IAM1925 – Life Coach Helps Women Tap Their Inner Wisdom and Live Their Purpose

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Freda Scheuer 00:00

Tell new kind of CEOs , you know what? If you have an idea for a business or service, just do it and just do it scared if you have to. I love that expression. If you wait for the time when you feel prepared, for the right time, so many clients come to me and say, when I move next year and after I finished my degree, or I put this job.

If you're waiting for the perfect time, it's never going to happen.

Intro 00:27

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 00:53

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year. We're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories, topics or as I like to call them business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners, or what I like to call CB nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month, we are focused on innovation, disruption, women entrepreneurship, DEI, gig economy, remote economy, even the cannabis industry. Think about these industries and these disruptive technologies that really sometimes aren't as disruptive, but there are people that are just paying attention to what the market needs and they're providing that. So really think about the things that are quote and quote, outside of the norm, but really help entrepreneurship to grow and fully develop.

I think it's an extremely exciting time when you're talking about any type of innovation or disruption, because I think that there are so many opportunities and needs that aren't felt that are starting to be filled by different groups, different organizations, or even different industries. So what I want you to do is sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I AM CEO podcast.

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 Freda Scheuer of YBeU Life Coaching for Women. Freda, it's great to have you on the show.

Freda Scheuer 02:19

Hey there Gresh, thanks so much. It's great to be here.

Gresham Harkless 02:22

Yeah. I'm super excited to have you on and talk about all the awesome things that you're doing. And of course, before we jump into the conversation, I want to read a little bit more about Freda so you can hear about some of those awesome things.

Freda is an ICF-certified Life Coach and Owner of CEO and CEO of YBeU Life Coaching for Women. Freda started YBeU as her labor of love after retiring last year from her dream job as a senior counterterrorism executive CIA where she coached teams of women in high-stakes jobs who trust their gut, take smart chances and be the best version of themselves.

She loves and continue to help women in all stages of life to ignite their passion, live their purpose, and make a difference. She's based in Virginia, but works with clients across the country in virtual coaching sessions. You can find her coaching tips and tricks on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, as well as askher.com, where she's an expert answering any and all life coaching question.

Freda, again, excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Freda Scheuer 03:18

I'm ready. Let's do it.

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Gresham Harkless 03:20

Let's get it started then. So to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit, hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

Freda Scheuer 03:28

Great. Yeah. Honestly, I think that I started YBeU as a necessity, like so many ideas popped up when I was in government as you mentioned, in my dream job. I joined the counterterrorism center at CIA shortly after it was stood up after I finished graduate school, where I was studying terrorism. And it was all I ever wanted to do. That was gosh, back at a time when you had all these airplanes being hijacked, embassies are being blown up, Americans are being kidnapped, and I thought, oh, my gosh this is a threat that this country is really not prepared to confront.

So getting that job at CIA was everything to me and becoming a senior counterterrorism expert, being able to hunt down terrorists and disrupt plots. It was a dream job, the best job ever. It was a real pleasure and a privilege not only to serve my country, but to do something I was passionate about and to do something that I felt made a difference. And at a certain point, I really felt gosh, I've been doing this. I love it, but I knew it like the back of my hand and it was becoming a comfort zone and kind of, I don't know a little clue to me that maybe it was time to seek out new challenges, different challenges for my chapter two.

So, I started thinking about my job and when I left it, what would I miss most about it? And a lot of folks, it was really the people involved, right? They make the difference. And specifically, what I really loved was meeting the teams that I had, who, for whatever reason, were comprised of largely women. When counterterrorism first became a mission for CIA, it was not one that was widely embraced by the male-dominated operations officers at the time. So, for whatever reason, a lot of females were really drawn to this new mission right into the cause. And I loved being able to mentor them and coach them to start to trust their guts.

We were working in some pretty high-stakes jobs and investigations and missions to learn to trust your gut to learn how to take smart risks. And to learn, that it's better to swing and miss than not swing at all. We got to do something here. Let's make it happen. And it was so rewarding to watch these women really blossom, really become more confident really just go on themselves to become senior leaders and to live their purpose and make a difference. So I thought, gosh, maybe I could do this as a professional life coach. And so during the pandemic, I thought, okay, I'm not in my office and, 16 hours a day anymore or anything crazy. So I took that time to get certified as a life coach to really learn the tradecraft.

There is a good bit of tradecraft I was surprised. It isn't just telling people what to do as I expected. It was a lot of tradecraft, a lot of learning how to be a good listener and learning the professional ethics behind it. And I thought, gosh, if I could work with other women and envisioning, who would I serve? It would be great if I could help those other women do what I think I did in my career, which was really follow something, do something that I'm passionate about that I felt was my purpose and that made a difference.

So that's really how YBeU was created. I wanted to really ask that question. I'll tell you why, because you are unique in all the world. You were created for a reason. There is some purpose out there meant for you. There is a passion that you have. Let's find that. Let's help you make a difference. And that's really how it started.

Gresham Harkless 07:03

Nice. I truly appreciate you sharing your story. I think that a lot of times we think that it sometimes is either or, but when you're able to see and hear someone that is able to do both and to do both in alignment, then it really makes it more realistic.

I think something that we can all lean more into.

Freda Scheuer 07:20

Yes. No, thank you. I really felt blessed that it came together for me. So many people don't get to do anything that they studied in school or that they had dreamed about doing. And so I felt really fortunate. And so I love helping other women try to do the same thing.

Gresham Harkless 07:34

Nice. So I know we touched on a little bit, but I wanted to drill down a little bit more, hear how you're working with your clients. Could you take us through how that works and how you're serving the clients you work with?

Freda Scheuer 07:41

Sure. Yeah, yeah, so I see clients in person as I can if you're in my part of Virginia and the Blue Ridge, but mostly I see them virtually on a zoom call or FaceTime or sometimes even just a voice chat if they prefer that. The sessions usually take place once a week or sometimes every other week up to the client and really the clients sometimes are surprised because they think that I'm going to come in these sessions and I'm just going to wave a magic wand and I'm going to solve other problems and tell them what to do. And it actually couldn't be farther from the truth in a life coaching session.

A life coach will certainly never tell you what to do. But I think that what we can do, and what I try to do is deliver something that's even more powerful, and that is helping you, the client again, tap into that your own inner wisdom to clarify what is it that you really want and figure out what are those obstacles holding you back? Really helping you get to the root of what are their stories in your head? What's that about? How can we get to the root of that and replace that with positive self-talk to figure out a realistic way ahead to achieve what you want? The only outcome I want is what you're seeking.

What is your goal and how can I help you achieve it? And we do that really asking those powerful questions. My clients are super high-achieving, impactful, successful women, but they're out to be even better. They want to be the best version of themselves. And so that's who I work with. No 1 needs a life coach, but I think almost anyone can benefit.

Gresham Harkless 09:23

Absolutely love that. So what would you consider to be what I like to call your secret sauce. It might be something that you ask your clients as well to YBeU? What do you think is your secret sauce the thing that you feel sets your part of makes you unique?

Freda Scheuer 09:35

I bring to the table as a life coach, the professional certification, and I'm always learning and trying to be better for sure. I think I took the time to really learn that trade craft, which was important to me. But I think what makes me stand out as a life coach is that life experience as a professional intelligence officer. I know what it's like to be the only woman in the room to be afraid of what if I raise my hand and I get this wrong to step outside of my comfort zone.

But I do think that by talking about my professional experience, knowing what it's like to do it scared, I can inspire some women who are in similar situations and high-stakes, high-pressure jobs to reach out and tap into some of that experience.

Gresham Harkless 10:23

Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. 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?

Freda Scheuer 10:35

So this might sound like self-evident to a lot of folks who know way more about business than I do, which is almost everyone. But scheduling and keeping a schedule was the most important thing. I think I learned in my first year as a solopreneur and CEO. And it sounds again, self evident, but I really spent my whole career, a lot of other executives do having somebody hand me a card every day saying, here's where you need to be, here's the schedule. The schedule was very much dictated by the government that I served the organization, certain meetings upon meetings or certain investigations and having to travel and a lot of it wasn't planned.

I was very used to always being on the go, but not ever being in charge of my own schedule. And I'm embarrassed to say that when I did sit down and try to start figuring things out by myself with the schedule online, I would get pop-up messages. Hey, those shoes you were looking at Nordstrom, they're on sale now. And I'd be like, oh, really on it. And I would be like, 90 minutes later. Hey, hello. You can't do that. You have to. So I thought, okay, clearly, I have to come up with some idea here. All I used was Outlook. I am not a very high-tech person. I look at Outlook and I click everything that I have to do that day.

Every phone call, every follow up email, every errand, like it has to be on my schedule or it doesn't get done. And if it pops up during the day and it's not on the schedule, Not going to happen. It'll have to wait till it can find a place on there. So that would be definitely the one hack is make a schedule. It's important and yeah, definitely something that's helped me.

Gresham Harkless 12:19

Awesome. Awesome. So what would you consider to be what I like to call a CEO nugget? So this is the little bit more word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell your favorite client, or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

Freda Scheuer 12:31

I think what I tell clients is a lot and what I would tell new kind of CEOs is, you know what? If you have an idea for a business or service, just do it and just do it scared If you have to. I love that expression. If you wait for the time when you feel prepared, for quote and quote the right time, so many clients come to me and say when I move next year, and after I finish my degree, or I put this job. If you're waiting for the perfect time, it's never going to happen.

If I waited for the perfect time to establish, YBeU. It would still be an idea in my head. when I launched it, I had no idea about social media. Obviously that's not something that we did at the agency. I had to hire my best friend's son in college, just come sit down with me and say, what the heck is Instagram again? How do I do this? So there's never a perfect time to just do it. If you have an idea and you're really committed and it's your passion. Just make it happen. Just jump in. You can always tweak it. You can learn. You can evolve but just do it. Just take that chance and just do it and things will start to fall into place.

That's definitely I think would be my little nugget.

Gresham Harkless 13:42

Yes, absolutely. Just do it and just do it scared. Absolutely love that. So what would you consider to be the answer for my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO?

We're hoping out different quote and quote CEOs on the show. So Freda, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Freda Scheuer 13:57

The epitome of freedom and independence to do things my way. I think people who aren't CEOs, you live a life and have a career that you love. But you really never get to define the rules or the vision. And for as a CEO, for one brief, shining moment, you get to define that vision and you get to set up the rules for how you're going to get there.

And it's really for the first time really complete freedom to be able to do that. It also is carte blanche as we talked earlier to do it as yourself your way, like it or lump it or, so so, if you win, you lose, whatever you're doing it exactly your way, you're no longer constrained by anybody else's rules or ideas. You have the vision, you have the roles, it's all you. And it's really scary and intoxicating and really it's amazing. I'm surprised I love it as much as I do, but that's really the difference for me is that, yeah, it's all you at this point.

Gresham Harkless 15:02

Nice. Nice. Nice. I absolutely love that definition and that perspective. And, of course, I appreciate your time even more. So, what I wanted to do now is 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 all of you find about all the awesome things you're working on.

Freda Scheuer 15:19

Excellent. Yes, as you mentioned Gresh, I am on Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn. I try really hard to put a lot of coaching tips there for folks who can't come on to one-on-one sessions with me. You'll always find some good tips and tricks there. I also, if you look at the website ybeulifecoaching.com, have a weekly newsletter.

It's only once a week. There's no crazy spam with kind of more one-to-one sort of life coaching tips. And of course, you can also book a discovery call, which is absolutely free and no obligation. If you just want to learn more about what the heck is life coaching? How can I benefit? Does this make sense? Are we a good fit? Absolutely. I would urge you to at least give it a try.

Gresham Harkless 16:02

Absolutely. To make it even easier, we're going to have the links and information that show notes as well, too. So everybody can click through and find out about all the awesome things that you're doing.

I hope you have a phenomenal day.

Freda Scheuer 16:12

Thank you so much, Gresh, pleasure.

Outro 16:13

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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