Karen Fiorini has had an interesting path to her current business and she kindly agreed to come on and talk about the transition and how she arrived at this new venture. I hope you enjoy hearing her story and how she’s helping others find their own success through her business, RF Success Academy.

If you’d like to learn more, book a meeting with Karen here.

Episode transcript:

Karen Wilson: Karen Fiorini, one half of the RF Success Academy team, is on the podcast with me today. Welcome, Karen.

Karen Fiorini: Welcome. Thank you, Karen. This is a pleasure and a real joy to be spending some time with you today. Thank you.

Karen Wilson: I'm excited to have you here. I wanted to start off by giving you an opportunity to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you do with RF Success Academy.

Karen Fiorini: Yes, thank you. RF Success Academy was born in- very recently actually, just in 2020, and it's got a bit of a long-standing history as to its development. But it is a very vibrant, positive, global community where we serve individuals and teams, business teams, in creating a better life. We look at it through the focus of personal development. Personal development is something that is truly- we all strive for it and we all are looking to be better. We really zone in on the individual themselves as to what their wants are and what are their desires, what are their goals.

RF Success is a great- it's been a great synergy with my business partner, Sandy Rutherford, and all of our teachings are based on our mentor, both of our mentors, is Bob Proctor. I'm not sure if you know who Bob is, Karen, but his teachings and studyings have been going on for 57-plus years.

The lineage goes back to Andrew Carnegie, who mentored a gentleman by the name of Napoleon Hill, who wrote a very world-famous book called Think and Grow Rich. Napoleon Hill mentored one of Bob's mentors who's Earl Nightingale, and Bob actually worked for Earl Nightingale for five years and developed himself and really brought him into who he is.

He's got a great story. He's a Canadian himself. With his teachings, he has developed a company called Proctor Gallagher Institute. Proctor Gallagher Institute is the larger company and RF Success is a company that we've developed, both Sandy Rutherford and I, through Bob's teachings. His teachings are incredible. The journey that we've had, her and I together prior to RF Success, has a story in itself.

It's a wonderful opportunity. We are heading in such an incredible direction. We've got so much synergy between the two of us. We've got a wealth of information. We both come from different backgrounds prior to our coaching careers. It's wonderful and I'm so looking forward to what the future holds for us. It's going to be very, very positive and inspiring.

Karen Wilson: That's exciting. That's quite the story. What gets you excited every day about doing the work that you do with RF Success?

Karen Fiorini: Karen, I have to pause and sit back and take a sigh because it is the most incredible, gratifying type of work. I say that because I'm really working with individuals and allowing them to become who they really are. We as individuals often don't see our true potential. We don't see that we're an inspiring individual and we don't see that we have confidence and belief in ourselves.

So, we eliminate all of those things that we're striving for because we get set in our mind, "Oh, I can't do that. That's impossible. There's no way that I could ever dream that." Or they wait for the perfect time, you know, "When my kids are gone," or, "You know what? When I finish this career, I'm on to this career." Don't wait. Life is truly a gift and you've got to embrace it. Every day embrace abundance because we have so much within us.

It's so gratifying the work that I do. The work I do started out-- If I may, Karen, just bring you into the loop of prior to RF Success. I've been always in the meeting and conference planning business. So, you're probably thinking, "What's the parallel between organizing a conference and working with an individual?" Well, it very clearly came to me a few years ago. I've had another business, as I said, since 2006 in the conference and meeting planning space, working with corporate clients in handling high-end programs, board retreats, shareholder meetings, incentive travel programs. So, I've had the pleasure, truly, of traveling all over the world and working with so many wonderful people. Being it clients, being it people in hotels and venues and restaurants, airlines, you name it. Anybody that's within the space of the event itself.

Two years ago, probably two and a half now, I was in a space with my business of; what was my next? And I didn't have my visions changed of the actual business and where it was going. As I was really being so busy with it, I was always on the road and always talking to so many people. And truthfully, Karen, it wasn't the job that the person had, it was them as a person. I would have great conversations and I could see the services that they were providing us to complement what we needed to do. Whether it was a black-tie affair, we have the entertainment coming in, we've got all the florals that are coming, and the menu itself and the staff and all that; but it was really getting to know who the people were and what made them, what got them inspired.

You asked me that question; what got me inspired? And I was so intrigued with what gets you inspired. What gets you up out of bed? What is your purpose? What's your visions? What are your goals? In listening to this, it really made me look at coaching to the point where I was at; do I want to build the business or is that that coaching link that I need to build, or is it the coaching link I need to develop Karen? The coaching link was very clear on the development of Karen.

So when I immersed myself in the studies of what we sell right now and funny enough- or I'm not even going to say funny enough, it's coincidence but I believe coincidences are so- they're meant to be. Sandy and I connected, and she actually coached me through the program and now her and I are in business together. Our success- Rutherford-Fiorini Success Academy is just that, and it really was truly born on that premise of helping people; together we thrive. And building that community and through study.

Because one thing I've noticed in myself in the last six months, six to eight months, is truly the wealth of knowledge that is in study. Because when we don't have that knowledge and understanding, we go into that ignorant state, and we get into negativity and we get into worry, doubt, fear, anxiety. This is all about positive thinking and positive mindset.

Karen Wilson: Well, that is a fascinating story. One of the things that- as we've been speaking and then in reading your website, one of the things that jumped out at me was that you refer to programming and how that influences the decisions we make and the path we take. I feel like that word is so important because it creates these invisible barriers that keep us from achieving the goals we want. Related to that, you have the thinking and results success system. Can you talk a little bit about that whole idea of working through the programming and then shifting your thinking to a results-focused approach?

Karen Fiorini: Absolutely. I mean, just the words alone; thinking into results. Those three words are powerful in their own, and we do constantly think every single minute of the day and so much of our thinking becomes internal. We can look at 2% to 4% of our day is actually conscious, when 96% to 98% is subconscious. Our mind is just that. If you can picture the mind being-- When I say to you, Karen, what does the mind look like? You automatically go to the brain because we think in imagery, we think in pictures.

When you're taking that word thinking and results, that is ultimately where you want to go. Because you do. We all want to have results in life. What are those results? Our goals; having a crystal-clear goal of where you want to see yourself. Because we all have goals and we get stopped by it. We attempt to accomplish something that's beyond our level of belief, and our mind quickly and automatically creates ideas and reasoning to justify why we can't do it, why it can't be done. Then we continue on that line, and then we just abandon it and we think, "Okay, it's not."

So if you believe it can be done, then the mind will automatically begin to create those ideas and it'll pave the path to accomplishment. Goals, specifically. I mean, goals are something that you go after that you've never done before, and it's designed to help you grow and to draw something from yourself that you didn't even know was there. We can think of goals as in something that you've already know how to do. That's your present results. That's where we're at right now. Then we can look at goals that make you think, if you've got that perfect plan, if you've got it laid out, "I've got the perfect plan, the perfect timing, everything." Well, that's what we think we can do, right? It's those fantasy goals. It's that imagination of, "What do I really want?"

Karen Wilson: Do you ever run into clients who struggle to have that vision of the future?

Karen Fiorini: Yes, and that is the platform of the work that we do, the study we do, the programming that we do. Thinking into results is truly a success system. When you're first going into it, you do have to be in line with, "What do I want?" It starts so much with desire. You've got that desire within, so you're thinking about something. When you think about it-- As I said, I talked a little bit about the mind. We've got our conscious mind and our subconscious mind.

Our conscious mind is our educated mind. It's what-- I mean, as kids in school, very young age, we take it in, we take it in, we take it in. Then we look at what we call the report card syndrome, or the bank statement syndrome or the balance sheet syndrome because that's what we see. When we look at our subconscious mind, that's where all the emotion comes in. So, when you're thinking about an idea and it's not until you impress it on your subconscious mind that you start to go into action. A lot of people get to the subconscious, but then they go into fear, and doubt and worry because they can't breakthrough. What do they do? They go back to where they were, and they don't get those results and they stay stuck. They really stay stuck.

Dreams are true. It's just like when you're a little child. Your mom would say, "What do you want to wear for Halloween or what do you want to be?" Little girls want to be princesses and boys want to be superheroes. What is it in a child that creates that wonderful imagination? They're free. They're free to imagine. Whereas as we get older, our thinking; it changes because we block it with what we call paradigms. The paradigms are a multitude of habits. It's a habit or an idea that's fixed in a person's subconscious mind that causes them to do something without any conscious awareness or any conscious thought.

The paradigms have a tendency to talk us out of things. They'll talk us out. It's mental chatter. So, you've got to have persistence. When persistence comes into it, that's where it elevates you to breakthrough and when you start to get into that action-- Because you have to have a plan to have a goal. I explain it as a GPS. You think of your mind as a GPS or you as a GPS. You're putting in what your goal is into the GPS, just like you would if you're going on a trip, if you're going to New York, or driving, you're getting in your car, you put your GPS and the GPS directs you to where you're going. You have to have a specific address, just like you have to have a specific goal.

You could course-correct all the way through and you'll never stop getting there. Your plan may change, but never your goal. So, you might have to take a right turn but the GPS will- Bionic Betty will come on and say, "Take a left at the next street and then take a right," but you're still going to get there. It may be a roundabout way, but you're still going to get there. So, you have to have a plan. When you have a plan and you have that burning desire within for that goal and then you make a committed decision to that goal, then we roll up our sleeves and we get to work.

Karen Wilson: It's so funny that you use the GPS analogy. Because I was just preparing this outline [chuckles] that was talking about desired outcomes and then how you set goals to support the desired outcomes. You make a plan because that's your GPS. [laughs] Oh, boy [crosstalk]--

Karen Fiorini: You have to have a plan. I call it my MAP; My Action Plan, M-A-P. I also relate it to-- If you said to me right now, "Karen, my goal is I want to run a marathon. I've never done it but I've always wanted to do it. I see people. I go to races, I see them winning, I see them crossing that finish line, I see that medal getting put on them." You can't go out tomorrow and just buy yourself a pair of running shoes and a fancy outfit, and book your registration and say, "Okay, I'm ready to go." You've got to map it out. You've got to train. You have to have all of your plan in place of how much you're going to run today. Your nutrition has to come, your sleep has to come. All of those things.

If you think about it in the picture of a ladder, you start here. "I'm here. I've made that committed decision. Okay, so let's start. Where are we going to start? And you make strategic plans. You're not going to get there tomorrow but I'm telling you with the work that we do, we've seen incredible results with our clients within six months. The program itself is designed as a six-month program, but it is definitely a lifetime investment.

Karen Wilson: Tell me about-- We were talking about the programming and as you were speaking there, you can kind of infer how that programming creates such difficulty in getting into the subconscious because of the fears and because of the beliefs and what we've just internalized for so long. What are some of the concerns that you help clients with most often?

Karen Fiorini: Well, a lot of it is, is really staying-- Once you've got that goal, it's really staying-- We call it the trick to staying in charge no matter the circumstance. If you want to be in control of your results and your results are what you get in life, then you've got to live from the inside out. So, you have to understand that we all have intellectual faculties. Our intellectual faculties are those higher-- We've got our senses. Our five senses are we hear, smell, taste, touch. That's what is our conscious. But when we get into, "We need to stay in our lane, we need to stay laser-focused," we go into those higher faculties. And we call those our perception, our will, our reasoning, our imagination, our memory and our intuition.

It's these higher faculties that really permit you to enjoy the results that you want. Truly, every single person has infinite potential and there is no end to what you're capable of, what I'm capable of doing. You have to release, you have to unleash yourself and remove all of that programming, all of those belief systems that you've got, to get to your greatness so your greatness can be expressed. When you've got that will, that burning desire, you've got the reasoning mind, you've got the imagination; your intuition, you've got to listen to-- Sometimes we don't listen to our intuition.

Again, the intuition can be very strong in an individual. Yourself, sometimes, you say, "My gut says this." Well, then go with your gut. Your higher faculties, as I just explained, they can almost override your programming because you've got that will, like you've got that burning will, and it shifts your programming and it shifts you into a positive mindset. And with positivity comes faith within and that faith within is demonstrated through your actions, and with great actions you're going to get positive results.

Karen Wilson: I know that in working with business owners at a basic level, one of the struggles that I see is just the ability to determine your value and then own it. Because you can't own your value unless you really define it for yourself because you can't let external factors be the determining factor. You have to be able to decide what you're worth internally, and then go out there and be confident and own that value. Often, I see-- I'll have business owners that I've sent requests to for a quote and I get the quote back and I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, that's way too low." [laughs] Because the value to me is so much more than what they're asking me to pay.

It's so interesting that I see this with women and then there's the dichotomy of, typically with men, there is an excessive value placed on the work. It's so interesting that we devalue ourselves so much. That is a struggle that I see many women face in their business, in their careers. What kind of work have you done with clients on that?

Karen Fiorini: [sighs] Again, I can share a very, very clear story as of yesterday, truthfully. I mean, self-image. Self-image is what stops us. It stops us from achieving. It stops us from-- You bring up the word value. We don't see the value in our work. We don't see the value in us. So how can we see the value in our work? Your results that you get are truly a direct reflection of the image of yourself; that you're holding back. You want to improve your image and you want to be powerful. You want to be energized; you want to feel strong.

We, actually, have just developed very recently, Karen, what we call a self-image. It's a six-week self-image of your dreams course. I've had like-- I'll be honest. I can share a very recent story. I worked with a young lady, she started out in the self-image course and she got to week two. The course is designed to really blast- what I call blast the subconscious mind- and really look at that you truly are gifted. You truly have everything. You just need to express it. You need to get it out. Again, it's those paradigms which is our belief systems and they stop us in our tracks.

I worked with her; she was on week two through the programming. We get into affirmations. Affirmations are very strong. We get into forgiveness, the law of forgiveness. She got to week two and she abandoned it and she really struggled with it. So, I picked up and started working with her. I talked to her last night and I said to her, "The difference in her from our first conversation two months ago was very, very-" it was almost 360 to where she's at.

Part of the self-image course that we do is creating that person. We call it power life story. So, you are creating, you are seeing an image of yourself and that is the image that you are now living because you're living from the wish fulfilled. That wish fulfilled is that goal. When you have programming in your mind, you get a perception of what you are and who you are and what your worth; your value, as you referenced. That's all refer to your inner image.

When you make your outer image- when you look at your outer image, it's the one that you project to the world. It's the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you dress, the way you meet and greet other people. So, your results are always a reflection of what's going on internally. It's not until you deal with what's internally that you can really- like to your point- send those invoices out, make those phone calls and know that what you're sending out- if it's an invoice for a $1,000, that that's your worth, that's your value. That's how you show up.

I talk to a lot of women. You mentioned women because a lot of my clients are women who they're afraid. They're afraid to push the envelope, they're afraid. And of course, fear, and doubt, and worry and procrastination set in and then you don't achieve. When you're going to make that phone call, you get fear. "They don't want to talk to me. I don't have anything that's worthy. Why would they want to buy from me? Why would they want to engage in my-?"

Well, if you've got that mindset, as soon as you pick up the phone, that's definitely going to be portrayed in your conversation. Or if you're going to a meeting and-- I mean, when we get back into our meet-and-greet formats personally, is being able to shake someone's hand and dressing for success and demanding that of yourself and putting on that outfit, putting on that lipstick. Putting on those pair of shoes and that handbag and walking out the door with yourself just up high and confident and knowing that you are at your best.

I'm telling you, when you're in that space, when you're living that, people are seeing it and you're becoming it. You're becoming it. You wrote it and you're becoming it.

Karen Wilson: You've gone through, as you mentioned, a fairly significant shift from working in the events space to now coaching on personal development and helping people really become goal-oriented and results-oriented. Do you see yourself in your clients these days and how has the path you've taken to get to this new place given you greater empathy for their struggles and their successes?

Karen Fiorini: Absolutely. I feel very proud of where I was and where I am today. I truly, Karen, have to say 100% that it's in the material that I'm studying. When you see a shift within yourself, because you're reading something or you're engaged in something, you get afraid because you're; well, what's happening to me? Where am I going? But it feels so right and you can't go back to where you were. I see it in clients. Just even in the power of words. When people say, "I'm struggling. I feel guilty. I'm not worthy. I can't do that," it's that would have, should have, could have. I hear that and it's-- I hate to say this, but it's almost music to my ears because I saw myself in that state of confusion.

I mean, we need order in our life. We need order in our mind. When we don't have order, we have fog and we're going in all different directions. We're seeing all these shiny objects, we're reaching for them, and we're seeing this and seeing this, and then you're not yourself. You're not becoming who you authentically are. A lot of people- that's where self-confidence comes in- they look in the mirror and they just go, "Who am I? What do I represent anymore? I've lost who I am. I've lost my knee." So, I hear this a lot and I could very much relate it.

The power of me, having gone through the program, I feel is almost giving me that superpower to work with individuals because I was there. When you can tell a story and you can talk about your journey and be able to see, like I see something in you that you don't see in yourself. It's allowing that to be unleashed, really. We're so afraid. What are you afraid of? There's nothing to be afraid of. Rise up to who you are. We hide behind- like women who are heavyset women, they hide behind baggy clothes or they hide behind long hair. Show up and be beautiful in who you are because we're all beautiful. We don't see that. We don't see the beauty.

Somebody will tell me like, "You've got it all going on," and I think, "I don't have it all going on." That's that inner being saying, "I don't have it going on." The outside looks great. I got a flashy car, flashy house, all this, but I'm hurting inside. When you can tap into that hurt and really recognize it and bring it out; almost learn and teach yourself that you are good. Women lose that. They lose it as they get older and as they're having families, their career gets put on the back-burner. When they try to reinvent themselves, "What do I reinvent myself to?"

Even recent with COVID; a lot of my colleagues in the industry, they've had these very successful businesses in event planning. They're now looking at, "Well, events are over. There's nothing going on. I'm not worthy. I don't know anything else." That's why I've been doing very, very well of late – the opposite of engaging in these conversations with men and women and saying, "But you have so much within," and then asking that one simple question, "What is it that you really want?" It's not something that you're going to decide right now. You've really got to put pen to paper, take some quiet time and look at your life, where you're going. "What do I want?" And we're afraid to ask ourselves that question because we're afraid of where it's going to go. When you ask yourself that question and you tap into that, it's magic. It's truth and its success. It really is success and purpose.

Karen Wilson: You mentioned that you hear words that trigger in you the could have and should have and would haves; those are like the conversations that I'm having with clients where they'll say something and I'm like, "I can help you fix that." That's the benefit of working with you, is when you see that need express itself so clearly, you latch on to that and go, "Hey, listen. I got your back. I can help you." When you're so passionate about the work you do, it makes it fun and so gratifying to see people shift and evolve, and then eventually, just transform into what they were really meant to be.

Karen Fiorini: That's it, exactly. It's a beautiful thing. When you can see someone's journey-- Like I was referencing to that young lady that I've been working with and listening to her conversations and then working every week with her, every day. Accountability, that's another huge thing, is you're saying one thing but you're not doing it. That gap; closing that gap and what is it that's missing. And it's so much of our mindset, of our thinking, it stops us. We go into these nonproductive activities. All we want is productive activities, but we can't get there because we don't see that we can get there and we get stopped through our power of thought.

Karen Wilson: Well, let's shift gears a little bit and talk about marketing.

Karen Fiorini: Yes.

Karen Wilson: You've had this interesting dynamic where you've gone from a well-established business in an industry, and your timing for leaving that industry ended up working out well for you, given current events. How did you go about planning and executing this transition and promoting the change while you added a partner into the mix? How did you come together and make that work?

Karen Fiorini: Well, as I said, the marketing piece has really unraveled so beautifully. A partnership can create some great energy between two people, or three people or however you look at a partnership. Currently, it's Sandy and I. She had very clear visions of just that; of a partnership, of where she saw the business. She's got a few more years of coaching than myself, and so she's seen a lot of different things, has worked with many clients. I think the power of collaboration has got a lot of great benefits to it.

It can be meant in different ways. You could be a silent partner, you could be a very visible partner, but you very clearly define roles. Roles are not to be absolute. They can really blend into each other very nicely. That's what we found; is the blend and the mix of what she brought to the equation and what I brought to the equation was just two plus two equals four. I mean, it just added all up. We've got our strengths within. We've got our weaknesses within. Sometimes those weaknesses can, when someone's got that strength, can just elevate you, and then it just becomes such a win-win and you truly are in harmony of your visions and purposes and goals.

Her and I are always in creation-mode. Yesterday afternoon, Karen, we were on the phone at 5:30. We had a call because we do a check-in every day. I was just telling her of all these visions that I could see, and how we need to change this, and I can see this and I think the clients will benefit on this. When you've got that, first of all, that energy and that enthusiasm, you know you're heading in the right direction. You know that your partnership is one of perfect synergy.

The marketing, you talk about the marketing piece, and truthfully, it's your brand. You are your brand. I could be very transparent. Yes, I showed up as the conference event planner and that's how my clients saw me. Even my industry colleagues within the travel business would see me as now this coach. There's not a lot of parallels. I see parallel because I think it's all in helping people, whatever industry they're in, and because of my conferencing meeting planning, I wasn't into one business sector. It was many sectors; in network marketing, with real estate, financial, legal manufacturing. It was just different, so it is all different people.

Now, I'm working with all kinds of different people. We truly work with all of that; realtors, network marketers, insurance, financial, so all within them as them and also coming in and working with teams, which I'm very in tune with. Sandy has got a corporate background herself, so we come from that. The marketing has- we've just really kind of come in because branding, as you know, that's what you stand for. That's what people remember you as.

Bob Proctor himself tells a story about branding. You think about when you get on an aircraft- his story is you get on an aircraft, you're sitting upfront, you get the menu and it says Coca Cola on it. Now, it's Coca Cola as in the logo Coca Cola. It's not written out Coca Cola. As soon as you see that logo, you relate to Coca Cola.

So, we're coming into our brand. We've just launched our new website, which we're very, very proud of. We actually had a wonderful photo shoot done from a young lady who's a friend of my daughter. She's done an incredible job and she engaged in our expression. When you go on our website, you will see just that. I think that that also lends itself to the work that we do because people will engage with-- I mean, there's lots of coaches out there, just like there is in any business, but it's who you connect with and who you really are in frequency with. That's what we find with the clients that we're dealing with. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Marketing, as you know, you've got to make sure you've got it on point because it is what you're representing, right?

Karen Wilson: Yes, absolutely. Do you have any advice or lessons-learned to share with other business owners who might be thinking of similar shifts in their approach? Maybe they're going from one industry to another or taking on a partner.

Karen Fiorini: My recommendations or my stories or my teachable moments, if I want to call it that, is really be clear on what you want. Be really clear on your expectation, your objectives, your visions; do they align? And know that whatever you want to do, whatever crazy thoughts you might have, tune into those. We don't get them often. You and I could be having a conversation right now and something might pop in you, "Oh, yes." And it's those ideas that you got to act on and act on fast because that elevates you to part of your success and part of where you're going. We all have great ideas and don't allow anyone outside to say, "That's not a good idea. That's not a good idea."

There's actually a great story that Bob talks about, it's called the 333 Story. It's about; years ago when the hurricane or the tornado went through Barrie, Ontario. He was coming back from Huntsville from an event there, and he stopped on the side of the road and another gentleman had stopped on the side of the road. The gentleman that stopped on the side of the road was in radio and television media, and he was trying to sort out how he could support the community of Barrie in their getting things back together. He came to listen to Bob. Bob was doing a presentation on personal development, and him and Bob connected.

The story goes; is that he got all of his people within his company together and they brainstormed, they mastermind. They mastermind on how can we get this out to the world in support? How can we do that? As he was in the boardroom, if you could visualize a boardroom of 10 to 12 people in it, and you're going around the room and somebody- like you'll come up with an idea and somebody will say, "No, that's not going to work." So, you quickly say, "Pass, pass, pass."

So don't allow your ideas to fade because if there's something that you want and if there's something that you see within you that you can do, whether it be on your own, or whether three people partner together and they mastermind on how could we do this? How can we elevate this? How can we bring presence to-- How can we make a greater event? How can we bring online presence? How can we make the greatest podcast, the greatest webinar? We all have ideas, so allow those to come out and allow those to be heard.

Karen Wilson: I think that one of the things that I try to do too, when I'm in a situation like that where ideas are coming forward, try to look at what the end result is trying to be. If the path to get there that's being suggested doesn't seem like it's going to work, we map it out a different way.

Karen Fiorini: That's that GPS, right?

Karen Wilson: Exactly. It just makes sense that if the result is the right result, there's got to be a way to get there.

Karen Fiorini: Exactly, and that's course correct. But stay in your lane, stay laser-focused on what you want, and you will achieve, and you will see the results and the results will be a reflection of you, of where you're at in that in that moment. It's a brilliant-- Yes, it's amazing. It's just everything about you comes out and you just feel good, you live better, your mind is clear, and everything attracts to you. Then doors open up, opportunities show up and there's not one opportunity that you should ever say no to. Always listen. Always be open to conversation because we can very quickly say, "I know where this conversation is going. I know she's got a method to her madness. I know," but you don't know.

You've really got to open up and listen. Make yourself a great listener because there's a lot of great people out there and a lot of great thoughts and imaginations and desires.

Karen Wilson: I like to say to trust your instincts because your instincts will, most of the time, lead you in the right direction but don't be afraid to question them either. [chuckles]

Karen Fiorini: This is true, and that's that, you know, that instinct, like that intuitive part of you. That gut thing. People say they don't have it. "I don't have a good memory." We all have a great memory. We just have to strengthen it. We all have will. We all have the will within. We all have great intuition and perception. I mean, your perception of something could be completely different from, "I'm not right. You're not wrong. I'm not wrong," it's your perception.

Karen Wilson: Absolutely, yes. That whole idea of perception and hearing what others' perspectives are, I think it's so important being open to it because in certain cases, perception is reality. Even if the perception is flawed, it's still reality to the person who's looking at a situation from that vantage point.

Karen Fiorini: That's very true and they want to be heard.

Karen Wilson: Absolutely. Well, it has been an absolute pleasure chatting with you today. Karen, could you tell listeners how they can find out more about what you do?

Karen Fiorini: Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Karen. This has been such a fantastic-- I mean, I feel a connection with you just from our dialogue, so there's something to be said for that as well. So, thank you. Thank you so much. As I said, our website has just been newly launched and its RF; R like Rutherford; F like Fiorini.

Visit Karen’s website here.

Karen Wilson: We'll make sure that we include the link in the show notes.

Karen Fiorini: I'll also include as well – I've got a link to an online calendar. If you'd like to book a call, have just a conversation, discovery call, check-in, just a chat, I'd be more than happy to share some of my thoughts and certainly see ways I can help you.

Karen Wilson: Fantastic. Well, it's been an incredible conversation. I enjoyed every moment of it and I look forward to speaking with you again soon.

Karen Fiorini: Great, thanks. I just want to leave everyone with one quote, Karen; Change is inevitable but personal growth is a choice. And it is. Thank you so much.

Karen Fiorini: Thank you so much and yes, it's been a great pleasure.