Now is the Time to Release Your Power with Author and Coach Lilisa Williams

[00:00:03] Welcome to the Business Chop Podcast where I guest speak on meeting the challenges of entrepreneurship as well as offer tips and advice on business, marketing, technology and more. Whether you are a newbie or seasoned professional, this episode is for you. I am your host, Audrey Wiggins.

[00:00:24] Let's chop it up. Hello Chop Squad, Audrey Wiggins, your host and as always I'm excited to be with you and excited for my guests. Today we're going to be entertained or at the feet of Lilisa Williams, Season Act Young faculty member at Hudson Community College.

[00:00:43] And she is an author, a coach and consultant. Her brand is of course Coach Lilisa and she's coming to us today from the state of New Jersey. Welcome, Lilisa. Thank you so much, Audrey. Thank you and so glad to be here. It's a wonderful welcome. Yeah, you're welcome.

[00:01:04] More about Lilisa, she helps her clients to solve lack of motivation and she empowers them to persist through difficult circumstances. The confident, charismatic and professional demeanor of Lilisa is no indication when she was actually a high school dropout.

[00:01:24] She was homeless and living on the streets, but a definitive and powerful vision is responsible for Lilisa's life becoming an awe inspiring epic account of tragedy to triumph.

[00:01:39] Supported by our faith in God, a selfless spirit and a vision to release her inner power. She is on a mission to help the masses do the same.

[00:01:48] She has since earned an associate's of arts and business and public administration of bachelors in arts and political science and a master's of business administration.

[00:01:59] In 2005, she made another educational bold move to enroll in Capella University's PhD program. So she's on track to someday earn her doctoral degree and I'm standing agreement with you, Lisa soon. Well, yes, very soon.

[00:02:16] Okay, yes, yes, and it all is to help you know other women achieve their goals. So more about Lilisa on the other side of this message.

[00:02:44] Welcome back everyone. The astonishing revelation of William's success is triggering a media frenzy and justifiably so that's how I caught up cut back up with her we haven't been in touch with her for a while that I read my account on LinkedIn.

[00:03:05] So Lisa as a solopreneur since 2002 upon getting her MBA she decided to start her own business in the field of training and coaching. The National Coach Speaker author trainer is also a 10 time author. Oh my goodness, I am so jealous.

[00:03:28] I was gonna get our first and all but congratulations on those old pen publications that is awesome Lisa. Yes, and this also includes her best seller release your power eight strategies for becoming I saw that book up there in front of you.

[00:03:46] I put cover and the to be becoming who you really are. And she is the host of several radio and TV shows including her most popular show all about entrepreneurs talk show. It is an internet based show.

[00:04:02] All right, William speaks primarily to women churches prisons and organizations where she shares her powerful story of triumph very important here. She lends more than encouraging words though she inspires all who she reaches. Welcome, Lisa.

[00:04:20] Welcome to be Dr Williams to the business job. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much so glad to be here so thankful to have an opportunity to share some insights experiences and even some of the challenging triumphs that I encountered on my journey to where I am today.

[00:04:41] It looks like you know listening to that bio you would think, Oh wow you know you're doing this great things are you done these great things are you achieved this and that. But what you don't know is all of the various hurdles and challenges along the way to all those successes.

[00:05:00] Absolutely. And just before we get there I want to share this fun fact with you, they're telling a little business here but at the same time it's fun that she learned how this guy is 65 years old I mean she looks like she's 55 I don't know maybe this is a reversal in the numbers and it's just say 50 something I don't know.

[00:05:20] Yeah she went to resort for the first time. That was. Yes, what was I thinking I should have my head examined something is absolutely wrong with the cognitive level when you're going. Oh my goodness. Did your knees like fold in or your ankles.

[00:05:44] For the first time, I mean it's one thing to say you did it when you were a teenager or young person at very very young youth and then you go back and do it you know 2030 years later, but then have never done it. Oh okay.

[00:05:59] So anyway, I guess I wanted to prove how brave I was. Okay, okay. So did you go down a big slope was a country. What was it. So the person who would ask a person that's never been before that question they probably haven't been themselves.

[00:06:19] Okay, because you ever been skiing you know, no. At any age you're not going down that big slope and I wouldn't care if you were five or 25. That's for TV. Okay. That's for the movies.

[00:06:39] No, that's right. Well, that's all that's always good to know though because we have to get out we have to try things and I said,

[00:06:47] I was sure. Yeah, but it's one of the things I don't want this to get the get lost on us either because you teach the courses at Hudson Community College. What courses do you you teach there.

[00:06:58] Yeah, so I started teaching at Hudson County actually that's in County Community College we're in those colleges with the three C's.

[00:07:07] But so yeah, I started teaching here 2014 and I teach their principles I mainly teach principles of management, which is still considered like a first level type of management course. But it is different from say like your intro to business which I've also taught that many times as well.

[00:07:28] Whereas the intro to business kind of takes you through all the aspects of say an organization, whether it's dealing with creating products and services how you form your business,

[00:07:38] and how you manage your business how you structure the business, all of those pieces what's the economy doing, what have you accounting finance, whereas the principles of management,

[00:07:49] and the focus just solely on like this, what it takes to be a manager. What does it mean to have deal with management. And so that's what I'm not kind of like that because it gives you an opportunity to really delve deep.

[00:08:05] And so it's a whole semester to really delve deep into the many aspects and layers of management, whether you're dealing with the entrepreneurial ventures of being a manager and management, or whether you're dealing with say, setting goals for your team or your

[00:08:22] department or your whole organization, because we do cover all the levels of management. And we explain the differences between things like being a leader and being a manager things like that.

[00:08:34] All right, awesome. So being a teacher but you're also a coach. So, you know, so how does that. How do you transition into your coaching, you know what areas of coaching the offer clients.

[00:08:47] So the areas of coaching that I offer so life coaching. And in that aspect, I help people set goals for themselves. I had. And so that's how I help people get somewhat unstuck, because a lot of people, they get stuck, they get bored, or they get in a rut or routine of doing something and maybe they

[00:09:06] had some wonderful plans on things they wanted to see happening in their lives, but they get caught up in the routine of mundane things of life or the situations of life or the crisis of their life or whatever, or just their own transitions maybe they recently got married or partner or

[00:09:22] you know, children are taking care of family members and so their ideas and their dreams go on a back burner so to speak. And then when they're ready and it's time to move forward with it, they're a little rusty. And so it's just like what we do when we get a little resting and something we go we may take a little

[00:09:41] So in that sense the coach can come along and give you some activities and I work with them do different activities, but it's mainly goal say that we use that I use anyway to help clients so helping them career coaching and the same thing people are stuck in their career.

[00:10:01] I didn't know I could do anything else. I'm not sure what else I wanted to do. I don't like the people I work with and I can't really seem to get ahead because people here holding me back those kind of things, but we use some

[00:10:13] We use some say thing, so they some goals. Goal setting is very powerful. Okay, yeah, coaching people we definitely use it together right so what I was able to do I was a once I learned about coaching back in 2002.

[00:10:27] 22 years ago when I learned about coaching from Capella University when I was getting that doctorate. Part of that program was a coaching course. So from there, I always just from that point on I just began to align the two together.

[00:10:47] So once I learned what coaching was and how it can help people I started using like bits by bite sized pieces of it with my students. Almost without them even knowing it. Okay, I'm kind of coaching them through the course. Yeah.

[00:11:03] Now not everybody can do that because not everybody may understand the coaching skills. Mm hmm. But once you understand the coaching skills like I had done take those courses get those certifications, you can begin and guess what? Look at now all the colleges now have these academic coaches.

[00:11:22] Yes. It's all the range now. Yes, yes. Lillisa what inspired your transition from being a high school dropout to live on the streets to becoming a successful entrepreneur, author and coach. You know I think what happened for me. I, it was always there right.

[00:11:42] People know all their solutions are always there to things you're doing. They're always there. And they were just sometimes you're so buried and covered with problems and life and just bad things happening to you. Good things happening, whatever.

[00:12:00] And I just came to a point where I knew I could do better because I had luckily for me I had a parent.

[00:12:10] So that's why I'm really into say mentoring and I allow people to call me quote unquote mama Lillisa because I had a mother and I know that role she played for me.

[00:12:21] So even while I was flunking out of school doing poorly, getting myself out there on the streets and trouble with different things. I had had a mother who had always told me you're living beneath your privilege. Okay.

[00:12:36] You shouldn't be doing those things. You should be over here studying. You should be doing your schoolwork and I wouldn't do it though. Yeah. So she had six other children to worry about.

[00:12:48] She could not just drop everything she was doing just focus on Lillisa and she had a full time job. And a husband full time jobs the family and outside. Exactly.

[00:13:01] So I just kind of fell to the way size and luckily I didn't have any resentment for the fact that I wasn't able to adhere to her teachings. However, it was like a computer chip. They were being stored. Yeah.

[00:13:19] You know like on your computer you don't use something and it looks like it's asleep and then you move your mouse and boom it pops back up. Mm hmm. And that's what I was operating as a something that was asleep. Like I was sleepwalking basically. Yes.

[00:13:34] But also that's another reason I do believe in the powerfulness of our words because the words that she spoke over me even though at the time it didn't seem like they were taking root or taking hold but they weren't.

[00:13:48] And so when I got to this point where I was like flat on my back with absolutely nothing. That's why I believe sometimes if you don't have nothing you might be in the best place you've ever been. Wow.

[00:14:04] Because there's nothing but one way to go and that's up. Yeah. But almost like that prodigal son story. Mm hmm. You have to just lose everything because my mother had a good job. We had decent things, you know we weren't rich.

[00:14:15] We were doing the projects and things but heard the power of her words. You can be this you can do that. You know and her sharing her own story about her successes. You know my mother was a bright she was she reminds me a person like you.

[00:14:30] She was intelligent. She had a good job. She was a reader you know and so at least so I had that role model but I just wasn't taking advantage so what but that's what inspired me for me. That's what it was was hitting rock bottom.

[00:14:43] It's nothing like having that good foundation. Like you said those plant those seeds and one day they take root. Yeah. Can you discuss your educational journey from earning that associates and now pursuing that doctoral degree. Yeah I do believe that education can come in different ways.

[00:15:04] It's like what we think about with leaders we say oh are they born or they learn. And so we say that lead we said that leaders you could be born a leader but you can also learn leadership skills. Well I look at education that way.

[00:15:16] I used to think that you have to be born smart. Because I had siblings older than me and younger and it was seemed like they were naturally smart. That's what I thought.

[00:15:28] So my educational journey I would say started back from when I was say maybe like kindergarten because that's when I had a sister who was two grades older. That's when I started noticing the differences that she's been told oh she can read.

[00:15:42] She's a great reader and I have one just two years behind me by the time she came into the school system it was oh she could read she's smart she's good. So I just assumed that that meant I wasn't. Oh wow.

[00:15:54] So I think that internal cognitive ability was like kind of shut down.

[00:15:59] So and I continued that in the background like a subconscious thing or maybe they call it I think like a stereotype threat something like that where you try to live up to the expectations that you think people have of you. Yeah.

[00:16:14] And so because I saw them praising them I thought their expectations of me were nothing. So I tried to live up to that and I did a good job of it. And so when I got so my education so I guess I thought about education.

[00:16:28] I didn't think anything of it. I didn't think it was right. I didn't know I dropped out of school. That's why I stopped going. I stopped going way before I stopped going. I stopped going to school. I think eighth grade. Wow.

[00:16:44] I would go into building and find a bathroom and hang out in the restrooms until school was over. Okay. And I did that from like eighth grade nine to 10 11 by the time I got to 11th grade I was just tired of doing that.

[00:16:54] And I just stopped going and by that time I'm like you know going on 17 so I'm you know grown ish you know a little summer job so I knew I could kind of make it and this is back in the 70s so you know there was still factory jobs and you know

[00:17:10] jobs you could get without diplomas and without degrees and things like that. We didn't have all these fancy residents. So that's how it started and I would have probably been okay with that but then there was that route that had taken place inside. Yeah.

[00:17:27] Let me tell you routes will not let you sleep. It's like the weeds in your bedroom. Yeah right. They're going to bother you.

[00:17:35] It's going to bother you like them little weeds out there every time you look around is something else you know and that's what it was so eventually

[00:17:39] you know that little nudge kept being there and then I would say luckily for me my academic journey included moving to New Jersey.

[00:17:52] And then up here I think it's really what helped inspire me even more because I you know you're here you've got Newark, New Jersey where you have like maybe five major colleges like most of all Newark is like colleges right. Oh wow.

[00:18:07] This county college Rutgers University right next door to NJIT another major college and then there's there's like a couple of other little smaller colleges around. That's great.

[00:18:19] Never mind in fact two towns over there's Montclair another town over there just came and so I was just I feel like I was inundated with education. Mm hmm.

[00:18:29] And I felt like I had to aspire to be like you know to do those things and and luckily I did that.

[00:18:35] I so I enrolled and I think also what happened for me was I enrolled in and that's how my journey started because that college I enrolled in was a community college. Okay.

[00:18:49] And the people there just loved on me so much but it's probably something I had to I'm sure I had a spark. Mm hmm. Right I was slightly older than many of the other students because by this time I'm in my 30s. Wow. I was in my 22s.

[00:19:04] Okay. Many of the other students were like you know younger. Oh yeah back then back then nowadays the average community college student is like 40 probably. Oh yeah these days. Interesting.

[00:19:17] Yeah these days a community college we used to call it non traditional student right all of our students are not traditional in the community college. Okay.

[00:19:25] But that's how it got started in that community college again I was there Essex County College and those it was women and it was some men but those women and those men that were in leadership position deans and VPs and all that.

[00:19:40] These were all people of color for the most part. Wow. And that's all I could see it was so I was blown away.

[00:19:47] I would just I would just walk around the college looking into offices just to see if it would be another person you know what what would be the race of the person in there because I'm from Cincinnati Ohio. Okay. Different different perspective for me. Yeah yeah. Wow.

[00:20:07] So that's what inspired me and I felt like I had those women and they didn't say it but I said it I said to myself if they can do it so can I and I do believe that that's the phrase.

[00:20:17] That to me that's the magic phrase that when you because I think I would be what happened was then I went to school and I got that degree.

[00:20:26] And then every time I would take a course I would learn something new that made me want to continue going to college. Hmm. Then I as when I was getting my associate degree then I met this woman whose husband was a lawyer. He needed a secretary.

[00:20:40] I went to be his secretary. Now of course all kinds of inspiration there coming from an African American male lawyer with all these lawyer friends. Yes.

[00:20:51] They all have law degrees and different things and I was like I'm getting me a bachelor act as I went got a bachelor's degree. Yeah. While I was getting that degree. I was working on that degree and I ran for public office.

[00:21:04] And by this time I'm close to 40 and I just said let me just keep going by the time I went for my master's degree. And that's how the journey does how it is. And then what actually no back up in 97. I got a job at the college.

[00:21:22] I wasn't expecting that. No I was not excited. No no no no there's nobody could have ever paid me to believe I would work at a college.

[00:21:31] And I got my first job and then that is really what you know based at that point when I got my first job I did have a bachelor's I had at least my bachelor's degree. Okay. I'm going to talk about your book here for a moment.

[00:21:46] So what are some of the key strategies and principles that you share in release your power and they've subtitle strategies to becoming who you really are. You just laid yours out.

[00:21:57] You know you can become the person that you really are and still you're on your path the purpose so speak to that strategy in your book. That's it I think you're absolutely right these strategies.

[00:22:09] So then in 2004 I said you know what let me you know begin to put some of these I began to look over my life to see what are some of the strategies what are some of the things that I would say were strategies that took me from being home.

[00:22:25] Let's be it on the streets be that high school dropout. So one of the strategies from the book deals with having that made up mind.

[00:22:34] So in other words it's like if you want to be wishy washy it's probably going to be hard to get on a path and get to the end.

[00:22:43] But you got to have that that you know that mindset that persistence that you know determination that you know keep on going no matter what. And another strategy in the book is choosing to change.

[00:22:57] I use change as a strategy because in 1998 I was at a conference in Houston with the Continental Airlines at the time I was a staffing rep part of the HR department we were there for a conference and then there was a one of the speakers there Dr. David Alrick.

[00:23:15] He came and he talked about being these change agents. And so what I had started doing in college I would the things I was learning in my business degrees and what have you I would always parlay them into my own personal life.

[00:23:30] So whatever they were teaching in the classroom I was like oh let me use that in my personal life. So they were teaching decision making. Oh let me do decision making when I was learning algebra and problem solving.

[00:23:42] Oh let me problem solving my life when I was using when I was learning parabolas and how something can get so close to the line but it doesn't touch the line.

[00:23:51] I'm saying oh that's what it's like in life when you walk so close to something dangerous but you don't go off of the way in there.

[00:23:58] So you know those were just those are those are the strategies that I try to share in the book so that people can look at their own life and say hey what do let me look at and then make an assessment.

[00:24:09] Maybe I don't need to change some things. Maybe everything's going right. Maybe I'm hitting a home run on my passions. Maybe I'm hitting another home run on my purpose and I'm hitting another home run on the things that I feel I have the greatest potential to get done.

[00:24:24] Then OK you can put in that's fine then don't change that but what about all the other areas for kind of forcing people like in using some coaching strategies people look at the other areas.

[00:24:35] So those are some of the strategies that I use with the book definitely assessment strategy again another educational business strategy you know in education we do nothing. Nothing I mean nothing I can't even lay the pen down without assessing did I lay it down the right way.

[00:24:54] Oh my goodness it helped you write you're right. What was the outcome what was the learning outcome learning to lay it lay that pencil down. I learned that I don't like assessments and nobody likes it but they're the best thing. They're the best thing. Oh my goodness.

[00:25:13] I wish I had been taught assessments in the kindergarten.

[00:25:15] Yeah yeah yeah what's the best critical critical thinking critical critical just to look back because it's not like assessment is a bad thing you just looking to see if you need to make any adjustments or do you need to keep doing what you're doing.

[00:25:30] But that's how I was able to be successful in those degrees.

[00:25:34] I looked back I assessed I look back at what I had done to get there and I says I'll just keep doing that studying doing homework registering for class signing up for class doing my paperwork doing the fast you see what I'm saying.

[00:25:49] Yes yes definitely assessment so that's one of the strategies in the book is taking a self assessment. How can we get in touch with you. Lisa and also where can we find your book.

[00:26:00] Yeah so you could get in touch with me several ways I have a website you can go to my website is simply my name and with coaching the beginning coach laleesa dot com coach laleesa dot com. I tried to make it as nice as simple.

[00:26:15] Can't remember last name remember the first name and most of us is only as a coach so they can get in touch with me that way there they have many ways to get in touch with me.

[00:26:24] Whether email phone and also through Facebook is one of the areas that I use groups on Facebook so I do coaching groups things like that.

[00:26:33] I have a 52 week empowerment journey to empower women to excel and power students to excel so I like for people to come up to those higher levels. And then the other way is through LinkedIn. I love LinkedIn.

[00:26:49] I've been involved with Lincoln since somewhere around 2005 when it first came out and where can we get your book and the book you can get it from my website coach laleesa dot com you go to website on that first page you'll see a link they can get the book there.

[00:27:06] And you know if you can't remember any of that you could probably just Google me and you pages will come up. Yeah. Like you I'm like you we've been doing this for a while. Yeah. So we have a we have a great digital footprint out there. Yes.

[00:27:23] Sometimes too much at one but yeah I know. Can we pull it back some of that information. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So definitely appreciate that and so folks definitely go to the leases website.

[00:27:36] We'll also have that information in our show notes as well so they'll be able to find it and just make some clicks. And then they'll be able to get there. So listen and you too. Oh yeah and you too. Oh yeah.

[00:27:50] You got some nuggets and see even hear your voice. Yeah that's because out of is there a nugget or wisdom you'd like to leave us. Yes I would like to let you know that where you are is the best place for you to be.

[00:28:05] Get started right where you are. And I would also say that start small. Do not try to eat the whole elephant at one time. Remember bite size works just as well. You'll still get a chance to eat the entire elephant.

[00:28:22] That's my wisdom for people definitely the bite size. Start now start from where you are. Don't worry about what's already gone or don't worry about what might come because as you get there you'll be able to get there.

[00:28:35] Be able to deal with it and make sure that you put on your to do list preparation. Eek out a little bit of time here and there to prepare for the thing that you want to achieve. So say like first the person may want to write a book.

[00:28:51] Well just start a little bit slowly, a little bit small. Don't worry about it but that preparation it goes a long way to success. Thank you really appreciate it. Be great everyone and release your power. Thank you for listening to the Business Shop.

[00:29:09] We hope that you were able to glean valuable information from our guests and that you will download and share this podcast. Your rating and review is much appreciated. To go deeper with our guests please visit their website and social channels.

[00:29:22] To learn more about us please visit businessshop.info or altogether.biz where we will help you expand your brand.