Katiuscia Baggio Has Combined Her Interest In Human Sciences With Education To Build A Business She Loves

Katiuscia Baggio’s love for personal development led her on a path to combine human sciences with learning. But driven to continue her education, she went on to get her MBA as well. With more years of training, she then went on to become a leadership and executive coach, which is where she’s found her strength. Currently, she is a Professional Certified Coach and helps people all over the world with her online courses.

Can you tell us about your background? Education played an important role in your life. Can you tell us more?

I live in northeast Italy in a lovely, picturesque old town called Asolo. My love for personal development began in high school, where I was trained as a kindergarten teacher. Over the years, I became obsessed with human sciences and decided to study how to help not only kids but also adults. Five years later, I graduated from the University of Padua with a degree in educational sciences and adult learning.

After that, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do in life. I was insecure about my abilities and not excited about what I’d been experiencing in the job world. After abruptly quitting a full-time job because of my boss’ “bad manners”, I read an article in a local newspaper. I discovered CIMBA, an American business school and Consortium of 36 American Universities located in Italy. It changed my life.

I began working there in 2001. At that time, I didn’t know English very well. I was first employed in junior roles. After 3 years, I became the executive education director of the school, managing training programs for companies and executives. At CIMBA I also had the opportunity to enroll in a Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, accredited by the University of Kansas. I completed the Program in the USA in 2005.

In 2007, CIMBA offered me the possibility of becoming a coach. I happily accepted and I was trained by Results Coaching System, now Neuroleadership Institute, in London, UK. In 2007 I became a leadership trainer and executive coach.

I gained my ICF accreditation in 2009 as an Associate Certified Coach and then in 2017 as a Professional Certified Coach.

What do you do today? And where has your path led?

I work with people and companies globally. I have about 2.000 hours of coaching practice — working mainly with executives and entrepreneurs. I’ve delivered 300+ training and facilitation programs for executives, in the USA, Europe, and the Middle East.

In March of 2019, after 18 years, I quit my full-time job in CIMBA and started my new venture. My big goal was not to be a freelancer, but rather a digital entrepreneur. I wanted to stop selling my time and performance. Instead, I wanted to develop online training and coaching programs to help business people develop their leadership traits and soft skills.

In the past year, I still collaborated with CIMBA Italy as a leadership trainer, MBA coach, and lead coach trainer in an ICF coach training program. My passion for coaching led me to also become an ICF mentor coach, helping coaches get their ICF accreditation.

Recently I developed two online courses in English for Udemy and one in Italian for Life Learning. I also created my online school on Teachable. I’m currently working on my Signature Program. It’s to help people develop the ability to face uncertainty while building effective relationships with others. You do this by using theatrical improvisational basic rules.

Years ago I took a few improvisation courses at The Second City School in Chicago. I was shocked by how many commonalities there are between coaching, leadership development, and improvisation. I’m now developing a training approach that combines these 3 dimensions.

How did you come about building your business?

I loved my job at CIMBA as a leadership trainer, coach, and executive education director. In fact, I remained in that position for almost 18 years, constantly learning new things and having the amazing opportunity to work with brilliant executives, entrepreneurs, companies, along with MBA participants from all around the world.

I loved the fact that the leadership program at CIMBA is based on neuroscience and solid academic research. This gave me the possibility to get to know international experts and scientists personally when they came to CIMBA to teach. On the other hand, at a certain point, I realized it was time for me to give space to my need to become an entrepreneur. I needed to go out of my comfort zone.

Years ago my MBA made me realize my calling wasn’t about becoming an executive in the corporate world. Rather, my calling was to be an entrepreneur. It was definitely time to answer that call.

I didn’t know anything about building an online business, or the e-marketing world. I didn’t even know how to make a basic video using my Mac. I had to learn — and I’m still learning — step by step. It requires a lot of time, energy, and persistence, but I love it!

How did you go about building your business?

I create online self-paced courses. I sell these courses on marketplaces like Udemy and Skillshare. I also have my online school hosted by Teachable, where my training programs are integrated with individual coaching support. This helps my students implement what they learn in their everyday life.

The topics are all related to developing emotional intelligence and people skills, with the main focus on job situations.

At the moment, by choice, I’m not offering in-company training or group teaching. My intent is to focus on and build my online venture.

As I said, building an online venture based on online courses from zero requires a lot of effort in terms of learning and testing new things. A high level of resilience is required. You don’t see immediate results.

Still, you need to trust and keep going. You have to take those actions every day to build results. I consider myself and my business “a work in progress”. I’m very happy to have 28,000+ students on my two courses on Udemy. Also, seeing my online school on Teachable finally live and my signature program taking shape is really satisfying. Step by step, my dream had become a reality. In August 2020, I published my first book on Amazon, “Improvise and Succeed “ and it was a great satisfaction for me”.

The Web is an amazing tool to reach the entire world with a single click. Still, connecting genuinely with people is key, and it takes time to build the relationship. I realized that what has been working for me until now as a leadership trainer and coach is not necessarily taking me to the next level.

To build an online community and grow my business, I needed to get super clear about the problem. I needed to see the required personal transformation/solution my audience was looking for, then clearly show them how I can help. Saying “take this course to develop your soft skills” is not specific enough!

Also, even more important, as Simon Sinek said, people buy “your why”. It’s essential to connect and feel my life purpose is honored through my business. In other words, what are my strengths? How do they make me unique? How can I help others using my superpower? So the key question is “How am I unique, and how can I help?”

I’m a good mediator and conflict manager, thanks also to my life challenges and my extensive training in coaching, leadership, and personal development. That’s how I can help others. Also, when I was a child I was a stutterer. Speaking in public was certainly not what I envisioned as a job for my future.

Thanks to my determination and all the support I searched for and found along the way, I’ve been able to overcome my challenges. At this point, public speaking, surprisingly, has become an important component of what I do. I want to use all the things I learned to help others achieve their dreams and fulfill their potential.

What skills and attributes make you as successful as you are?

I’m a good active listener and get along well with people. Also, my coaching skills, persistence, and self-motivation have been extremely helpful. Lastly, resilience, determination, and “whatever it takes” attitude have been an important force in my growth.

How do you feel about marketing in business? What is it about to you?

To reach people globally, you need to market your business. There’s no way around that. But, the time invested means gaining freedom, no 9–6 schedule, and making a difference on a global level.