Blossoming into Success with Leticia Francis

EP 020

TW: In this episode we discuss and mention Domestic Abuse, Violence, Detail of Injury, Emotional Abuse, Drug Use.


In this episode we're talking to Leticia Francis, who is a life and business coach based in the UK. Her mission is to help women of colour coaches increase their impact and income by providing a life changing and transformational coaching programme. Leticia has an incredible story of overcoming adversity and this took her on the journey to building her business and enjoying the life that she has created every day. 


We Discuss:

• Leticia's Story
• What's in a name? BlaqueRose
• Leticia's VIBE system for bringing strategy and mindset together (Visulaise, Identify, Build and Embody)
• A client success story
• Silencing our limiting beliefs
• Transition from a 9-5 to starting a business
• Investing in yourself
• Self care for high energy
• 3 Top Tips to create impact

Connect with Leticia here:

Website: Home Page (blaquerosecoaching.com)

Instagram: Leticia | Business Coach for Black Female Coaches (@blaquerosecoaching) • Instagram photos and videos

EVERYDAY DETERMINATOR PODCAST

Website: Podcast – Construction Cheer Leader (anneokafor.co.uk)

Linkedin: The Everyday Determinator Podcast: Company Page Admin | LinkedIn

Instagram: Everyday Determinator Podcast (@everyday_determinator) • Instagram photos and videos

Twitter: @DeterminatorPod

Transcript

Unknown: 0:00

Welcome to the everyday determinator podcast with your host, no Kaffir, founder of the determinator Collective, we want to help you get off that hamster wheel of life and turn you into an everyday the Terminator by sharing stories for Americans who have overcome varying challenges in life and careers and by reviewing and signposting you to helpful resources to start you on the journey to achieving your goals. For more information on the determinator collective, please visit www.un okafor.co.uk Thanks for listening determinator.

Anne Okafor: 0:50

Hello, and welcome to the everyday determinator podcast. And this episode we're talking to Leticia Francis, who is a life and business coach based in the UK. Her mission is to help women of colour coaches increase their impact and income by providing a life changing and transformational coaching programmes. Leticia has an incredible story of overcoming adversity. And this took her on the journey to building her business and enjoying the life that she has created every day. Leticia, it's fabulous to have you with us today.

Leticia Francis: 1:20

Thank you for having me.

Anne Okafor: 1:22

You're very welcome. So you started Black Rose, in the midst of personal growth and looking to find your purpose, I guess, after you know, you had this sort of story of that you were in the corporate kind of world as well. And amid some personal sort of challenging circumstances. So let's rewind what was life before Black Rose was created?

Leticia Francis: 1:43

Well, my story goes way back. I was born and raised in Bermuda. And at the age of seven, I was told by a family member that my birth was the reason why my parents got a divorce. So that kind of sent my life into a tailspin of craziness. Actually, at the age of 14, I entered into a relationship with someone that was twice my age, that relationship was abusive and abusive. For many years, I ended up marrying this man, and he stabbed me below that situation was probably the beginning of my walk through how if I'm honest, so when I left my marriage, I thought that life would magically just get better. And it didn't get better for me because I had a lot of unaddressed trauma, not only with my abusive relationship, but my relationship with my parents, I was emotionally neglected by my parents for years, both parents remarried, and both of their spouses didn't like me. So I was in between two families. And even when I was stabbed, I didn't have anywhere to go, my mom would basically tell me that I couldn't stay with her. And I had to piece my life together in a homeless shelter. So not having the tools that I needed. I self sabotage for 10 years, I saw myself in relationships that were extremely toxic. I was in relationships with married man, I was in relationships with drug users. And one of those relationships landed me in jail. My boyfriend was abusing crack cocaine, he's still some items, and I came into contact with those items. And the police came and arrested me. And that was after years of partying and drinking and literally just being on a happy being arrested was what changed things for me. And I worked with a life coach after that. And working with a life coach absolutely changed my life. It helped me to see that, you know, I had more control over my life than I ever thought was possible. And I press reset. But, you know, in that process, I had to come to an awareness of what I really wanted in life instead of just doing things to do things, you know, we get a job, because we know that's what we're supposed to do. And we stay in a room because, you know, perhaps we saw someone else do that for me. I saw my mom in a row for 27 years that she absolutely hated. And I remember following that would never be me. But it ended up being me and I made a decision to change that narrative to do something different, which is what helped me birth my business. I got tired of being in an environment where I felt unappreciated and underpaid and I decided to do something about it.

Anne Okafor: 5:05

I mean, incredible story. And I think you know, what stands out for me as you've had that sort of like, it started off where you don't really have that sort of emotional support so that when things, you know, got really bad and relationships and things like that you possibly weren't equipped to deal with those feelings, and you don't have that support network around you to navigate. You know, I mean, it's hard enough when a relationship breaks down. But, you know, in the circumstances that you experience, you know, being, you know, stabbed, physically assaulted, you know, how do you navigate that with the thoughts and feelings when you don't have that support network of people who are supposed to be there for you. And you're supposed to step in and rally around, I mean, just incredible, that makes it so much more difficult a situation to try and find your way around. And, you know, thankfully, you're here and you found your way. And, um, you know, that's awesome. And it's an awesome testament to your determination and your resilience, and just, you know, sure, you know, well to be something better for yourself, which is, you know, absolutely incredible. And you can see that, you know, you can see how happy you are now you can see that you just love doing what you're doing. And again, that's really a great thing to see, especially when someone's had such a hardship to get to this place. Because it can be quite a better journey, I guess. And to see how happy you are now, doing something you enjoy doing something you've created as well, I think that's important. You know, this isn't something that, you know, you've just found along the way, you've absolutely created this new environment, this new place for yourself, because of the place that you've been, and the journey that you've travelled the feelings that you've had, you've had to go back and pick all that out yourself. Pick out what was important to you pick out what made you happy, not being in roles where like you say, we do what's expected of us, we go and get a job, we stick in the job, because that's what we've shown by society, it's what society expects of us we do. What we think is that, you know, that's what you're supposed to do, you grow up and you get a job and you stay there. And you pay the bills, and you keep going even if it's hard. And you don't like it, you just keep going because you need to pay the bills, but those other options. And you know, your story is really, really testament to that. And black roses, an absolutely beautiful name as well, is there. What was the thinking behind that? Was there some what was a thought?

Leticia Francis: 7:25

Well, in Bermuda, most people have nicknames. So like, it's very common for people to be named by their nickname, and my nickname is black. So it was a given that I was going to incorporate that somewhere in my business. But black race in particular is something that most people will associate with death, or funerals or something quite morbid. And that's actually what I want people to think about when they think about my company, black roots. Coaching is about killing the narratives and letting the narratives die, right, so that we can rewrite our narratives in a way that they serve us. And when I talk about narratives, I'm talking about the way that we think, you know, our the way that we assign emotion to events and experiences, all of that impacts the way that we take action. So black robes coaching is about the death of the narratives that no longer serve us, giving the to the birth of new narratives and a new outlook on life, so that we can live happily and see the success and fulfilment we desire in our lives.

Anne Okafor: 8:39

I just I really like that. And certainly when I was reading your story and doing the research for this, certainly that sort of feeling of blossoming into something different and you certainly came across to me and and that's the reason for the question. I wondered if there was a reasoning behind that. And I love that it's, you know, back to a nickname that you had when you were younger. And I think, you know, the death of the narratives that we tell ourselves is such an important thing as well. We need to think about what's really important to us as individuals and creator and find a way and I think we can all find ways that you know, maybe you're not wanting to leave your job, but maybe there's something that you want to change that doesn't serve you anymore, and we can all do something to think for ourselves that allows us to make that change. And I just I really love that. So in any black rose manual, obviously you're doing life coaching and your you know, your commitments to help people with what you have called your vibe system vi B stands for visualise identity, build an embody. Yes. Would you like to tell us a little bit more about that system and how that works?

Leticia Francis: 9:43

Yes, absolutely. So my focus right now is helping coaches and new service providers build a solid foundation to their business so that they can start seeing consistent clients in their business and the vibe system is exactly what I use. with my clients in order to do that, visualise is about creating a vision for your business and your life and then deconstructing what it's going to take for you to get there. It's about creating plan so you know what you're doing every single day of the week so that you're able to move yourself forward, because vision helps breed action, because you actually know what to do in that. So most of my clients come to me and they say, Leticia, I don't even know what the hell to do next. And that is why we focus on visualise identify is about understanding what uniqueness you bring to the table, what strategies you have that can help your ideal client, but it's also understanding what claim will get the best transformation or the best help from your services. And then identifying what problem you can solve for them. So that you can create an irresistible offer that people will buy from you. To build is about building a personal brand that will allow you to stand out online. It's about building a content and marketing strategy, so that you can get in front of your ideal clients. So you can convert and then start seeing sales. And it's also about building engage audiences. Well, it doesn't make sense having 10,000 followers and only three likes, you want to have the people that you are looking to sell your services in your audience, and not just some bots or some random people. And then embody is about really addressing your mindset, really doing what it's going to take for you to embody the success that you want in your life. And I'm a firm believer, if you want success, you have to start acting like you have success and all, you have to know what it means to be successful, so that you can change the way that you're acting, so that the success will be easier for you. So that is my vibe system, it has been very successful with my clients. It's all wrong system. Anyone who's building a business knows that you can have all the strategy in the world what if your mindset is not aligned, you're not moving forward, you're not going to make the money that you want. And my vibe system was created to bring strategy and mindset together so that my clients have success.

Anne Okafor: 12:19

Awesome. It sounds fabulous. That sounds really great structured, you mentioned client success, would you be able to give us an example of a time when a client's really success or excelled with using the system. And obviously with confidentiality, there's things you can't mention. But if you can maybe give us an example of client success, that would be fabulous.

Leticia Francis: 12:39

Sure. So one of my clients came to me last year, she had been coaching for four years, and did not have one paying client. So she was spending her time given all her services for free so that she could maintain her experience. And she was really frustrated with that. But she was struggling with procrastination, she was struggling with actually getting started with the things that she had planned for her business. So when she came to me, we walk through her procrastination issues, we work through her hesitations to change and I gave her the strategy to build that audience to get in front of her ideal clients. She went from having no clients and for years to selling out her first group programme in less than a week, she sewed it out to the point where she had to actually run two groups simultaneously, because of the interest that she had. And she's actually I spoke to her a couple of days ago getting ready to launch her second group programme, but she's actually tripled the capacity because she knows how to convert the people that are in front of her

Anne Okafor: 13:51

sound, you know, excellent for your client, obviously a testament to the vibe process. And what you're offering a Black Rose, so incredible. And you know, it's great that you know, your journey and your experiences are now helping others to increase their impact. I think that's how you term it. so fabulous. Part of your own journey and your own programme is about silence and the limiting beliefs that we have. How does someone go about doing that?

Leticia Francis: 14:20

It's important to really understand how much our thoughts impact our actions. So I think we don't have a clear understanding of that sometimes, although its impact the way that we feel. Our feelings impact our emotions and our emotions drive our actions. So if you're feeling really crappy, we tend not to take action. So having that understanding is really important because it allows us to now examine our thoughts are the thoughts that we haven't actually pushing us forward? are they holding us back and if we're finding that they're holding us back, I have a name, shame and reframe. systems framework that I use with my clients, which teaches them how to examine the the evidence that they're holding, that actually creates these thoughts. So oftentimes we tell ourselves that we're not good enough. And that sometimes comes from feedback we've gotten from people that mean a lot to us or sailing in the past. But if we step back and look at whether or not there's evidence against that door, you know, where we've actually accepted, we actually have succeeded, or we actually have been given feedback that isn't, you know, condemning us, we can then see, well, wait a minute, this is not an absolute truth. And if we learn to operate from an absolute truth, not an assumption, not, you know, someone else's opinion, it can change the way that we think about ourselves, which then will impact our actions. So what it's thoughts of getting honest with your thinking, and sometimes we were not willing to admit that we're sitting there calling ourselves stupid when we make a mistake, or sitting there at night, telling ourselves that we're always going to be a failure. But those are the things that stop us from excelling. And if we can change that, then we can change our outcomes.

Anne Okafor: 16:11

No, absolutely. And I think we're quite good at holding on to the bad things, you know, we're very, very good at holding on to that one bad thing that someone's told us 10 years ago, and we ignore the wonderful things that we've done in the past 10 years that negate that one thing, we, it's a really important thing to have that honest conversation with yourself. And it's hard, it's a hard thing to do, it is a hard thing to do. Sometimes we're not ready for that. And to face the realities of that sometimes, because sometimes there are maybe things that we can do better on and that we need to challenge ourselves. And it's not always easy to learn that about yourself. But I think it's an important step for personal growth, or professional growth. Whatever aspect you're kind of looking at, it is important to understand your weaknesses or where you need to challenge where you need to work and focus your work. You know, it's not necessarily a case of oh, well, this is what you're bad at. It's a case of this is where you need to focus your energy to improve, I think, and I think, you know, if we look at it in that way, but like you said, have that honest realisation, then you can focus some energy there and make it better, you know, and actually, a lot of the times, it's probably never as bad as we tell ourselves to start with. And can we hold on to that bad thing that someone's told us 10 years ago, or one time that we failed 10 years ago? You know, and actually, we've done so many things between then and now that tell a different story. And we need to look at that closer sometimes. And, and actually, it can also identify where your strength points are. And, you know, you can filter that into other areas where you might need to challenge or make some improvements, I think so. How can someone transition from the corporate nine to five, you know, that something you've done, you went from working in that role? Are there things that you know, generally people should have put in place first, or, you know, I know, it's probably individual for everybody, but what would you say to someone looking to make that transition from their nine to five into something else that they want to do?

Leticia Francis: 18:10

I think it's first of all important to get clear about what you want to do. If you want to repeat your income, what does that look like? Like I said before you no vision is important. And that is the first step, getting clear on what you're going to do and how you're going to create that additional income for yourself. And then getting started really, you've been a lot of people, when they talk about leaving the nine to five, they're really scared because they think they have to do if I'm saying I'm leaving, I'm gonna leave tomorrow. And I'm gonna figure it out as I go. And that is not the case, I tell everybody, make sure that your finances are in place. Because you know, it takes a while to build a business, make sure that you have the support around you, because it's hard. I mean, you can go on and do but if your partner's not with you, it makes it that much harder to to do what you need to do. Work on your mindset, journal, you know, really get grounded in your emotions. And I tell everybody starting a business, you got to be ready to work on yourself. Because if nothing else, you are faced with the worst parts of you that you've probably ignored for many, many years, right? When you start a business, all of that comes to the forefront and you have to be ready to face that. But it's about planning. If you have a solid plan that you're ready to execute, then go ahead and do it. And just, you don't have to jump in here first. You can easily into the water and do what is comfortable for you.

Anne Okafor: 19:38

Yeah, I think that's really good advice. I think, you know, I think we do think that if you're talking about finishing one thing and starting something new, it is a stop and start something new, but it doesn't have to be that way. And I really appreciate where you said that it is about confronting the worst parts of ourselves, or the most challenging parts and the things that were maybe not that good because it If you're starting a business, ultimately it's all on you to for everything, you're everything to everybody, then. Whereas maybe at work, you're focused solely on one thing, that's usually a strength point for you, because that's what you do, then doubt. Whereas you're having to balance lots of different things as well. And maybe that's not your strong point, you're maybe having to do tasks that you really don't like, that may be another function of your business, at the moment that your the way you work, your workplace is taken care off, because somebody else has that strength point. When you're in a business, it's all on you. And I think, you know, really having that support network is in place is super important. I think it's important for lots of things we do in life. I just wonder, did you have any mentors in this process? For you? Did you have a role model or a mentor or coach yourself and your transition,

Leticia Francis: 20:49

I have invested heavily in my business I have, in my fresher business, I had six different coaches, to help me move along. And it was a coach for social media was a mindset coach, it was a funnels coach, I invested heavily because I wanted to move my business forward. And once I moved away from my nine to five, I invested even more, because now I didn't have that money on the side, I had to be making it all myself. And I wanted to make sure that I was equipped to do so.

Anne Okafor: 21:22

Excellent. I think that, you know, it's important to note that you said you had different cultures for different things. And that's an important thing as well. Because sometimes we think if we get one coach, that'll solve everything, different coaches, again, because they have different strength points, and then you can pull the best from all of them and make something that works for you as well. And I think that's really important to note that you don't have to have one person that come along the journey for the whole thing. But you can maybe have someone for social media or someone for marketing or you know, whatever, say up and whatever support you need. There's people out there that you know, you can facilitate that there's coaches and making that investment as well, you know, believe in yourself enough to make the investment in where you need to have some support and where you need to get the tools that you need to take forward something that's really important and pointing to highlighted there. A lot

Leticia Francis: 22:12

of people struggled to invest early on in the business because they're not making money. But it's actually counterintuitive. If you can invest now you learn know what you need to know to make the money. And if you're sitting there walking around in circles, you're not making money. But if you have the strategy that you need, and you work on your mindset along the way, the return on investment is so much higher, because you increase your earning potential with the information that the coaches or mentors give you.

Anne Okafor: 22:41

No, absolutely. I think, you know, in every task that we do in life, you know, there's nothing wrong with having coaches and mentors to help to help us improve to help us see the blind spots even that we don't see, because there's things you know, certainly in in business and marketing and social media, you don't know what you don't know sometimes. And it's that blind spots, that sort of unknowns that we have, we all have them in certain areas, and to have someone who knows them and pointing them out. And that helps you help you be more resilient to help you have a stronger business as well, when you can plan for these things that you might not have seen before. I think it's really important. So absolutely. So I know you're quite high energy person, I think you call yourself that. And we can see that you're, you know, a great personality and you love to laugh. How do you maintain this energy, you know, you're working, you're creating your business, you're you know, these are things that take up lots and lots of time. But what do you do for self care? That's for Leticia, that's for just downtime and to put that energy back in, I guess,

Leticia Francis: 23:46

my number one self care practice is sleep. I have two toddlers that are home full time with me. I'm homeschooling my children all the way through. So whenever I have the opportunity to nap I absolutely not. But as far as my energy and my vibe will concern I have a very strict meditation routine. I meditate morning, noon and night literally, I do overnight meditations to help reprogram my subconscious and that has been instrumental for me, I wake up ready to go because I am training my mind for that. And I have meditations that get me high vibe that I use. When I see a vibe drop off. I'm like, let me put my headphones in and start meditating. That is my self care. That is what allows me to get up every day and do what I'm going to do. Spread My love and light to everyone around me.

Anne Okafor: 24:47

I love that. And I think it's so important that we all have something whether it's meditation, our sleep or you know, whatever we do to enjoy going for bath or reading or whatever, whatever it is that sort of fills you back up fills the cup back up. Because I think we quite often neglect that. And you know, especially if people are starting new businesses, there's lots and lots of tasks on the to do list. There's lots and lots of actions, you know, and it can be quite overwhelming. And like, sometimes we, in order to keep going, we keep doing tasks we keep, you know, trying to take things off the list. But actually, taking that time for yourself allows you time allows you space to think about the things that you need to do, and actually makes you more effective at doing the doing, because you have had space to think you've had time to breathe, and time to just take in what you're trying to achieve. And I think it's really important for anyone, whether you're studying, whether you're working, whether you're trying to set up a business or running an established business, take time for self care, and take that time for yourself, that you need to do something you enjoy, if it's meditating, whatever serves you is the thing that is self care. You know, we talk about self care. And quite often we think it's meditation or massages or whatever. It's whatever makes you operate better is whatever serves you. For some people, it can be setting boundaries. For some people, it can be sorting out the time management, it's whatever serves you best dancing in the rain, I literally haven't haven't a dance, which is always good fun, and always just makes you feel a little bit better. And it can just be again, it doesn't have to be something that takes up half a day. And meditation, you don't even start small. I know when I started doing some meditation, it was five minutes, you know, and that can even just help you feel better, just allows you to breathe in and out a few times. So it doesn't have to be a long thing. It doesn't have to be a really encompassing activity where you have to go to the gym or go somewhere. It can just be 10 minutes meditation, five minutes meditation, just allow yourself to some time and space to reset and to refocus what you're doing. I think, you know, find what works for you guys. And girls, that's listening and meditation I support as an activity that's helped me and certainly, it's helping Leticia. One statement that you mentioned, in your website, I think I read it might have been on your socials or but it was what every step like you will create an avalanche. And I just love it. Because it's really visual. And I'm quite a visual person. I just love that. And it just makes me think about creating that impact that you talk about. And it gives you a really visual way of doing that walk every step like you're going to create an avalanche, what would be your top three tips for someone looking to create that impact?

Leticia Francis: 27:31

Well, it's about getting honest with yourself, a lot of times, we don't consider what impact looks like for us, right? So take a step back and think about how you can personally make an impact. And it doesn't have to be huge. An impact can be committed to smiling to a stranger every day, right? Just think about what you can do that you're comfortable with. But also, by my second step will be think about how you can change for yourself. We make an impact when we do the internal work, because it changes the way that we show up, it changes the way that people see us because of the way we show up differently. But then my last step is really spend time getting to know the authentic you. Because a lot of times we spend so much time wearing mask, because we think we need to write we think we have to be a certain way, we have to act a certain way, which I do for a very long time. I call myself a self contained hurricane, but I hit that hurricane for a very long time. Just get comfortable with you and who you are. And just that being able to stand in your authenticity can change a lot around you.

Anne Okafor: 28:53

Absolutely. I mean, the three excellent tips. You know, I think a lot of what we think about in terms of personal growth, we you know, we think about how we need to present outwards. But actually the work is internal. We need to start with us finding out what what you like what you enjoy doing what makes you happy, what gives you joy? What makes you feel good, and work on those things. And automatically your present there because you feel better. You know, if you feel better, you feel well you feel happy, you feel joyful, you're going to present outwardly, much, much more better. You're going to be in a better state people will perceive you better because you're open you're authentic, people like that, that. And I think as humans we can tell when someone isn't authentic with us. And we behave differently. We treat people differently if we know that they're not being authentic with us, we we don't receive that in the same way as if someone comes along and presents authenticity and presents a sort of like, you know, you don't have to be happy all the time. Nobody is but when we're joyful when we're well when we're being open and honest. And I think just being able to have that if you can't have that conversation with yourself, you're not going to be able to talk to other people about what you need and what you want, and how you go about getting these things. So I think you've got to really understand it within yourself and do that work. And it isn't always the most comfortable of things to do. But it's very rewarding during the personal work and looking at what you want. And actually, it can set you free from a lot of things that are holding you back. It can set you free from a lot of things that you know, make you feel rubbish and make you feel, or that have had had a hold on you. I guess, you know, I think from certainly from your study, you've been in that position. And myself also, you know, have these beliefs that you carry around with you because someone told you something 10 years ago, you know, they tell you that you're rubbish at maths, in my case, and we carry it, you know, when it stops us, we tell ourselves, we're frightened of something or we don't like something because of something that happened a long time ago. And it really does hold us back. But take this as your message to go and be free. And I guess have your own Black Rose, you know, Death to all the negative things, and blossoming of all the new things and the wonderful things that you can become. Leticia fabulous talking to you, where can our listeners find you online? If they'd like to learn more about yourself or Black Rose? Where is your website and your socials that you use? Yes, so

Leticia Francis: 31:23

I spend most of my time on Instagram, my social is Black Rose coaching. Black is spelled BL A qu E. And then it's also black roots coaching, comm.

Anne Okafor: 31:37

Support, we will include those in the show notes so that people have direct links to those. Thank you so much for giving us your time and your experiences. You've give some really good insights about the personal work that we need to do within ourselves in order to grow and whether it's in business or wherever we're trying to achieve. The work starts with us ultimately, which may not be a comfortable thing. But it is a very, very rewarding thing and can actually it'll be transformational, and it'll give you what you need ultimately, and give you a better life give you something to be energetic and enjoy every day of your life, which is what we all strive for think so thank you so much for that.

Leticia Francis: 32:18

Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure.

Anne Okafor: 32:21

You're very welcome. soullessness, whether you are bouncing back from a challenge are storming forward to the next one. The determinator Collective is here for you. Stay remarkable to terminators.

Unknown: 32:32

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss when new episodes are posted. He will continue to deliver real life insights on overcoming challenges, practical tips and advice on becoming unstuck with a collective of people just like you are everyday the Terminator. Until next time, take care of yourselves and your friends. Thanks for listening determinator