Expand Your Fempire Podcast #77 Transcript

Follow Your Calling with Sheya Atterberry-Chisenga

Welcome to Expand your Fempire with Caterina Rando, the podcast for women in business on a mission. Sharing ideas to support you to grow and thrive. Now here’s your host, Caterina Rando.

[00:00:24] Caterina Rando: Welcome back to another episode of the Expand Your Fempire Podcast. I am your host Caterina Rando and I am blissing to be with you today because we have one of my favorite gals on the planet. Sheya Chisenga is with us today. Sheya is an amazing empowerment coach. She certifies women to start their own life coaching businesses. She supports them and getting their businesses going, and she is positive, energetic, and very dynamic. Sheya, I am so happy to have you here with us today.

[00:01:06] Sheya Chisenga: Thank you, Caterina. And I’m excited to be here.

[00:01:09] Caterina Rando: Sheya you and I have known each other now, my friend, it’s gotta be what, 15 years? Is that right? And I remember you way back when you were pre-entrepreneur. And I’ve had the privilege to support you over the years. Tell me Sheya about your background and your entrepreneurial journey and what made you want to get into this.

[00:01:38] Sheya Chisenga: Caterina thank you again. I’m excited to be here. And so my journey in entrepreneurship, it really started –oh my God– 2004, and I was a part of a direct sales company. It was called Warm Spirit. And that is where I believe I met Caterina, who used to do trainings for, you know, different direct sales companies. And I went to one of your trainings. And so that’s how I got into entrepreneurship. I was brand new, didn’t know what I was doing, but I was really intrigued about the freedom that I saw women experiencing.

[00:02:19] And how I desired that. And so over the years of evolving and exploring and discovering, I fell into coaching, life coaching, which I really, really, really loved, and that’s where I started my business. And from the direct sales into life coaching in 2009 and kept evolving from there. And, it has been the most rewarding journey of being an entrepreneur. I didn’t even know that this would be a path for me, for career, if you will, or a part of my purpose. It’s been amazing to be on this journey and to continue to evolve and grow, to support and serve other women to do the same.

[00:03:04] Caterina Rando: And Sheya, one of the things I appreciate about you, many things, is that I have seen you be very determined over the years, you’ve been determined to grow your revenue, determined to grow your sales, determined to launch your next program, whatever it has been. And one of the things that I see with you is that you’re always upgrading. What are some of the guiding principles that you would say have made you successful?

[00:03:42] Sheya Chisenga: I feel one of the guiding principles is one, I do believe in what I am doing. I believe in my purpose. And I do believe I have something to offer women. And it has guided me because I want to be the best, one for myself and then two, especially for my clients. And I have to continue to always be open, to grow, to evolve because when I grow and evolve, my clients grow and evolve. The community, the tribe grows and evolved. And I want it to always stay in that place to be open to growth. Not only that, this has to work.

[00:04:26] That is another thing. Cause I cannot go work for someone else. I’m not saying it’s not good for anyone else, but for me it is all in. It’s just not even an other option not to do this. So that’s been my principal, you know, for continuing to grow and evolve and expand.

[00:04:48] Caterina Rando: Sheya, I love that because I know that a lot of the women that are your clients, they have J.O.B’S and they’re wanting to move towards entrepreneurship. And do you think that because they have a J.O.B. that they’re often not all in because they have that safety?

[00:05:07] Sheya Chisenga: I’m 100% sure that that is a challenge for women who are still working. Not that they don’t want the desire to be full time, but the belief that they can do it and that it is possible for them. Because we do look at the dynamics of our life, our responsibilities, family, children, you know, spouses and what have you, and so we feel maybe that we are not able or capable of doing it. But I’m a living witness that you can do it when you make a commitment to be fully committed and all in. I’m not saying “go quit your job today”, but really get into position and give it all, give it your all so you can make that a desire and a goal of yours.

[00:05:53] Caterina Rando: Sheya, you said about the belief. And I know because we’ve been friends a long time. That way back when, you had so much desire and you wanted it so bad. And I bet that was because you believed that you could do it.

[00:06:12] Sheya Chisenga: Yes.

[00:06:13] Caterina Rando: My question to you, because I see this, I see that it starts with our belief. Mama doesn’t believe it, she’s got every excuse why it’s not happening.

[00:06:24] Sheya Chisenga: Right.

[00:06:24] Caterina Rando: How do we get our clients, the ladies, the listeners of this podcast to get that they have massive value to bring, to get that they can do it. How do we get them there? What are your thoughts?

[00:06:37] Sheya Chisenga: My thoughts is that I continue to reinforce that they do have value. Not only that coaching them with tools that can help change the narrative of their belief, their limiting belief, create communities where that can be reinforced and be a part of it. Encourage them to be fully, as I mentioned before, fully committed to the community where you can receive the encouragement that you need and the inspiration that you need.

[00:07:10] I believe this, Caterina, that building a coaching program and doing our sales calls is primarily 20%. The remaining is 80% of our belief. And when we work on the 80%, the 20% it is sealed.

[00:07:26] We try to encourage the ladies in our community. The thing is, I heard this is an old saying, “we can lead the horse to the water, but we can’t make them drink it.”

[00:07:36] But we do our best to create everything around them, to say “you have all and everything that you need to be successful, you just have to make a decision in your own self that I am capable.” And then see the models before you, watching them do it lets you know that it is possible if you decide, if you commit to the process.

[00:07:59] Caterina Rando: Sheya, I love that. You’re saying “Hey, we’ve given you everything. We’ve given you the ongoing support. The ongoing guidance. The community.

[00:08:07] Sheya, you have cultivated a very good community. Now, you know, I’m very big on community. How have you consciously curated your community? What would you attribute that to?

[00:08:22] Sheya Chisenga: I contributed one. I’ve learned the model from you, first of all. And I saw how the model was effective in helping the clients grow. And then also create a space where they’re not feeling that they are alone.

[00:08:41] And so for me, curating this community was more than, “well, let me just continue to grow my business”. It was really about, I want the boss ladies –I call them boss ladies– to really have a community where they are encouraged, inspired, motivated, and that they don’t feel alone.

[00:08:57] Because most of the time as entrepreneurs there is not a community outside where you are that reinforces possibility, reinforces that you can do this.

[00:09:09] And so the community is necessary in order for business owners to grow. And so that’s why I felt it was really important when you create a community-based business model. And that’s how I say it, because that’s the only way I feel, especially in the climate that we live in, it’s important that we create these types of communities for people to stay connected, to grow and not get discouraged.

[00:09:36] Caterina Rando: And I would imagine your clients who are working in a J.O.B., they don’t have maybe even any friends that have their own business.

[00:09:51] Sheya Chisenga: Absolutely.

[00:09:52] Caterina Rando: It’s very interesting. I’ve gone to certain places in the country where people drop their jaws when I tell them that I have my own business, because they don’t know any ladies with their own business.

[00:10:06] Sheya Chisenga: Right!

[00:10:06] Caterina Rando: I remember I went to Naperville, Illinois, everybody there seems to have a J.O.B. and some communities are like. Ladies that are in corporate structures, they don’t know anybody like you or me, Sheya. When you bring them all together, they get so much more than the class. The community is where they get friends. They have a support system, they start to bounce ideas off each other. They share resources and let’s emphasize that is a key ingredient to supporting our clients to be successful. Now, Sheya, you not only are a coach, but you certify people to be life coaches. What made you want to do that? How long have you been doing that? What were any hurdles you came in connection with in doing that?

[00:11:05] Sheya Chisenga: I started in 2017. I decided to do that, one because life coaching is what’s causing me to thrive in business. And then the ladies that I was coming in contact with, that’s what they desired to do as well.

[00:11:19] So through my coaching certifications I’ve done, I believe that I have the tools necessary to support other women in doing it. Well when I first started, it was just certification and I realized, “okay, that’s not enough.” We really need the business side in order to be successful. So the certification is not just certifying, and it’s about launching your life coaching business. And along with that comes a certification. And so I communicated and marketed that way because many ladies are certified but don’t have a business structure. They don’t know how to package their programs. And that’s the, one of the things I am, I feel, very very excellent in, is helping people package their services.

[00:12:09] And so in the hurdles that I came across, no one knew to connect certification to business. That part I didn’t ever understand. But for me it was very clear. And so wanting to bring those two together catapulted my business. Because I realized that that’s attracting my clients. And then also that they desire to do this as something that they’re really passionate about. They felt like this is a part of their purpose and what their, you know, their calling is or what have you. And they wanted to really use the coaching platform as that vehicle to serve their clients. So that is how I got started with it. And of course over time you keep perfecting it, as you always tell us mastery. I keep working on it, getting more clarity, how can we make this better? How can we make sure they’re implementing? How can we make sure that they are producing results? So that’s why I really, really believe that this is what my niche is, if you will. Really helping women launch their coaching businesses and be successful doing it.

[00:13:13] Caterina Rando: Sheya. I love that. Let me ask you this question. I’ve seen you speak many times. You’re a phenomenal speaker.

[00:13:20] Sheya Chisenga: Yes.

[00:13:21] Caterina Rando: What is a speaking tip that you want to give people so that they can be a dynamic speaker like you?

[00:13:28] Sheya Chisenga: I feel that I’m really authentic in my speaking and I believe that it’s what helps me to connect with others. When you begin to be a cookie cutter type style speaking, I believe it takes away the authenticity. It takes away the connection. And you always want to be prepared obviously, but you always want to be yourself.

[00:13:50] That is the biggest thing that I can always tell people is to be your self. The moment you stop doing that and trying to fit into a mold or some type of model, if you will, and it’s not you, then you’re going to lose your audience because you’re not connecting to your audience. Like I use the word “um”, and I know they say don’t use the word “um”, and things like that. I get it. But I can’t focus on that. I need to be focusing on what I’m sharing to inspire, encourage, empower, cause people to take action when I am speaking. And so, I laughed at them one day. I said “well, President Obama used ‘um’, and he still was president.” So here we are. So that’s what I really want people to really say –I mean– do is be authentic and be yourself. Always prepare though, but most important be yourself.

[00:14:50] Caterina Rando: I agree Sheya. What I want to say is that yes, it’s great to get rid of your “ums” and perfection is not required.

[00:14:57] Sheya Chisenga: Yes! That’s good.

[00:14:59] Caterina Rando: And one of the things also, Sheya, I want to say about you is that you’re a woman of action. This is also something that I want to emphasize with our listeners. Because you’re always upgrading. You’re not taking five years or five weeks even to get ready to get ready to get it right. You get going and then you upgrade, which is why you’re also massively monetizing. And this is important for people to understand because when you take too long to get things to where you think they’re perfect, well what happens is you’re taking all that time to get it right.

[00:15:39] It’s still not right, because you haven’t done it yet so you don’t even know what right is. But what you’re doing is you’re putting off the revenue, pushing off the revenue. And this is why you have significant revenue and significant revenue growth, Sheya, because you’re a woman of action, because you’re a woman of vision, because your determination. The other thing that you’re so good at is that you are rocking your social media and you get a lot done. And I’m going to say that that’s because you have a team. Would you agree my friend?

[00:16:09] Sheya Chisenga: Yes. And that’s been a journey to grow your team as well.

[00:16:14] Caterina Rando: Let’s talk about it.

[00:16:15] Sheya Chisenga: When you’re first entrepreneur and you’re growing, you’re thinking “oh, I can’t really afford it.” And two things I’ve learned: one, you can afford it. Let me tell you why. Even if it’s just someone that’s helping you with social media, sending out your newsletters or what have you, it relieves you of the time that you are speaking to potential clients, hosting a workshop, or even speaking, because that’s where your focus needs to be to boost your income. And so when you’re speaking to a potential client, that’s potential income that you’re able to afford your team.

[00:16:55] Another thing I’ve learned is if you’re operating in fear of not hiring someone, because you can’t afford it, that same fear is what your potential client is projecting to you about not enrolling in what you offer. So you have to, I call it that chain reaction of fear you are feeling, that your potential client’s facing. So you have to practice what you preach pretty much.

[00:17:23] Practice what you preach and make a commitment to step out and believe that “you know what I’m going to hire this person”. I know that I’m going to make the income to pay for that. And your business will grow. Everybody don’t stay with you all the time. That’s the goal. You keep evolving and over time you will get a solid team. But I’m encouraging people. Now, I even shared on our coaching call one day. I said, “I learned that we delegate 80% of the things that we need to do.” And our focus is speaking and sharing what we do to potential clients and coaching our amazing clients. And so really encouraging them to get some support in different areas they may need helping in.

[00:18:09] Caterina Rando: Absolutely. I want to tell you, Sheya, that you know my first virtual assistant was Dortha way back when, a hundred years ago, and my business tripled as soon as I hired her. My business tripled. Now, I also started doing group programs at that same time which also helped triple my business. But those two things tripled my business. That’s when I went from $100k to $300k like super fast by having help and by adding the group programs.

[00:18:43] The other thing I want to say about team is, you know, it’s like dating, you do have to kiss a few frogs. Just like dating, you have to get clear about what you want and what you don’t want. And I will also say that I know I put up with too much lack of excellence early in the years. And now I have the best team ever, both virtual and on the ground. Then I see such a difference between who I have now and what I was willing to put up with before. And this is where I like to say it’s important to stand up for your business.

[00:19:23] Sheya Chisenga: Yes.

[00:19:24] Caterina Rando: Because if you’re not getting the support that you want –make a request first– but if you’re not getting what you want after you’ve made those requests, then you need to find someone else.

[00:19:36] Sheya Chisenga: Right.

[00:19:36] Caterina Rando: And sometimes people are so afraid of “well, okay, this person’s not a hundred percent, but they’re better than nothing”. And I want to encourage everybody to go for having team members that you are blissing that they’re on your team. If you’re not, then your business will suffer.

[00:19:55] Sheya Chisenga: Right, absolutely.

[00:19:58] Caterina Rando: And Sheya, I think you would agree, right? We got to kiss a few frogs.

[00:20:02] Sheya Chisenga: Yeah, I’ve definitely kissed a few frogs. That is for sure.

[00:20:06] Caterina Rando: All right. Okay. Well, my friend, what else would you attribute your success to? Because I’ve been having my eye on you, my friend, for a long time, and you have definitely evolved into a high achieving, inspirational, super successful gal. What else do you attribute your success to?

[00:20:30] Sheya Chisenga: I do align my business with my faith as you know, and I’m very confident in that. Because for me, this is a core value for me: for me to be aligned with my personal spiritual development and growth. Because this is how I grew up, it’s my entire life. And that’s the authenticity of who I am. So making sure that what I’m teaching, it’s for what is inspiration for me, but it also inspires others as well.

[00:21:02] And so making sure that I’m aligned with what I believe, what my faith is. And it keeps me grounded, it keeps me focused. Cause there are so many, as you already know this, in our industry –personal growth development coaching and what have you– there are a lot of not truthful people. And so I want to make sure I stay not getting distracted and caught up in what others are doing, and making sure that I am staying committed to the values of what I believe. And not pushing my belief off anyone. It’s just personal for me to stay in alignment and always have integrity. And so that’s another thing I want to contribute to my business and my success.

[00:21:49] Caterina Rando: Sheya let’s hang out here for a second because, yes, I’ve known you for a long time. You have a faith based business. Your clients are faith based. The name of your business is Christian Woman CEO right? Which means it’s not just faith in your business. It’s the business. It’s front and center. You’re loud and proud about it. Which means that some people are going to say “oh, that’s not for me,” but the ladies that are for you, they’re going to say “that is for me,” because you’re being very loud and proud about exactly what you’re looking for.

[00:22:28] I want to ask you this, because years ago, Sheya when I decided to only work with women it was the best decision I ever made in my life and my business. Brought me a lot more bliss. Thing is still today I get flack from people “why do you only work with women?” Because that’s the best decision for me and I’m blissing with that decision. I want to ask you about deciding to go a hundred percent faith-based and being loud and proud about it. How has that journey been and how has that impacted your business? Because you, you weren’t always as loud and proud as you are now.

[00:23:05] Sheya Chisenga: So for me, when I made that commitment, just like when you made women only, you talking about catapult. It was beyond what I could imagined to be truthful. And what I realized, there were many other women who felt the same way. And when I became loud and proud about that, it attracted these amazing women who also wanted to do that for themselves in their own business. And I do get a lot –not a lot– but a few people will say things and you know.

[00:23:41] And I understand where they’re coming from, but for me, there’s no limitations because I am operating where I’m supposed to be. And I’m very clear about that. That is my niche and I’m very confident. And not one moment have I lacked or felt I made the wrong decision. It has continued to grow by leaps and bounds, and I encourage women, whatever your area is for you, is not to be afraid to embrace that. Because that’s probably where your core abundance lies when you make a commitment to what you want in your heart to do that. And so that was for me, when I made that decision. And even others was like “oh yeah, it’s about to just take off.” And it did, and it’s doing it, and it’s still growing.

[00:24:28] This is going to sound kind of funny, but in the pandemic I was so focused on the business and the income was doing well, but I didn’t feel the impact if that makes sense. And I’m not here to, you know, make anyone else feel bad, but because I made a commitment to what I believe I was chosen to do, we didn’t miss a beat. We just kept moving forward. We kept staying consistent. Of course, we added more to keep people encouraged, but it thrived even more in this time. I encourage those who are listening to make that commitment for yourself.

[00:25:05] Caterina Rando: Sheya, I know that part of why is, like you said, you added more. Because that’s what I did in my community. I added more, we added all community meetings, added masterclasses, added other things, because you want more engagement from your current clients, means that they’re going to keep coming back. Because why? They’re getting massive value. Also, they’re getting the community of the like-minded like-hearted people.

[00:25:35] And this is a key thing that we’re discussing here. Engagement, as you’ve heard me say, engagement is the queen of everything, right? It’s not enough to sign people up. We have to have them engaged and we want to have them keep engaging because then they get more value. And if you haven’t consciously curated –talking to the listener– listener, if you haven’t consciously curated your community, I want to encourage you to do that too. Because people, like in your community Sheya, they are blissing to be with other gals like them.

[00:26:10] Sheya Chisenga: Right.

[00:26:11] Caterina Rando: Because there’s other places where there’s not other gals like them. And that’s what we have in our community. Our clients are women that use speaking to massively monetize and also to gain clients. Those are my clients with service businesses.

[00:26:29] Sheya, you’ve got a lifetime supply of value to bring. It is my honor and privilege to have you with me today. Any final words for our listeners?

[00:26:39] Sheya Chisenga: Yes. I just want to encourage our amazing ladies who are building their Fempires. Number one, to really believe that you have everything you need to be successful. Two, take consistent action. Even if it’s just making two phone calls a day. Do something to keep moving forward in your business. And number three, always be open to learn so you can always continue to grow. So thank you Caterina for allowing me to be here.

[00:27:10] Caterina Rando: My friend, you know, I’m blessing to have you here. Tell the ladies how they can connect with you.

[00:27:15] Sheya Chisenga: Yes, you can find me on all social media platforms at Woman Christian CEO.

[00:27:22] That and it’s singular Woman Christian CEO. Instagram, Facebook is where I am the most, and so you can find me on those platforms.

[00:27:33] Caterina Rando: Yay. And my friends, if you are in a J.O.B and you are a Christian woman, Sheya is the person to support you, to get your certification, and grow your business. Sheya, you know I’m blissing to be with you as always. Can’t wait to be with you again. My friends, remember you have massive value to bring. Remember there is a lifetime supply of people to serve, be loud and proud, like Sheya to cultivate your community so that you can sell more, serve more, and most importantly, uplift more lives with your amazing self. This is Caterina Rando. I want to encourage you to join our Facebook group. Join our Clubhouse club, connect with us, come to our live events because we’ve got a lifetime supply for you.

[00:28:27] Can’t wait to be with you again, bing bing bing.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Expand Your Fempire with Caterina Rando.