we need to
do for our clients or what we need to do health-wise
for ourselves, et cetera, and for our patients, even if
you're in that field. But that's where I think things
(38:39):
Yeah, so it's really staying connected is
it sounds, that's what I took from that is really staying connected, staying
connected to yourself, to your employees,
your team, your clients, yeah, the mission and
the vision and using tools
(38:59):
like AI to take a little bit off your plate.
Yeah, to be able to articulate sometimes. I can't even tell you
how many times I'll go in and just ask, how can
I say this better? I'm feeling challenged by this. How
can I say this better? And then it just gives it to me in a way where
I'm like, bloop, that was easy. And then that saved
(39:20):
me time, but now I'm actually having the conversation I need to have. You
know, like I'm not sitting in this hesitation of the reaction of
something, you know, because I figured out this is the right finesse way
to deliver that message, you know. So
yeah, I do think then there's so many tools now to leverage for so many different things,
but I mainly use them for communication. And
(39:41):
then, you know, and then I built my app to assist those
who are feeling challenged. just in the everyday, right?
So any of these leadership questions, you know, are really key.
You have a place now to go where you can dialogue with me, which
Yeah, so can you talk a little bit more about the app, Hey Kareen? Yeah.
And where can people find it? What's it all about? Who needs it?
(40:04):
Yeah, so this has been such a labor of
love, this project. So Hey Kareen is like your
Hey Siri, Hey Alexa for entrepreneurial challenges
you're facing or just the guidance that you're looking for. I
found a lot of people wait too long to ask what they really
want to ask in order to move forward in what's going on
(40:25):
in their business. And I also found that my clients would constantly say,
I wish I could carry around in my pocket. Like
sessions, right? Like you only have so many sessions and then the in between
time and, you know, and I only have so much capacity. So
I built this app. The Hey Karine app is is centralized. All my
content, any conversation, this podcast will be on it, like every
(40:46):
single conversation I've had. articles, et cetera. But
then I cloned myself in AI so members who join
can actually chat with me and my 30 years
of business acumen and every new thing I'm
doing, learning, et cetera, gets put in there as a centralized way
to get the support you need as you're building your business. So all these questions
(41:07):
on like, hey, Karine, how do I hire somebody who
has this skill set? What are the qualifying questions I should ask? You
know, like, Hey, Korean, if I'm, if I'm feeling this challenge in my business and
I'm, I'm a creator, I found out from my CEO quiz, I'm a creator. Now
that means I got to get myself out of operation. So how do I
(41:28):
hire an operation? Can you give me a job description for that, for
this business? Like she'll give it to you. Like literally all
the things that I've been doing in my own practice. I
was like, she needs to do it because she could do it much faster, but
it is dialoguing off my data set, you know? It's
all me, like millions of records of all these years, coaching
(41:48):
sessions, et cetera, live in there. And it's really cool because
the impact that I'm seeing from those who are using it, being
like, I talk to you every day, I should still call you. And I'm like,
yeah, you should. But call
me about the things that, you know, maybe you need to
dialogue on further. Right. But let's you know,
(42:09):
I love that it's helping people and it's I'm no longer the blocker. It's
Right. Right. Oh, that's amazing, because for all
of the people out there listening who are in the coaching space
or in the health space where often everything it's one on one
and there's only so much time in the day. So you figured out a way to
(42:30):
Yeah. And it's not, I'm not the limitation, but
also it gives the answer so much faster too.
Like sometimes she's, she's way more succinct than I can be
sometimes. I'm like, I use her. I'm like, Hey, Hey, Kareem. Like
how do I, you know, and she helps me all the time. Like
I'm like, great. You know, that's what I would say. You just
(42:52):
said it's so much better. It's very meta. It's very like dimensional.
But I'll tell you that it's given me, Just when
I got the first test of the AI and I started playing
with her and I was like, holy crap, like I felt free.
Like I felt like this is my legacy. I literally can
become someone completely different if I wanted to. And she
(43:14):
can still serve. Right. And she could still serve up to that
version of me that, you know, helps help so many. Whereas
like I, you know, I'm no longer that blocker and
it doesn't block me from growing anymore because I can defer people to
(43:38):
Yeah. It's very cool. Very cool. Now, where can
people find out more about you, more about the app, or if they
I love that. Thank you for asking. So heykarine.com is
where you can get all things about the app. If you want to take the quiz, it's
also heykarine.com slash CEO, just so in
(43:58):
case that identity work will help people advance. And
then if you want to work with me directly, that's karinewalsh.com. And
there's all different ways we can connect. I run retreats. I
have quarterly workshops. I do these live
coaching calls. You can join as well. But truly, just
ask me. If there's something going on, just ask me. And if you want
(44:20):
to connect with me on the socials, I'm on LinkedIn mostly
and Instagram. Karine Z. Walsh is
where I'm there. You'll get to see my morning workouts and then also my
crazy what I'm doing in my workday. But I
add a lot of tips that I can to help you through
Awesome. And we'll have links to everything. So wherever you're
(44:44):
listening to this podcast, whatever platform you're on, just scroll down
a little bit. And in the show notes, one click will take you
to all of Kareen's resources. So
as we wrap up, one last question, and that's knowing
where you are now in your life and career, what advice would you give
(45:04):
I would tell her, because I talk to her sometimes, but
my 20-year-old self, I would tell her to have more fun. I did
have a good time, but I worked really hard and
I feel like it didn't have to be that serious. I
would tell her that and to be
more present. You know, sometimes when we're always forward thinking, I
(45:26):
mean, I still tell myself this today. That's why I know I would have to tell her too,
because, you know, I'm still not that far from who she was. But
yeah, to be more present, like really, really embrace the
gifting that we have each day and like make the best of
it, because you really don't know what the future holds. And it's
(45:49):
Perfect advice. Great way to end the podcast, Karine.
Thank you so much for coming on the podcast, sharing
all your wisdom. And again, if you want to check out the
app, go to heykarine.com and
check it out. Sounds really cool. So Karine, thanks so much for
(46:09):
My pleasure. And everyone, thanks so much for tuning in. Have
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