Sisters-in-Service
Are you a women veteran who feels unseen and unheard? Do you struggle with finding your purpose after service? Sisters-in-Service is a podcast that gives women veterans the platform to talk about those exact issues and more. Hear from other veterans, military spouses and Veteran Service Organizations (VSO) just like you that have overcome their transition from the military. Every Tuesday this podcast encourages women veterans to stand up and be counted because as a group we have a voice. From your host - Cat Corchado - The Voice Connecting Women Veterans
Sisters-in-Service
From Fear to First Step: Having the Courage to Start Your Impossible
Fear doesn’t knock; it moves in quietly and rearranges the furniture. That’s where our story begins—at the messy, honest point where you want to start, don’t feel ready, and decide to move anyway. We trace a real journey from launching a podcast in the 60s to building a wellness business from the ground up, and we talk about what “start your impossible” means when it stops being a slogan and becomes a daily practice.
You’ll hear how a coaching debacle almost shut the door—and how a steady voice and a trustworthy mastermind opened it again. We get practical about the first-year stumbles many founders hide: underpricing, misaligned yeses, tool overwhelm, and the internal tug-of-war between staying safe and being seen. Then we go deeper into the identity work of rebranding. When your original brand no longer fits, the solution isn’t a new logo; it’s a clearer story. We unpack the questions that matter—Who am I now? Who am I here to serve? What promise am I willing to make and keep?—and how a strong coach and community can pressure-test your words until they ring true.
If you’ve ever been stuck “getting ready to get ready,” this conversation is your permission slip. We talk accountability, mindset, failing forward, and the surprising relief that comes from asking for help. The goal isn’t fearless or perfect; it’s brave and honest. Start small. Start messy. Start today. And when you do, tell us what you’re building—we want to cheer you on.
If this resonated, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review so more people can find these conversations. Your impossible is waiting; let’s take the first step together.
Welcome to Sisters in Service Podcast. Most of you know me as a strong advocate for women veterans and being recognized not only as veterans, but also as women who are changing the world through our passion of serving, even after service. This podcast is my passion by telling all the stories of military brats, military spouses, active duty, and veterans. Not to forget the veteran service organizations that help us along our transition journey. I want to thank you in advance for listening. I hope that you will join me every week. A new podcast and episode comes out every Tuesday. So I hope that you will join and I hope that you enjoy. This podcast is brought to you by Small Space Pilates. Are you ready to get fit and fabulous from the comfort of your own home? Look no further than Small Space Pilates. With live online Pilates and strength training classes, a video library, and a no perfection allowed policy, you can achieve your fitness goals without ever leaving your house. Click on the link for your complimentary week and start your journey to feeling fabulous today. Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Why Not Wellness. I am your host and your movement specialist, Kat Cortado. You know, we're going to be talking about a personal story, but it's also a conversation between you and me about what it really means to start your impossible. If you've listened to my podcasters and service, you always hear me say at the end, please stay safe, take care of each other, until next time, and always remember that it's never too late to start your impossible. What does that mean? Well, whether you're launching a business, getting serious about your health, taking up a new passion, or just trying something new that scares you a little bit, or maybe it scares you a lot. So let's have a conversation about this and let's talk about the messy, the beautiful, the uncomfortable truth behind going after what you really want. So starting your impossible is more than just a tagline. You've seen it on the in other places, I'm sure. But the truth is the impossible doesn't start with fireworks. It starts with an idea. It starts quiet. It starts with doubt. Maybe a little bit of doubt, maybe a lot. Definitely starts with fear. Probably a lot of fear. And it starts with you asking yourself, who am I to try this? Why? That was me when I started my business. And to be totally honest, I didn't know what I was doing. I knew I wanted a business. I just didn't know anything about business. And after a coaching debacle with someone who I thought could help me, I was very much put off by coaching. You see, I didn't come from a family of entrepreneurs. I am the only entrepreneur in my family. I didn't have a roadmap. I just had this stubborn, or as my business coach would say, tenacious, gut-level fit feeling that I had to at least try. So you know, when you're trying something and you ask your friends and your family, and they go, Oh, are you sure? What if you get hurt? What if it's too hard? Maybe you don't have the time. Maybe you're too wait for it. And I know my my salty sister Yvonne Marchese is going to hear me say this. But sometimes your friends and family are trying to keep you safe and they go, maybe you're too old for this. I started my podcast when I was in my 60s. Four years later, I started my business. Because why not? Right? Why not? I was tired of playing small. I didn't want to give everything I had to a business that was making more money than they were paying me. When you put in all that work for a company, but they don't really see you, it's kind of hard to take. So you're trying to wait for the right time. I call it getting ready to get ready. I don't have the right shoes, especially if it's fitness. You know, I don't have the the know-how. I don't have the the thing. I don't know what I don't know. I didn't feel ready, but I knew if I waited for ready, I'd be waiting forever. So let me stop right there and tell you that after the debacle with the coaching, a friend of mine, who is now a friend, but she was a friendly voice on the app called Clubhouse. And I kept listening to her and hearing her say. And she would say the same things all the time. She wasn't selling to me, she wasn't buying my thing. She just kept saying things that really resonated with me. Shortly afterwards, she asked me, I'm putting together a mastermind. Would you like to be a part of it? And I was like, nope, I'm good. I'm all set. Thank you. But no, thank you. But then I thought, well, wait a minute. I trust her. Because that's where it starts, right? Is with trust. I said, let me just try. I think the their 13 weeks, I believe, the coaching is. And I said, okay, let me try it. And then I'll I'll do one and then I'm done. Well, I'm still here. Finding the right coach for you is I don't even, I can't even think of a word. It's more than amazing. There's someone who can help you through the sticking points. Even if you know business, you know how you get stuck and you don't know where to go, and you ask other people, and their answers seem so hard. And you just want to do what? You want to quit. So let me tell you something. That first year, it was ugly. I made mistakes. I didn't know how to price my thing, whatever that is, was it was too low. I said yes to things that were aligned, that weren't aligned, excuse me. And I second guessed myself at every turn. I slowly and painfully learned how to do all these things. So let me stop you again. We all know Canva, right? I hated Canva. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to do it. I said, Canva's stupid. Well, now I've learned some things. And Canva is one of my best friends. My business coach helped me. Other members in my mastermind helped me. And we all are growing together. Now we're all at different places in our business, but we all help each other. And that's what's amazing about having a coach, but also having a group of people that you feel aligned with. So I learned how to show up, how to be me while still putting my business out there, how to pivot. Ooh, there's a word. And even though I'll say, and years later, here I am. Well, it hasn't been years. It has felt like years. It's been four years. And I'm starting to find a kind of rhythm. And after I started my podcast, I started my business. I was starting from ground zero again, but not really. Not really. I understood I had to put in the work. I also understood that I would learn what I needed to learn from the people that I was in my mastermind with. So it becomes clear, clearer that the brand I had built, the version of my business that once fit like a glove, no longer felt like me. Let me explain. When I first started my business, Small Space Pilates, it was perfect, right? I'll teach Pilates to people online. But then, like anything else, you grow, you learn. Now I'm offering different types of things, not just Pilates, weight training, Yamata body rolling, stretching, assessments, personal training online. So it didn't really fit anymore. Now I still love the name, don't get me wrong. But maybe you felt like that before. It's almost like a grade school of trying to put on toddler clothes. They just don't fit anymore. But that's what I had to learn. So maybe you felt like this before, like you've outgrown your old self, but you're scared to let go. Because what if it doesn't work again? What if people don't get it? What if you lose everything you work so hard to build? But here's what I realized. And what I'm talking about right now is rebranding. So starting a business, hard. Starting a podcast, hard. But once you learn a little bit about it, you're like, oh, this isn't so difficult. Branding, rebranding was difficult. And why? Because what resonated with me may not resonate with everyone else. And my business coach kept pushing me. She goes, Yeah, but this, but how about this? What about this word? And I said, I'm done. I I've got nothing left. And then we started playing around. And I thought, oh, oh wow. That process is not just about changing logos or colors or fonts. It's emotional. It's personal. It's identity. It forced me to ask, who am I now? What do I really want to say? Who am I here to serve? And the truth, I couldn't have done it alone. So sometimes you have to ask for help. And that's what brings me to being honest about asking for help. I used to think needing help was a weakness. But being in this mastermind, I know these people have my back. But what if you don't? It's hard to ask for help. As a military veteran, we're taught how to think on our feet. I don't need help. Even when people offer it, but sometimes you do. I thought I should be able to figure this out. I can do this on my own. I should be able to finish it on my own. But life and entrepreneurship, that's a way of humbling you. There came a point when I realized I was stuck, not because I didn't have ideas or talent or ambition, but because I couldn't see my blind spots. And that's where a coach comes in. Not because you're a failure or that I was failing, but because I was ready to rise higher. Having a coach was a game changer, not just for strategy, but for mindset. Someone who could take a look from a different angle than where you're sitting. Someone who could reflect back the things I couldn't see to hold me, what's that word? Ooh, accountable. Someone who could challenge me when I started playing small again, thinking small again. Someone to remind me why I started this whole thing in the first place. So it wasn't magic. The work didn't just disappear, but it made me think deeper. No one builds anything great alone. Ooh, let me say that again. No one builds anything great alone. So this whole rebranding, as hard as it was, could have been even more difficult without my I call them my team. Because we're everyone's team in this mastermind. So whether you're thinking of starting a business, committing to a fitness goal, picking up a paintbrush for the first time in 10 years, or pivoting into something totally new, I want to leave you with this. You don't have to be fearless. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to be brave enough to start. You're impossible. It's not some distant or unreachable dream. It's already inside you. You just have to make it happen with baby steps. And maybe today's the day you stop waiting for permission and start taking that first step. You'll be scared, you'll mess up, you'll want to quit. Do it anyway. You'll grow and you'll learn and you'll surprise yourself. And one day you'll look back, maybe after a few years, maybe after a rebrand, maybe after a few hard falls, and you'll say, damn, I really did that. And by the way, I call failure falling forward, failing forward, not falling forward. I call it failing forward because you learned something. So if this episode spoke to you, do me a favor and share it with someone who might need to hear it. And if you're on your own, start your impossible journey, shoot me a message. I'd love to hear what you're working on. So until next time, keep going. Start scared, start messy, just start. Because your impossible is waiting. So until next time, this is your movement specialist Cat Corchado. Until next time, and I'm gonna end. In the meantime, please stay safe. Take care of each other. Until next time. And it's never too late to start your impossible.