Coaching Confident Christian Coaches

Doreen Lettsome Reid is a certified business coach to confident Christian women coaches from all around the world. She coaches high performing Christian coaches 40 years and over, and teaches and coaches them on how to develop a business blueprint, to gain clarity of their specific mission message mandate to lay a firm foundation with their business structure services, products, and policies.

These procedures build the business framework and construction so that they can work together to overcome fear, shatter misconceptions and increase confidence and profits by faith in all things business.

Doreen is the daughter of an immigrant from the British Virgin Islands.

[00:00:00] Paula: Welcome to “Chatting With The Experts”, a podcast for immigrant women and their children from Africa and the Caribbean who have relocated to the US or the UK, Canada, or even as far as Australia. In this podcast we talk about our struggles, and I say our because I’m an immigrant woman. But we also highlight the triumphs that we’ve had while living abroad. We share resources, we share our experiences, and we hope that our fellow immigrant women or their children can benefit from these experiences that we’ve had. Today my guest is a fellow African American. She’s a first generation sister with a west Indian or Caribbean parent. Her dad was from, or is from the British Virgin islands. And coach Doreen Lettsome Reid lives and works in the US. What state are in Doreen?.
[00:01:05] Doreen: Yes, I’m in South Carolina.
[00:01:07] Paula: She’s in south Carolina, that means a lot to me, because I lived in North Carolina for many years. So I’ll tell you a little bit about Doreen, Coach Doreen Lettsome Reid and then I’ll turn it over to her so that she can tell you about herself, where she spent her formative years and where she did her formal education. Welcome to “Chatting With The Experts”. Coach Doreen, Lettsome Reid, and as I said, I’ll tell you a little bit about her. Her family moved from the Bronx, New York to Charleston, South Carolina when she was five years old. And she resided in the town of Mount Pleasant. At the age of 16 Doreen left home and moved to, I can’t pronounce it, Cheraw in South Carolina. And this is where her story starts, at least her story started with me. So Doreen I’ll hand you over, or I will let you talk more about yourself and your experiences.
[00:02:14] Doreen: Well, first of all Paula, I want to just thank you for this amazing opportunity to be on your platform “Chatting With The Experts”. I do love that name because it’s very important for women to have a community where we come together, share, connect, and grow, that’s how we build. That is how we advance in business. That’s how we advance in life. When we have a safe place to just chat, we learn so much from one another sharing ideas, exchanging experiences. And so I just want to thank you and your listening audience for having me on today. So my name is Coach Doreen Lettsome Reid, I am a certified business coach to confident Christian women coaches from all around the world. I am a coach to high performing Christian coaches 40 and over. I teach them and coach them how to develop a business blueprint, to gain clarity of their specific mission message mandate to lay a firm foundation with that business structure services, products and policies, procedures that builds the business framework and construction so that you and I can work together to overcome fear, shatter misconceptions, increase confidence and profit by faith in all things business. And so as Paula mentioned, I was originally from New York. I was born in the Bronx when my grandmother Exo Williams raised me for the first five years of my life. Because at that time, the Bronx, it was a very dangerous place to live. My parents decided to migrate to Charleston, South Carolina. Because at that time, Charleston was a unknown city with no population and literally one stop light. 30 years later, you would not recognize Charleston south Carolina is one of the metropolitan cities here in South Carolina. It is literally world renowned and world known for the battery for the old style Charleston homes and just for the history. So when my parents and I moved there, you know, we, I started attending Mount Pleasant academy school. At that time in the fifth grade, I encountered my teacher and her assistant through who literally told me that I would not read and could not read and decided to put my face into a corner. Needless to say that was very traumatic and detrimental to a five year old that had no clue why my face was being shoved into a corner for literally no reason. And to compound this traumatic event, every day I was given what was called a cold prickly, which meant and indicated that I was labeled a bad child. Here again, no explanation was given as to why I was constantly given the cold prickly. I was never given the warm, fuzzy, the warm fuzzy indicated that I was a good child. So of course, a five year old little girl is wanting to please, wanting to be accepted, wanting to be loved, wanting to be respected. I did everything humanly possible that I thought I was supposed to be doing to earn the warm, fuzzy, however that never happened. So you would think, well Doreen, why didn’t you go home and tell your parents, why weren’t your parents at the school? Why didn’t you have an advocate? Well, I’m glad you asked both my parents were actually abusing me. So I did not have a safe home. I did not have an advocate to go to the school on my behalf because literally both of my parents were trying to kill me. Hence fourth at 13 years old, I began to plan how to leave home. And at 16 I left home and therefore I came here to Shera South Carolina on my own. I have no brother, I have no sister, I am an only child and I had no support system. And so literally I felt as an immigrant would coming to a new country, because I came to a new place with literally no support system. Plus I was put out of school for an entire year, because at that time, when I was 16 I left outta one school, I was able to withdraw myself from school. But hence going to a different school district, I had to have a parent to sign me into a new school district, and I did not know that at the time. When my parent was, my mother was contacted, she refused to allow me in school. With that being said, I had to stay out of school for one year and literally worked at McDonald’s for seven days a week, three shifts to be able to support myself at only 16 years old. So I said all of that to say that now where I am in my coaching business and the things that I offer my clients. I have a overall perspective for women that are migrating to different places and what that feels like, what that looks like. Because you’re literally starting from nothing, and you’re literally building brick by brick to have a life, to have a future in the midst of unreal imaginable circumstances, such as being totally alone. Such as not having money. Such as not having a high paying job. Such as the ridicule, the name calling the labeling. And you’re already an African American, you’re already, uh, a teenager. You’re already, you know, they thought I was a dropout. Having not knowing my situation. There was no help for me. You would think that someone would come along and say, how did this happen to you? No one ever asked that, no one ever came to my aid. But to God be the glory, I’m still here, I’m still standing. I haven’t lost any food. I haven’t lost any weight. Come on now. I haven’t lost, I’ve gained by the grace of God. I’m now born again. I’m now married. I’m in my right mind. I’m in my health, I’m in my strength. I have children, I have two grandchildren, so God is good. And to all of the women that are migrating from one location to the other, from one country to the other, my support to you is that you are not alone. That literally Jesus Christ knows who you are, where you are and your location. Let me say that again. He knows who you are, where you are and your location. You are not lost. You are not forsaken. You are not abandoned. In no way, shape or form will he ever, ever leave you nor forsake you? And that right there a lot was inside you because you can flourish anywhere in any circumstance because he has no limits. See, we serve a God that has no limits. This is not something Paula told me to say, this is not something that somebody told me. This is something that Coach Doreen Lettsome Reid actually lived and have survived. And now I’m here to tell you the story.
[00:09:45] Paula: And I say, Amen to that, Amen, Amen. And this episode is extra special because you put a twister to the word immigrant or immigration. As you said, you moved from one familiar setting, which was Cheraw in South Carolina, and you had moved to a completely different location in South Carolina. And this was not out of your doing or your being, but because of the circumstances, both at school and at home. And so while there, as you said, you were able to discover that God did have a plan for you. As horrible as your formative years were, as you said in school, you had no peace and you had no respite when you got home because your parents were abusing you. But look at you today. And so as I say that ,and to follow up what you said about Jesus Christ having a plan and a purpose for everyone’s life. And because we are talking to women, a plan and a purpose for every woman’s life. Remind us again about the name of your coaching business.
[00:10:53] Doreen: So I am Coach Doreen Lettsome Reid, and I have a specialized customized curriculum called “All Things Business” because my platform actually helps women clarify. And I have a unique calling on my life. So I specifically coach high performing Christian women coaches. So I am a coach who coaches. And I specifically work with high performing Christian coaches, 40 and over. And we look at developing a business blueprint, because often what happens is when we start a coaching business or we’re already coaching, we can hit roadblocks because there was never no blueprint. We went straight to the marketing, developing a website, developing all the frills, the hex codes and all these things. But when it comes to the foundational things of our business, that actually is the business blueprint or laying a firm foundation with our structure, with our services, with our product development, with our policies, with our procedures. And when I’m speaking about that, it’s like, what is your onboarding process? What does the client do from step one to step two, to step three? Have you even developed your elevator pitch? When you go on stage, are you ready to present? Who you are in that moment, is it very clear? So looking at all of these different things, that’s what my coaching does. Because when we have these things in place, when we take the time to really clarify our mission message and mandate. And what’s specific for me, not Paula, not Sally, not Jane and they can be coaches in their own right. But my mantle is different, my mantle is different. The assignment that has been given to me to advance God’s kingdom in all things business is different for me. So I must take the time to get very specific of my mission message mandate and mantle in all things business. And that is gonna help me overcome fear. And that’s what my coaching is really, you know, surrounded on. It focuses on that, to unlock what’s inside you. Even as coaches, we deal with fear, guess why? Because we are human people. We’re not immune to fear because we wear a title, or because we have a paper, or because we have these degrees, or because we have 25 years of experience. I’ve been doing this for 25 years, that has, that does, our enemy doesn’t care. Really he don’t. We still have to position ourself to make sure that we’re able to continue to serve those that we’re called to serve. So my job is to make sure that I’m supporting other coaches to make sure that they are in position and conditioned to continue to serve those that they’re called to serve. To make sure that those coaches are overcoming our own fears, shattering our own misconceptions, constantly increasing our confidence and getting to the bag. This is how we get to the bag. We profit by faith in all things business. And when I say get to the bag, I’m talking about get to the money.
[00:14:03] Paula: Okay, so great. I love the fact that you say, “get to the bag”, “get to the money”. But I want to still bring you back to one important fact. Do you think that what happened to you in your formative years has influenced you or encouraged you to have this mission, where you want coaches, business professional. To quote you “high performing Christian business women”, to Excel in what they do. Do you feel that what happened in the past has empowered you to do what you do today?
[00:14:36] Doreen: Absolutely. What happened to me was actually part of my blueprint, was part of my business blueprint. Because when women 40, when coaches high performing Christian women, coaches 40, and over when they coach with me, I can speak to so many different things that has happened to me. And therefore we begin to co-create. It’s a safe environment where we can co-create. And let’s just lay it out on the line. A lot of times when we are in a coaching environment, that coach is trying to act like they have it all together. Obviously listening to me five minutes, you know, I’m not that type of coach. I mean I am what I am by the grace of God. I can do all that I need to do by the grace of God. I really don’t need anybody’s, you know, approval or appointment or verification. For me as a coach it’s my job to tell you the truth about Doreen, because in me telling you the truth about Doreen and drawing from my experience, that’s how I can add value to you as a coach. Because it’s the truth that makes us free. Nowadays we hear these words authentic, we hear these words, you know, being your authentic self, being your best self. Well, that’s all good and fine, those words are appropriate. But for me, I’ve been doing this so long, those words come and go, right? So you know, catch phrases, come and go. But we have to be rooted and grounded in truth, because when we are rooted and grounded in truth, that’s when we can really unlock what’s on the inside as a coach, as a CEO. And that’s how we can really help those, that we are called to help. That’s how we can really help those our clients that are coming to us and it’s not so freely. It’s not so, you know, one sided it’s not so well, I’m just here to get your money and go about my business. No, I see coaching as a ministry. My ministry is my business and my business is my ministry. See, I’m anointed to do what I do, I’m just not doing it. There’s a difference when you are selecting a coach, you need to look at, is this person really called to do what they’re doing or are they just doing it? Cause there is a difference. The tone is different, the message is different, the results are different. Anybody coaching with me, you’re not gonna be the same. Why? Because you’re coming in contact with the anointing and the anointing of God is what change. I’m not saying I’m all this and that, or do I have a magic wand. But I do understand the mantle that is on my life. And that’s what sets us apart. When you are working with someone, you want to work with somebody that is clear on who they are, how can I help you? And I don’t even know who Doreen is, that’s crazy. I can help you because I unlock what’s on the inside of Doreen and I’m not afraid to tell you what really happened to me, because I’m using that pain and I’ve turned that pain into power, and now I’m turning into profit, but it started with the pain.
[00:17:44] Paula: Okay. So why did you choose Christian? Powerful. Let me, I wanna make sure I get this. What made you choose high performing Christian business woman, as opposed to high performing business women who are not Christian?
[00:18:01] Doreen: Right? So specifically I coach high performing Christian coaches, not just business women. So my target market, those that I’m called to serve are high performing Christian coaches, ages 40 and over. So, as I said, I’ve been coaching since 2008 that’s 13 years. I’ve been in marketplace ministry. What is marketplace ministry? Marketplace ministry is when you’ve made a decision to use your business or your profession to advance the kingdom in all things business. That’s what I’ve been doing. I started that in 1996. So in this course of time, in my marketing analysis, in all of the things and research that my data shows it has been apparent that other coaches are drawn to me, because I am a coach. It is my gifting. It is my calling. It the mantle on my life. I know how to take coaches and build their platforms. I know how to take coaches and help them see things in a unique perspective that elevates their business, elevates their brand and gets them to profit by faith. And we are using this as a vehicle to literally advance the kingdom of God in all things business. So that is why I’m called to specifically high performing Christian coaches 40 and over because we are using our businesses to advance the gospel. We’re using our businesses to advance the kingdom of God in the worldwide marketplace. And so other Christian women that I’m working with, these Christian coaches, they too have a faith based principle. They too have biblical principles. They too are getting clarity on what marketplace ministry is all about. That I can still hold onto my faith and I can still profit by faith, and I don’t have to compromise. In the world of business. I can actually function in a higher dominion and a higher authority because I understand who the ultimate businessman is and I’m getting my instruction from him, which ultimately sets me apart from a average coach. So that’s why God has this mantle in my life because he’s using it for helping me and help using me to help these women really advance the kingdom of God in all things business. Does that make sense?
[00:20:28] Paula: It makes a lot of sense. And so even in continuation, when we talk about worldwide events, we are slowly emerging from a worldwide event that everybody can relate to whether you’re a Christian business woman, a Christian coach, or just well, a toddler I should say, emerging from a pandemic. And let’s talk about how what you’re doing has been impactful for women. The high profile Christian coaches, women coaches, I should say. And how, what you are doing has helped them during this worldwide event that, you know, changed everything that we understood for the most part in business.
[00:21:15] Doreen: Absolutely. So because I’m in tune with my ultimate businessman who happens to be Jesus Christ, who happens to have created business, understands business. He wrote out the perfect business plan, which happens to be the Bible. And he’s given to all of us, the master coach who happens to be the holy spirit, who is literally the teacher of all things. Because I go in the boardroom and hear what he has to say. A lot of us call it the throne room, I call it the boardroom because it’s pertaining to all things business. I was already in position virtually to receive the pandemic. And the only thing that the pandemic has done for me is strength my fortitude in my resolve to advance the gospel in all things business. My business has literally tripled in size and reach because of the pandemic. Because now I’m here “Chatting With The Experts”. This is a worldwide phenomenon. I would not be here if I was still in a local setting. But because my business is global and my brand is global, I’m known globally. I have women such as Libby who just connected us that do not know me, are willing to reach out to me and say, look, I wanna introduce you to this person. I wanna introduce you to this person. And then as we begin to network, and as we began to build relationships the span grows. We just keep growing. We just keep growing. And now we’re in all of these different countries, and now we’re able to impact so many other women, why? It all started being able to hear specific instructions about what I was to do with my business. And I had already had my business positioned virtually. And I already knew my business was to grow and effect and impact a global market. Those things were already in place. So now, as a result for me just simply being obedient, I’m here on “Chatting With The Experts” and I’m reaching women literally all over the world. And I’m here with the phenomenal Paula. This just keeps going on and on and on. And now together we’re advancing the kingdom because we’re talking about Jesus Christ and we’re talking about all things business.
[00:23:40] Paula: I love your answer. And yes, I have always said that I am a Christian. How I even came into podcasting was because I prayed and asked the Lord to show me something to do that was different. And that was in 2012, I started talking about it in 2013 and here we are in 2022. But as we talk about how you’ve become global and how the pandemic actually has helped you. I have a question. So how do you think your journey can inspire other women to be like you and not to? Well, you know, everyone has a calling, but at the same time, I know from talking with you that you know, that where your calling has come from and you want it to be impactful. How else can you help?
[00:24:30] Doreen: Well, I just wanna encourage women, you know? I went through a lot of pain. Pain still comes to me. I’m not immune for pain because I’m in business or because I’m a Christian. Matter of fact, according to the word of God, you gonna have more problems, because you have an adversary and that’s his job. His job is to keep us from the prize, so let’s not get it twisted. You know, just because we are a Christian, and just because we are a coach and just because we do all these things, we are not immune. But what I, and I do set the example, but my job is to point you to the ultimate businessman, that’s my job. My job here is to point you to the ultimate businessman who is Jesus Christ. So if it pertains to your business or even if it pertains to your personal life, allow him to lead God and direct you in everything that you do through the pain. I have a number one best seller called “Confident Women Rise”, and I wrote a poem “confident women rise in the pain, confident women rise in the praise, confident women rise in worship, confident women rise. This is what confident women do, we rise. We take the pain and we are still able to rise. We take the praise when people heat praise on us and we know people are fickle. So one minute they’re gonna praise you and the next minute, the same people gonna try to kill you is just the way it is. So we take these things, the pain that we may be going through, the praise we may be going through and confident women still rise in the pain and in the praise. And we rise because we continue to worship.
[00:26:20] Paula: Loving that confident women still rise, because I was gonna go to the next question, which is share with our listeners or with my listeners, a favorite quote of yours.
[00:26:34] Doreen: I would say that my favorite quote is that we complete, we don’t compete.
[00:26:40] Paula: We compete, we don’t come compete. Oh, we complete, we don’t compete.
[00:26:50] Doreen: We complete, we don’t compete. And that is the true essence of what it’s gonna take to build a global brand.
[00:26:59] Paula: Absolutely.
[00:26:59] Doreen: Okay. When miss Libby introduced, she didn’t even know me. She introduced me to Paula, she kept. First of all, she was a woman of her word. When she reached out to me, she says, I see that you’re doing this and that I would, you know, we talked back and forth. She said, I’m gonna introduce you to some people.
[00:27:18] Paula: Coach Doreen, let me stop you there. It was Nancy White that introduced us, is that who you call Ms. Libby ?
[00:27:26] Doreen: It was miss Nancy. I’m sorry I used the wrong name. Yeah, miss Nancy, it was miss Nancy. You’re right, it was miss Nancy. I’m sorry, thinking about somebody else. But she introduced us, she reached out to me and introduced us. First of all, she was a woman of her word, and that is really important when you wanted to build a business or a brand, your brand, be a woman of your word. She told me, when miss Nancy reached out to me, she said, I’m going to introduce you to some other ladies, and I told her, thank you. And that’s exactly what she did, she connected me to Miss Paula. Miss Paula and I have been women of our word. We’ve been connecting, we’ve been talking, we scheduled this and as a result, the networking is growing. We’re connecting with other women outside of our sphere, outside of our normal circle, and that’s the true essence of networking. We don’t constantly stay in the same circle, that’s not networking. Networking takes me out of my normal realm, takes me out of my circle. Networking is to help me elevate mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially, and in all things business. That’s what networking is truly about. I should see a difference even in my mindset, just from spending time with different women. And I think that’s what the “Chatting With The Experts” is all about. It’s exposing the listeners to women from all around the world with their experiences so that we can all grow. And that is the true essence of networking. So I say that my favorite quote is “we complete not compete”. Because when you take the competitiveness out of two women working together, or it be in one sided, then we are not gonna get anywhere. It’s better to collaborate, it’s better to complete one another, to see how we can work together, which is what Paula and I did on the initial call. It took a minute to figure out what we could do. And then once we got past that, now we’re doing this and now we’re doing several other things. And it’s no telling what else is gonna take place. And it’s all good, it’s all mutually beneficial. And it’s all to position other women to come along with us. Because when my network of people and her network of people come together, then that’s true collaboration. That’s truly advancing the kingdom of God in all things business.
[00:29:58] Paula: Absolutely. I just love what you’re doing Doreen. But you’ve heard me probably say this on other podcasts. All great things have to come to an end. As much as I’m enjoying what you’re saying. And so as my listeners, you’ve probably heard, Doreen and I are going to be continuing this conversation on another platform, her platform at the later date. But as I said, because all good things have to come to an end, Doreen I don’t want you to leave it all, letting people know how they can get in touch with you. Can you do that?
[00:30:29] Doreen: Yeah, absolutely. The best way to get in contact with me is social media, facebook. You can inbox me at Doreen Reid, REID. If you would like to send an email, you can directly send me that email to info @Doreen, DOREEN Lettsome LETTSOME Reid REID. com. That’s info@ my name DoreenLettsomeReid.com.
[00:31:01] Paula: Lovely, lovely. And so for my listeners, I want to tell you that if you enjoyed what you just heard, like I did please head over to “Apple Podcasts”, “Google Podcasts”, “Spotify”, or anywhere else where you listen to podcasts and follow us and also click subscribe. And if you are an immigrant woman who has immigrated to either the US, the UK, Canada, or Australia from Africa or the Caribbean, please reach out to me on my website, which is “www.chattingwithexperts.com/contactus”. And of course if you’d like to be a guest, reach out to me there. Thank you so much, Doreen. This has been fascinating, I mean this is the beginning of many more. So again, thanks for being a part of “Chatting With The Experts”. Thank you
[00:32:06] Doreen: Thank you for having me.
[00:32:08] Paula: Absolutely.