← Black Entrepreneur Experience
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- [00:00]
Lakeela Bowden
Foreign.
- [00:05]
Podcast Announcer
Welcome to the Black Entrepreneur Experience podcast Inside the business buzz and brilliance of Black Entrepreneurs. Here is your host, Dr. Francis Arlene.
- [00:22]
Dr. Frances Arlene
Before we dive into today's conversation about building a resilient and successful business, let's talk about the foundation. Every high growth venture require a plan for the unexpected. Is your family structure as protected as your business plan? The best contingency plan for your home life is our DIY legacy planning toolkit. Grab this simple roadmap right now at the link in the show notes and let's secure your legacy. Now on to the show. What happens in Vegas goes all over the world on Black Entrepreneur experience, episode number 528. Thank you for joining us as we elevate the Black Entrepreneur experience by interviewing CEOs, thought leaders, innovative thinkers and black entrepreneurs across the globe. I'm your host, Dr. Frances Arlene. Are you ready for self care, self promotion and self celebration? And avoid burnout. You want to lean in and listen to our next guest that is on track to hit seven figures this year as COO and co founder of IC Technologies. Welcome Lakeela Bowden.
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Lakeela Bowden
Hello. Thank you for having me.
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Dr. Frances Arlene
I've given our audience such a brief bio. Why don't you fill in the gaps and share with our audience what you'd like them to know about you and your company and also as you co founder in your new release.
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Lakeela Bowden
Absolutely. Thank you for asking me that question. As you said, I am Lakila Bowden. I am the co founder of IC Technologies which is a training and development company. I'm also a speaker and as you shared, a new author, my book the Show Enough Principle just came out. That book embodies and encompasses my experience as a company founder. Having spent prior to founding my company, Having spent over 15 years in corporate America, all of those experiences amalgamate to become my manifesto on prioritizing self care and self celebration for high achieving women. In a nutshell, all of those things encompass who I am and how I show up.
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Dr. Frances Arlene
Let's backtrack when you talk about high achieving women. And why did you write that book specifically? Tell us the backstory.
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Lakeela Bowden
Yeah, thank you. Thank you for asking that. I wrote the book that I felt like I needed throughout my corporate career and that I would have loved to have throughout my entrepreneurial journey. And when something doesn't exist that we need and that we want, we can create it ourselves. So that was where the impetus for me writing that book came from. I had a very storied career in corporate. I continue to rise up the ladder. But what I saw a lot of time from peers and other women was a lot of burnout because we're managing and juggling so many invisible loads in our lives, especially as women. And then when I joined the entrepreneurial world in ranks, I saw the same thing where I have always been oriented towards prioritizing my self care. And I think that is what allowed me. Well, I know. I don't think I know that is what allowed me to have the success that I had in corporate as well as in entrepreneurship without ending up on the brink of burnout. And it wasn't because I didn't have life. Things happen and life didn't life. In 2021, I found out that I was pregnant in February. And then a month later I found out that my mother was. Didn't have long left to live because of her cancer diagnosis. So that really called it called to the mat my life mantras around self care and really being able to prioritize that as I balance those two life very, very defining life moments that were happening at the same time. My son being born and my mother's transition into the ancestor realm. And because I prioritized those principles and it really helped me flourish through that period. My mother's last days, last months on Earth, she. She told me I've had a real good time. She literally said that to me. And my son is just a ball of joy. So I know that these things work and it goes, it goes into the realm of our professional lives as well as our personal lives. And I embody that in the book. The Show Enough principle.
- [04:39]
Dr. Frances Arlene
Our sincere sympathy for your loss.
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Lakeela Bowden
I appreciate that.
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Dr. Frances Arlene
Did your mother get an opportunity to meet her grandson?
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Lakeela Bowden
She met him in utero. I talked about him every day. They were about six months. He was born after she passed.
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Dr. Frances Arlene
Okay.
- [04:55]
Lakeela Bowden
But we talked about him a lot and I believe in connection that goes beyond the realms that we know of. He knows her. He came out and he just. He gravitates towards her pictures. He started calling her Nana before he could really talk, like saying those words when he saw her. So I know that they know each other and they're deeply connected.
- [05:15]
Dr. Frances Arlene
And you know, one of the things that you point out which is so critical and I want you to get into a few of the principles, not spilling all the tea because we definitely want to read the book and I want you to talk about the release of the book. So many women are having challenges with their pregnancies, that critical moment and then with you having to have be caregiving to your mom and knowing how did you sustain?
- [05:48]
Lakeela Bowden
It's literally the foundation of the core central theme throughout the book, which is prioritizing self care. Prioritizing self care is the superpower that lifts the invisible loads in our lives. And while I was both caring for my mother and carrying my son, I prioritize my mental health, my physical health. And it wasn't like I had a ton of time to do these things. And I just made that 15 minutes of getting outside to get some sun, intentionally keeping joyful energy around me. And also when I needed to, I cried. I would take the time that I would tell people today, I'm not okay. I didn't try to wear the cape that women wear, especially black women, where there is this expectation for us to be so strong despite any circumstance. That wasn't the case at all. I didn't try to be strong. I am strong. I was strong. But my strength was vulnerability. My strength was being able to say, I'm tired today and asking for help. I wasn't the only one there. You know, you've met my sister before, Camille Richardson. She was on your show. We tag teamed it, we brought in other family members, we hired caretakers where we could. For my own pregnancy, I had a midwife, a pregnancy doula, a postpartum doula, a lactation consultant. I had all of this help surrounding me that I intentionally curated a team because I needed to be mothered while I was becoming a mother, while I was taking care of my mother. So really prioritizing that self care and not. I think sometimes people look at that as. It can be couched as being selfish. When I look at self care and prioritizing yourself and being selfish as dynamically selfless, you have the energy, you have the capacity of when your bucket is full.
- [07:35]
Dr. Frances Arlene
That's so true. Someone's listening and they're saying at that moment they heard the intro and you're on point to hit seven figures. And we definitely don't want to glance over that, but I want to step back and someone saying, you have all the resources to put those tools in place, hiring additional help. And one of the posts I've seen many years ago is someone was saying, we all have 24 hours in a day and they showed a picture of Beyonce and then they showed someone else. And the difference was the resources that she had. Talk to that person that's listening, that's saying, I'm not at seven figures. How do I allocate those resources on a limited budget?
- [08:29]
Lakeela Bowden
I think that's a great question. And it's it's a relevant perspective to. Or something to hold in perspective. Right. And I do talk about this in the book as well. The fact is I didn't have the help and the team and I have a husband, all those things because I had seven figures and the financial resources. I had those things because I was prior to all of that, prior to my husband, prior to ever becoming pregnant, prior to my mother becoming sick, I've always prioritize self care, self celebration, the things that bring abundance into our lives. You don't have to have a huge bank account to prioritize yourself. You don't have to have a huge bank account to acknowledge your wins. And that resonates. That energy resonates. It brings more resources. The people, the opportunities and the resources. They come to you when you already operate in gratitude for yourself. Some. A lot of the things that I did didn't cost a dime. Going outside and grounding my feet, finding a free maternal wellness hiking group to get outside with every week on Sundays to be around positive, nurturing energy. Now I absolutely believe financial resources make a difference. But sometimes I think we don't realize that starts internally envisioning what it is that you want, operating in active gratitude right now for what you already have and not looking at it from a standpoint of limitation. But what is what I have right now? The time that I have, the money that I have, the relationships that I currently have right now, what are the doors and the opportunities and the abundance that that opens up for me with what I have right now? And then you build on that. So I didn't grow up with a lot financially. My parents didn't have a ton of means, but we had a ton of love, we had a ton of encouragement and that pouring into ourselves. So even if you don't have that piece, you go get it from somewhere else. We're not all born into supportive families, but being oriented towards knowing that, making that your North Star, that's what creates the additional abundance that brings in the financial resources that make a difference.
- [10:31]
Dr. Frances Arlene
Absolutely. And talk about the release of the book and tell them when and how they can purchase the book.
- [10:38]
Lakeela Bowden
Thank you so much for asking me that. The book actually released on October 1, so available on all platforms where books are sold. Look, I really encourage people, while you can absolutely go get it on Amazon, go to your local bookstore and if they don't have it in stock, ask them to bring. They can order it and bring it in. I did my first release, my first kickoff book tour event, which is called the show enough Experience in Greensboro, North Carolina last week I went, I'm a graduate of North Carolina A and T State University, Aggie Pride. And I did it during what's known as jiho, the Greatest Homecoming on Earth, at a local bookstore, Next Chapter Bookstore. And you know, I love patronizing places like that that really are connected to the community and authors. So that book is out now and I have a series of events, book tour events coming up in. I live in Atlanta, around Atlanta, other locations. I also do the book tour experience virtually because it's an experience. I wrote this book to be a central theme of celebratory self care. So the, the events reflect that if you come to a show enough experience, you're going to walk away and like you've just been to a party, you're going to celebrate, you're going to think about your wins big and small differently. And that's what I want that it's not just celebrating that this book is here and it's released, but it's celebrating the women and the people that the book was written for.
- [11:56]
Dr. Frances Arlene
Let's talk about your role as COO of IC Technology and we would be remiss if we didn't bring that into perspective. So talk about your role there and how things are going.
- [12:10]
Lakeela Bowden
Absolutely. So as I mentioned before, I spent over 15 years in corporate America and predominantly in operations roles. I retired in 2019 as a VP of Operations for a major healthcare company. So I took that operation experience and I brought it into IC Technologies, which is a company that I founded along with my sister Camille Richardson, and just really operationalize training and development and how people learn. I mentioned I wrote this book because it was what I wanted to experience. So I have cultivated our training style around what I would have wanted to experience when I was in corporate. I said I participated in a lot of training and development, not all of it being very engaging. My role operationally is making sure that we have team and facilitators who are able to embody and make education edutainment. So when people are engaged and they're entertained, they learn best. Right? Bringing that operational element into it, even from a funding standpoint, making sure that we have the capital to be able to do what we need to do to get, to acquire, continue to acquire clients. A lot of our clients are corporate. We work with a lot of corporations, government agencies to provide training and development in the areas that it's that make a difference. And I always say that when you leave an IC technology training, you're wildly motivated to perform at your best.
- [13:33]
Dr. Frances Arlene
That is amazing. And you were talking about prioritizing self care as your superpower. What is your superpower?
- [13:43]
Lakeela Bowden
I would say that's one of them is being able to prioritize self care. I'll take a mommy staycation in a minute. I was sharing with you before we started recording. I have a four year old and I love him so much. I give him so much energy and he requires so much of me. And I also have an amazing husband, Eric, and I love to give to them. I also prioritize and charge, recharge myself. I'll go check into a hotel for two days and just be quiet locally. Little staycation never hurt nobody. That is one of them. And then also self celebration. I think a lot of times, especially as women, we feel very uncomfortable when it comes to popping our collars, giving ourselves our props. We'll give everyone else their props. But when it comes to acknowledging our own wins, we shy away from that. And it's because society makes it feel like it's boastful or it's conceited or I think bragging is a superpower and it's one that I lean into in an authentic and genuine way. Because when we brag more, our wins increase in impact and frequency. And as women, we're oriented towards impact. That's one of my superpowers. And it's also a part of where the name of the book came from, the show Enough Principle. When I would come off stage, people, oh, you did such a great job speaking. And instead of caveating it and finding a flaw, I would say show enough. You're right. Because I know that this is what I'm good at and I know it's a part of my gift and I love sharing that gift with the world.
- [15:05]
Dr. Frances Arlene
And when you talk about your wins, let's take a snapshot of the last 30 days. What was your win and how did you celebrate?
- [15:14]
Lakeela Bowden
That is an amazing question. One of the wins was getting this book out. It was an I and it was, it was an idea. A year ago it didn't exist and now it's here and it's out there. So one of my wins was the kickoff event that I mentioned we did at home at A&T's homecoming. But it was. And that took, you know, took time and effort and energy to put into it to get it done and get it and make it a success. And it was. And then we immediately went out to celebrate. I had my friends, my family there and we just went and had a good time. We were knocking out milestones and goals and we did more in the pre order. I will say this, I love sharing this fact for many self published authors they sell less than 100 books in a year. Excuse me, in the lifetime, not a year in a lifetime of their book. The Show Enough principle eclipsed that in the pre order period. And we're just getting started. So have we reached every goal that I have planned for this book? Not yet, but I celebrated the very first pre order sale and I'm going to continue to celebrate everyone after that because this is a gift that I have given birth to and put out here and I honor it with that.
- [16:22]
Dr. Frances Arlene
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- [17:08]
Lakeela Bowden
More coming out of as people have begun to read. So I opened this book telling the story of learning that I was both pregnant and my mother was passing. I also I had my son when I turned 40. So so there's some interesting nuggets in there that I think people have been drawn to. And then within the book there's a lot of anecdotes and stories and clients that I've worked with. And so I think there's more there that could come out of that. I also have a book in mind around specifically around money. You mentioned the seven figure number. I think that the time the era of Grind Hustle is collapsing where that doesn't really serve us well anymore. And I have a book concept that I'm working on around how our rest is where our greatest ideas and ideation exist and how operating in flow versus force brings in that financial abundance as well. I won't say the title. I already have the title. I won't share it yet because it's really good. And you know, I can't have people taking my title until I trademark and copyright and all the things.
- [18:15]
Dr. Frances Arlene
That is so powerful that you said that about the importance of rest. And I'm hearing a great deal about especially black women learning how to rest. And I like when you also talked about the hustle and grind, that movement or that moment. I think that it's played its course where rest is so important. And personally, that is something that I'm learning how to do is really rest. Self care is so important. I want you to talk to that person that feels like they have to keep grinding or hustling or moving in order to be successful because their life is so chaotic. They're just. Life at this moment is really taxing for a lot of people. Talk to that person in the audience that's listening, that's feeling overwhelmed, burnout. Their mental health is challenged. What advice would you give them?
- [19:29]
Lakeela Bowden
I would give them the advice of this. I think sometimes we underestimate the power of our intuitive capabilities. Our intuition is a muscle in our body, and it always knows where to go, it knows what to do. We don't always listen to it. And just like any muscle, when we don't use it, it weakens. But the more that we listen to it, the more that it strengthens. So I would encourage that person to tap into their intuition. What is your body telling you about what you need right now? And redefine success around that. Is it a nap, a literal nap? Is it. Is it better company? Is it the people around you? Are they draining to you? Are they energizing? And I think that if we reorient what we describe as successful, it guides us to understand, well, what does that feel like? And we can envision in our mind and in our subconscious mind what does that feel like right now? And feel that feeling, we can visualize what does it look like. And our subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between whether it's actually happening or it's not. And that helps to reset our bodies. It helps to reset our bodies and also helps to reset how we feel about our own success. I don't think we give ourselves enough credit. And when you reframe your success metrics around what really matters to you and what makes you feel whole, what makes you feel fulfilled, I think it gives you a better barometer to orient yourself around. I think a lot of people are feeling very exhausted right now because we're measuring ourselves against an old paradigm of one that really never worked for us. That just doesn't serve us well. It keeps you exhausted, it keeps you in a loop of exhaustion. And we have to physically take ourselves out of it. We have to psychologically remove ourselves from it.
- [21:25]
Dr. Frances Arlene
And how do you define success today? And how has that definition changed over time?
- [21:32]
Lakeela Bowden
That's a great question. So my corporate career started out when I was 19 years old. I started internships with General Electric as a financial analyst when I was in college. And I think back then, you know, I had the same kind of success metrics that most people did. Get a good job, finish college, get a good job, make some money, and, you know, take care of yourself. For me, that quickly changed. So I long since detached my identity of who I am from what I do. So who I am, who Lakeela, is the being. My soul, my essence, is defined by much greater than the things that I do, because that can change. I've been a financial analyst. I've been a vp. I'm an entrepreneur now in terms of what I do. But who I am and how I show up is joy and light. I am Zaire Aseera's mother. I am Eric Anthony's wife. And I am Lakeela, a determined mind. My success metrics are the days we are in, the moments and the time that I spend exploring that, exploring those things, trying something new, trying something old. Some things that are soothing to my central nervous system and they're not defined by my bank account. They're not defined by the number of clients that I have. I am not a booked and busy person. I don't like being booked and busy. I will clear my calendar in a heartbeat. If it starts feeling too. There's too much going on, the number, the times I get to sit down and just have a genuine conversation that doesn't have, you know, not attached to a time clock. I enjoy connection and getting to experience that and feel that on different levels, whether it's with my son or whether it is with a client or my girlfriends, my husband. Those are the things that feel like success to me.
- [23:13]
Dr. Frances Arlene
Let's back up. When you did your day, quit, talk about that experience, and when you said that you retired, what gave you that aha moment that you knew that it was time?
- [23:26]
Lakeela Bowden
Well, I know that when I went into my last corporate role, I knew that was it. I'd already started preparing years in advance. I realized years in advance that I lived in a beautiful condo on the beach. At the time, I was living in Miami, having a great time, living a nice Miami life. I was driving a drop top. I was doing all these things. And I realized in order to do this, I have to continue to do what I'm doing whether I want to or not. I started diversifying my income and the things that weren't directly attached to my corporate career and really building that Financial freedom for myself prior to making any moves because I knew like I was destined for something different and something bigger. So started that preparation in my mind really even before I started making those changes. So when the time came for me to step away, it wasn't a big, wasn't a decision where I was fretting or anything like that because I'd already started the process mentally, I already saw myself somewhere else visually well before long before I actually took the steps to leave. And I think that prepares our bodies, it prepares our system to be able to make that move in a smoother transition. And that was the case for me. Now I will say a lot of unlearning had to happen because been trained in this very corporate environment with this every two week paycheck. So as you know, entrepreneurship doesn't necessarily work like that. I had to, I did have to unlearn a lot of things. I had to learn what I didn't know. One thing that I will say and I, and I encourage this for any woman that is considering a transition, any transition. Give yourself grace. Give yourself the grace to fly and to fall and to get back up again and to win and to learn. I don't believe in losses. I believe in lessons. So in those early stages I had a lot of lessons that I learned. But without that and then, and then you apply. I extended myself a ton of grace for the learning curve that I come into this with a ton of previous experience, but this is my first time in this space. So the transition period of retiring from corporate, I embrace the discomfort in it and I know that that is what helped me to thrive in this space and to ramp up the learning curve pretty quickly.
- [25:37]
Dr. Frances Arlene
When you talk about the lessons, what lesson did you learn in life or business that you feel was the most costly but the most beneficial?
- [25:49]
Lakeela Bowden
Ooh, that would be rejection around capital. I had to learn the hard and disheartening way that you have to prepare your business in such a way that it's capital ready. And I'm not going to discount at all the factors that are out there against small businesses, woman owned businesses, black businesses, for access to capital, because that's real too. But there's a lot we just don't know so that we're running in to brick walls. Some of them we can remove in preparation. But you don't. I didn't know that in the beginning. That was a lesson that I had to learn in terms of building business credit, preparing my business to be fundable and really in learning what not to do. There are a ton of lenders out there who are of the more nefarious variety who will lend you money for a hefty fee, and that can saddlebag your profit margins. So those are things that. Some of those were painful lessons. But I think when we can prepare ourselves and implore the wisdom of mentors and guidance and get your business fundable, bankable early on, way before you need the capital, that makes a huge difference and just in financial breathing room within your business. And that's made a difference for our business.
- [27:08]
Dr. Frances Arlene
Thank you for that. If your business disappeared tomorrow, what legacy or impact would you want to be remembered for?
- [27:17]
Lakeela Bowden
I would want to be remembered for building something with my sister that mattered, that made a difference, that had ripple effects in the people that we've met along this journey that can't be taken away. The business could go away. I mean, it's a legal entity. Right. Like that could change. But the impact that we've had, that we've had in the period of time that we've been doing this, we've both. We've had people come up to us in tears, thanking us for the work that we do, for being seen, for knowing our stories. It's one of the reasons that we get booked to speak. She's a speaker, I'm a speaker. We speak on separate topics. But I think we illuminate opportunity. We illuminate that it's possible. Possible. And if we hadn't built this business together, then that possibility may not be realizable for someone because this didn't happen. But it has happened, and we continue to build on that legacy today.
- [28:11]
Dr. Frances Arlene
And just want to give a shout out to your sister, Dr. Camellia Richardson, and she, Camille Richardson. Thank you for that. She was episode 496. So I want the audience to actually listen to that. And when you talk about building your. Speaking separately on different topics, talk about coming together as a family business, because I think that's very powerful. And what lessons did you learn for that?
- [28:42]
Lakeela Bowden
Absolutely. So an important fact that I want to share about my sister is that she is the CEO and founder of IC Technologies. Along with me, her career path looked very different than mine. She experienced a lot of early career rejection, whereas I came straight out of undergrad and continued to move up the ladder. She didn't have that experience. And largely because my sister was born blind, she's never been able to see. So that impacted what other people thought about her capabilities. So her speaking career largely focuses on shedding light on the capabilities of the disabled community versus Limitation. And what I learned most from her, watching her growing up. We're only 10 and a half months apart, so we've always known each other right from as early as we can remember, is that although my sister has never been able to see, she has always operated with vision. And that is something that I remember writing about her when I applied to grad school and her ability to have vision without sight. It is a lesson that I lean into every single day because you can't always see all the obstacles ahead. You can't always see around the bend in what life has for us, professionally or personally, but we can operate with vision that can serve as our guide.
- [29:57]
Dr. Frances Arlene
That's amazing. And I like what you said about the difference in career paths and even that whole rejection piece. And one of the things that I like to say is delay is not denied. That's incredible. What's a belief you had early in your journey that you know was completely wrong?
- [30:22]
Lakeela Bowden
I mentioned earlier that I don't believe in losses. I believe in lessons that came from taking some early on what people may describe as losses. Right. And I think I had to learn to look back and see, okay, that didn't feel good or that didn't turn out the way that I wanted it to, but what did I learn from it and how did it shape me and how. And connect the dots between the next thing that happened? So it helped me to reframe what may, on the surface, look and feel like a loss as a lesson. And I think I'm fortunate and grateful that I was able to have that mindset shift very early in my life, in my career, because it's played out in so many different ways. There are relationships that I am so glad, like with ex boyfriends and situations that I'm so glad didn't play out the way that I might have thought that they should in the beginning, because I ultimately most met the most incredible man, one of the most incredible humans in my husband later on in life. So it may have felt like, oh, that didn't work out and that relationship was a failure, but it wasn't. There were lessons that I learned from it that I was later able to apply to become a better version of me, which attracted this beautiful soul in my husband. And I've seen that I always toggle between, because there's no separation for me, between my personal and professional ethos of how I show up on this earth. That same thing has happened for me in my career in business, where there may have been something that didn't play out the way that I wanted it to and because I looked at the lesson and applied that something even better was waiting down the line. So I would say that was an important mindset shift to have early talking about incredible lessons.
- [32:03]
Dr. Frances Arlene
What lessons did you learn regarding self publishing the book?
- [32:08]
Lakeela Bowden
Thank you so much for asking that. Build a team. I am big on team. Anyone will tell you Lakila is the queen of outsourcing and building a team. I mentioned the team that I built around me during my pregnancy journey. I did the same thing with this book. Because this book was my first book, baby, and it's here and it's successful and it looks beautiful. Because of my interior, my exterior designer, it looks beautiful on the inside because of my exterior designer, I was able to eclipse pre ordering goals because I have a PR team that helped get it out there. It's build a team. I had a lot of at a publishing consultant that I worked with a lot of times. When you're self publishing, you think you have to do everything yourself. Well, there's writing the book and then there's selling the book and then the book is alive for a very long time and it's easy to burn out if you're doing everything yourself. So figuring out, I believe in operating in your zone of genius. My zone of genius was writing and telling a story. My zone of genius was not figuring out everything that had to do with publishing. That wasn't setting up my stripe account and all that in the background to sell the book. It wasn't setting up a website for the book to sit and live on. I built a very strong team that came up with ideas that I would have never thought about to make this book living and breathing and get it out there and have it be the success that it is. Even my launch events, I have an amazing, amazing event planning team. I'm a show up at the party and I'm a shine, but playing in the party and the decor, not my gift.
- [33:32]
Dr. Frances Arlene
So you know, I love that and I like to say, I like to delegate to elevate. Speaking of that, I want you to speak specifically because when you talk about building a team and around the book and life in general, give us some strategies. If someone's saying I don't even know where to start to build a team and I know that you hear that a great deal starting a business and I am so encouraged to hear like knowing the backstory with you and your sister starting that business. And I, I think that's what we did back in the day. We started businesses with our family and I think we've gotten away from that and we are stronger together. But it's actually some strategies around building a team. Just like it's when you're starting a business, it's like a marriage and you don't marry everyone. That's why you date that person, to get to know them. Talk about strategies that you've learned in terms of building a team, a successful team.
- [34:42]
Lakeela Bowden
Yes, absolutely. I am a huge proponent of building your support squad. It's actually a cheat code that I share in the show enough principle. Building your support squad, your network is your net worth. Right. And even when it comes to self care, it's self care, but it's not meant to be done by yourself. And that is the case with most things in life. So if you're not as gregarious and outgoing of a person as I am, I happen to be. That's just a part of my nature. My parents, I'm just like them. We've never met a stranger. But if that's not the case, and this is something that I train on, I tell people to sit down and think about the attributes that you need in your support squad, not the people because they may or may not be there. And you could be a person that's surrounded by a ton of people that has a lot of people around you and connected to you and in relationship with you and they don't possess the attributes that you need. You could be around a ton of people who are all negative. You could be around a ton of people who all have their handout who are always relying on you for the next answer or next thing or just are not supportive. So you need to think about the attributes that you need in your support squad. People who are some of the attributes that I require are people who are powerfully positive. I'm a solution oriented person. So if you're coming to me telling me all the ways that it won't work, you're probably not going to be too close to my inner circle because I'm trying to figure out how to make it work or another solution. I think we have to focus on the attributes that we need and then start to seek those out. It's quality over quantity. You don't have to have a person that can pick up the phone or send a text out to 100 people and they're going to support the thing that you do. But you do need those handful. Even if start with the one that's solid, the person that's encouraging you or connecting you to resources and build from there and focus on the quality of, quality of the connections.
- [36:34]
Dr. Frances Arlene
I want you to have a conversation, and as a storyteller, I want you to talk to this person, living or not. They've inspired you so much. What are you saying to that person? And name that person?
- [36:50]
Lakeela Bowden
This is a great question because this person is always at top of mind for me. And it's Madam C.J. walker. And if I had a chance to talk to Madam C.J. walker, I would say thank you for laying out the blueprint. Thank you for showing up with your time in this plane with your gifts and not being deterred and using those gifts not just for self, but she did a phenomenal job of putting the battery in the back of other women and empowering and creating an opportunity for a better livelihood for themselves and their families. And that was her mission. And she did that until the day she took her last breath. I've read her. It's a biography that was written by, I believe, her great great, great great granddaughter that includes actual letters that she wrote. So you're reading her Madam C.J. walker's actual words in the moments of when she was building her business, when her business began to thrive, when people started to attack her and attack her business, and her resolve and dedication towards her mission to empower women to be financially independent never wavered. Even when she got sick and her kidneys started to fail, she was more saddened by the fact that her work was being cut short and the lives that she would not have a chance to impact. And I just, I've always found her story, people often reduce her story to the hot cone. Right? And that wasn't even her invention, but it's so much bigger than that. And our hair matters to us. So she found a thing that was elastic price. Price elastic in terms of people are going to pay for this thing, like. And she could have just kept it to herself, but she created legions of women that were empowered with a new skill and a new way to improve their livelihood. So I would love to sit and have a conversation with her.
- [38:52]
Dr. Frances Arlene
Lakela, if you conducted this interview, what is the one question you would have asked yourself? I want you to ask the question and answer it.
- [39:02]
Lakeela Bowden
If you had to predict what the next year looks like, given some of the challenges in the current environment, what tools, what resources would you want to bring into the next year? Because I think people feel like this is a very pivotal 2025 has been a shift for many people, and many people don't feel like it was a great Shift. So that would be the question. And what I would say, especially to black women, is that there's nothing outside of you that has the power to take the things that are internal, your internal gifts to you and reduce them. So lean in and tap into your internal power and do not be distracted by all of the external barriers that are being attempted or made to feel like and actually not just feel, but that are actually being placed in our way. Stay locked into your internal power and stay locked into your tribe and your community.
- [39:59]
Dr. Frances Arlene
Thank you for that. We've come to the part of our interview, it's called rapid fire questions and I'm going to ask you a series of questions that I'd like you to give me very quick answers. If there's something you desire not to answer, feel free to say past. Are you ready?
- [40:15]
Lakeela Bowden
I'm ready.
- [40:16]
Dr. Frances Arlene
What's the first thing you do every morning?
- [40:19]
Lakeela Bowden
Wake up with gratitude. I have a gratitude list and I revisit it every morning. That's how I start my day. With gratitude.
- [40:25]
Dr. Frances Arlene
One book that changed your life.
- [40:28]
Lakeela Bowden
That's a great question. The power of positive thinking.
- [40:31]
Dr. Frances Arlene
What's your favorite failure? The one that taught you the most?
- [40:36]
Lakeela Bowden
It was seventh grade basketball, my first time playing on the team. I was not a great basketball player at the time, but it taught me to shoot my shot and I kept shooting and missing and then eventually hitting and getting better and learning that if you don't shoot, you'll never score. And that's how you get better.
- [40:53]
Dr. Frances Arlene
I love that. Coffee or tea while building an empire.
- [40:58]
Lakeela Bowden
Tea every day, all day. I'm not a coffee drinker.
- [41:01]
Dr. Frances Arlene
What's one app or tool you can't live without?
- [41:07]
Lakeela Bowden
There's no apertool that I can't live without. I'm like device. I can't live without outside, without fresh air, without the grass and nature and trees.
- [41:15]
Dr. Frances Arlene
I love that. If you had to pitch your business in one sentence, what would it be?
- [41:22]
Lakeela Bowden
My business creates teams and individuals who are wildly motivated to perform at their best.
- [41:28]
Dr. Frances Arlene
Absolutely. I want to thank you so much, Lakila, for joining us on black entrepreneur experience podcast. Before we let you go, I want you to share with our audience the best way for them to connect with you, to do business with you and tell them again the name of the book and that where they can purchase the book and any social media handles you want to leave. Feel free to do that.
- [41:54]
Lakeela Bowden
Absolutely. You can find me@lakeela bowden.com that's L A K I l a b b o w d e n You can find me on social media, Instagram Lakelaj and on LinkedIn @Lakeela Bowden. And you can find my book the Show Enough Principle wherever books are sold.
- [42:12]
Dr. Frances Arlene
Thank you Lakeela. That's a wrap. Thanks again to our incredible guests for sharing their insight on building a resilient business. And remember what we discussed. Resilience Millions start at home. If you're ready to protect the legacy you're building, not just the income, make sure to check out the DIY Legacy Planning Toolkit. You can find the direct link in the show notes. Go get your peace of mind now.
- [42:41]
Podcast Announcer
Thank you for listening and subscribing to Black Entrepreneur Experience. We would love for you to leave a review and rating on itunes and share with your friends. For show notes and more episodes go to www.beepodcast.com. join us next Wednesday. And remember, green is the new Black, so keep your bank accounts and your business in the black.