We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Catherine Peters a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Catherine, thanks for joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

“Wherever you go, there you are.”

That quote sums up the entrepreneurial journey perfectly. Whoever you are in life is how you show up to your business as well.

Prone to overthinking? Welcome to analysis paralysis on the daily. Clenching your way to success? Get ready for some muscle cramps.

I find that owning my own business amplifies everything – the good, the bad and the ugly of who you are and how you show up. I truly am responsible for my own success, and sometimes the weight of that responsibility can feel incredibly heavy – and scary. Uncertainty is par for the course as a business owner, and it can be really easy to overcorrect and become controlling, micromanaging my performance and outcomes.

As a coach, it’s my job to manage my own stress and my own self-criticism so that I can show up fully for my clients, And that means having to coach myself through my own mind drama pretty much on the daily.. Sometimes I crave the simplicity and predictability that being a W2 employee might bring. But then I remember just how much of a myth that stability really is. So many of my clients have struggled with job insecurity, RIFs, and constantly changing corporate dynamics this past year. Almost all of us, without fail, have dealt with the earth shifting under our feet, and have struggling to find our equilibrium,

So while I do occasionally long for more predictability and security, the truth is that even when it’s hard, even when it’s scary, I have never been so sure of my purpose. Every day that I get a opportunity to show my clients who they really are and what they’re really capable of is a day well spent.

Catherine, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Most of the people I work with are incredibly capable—and incredibly exhausted. They’re the high achievers who look successful on paper yet feel like they’re holding everything together with sheer willpower. I understand them because I was them.

Before I became “Cat the Coach,” I spent years hustling through a career that looked impressive from the outside: global meeting planner, entrepreneur, founder of Denver’s first dog-park bar (an epic adventure). But behind the scenes, I was burning myself out. A breast cancer diagnosis in 2018 became my wake-up call and pushed me to understand the real causes of burnout and the science behind stress, resilience, and sustainable success.

Today I’m cancer-free and deeply committed to helping people take the stress out of success. I work with leaders, entrepreneurs, and high-performing professionals who are tired of feeling fried. My approach blends neuroscience, psychology, compassion-based leadership—and a healthy dose of humor—to create clarity where overwhelm used to live.

I wrote The Itty Bitty Burnout Book to give people a simple, zero-overwhelm guide to getting their energy and clarity back. Through coaching, workshops, keynotes, and my 5% Better newsletter, I help people make meaningful shifts that allow them to lead, live, and contribute without sacrificing their health or joy.

The part of my work I’m proudest of is the transformations I get to witness— clients who go from exhausted to energized, from stuck to decisive, from overwhelmed to deeply grounded in who they are and what they want. I’ve watched people land promotions, launch dream businesses, buy property, leave toxic environments, heal relationships, and rediscover parts of themselves they thought were long gone. Helping people come home to themselves—while building lives they no longer need to escape from—is the greatest privilege of my work.

If this is the only time our paths cross, please take this to heart: You don’t have to earn the right to rest. You don’t have to suffer your way to success. You deserve a life that feels clear, joyful, and sustainable—and even a 5% shift can open the door to all of it.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I opened The Bark Bar, Denver’s first dog park bar, in 2013, at a time when the concept of a beer garden with an off-leash dog park was virtually unknown. It was my business baby, and I poured my heart and soul into creating it. It was a resounding success, making front page news at the Denver Post. We had a huge following, and a much beloved regular clientele of both human and canine fans. We rehabbed a derelict eyesore in the neighborhood into a thriving business, created a vibrant community of dog lovers, and gave back through charitable events for animal non-profits,

It was also a heart-breaking failure. At the time we opened, The Bark Bar was a completely new concept to State of Colorado and they didn’t know quite how to regulate it – so they did it after the fact. Even though I had done everything right, had dotted every i and crossed every t, the business was eventually forced to close due to zoning issues with the City of Denver.

Despite its ultimate closure, to this day, The Bark Bar is one of my proudest achievements. I learned so much that would serve me moving forward. These are just a few of the most indelible lessons:

“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” is a complete lie.
The more love you pour into your business, the more your heart is engaged, the more susceptible you are to stress. Learning how to manage your emotions even while caring deeply is essential to your sanity – and your health.

Don’t let the fear of failure keep you from trying.
What if your biggest fear actually does comes true? What then? My biggest fear was “What if we lose everything?” Guess what? It happened. Turns out, I was able to survive it. What’s more, I was able to thrive on the other side of that failure. And now I have lived experience under my belt that allows me to really understand, viscerally, the fear of failure and the meaning of resilience. It allows me to show up for my clients from a space of deep empathy and understanding.

Sometimes the biggest failures offer us the biggest gifts.
There are SO many gifts that keep on giving that were born out of that experience. My favorite is probably the ten pound pile of fur sitting next to me as I type this. Grace came to us as a stray that the neighborhood kids assumed had gotten loose from the Bark Bar, They delivered her to the bar’s doorstep after closing one night – a matted, wounded mess who eventually claimed us as her new family. This little dog has brought so many moments of joy and comfort to myself and all of our family and friends, even usurping me as the favorite child during my mom’s final years,

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

The funding for the Bark Bar is a great example of what can be created when you live in a state of possibility instead of being constricted by the belief in traditional ways of operating. I was truly in uncharted territory with getting a dog park bar funded, which in some ways worked to my advantage. I didn’t have an expectation of the way businesses usually get financed. I had never owned a bar before, or any brick and mortar business for that matter.

What I did have was passion and determination, and a willingness to learn. I talked to anyone and everyone about my concept, what I wanted to create. And I knew I was onto something by the way their eyes would light up when I spoke about the vision – a place where humans could experience connection and joy, simply by providing a space where dogs could be dogs and do what they do best – play with unabashed abandon.

Along the way, I identified those who shared my vision and could help me figure out the next step. That was it. Just the next step. Eventually, I ended up working with a financier who helped me get a special kind of SBA loan that was focused on improving communities through small businesses. The loan helped me acquire the derelict property that was rehabbed and became the new home of The Bark Bar. I augmented that funding with a few personal loans from friends and family, as well as my own savings. I was all in.

The financing structure actually became our saving grace once it was clear we would have to close. I was able to sell the rehabbed property for enough profit to cover our debts and pay back our investors. I was the only one significantly impacted financially, and that was a huge win.

My takeaway? “Losing everything” isn’t as big a deal as I thought it was. It was worth every penny, I’m still reaping the rewards, both personally and professionally.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://catthecoach.com
• Instagram: @catthecoach
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069932198068
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpeterscoaching
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@catthecoach
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DPJJ8LW4?ref_=pe_93986420_775043100