When running a business, we often reach out to trusted colleagues, mentors and even friends for advice. However, there is something to be said about looking inward rather than outward. Often our gut feelings, or intuition, can give us more answers if we really take the time to listen and trust.
In this episode of The Entrepreneur to Author Podcast, your host Scott MacMillan speaks with Laetitia Andrac, the Founder and CEO of Essential Shift Consulting, intuitive and business strategy mentor, host of the Essential Shift Podcast and author of Light It: How to Trust Your Intuition and Build a Thriving Business.
EPISODE LINKS
Book: www.lightitbook.com
Podcast:https://www.essentialshift.co/essential-shift-podcast
FREEBIES: https://sales.essentialshift.co/freebies
GUEST BIO
With over fifteen years of strategy consulting, start-up mentoring and corporate leadership experience, Laetitia Andrac has led many successful growth and innovative programs in many high-profile global organisations, including Telstra, Deloitte, Doblin, Capgemini, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the French Government. She understands first-hand the daily juggle of successful entrepreneurs, which can leave them feeling triggered, time-poor, spread thin and burned out.
Laetitia knows these problems too well, as she experienced burnout in 2014. At the time, wrapping her head around being burned out was impossible. People like her didn’t burnout. This experience taught Laetitia the importance of reconnection with her intuition to avoid burnout. She shares that in her book, LIGHT IT : How to Trust your Intuition and Build a Thriving Business, explaining her LIGHT framework. It has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs shift from burned-out to blissed-out, reconnecting them to their intuition and inner knowing.
Laetitia’s business and leadership experience is backed by extensive qualifications. She holds a Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Strategy from a top-nine business school. She holds an International Coaching Accreditation and is an expert in Reiki, Ayurveda, Meditation and Shamanism.
Laetitia’s clients value her unique way of combining intuition and strategy to find harmony and authenticity in how they grow their businesses and impact their communities. Her consulting business, Essential Shift™, is thriving and growing as she offers a unique approach to business and leadership.
She is a mother of two girls and has lived by the ocean in Australia since October 2014.
CONNECT WITH LAETITIA
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/laetitiaandrac/
Instagram instagram.com/essential.shift/
Facebook facebook.com/essentialshift.co
Website: essentialshift.co
CONNECT WITH SCOTT
Scott on LinkedIn (@scottmacmillan): linkedin.com/in/scottmacmillan/
Scott on Instagram (@scottamacmillan): instagram.com/scottamacmillan/
Scott on Twitter (@scottamacmillan): twitter.com/scottamacmillan/
Scott on Medium (@scottamacmillan): scottamacmillan.medium.com
Episode Transcript
Please note: The transcript is produced by a third-party company from an audio recording and may include transcription errors.
Scott MacMillan:
You're listening to the Entrepreneur to Author podcast.
Announcer:
Welcome to the Entrepreneur to Author podcast, the podcast that brings you practical strategies for building authority and growing your business. And now, here's your host, Scott MacMillan.
Scott MacMillan:
My guest today is Laetitia Andrac, the founder and CEO of Essential Shift Consulting, intuitive and business strategy mentor, host of the Essential Shift podcast, and author of Light It, how to trust your intuition and build a thriving business. Laetitia, I'm really looking forward to this conversation. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.
Laetitia Andrac:
Thank you for having me, Scott.
Scott:
To start, I'd love if you could share a little bit about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey for our audience.
Laetitia Andrac:
Sure. So my name is Laetitia Andrac and well done Scott for the pronunciation, it was great. So I started my own business Essential Shift about two years ago. And when I started, everyone was like, oh my gosh, it's growing so quickly, it's going so well. But what I wanna say to everyone who's listening to this is I have been an entrepreneur early on in my career. I have been actually studying entrepreneurship and strategy in one of the best business school in France and I really started my journey of creating businesses about 15 years ago. So it is not an overnight success. So, I think I've always been an entrepreneur. I've always been, when I was working in strategy consulting of a big corporation as a general manager and intrapreneur, you know, someone innovating and creating businesses from within and mentoring all the start-ups and all the businesses. So yes, my entrepreneurial journey started only two years ago with going full time with Essential Shift, but before that I've been side hustling a lot and I have been mentoring other start-ups, but also being an intrapreneur inside the corporate realm.
Scott:
That's a good distinction and it's interesting being in a large company like that. You do have to take an entrepreneurial approach to it, don't you? To get lot of things done and innovate, etc.
Laetitia Andrac:
Yes!
Laetitia Andrac:
Exactly. And especially my last project, when I was in one of the biggest telecommunication company here in Australia and the general manager for innovation and new businesses, I was really going through the same motion as an entrepreneur outside because I had to look for funding. So I had to pitch my idea and get funding internally. I had to look for, you know, people to join the team and, you know, I was measured on my P&L and what were the results of this business, will they invest even more? So I moved through the cycle from ideation to growing an MVP, to scaling it to, of course, what's easier when you do it in corporate is you always have this brand behind you and the workforce behind you. And if you wanna access a marketing budget, you can, but you always need to pitch it. So, this business grew from zero to multimillion dollar pretty quickly, but it was very, very hard to get the funding and get the volume and get the brand to be ready to go after this idea, which was about using proprietary data of Telstra in terms of risk exposure and brand and so on. But we did everything beautifully and COVID has been a great way for us to uptake this innovation within the company. So, it's like, I have been at this for quite some time and I actually love being an intrapreneur when I was in corporate and now I love it even more being an entrepreneur and deciding on where do I allocate my budgets.
Scott:
Beautiful, beautiful. You've written your book, Light It. Could you share a little bit about the book? Who did you write it for, and what's your goal for your reader?
Laetitia Andrac:
Yes. So Light It came to me when I was really in a moment of deep meditation. So, I had a friend who died of cancer very quickly. It was a six-week journey and we used to work together in strategy consulting. And as I mentioned in the book, it was a moment of deep realization that, you know, I need to share my message and I need to teach other people to really look after themselves so that... they can really grow the business in a way that is truly aligned because I had noticed that a lot of clients were coming and working with me after a few months, a few years, a few decades running their business, running it on empty, being completely, you know, exhausted, lost, you know, losing their spark and their mojo in business. Those are their words, because they were measuring their success from an outward perspective. So this book came to me to help those business owner. They are mostly women business owner, even though I see some men coming to me, but I mostly target women business owner who are ready to embrace themselves first, becoming the sacred CEO of their business so that they can run it in a way that is truly aligned with their intuition, with their own vision, and stop looking at someone else's external validation of what is success for their business? What is the things that they need to go after for their business? So this book. came to me from that space, that space of deep connection, grief, and meditation. And then the confirmation came quickly as, you know, the more I was talking about the book and validating the concept during in-person retreats and workshop, I noticed how many women were externally successful, you know, having 10 million of followers as an audience, being on TV, making millions of dollars in their business were actually completely lost because they had lost the connection with their own intuition and what they were really called to do. So I'm huge on weaving the data and the strategy with your intuition. And this book is solving that issue, which is you need to weave those two together.
Scott:
Hmm. I love how you spoke about how the book kind of came to you. And I'd be really interested to hear how you found the writing process of, of taking your ideas, your intellectual property and, and getting it onto the page. How did you find the writing process? Was it, was it very easy? What did it, was it a struggle? Was it a little bit of both?
Laetitia Andrac:
That's a very good question. So first of all, I had the moment, which is exactly the light framework, which I described in the book. I had this moment of the book coming to me and I was like, okay, I'm gonna lean in. I'm gonna write this book. It is gonna happen. So straight away, I looked for a book mentor because I'm huge on gathering myself with the right people around me so that I can make things happen. So I had this vision of this book and it would be in English, which was my first, you know. Barrier, my first limiting belief, who are you to write in English? But the book came to me in English and it had to be written in English first. So I was like, okay, I need a book mentor to help me with the structure of the book. How does that look like? How even to start writing a book? So straight away, I entrusted my book mentor with helping me and going on that walk with me. And this has been really, really helpful. And then the writing process, the first draft was really easy to write. What was really hard was when I got my book mentor edit on my first draft and was like, Oh my gosh, I need to rework all of this. And I'm really good at, um, kind of taking something from zero to a certain level, but it's really hard for me to finish something. Usually I delegate the, you know, I used to be a general manager. I've always been a leader. And I love to delegate to someone else, the finishing, you know, thing, you know, like I am really not into the operation and so on. And so taking those suggestions of edit and editing it has been really hard. I think I took about two months of writing. I had a big moment where I was like, so if anyone is listening to this and having this moment, I know like after sharing this with the community, I'm part of, as I'm right, as I've been writing this book. Other people feel that. So I think it's okay to know that sometimes you just need to take a step back and honor, which is part of the light framework and be like, okay, right now I just need to gather my thought. I just need to take a step back. I just need to digest the feedback. And then I went back to writing again and then it all flows through. And when I went through the editing process with you guys, I received amazing feedback about the quality of the manuscript I had submitted. So I know this time was not wasted. It was a time for me to really go back to writing in a way that was really intentional and energized and nourished and all of that. But it's been a roller coaster. I think the hardest part of the writing process was this moment of getting the feedback on my manuscript. And then the other part has been to let go of the manuscript. when I hand it over to you guys for you to do the editing and be like, oh my gosh, now I cannot touch anything. I am telling you, this has been really hard too. So those are the two key moments that were the hardest in the process.
Scott:
Oh, I'm, I'm really happy that you talked about how you found the initial writing very easy…
Laetitia Andrac:
Yes.
Scott:
but the finishing is difficult because you know, every, everybody comes at the experience from a different point of view. And some people find like you find the, the early stage very easy, kind of just getting the ideas down and getting that first draft out. Other people find that incredibly hard and you know, they, they find it easier to kind of get, do the last part, right. Bring it across the finish line. So that's really interesting. I'm glad that you brought that up. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the publishing process too. And you did talk about it a little bit, some of the things that you found maybe more difficult, right around getting feedback, letting go of the manuscript. Talk to me about, we're a little bit away from the finish line at this moment, but so far, how have you found the publishing process? What else has been maybe difficult or challenging? And what have you found easier and more exciting?
Laetitia Andrac:
So, I think as you know, the same thing as a writing process, again, not just promoting my book, but guys read my book. It's like, it depends on who you are, what's your intuition, what is your type, what is your energy and so on. And I'm great at, you know, starting and putting ideas on the page. You know, I'm a visionary. I'm not someone who is great with taking action. So, this is why I love to delegate the Finnish. Dotline on the thing, you know on a presentation on a PowerPoint on an organization of a retreat and on the book editing And this is where it's been amazing working with you guys Because I knew I hadn't had the title of the book for instance and you helped me Through the process you personally Olivia as well after reading my manuscript and editing it in terms of finding the right title for the book And I think this is really an illustration of how I birthed thing. I really struggled to name things and all name my babies, you know, my daughters, we had to meet them to name them with my husband. Like, okay, so is it a Zoe or an Isis? And we had to see her to be like, yeah, it's a Zoe and same with Lou.
Scott:
That's so funny.
Laetitia Andrac:
So, I think for the book, it was the same thing. I, I really struggled finding a title and you helped me through the amazing research that you've done as a suggestion and so on. So. It's been really a partnership. As soon as I started working with you guys, I found like you were as, you know, invested in the success of Light It as I was, which for me was critical in terms of choosing a publishing house for this book. You know, it's like, I want this to be a joint partnership. So the picking the title has been for me a big highlight of this journey. You really helped me. put it on the page and light it came to us after a few iterations. We were, you know, you know, it's we were, you know, light your way, which was the first title that was coming to me. And then we had lighted coming up and we brainstorm on the subtitle together and so on. So, choosing the title has been really a beautiful collaboration. Then in terms of the editing process, it has been so flowy with, with the team, with your team, you know, kind of tracking the edit and discussing about the edit and discussing about the tone of voice and all that. So, I feel it's been really, really easy. And it's what I keep saying to everyone who is asking me, how was it to work with Grammar Factory? I'm like, this is amazing. It's like the easiest process ever. Because you, I think we speak the same language. You guys are really strategy led, but at the same time taking the operation in house. So, and really. responsive. Every time I ask, you know, what is the next step around this? I receive an email either from you, Ania or Olivia straight away. So, it's been really flowy. The only thing that has been harder for me was the design of the cover. I think I've been maybe one of your hardest client on that because it was really hard for me to land on one. Again, this is, you know, the side of OK, it is a finished product. This is a finished cover. And this has been a really hard process for me. And I have been so grateful from Ania and Julia to really go through the process with me, testing different cover, going through, you know, let's put this here and let's put this here. So, we've done, I think, five round of cover for all of us to land on some things that we were happy with. And again, this has been beautiful to see how the team is receptive to feedback and keen. to get the best for both of us in terms of the result of the cover. So, I am so grateful, honestly, it's been a beautiful process. Now I can't wait for this to come out and then we could do another podcast on how it's been a potential success launching it in different, you know, platform and spaces and things like that. But so far I've been really, really happy with the process.
Scott:
Wonderful, Laetitia. That's so great to hear. And what you say around the cover design, it's surprisingly common, right?
Laetitia Andrac:
Okay.
Scott:
It's the visual aspect of developing a cover is so important, and people have all of their own points of view on how it should go. And, you know, it's that just like the editorial, it's that iterative approach that ultimately gets to the right place. So, you shouldn't feel like, you know, gone off track or anything like that. It's gone exactly how it needed to go to get to the right place. I'd love to talk too about your business goals for the book. You come from a strategy background. What are your business goals for the book and how do you plan to use it within your business to support what you're doing there?
Laetitia Andrac:
Yes. So, for me, it was really clear that the book would be a way to build brand awareness. So, really getting my work in the hand of those who may not know me yet, or they may know me through my podcast, through my Instagram, but they're not yet ready to buy from me. So building that trust, that connection and showcasing the power of my work. So it's really around this. My other goal was really to have, you know, kind of a book that contained my IP so that I could go more and more on stage. So I've been a speaker for a few years, I've been on stage, I've been facilitating retreats and conference and things like that, but I really wanna develop this revenue stream for my business and for myself. So the book is a beautiful way also to do that. So there is a brand awareness and there is a speaker presence development. So those were like my two main goals. It is definitely serving both of those, but then along the process of developing the book, I had the connection with one of my core offer in my business, which is called my circle, which is my membership. And as I was writing the book and testing the light framework in person through workshop, uh, through retreat within the circle, I was like, Oh my gosh, this is actually the framework that's going to go inside my membership. And so from the book. I developed the Infinity Lighted Framework, which now is a five step, you know, like we have the five step of the Light Framework, but then we have a five level pathway of the Infinity Lighted Framework, which goes inside my membership.
Scott:
Oh, wonderful.
Laetitia Andrac:
So we've redesigned the integrity of the membership. We are relaunching it right now. And for anyone who's reading the book, if they wanna go deeper, they can join this membership and have a 12 month support in applying each of the step of the lighted framework. But on top of that, going through five stages of deepening their intuition, deepening their connection with the cycle, deepening their connection with what is strategy in business, all of that. So I'm like so happy because this was not a goal initially. I didn't had, you know, kind of the goal of making it fit in my existing product suite, but it is actually now fitting in one of my key digital offering. which has been the call of my business. It's been the first offer that I launched in my business, even before going all in in my business. And the circle was solving the issue of having no space for women in business to really be authentically themselves, you know, be really surrounding by other women as we go through the ebbs and flow of life, as we go through the ebbs and flow of being a woman, a leader in business. So I'm so grateful because now it's actually fitting in. the business in a beautiful way, which was not a goal initially.
Scott:
Oh, that's wonderful. I'm so happy to hear that. That's really, really exciting.
Laetitia Andrac:
Yeah.
Scott:
And let's jump off on that topic of intuition. Cause I do want to come back to that. And if I may ask you what your best advice that you could share with our audience would be around how they can tap into their intuition and how that can improve things in their own business.
Laetitia Andrac:
Yes. So, the first thing that I'd like to say is whether you define yourself as intuitive or not, know that we are all having this connection with intuition. It's just we've been told for so long that we need to trust our brain more, we need to trust the data more, we need to trust all of that, we need to make informed decision based on data. And yes, I used to be a strategy consultant, I used to be... the lead for data commercialization in one of the biggest firms in Australia. So, I am telling you data are essential. I love spreadsheets. I love data, but data won't tell you everything. This is a moment where you need to tap in and you all have this ability to tap inside of you, what is the meaning of those data? As we all know, we can manipulate data. We can make data mean everything or anything, depending on what we feel inside. So, this is where I wanna encourage any of you listening to this to look at the data and be curious. How does it make you feel? What action would you like to take on based on those data? And what is the meaning of those information for yourself and for your business? And this is what I say, for you to stop outsourcing the decision-making to someone else who look at those data and tell you this is bad or this is good. What does it mean for you? What is your goal with your business? What is your definition of success? And lean in towards this vision, towards this mission, towards those values, towards this definition of success, so that you can take aligned action from within out, rather than from outside in, is really where I would love for each of you to make decisions. So, this is a power of intuition. It's making decision from within and manifesting it from outside and looking at data to inform that and how to tap into your intuition. We have some exercises described in the book, but one of the best way for you to start tapping into your intuition is to take it as an exercise that you will do at the gym. You know, you're like, it's something you do every day. So, it would be every day taking a few minutes in your day and just taking a few deep breaths and encouraging space to be welcomed in your day, even though you're super busy, you have so many things on the go. and taking a few deep breaths and being like, okay, what am I feeling called to do now? What is the things that I really feel that is going to serve me today? How can I serve best my mission, my vision for my business? Like tapping back inside to find the answer rather than looking outside at what everyone else is doing, what everyone else is telling you, what all of those, as I call them, business guru, you know. shouting at you as you need to create this to have a successful business. You need to work only four hours a day to have a successful business. You need to have this. You need to look at profit first. Like what does it mean for you? What is important for you? Why did you create this business in the first place? So, making space for you to take those few deep breaths and listening to the little voice within, as my daughters call it, or to this little nudge within, this gut feeling. What is it? that you really feel called to do now.
Scott:
So, so helpful. That's really, really excellent. Any advice for aspiring authors who haven't yet written their book?
Laetitia Andrac:
Just do it. Just light it, as I love to say now, just light it. I would say if you are wondering about writing a book and it's not a should, should I write a book is, I think I wanna write a book, I feel I wanna write a book, then start by surrounding yourself. You know, it's leaning in, so start leaning in, start being like, okay, I'm listening to this whisper. I'm going to write a book. Then illuminate the path forward. Again, it's the light framework, which is at the heart of the book. What is my first next step? What am I feeling called to do now as my first next step to write a book? For me, it was find a mentor. So then we move to the G of the light framework, which is gather. So I gathered mentors around me, a community. I gathered within, what is my IP? What is my framework? And then I honored, I give time for all of that to settle. And now I am a published author. I transformed with a T of the light framework. So this is what I would encourage you to do. It's like going through the light framework and the light framework is iterative. So, it is like you start by leaning into the whisper. You start, you know, the first step gathering, start your first shitty draft, as we call it. So, the first manuscript, get it out there and then iterate, go again through the process and again. And again, so be prepared for this to be an iterative process for this to be never finished. And I'm sure as soon as my book will be published, we'll be like, oh my gosh, we need to publish a version two with some edit. We need to like adjust this because actually now I am at this level in my business and I have this beautiful success story to add on. And I'm open to that. I'm open to have a version two, version three, you know, like we see so many book, Atomic Habits is having, you know, multiple version and edition of his book. And You know, I'm not comparing myself to atomic habit yet because he's amazing, but you know, just thinking about what might it mean for you to be open to the iterative process as a writer, as an author.
Scott:
Wonderful. How can people get in touch with you to learn more about what you do and learn more about the light frame?
Laetitia Andrac:
So as you're listening to this podcast now, you can stay on the same platform and search for the Essential Shift podcast and you can go and listen to my podcast if you like my French accent and you're like, oh, I'd like to listen more to this chick. Otherwise, I am on Instagram at essential.shift. I love to connect with you there. You can send me a DM. And if you wanna order the book, you can go on lightitbook.com and order your copy from there. And let me know how you go.
Scott:
Wonderful. We'll be sure to put all of those links in the show notes for easy access. Leticia, your insights never disappoint and I know that our audience is taking a great deal of value from this conversation about the role of intuition in business success and about your entrepreneur to author journey. Thank you again for being with us.
Laetitia Andrac:
Thank you.
Scott:
As we wrap up this episode of Entrepreneur to Author, remember this. Now is the time. Time to write, time to publish, and time to grow. I'm Scott McMillan. Until next time.
