IAM958- Life Coach Helps Black Women Balance Priorities

Transcription

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Please Note: Our team is using the AI CEO Hacks: Exemplary AI and Otter.ai to support our podcast transcription. While we know it's improving there may be some inaccuracies, we are updating and improving them. Please contact us if you notice any issues, you can also test out Exemplary AI here.

[00:00:20.30] – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

[00:00:47.60] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Doctor Shaquinta Richardson of Beyond Achieving dot com. Doctor Shaquinta, it's great to have you on the show.

[00:00:58.00] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

Thank you. I'm very glad to be here.

[00:01:00.70] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on as well too. Before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Doctor Shaquinta so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Doctor Chaconcha is a life coach for high-achieving black women who are ready to break free of working twice as hard to get half as much. She helps black women balance the priorities in their lives through strategic time management, radical self-care, and boundary setting so that they can enjoy the life they had they have created. She has a PhD in human development and family science and is a couple and family therapist by training. She also has a private therapy practice where she specializes in issues relating to identity-related stress, intergenerational, trauma, and LGBTQ plus individual and relationship issues. Doctor Chiquinta, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

[00:01:47.50] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

I am. We'll be ready.

[00:01:49.00] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, let's do it then. So to kinda kick everything off, I want to just rewind the clock a little bit, and hear a little bit more on how you got started. Could you take us through your CEO story? We'll let you get started with all the awesome work you're doing.

[00:01:58.59] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

So as you mentioned, I am also a therapist. By training, I have a private therapy practice. And the majority of my clients are either black, queer, or both. So I work with a lot of black women in my practice. And, of course, you know, I'm a black woman. I'm surrounded by other black women. And I was seeing this consistent theme of all these brilliant people, all these women doing all these great things, but constantly feeling like they're not doing enough. Constantly feeling overwhelmed, stressed, overworked, and not having a lot of peace. And something that I'm very passionate about is self-care.

And, you know, self-care has become the buzz. You know, everybody talks about self-care right now, but we don't always know what that means or what that looks like. And so I asked every client that I have, you know, how do you care for yourself? And a very consistent response was, what is that? And that's just hard for me. And so started to to think about that a little bit more and explore more, you know, what my friends and family members and people in my circles were doing, what was preventing that.

And so from there, you know, I saw the need. I saw that there was a need for more conversation about this and more work in this area, and people just didn't know how to make it happen. And so that's how Beyond Achieving was born. It's like, we have to go beyond this idea that we have to keep, you know, going towards this next goal, doing this next great thing before we can enjoy our lives. Like, we worked too hard for that. So, yeah, that's how Beyond Achieving was born.

[00:03:35.30] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. So I appreciate that. And I know when we first connected, you know, offline, I said, you know, I truly appreciate the work that you do because you're right, where sometimes we're going towards the next thing, the thing after the next thing sometimes too that we often forget about caring for the most important person, sometimes the person that can make so many of those things happen. If we skip over that step, we not only do it to the detriment of ourselves, but we do it to the detriment of the people that we can have an impact with. So that's why it's so important and valuable in the work that you do.

[00:04:05.09] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

Exactly. Thank you.

[00:04:07.00] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And so, I know I touched on a little bit, you know when I read your bio, but could we drill down a little bit deeper in here about how you work with your clients and how exactly you serve them?

[00:04:16.00] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

Mhmm. Yes. So I offer one-on-one private coaching. Typically, I do a twelve-week program with clients where, you know, I kinda get all up in their business in terms of, you know, how they have their life structured, how they use their time, what type of things that they're paying attention to, understanding what their vision for their life is, what their vision was, you know when they first started doing whatever it is they're doing, what their relationships look like, how they set boundaries, how they care for themselves. So if I'm looking at all of those different things to help clients develop, strategies and plans to utilize their time. So we in the program, twelve weeks, three months, talk through three pillars, their their relationship with them with time, their relationship with themselves, and their relationship with others.

So that time strategy piece, mindset and confidence and, worthiness and all of that, that piece, and then how they communicate their needs to others, set boundaries around their times, advocate for themselves, etcetera. So, you know, really understanding, evaluating, exploring how things look for themselves and then figuring out an action plan to get them closer to that vision that they want for their lives.

Excuse me. So that's the individual portion. Now I am starting a group program, which by the time this comes out, we will have started, group program called Gifted Black Girl Rehab, which is specifically designed for black women who've, you know, always been that gifted person, that smartest, person in the room kind of thing. Is used to just being that achiever and now struggles with some of those same things, perfectionism, stress, not being able to, set boundaries with work, time, yeah, advocating for themselves, etcetera. So both one-on-one private coaching and group coaching.

[00:06:07.19] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I definitely appreciate that, and I imagine and the way I was just visualizing those three, you know, pillars are kind of like rungs, and it almost feels like if you don't take care of one if you're not managing your time well, then, you know, the other things can cause, you know, whatever your goal is to kinda fall over.

[00:06:22.30] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

Exactly.

[00:06:24.30] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And I love, you know, that you, you know, have created that that group program too because I think, especially when people, and correct me if I'm wrong, or if you find this experience with your clients, that when you're high achieving, especially if you are achieving a lot if you are gifted, as you said so well, I think you almost feel like a high burden to have that perfect life, you know, have everything, you know, correct, all the ducks in the rows, all of those things. And that could be a heavy burden, I should say, to try to keep up and not have all of those things in place and continue to kinda work on each of those.

[00:07:01.10] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

Absolutely. That is that's probably one of the most common themes. Like, people look to look to us to be like, okay. You got it all together. You have the job. You have the salary. You have the the home. You whatever the things are. And even if all those things aren't there, So feel like you have to present this thing to the world because that's what people expect. And so feeling like you have to live up to the expectation. Absolutely. But then inside, you're feeling empty. You're feeling lost. I would say lost is probably the most common thing I hear. Yeah. So happening.

[00:07:34.19] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And it almost feels like especially, I imagine, like, when you're, you know, through that frustration, I think, I don't I'm not sure if loneliness comes, you know, crosses there. You feel like you have nowhere to turn because you're supposed to have everything together, so you don't have that support system or support practice in place to be able to make that happen.

[00:07:49.50] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

Mhmm. Exactly. And a lot of my clients end up there's like an intersection between them and being the strong friend. Mhmm.

[00:07:58.60] – Gresham Harkless

That's powerful. So what would you consider to be, what I call your secret sauce? This could be for yourself or your business or a combination of both. But what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:08:10.89] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

Yes. So I don't see a lot of focus, particularly on black women, in supporting black women in self-care. Like, it's not something that we're we're taught to do. It's not something that I mean, black people in general, we're not taught to do. It's not something we're taught to focus on. But it's probably one of the biggest issues that we are dealing with of being able to prioritize our own needs. Everybody else gets us first. Everybody else gets our energy first.

So for me, it's one having that focus because not everybody is talking about it, but it's so necessary. Two, like, I've done it. I've been there. I, I am and was the, the gifted black girl who couldn't figure out, you know, how to, to, to feel like this is worth it. And so being that person, having that experience, and seeing this need, and focusing on this particular market where there's such a huge gap. And then, I mean, just being honest, a lot of people tell me that it's very easy.

I feel like somebody that they can share these things with. Like, they feel like I'm I'm welcoming and warm and I make people feel comfortable, but then I'm also pretty good at challenging people and pulling out things that they don't always see. So putting that mirror up and and highlighting those parts that, we think are just how things are supposed to be, but are ways that we've been conditioned.

[00:09:35.20] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to, switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:09:47.79] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

So one of the things that I talk about in my program with my clients, but that I also believe very strongly is, oftentimes, we'll add, you know, ten things to our to-do list for the day. And the more we can do, the more we can check off our list, the more productive we feel. Check. Check. Check. You know? Do more. Do more. Do more. But what tends to happen is we put ten things on our to-do list.

We get to five, and then we feel bad. We feel shameful that we didn't get to the other five. Mhmm. But what we're doing is overloading our to-do list. Like, you only have so many hours in a day. And so we're creating this consistent cycle of feeling shameful for not being machines, for not being robots.

So what I have clients do, rather than adding ten things to the to-do list, it's kind of aligned similar to, like, the top three methods where people, you know, have top three things that you wanna do. But I say I've put no more than three to four things on my to-do list. And if I get through those things, then I'll add another rather than trying to do eight, 09:10 things, and then, you know, shame spiral comes.

[00:10:53.00] – Gresham Harkless

I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client, or if you hop into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

[00:11:03.29] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

You know, a business having a business, a major part of that is, you know, having more freedom. And so for me, it was I didn't wanna create the same the same environment for my business that I had in working for other people. And so being a CEO to me is not about, you know, you know, they tell you if you're a CEO, you have to work twenty-four seven. You have to work around the clock. And I say no. No. I don't. So for me, being a CEO, like, simplifies. It doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be you're working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week in order to be successful.

Keep it simple. Take action, take action on things that matter, that are really gonna make the most impact in the business, and enjoy having the freedom of being a business owner. Set boundaries around your time. It doesn't mean that you have to respond to every single message that comes in right when it comes in. Like, I'm a firm believer in, yes, I'm a I'm a CEO. Yes. I have a business. Yes. I'm solely responsible for this business or mostly responsible for this business, but that doesn't mean that it gets to take everything from me any more than any other business gets to take everything from me. So to me, it's it's really about freedom and creating a system, a flow for my business that allows me to have that freedom.

[00:12:23.60] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. And so you might have already touched on this as well too, but, I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quotes, unquote CEOs on the show. So doctor Chacono, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:12:35.79] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

Being a CEO to me means having the I don't know what this is the word that comes, but having the command over my vision and my purpose and having the ability and the power to see it happen. Being able to make decisions, being able to take action in ways that align with my values and allow me to create the freedom for my life and the joy and the peace that I have worked so hard to create, but now having the power to make that happen, not having to rely on anyone else to give that to me.

Because if I'm honest in the systems that we are in, we don't it's not gonna be given to us. So it's being able to take that power, not in a greedy way, but in a way of this is what I want to do, and I'm going to do it in service of my vision, in service of my gifts so that I can help the world around me.

[00:13:35.89] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love, you know, that definition, that perspective. I have those two words that resonated with me, command and allowance as well. Because I think, again, like we kinda talked about, you know, once you start to figure out who you are, the vision that you have your purpose, you know, as you said so well, you really start to begin to craft that and having that command and allowing yourself the permission, I guess, to some degree, to be able to make that happen and come to fruition is one of the, really beautiful things about being a CEO, entrepreneur, business owner, creative, whatever and however we might term it.

[00:14:09.20] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

Mhmm. Exactly.

[00:14:12.00] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, doctor Shaquinta, truly appreciate that. I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know, and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.

[00:14:27.10] – Dr. Shaquinta Richardson

Yes. One thing that will add to the part about, you know, being what does being a CEO mean? You also don't have to do it all alone. Like, yes, you know, we can be entrepreneurs. We can have these businesses. But delegating, allowing people to support us, outsourcing things that might not be our biggest strengths, and letting that just be what it is to save time and energy. That's one of the most freeing things about being a CEO. Like, don't have to do everything yourself. It's not necessary.

There are no trophies for it. Like Build a team, have people support you, and, yeah, that's that's another part. How people can best get in touch with me? So Instagram is great at Doctor Dot Shaquinta. My email is Shaquinta at beyond achieving dot com. Those are the two best ways to get in touch with me. My website, w w w dot beyond achieving dot com. I can be reached through there, which would, you know, trigger an email. But, yeah, I would say Instagram and email are probably the best two ways to get in touch with me. I love to interact with followers on Instagram and have conversations. I try to post helpful valuable information and such. So, yeah, those two things, device.

[00:15:38.00] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much, doctor Shaquena. We will have the links and information in the show notes as well too so that everybody can follow up with you and connect with you. But I think that what you said is so true. And as you kinda talked about in the work that you do so many times, we have such, I guess a perfection mindset to everything that we have to do.

I think it's such a freeing thing to be able to understand that this is my lane, this is what I do best, and I'm gonna do it to the best of my ability. But my lane is in every lane, and once we start to understand that, we get to put the people, the programs, the systems, whatever it is in place so that we can reach our success and and reach whatever and how we define what winning is. So I appreciate you for helping so many, you know, black women and so many people in general, you know, being able to make that happen. And I appreciate your time, of course, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

[00:16:23.39] – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

[/restrict]