"Find mentors and accountability partners" with Taty Fittipaldi
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Photo Credit: Jackie Koscinski, JDK images
Taty Fittipaldi is a global leadership expert with an MBA and is a certified professional executive coach. She is passionate about developing global leaders and seeing them succeed at their full potential.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I have a pretty convoluted background: I am a Brazilian with Armenian heritage who studied in a German school and worked for an American company during a significant portion of my career.
I worked for General Electric for over 16 years, and I also worked for other Fortune 500 companies after that. My main professional specialties were Finance, H.R., and global talent development.
I was born and raised in Brazil, but I legally moved to the U.S. at the age of 38 with my husband.
I have one bachelor’s degree in business administration and another one in Accounting. I also hold an MBA and several other certifications.
I enjoy studying and exploring new things, so I am always looking for learning opportunities. That’s a characteristic that I have held since a kid. For example, my first international exchange program was at the age of 11, when I convinced my father to send me to England to learn English.
As I said, my background is a bit convoluted, with a mix of cultures, but it helped me develop a passion for learning and understanding about other cultures and about different people around the world.
What inspired you to start your business?
I was a global executive working for Fortune 500 companies all my life. I have a strong educational background, holding several degrees and higher degrees.
So, when I moved to the U.S., I thought that finding a new job would not be a problem at all.
To my surprise, not only I encountered a lot of discrimination, but I also saw a lot of misunderstandings about foreigners in the hiring market.
When I finally landed my first job, it was far from what I expected. I was working as a high executive in my country, a CFO, and here I was only able to land a job as a contractor, not even in Finance or H.R.
After working for five months on that job, I was quickly promoted to a Director job, as leaders saw the competence and experience that I could deliver.
However, the contrast of going from contractor to Director – being a foreigner - triggered a lot of resentment in other employees. I saw an ever-increasing display of micro-aggressions, non-inclusive behavior, and blunt discrimination from all over the place and departments.
At some point, I came to the conclusion that I should seek a better work environment and something to work on that would give me true pleasure. I love to develop and coach global leaders. And my work at that time was very distant from that.
After long consideration, I decided that I could open my own business to share my unique global experience and develop global leaders worldwide.
I thought, “I can teach aspiring global leaders that there is more to leadership than people leadership. Global leadership has 4 success pillars, and I can teach them that and create a happier world.
Most leaders out there only learn how to lead people. Some leaders go a step further and also gain some organizational leadership skills. But I rarely see leaders getting educated in all 4 success pillars in global leadership.
The 4 pillars are:
· Personal Leadership
· People Leadership
· Organizational Leadership
· Cultural Leadership
It was shown that Leaders who learn and master all the 4 pillars above could become more impactful, influential, and inclusive. And create better and happier workplaces.
By creating a company that could develop this kind of mindset and leadership, I would be helping people like me in the future, and companies make better working environments.
Where is your business based?
My business is based in Denville, New Jersey. But I remotely service my customers worldwide and offer digital products that anyone in the world can purchase.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
My first step was defining what kind of services I could provide with excellence. What were the things that I was really good at and that would WOW people? I spend a long amount of time defining and drilling down on that.
Another recommendation I got that was very useful was to fine-tune who I wanted to work with. Who my ideal customers were? Everything else was derived from these 2 things.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Content marketing. Expatriate entrepreneurs, like me, are unknown. Nobody knows you, so how will potential customers know you are the real deal? You need to demonstrate that you know what you are talking about.
By creating relevant content that educates, inspires, and guides people, you can establish your reputation bit by bit.
Business awareness does not happen overnight, though. It takes time to create brand awareness, and the best recommendation I can give is to keep consistency.
Be consistent in whatever strategy you define for raising awareness.
For that, you will need plenty of personal leadership, which is one of the things we teach on our free Blog and our paid Online course.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
My biggest challenge has been keeping my cool and being resilient in the face of all the adversities.
For example, I officially opened my business six weeks before the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. All my plans suddenly went down the drains, and I had to adjust quickly.
Roadblocks like this will happen all the time in the lives of entrepreneurs. That is why having a resilient mind and a personal leadership strategy is essential.
I overcame this by 1) having my own long-term executive coach, who functions as an accountability partner and a sounding board, and 2) a support system.
I cannot stress enough how a support system is vital for every entrepreneur, no matter where in the entrepreneurship journey you are.
How do you stay focused?
I have a personal leadership and productivity system that really works for me. It’s based on planning, self-discipline, a control center, and time-blocking.
Everyone is different. Everyone’s bodies work differently. My opinion is that every entrepreneur has to find their own system and balance. Even if you work with my system, you still will have to make some tweaks to make it work for your own uniqueness. Knowing who you are, what you need, and what works for you is critical.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
My determination to WOW every person who gets in contact with my company and me is my best ally.
I think a lot of people focus too much on differentiation as a physical thing, something that has a name, but in fact, that’s not what people want.
People want to be seen and heard. Clients and customers want you to understand what your services are products will do for them. And they expect them to be excellent.
Entrepreneurs (me included) make many mistakes on this topic, especially in the beginning. We think our products or services are good, and we have this or that which differentiates us. And we often forget to listen to what the real feedback is. What do people want from us, and what do they need.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Right now, I am focusing on content marketing and SEO. It’s a long road, I know, and results from this strategy take some time.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
My roadmap for new entrepreneurs is:
1. Find out what you can deliver with excellence plus love to do.
2. Define who your ideal customers for this excellence would be.
3. Create a business plan. I cannot stress enough about this.
4. Find mentors and accountability partners.
5. Create a support system. One that will survive time. You are in this for the long run; remember that. So people and resources in your support system must stay around you as long as you need.
These 5 things have been working well for me. And here is my moto, from The Witcher, that I recite every day to keep me going:
“You can either be too strong to fail or too weak to try.”
(The Witcher, Season 2 Episode 7)
Remember that being strong or weak is a choice, not a fact. The right choices are what make you become whatever you want.
What’s your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
Currently, my favorite App is Click Up. It’s where I plan, organize and store everything, both professionally and personally. It’s a kick-ass App for productivity.
My favorite Blog is, of course, mine. Not because it’s mine, but because I talk about relevant things related to the global leadership that nobody else seems to want to talk about.
In terms of books, it’s difficult to choose only one. I really love to read, and my personal digital library is quite big. One that I am reading right now and that I recommend is The Conversation: How Seeking and Speaking the Truth About Racism Can Radically Transform Individuals and Organizations, by Robert Livingston. It’s quite thought-provoking. I recommend it to all global leaders who want to become more inclusive and instigate a better workplace.
What’s your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
It’s really hard to choose. Besides Click Up, I love Filmora Pro, which is where I edit all my videos. I also love Wave App, which is where I keep all my company’s bookkeeping. As a CPA, I found it to be very resourceful, and it’s completely free. If you are an entrepreneur literate in Finance and Accounting, it’s an excellent option to keep costs down but still get organized and professional.
Who is your business role model? Why?
I like Russel Brunson. I’ve been reading his books, where he tells his stories and his frustrations on the entrepreneur’s road to becoming successful. And it’s very inspiring.
I think it’s very bold of him to share his failures, what he went through, what his deep feelings at the time were. And still, see that a person that went through all that still succeeded by being resilient and determined to win. It gives us all hope that one day we can get there too.
How do you balance work and life?
I have a set of rules and boundaries that I try to follow to the letter. It’s part of my Personal Leadership system that I mentioned. One of these rules is that I have to honor my relationship with time.
How we balance our work and life all depends on how we relate to time. Once you realize that time is an asset and you can never recover once lost, you start to be more cautious about using your time.
Another thing that happens too is that you go back to the drawing board to re-check what your values are. You cannot honor your relationship with time without knowing your honor system. In other words, what is really important to you?
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
I love my “alone-time.” I need some alone time to decompress.
During that time, I do several things to help me disconnect from the world and connect with myself to reduce my stress levels. I read, self-care, play with my dog, play online, spa, or meditate. These are my favorite things.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
I am the planner type, and I could spend another interview just talking about that. But let me keep it short (laughs).
I will launch my signature Online Course Program for global leaders in April. It’s a program to help global executives make impactful business decisions. So from now to then, I am fully on top of that.
Right after this launch, it’s in my plans to become an executive contributor to a Global magazine.
These 2 projects will require a lot of smaller tasks around them, which are also all planned.
How can our readers connect with you?
I love to make new connections! Anyone who wants to connect with me can visit my website and go to the contact page. You can also follow me on social media. I respond to all comments and engagements.