The Power of One: Person’s Belief In Me | S2E3

What if your success was never in question because someone believed in you before you believed in yourself? In this powerful episode of Tools for Success, Cathy Tooley sits down with Rebecca Bormann, Founder and CEO of RB Consulting Agency and Fractional VP of Sales and Marketing for Tools for Success, to talk about the life changing impact of belief. From a mother who spoke possibility into a young girl, to a father who removed limits with his words, this conversation explores how belief fuels confidence, courage, and long term success in business and life.

Cathy and Rebecca share deeply personal stories about entrepreneurship, faith, mentorship, and what happens when you borrow belief from someone else during seasons when your own feels shaky. You will learn how belief shapes mindset, why the right support matters more than surface level marketing tactics, and how aligned partnership can help mission driven organizations grow with intention. This episode is for educators, entrepreneurs, leaders, and anyone who needs a reminder that they are not disqualified from abundance, impact, or purpose.

If this conversation resonates with you, connect with Rebecca Borman and follow RB Consulting Agency on LinkedIn to learn more about visibility, sales, and marketing strategies that actually move the needle:
👉 https://www.linkedin.com/company/rbcgrowth/

And if this episode encouraged you, share it with someone who needs a reminder that belief can change everything. Subscribe to Tools for Success for more conversations that challenge your thinking and strengthen your leadership journey. Leave a comment and tell us who believed in you when it mattered most.

Step into growth and purpose! Discover my books and resources designed to help you lead, learn, and live with impact.

✨ Click here: https://t-sml.mtrbio.com/public/smartlink/toolsforsuccess

//About

Cathy Tooley is the Founder & CEO of Tools for Success and a seasoned educator with over 40 years in K–12 classrooms and school leadership. From high school teacher to principal, Cathy has dedicated her life to supporting educators. In 2014, she launched Tools for Success to provide real, in-person instructional coaching—not just “PD in a box.” She’s the author of The Education System Is Broken, a national speaker, and a fierce advocate for teachers. Through this podcast, she’s spotlighting the ripple effect of great teaching.
🔗 Website | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

Transcript

The Power Of Belief

Cathy Tooley 0:00

I never questioned my success as an entrepreneur. I didn't know the road. I didn't know the hills or the valleys. I didn't know the wins or the losses. But I never questioned that I would be successful. Yeah. And it comes from the power of the belief of someone. A good friend of mine always says, we share our time, talents, treasures, and testimony. Rebecca has asked me and pushed me to do things that I haven't wanted to do. I just have not wanted to do. And rarely do I push back. That's right. But the biggest benefit that Rebecca has is I know Rebecca sees the company the same way I do. That's right. Where I sit today and where the Lord is taking me, not only the financial abundance, which is clear, but the difference we're making in people's lives, the comments we're already seeing on these podcasts, the people that are being changed and thinking differently. And so I'm going to pray over this podcast, this particular episode, that for the people that didn't have the blessings of your mother and my father, that this podcast serves as someone in the power of belief. Hi,

Introducing Rebecca And Her Work

Cathy Tooley 1:20

everybody. Welcome back to another um episode of this series called The Power of One. Um so I'm joined today with a very dear friend of mine, and selfishly, I'll let her introduce herself and tell you about the amazing things she does with her own company. But she is a fractional VP of sales and marketing for tools for success. So part of the, I say all the hoopla that you get to watch with this video. Here's what I will say. If you love it, you're welcome. Isn't it good? And if it's bad. Let me introduce Rebecca Bormann. Thank you. Thank you. What a, what a what a what a I'm here for you. Thank you. I'm here for you. Thank you. Thanks. I'm so excited to be here and to do this with you. Thank you so much for having me. Um, so for the folks I don't know, um, I'm Rebecca Bormann. I am proud to be the fractional VP of Sales and Marketing for Tools for Success. And I'm the founder and CEO of RB Consulting Agency, and we're a marketing agency. Our goal is to help our clients increase their visibility, connect with their ideal clients and audience, and grow their revenue. So that's what we do. Yay! So Rebecca and I go a long, long way back, and and um we won't share all of that today. So part of when I put this together, I'll say this on most podcasts.

Letting Go Of Control And Trusting God

Cathy Tooley 2:35

Um, I'm a bit of a control freak and I like to know everything ahead of time, and I let the Lord lead this one. So I literally emailed you and said the topic is the power of one and the power of one what? The power of one person's belief in me. See, so I want you to I I have got to do this in the future. I'm just so a sidebar. This has been so freeing. Okay, let me talk to my fellow control freaks for a moment. I didn't ask you your topic ahead of time, did I? Nope. And we talk all the time. And we talk regularly. Well, we were on the phone a couple nights ago. Yeah, we were together. We were together a few nights ago for hours at a meeting. Um, and wow, it's already turning out. So, to my fellow control freaks, let me speak to you a moment. Sometimes when you let go and let God, it really does work. So let you take

A Mother’s Influence In STEM And Business

Cathy Tooley 3:28

that. So when I prayed about this, what I really thought about was um the belief my mom had in me from when I was really young. And you know, um, I I didn't get to have my mom on earth here very long, only until I was 12. But from as little as I can remember, she always told me I could be and do anything that I wanted to do or be. And I guess a little bit of like backstory, you know, all these things about me, but but our viewers don't, so yeah. So I spent the first 20 years of my career before I started the marketing agency in the technology field, male-dominated field. I was almost always the youngest person and the only or one of few women sitting at the table in executive boardrooms talking about nerdy, complex technology solutions with our enterprise corporations. And I just don't know if I wouldn't have had my mom telling me I could do or be anything that I wanted to be. And for the brief 12 years. Yes. We're not talking forever. Yes, that's right. That that I would have been comfortable there. And um, you know this a lot of my philanthropic work, my time on boards, my time volunteering has been spent um serving on organizations that empower women, particularly in the STEM fields and in business and entrepreneurship. Because I know so many women um didn't have someone pour into them like that when they were young. And I had my mom just always telling me that I could be and do anything that I wanted to do. And so she encouraged us to look study science or be a gymnast or an astronaut or a president or whatever, you know, whatever the

Challenging The Mold Of “Successful”

Cathy Tooley 5:24

case may be. And like I remember her like having these conversations about, oh, you could do this or that, and trying to expose us to all these things that women and girls just aren't exposed to. For sure. Yeah, I I I too, mine wasn't my mother, mine was my father who I was blessed to have until way later in life that said the exact same thing. You are limited only by what you believe you're limited by. Yeah. Um and as women, especially how do I say this nicely? Fluffier women. Is that a nice way of putting it? Fluffier women, we don't we don't fit the mold of what the um success, and and no disrespect to our sisters who happen to have those figures, which we're just jealous of them. That's right. We are, they're not even kidding about that, but but we don't fit a mold um of what uh the world tells us a successful entrepreneur should be. Um and I know for you, because I know that backstory, you didn't set out to be an entrepreneur. Nope. You had a very, very, very lucrative that's right. Um you're making less money now. That's right. Successful career. Um, as did I. I had a successful career, not quite as lucrative as yours. I was in the education field, but but even when I started as an entrepreneur, and I know because it's hard, I want to be sure we get these stories out because you and I already

Faith, Abundance, And Trying Anyway

Cathy Tooley 6:49

know them, we've shared them. Um I never questioned my success as an entrepreneur. I didn't know the road, I didn't know the hills or the valleys, I didn't know the wins or the losses, but I never questioned that I would be successful. Yeah. And it comes from the power of the belief of someone. Yeah, that's right. I mean, I was blessed also to be um raised in a Christian home, right? So went to church my whole life. And I think my mom's, you know, belief in me also helped me see God's belief in me, right? And uh, we talk about this all the time. We serve this vastly abundant God, right? So that coupled with my mom's, you know, pouring into me when I was a young girl, telling me there was no limitations for me. I was always just willing to try it, right? Because if it was supposed to be, I could do it. Because my mom told me I could, right? And I serve this abundant God when I'm on his path. He's just gonna make the things happen. So the Lord just pressed on me, how do we speak into our viewers, though, that didn't have someone? Yeah. Like I had my dad and you had your mom. Yeah. Well, I think that's one of the lessons for me, and I see you do it all the time too. I try to speak that into others when I see it, when I see their gifts, when I see their talents. I think that's a big point of this podcast with you and Victoria and her husband and all your other guests. Um, a good friend of mine always says, we share our time, talents, treasures, and testimony. And right, is that fourth T, right? Fourth T, yeah. Um Danielle Shocky uh is the one that says that she's the former CEO of Girl Scouts of Central Indiana and is now leading um experience for um Girl Scouts USA. So,

Becoming Each Other’s Belief

Cathy Tooley 8:34

someone also who believes in speaking the power into girls and women, so probably why it like stuck with me. But I think um it's our job to speak that into others. And even if you don't have someone speaking that into you, know that God is the one person that believes in you no matter what. Even how your and my paths cross. So I met Rebecca years ago. 15 years ago. Um I was a part of a um leadership training, and Rebecca was assigned to me as my coach. Right, as her coach. And I I remember thinking, oh, how do I coach her? She's already a she's already a powerhouse. How do I, you know, because it's easy to coach, I think, when you are a coach and you speak into people. I remember as a principal, it's easy for me to work with the brand new teachers. They don't know enough. They they they they don't know enough that I couldn't help them. I have a vast amount of knowledge to help someone who's never been in a classroom. But how do I help that really great teacher who is really great get better? That's what can get intimidating. But I remember, so I remember when you were a quote assigned to me. And you were, I don't think you picked me. I think I you were assigned. I did that in Via, but the first time we were assigned to the city. I think we were assigned. And I remember thinking, okay, this one's gonna be a test for me too. But I remember thinking the very first time that you and I had coffee at a we met at a Starbucks inside a target.

Breakfast That Changed The Business

Cathy Tooley 10:05

Remember? And I I remember that day because as I listened to you talk, I just heard the beliefs that you didn't have. That, of course, I had no idea then you were successfully working at your other company, making lots and lots of money. And um, and I remember just listening to you talk and thinking, well, that's not true. Well, that's not true. That's not who you are, that's not who you're called to be. And so I think what I want our viewers to hear is we didn't know each other. No, I think that was probably the longest we had ever talked in any one time. We had been in that class together and exchanged some words, but I don't know that we had connected like we did that day in Starbucks. I think that's where the connection really began for us too. I do too. And I walked out of that room knowing that I'd made a difference. Yeah, because you were another person who had belief in me in areas where I didn't in myself yet. And I knew that about you. It felt a lot like how my mom spoke to me when I, you know, when I was a child. Yeah, so let's fast forward this conversation because again, you and I know this, but our viewers don't. Fast forward to um Rebecca now being a part and being uh a fractional VP um of sales and marketing for our company. I didn't, I knew she had left where she was. That's right. Because I saw it on Facebook. I mean, that's where we read everything, right? That's right. Um, you know, where we all read everything. And I remember thinking, oh, that's kind of cool. Yeah. She's gonna become an entrepreneur. Because entrepreneur, I never questioned she couldn't be a successful entrepreneur. And what I remember thinking was, let's just have breakfast. That's right. And let's talk about, you know, by that point in time, I think I'd had the company five, six years. Seven, I think. Yeah, and I was doing okay. We were doing it. We were doing fantastic. We were we were successful, we had a lot of schools, we were doing really great, but I was hungry for um a really good marketing. I um, you know, I I know so many of you watch this podcast and think how sleek it is and and how well marketed it is. I don't think I could scream it loud enough

Why A Tailored Strategy Beat A Class

Cathy Tooley 12:09

that I have nothing to do with that. Nothing. Any thumbnail, any, any, what do they call those things? Shorts. Yeah, shorts. I don't even know who they are. I don't even know who they are. Um I what I do have is a gift to talk. That's right. And then I've surrounded myself with people that know how to make it better. Um, so anyway, back to that moment. So I was sitting there and I remember, you know, uh, I really had breakfast with you to think, you know, I have made so many pitfalls and so many mistakes as a young entrepreneur. Young entrepreneur, not young. I didn't say that for those of you who stand in the love. Young entrepreneur, that gosh, I wish someone would have gotten a hold of me. Those were literally your words to me, were like, hey, let me take you out. I've been doing this for a minute. Like, I want to learn about you and let me share some things that I wish I would have done differently. Those were literally your exact words. Let me take you to breakfast. That's literally breakfast. And I remember thinking, um, I never questioned she would be successful. And I frankly had no clue what she was doing. I just knew she said she had stepped out on her own. I mean, she could have been dog washing for all I know. I don't know. Because if you know her and her dogs, you know that that is is is is in Rebecca's capacity of what she could do. So, but I remember thinking, I wished I I think I have something to say to her, I am that hey, this worked really well and this didn't work really well. And so as we got to talking, um I said something about that I was looking for. I probably knew that it was time. If any of you saw my social media about five years ago, I was making the posts. Two thumbs up on that. Good job. Good job. The content was out there. Good job. It to say it's dunkie poo-poo. I like I even knew it was bad. But what I told myself was, hey, at least it's out there. You know, everybody kept saying, You gotta get on Facebook and you gotta have a YouTube and

Borrowing Belief To Fuel Action

Cathy Tooley 14:05

you gotta. And my first videos, oh Lord, like they were, oh, they're pithful. And so Rebecca started, I had no idea she was gonna be doing marketing. None until she said, I said, well, I think what I'm looking for is I've got to find someone. I knew it was time, I knew the company was ready to level up. I always tell the story. I thought my webpage was killer. And Rebecca tipped my webpage, and and I remember calling my husband when I left a meeting where the webpage was really being changed, and I said, Honey, like I thought I had a good webpage. I really did have a good webpage. I built a lot of that, I did a lot of that. And I said, We just went from kindergarten to college like that. I mean, that webpage that I business growth, marketing, branding. I tell you this all the time. It's an evolution, just like everything else in life. Well, I didn't get a memo. I didn't get that memo. And um, because we serve schools, we're kind of a weirdo company. We are really weirdo. Very, very niche. We're right. And so Rebecca starts taking notes, and I remember thinking, I'm being so profound. I'm being so profound in my business advice to Rebecca that she is jumping down notes from this. I really did. I did. Oh my gosh, I'm so stupid sometimes, but um, in a good way. But she said, talk to me about your marketing. And I remember thinking, well, let me just tell you what I'm doing. I knew it was stunky, poo-poo. Um, we had I'm trying to think if anyone, I had a Facebook page. You did? I think aside from the obligatory husband and children that were following it, that was about it. I I don't think I'm not sure if I'd started YouTube. I think I knew you had, but they were yeah, they were a challenge. They were, you know, they were they were what they were. And um so she's writing down all these copious notes. And I remember thinking, Sometimes you know, the power of one belief, I am so

Practical Sources Of Daily Encouragement

Cathy Tooley 16:05

profound in Rebecca Bormat's life that I have Rebecca taking notes. Yes. And then she said to me, Do you know that's what I do? Yes. And I heard the Lord say, She's who you're looking for. Well, and I remember you literally had a proposal from someone else, which I thought was ridiculous. Which you had sat on for a minute, right? Because you were like, Okay, this Well, let me tell you why I hated the proposal. It was another example, and and no disrespect to any entrepreneur out there that is doing this, but it was that class mentality. You know what I mean? Like, you're going to pay this much money to be a part of this class, 20, 30, 40, 50 other people. And what I said to Rebecca is I don't what I do and who I am is very niche. That's right. And I don't want to be a part of a class where I am either pulled too far forward in a direction that I don't want to go and would never go anyway, or they don't understand who I am. That's right. And the group at the time had already told me, had referred to what I do, um, had referred to schools as institutions for the marginalized. And I found that hugely offensive. From someone who has lived her life now in education for 40 years, I was struggling of how can someone who A has a class mentality that I didn't want, and B believes that what I do is, quote, institutionalizing the marginalized. You don't, I don't know. Yeah. And I wanted a meet. I want someone to just work with me. And so, yeah, now I interrupted you and finished the story. No, that like, but this, but this is exactly it. It's these this belief, right? So even like we can take, we can take our interaction and the belief in that your business

Alignment, Pushback, And Shared Vision

Cathy Tooley 17:55

and where it could go and the good that it was doing, and to have that conversation and to have a partner like me, to have a partner like our wonderful Victoria producing this camera, right? You know, but but that's what it is. And I was like, so there's so many times where we get to borrow or use or embody, you know, the belief that someone hell else has from us. And it happens maybe sometimes when we just don't know. We're we're not on that step of the journey yet. Your belief in me as an entrepreneur when I had literally just started, like it had been months. You just started. Yeah. And my belief in you of this company, this power, this good that you were doing. I mean, and let's you wrote a whole book on how the education system can change so it serves all of our children. That's what it, you know, like that's what it's about. So even your belief in your belief in our students, you know. So I just think it's so powerful. I got goosebumps of like how um someone else's belief in us can really be the fuel. It can drive us forward, that we get to borrow that. And, you know, I'm thinking too, you asked me, what who what about the folks that didn't have a dad like yours or a mom like mine? Well, there's so many resources today. Tune into the Tools for Success podcasts, read a book, you know, literally um social media. I know you know people feel different ways about it, but you can make that content be whatever you want, make it be inspirational. You're continuing to get nasty content because you're following nasty content. Listen to Christian music that fills you up. And you don't even have to be Christian music, listen to positive music that fills you up, listen

Abundance, New Books, And Impact

Cathy Tooley 19:25

to affirmations, you know, like use these tools to um borrow other people's belief, you know, and of the people. If you didn't have a dad and mom like you and I didn't have the Bible, you know, like man. Amen. Start there. For a little while. Those kinds of things. But like it's all in there, right? That belief, that power. Um, our our God, you know, gave us his power, his abilities. We get to tap into it, um, you know, and operate from a place of love. And I think that's where all that belief comes from. It's so interesting to me when you talk about um the belief of something. Someone, and I know we we have to wrap this up. We're gonna be keeping people here all night. I know we could talk too long. We could talk too long. It's it's really what I probably never said to you is this. So, you know, obviously Rebecca, you know, makes money from her company. We write her a check, we do all of that each month, but that's that's not your benefit to me. Rebecca has asked me and pushed me to do things that I have wanted to do. I just have not wanted to do. Um and rarely do I push back. That's right. Hardly ever. Rarely. Every now and then. I think of a couple instances. And it usually ends up being a compromise, not a doubt. It does. It does. It's really rarely, never a no. It's uh because again, I know my audience, I know my my my my principals, my superintendents, my teachers, we're we're different birds. We're not we are not mainstream marketing and businesses, but the biggest benefit that Rebecca has is I know Rebecca sees the company the same way I do. That's right. Where

A Prayer And A Charge To Share

Cathy Tooley 21:00

we are today, I said this to my husband, not even, just got goosebumps thinking, I'm gonna testify here for a minute. I said to my husband, where I don't know where my new book is going. I just wrote a brand new book that is a Bible study, um, because the Lord pressed it on me to write. And then wrote two other books. Obviously, you're you're you're painfully aware of them. You're involved in the marketing of them, but not painfully, wonderfully. But I what I do know is this where I sit today and where the Lord is taking me, not only the financial abundance, which is clear. Um, we're my husband and I are living in that. We're gonna travel for three weeks to Europe on the Lord's abundance, um, but the difference we're making in people's lives, the comments we're already seeing on these podcasts, the people that are being changed and thinking differently. And so I'm gonna pray over this podcast, this particular episode, that for the people that didn't have the blessings of your mother and my father, that this podcast serves as someone in the power of belief. Amen. That this podcast be something that they turn on when the world tells them that they're not. When when they're not pretty enough, they're not smart enough, they don't have the education you and I did, they never made the money you and I have, the color of their skin looks different than us, the sound of their um dialect or voice sounds different than us, that the God that you and I serve wants the same for them as he does for us. Absolutely does. And so I want to thank you so much for coming here and being here and being a part of today's podcast and the belief. And and for those of you that are um watching this podcast, I I mean, I just feel absolutely compelled to say this. There is someone in your life, maybe it's you, but there is someone in your life you listened to this video and you thought they need to hear this. The Lord didn't put you in front of this video so that you could feel it and feel good. He put you in front of it for you to share it.

Rebecca Bormann 23:15

That's right.

Cathy Tooley 23:16

So tag that person, name that person, and remind them that as Rebecca had her mom and I had my dad, and then we've turned out to be each other's. That's all because of God. So share that video and thank you for being a part of an another episode. We'll see you soon. God bless.