We recently connected with Lucretia Jelks and have shared our conversation below.

Lucretia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I was a Banker for over 25+ years. In that time I saw a lot of people whose finances were in disarray. At that time I was very limited in what I could do to help the clients, other than giving them back an occasional overdraft fee. Although, that was not really the solution because there was no behavior change. I began to volunteer for an organization whose sole purpose was to teach financial literacy to women and young girls leading them toward financial stability.
This was better because at least I was informing and giving out helpful information. But something was still missing because you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink!
An opportunity arose for me to become a financial coach, so I left corporate America and joined the nonprofit world.This position allowed me to work one on one with clients to help them achieve their financial goals. After a while I was getting burned out. I was asked to train new coaches to do what I do. This has become my true passion. I Could only reach one person at a time. But by training a group of 10 or more, more lives are being changed

Lucretia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As far back as I can remember, I have always enjoyed helping others achieve their dreams. Thankfully, my Mom saw my potential and intervened in my education choices when I was in the 7th grade. I love the violin, so I chose that class as my elective to learn how to play it. On my third day in class, a student came to pull me out of class saying that my mother had switched my elective to speech and drama. Can you imagine my surprise and dismay?! I adjusted and fell in love with this creative side of myself.

To this very day I am so grateful for my Mom’s insight. I continued in speech and drama through my high school years. Although I had no idea that these years of training would one day lead me to my destiny and purpose. . In my senior year I started working part-time at a Bank. This turned into a 25+ year career in Banking. Around 2005, I started feeling antsy. I wasn’t being fulfilled any longer and I felt like I needed to be doing more. One day the then CEO of a non-profit that was officed in our building, came to see me about an issue with their account. Now, I was aware of their existence, but I had no idea what service they rendered and to whom. So, I began to ask questions about the organization and discovered that they offered financial literacy classes to women and young girls to help them attain financial sustainability. I got so excited because I thought well. I know finances, and I love to teach, it sounds like a marriage made in heaven! So, I began volunteering, going to libraries, jail cells, companies, wherever they sent me to share my knowledge on credit, debt, savings and budgeting.
In 2011, I began to get restless again. One day I received a phone call from the Program Manager of the agency I was volunteering for asking me if I would be interested in becoming a Financial Coach? Mind you I had never heard of such a position, but I figured that if the word Financial was in the title, I was sure I could handle it. Long story short, I left Banking for good and entered the non-profit world as a Financial Coach. Little did I know that I was in for a rude awakening. Being naïve, I assumed that someone would be available to show me the ropes. Unfortunately, no one had been in that position for almost 18 months.
Look, all I knew was that I loved helping people and finances was my arena. The only problem was that Coaching clients on finances was a tad different than teaching a lesson on literacy. I needed resources, solutions and in-depth knowledge of how non-profits work and collaborate. Talk about learning on the job as you go, boy did I!!!! This was nothing like banking, nor volunteering, but I was not running away. I took the bull by the horns and rode it out. Gratefully, I had banking clients that were in the financial industry that welcomed my questions and helped when I ran into a situation that was daunting. I befriended people in the non-profit world who were willing to show me the ropes and I am glad to say, I conquered. About a year and a half later, other agencies were either sending their new coaches to shadow me or asking if I could come to their agency to train their new coaches. I had no idea at that time, that one day this would become my business, I was just glad to help my fellow coaches. Eventually, I became the Director of my department, while still maintaining my role as the financial Coach. I constantly begged management to hire someone for the coaching position but was told they didn’t have the money. So, I had to give some of the reporting duties to a data staff member and she was awesome.
The year is now 2018 in the month of February. I received an invitation to attend a meeting to discuss a collaboration with a non-profit based out of Dallas, Texas who had just moved into the Houston market. They were offering car loans not based on credit scores. I was the first coach in Houston who had referred them clients and they wanted to follow up with me. I met with the CEO and President at United Way of Greater Houston. We had a great conversation, but as I was leaving, I thought, “That felt more like an interview, than a meeting!” Well, it turns out my gut was right, it was an interview. The only problem was…I was not looking for a job. Thay called me back and made an offer, but I turned them down. So, they asked me to help them find someone for the position and I agreed. I kept my word, but no one I asked was interested because it involved a lot of travel. I went on about my business and actually forgot about the job.
In June, I started feeling discombobulated. It had been seven years and the last 3 or 4 years I had been doing two full-time jobs. I was burnt out and had compassion fatigue. So, I called to see if they had filled the position and they had not. The President said that they were rethinking the job title and duties, and once things were finalized, they would contact me. They called me in July, I accepted gave my two weeks’ notice, and started in August 2018. WOW! Who knew my life would turn around like that! I loved my new position as the Regional Director of South Texas. I no longer had staff to tend to, but I was still able to interact with clients occasionally. Most of the time I did presentations letting agencies/companies know about our product.
It is now October 2020. COVID has invaded our land like the Martian movies, and I am informed that I have been laid off, along with everyone else in my department, except the VP of our department. Let me back up, prior to this layoff, for the past year or so I had been asked by other agencies to train their new coaches. My CEO agreed if I mentioned our company in the training. My training consists of eight sessions, 2-3 hours long, twice a week for four weeks. I found out I was being laid off amid conducting a training.
It was around the 20th of October 2020 and I was sitting on my bed working on one of my power points and I heard, “Coaches Corner-All Things Financial”. I thought, “WOW! That’s a great name for my business!” and so it was born. I registered my business name and I have been training under that name since that time.
I train coaches to bring their clients to an awareness of their situation and then they can come to know the options that they have to change the trajectory of their lives. It does not matter if it’s concerning finances, employment, or everyday life. Once they see the benefit of coaching and how it can help them to see their own path to stability and growth, they can then own their decisions and become accountable to themselves and follow through with whatever goals they want to make.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I have always wanted my own business, but it was easier to work for someone else. Until life threw me a curveball and I had to sink or swim. Somehow I knew, that owning your business was not a walk in the park. Especially if you were by yourself, a sole proprietor. That first year things were pretty good. I didn’t know I had built a good reputation in my field, just by doing my job well. It is who you know, but it’s also who knows you.

The second year things started slowing down , companies were laying off or redistributing funds elsewhere within the company. So I decided that I need to diversify to have more streams of income to keep this ship afloat. In what I thought was just a casual conversation a friend shared with me how she had started going to school to become a mental health coach, but never finished because she got so distracted with her job. When I hung up with her, I decided to look into what that certification was all about because so many of the coaches I was working with were ready to throw in the towel.

I looked into it and it was just what I needed to help my clients. I got a scholarship and now I am certified as a mental health coach. Companies began call me to do classes on Burn Out, Fatigue, and Stress. This opened a new stream of income for me because I refused to give up.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

As a banker, I was taught to tell my client’s what they need. It was ingrained in me from the beginning to tell my clients what to do, to fix their issues or counsel them. I always gave them my opinion because the bottom line was to make a profit for the bank. When I came into coaching, I just did what I always did, tell my clients what to do. Once I went to training, I found out that the client is the driver, they are the experts of their own lives, and my opinion does not matter. It took me a minute to unlearn my overbearing behavior, but this was the best thing I could have ever done. Now I am empowering my clients to make good choices.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.coachscorner.atf.com
• Instagram: Coach’s Corner -All Things Financial
• Facebook: Coach’s Corner – All Things Financial
• Linkedin: Lucretia Jelks

Image Credits
Lucretia Jelks Maalesha Jordan