We recently connected with Leticia DeSuze and have shared our conversation below.

Leticia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’ve all been there before where things are tight financially and we start asking ourselves in the small/simple joys like a cup of coffee is worth it. Have you had an experience like this and if so how did you think about this sort of spending?

I think there’s no greater time to spend money than during lean times because that’s when fortunes are made. I don’t take my cues from the economy because people make money in any economy when they’re on the right side of problem solving. During lean times most people look to cut costs and save. I would rather invest money and grow. The ROI I receive on my investments is usually much more than I could save. And of course there’s the risk of losing it. But you can always create more money. Always. You just have to believe that and not let the fear of loss prevent you from making the decisions you need to make.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Minority women lawyers hire me to grow their firms from 6 to 7 figures. Although I’ve been coaching for many years I didn’t start off this way. Way before I was coaching for a living, people always sought me out for advice. People were always interested in my perspective because it was usually quite different from most things they’d heard. As I navigated through various careers trying to find my place, I would always end up in a role where I was providing counsel or some form of teaching or coaching. After many years of working for coaching companies, I decided to start my own. Because I’d worked with so many lawyers, they started referring other lawyers and it took off from there. My niche created itself.

Although I coach lawyers, the principles of coaching could apply to any entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs don’t always consider how whatever is going on with them personally shows up in their businesses masked as a problem. So the primary problem I solve for my clients is with their mindset. If you think about it — your best thinking has gotten you where you are in this very moment. It’s often not the problem or challenge itself but how you are thinking about it. It’s what you can’t see through your own lenses. Coaching provides an impartial and unbiased set of lenses through which to see your challenges.

What sets me apart is I’m not just a coach – I’m a partner. I’m wholeheartedly invested in my clients’ growth and success. My work doesn’t end when our meetings do. I’m always looking for ways to help my clients achieve their goals. I know my clients’ businesses inside and out which is why working with me is really a rare opportunity for the right person.

My clients don’t just grow profitable and successful businesses. Their personal growth impacts every area of their lives. They create work-life harmony. They show up differently in their relationships. They reclaim their time and make more money. But it doesn’t require them to work more to do so. This makes me so proud — to have a hand in these kinds of results.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

It’s what I call ‘relational marketing’ which is simply nurturing relationships. Existing relationships are the best because you already have rapport and credibility established. So for me, the best source of new clients is both current and former clients. Your clients are a built-in salesforce because people naturally share their experiences. When their experience is positive and meets and exceeds their expectations – they are happy to share that with others.

My goal therefore is to create an amazing client experience from the moment we start to work together. It starts off with a gift. It could be wine glasses from Tiffany’s or Jo Malone candles or a myriad of other things — but I believe in investing in my clients and in my business. When others inquire about business coaching or they see a need they share my name. It’s an incredible feeling to have your name shared in spaces where you’re not present.

It’s important to note that nurturing the relationship doesn’t end when you are no longer working together. You want to remain in contact. There are times when I reach out just to say hello or to inquire about an event I may have seen on social media. Sometimes they’re on my mind and I’m just checking in.

One of my clients had a significant life event that happened a couple of years ago in September. I’ll make sure to extend additional support in any way I can because I know it can still be difficult.

It’s really not rocket science. It’s genuinely caring for people beyond how it affects your business. And I do.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

The good thing about my business is that it didn’t require much capital to start. As a coach, you can work wherever there’s Internet because you meet virtually with most of your clients. So Zoom and the Internet were all I needed to get started. However, shortly after starting I made a $27K investment in business coaching to ‘skip the line’ if you will. I wanted to avoid newbie mistakes because even though I’d been coaching for several years when I started my own business — I’d never run it as a business of my own. I didn’t have the money laying around but I did have great credit. I used my personal Amex cc to make the investment and saw a return on it very very quickly. At first, I was opposed to doing so and my coach reminded me that I was making an investment as a ‘creator’ and not a ‘consumer.’ I was making an investment in an opportunity to grow me and my business.

After investing in coaching, I put aside 60% of my revenue each month so I could pay taxes and have money to make other investments as needed. After about a year, it was a website (which I bartered coaching services for) and someone to handle social media. But those things weren’t necessities to get started contrary to what many people believe and teach.

Now as my business is growing I definitely incur other expenses and I put them all on business credit cards but I have the revenue to pay for it. It’s important to note because many new entrepreneurs ruin their personal credit by using it to fund their businesses and they don’t have to. They can use their personal credit to get actual business credit and not just personal credit cards with their business names on them. You may have to be the personal guarantor on your first business cc but after that you should be able to use your business name.

Also, many entrepreneurs invest in things they think are necessary or what I call ‘nice to haves’ but not ‘need to haves.’ You ‘need to have’ things that will lend themselves to revenue because with revenue you can invest in the other things you’d like. If you focus on things that make your business look good — you deplete revenue and resources that could more effectively have been used.

Contact Info:

• Website: leticiadesuze.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/leticiadesuze
• Facebook: facebook.com/coachleticia
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/leticiadesuze

Image Credits
Daylin Henry