#178 Embracing Fear and Transitioning from Corporate to Entrepreneurship with Corrie LoGiudice

0:00:01 - Mehmet
Hello and welcome back to a new episode of the City or Show with Mehmet Today. I'm very pleased to have with me today on the show Corrie. She has a great story to tell us, Corrie. What I like to do usually is I like the guests to introduce themselves to tell us about what they do, and you know, I leave the stage to you. 

0:00:20 - Corrie
Sure, so would you like to hear the journey of how I came to doing what I do today, or just the very simple? This is what I do today. 

0:00:26 - Mehmet
So we'll start with the intro. Yeah, we'll start the intro. Then we'll come back to the journey. 

0:00:31 - Corrie
Okay, got it. So my name is Corrie LoGiudice. I am a professional keynote speaker, I'm a coach consultant. I also work as a fractional CMO, slash COO, and I've been doing this about five years now, and my specialty in business is low and no cost marketing, as well as working with aspiring entrepreneurs and, you know, small to mid-sized businesses. 

0:00:55 - Mehmet
That's great. Now I would like to hear the story, but one thing I want to mention and the reason why I wanted to make it into a question, because you know, I know you have, you know, long experience I would say so, if you can go over this journey and highlighting, you know, the main, I would say key steps that took you, you know, to the place where you were before, to where you have reached now, Sure, it's actually a pretty wild journey. 

0:01:24 - Corrie
So let's say it all starts off with I have a very expensive piece of paper that says I could draw well. So I actually went to art school. Most people don't know this about me. They assume I have a business degree. Nope, could not be further than the truth. So I graduated college with an art degree. I could not get a job, so I was doing the cliche waiting tables thing, which really annoyed my father. Now my father at the time was the second generation running my family's business. So my family owns a large electronics distribution company in the northeastern United States. Covers all the way from Virginia through Maine, so large operation. And he said you know what, why don't you come work for us for a bit? You could do graphic design, you know, and kind of see where things take you from there. So take the job, thinking it's going to be a short term thing. Blink my eyes and 15 years later I'm running it as senior vice president. Never anticipated it. 

I just really kind of took to business. You know again, I'm now, you know, the fourth generation entrepreneur on my side of the business, so it's kind of in our blood. But I really loved learning everything that I could from my father and working my way up from graphic design. Then I built out a marketing department, then I was assigned operations, then sales, eventually at some point ended up reporting to me, and I absolutely love the work that I did and I love the people that I worked with. But in a way I always kind of felt that something was off. I kind of felt like unfulfilled. And what kind of changed things for me at that time was I suddenly became a single mom. I fled an abusive relationship. People never knew this about me because I was this, you know, strong senior vice president, always showing up to work. 

But what was going on behind the scenes was awful. I was in an abusive marriage. I left when my son was five months old. I ended up homeless for a little bit. I had to move in with my parents and I was doing this, commuting back and forth. It was over two hours each way, so I was commuting over 20 hours a week to get to this position and I tried really hard to get you know, remote work and you know things to make it easier for me to do my job, which, even though it was my family's company, it was difficult for them to do it because it was before the pandemic and people just weren't doing that kind of stuff. 

And so I kicked and scratched and did what I had to do and ultimately ended up being able to save enough to buy a house and I moved into a great neighborhood and I got into a new relationship. My partner and I were gonna get married, our kids were best friends and All the same time, while this is going on, I'm still feeling like something's missing. I'm still feeling like this isn't what I'm meant to be doing, but I still keep kind of showing up and you know doing what I'm doing. And what changed for me was I was the one to discover that he took his life by suicide and In that moment I thought to myself Corey, you and everyone you know, and love can be gone in an instant Like, what are you doing with your life? 

So it was literally within a span of, I want to say, six months, that I stepped down from my role, you know, in the family business. I went to business for myself Because of my over 15 years of experience and working with small mom and pop retail through wholesale distribution. I was very good at that. I was very good at helping small businesses compete against fortune 200 brands that they were actually Representing, which is kind of ironic. But, with that said, I was able to land paying clients very, very quickly in my business coaching practice. Within a couple of months, I was in the press. I had over 40,000 followers on social media again due to my digital marketing background and everything I had done and within a year, I was a TEDx speaker. And it all happened really, really quickly and it's now something that I work with my coaching clients on. You know how exactly do you go from that feeling of overwhelmed and not knowing where to start, and Then transforming that into extraordinary action is what I like to call it. So that's the journey. 

0:05:15 - Mehmet
Wow, what, what a journey really like. It's very impressive, I'd say Corey, but of course, like you know, it's like shifting from, let's call it, a comfort zone to something by your own right. So, you know, leaving you the family business after spending 15 years, and so what, you would say, the biggest challenge you faced when you started to venture on your own. 

0:05:44 - Corrie
Biggest challenge was actually myself Having to get out of my own way, and so many, especially brand new entrepreneur, struggle with this. It's always that fear of failure, right, it's like what's gonna happen if I fail, and the I guess you could say the silver lining for me in the situation was Based on the trauma I had experienced in the five years before. I'm like what could get worse than this? Absolutely nothing. I had already been penniless before I was cleared out with my divorce. I you know I had already had to take risks, so I'm like really nothing could get any worse. 

But that fear of failure is still always there and it's a part of entrepreneurship that you just have to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. And one of the things I tell my clients all the time it's really kind of funny, but it's also true is that entrepreneurs are quite literally professional failures. Right, we failed so many times that we eventually hit something and got good at something and created a lot of money from it. So you ultimately make a lot of money through failing, and that's the truth of it. So I would say that would probably have been, you know, my biggest fear at the time, and I think that resonates for probably most entrepreneurs out there. Yeah, actually you, you touch on something which was my next question. 

0:06:57 - Mehmet
But before asking that, if, quick note or remark from my side. I agree with you that Usually entrepreneurs and, of course, because I'm in tech, so the you know, I think that's the biggest fear I've ever had. If you know, the fear of failure is one of the things that sometimes it let us, you know, delay, you know, taking actions right. So, and this is my question, like how how you can push that fear and you know, and what I was preparing, like one of the things you you talk about, how you can make fun actually of it. So can we explain this a little bit more? 

0:07:35 - Corrie
Sure. So ultimately, fear of failure is rooted in you not having confidence that the actions you're taking are Going to result in what it is that you're looking to do right. So there's a confidence gap and ultimately, your confidence is Always your own responsibility. I think so many people out there they kind of view it as well. When other people validate that I'm good at what I do, then I'll be able to do this. And it doesn't work that way. You have to believe inside that you are willing and able to do what it is that you want to do. A story to kind of explain this is Back when I was going through my phase when things didn't, you know, feel in alignment and they didn't feel fulfilled, and I was working in corporate. 

I was working with a therapist and at that time she had said to me you know she's like is it possible that maybe, you know you need to change careers? And I thought to myself, like, oh, you know, absolutely not. You know I was, you know, groomed to do this. You know it's been over 15 years. My family's prepared me for it and I give her so much credit and I thank her to this day where she was the one that said you know what you know. Have you ever considered coaching? You know the business coaching or personal coaching? I've never seen somebody navigate challenges the way that you do, and if you could teach people how to do it, that would be tremendous. And my gut reaction to her initially was you are insane like what can make you think that I could do this? And truth was not. Even. Two weeks before she said this to me, I had watched that documentary on tony robbins on netflix. I think it's called I am not your guru and. 

I remember watching it and thinking to myself like, oh my god, his job looks so fun. Like to be able to ask a few questions and in an instant, transform somebody's life. That is so cool. But I would never be able to do that, but just instantly dismissed it because, you know, I had that confidence gap. I didn't think that was there. So ultimately, what ended up happening was after. You know my loss. 

You know, when my partner had passed away, I decided to go and get educated on what's involved with being a coach. I explored different certifications. I read a lot of books. I found out the knowledge gap that was causing that confidence. If true, for me. What I discovered was basically everything I have been doing in a leadership for over 15 years at my family's business was coaching. I was coaching everybody in an organization to perform their highest potential. I already had the skills, but I had to be the one to believe it first. Once that happens, then you can actually take action on it. That's the biggest thing If you want an actionable takeaway. It's to get real with yourself. What am I not confident about? Then go out and either get the education or get the experience Through doing. That's what's going to build your confidence. It's going to be less and less uncomfortable the more you do it, and then, ultimately, it's going to end up being second nature. 

0:10:16 - Mehmet
One thing, if you allow me to add. I think people sometime they feel they will be mocked by other people if they fail. Sometime they think, oh, what my parents would say, what my friends would say, and my advice is again, you need to just go and do it and fail. It happened to me at some stages in my career also as well, and everyone was thinking I'm crazy. But yeah, even if I failed, I say I tried. Anyway, you often mentioned the importance of recognizing and capitalizing on talents. How does one truly identify their talents and turn them into profitable business? Because this is very important for anyone who's listening or watching this. Whether you are a tech, you are in business background, whatever. How to tackle this, the talent. 

0:11:12 - Corrie
Sure, the talent side of it. I do a lot of coaching on this and usually the framework that I use it's very simple and it really narrows down to looking at three specific things. Number one is I like to joke what did you love to do as a kid? In general, because when we were children, that was before society put expectations on us on what we should be doing and what you are good at and what you are bad at, because that's what they believe, not what you believe. But what did you really love to do as a kid? That puts you in flow. 

For me, I loved to paint and draw. I was very creative, hence why I ended up going to art school. But this is a great key indicator for most people, because a lot of folks, I feel, who are unfulfilled, they've come so far away from what it is that they're naturally inclined to enjoy doing that. They then dismiss it. That's not to say too. Using myself as an example, I work in business, but I'm not making money from art. 

Being creative doesn't have to come through in how I'm monetizing stuff. It is, however, coming through and how I market myself. There's other ways that I'm using that skill set in order to be able to bring it into my professional career and help others. It doesn't have to be the sole thing, but it's important that you have that somehow integrated into what you're doing and how you're being every single day. That's first. 

So looking at what did you love to do as a kid. Then, looking at your formal education what were you taught? This is everything. This is from high school, college certifications. This is education that you paid for. That has a value on it, whether or not you use it in the industry you initially used it for. Again, circling back to myself as an example, I have that really expensive piece of paper that says I could draw well as an asset in the business world. The reason why that that's so important for me now is in being able to teach especially aspiring entrepreneurs, how to be creative, how to think outside of the box, creating campaigns that maybe other people haven't done or haven't tried. 

It's that creative thinking that then I can bring into business scenarios to then be able to work with a zero budget and create a lot of revenue out of it, just because I'm trying stuff that hasn't been done before. Last but not least, it's what Are you passionate about? What kind of change do you want to see in the world? So many people completely ignore this, but if you're able to align what it is you're doing with the change that you want to see, whether it be a specific problem or a specific type of person you really feel you know resonating to work with. 

You know, one of the reasons I love working with aspiring entrepreneurs is I truly believe it's a value of mine, that freedom is important. You know, especially as a parent. You know, as a working mom, I couldn't really hack it in corporate because of the time commitments and stuff. I couldn't get the flexibility. I believe everybody should have that kind of opportunity. So the work that I do today is very much in alignment with you know, that element as well. So I would say, looking at those three areas will give you a good idea of at least where to start brainstorming. Okay, well, what are some? Either jobs or some, you know, business offerings that I can offer that tie these three areas together and you'll be much closer to finding something that feels in alignment with what you feel you should be doing long term. 

0:14:35 - Mehmet
Yeah, this is very insightful and I think it resonates with some other frameworks. I would say that I myself saw before, which is like you need to see what you are passionate about. And the first point is something that I did personally when I wanted to start this podcast, because I was trying to remember you know what I was doing when I was as much as I can remember, of course when I was like five or six right at that time, and I remember I was doing this tape recording. You know all the old days with the tape recorder, so I was recording my voice, listening to myself again. That's awesome. 

0:15:10 - Corrie
Yeah. 

0:15:10 - Mehmet
I'm pretending to be like a news anchor or maybe sometimes a documentary, you know, comment or something like this. So you know when I wanted to find something I'm passionate about and now, you know, trying to make it a business out of the podcast, I mean so yeah, so I did the same approach, I would say, and really it was. So this is really cool. I would say advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and anyone who's now maybe thinking where can I start. So really good, good hints. I would say Now, at the beginning, when you did the introduction. So you talked about you know a little bit marketing, right. So, and you said like you act as a fractional CMO and CEO sometimes. So, and this topic I like to bring it a lot because startups usually the first thing they struggle is to get their first customers right. So, and you mentioned something about low cost or no cost marketing, can you please explain and share some tips on that also as well? 

0:16:13 - Corrie
Sure. So low and low cost my definition of this without needing to utilize websites content, so social media content or paid ads, right? So a lot of stuff that terrifies for new entrepreneurs to begin with. And really what this comes down to is the way that people used to generate business before the internet, which I'm very grateful for my family and having been in business for so long, because when I first started with them, it was really right at the very beginning of social media, that was kind of a new thing, so they were still doing a lot of the old school traditional tactics which I still teach my clients today, which networking like first and foremost. 

If you are a brand new business owner, that is the number one way that you should be getting the word out there, because it's much, much easier to articulate the value that you have to offer somebody in a one-on-one conversation like this than it is to be able to translate that into a social media post that you're then competing with everybody else in your space online, as well as the algorithm to get it right, which nine times out of 10, doesn't happen if you're brand new because you're not exactly clear on who it is that you're working with yet. But it's much, much easier to invite somebody for a Zoom coffee or to, you know, meet up at a networking, you know mixer, and to have conversations with people, because you can demonstrate that value very quickly and easily just in a couple of lines in an interaction and People have that no-liking trust factor right away. So that would be probably my best tip. And again, it's low and no cost, because most of these events you don't necessarily have to pay to go, unless it's like a mastermind kind of thing. 

And then same thing even with content. The way that I usually walk my clients through doing the content play is you're not creating content, you're interacting with content. 

0:18:01 - Mehmet
Right which again is free. 

0:18:02 - Corrie
So if you're going on and you're being really strategic about who it is that your target client is and who you want to be having conversations with, you're commenting on their post, you're looking online for posts with. You know problem words that they have, you know Different challenges that they have that you might be able to provide value in the comments. Help them solve the problem and then, if they want to take it to another level, dm you to potentially in a role in booking your service. So these are all different ways to kind of get around the Content creation. 

You know loop but at the same, time it really just comes down to doing low and no cost. It's trying to think of okay, what's available to me that's free, that's working for everybody else, and what are alternative ways I could use the same tool to get the same result mm-hmm. 

0:18:46 - Mehmet
Now I like to hear you know the opinion of people who are expert more than me. I Work as a consultant technology background. At some stage I shifted to sales. Now I have a theory is it's? It's actually what you mentioned is about, not exactly the low-cost or no cost approach, but I believe that that companies or startups that say specifically they need to become a magnet so people come to them, and this could be by, as you said, going to networking event, going to marketing, and I believe outreach has a serious issues in the future. Now I might be, I might be wrong. You know what I mean by me like the cold DM on LinkedIn. 

0:19:36 - Corrie
Okay, yeah, I have a lot of thoughts on this, so I generate a lot of business through LinkedIn, cold DM and the way that you do this without it being intrusive is you have to be hyper-targeted and who it is that you're messaging, and you have to know that what it is you're offering is directly Relevant to a problem that they have a high probability of having. For, whatever their role is Right, because when you're able to do that, then it's actually an act of service in reaching out to somebody, because they Probably are already looking for a solution and it's much, much easier to have somebody come to them with the solution and be able to Speak to it and articulate it in the language that they would use. That it is for them to actually have to go through the headache of Google searching and researching the person and following their content and this and that. So I think that there is a right way to be able to do it. 

I think that a lot of marketers out there nowadays are really kind of abusing it the whole spray and pray, you know, kind of like message all the different people and see who responds. But for folks that genuinely want to connect with other people and want to, you know, provide value through what it is that they're doing. If they're doing it the right way, they're still able to provide value that person, even if that person doesn't sign on with them as a client. You know it could be through making a connection or an introduction, or providing a resource. There's so many different ways that you can help people. So, yeah, I'm more on the front of I do not believe that direct outreach is a bad thing. I just think that there's bad direct outreach. 

0:21:10 - Mehmet
I'm not against it at some stage I was doing it as well but I think, as you said, it's so Misused, I would say Because, since I changed my role on LinkedIn, for example, you know, I receive on daily basis I'm not joking 100 plus DMs. They are trying to sell me different things and the problem, you know what it's right me is, that is not the message itself, because I can understand these guys, what they are trying to do. The problem is because of the pressure they are under, they didn't even change. You know Stuff like my name, right? 

0:21:53 - Corrie
Yeah, the other day. 

0:21:54 - Mehmet
Hey, mike, okay, who's Mike? 

Yeah and another, another. Another thing which is funny enough, it's the cadence that they put. It's also like funny because Summer wrote me and you know I'm in the LinkedIn. It's like founder of the company consultancy company that I own, and the guy because I didn't reply him after three, four messages hey, are you the right guy to talk to? And then you know it was so funny and I had to reply in a funny way I said if you just checked my title, you would know that I'm the right guy. So this is why maybe I'm a little bit biased on this, because you know and this is what the next question is about how it's important for founders, you know, and especially in the startup space to build a strong let's call it not only social media presence, but also kind of authority and and self-branding for themselves to allow fast growth in the future for their business. 

0:23:01 - Corrie
Sure, I do think that social media brands in particular are much harder to do, unless Number one you have experience in digital marketing, you know right off the bat and you have very specific, clear messaging and you know who your target audience is. If you're still a little wishy-washy and you're offering a lot of different things to a lot of different people, it's gonna be much, much harder to build a brand on social specifically. But it doesn't mean that you can't still build a brand. You know some ways that I love doing it. Being on your show today is a great way to be able to build a brand and speak to what it is you know and be exposed to other people's audiences without necessarily having to be online. Same thing with I love doing public relations, so there's organizations like Harrow, if you've ever heard of it sign up. 

It's an email newsletter and Journalists post articles they're looking to write that, they're looking for expert guests to provide quotes for. I got vast majority of my press when I first started my business through hitting up Harrow and just providing value. As long as you're providing value every step of the day, every step of the way and every interaction that you have, it really doesn't matter whether it's on social media or it's somewhere else. You're going to build that brand, because that is the brand. You are the brand and how you communicate what it is you do and how you connect with people. Brand is ultimately how people feel about your company. You know what you represent right, and that, I find, has always been the easiest and quickest way to do it. 

0:24:24 - Mehmet
Yeah, and I think this is the way how they can stand out in a crowded market, right, or is there anything else they can do? Any other advice you can give? 

0:24:37 - Corrie
Standing out in a crowded market. I actually have a pretty unique take on this. So this is where doing that work that we talked about before with the you know what did I love to do as a child and the you know your education and stuff like that. 

That's where it's time to double down on how you're the outsider Right. So the fact that I'm a business coach but I have an arc background I double down on that on every interaction I have, because there's somebody out there who's looking for a business coach that isn't all about numbers and is about visionary work. You know what I mean. 

So there's a flavor for every taste and that's how you stand out. So, by being authentically you and unapologetically being like this is what I have to offer and this is why it's unique and this is why it's of value to you. That, I find, is the quickest way to be able to stand out, because, ultimately, you know, there's reasons that there's a coke and a Pepsi, right no? 

matter what there's gonna be. People are always gonna prefer one flavor slightly over the other, for whatever reason. That is so competition. The only competition you really have to worry about is your competition with yourself. Worrying about other people out in the market it really should be irrelevant. If you're showing up as you, I Like it. 

0:25:49 - Mehmet
I like it because you know I talk always, also in every place where I can, about being authentic and Just as you said, like be better than Yourself yesterday, like this is what right I always, I, you know, I I big believer in this. Now You've been featured like, like you mentioned, ted X and girl boss, business insider and other outlets how startups can leverage Precious for that benefit. 

0:26:17 - Corrie
We actually just talked about it, so go, I got all of those hitting up horror. Every single one of them. So it's just having a you know and again it's being concise about who you are, what you do and how you help people. You know who specifically it is you help, being able to articulate that in a line or two to the journalist and then providing value per Whatever their question was in the article. That's, I found, has always been the easiest way to get featured. 

0:26:44 - Mehmet
Great, as we are close to to the end. Anything you know you might Can tell the audience, who are maybe now sitting struggling with their personal circumstances, maybe considering starting a business, what's the key message you want them to take from your journey? 

0:27:03 - Corrie
I Say the. The question that they need to ask themselves, you know, especially if they're in a position that they're heaven and hawn Should I go for it? Should I do it or should I just stay safe, is Five years from now, would you regret more that you didn't and failed, or would you regret having not tried at all? That right there should give you your answer on On which direction you should go, and then from there it's just a matter of deciding what it is. You need to feel safe in order to make that kind of a leap. It's gonna be different for everybody. You know, I've known some people that are like, ah, whatever, I've got no savings, but I'm just gonna do it for me. 

Personally, I felt better doing it. I have um, it's funny when I do finance podcast and stuff, they're like, oh good, you're doing what we recommend. I had the six months of emergency savings and I called it an emergency on my soul and I used that to start my business. I was like, whatever this is, I need to get it done, but that's what worked for me. Other people they need to keep their full-time job to feel safe, or they need to have a large savings account, or they need to have a partner that's maybe able to cover it for them, like they were able to cover their partner's college right they have. Everybody has a certain level of safety and security that they need, so just make sure that you feel safe and secure before you make the leap, but never, ever, ever, regret not having made it 100%. 

0:28:21 - Mehmet
now my final famous question Is there anything you wished? I asked you and how you'd answer it? 

0:28:28 - Corrie
Oh, man, that's a great question. Let's keep it light in, airy, I'm surprised you didn't ask me. Tell me, like tell our audience one thing that they would find surprising about you. 

0:28:42 - Mehmet
Go ahead. 

0:28:44 - Corrie
I used to play electric cello in a punk band. Oh nice very random, but yeah. 

0:28:53 - Mehmet
Yeah, that's, that's very nice. Oh, and where they can find about I should have asked this before where they can find about you, cody, like you know, sure. 

0:29:03 - Corrie
Yeah, best place to find me is on my website, quarry lowcom, see, or I E Locom, and that's got all of the different ways that you can work with me. I also do have a podcast myself. It's called quarry low radio. You can check that out, and every social media platform. So we're talking LinkedIn, facebook, instagram, twitter. Now on threads At I am quarry low, you can find me. 

0:29:27 - Mehmet
Oh, okay, great, so I will make sure that I will put all the links In the episode description. Well, thank you very much for the time today. I really appreciate all the insights you gave and you shared your personal story as well. I really appreciate that and, as usual, this is what I repeat at the end of each show For people who are listening or watching this if you have any question or feedback, you can reach out to me. 

You know I'm available again on all the social media, like Mainly LinkedIn, where I'm active the most. You can send me also an email. You can find my email in the podcast description and if you'd like to be a guest also as well, same as curry was a guest today with me, please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly. We can discuss you know the topic. We can discuss the time. How are we gonna do it? Don't worry about it. 

And because it's the CTO show and this I'm repeating Recently at the end or sometime at the beginning, although it's called the CTO show, but what I'm trying to do is a blending between Technology, startup, entrepreneurship and, by the way, you can be from a different, you know, like industry, but somehow you can relate to start ups and entrepreneurship. But you know, we have some episodes where we had, for example, someone talks about burnout, we had someone who talked about Mental health and so on. So the door is open for everyone who would like to be on the show. And again, thank you very much for all the feedbacks I'm receiving recently. You're liking it. Thank you very much and hope to catch up with you soon In another episode. Thank you very much. Bye, bye you. 

Transcribed by https://hello.podium.page/?via=mehmet