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Give Time, Time: Especially more so than ever, we are desperate for achievements and confidence highs to “ensure we’re on the right track”. However, all good things take time. When we don’t give adequate time to achieve our goals we tend to give up. Remember by giving time, time, we are able to create and build sustainable businesses.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Franceska McCaughan.

Franceska McCaughan is a multi-passionate entrepreneur and serial business builder who helps aspiring entrepreneurs design a business that gives them a lifestyle they love without fear of losing money through her course, Lifestyle You Love Business System. As a child who entered the foster care system at the age of 12, Franceska defied all odds securing a full-ride scholarship to a tier-one university, graduating top of her class Magna Cum Laude and by becoming the founder and owner of six businesses since graduating university within the last decade. Franceska loves to travel (47 countries and counting) and has lived in Europe and the Middle East while calling Houston, TX her home.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Absolutely! Prior to being a business coach, I built 4 businesses in the last 8 years from scratch across multiple segments and niches. Due to covid, those businesses were placed on pause so I have used this opportunity to launch my coaching business as well as launch a real estate business. As you can probably tell, I love business and the challenge of building a successful business at that. It has always been on my heart to help others build their own businesses so I decided to launch the coaching business to help them do that!

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

Until recently, I didn’t know much about the coaching industry. As I explored the rabbit hole, I realized that there weren’t a lot of coaches coaching on real-life business experience. I also noticed that many business coaches were almost reading the same script. It’s like they all went to coaching Bootcamp and downloaded a template on how to run a coaching business. Their success stories are built by selling the “how” and not focusing on the “why” behind it. We all need to figure out the “why” before we can probably use the “how” to move us into the direction we want to go. The “why” is what makes us authentic and by putting that before the “how”, I am disrupting the traditional business coaching industry as we know it.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Thinking back, my coaching career actually began last year when I launched my first online course for floral designers called Petals to Profit. I spent weeks developing this program, pouring out all my hush hush secrets and the launch totally flopped. I was devastated and so embarrassed. However, I learned from this experience that it’s impossible to know everything, including how to sell your tell-all secrets in a course. This year when I decided to revisit the online coaching world, I hired a coach to learn how to avoid launching to crickets, to ensure my success.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

Haley Burkhead has figured out the blueprint for when it comes to launching an online course or membership evergreen, scaling to a million dollars.. She has been a great mentor in the online course world. I also have to shout out Vaness Lau who teaches entrepreneurs how to build wildly influential coaching businesses using social media without using sleazy sales tactics. Without this duo, I would have been lost and my learning curve would have been costly.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

Disruption can be positive to an industry when it causes positive change and/or growth through alternative insight/action. Success is acquired through evolution and evolution can only happen if disruption of status quo has taken place. When disruption is considered not so positive, it is typically when a minority benefits from the disruption and gains at the expense of the majority who are negatively impacted by the disruption.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

  1. Give Time, Time: Especially more so than ever, we are desperate for achievements and confidence highs to “ensure we’re on the right track”. However, all good things take time. When we don’t give adequate time to achieve our goals we tend to give up. Remember by giving time, time, we are able to create and build sustainable businesses.
  2. Your greatest differentiator is you: When it comes to a unique selling point, it starts with you. No one has your voice, your experience, your message etc. and because of that, this is what sets you apart. Humans like conformity because it’s comfortable however when we conform we lose our greatest asset that sets us apart. Remember you are the differentiator when it comes to business.
  3. I am worthy because I am: Many of us are driven and goal-oriented. While there is nothing wrong with that, those of us who have experienced trauma tend to make these attributes goal markers on not only our success but also how we value themselves. Remembering that worthiness doesn’t come from “doing” and simply comes from “being” which is a game-changer many of us could benefit from.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

I’ve recently opened more space and focused on helping busy women design a business that gives them a lifestyle they love without failing. A big component of my online coaching experience is cycle syncing with their business goals. There is a lot of power when it comes to tapping into the divine feminine especially in masculine driven society. Part of that is understanding when women are their most powerful, strategic, creative and insightful selves which if understood correctly, has a huge positive impact on everyone involved.

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

One book I tend to go back to over and over is 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think by Brianna Wiest. There is something life-changing in almost every essay, many of them put into words how you’ve always felt. It resonants so much with me because it isn’t a “self-help” book because you are broken. It offers transformational perspectives to become even more whole.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

It sounds cliche but the well-known quote “shoot for the moon, if you miss, you’ll land among the stars”. I read it for the first time in seventh grade biology class and it’s still relevant 20 years later. The thing I love about this quote is that it gives a feeling of comfort and relief. That even if you aim high, you’re still going to make it and maybe achieve something even better than previously planned.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

To create a safe space to heal from trauma in order to reach one’s highest potential. I believe that we all have been given a passion and experiences for a reason. However many sell themselves short by either overcompensating or never trying due to how they handled their previous trauma. You can’t mindset your way out of trauma and sometimes it simply makes it worse. Therefore if there was a safe space to be open to healing trauma, understanding how it impacts your “why”, the “how” would therefore be more clear and the “what” would actually be accomplished.

How can our readers follow you online?

They can visit my website www.franceskamccaughan.com or sign up for my Lifestyle You Love Business System at www.franceskamccaughan.co. I’m always hanging out on Instagram at https://instagram.com/franceska.mccaughan and offer a FREE Masterclass at www.franceskamccaughan.co/invite.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!


Female Disruptors: Franceska McCaughan On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.