Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to brxambassador.com To learn more. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a good one today on the show, we have Angela Baptiste and she is with Inspire. Welcome, Angela.

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:00:44] Oh, pleasure to be here. Lee, thanks for inviting me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:47] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Inspire. How are you serving, folks?

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:00:53] Ok, well, I. My desire is to help them become their best selves, right? And I work with the individual as well as the business and so that they can grow to be better communicators, better leaders, better able to resolve conflicts, identifying their profile. I offer the disc behavioral analysis as well, so I’m doing various things to uplift and make people feel better about themselves, especially in this society as we know it.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:33] Now, are you working with a certain type of person? Is there a niche that you serve or is this just kind of all comers here, any person that wants to become the better of them?

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:01:44] Well, my niche is a small to medium business from five to five hundred.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:52] So then those leaders that are running those companies, what is kind of the pain that they’re having where they’re like, You know what? We should contact Angela and her team. What is it that they’re struggling with?

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:02:06] I think a big part of it is wanting to let their employees know how much they’re their their care right and also getting them focused on growth and development. That’s the big piece of it. Also, believe it or not, communication and teamwork, those are some real nail biters for employees.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:31] And that and is there a kind of some symptoms that this is showing itself to the person and they may not be aware that they’re in kind of a rut or they need help? Is there some clues that maybe they can be on the look look out for to say, You know what? Maybe things aren’t going as well as they could be?

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:02:48] Well, definitely a big part of that. You know, in any organization you want to be able to meet your, your, your, your, your goals and if your team’s not working together, they’re not cohesive and not meeting their objectives. That’s one of the tellers, right? So there could be conflicts not communicating well, not being able to resolve or meet project goals, stuff like that.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:20] So now what’s your back story? How did you get involved in coaching had you have you been a coach for a long time?

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:03:27] Well, I worked in corporate America for over twenty five years. My last role was in operations where I was focused on inspiring and motivating employees so that they’re able to perform at their best. And that was through positive encouragement and incentive initiatives and identifying opportunities so that they could expand or shift course in order to take advantage of changes in the market. Once I left that, they, my organization, decided that they were getting rid of the corporate structure and in moving from each local department to just two, I decided I didn’t want to move. They were asking me to go to Texas and I’m like, No, I’m not going to move. So I just decided, OK, why don’t I do what I’ve been doing for you guys, for myself? And that’s how I branched out into working for myself, doing pretty similar things that I normally did in the training environment, just focusing on the growth and development piece of it and leadership. So that’s the short story of how I decided to just do what I was doing previously for the corporate world, for myself.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:48] Now, as part of that transition from being an employee to being an entrepreneur, you decided to partner with the John Maxwell team. Can you talk about the decision that it was to partner with John Maxwell and his team, as opposed to just being Angela, who has a wealth of knowledge in the business world? And rather than go it alone, why did you decide to partner with the Maxwell team?

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:05:14] Oh, sure, great question. I explored different options, right? Because I’m a growth and development junkie, so I was going through Les Brown. I was Tony Robinson who was one of my great teachers. I’m still a part of his inner circle. Right, but he was a little different from me. I’m very faith focused. So John Maxwell was a great fit for me when I was doing the exploration on who I was wanting to partner. You know, they have the certifications, right? And I wanted to do this. If I’m going to do it right, I want to be certified and they have good content as well, which I was able to use. So once I explored that, I decided, OK, John Maxwell was a great fit. And so that’s why I went with him and it’s been great choice. I love working and partnering with John. He has such great content on, you know, becoming a person of influence, leadership, communication, you know, the growth and development peace he talks about. He has this book, The 15 Laws The 15 Invaluable Laws of Personal Growth, which I use a lot. So that partnership just was the right one for me.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:36] And then when you invested in that and decided to get certified, has that really made an impact in your practice?

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:06:44] Oh, yes, it definitely has. You know, just the love and care that John exhibits. I do that the same for my clients, and I’ve been able to travel not only to different country, but also within the United States. We do, and I’ve been working on the Change Your World, one of his latest book, Change Your World. I’ve done several transformation classes on that and also we were able to travel to Dominican Republic to transform that country. We’re supposed to be going back this year again, and so just it’s just been phenomenal

Lee Kantor: [00:07:27] Now for you. What has been the most rewarding part of this transition from employer to entrepreneur? Has anything happen that you can share that has kind of left a mark?

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:07:39] Oh, it’s just so many different things, just seeing the light bulb go off in people’s eyes, you know, and it’s not like I’m doing anything extra special, right? It’s because being a coach means it’s not about me, it’s about that individual and the power that that person have within them to solve their own issues, right? It’s just really just asking those right questions. And so when you ask the right questions and that big ha ha moment comes into that individual’s eyes and you can see, Oh wow, why didn’t I even recognize this prior? So that has been really impactful for me, just making a difference in the lives of others. And I just simply showing them how much we care and how much we want for them to become their best selves, and it’s just really serving. For me, it’s a big part of serving because so many times before you even become my client, I’m already serving you, you know?

Lee Kantor: [00:08:41] Now, was it difficult for you, just the mindset shift from being an employee where you were the one rolling up your sleeves and doing the work to being a coach where you’re helping guide other people in your, you’re kind of asking questions and encouraging them, but they’re they have to do the work. Was that hard where you can say, Oh man, if they would just do this, they’d be getting so much better. But just I’ll do this for you and then we can skip this step. But is that was that a difficult transition? Because I would imagine for some people, that would be hard.

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:09:15] Well, you know, it’s retraining, right? So I had to retrain my brain because most of the times in my corporate role, I worked with sales representatives, right? And I was coming up with all the processes and all the the everything to make their lives better, right? And sensitizing, you know, giving them the incentives that I think would help them. And, you know, just working with them. As you said, I was doing the work for them and pretty much designing the programs and the processes and everything for them. Well, now this is different. So retraining my brain that it’s not about what Angela wants or what I think would be best for them, but what that person sees as what, because their goals might be different from what I see for them, right? So it’s whatever their goals are and what they want to achieve, what they value, it could be both within their work, their relationships, their spiritual, you know, whatever it is that they see as best for themselves, then that’s what I’m partnering with them for so that they can achieve. So it was definitely a mindset shift not about working with others and telling them because that’s what mentorship is right? And I’m not being a mentor to them. I’m actually being a coach. So that’s the difference between what a mentor does. The matter tells you, OK, this is what you should do, whatever based on my success. But coaching is totally different is pulling that from within that person.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:53] Now for the is there any advice you can give to a coaches out there that are just starting out, maybe one strategy that has fueled your growth? Is there one thing you’ve done that has been very effective in helping you grow?

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:11:08] Oh, definitely. Number one, having powerful mentors and have a coach needs to have a coach for themselves, right? So I have a mentor who speaks into my life and not only one, but several several. So I’m a part of a mentorship program where I have several mentors who speak into my life and I’m able to learn from. I also have a coach who coaches me and as well as listening deeply, and that’s something else that you have to learn as well, because most times we listen on the periphery. But in order for us to really be able to help our clients, I had to learn to listen really well and listen deeply and intently so that I’m not thinking about what my next question is. I’m listening to my client and on my coach. And then it just flows based on what they’re saying. Then I could ask them a question and totally pulled whatever it is that we need to get out of that particular session. So those three things have totally helped me to become a better and I keep growing. But those are the three things that definitely has been helping me so far.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:29] Well, congratulations on all the success. If there is somebody out there that wants to learn more about you and your practice. Is there a website?

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:12:37] Oh, definitely. My website is. And I’ll tell you that really quick. It is.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:50] Inspires.

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:12:52] Yes. So it’s. S colon and then it’s backslash, backslash, WW dot inspires dot shop.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:03] Right. I and Aspire R e s s h o p.

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:13:09] That’s correct.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:10] Well, Angela, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:13:17] Ok, thank you for having me, and I really appreciate it. I also just wanted to share with you that I also have a book out. It’s called Walking and Winning with Jesus every day, and it’s it’s definitely on Amazon.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:32] Good stuff. Well, thank you again for sharing your story.

Angela M. Baptiste: [00:13:35] Ok? You have a great day.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:37] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Coach the Coach radio.