Today I interview global event planner and brand strategist Kathy Romero following her surprise talk at our Toronto client appreciation party, The Interlude. Romero explains that reaching high-profile work required complete self-trust, strong boundaries, and projecting certainty because clients “hire a presence,” not just a planner. She emphasizes leaving fear by choosing yourself, vetting client alignment through experience, and building a clear, evolving vision rooted in the life and lifestyle you want rather than comparison or volume. Romero discusses recurring doubts, grief-driven overcompensation, burnout, and recovering through certainty. She defends a lean three-person team and fewer, higher-value clients, warning that scaling for status can trap businesses in overhead and ego. She outlines raising prices as a positioning signal, guiding clients away from trends, maintaining expert authority, handling vendor pushback through documented recommendations, fostering abundance-minded collaboration, and selling transferable skills when switching event niches.
00:00 Interlude Event Setup
00:47 Meet Kathy Romero
01:19 Becoming Certain
03:22 Leaving Fear Behind
05:30 Client Alignment Mindset
06:16 Vision And Foundation
09:18 Lifestyle First Business
10:35 Grief And Boundaries
13:11 Burnout And Certainty
15:19 Small Team Big Value
18:32 Status Ego Trap
20:57 Raising Prices Upmarket
25:26 Charge What You’re Worth
26:31 When to Raise Rates
27:59 Pricing With Integrity
28:48 Positioning Your Brand
29:52 Trends vs Timeless Taste
32:19 Stop Being a Yes Man
34:57 Handling Bad Vendor Picks
38:17 Confrontation and Accountability
38:51 Referrals Ego and Scarcity
43:11 Find Your People
46:40 Pivot Without a Portfolio
49:29 Closing Thanks and Subscribe
Comments +