Welcome to this edition of the Productive Business Magazine Blog – The power of collaboration. It’s an honor and a pleasure to bring to you the best and the brightest from all around the world as we talk productivity in business. Today, I have the pleasure of introducing you to a good friend of mine, Tasha, TC cooper.
TC Cooper is a two-time Amazon #1 best-selling author, publisher, lawyerpreneur and president of UpwardAction®. She is also the founder of the CooperZone™ Academies Virtual Learning System, which includes the Linked Impact Academy, Tweeple Impact Academy, Live Streaming Impact Academy and Social Media Magic Coaching Group. As the CEO of UpwardAction®, TC helps lawyers, consultants, and other professional service providers leverage the power of the Internet to create momentum for building profitable brands and sustainable businesses. TC earned her law degree at Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fisk Stone Scholar, and her BA with honors from Hampton University. She is also a CoachU Graduate.
PBM: Welcome Tasha, TC Cooper, how are you doing today?
TC Cooper: I am awesome, Dr. Vernet it’s so wonderful to be on this podcast with you and in your presence getting ready to talk about how businesses can be more productive in faith, focus and flow.
PBM: Yes, today we’ll be talking about “The Power of FaithFocusFlow in Business.” So get your pen and pads, ready folks, because it’s about to go down now. Tell the audience a little bit about who you are and how you impact the world.
TC Cooper: Wow well, first, I like the audience to know that at the core, I am a simple servant. I am here to share what I have been given, what I’ve been taught, and what I have experienced in my life as a business owner and entrepreneur. My life as a business and an intellectual property lawyer for many years now, more than I want to say out loud, but, many, many, many years. What I’ve done and what I do is really work with and help business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals leverage the power of who they are. I really integrate their faith into how they then go out and serve the world. We help people, especially at FaithFocusFlow, is we help people do business in a way that glorifies Christ, that serves people through adding value and leverages the power of technology to build sustainable revenue. Creating wealth, so that’s what we do.
PBM: I know that TC is not going to tell you exactly how long she’s been practicing law, but I want you to tell them TC how did you get into focusing in on social media from the lawyer’s perspective and how that has kind of morphed into multiple avenues for you.
TC Cooper: Oh yeah, that’s a great question. So I’m a practicing lawyer, and I have a lot of friends who have their own law practices. Although I did not run my own individual practice, in my life as in-house counsel, I learned a lot about marketing and business development. So my interest in marketing and business development along with my general love and interest in small business; in particular helping lawyers, because I’m a lawyer, I learned about and used social media. I then started teaching lawyers how to use social media in basic business building principals to build their practice. We learned a lot of things in law school, but at least in the late 90’s when I went to law school, how to build a practice was not one of them.
I went to the best of the best Columbia Law School. Great legal training, great background, but what was missing from law school curriculum at that point and now things have shifted a little bit, but what was missing was basic business building. Things like: client attraction, knowing how to use tools to run and develop an office and to care for clients. So based on what I learned, what I knew from my life in-house and my natural interest in curiosity; I started doing that. I realized that I could turn that into a business. I decided that I needed to be more equipped with coaching, not just telling people what to do, which is what we do as lawyers. I got certified as a coach and really started helping lawyers in that way. That business grew, as you know, I’m involved in a lot of community activities and there were business owners who needed help who weren’t just lawyers.
That’s how Upward Action, which is the parent company that I still run, started doing social media training, social media consulting and we started doing a variety of things that grew into a full training academy. Today, we call it Cooper Zone Academies and we have a lot of different and specific lesson plans. We have products and programs you can buy into and invest in to learn how to use Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin. Learning how to use them to reach a specific goal and not just spending time on them right? Because who has time to waste? So, that is how the social media part grew? Well, I am a woman of faith. I grew up in the church. The Lord has been with me my entire life and I have been aware of that. Eventually, what happened is in my coaching and business development, I started spending more and more time not just talking about the technical aspects of how to use social media, marketing, and branding to build out a business. I use what I innately knew and what I had been studying through my own personal Bible study and in my own faith. In doing the work to develop that faith I was using, I was coaching around how people can integrate more of their faith into their businesses to find more peace and joy in those businesses. That evolved into using the Bible as a reference point for decision-making. So I’ve been blessed throughout my career to work with a lot of different types of businesses and to see decision-makers at the highest level. People running nine-figure businesses to small business owners, really build businesses, make decisions on a basis of character and the character of who they are. You can trace a lot of that directly back to scripture. It organically grew, that was a very long answer, but I hope that it gave you a flavor of our evolution.
PBM: This exactly what we desire to do here on Productive Business Radio and Magazine. We want to bring practical and applicable teachings to people so that they can use it. I loved the way that you brought all of that together and you gave both the reader and listener a glimpse of the journey. Many people think that you already have everything planned out and mapped out before you walk it out, but truth is, sometimes all you have is just a glimpse of where you’re headed. So planning and preparation are great, but action and execution are the things that helped you move and run along into your purpose as you continue on in your journey. Let’s talk really quickly before we jump into FaithFocusFlow, about the Leaders Institution.
TC Cooper: Oh, absolutely! So our FaithFocusFlow Leaders Institute, launched early this year in 2018. It’s a program and structure that focuses on really dialing into using the Bible as a basis for decision-making in all areas of business. So people who are a part of our leaders institute get monthly training, emails and a printed newsletter that’s about identifying those key things that we deal with as leaders in business. It provides a formula for walking through and making decisions. I like to tell our clients and also my colleagues, that I truly am a lawyer in how I approach a lot of things. That includes the work that we do at FaithFocusFlow. Whatever analysis, advice or wisdom that you get from our institute, you can always tie it back to a reference point.
Now when I’m doing legal work, that reference point is a statue, rules or regulations, it’s the actual contract where you get the basis for what it is that you’re doing. In our lives as Christians, as people who follow Jesus, that reference point is the Bible. So when people come through our academy, we delve into real-world issues, real-world solutions, in a way that you can get to a solution with a text that people can pick up and they can use. I like to say, read it for yourself!. So that’s what we do at the institute. I’ll just say quickly, I love it because there are, venues or we have programs that are suitable for individuals, small business owners who want to come in. We also have created corporate friendly programs through our Character In Business Series that are perfect for corporations or associations that like this character based business type of leadership. As a lawyer, I know how to create a version that’s really basic, but it’s corporate friendly. So that’s what we do at the leaders institute.
PBM: Absolutely, sometimes as you go through business you have to learn how to shift. You have to learn how to renew, how to revise and revitalize some things that you’re doing. In the FaithFocusFlow Leaders Institute, everything is all biblical base. You can tie everything back to scripture, but there is also a corporate side with the same teachings without literally putting the actual scripture to it. It’s called Character In Business so that the principles remain the same and they still get the life lessons needed on the other side. Many people don’t know how to bridge that gap, so I wanted to point that out specifically. Those of you who are listening and have always wondered, how do I bridge the gap? Well, there it is! You heard it right here on Productive Business Radio & Magazine. TC, just gave you a few golden nuggets, so make sure you stay focused. We’re talking FaithFocusFlow in Business! Help the people to understand what’s the introductory portion of Faith, Focus, Flow. If we were going to look at it by pillars, let’s start with Faith! Help us to understand how that is integrated.
TC Cooper: I love it! That’s exactly where we get started with FAITH, right? So in the program, the faith pillar is really based on vision, plans and then smart goals. What we do through the Leaders Institute and our stand-alone products like, our planner, we have a daily planner that is called a S.M.A.R.T. Goal Planner that really helps people get clear about writing out their vision. It helps with the vision for the year, the vision for the quarter, the vision for the month so that they know what they’re doing, and then every day tracking the activity in core areas of your life and your business. So in that faith portion, we’re focused on vision, we’re focused on planning and we’re focused on executing smart goals. We do it through the products and so I mentioned the S.M.A.R.T Goal Planner. We have a Business Planning Journal that’s for business owners, so you have all these ideas. Sometimes we have a lot of ideas. We just take notes, helps you organize those ideas, and then we have training programs around how you create smart goals and then actually implement those. You can use our planet to actually do it. You get the training to get your mind right so that you’re ready. So that’s the faith portion of what we do.
PBM: She said get your mind right! You can’t actually do business without having the right frame of mind or mentality. So you got to figure it out. I love how you break it down, with the vision because when you come into an organization the vision must be plain, it must be repeatable, and it must be executable; if not, it will not last! So remember, with a vision you gotta have that executable vision, that repeatable vision, that vision that can be etched into the minds and the hearts of those who are working with and for you. As we look at the planning side of it, I love how you have that executed, broken down and how you can write it out, work it out so that it can be done in a beautiful manner. Now, let’s look at the books, I want you to go over them because I know each portion has specific pieces to it. Please explain those books, the planner and the journal one more time so that they can fully get it. Which one is first, second or third. How does it actually helps you in business?
TC Cooper: Oh absolutely! All of our resources, the training, books, and the planners are connected to one of the three pillars that we believe in, Faith, Focus & Flow. So we’re talking about faith right now; executable faith! I love the way you said that! Its biblical, faith without works is dead. Executable faith happens when you write things down and you’re able to track your behavior. So our core way of helping people do that which is (get clear, write it down, track behavior) is our Smart Goal Planner, and we have that in a 30-day and a 90-day version. We have actual planning cards that accompany that planner, that really walk people through what a smart goal is? What are examples of smart goals? How do you apply those smart goals to your life, into your business?
That S.M.A.R.T. Goal Planner is really a key component of putting work to your faith. One having a vision and then putting work to it. The other new product line that centers around faith is our, My Daily Walk with Christ Business Planning Journal. Now, I love this journal and I have to say that I am a notebook girl. I love notebooks, I have notepads everywhere I like stickies and all this other stuff. Well, what happens and I learned this from myself and also from talking to clients; people jot down ideas all the time to jot down ideas in a variety of places and then they start doing things and then they ask God to bless what they’re doing. God wasn’t involved in the planning. We start doing it and then as an afterthought its like, oh Lord, please Jesus, please help. The journal is designed to give you one central place to write down your ideas, to have a bible reference portion of that so that we stay connected to the source of our ideas in thinking through. Then there are a couple of other prompts for every idea that you start to brainstorm, so it really helps you to be organized so that you know what you’re having faith in.
PBM: That’s what I’m talking about, not only giving you something to look at but actually giving you something to do so that you can keep it moving in the flow. So now let’s talk about this because I understand that what you focus on actually gets done. I’m intrigued and ready to learn right now. What is the FOCUS portion of this FaithFocusFlow? Talk to us!
TC Cooper: I love it, so our focus portion really revolves around two of our books. We have one book, “52 Lessons for Christianpreneurs” and another book “52 Simply Powerful Prayers for Christianpreneurs.” This section of the programming is really about having business owners, entrepreneurs, leaders get clear about what areas they need to have more focused on in order to grow. Where are you weak? You Where are you strong and need to be stronger? What things need to be outsourced? Of course, I’ve already said we use the Bible as a basis for how we make decisions and how these sorts of things, but as a business owner and leader its very clear that we know where we are? If you are a leader in a business or leader in a ministry, where are you? Where do you want to be? What are those areas that require your attention? That’s the focus portion because what you focus on will get done! Where you focus, that area will grow. Delegating things that you should not be focused on, you will have more opportunity to spend your attention on those areas where you grow. That is the focus piece and it really is connected to flow, but we want to get clear and we want to really start acting in a particular place.
PBM: Right here in the focus portion, I think what we’re hearing is that clarity, breeds confidence. When you’re clear about something you could be confident in moving forward. Focus on what matters and discard or delegate the rest because what people and leaders find difficult to do is to delegate. Once you’re able to focus on what you’re supposed to be focused on and let those who are part of the team focus on what they’re good at. Everybody will be happy. We can all be headed to the same place, but in different seats, in different capacities. Once we know what our seat is, what our assignment may be, or what the capacity of what we’re supposed to be doing, then it’s easy for us to enjoy the journey. Have you ever been in a position that you shouldn’t be? When you are your uncomfortable. Now you may be the greatest A, but you may be the worst C. If you’re an A sitting in a C slot, you’re not going to be comfortable. FaithFocusFlow, it’s time to talk about FLOW, but before we get into the flow, let me ask you this? TC in the faith portion we talked about vision and the focus portion. We’re really looking at, you getting clarity and making sure that we’re, delving into where we’re supposed to be. Those are more like daily, weekly, monthly understandings. Help me break that down just a tad bit.
TC Cooper: Absolutely, so we start off with a big vision! Now the big vision is your life vision, but then I like to have it further broken down into a five-year vision with five-year goals. We further break the visions out, into what you need to do every year in order to reach your goals. Then the further breakout is operating in quarters because you can manage 90-days and then you can check your 90-day vision. You’ve broken it down by what you do every month and it breaks down further to your smart goals for the week and then your daily actions. So in the FaithFocusFlow model, you have a vision and you’re always working and adjusting to that vision that you have for both your life and your business. Now we get to flow! I love when you talked about being comfortable in your seat because you’re not able to flow if you’re not comfortable in your seat. You can be proficient, really good and get a lot of great results by doing good work, but you won’t have the peace and the joy that comes along with it. If there isn’t a vision, you haven’t created a vision based on what you’ve heard from God. What you know, and have prayed about is the plan and the path that you are to take and it’s in alignment with God’s will for your life. If you have not done that work, then that vision you have faith in, you can’t and won’t have the comfort, the joy and the peace you desire. So I hope that answered your question.
PBM: Yes, thank you for breaking that down and making sure we understand the need to have the character in business. Literally, we need it day by day, week by week, month by month and on annual basis; I’m loving that. What you focus on gets done and remember, focus on what matters and discard or delegate everything else.
TC Cooper: I love your comment about the character in business because that really is the key. Character in businesses is how you show up every day so you have a vision for what it is. A lot of times people do a vision for what they want and hope to accomplish or what they’re working for, but they don’t always hone in on the decisions that are made every day in every aspect of a business. How do you treat clients and customers? How are you treating your staff? How are you treating your vendors and your suppliers? How are you communicating even with those people who are in your competitive market space? All of that is about the character, your character in business, and it’s about doing business! At FaithFocusFlow it’s about doing business in a way that glorifies Christ and that is in all of our business dealings. It becomes a part of what are you known for and how were you known for doing things? That’s the excellence that we are required by biblical texts are required to exhibit excellence in everything that we’re doing. That excellence shows up and becomes the character that we become known for doing, and that’s what attracts more people to our business.
PBM: Absolutely, I am loving this right now. Again, we’ve covered two of the pillars which are Faith & Focus and we’re about to dive into the third pillar, which is Flow. Help us to understand how do we get in the flow? What is the flow? Where is the flow, and how to maintain that flow?
TC Cooper: I love it… Where is the flow? The flow is in our focus, that’s what we have just talked about, focus and dialing into it. Flow is when we’re clear about the lane that we’re in! You gave an analogy, we know what seat you’re sitting in and now it’s about dialing in. It’s about doing the work at the FaithFocusFlow Leaders Institute. We have monthly Q & A calls, monthly Masterclasses and it’s really about finding excitement and joy. Learning and satisfying your natural curiosity about this area that you are flowing in and focusing on. It’s being excited about the value that you know you are delivering to the people on the other side. That’s your flow! You are flowing, when you are operating in your gift and sitting in the seat that was designed for you. Its all about your personal desire to do better, to be better, to give more, to have people get greater results from what it is that you’re offering, everything that you’re doing is focused on that. How can I serve in more excellence? How can I deliver programs, products, and services that are even more excellent than what people expect? How can I consistently up-level the result that folks who are receiving what my business is delivering? That’s the flow! That’s the excitement! That’s when business is really sweet! That’s when you are really in the flow of doing this work that you’ve been called to do and everything is operating and being served because of it.
PBM: As you were talking, one of the things that I thought about when it comes to the flow, was seeing it from the perspective of flourishing, learning and observing the work. Get in the flow, learn how to flourish from being faithful and focused. Be a life-long learner. Always observe what’s going on around you, your marketplace, and keep doing the work. Providing at another level, as you said, up-leveling, doing the different things and doing it at such a level of excellence that will help people see it’s possible. You know, one of the things I always love to tell my clients and friends, is that people cannot seek what they cannot see! What most people do is they’re looking in the wrong place. That’s why I am glad that we start off with faith, which we’re looking unto the hills from whence cometh our help. We look toward the scripture that will then give us the basis in why we do what we do. Then we focus and we dive in on what really matters so we can flourish, so we can learn, so we can observe and continuing to do the work at another level. The Power of Faith, Focus, Flow in your business will determine whether you’re in business for a short time or for the long haul. I believe that TC has put this wonderful program together to enable people such as yourselves to learn how to build a business that will last. I’m honored to have you on Productive Business Radio and Magazine because this is the type of stuff that the world needs now. I’m grateful to call you a friend and be involved in some of the things that you have going on as you are affecting not just your community, but making an impact worldwide. So I salute you TC, for creating this highly esteemed program that I believe will stand the test of time.
TC Cooper: Thank you so much for that Dr. Vernet, it is an honor to be a part of your circle, to be able to call you friend and watch the work that you’re doing with the Productive Business Network. I mean, this is how we grow, how we build sustainable businesses that do lasting good. Its fruit that will last and we build wealth as we really live out these lives that God has designed us to live and do this work that God has created for us to do here. It is such an honor to be a part of your vision and your work and the impact that you’re having literally all over the world. I am always cheering and celebrating all of the impact that I see that you’re having. So thank you for inviting me and having me be a part of that.
PBM: Absolutely, I wouldn’t have it any other way. What are some things that you would like to leave with the readers and how can they get in touch with you? Let’s also talk about some of the different academies you have that they can actually plug into after they come through Faith, Focus, Flow or may be stand-alone programs that they may be able to tap into.
TC Cooper: Oh, absolutely. Well, I would love for all of your readers and listeners to visit us at faithfocusflow.com. When you go to faithfocusflow.com, you’re able to do a couple of things there. Sign up for our daily newsletter, which I write an inspired business lesson based on the Bible every weekday and it’s 100% free. I will be greeting you in your inbox on the weekday mornings, giving you a nugget, some questions, and things to think about during your day so that your business is operating in the character that really showcases who you are and who you serve. In our FaithFocusFlow Leaders Institute is designed to help you build a business that is based on the character of who you are and we teach core business building skills like business automation, social media, marketing and digital branding. Those are the core courses in addition to character building leadership.
That’s all in our FaithFocusFlow Leaders Institute. You can find out about that on our website faithfocusflow.com. Now, if you’re interested purely, in learning how to use social media marketing to increase your impact, expand your influence so that you can diversify your income. You can learn about all of our Social Media Training Academies at UpwardAction.com That will teach and show you everything that you need to know about the social media marketing part of our business. You can find me if you look for either one of those FaithFocusFlow or Upward Action all over social media. Just plug one of those in and we’re on all of the major networks.
PBM: I know you have a few speaking engagements coming up. Talk to us about where we can come here you speak live.
TC Cooper: Well, I am super excited that you can see me, meet me and learn from what I’ve learned and experienced in business in the sunny state of Arizona. I will be in Arizona at the Productive Business Summit on June 16th with no other than Dr. Vernet. I am so excited, you do not understand how excited I am about being in that hot, but not humid Arizona weather. I love Arizona. I’m going to be there on June 16th so you can see me and meet me there. I’m happy to be with you and share all that I know. Then I’m also going to be here in Washington, D.C. on May the 18th at the D.C. Bars Practice 360 Conference. This is the fourth year of the conference and it’s my fourth time being one of the featured trainers and I love the D.C. Bar.
I’m a member of the D.C. Bar, and I love it. The D.C. Bar really has tremendous programs to help lawyers do better, learn more, grow and expand. Lawyers across the board from the government to small practices, solo practices, big firms it’s a tremendous Bar with tremendous training opportunities. The conference that I’m going to be speaking at Practice 360, is for solo and small firms. It’s going to be phenomenal! So if you are a member of the D.C. Bar, meet me at our brand new D.C. Bar headquarters on May the 18th. 
I’m super excited about that! I’m going to be in Stanford, Connecticut in July. If you go to FaithFocusFlow you will see the date, I am speaking for a Women’s Conference on “The Power of Visioning and Smart Goals.” We’re going to be dialing in on the “Faith” portion of Faith, Focus, Flow. Then I have something very special planned in Washington, D.C. in August, but you have to be on our list and find out all about that on faithfocusflow.com. So thank you so much, Dr. Vernet, for that opportunity to have a bit of a promo. There was one other thing that I’m probably missing, but its on faithfocusflow.com. Click the link to see T.C. in action at the D.C. Bar. https://youtu.be/Pih4caRTisQ
PBM: Absolutely, I’m not going to let the cat out the bag, but I know that there’s this book project that should be coming up sometime this year so just stay tuned. That’s all I can tell you, that there are some major things going on and look forward to making a powerful impact across the globe. It’s always a pleasure to be with you, learn more about the things that you have going on and how you are impacting the world. Remember this, you are a jewel and don’t let anyone tell you anything less, know that we appreciate and thank you. Do you have any parting words before we close this one out?
TC Cooper: You know, my parting words would just encourage everyone reading and listening to me, is that there are three parts of building a business that’s going to bring you joy and serve the kingdom. 1. You gotta have faith. 2. You have to focus. 3. Then flow in the abundance that God has intended for you and for each of us to have here on earth as it is in heaven.
PBM: Absolutely! Thank you for reading the Productive Business Magazine blog – where collaboration is the new currency. You can listen to the audio version by clicking here: Productivity 360 w/ Dr. Vernet A. Joseph. We look forward to hearing from you and all the reviews that will come from this awesome interview. Blessings, peace, love, and as we always say here be innovative, be productive, but most of all get out there and live to produce. Until next time, I’m your man. Dr. Vernet. A Joseph.