IAM1618 – Coach Helps Her Clients Search for Authenticity in Life

Why it was selected for “CBNation Architects”: One of the most impactful things I heard over and over and over again was the importance of the morning routine and while it seems obvious, it is often overlooked. When starting something new and thinking of planning and preparation, don't forget about the morning routine. Lesley talked all about this during her episode and how it doesn't have to be long and elaborate. We spoke about how important it is to “level up in life” and her journey exposing her “limiting her beliefs” has helped her and her clients.

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Previous Episode: https://iamceo.co/2022/04/02/iam1328-coach-helps-her-clients-search-for-authenticity-in-life/

Transcription:

1618

Lesley Bradshaw Teaser 0:00

We're getting the same message. You can't do this, this is not the right way, whatever the right way is.  And helping them believe in themselves was like yeah, I like this feeling, I like being that support system. That support system that I needed. I like being in that support system for other people. So that's kind of how I got into it.

Intro 0:23

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.

Gresham Harkless 0:50

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today, I have Lesley Bradshaw of lesleybradshaw.com. Lesley, super excited to have you on the show.

Lesley Bradshaw 0:59

Hi, thank you for having me.

Gresham Harkless 1:01

Yes, it'll be definitely awesome to hear about all the awesome things you're doing in your story. And before of course we do that, I want to read a little bit more about Lesley so you can hear about some of the awesome things. Lesley is a Certified Life Coach with a background in Psychology and Human Resources. She is a mother of two beautiful daughters who are her inspiration for pursuing a coaching career. As a former people pleaser herself, Lesley has not only learned the theory of how to level up in life but she has also put into practice all the techniques that she teaches. She wishes to support as many people as she can in their search for authenticity by helping them figure out those blind spots and limited beliefs that are keeping them from pursuing the life of their dreams.  Lesley, excited again to have you on the show to talk about all the awesome things you're doing. Are you ready to speak to the I am CEO community?

Lesley Bradshaw1:47

Yes, I am, let's do it.

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Gresham Harkless 1:49

Let's make it happen then. So to try to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock. I know I touched it in a little bit, but I wanted to hear what I like to call your CEO story. We'll let you get started with all the awesome work you're doing.

Lesley Bradshaw 2:00

So, like my hero's journey right?

Gresham Harkless 2:02

Yes, exactly!

Lesley Bradshaw 2:04

Okay well, I mean I don't think that my story is much different from anybody else’s. So they know I got pregnant at a young age, I got pregnant at 19, right when I was supposed to go off to University. And you know that kind of shut down my life so to speak because everything that people were telling me from that point on was that your life is basically over. You can't follow your dreams anymore. Your life is only for your kid. You have to you basically sacrifice your whole self for this child. And that didn't make any sense to me but at that point in time, I did not have anyone to like support me through the thoughts that I was having. So, I figured, well these people have established themselves so they probably know better than I do. So, I got married, because again I was told you know that's the right thing to do. We have a lot of things that are being told to us that, oh this is the right thing to do, and then of course, that marriage did not end well, and yeah, so eventually after that marriage, I was like, okay let me try to figure stuff out. Let me see who I am, you know and I started reading motivational books, like the first motivational book I read was Feel the fair and do it anyway. And I think that started my foundation for starting to believe in myself because that is where everything starts from, the belief in yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, nothing is going to change right. I started looking for ways to build myself up and reconnect with myself because I was also told that I can't pursue the career that I wanted to pursue because it wasn't an appropriate career. I always had these messages coming into me that yeah you just can't do, you can't do, you can't do, you can't do. Of course, it internalized and I believed that I can't do anything. So For a long time, I was like swimming along with the tide, and eventually, I just said no, this has to stop, this feeling, waking up feeling like oh another day dreading being on that day, it has to stop. I found coaching. I fell in love with coaching, I got myself my own personal coach and working through a lot of those limiting beliefs that I can’t, was groundbreaking. I never realized how many incidents in my past impacted who I was at a point in time. And then myself helping other people get past those limiting beliefs because I know a lot of friends who were getting the same message, you know you can’t, you can't do this, you know this is not the right way. Whatever the right way is and helping them believe in themselves was like yeah I like this feeling. I like being that support system, that support system that I needed. I like being that support system for other people. So that's kind of how I got into coaching, like you said I have a background in Psychology, I worked in school social work before so it's not really a far stretch from where I was, but it definitely is the most fulfilling path that I could have found myself on. And I would not have found myself on this spot if I did not go through, what I went through, yeah.

Gresham Harkless 5:43

So, I wanted to drill down a little bit more. Hear a little bit more on how you're working with those your clients, you know of course, crush those limits and beliefs. And kind of redirect their lives into what they ultimately want to be.

Lesley Bradshaw 5:53

Right, so I work with people one-on-one. It's a six-month contract one-on-one. You get one hour a week of focused attention on yourself, on your thoughts on what's going on and what's coming up for you. And it's every single week you get that one hour because many things come at us just within a week's time you know. Sometimes people will be like, oh do I have to do every week? Yeah! Because the things that come up in between those sessions, you're gonna have to keep reminding yourself that oh okay, this is okay, it's all right If I'm having a low period, it's all right if I'm having these thoughts and sometimes when you're in it like when you're swimming in the sea of misery, you can't always pull yourself out of it. So having those one-hour sessions to look forward to, having someone to bounce those ideas off of that's where you're like okay I can pull myself out from here. You also get support in between these sessions so you have access to me throughout the week. It's a process so that's why I work with a minimum of six months. Most people would resign for another six months because, at the six-month mark, you're now really getting to where you want to start being and then from there you start working on the bigger dreams and goals. So the first six months are really all about learning to love and appreciate yourself and learning to understand that it's okay that you have certain thoughts. That if you're human we all have them, it's okay if you have bad days. It's just learning to like not to beat yourself up about it and be compassionate to yourself.

Gresham Harkless 7:41

That's powerful! And so what would you consider to be what I like to call your secret sauce? And this could be for yourself the business or a combination of both. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Lesley Bradshaw 7:51

My secret sauce, I mean it may sound cliche, but I would say just being me. Just being human. Just like when you get into business especially when you get into coaching, like no one actually tells you the things that you have to go through in terms of like marketing. There are so many different theories and processes and you can get really overwhelmed, just trying to figure out okay well let me try this, and let me try this, and what really it is that let's figure out what works with me and my personality because they all work. The fact that everyone who we look at as a success they have a different story, each of them has a different story. Then it shows that there is no one we or one path to success. You have to figure out, what you're, well like you say your secret sauce is and for me, my secret sauce is just being human, meeting people, and showing them who I am. My people and that's what I'll call my clients, my clients are my people, they Vibe with me immediately. They are attracted to me I don't have to pretend to be anyone else. It's either you like me or you don't and that coming from that place, and I know that's a different level of confidence that I didn't always have, so iconic confidence. 

Gresham Harkless 9:21

There we go I like it. Absolutely appreciate that, 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 a book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Lesley Bradshaw 9:36

Definitely having a morning routine. And your morning routine doesn't have to be this long elaborate thing like meditation doesn't have to be this whole time. And that is the basic thing is to find, something that works with you and your personality. You don't have to become some Guru. My morning routine is choosing my thoughts for the day, like whatever I want to work on so I mean right now, my major focus in life is my business. So my thought is usually business oriented, but it doesn't have to be. Some days I wake up and it's like okay I'm just not feeling it, and I need to keep telling myself that today my thought is I am enough. Doesn't matter what happens I am not, then you Journal about how you're feeling. Well, that's what I do you know, journal about how I'm feeling for about 5-10 minutes. And the most recent thing I added was talking to my inner child, because so many of us have these inner child traumas and we just say well that happened in the past, so I can't do anything about it. It's not that you're trying to change the past, just allowing whatever comes up from that trouble the thoughts that you had at that point in time and comforting yourself that it's okay that you had those thoughts, because you didn't know about the early point in time so that takes me maybe about 30 minutes, yeah 30 minutes in the morning. We can find 30 minutes in the morning, to just love on yourself a little bit. Your outlook for the day is always a hundred percent better than when you just jump out of bed, and you're like oh my God, I'm already late I got to do this, your energy and how you show up it's just so much different than when you're like, yeah I love on myself I get a client today great. I don't get a client today great. You know, I did what I had to do and I showed up as my best self.

Gresham Harkless 11:38

Absolutely I appreciate that, so I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice, I like to say this might be something you would tell a client, or if you happen to be a time machine you might tell your younger business self?

Lesley Bradshaw 11:53

My nugget would be, to become passionate with yourself. Like, that's what I would tell my past self, and that's what I tell clients like be compassionate with yourself, the way you speak to yourself. You know a lot of my clients have kids, so I would always say like, the things you're telling yourself would you tell your children that if they're feeling the way you're feeling? If your answer is no you need to check yourself. You're human, it's okay. Mistakes happen, thoughts happen, and circumstances happen. This doesn't mean that you're just going to be all tiptoe through the tulips and daisies and roses and unicorns, no. You're allowed to feel upset, you're allowed to feel angry, you're allowed to feel frustrated, all while still believing in yourself. It's like we think that it's either or but you can feel your feelings. When I get upset about something, something happens to derail my day, my progress even and I sit and allow myself to just be like aaah, you know, I just allow myself to have the feeling and don't judge myself for having that feeling. But in the back of my mind I always know that this is just a moment, I'm allowed to have this moment and I'm gonna get back to what I was doing before. But we'd like to skip over that part because we tell ourselves that, oh well, we shouldn't feel this way or we shouldn't and that's how you know you're not being compassionate to yourself if you keep using that word should.

Gresham Harkless 13:28

Awesome. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show, so Lesley what does being a CEO mean to you?

Lesley Bradshaw 13:38

It means a lot of things, wow. It means having the capacity to go out there and put yourself out in a world that can sometimes be very unkind. And knowing that you're probably going to get some backlash at some point, no matter how nicely you put yourself out there. But knowing that you have your own back, yeah it means that have a different level belief in yourself, everyone is not geared towards being an entrepreneur, and everyone can't be an entrepreneur that's just the way the world works.

Gresham Harkless 14:17

You're right.

Lesley Bradshaw 14:19

And while this is not where my business is at, it means also being that figure in the community that can provide safety and sanctuary for others, even if it's in terms of a job in your corporation or just well like what I do is support others on their Journey. It's about just being that person who has the umbrella for their community when it's raining.

Gresham Harkless 14:50

Lesley, truly appreciate that definition. And of course, appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now was to pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course how best people can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.

Lesley Bradshaw 15:05

Okay, so the best way to connect with me is on Instagram, I'm there the most. I do have LinkedIn and Facebook but Instagram is definitely the mainstay. I also have my website lesleybradshaw.com. You can read a little bit more about my story there you know I have a couple of blogs there and you can get to email me through the website.

Gresham Harkless 15:33

Yeah absolutely, we'll definitely have those links and information on the show notes as well too. What's your Instagram? for those listeners?

Lesley Bradshaw 15:38

That's Lesley Bradshaw LC.

Gresham Harkless 15:41

Got it, okay perfect. We'll definitely have that you know in the show notes as well too so that everybody can follow up with you. And hear all those awesome things that you're doing breaking down different documentaries and all of those things but there you go. Hey unapologetically I respect that. So we'll definitely have that information in the show notes so that everybody could get a hold of you. But truly appreciate you for taking some time out obviously all the awesome work that you do.

Lesley Bradshaw 16:11

Thank you, thank you so much. It was so good to be here.

Outro 16:14

Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast powered by CB nation and 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 Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google podcast, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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