Unlocking the Secrets of the Underdog Mentality with Kaeli Lindholm
Have you ever felt like the underdog in your career, wondering if you have what it takes to break through?
In this episode of Secrets in Medical Device Sales, The Girls of Grit brings on Kaeli Lindholm, CEO and founder of KLC Consulting. Kaeli shares her journey from hustling in a male-dominated field to becoming a leader in her industry.
Discover how she leveraged her “underdog mentality” to carve her path, build influential relationships, and transform challenges into stepping stones. Kaeli dives deep into defining your core values, standing out as a "category of one," and owning your unique strengths to drive success.
This episode offers insights for anyone ready to take bold steps and elevate their career.
Tune in to learn how to align your actions with your purpose and turn your vision into reality.
Episode Chapter Markers
00:00 Introduction
05:56 Kaeli’s Journey in Sales
10:38 Lessons from Sports to Business
17:11 Building Networks and Core Values
22:14 Embracing Authenticity and Core Values
23:15 Understanding the 'Category of One' Concept
27:09 Overcoming Self-Doubt and Building Confidence
31:23 Empowering Women and Achieving Success
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
Breaking into a Male-Dominated Industry: Kaeli shares her journey from selling skincare to landing a role in medical device sales, emphasizing the power of persistence, and adaptability, and putting her name in the hat for new opportunities.
Underdog Mindset as a Driving Force: She reveals how embracing the underdog mentality fueled her career. She remained scrappy and motivated by always viewing herself as the underdog, which helped her climb the corporate ladder.
Building Allies in Unexpected Places: Success wasn’t just about closing deals; it was about cultivating genuine relationships with everyone from technicians to top decision-makers, ultimately gaining trust and market share.
Guided by Core Values: By defining core values like going all in, challenging growth, and having fun, she navigated her business and personal life with clarity, aligning actions with these principles.
Standing Out as a “Category of One”: She introduces the concept of positioning oneself as a “category of one,” encouraging listeners to focus on their unique strengths and avoid getting caught up in comparison.
Overcoming Self-Doubt and Imposter Syndrome: Kaeli opens up about her struggles with imposter syndrome, sharing practical strategies like writing affirmations and leveraging a strong support network to stay focused on her mission.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
“If you think of yourself as the underdog, you will always impress yourself. You will always be willing to go and kind of be scrappy to get to that next level.” — Kaeli Lindholm
“You’re not going to believe in yourself until you do it and then you survive.” — Kaeli Lindholm
“The battle is won in practice, it’s about what you do on a daily basis.” — Kaeli Lindholm
“Standing out and being unique is what’s going to get you recognized.” — Kaeli Lindholm
“If you want something, go for it.” — Anneliese Rhodes
“One of the things that stands out to me is building that circle of trusted advisors or trusted people and being a team player.” — Anneliese Rhodes
“It’s this innate empathy and intuition that women have, and when you combine that with good listening skills and belief in yourself, it’s amazing what you can accomplish.” — Cynthia Ficara
“Focus on your reason for being there, deliver a message, and make an impact.” — Cynthia Ficara
“Remember to be a category of one by leveraging your strengths to stand out and seize opportunities.” — Cynthia Ficara
About Kaeli Lindholm:
Kaeli Lindholm is CEO of KLC Consulting and Founder of the POP Aesthetic Leadership Academy, a 12-month business development incubator for women in aesthetics and wellness seeking to unleash their superpower through their business, team, and personal brand.
Her mission is to help 5,000 inspiring and intentional women cross the next million-dollar milestone in their business in 2024.
Connect with Kaeli:
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A Team Dklutr production
Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Cynthia Ficara: Have you ever felt like the underdog in the world of sales? Are doubts creeping in about your ability to reach your career aspirations?
Anneliese Rhodes: Well, get ready for an inspiring interview that will reignite your passion and reveal the secrets to your success. Today, we are featuring in our spotlight series, Kaeli Lindholm, founder and CEO of KLC Consulting and host of The Fierce Factor Podcast.
Cynthia Ficara: Welcome everybody back to another episode of Secrets in Medical Device Sales. We are so excited to have you all back. And we get very excited when we have the opportunity to bring on women who really stand out. So we are welcoming today, Kaeli Lindholm.
And actually, you know what, Lisa? Why don't you just read her bio? I think it’d be great if we could just hear exactly who Kaeli is, what she stands for, and what our listeners will expect to hear about today. So thank you.
Anneliese Rhodes: Absolutely. And I cannot wait for you guys to hear this interview. It was so inspiring. I swear, after we were done, I just wanted it to continue and just keep on going. Oh my gosh.
Cynthia Ficara: I think I'm still riding on the high from it.
Anneliese Rhodes: I love it. And all those days that I really feel down, I'm just going to listen to it. Like seriously, I'm just going to listen to it and be like, Yes! and get re-inspired. But here's a hint.
Cynthia Ficara: If anybody wants some good energy, just keep listening. Yeah, exactly.
Anneliese Rhodes: All right. So Kaeli Lindholm, as Cindy mentioned, is the CEO and founder of KLC Consulting and the founder of POP Aesthetic Leadership Academy, which is a 12-month business development incubator for women in aesthetics, wellness, and even other areas, who are seeking to unleash their superpower through their businesses, teams, and personal brands.
Her mission—and Cindy and I love this—is to help 1,000 inspiring and intentional women cross the next million-dollar milestone in their businesses this year.
Cynthia Ficara: Woo hoo! Yay!
Anneliese Rhodes: She’s been featured as one of Forbes' Top 10 Inspiring Women in Business Leaders to Watch in 2023 and a USA Today Top 10 Business Leaders Driving Innovation in Their Industries to Watch in 2024.
Kaeli and KLC Consulting are the trusted go-to leadership advisors for hundreds of seven- and eight-figure aesthetic and wellness practice owners. KLC is widely recognized as a brand revisionist, and Kaeli believes achieving “category of one” success requires taking a differentiated approach.
Her coaching and academy programs bring unique perspectives that challenge the very construct of business success. Paired with significant revenue growth, clients describe the benefit of working with Kaeli as game-changing—both as a guide and as an exceptional partner, providing value well beyond monetary measurement.
Anneliese Rhodes: And can I say, just because of the interview we just did with her, I 1,000 percent agree with her.
Cynthia Ficara: I second that.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, and when you partner with Kaeli, you will be making an empowered transformation in your business and life. If that doesn't inspire you, I don't know what will. Also, side note, Kaeli also has a really awesome podcast with a really cool name.
It’s called The Fierce Factor. Fierce. I love it. I love it so much. I know. So without another word to mention about Kaeli, here is the interview that we can't wait for all of you guys to listen to and be inspired.
Cynthia Ficara: Yes, we do. I am so happy to bring you another episode where we highlight very special guests—exciting, successful professional women who have made marks in their professional careers. And we get to listen to her story, hear her trail, and learn how she got to where she is. So we are very excited to bring you another spotlight series for today.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yes, this is Kaeli Lindholm, and she is the CEO and founder of KLC Consulting. And as we mentioned in the bio previously, she’s got many, many, many accolades, but we want to hear from Kaeli herself. So welcome, Kaeli. We are so happy to have you here.
Kaeli Lindholm: Oh, thank you so much, ladies. I'm so excited. I’ve been looking forward to this podcast. And honestly, I wish when I was in med device sales, I had you, because that would have been such an amazing outlet. And I, for sure, would have catapulted my career another way. So I love what you guys are doing, and I’m excited that you invited me to be here.
Cynthia Ficara: I know, it's awesome. But then tell us a little bit about your background since you mentioned when you were in sales and how you got there. So can you just tell our listeners a little bit about yourself, other than how we introduced you? Let's hear the story from you.
Climbing the Ladder and Breaking Barriers
Kaeli Lindholm: Yeah, absolutely. I can definitely identify and have a special place in my heart for medical device sales because I think it was that experience that gave me the bridge to explore the entrepreneurial spirit that I knew I always had. I essentially got hired into Bayer Healthcare. I was in the diabetes industry and sold blood glucose monitors right out of college. Then, after six years, I was recruited into the aesthetic industry.
I worked for a company that was a medical device company with $100,000 to $300,000 capital equipment devices. They were launching a skincare line and asked me to come be the first sales rep for this new product. It was a very different type of sale and business model for the company. I thought, Yeah, I’m up for it. Give me the challenge, show me the way. Get out of diabetes and into this cash-pay aesthetic space. I can’t wait.
I was schlepping around selling skincare and working alongside my device counterparts—all males, by the way. While I was knocking on doors, showing up like on my milk run with skincare products, these device guys were raking in tons of money selling capital. They were the ones who were always the most recognized, respected, and sought after by the company and leadership. I thought I wanted to be that. I want to make that kind of money.
So, I put my name in the hat. I buttered up to the manager on the device side and said, Listen, if there’s ever an opportunity, I’m really interested in exploring this. Here are all the reasons why you should count on me to do the job. Sure enough, a window opened eventually, and I got the opportunity to sell devices with the big boys, so to speak.
It was extraordinarily successful quickly. I think part of it was being a female in sales and having the gift of knowing how to listen and connect with people. I had intuition, compassion, empathy, and all of the things that make us so great at sales. But I also knew how to take no for an answer—and how not to take no for an answer, really.
I worked my way up the corporate ladder and eventually became a Western Area Sales Director, managing a multimillion-dollar portfolio and a team of 13 sales reps, covering half the United States. At that time, I had young kids at home, and my husband was a VP of sales for another company. We were like ships in the night, constantly asking, Hey, where are you headed on the road?
It got to a point where I felt like I had climbed the ladder. I had made all the money I wanted to make. I had the title. But I knew there was more for me. So, about eight and a half years ago, I started my company, KLC Consulting. It’s just been off to the races ever since.
Anneliese Rhodes: What a story. I had no idea. That’s impressive. I mean, and you’re so young. You look amazing. She looks like she’s 25, guys. I don’t know how you did this in such a short amount of time.
A number of things stood out to me right off the bat. First, your energy is so contagious. Everybody wants to be around you—happy, energetic, and full of knowledge. Especially as a woman, it helps to be that enigmatic person. You definitely are that.
I can see why they took a leap of faith with you, probably because you were in a sea of men. They gave you that opportunity, and not only did you take it, but you ran with it and really shined. For all our listeners out there: if you want something, go for it. Don’t sit back and think, Oh, I don’t know if I can do this. You can.
Cynthia Ficara: I love that. You know what you did? You took the action step. You said I sought out. Hey, if there’s ever an opening, this is what I want. You didn’t sit there and think about it for so long. You believed in yourself.
Those qualities you listed—empathy, intuition, and good listening skills—are so powerful. When combined with belief in yourself, it’s amazing what you can accomplish. Kaeli, you’re one of those people who is the perfect example of that.
So tell us more. I'm getting excited. This is very good.
The Underdog Mindset
Kaeli Lindholm: Well, no, I love what you say about that. It’s easy to say, go for it, right? Like, science can get you to the edge, but then you’ve got to just go. You also have to believe in it. You have to know that, Okay, there’s something there for me that is going to be better, even though I don’t know what it is, and I’m going to challenge myself.
For me, my mission in this world is to squeeze every last bit of juice out of the lemon. One really important reframe for me, as I was thinking about the skills I had as a business owner and team leader, is that it really started back when I was a kid and an athlete.
If you look at yourself as the underdog in a great way—like, I’m always going to be the underdog—and not feel like, Well, I don’t have it all figured out yet, so I’ll wait until then, you’ll always impress yourself. You’ll always be willing to go and be scrappy to get to that next level.
I remember trying out for a big-time premier club team I wanted to play for. I finally got the chance to try out, and I remember going up to the huddle. These girls were lifting their shirts to wipe sweat off their faces, and every single one of them had a six-pack. I thought, Am I even supposed to be here? Am I going to look like this if I start vying for this team?
My dad was always about, The battle being won in practice. It’s about what you do on a daily basis. He would literally pull up his chair—even when I had my driver’s license—bring his chair to my practice, and sit and watch me train.
When I got the opportunity to try out for this team, he said, Listen, you’re not going to be the best player out here. You’re not number one. But what do you have? What’s in your control? You can be the hardest working. You can show up at the front of the line.
We used to have to run six miles before practice, and he’d say, I don’t care if you have to barf and get back up—keep running. He’d watch to make sure I came in the top three in those runs.
That taught me habits—knowing there are things that make me who I am and that I have control over. I have control over the way I show up, the amount of effort, the preparation, and the work I put in. And we get noticed for those things.
Sure enough, I made the team, and that turned into a scholarship in college. I can go back and relive that mantra of, Hey, I’m the underdog. That’s a big win.
For anyone listening who wants to achieve big things, beat your competition, or be the best, you absolutely can. But you have to develop the habit of asking, How would I show up as the underdog? What would I do to achieve that? What decisions am I making right now in alignment with that goal?
Cynthia Ficara: Oh my gosh, I love it. It’s amazing. And it does drive you. A shout-out to you for being a Division I athlete—oh, this was for soccer, correct?
Kaeli Lindholm: No, just to correct, I played Division II, but I think that’s still very important.
Cynthia Ficara: Either way, that’s amazing.
Kaeli Lindholm: I think it’s also an important part of my underdog story. Having a degree from a Division II school, I didn’t have the big football team or the recognition. All my friends went to USC and UCLA, but I was at my state school. Guess what? My college was paid for.
I learned work ethic, but also the mindset of how you train off the field. There’s so much you do that people don’t see. You’ve heard the saying, How you do one thing is how you do everything.
How do you recover? What’s your nutrition? Are you sitting in the ice bath? No one sees those things. What are you doing off the field to prepare?
One of the most overlooked lessons you can learn—whether in sports or in your career—is how to influence others. I was always good at building allies around me. Whether it was the trainer or someone I had a direct dotted line to, I understood how to influence relationships within my ecosystem.
Even in device sales, I made friends with everyone I could. Not inauthentically, but understanding that everyone has a piece of the pie is critical to your success.
Anneliese Rhodes: Everything you just talked about—college, med device sales, and consulting—is the same story repeated. You’ve practiced what you preach, and it works.
For our listeners, one thing that stands out to me is the importance of building a circle of trusted advisors and being a team player. Whether it’s the guy in purchasing or the bus driver who helps you out, it’s all about creating those relationships.
When you need help, they’ll have your back. That’s authentic. That’s what we do with our friends and family—so why wouldn’t we do it in the workplace as well? Because it ultimately brings you success.
When you need it, you know, when you're called on, when that bell rings and you're finally called for that case, or that doctor needs your product, you're going to get the first call because they've got your back.
And I think that's so important. And you're right. It is overlooked, Kaeli. A lot of times people don't see the hard work behind it and they don't see the smart things that you're doing behind the scenes. And that is a hundred percent, one of them that needs to be really mentioned and ticked off on that list of things to have.
Cynthia Ficara: Absolutely. Even in sales, you started learning ultimately what we're talking about is really networking and how you're weaving all of these parts together in doing so, you talked about, really aligning all of your people. If it's medical device sales, whether you're down in the supply chain, or, you know, the equipment people, or, you know, who orders products to, who lets you into the operating room.
So how did you, on the flip side, tune out the noise and single out the negativity for those people that, you know what, I don't want this one to weave into my web? How do I find the good? How do you know the bad? to determine who you want close and who is not?
Core Values: The Anchor for Authentic Success
Kaeli Lindholm: Great question. Okay. I love this question. So this is something I wish I had learned sooner. It’s something that, as I built my company—especially since I built my business in an industry where I was so interconnected with people—I found myself thinking, I know so many people; that’s going to be such a big advantage for me.
Then you get going and realize, Well, no, everybody wants a piece of you. Everybody wants a piece of what you have to offer. Like, Oh, hey, come speak here. Do this. Do that. Do you know anybody who needs this? You realize sometimes having more around you—more influence, more ideas, and everybody else’s opinion of what you should be—could actually become a negative.
So, I’ve had to get good at focusing, and that all comes down to knowing what your core values are. I recommend that everybody create and set core values for yourself and your company. I realized that my company’s core values were deeply interconnected with my personal values.
For me, my core values are: to go all in, challenge myself to grow, and have fun. I use that filter for everything. Even just saying yes to coming on this podcast. Do these girls go all in? Do they challenge themselves to grow? Are they fun? The answer was yes to all three, so it was a no-brainer for me.
When you think about building your personal brand as a professional or your company, you have to really be careful about how and who you align with because you will become whitewashed into, Oh, I saw her there. She works with that person. She’s part of that. You can’t affiliate yourself with everybody.
Instead, I put everyone I hire through the core value filter. I ask myself: What branding agency do I work with? Do I like the people? Do they fit those core values? If you think about what your core values are, it’s the same thing I teach my kids. In our household, we go all in, we challenge ourselves to grow, and we have fun.
I think that’s the number one and most simplistic way I’d recommend someone to think about how to say no or block out negativity or naysayers. I really do not pay any attention. I know exactly where I’m headed and what my mission is. If you’re not in alignment with me, you’re not going to be a part of that.
The beautiful part of that is when you find people who are aligned with you, they help uplift you, take you further, and give you wings. You have those allies because you’re on the road together and share aligned values.
Anneliese Rhodes: What a great piece of advice, by the way. Thank you. I think that helps Cindy and me tremendously, just from where we are. I think it also helps everyone out there listening.
You can take that advice whether you’re a sales rep, manager, or VP of sales. It’s like a mission statement for your company—but also for your family, as you mentioned, and your business—and they have to align. I love that because I think being authentic in today’s world is so important.
People buy from people they trust, like, and want to be around. They don’t want to buy from just another salesperson or somebody who checks the box and leaves, not knowing when they’ll hear from them again. Can they trust them the next time they call?
I think knowing your core values is so important. For those of you listening who don’t know that list or don’t have it written down, spend some time. For me, it would just be 5 to 30 minutes, sitting down with a notebook and writing down everything that means the most to me. Then come up with a mission statement or those three things you mentioned, Kaeli.
Repeat them day after day. Put it on a sticky note and stick it in your car. Look at it every day and make sure you’re aligning with those values in your business because I feel like your core values come out every time you interact with your customers.
Cynthia Ficara: I think just your simplicity in identifying core values is impactful because we all are who we are—we don’t think too much about it. That brings me to something we had the privilege to discuss prior to this interview.
There was something that really caught my attention that I’d like you to walk through for our listeners. You described it as the category of one. I feel this aligns with how core values help you know your strengths. I’ll let you take us through that because I feel this aligns with how you can even pull these core values to know your strengths. And so I'll let you talk to us about that.
The Power of Being a Category of One
Kaeli Lindholm: I think it’s a product of the beauty of social media. If I had started in sales with access to this, I could learn everything about my customers, and I would be so much better. At the same time, we fall into this trap of comparisonitis. Many business owners look up to someone and say, I want to be like them or look at what they’re doing now. They compare their chapter one to someone else’s chapter ten or pursue a goal that they didn’t really want, just because it feels like the next natural thing.
I’ve always had a contrarian streak. A mentor once told me, When they zig, you zag. When I see the market going one way, I shift and go the other way because standing out and being unique is what gets you recognized.
If we stop comparing ourselves and worrying about averages, we can redefine our path. Recently, my marketing team mentioned email open rates. They said the average for online marketing is 11%, our industry is 21%, and we’re at 28%. I said I don’t care about the average. I want to be at 100%.
To go from 28% to 38%, 48%, and 58%, there will always be challenges, but aiming to be a category of one changes how you make decisions. You start to see how much control you have over how you interact with people, your thinking patterns, and how you show up in the world. What you expect of yourself becomes unique.
Four or five years into running my consulting agency, I noticed I was mostly working with male plastic surgeons. On a walk with my husband in Hawaii, he asked why women weren’t working with me. I realized that women often lack the same guts to take risks and show up for themselves as men do.
That’s the problem I needed to solve. Women need to recognize they are a category of one. There’s something unique and special about them. We all have a dream implanted inside us. If you can access that dream and live it out every day, you’ll be in your zone, truly living as a category of one.
Anneliese Rhodes: Oh my gosh, so inspiring. I mean, this is unbelievable. It’s just so inspiring to hear you talk because you’re right. I’ve always thought about that too. I’m like, I just believe this dream is inside of me, but many people try to pull that light away from you. When you have this great light, some try to shadow it, make you feel bad for it, or take it away.
You have to be strong enough to say, Absolutely not. I believe in myself. I believe in my dream. I believe in this next step. You have to go for that promotion, go out on your own, become an entrepreneur, and change people’s lives. That’s what has made you so successful, and that’s what will make everyone successful.
It’s sad because women, way more than men, tend to doubt themselves and think, I can’t do it. I’m not cut out for it. The truth is, it’s inside of you. You have to believe in yourself, go for it, and work harder than every man out there to get what you want. The payoff is worth it when you put in that effort. You’ll know you’ve done it, and you’ll believe in yourself.
It upsets me when women doubt themselves and think, I can’t do it. I’m not gonna be able to do it. And you’ve done it. And that is just so awesome.
Embracing Challenges and Building Confidence
Kaeli Lindholm: Well, it's practice. Like I was thinking about this because you had asked me, how you help someone believe more in themselves or, like, what is it that you had that made you believe?
And it took me back to those days of seeing those six... I finally got a six-pack. I mean, good for me. Like going back to how I felt like I didn't belong in this room. That's how I felt standing there at that practice that day. But I think if we instead think about, "What can I do? What do I have? What are my opportunities?"
I'll tell you, when I first got hired into the big corporate job, my first week, our COO called me to fly from California to New York for a big meeting and essentially presented a budget. I had to present my ideas to secure a budget for my call center. I was representing all these sales reps and my teams in the Western United States.
I knew I didn’t accidentally get the job. I knew I was capable of doing it, and I should have been there. But I showed up to that meeting, and I was early, but I was still the last one there. So I got the seat between the COO and the CEO. I mean, I hardly remember—it was like static because I was so nervous. But I got called to go up on stage and give my presentation.
You know, like when you're so nervous, you can hear your heart beating? And I was sweating, sweating, sweating—thank God I had a coat on because my armpits were so bad. I gave the presentation and sat down, and I was like, "I did it." I was relieved that it was done. But I left saying to myself, "What’s in my control is, yes, I’m new at this. Yes, I haven’t done this before. Yes, I have things to learn. I could have shown up sooner, all those things."
But the beautiful thing is that I learned that my ability to, again, influence people and get what I want out of others is directly related to my ability to communicate that message to them and how I show up. So when you show up on time, when you're dressed for the job you want, not the job you have, when you do the things that are above and beyond what people ask of you—you come and bring solutions.
"Be the category of one. That is our gift, ladies. Play chess, not checkers."
Cynthia Ficara: Oh, and I love it. You summarize that so well. Showing up, you know, it’s wearing the shoes that make you stand tall, being in the right outfit, being early.
But the thing that I took most from what you said—whether it’s the presentation or the room you’re in that’s new—is if you take away from the environment you're in and focus on your reason for being there.
You came here to deliver a message and make an impact. You were there for your—here’s, we’re going to go over the budget cuts. And if you focus on you, kind of like the messenger, you’re just delivering the message. When you focus on that, it takes away from being nervous about how other people do or who you’re sitting between.
Sometimes, I think women, especially those who carry jobs and have children, are called to compartmentalize. Everything you just said makes you stay in the moment and show up prepared to perform as you want to.
Kaeli Lindholm: Remembering that you're in the room. That’s the whole point. You’re not going to believe in yourself until you do it. And then you survive. And then you realize, "Oh, I survived that thing." Most people won’t put themselves in a scary enough situation to fail and learn from it in the beginning.
That’s where confidence comes from, in my opinion. I’ve had people that I trusted and relied upon, people I thought were in my camp, make comments to me like, "Oh, well, you’re lucky you had your husband when you started your company because you had a fallback plan." And I’m like, "Little do they even know." Half of what I’ve independently built and where I came from to be in that situation—it’s fine. Let them think that it makes them feel better.
But people’s doubts will creep into your mind, sometimes from the safest places you think. So you have to be the one who proves to yourself every day, "This was hard, and I did it, and that’s my win."
When I started my company, I had zero clients. I worked with a life coach, and she told me, "Kaeli, here’s what we’re going to do: Take a sticky note. Every time someone gives you a compliment, write it on a sticky note and stick it up on your computer."
I started collecting these sticky notes, just trying to get myself through it. Someone wrote me a testimonial saying, "Kaeli gives the best free advice." I stuck it on the sticky note, and I was like, "Seriously, this is what I’m celebrating?" But sometimes, that’s what it comes down to.
Cynthia Ficara: I love that. Because if you never took risks in the first place, you never would have gotten your six-pack, right?
Kaeli Lindholm: I’m telling you about the barfs I had to explore along my six-mile run to get that six-pack, but you know…
Empowering Women to Achieve Their Category of One
Anneliese Rhodes: What I keep thinking about every time you talk is I'm like, there's that little girl. There's a little girl that was like, "I'm not, I'm going to have that six-pack. I'm not going to get cut from this team. I am not only making this team. I'm going to be the star of the team." And it's like, that's what's shining through every time you go up on stage.
Every time you help a client, every time you work with someone to find their way. It's just that little girl inside of you that's like, "I'm not giving up yet. I'm still here. And I still believe in myself."
And I think we all have that, you know? We all, to some degree, have that in ourselves because we wouldn't be here if we didn't. We wouldn't have faced the adversity that we did and did well or beat it on the team or beat it at home, wherever it was. We all have that little girl inside of us just cheering us on. And like you're doing, writing down those affirmations—that's your own inner cheerleader reminding you of who you are, what you stand for, what you've accomplished, and what you're going to go accomplish.
And I think, God, I mean, those sound so easy, but I'll tell you what, we sure can forget about that really quickly when we're in the middle of something. Or I'm struggling with something right now that Cindy knows about. And I'm like, every time I come, I'm like, "Oh, I sound like a broken record." And she's like, "Stop, think about this." And she has to help me recently. And it's like, I should know this. I really should be able to talk to myself, but I can't. So I called her. But it's like, I mean...
Kaeli Lindholm: That's why I have a business, you know? It's true because look, also part of it's like knowing your blind spots. Allowing being real with yourself, like, "Okay, I'm not able to talk myself off a ledge when it comes to this thing. And so I'm going to get a coach. I'm going to get help. I'm going to get a friend. I'm going to resource myself with an ally who can remind me."
And I think that's the thing, like in our life, we all have that ability to say, "I'm going to find somebody in my life who will hold space to remind me that this was my plan and this is who I am," right?
And that—because we'll talk ourselves out of it. And so sometimes you need someone to be like Rocky, like the coach in the corner, that's like...you also need someone to be like, "Get up off your ASS and like, go just get it done. Like, okay, that's enough. Let's stop the pity party."
Sometimes you need accountability too. Like, "You said you were going to do this. Get up and do it." But that's navigating the human brain. And so it's totally like, don't shame yourself, obviously, for feeling that way. It's like, just know you do. Where can you get support? I mean, people laugh at me, I have a coach for everything, like a personal trainer, right? It's like, yeah, we all know how to eat right and work out. I could watch the YouTube video. It's fine. But I need somebody to sit there and be like, "Kaeli, I'm waiting for you."
Anneliese Rhodes: That’s a good point. Keep you accountable. I love it. I love it.
Cynthia Ficara: Oh my gosh. I find you so inspiring.
Anneliese Rhodes: I'm just going to say, this has been an awesome, awesome time. I don't want to let you go, but quickly just tell our listeners what you do now and where they can find you if they're interested in looking you up for consulting. Or just an inspirational speech. Tell us a little bit about that.
Cynthia Ficara: And include your podcast.
Anneliese Rhodes: Oh yes, and the podcast.
Kaeli Lindholm: I love the title, by the way. So the podcast, yeah, is a great place to start. It's called The Fierce Factor.
Cynthia Ficara: Cause you are one.
Kaeli Lindholm: And it's 20 minutes every week of inspiration. I say sarcasm, sass, and a little bit of education about business building. And it's for women who just want to...high-growth women who want more for themselves in their life and want to optimize themselves. I very much still have the athlete mindset. So I feel like I have off the field, right? Like I grew up being a soccer player, but like, this is my sport now. My sport is helping female entrepreneurs build and achieve their best life.
Our mission at our company is to help 1,000 inspiring and intentional women cross the next million-dollar milestone in their business every single year. So our goal is to help women build deeply satisfying, lucrative, freedom-based businesses—life-first businesses, right? We all do this because, don't care if you're an entrepreneur or if you're in a career, you always have a choice.
So sometimes you just need someone to remind you of that, to help you guide you on that path, and to help you in sourcing your wisdom and navigate the normal things building something that nobody's built before.
So we have a leadership academy. I have a team of coaches, and we work on everything from helping you build your business to your executive presence, dynamic communication public speaking, and all the things in between. We primarily focus on the aesthetic, medical aesthetic, and wellness industries. We do have clients outside of the industry for some of our programming, but I think just listening to The Fierce Factor podcast, you'll get a lot of inspiration. We have a lot of kinds of pathways and freebies and things like that from there that you'll get from listening to the podcast.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, I love the podcast. I actually listened to a couple of them. One of the ones where you talked about retention of employees and embracing, maybe not just having to retain everybody and accepting the fact that you're going to have some loss there. But also about being a great leader. And that entire podcast, like you just said, was probably 20 minutes long.
And the whole time I was listening to it as I was running, I thought, this can be applied anywhere. It doesn't just apply to aesthetics. It applies to devices, finance, or car sales. It applies everywhere. And so I really do love your podcast. I really love the title.
Kaeli Lindholm: Thank you. Well, I think the same thing about yours—like you just giving advice about showing up early and being the one to make sure everything in the OR is ready, right? And like, you can't expect everything to be in the place where it was. You have to prepare, be agile, and, you know, those things are just good reminders for us in our lives about how much control we do have over our environment and how we can be the creators of solutions. I think that's such a gift to have that mindset.
Cynthia Ficara: I love that. I think we've all been given a gift by hearing how you have shared your story with us. I really hope it inspires others out there, and that little underdog mentality can go so far. And to now know where people can find you and be able to reach out to you—bringing women together, stronger and better, is such a gift. So thank you, Kaeli, very, very much. Thank you. It’s been a pleasure.
Anneliese Rhodes: Thank you. Thank you.
Cynthia Ficara: Oh, this was so wonderful. Thank you, Kaeli, so much for your inspirational words. I just want to highlight two main things before we close out today. I would like all of our listeners to remember to be a category of one by leveraging your strengths to stand out and seize opportunities that may come your way.
Before we go, I have a call to action for you all today: please take a few minutes to define your core values, write them down, and use them to guide your decisions. Thank you, and thank you, listeners.
