How Cancer Saved My Life

Trasetta Alexander, Faith Based Business Coach and Speaker Interview By: Kimi Johnson

We know, you’re probably wondering:

How on earth can cancer save someone’s life?

Well, our cover feature, Trasetta Alexander has a story that will change your perspective. Turning lemons into lemonade isn’t an easy task but with a little faith and determination anything is possible.

ABOUT TRASETTA

Trasetta Alexander is a faith-based business & productivity coach and motivational speaker. She teaches women of faith how to clarify and monetize their purpose so they can create the abundant life and business they desire. Trasetta has over 20 year of experience working in business operations management creating systems and processes, as well as, increasing individual productivity. Additionally, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Thomas University. Trasetta is also the Administrative Pastor of Vessels of Joy Full Gospel Church, founded in 2009 by her husband, Pastor William Alexander, with the directive from the Lord of teaching people how to have joy in Him. She serves as the women’s ministry and praise team leader for the church.She believes no one can obtain any level of success alone. Success comes through clarifying your vision, creating an action plan and developing a network of success partners. She freely shares stories of her own struggles to overcome life’s challenges in an effort to empower others to face their own, knowing they are well equipped to conquer them and create the life of their dreams. She embodies her personal motto, which is to always “Live on purpose, pursue your passion and unleash your power!”

CONNECTING TO PURPOSE

What was the defining moment that made you realize your life had purpose?

I'm not really sure if there was one specific moment, but there was an event that showed me that I needed to move forward with the work that God was calling me to do. In 2014, two weeks after walking across the stage with my bachelor's degree, at the age of 40, I received a call from my doctor's office notifying me of the results of my breast biopsy. The results were positive for cancer. It was in that moment that I realized I had been essentially sleepwalking through life and didn't even realize it. When you are faced with your own mortality, it does something to you. So, I decided I was going to move forward boldly and purposefully with the rest of my life. The prognosis was very good. We caught the cancer early, so I didn't feel as though my life was about to end, but I did realize I wasn't living my life to the fullest. I was just kind of surviving

on the grace of God. When I recognized what was happening, I took a step back and said, “Okay, Lord, let me drop everything and reconnect with You.” I literally shut everything down and spent two months with the Lord, studying His word, praying, and meditating so I could get clear directions. During that time, I realized I had kind of strayed off in a direction that was not in alignment with my true purpose.

When I reconnected with God, and realigned myself with His intended purpose for me, I was able to reemerge much stronger, much better, and much greater. Not that everything became easy; because, you know, life isn't easy, but there's a difference when you're operating in alignment with God versus when you're operating on your own strength. When things get challenging, when things get difficult, because they will, if you're operating in the strength of God, then you have supernatural power. You have His supernatural strength to get through those challenging and difficult times.

How do you connect your faith with your coaching style?

The number one thing I do is pray. I pray for myself. I pray for my business. I pray for my clients. I even pray for people I interact with online who I would like to work with. I'm also very open to hearing from the Lord when I'm working with a client, especially if they're stuck in a particular area. I leave space for the Lord to use me in a word of wisdom, word of knowledge or discerning of spirits, to guide my clients through whatever blockage they're facing. And I continue to encourage them to seek God for direction.

There is no one size fits all approach to coaching people because everyone is different. Everyone has their own needs. Not to mention everyone has their own assignment or purpose that God created them for. What worked for me may not necessarily work for another person. That may not be the way God wants them to execute their purpose, even if we're doing the exact same thing. And so, I remain open while I share the strategies that have worked for me or have worked for others. I leave the door open for the Lord to give divine strategy and divine insight so that I will do what's best for my clients.

What can a potential client expect to gain from Your Purpose Partner coaching program?

Ooh, that's a good question. I have three pillars that guide my work with both my one-on-one Purpose Partner clients, as well as, my group coaching programs. They are to provide my clients with the support, strategies and stretching they need in order to be successful in their purpose. The reason I chose those pillars is because this thing called entrepreneurship is challenging. It can get difficult and lonely. It's so easy to give up on your dream. It is so easy to give up on your goal if you don't have someone supporting you in it. Not everyone understands the mindset of an entrepreneur.

Often my clients have friends or family members who just don't get why they would want to risk having their own business rather than a job working for someone else. The right kind of support is extremely important. When it comes to strategies, as I mentioned before, I share the things that have worked for me, what has worked for others, and I leave space for the Lord to give divine strategies to help guide and direct my clients. There's no reason for you to try and reinvent the wheel when something is out there that has proven to work. The last one is the stretching. We really need someone to help push us beyond what we think we are capable of doing. Oftentimes, we sell ourselves short. So, I do a lot of mindset work with my clients. 3 John verse 2 states, “Beloved, I wish above all that you would prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.”

I like to relate the soul to a thermostat. It determines the level of success that you can have in life. If the level drops below what your soul is comfortable with, it will do all it can to return to its comfort level. The same is true if you achieve beyond the soul’s set level. You will ensure that you restore your soul to a place of comfort.

What do you tell your clients that have allowed fear to hinder them from moving forward?

I ask them to describe what the worst thing that could happen if they were to move forward. Then I ask if they could live with that outcome? If not, then we work on building a plan that has some safeguards in it to prevent the worst from happening. I help them take calculated risks so that they mitigate the potential fallout. If they could live with the worst-case scenario, the fear tends to dissipate because they’ve theoretically already faced the worst that could happen.

Tell us about your upcoming book, Positioning Yourself to Prosper.

The book is about how you can create a life of abundance through your purpose. It was birth out of my own curiosity on the end-times wealth transfer. I have heard ministers talk about this for years. I prayed for two years, asking God how He was going to transfer the wealth of the wicked to His people in the last days. When He finally answered, He said, “I’m positioning my people in places of power and authority in the marketplace to get deals, contracts and win negotiations that will transfer the worlds wealth into the hands of my people.” The book relays what I discovered as the Lord led me to study this topic. In the book, I first take the reader through Scriptures that indicate God’s desire for us to be wealthy. Then I share some of the common blocks to prosperity and how to break them. Also, I discuss

When you are faced with your own mortality, it does something to you. So, I decided I was going to move forward boldly and purposefully with the rest of my life.

how our prosperity is directly tied to the purpose for which we were created by God, and the strategies for increasing our capacity for more.

What do you hope people remember about your book?

My hope is that readers will take action on what they read. I want them to take the concepts and principles I share, and put them into action in their lives, so that they can create the wealth and abundance that God desires them to have. It is time for us, as the body of Christ, to arise as people of influence so we can impact the world for the Kingdom of God. In addition, I hope they understand, they were created on purpose and for purpose. It is through their purpose that the prosperity, the success, the wealth, and the abundance that they desire to have in life, will come to them. That's really what I want people to remember.

What did you learn about yourself while writing your book?

Writing the book solidified in me the desire to teach others. I remember taking one of those personality tests that tells you what type of career you are best suited for. My result was a teacher. I had no desire to be a teacher because the view I had in my mind was a grade school teacher. But now my image of teaching has completely shifted. I love teaching others. Also, I learned that I have the discipline to stick with long term projects. In the past, I tended to start projects and not finish them, especially projects that were long-term. I thought for a long time I didn’t have the attention span or discipline it took to work on a long-term project. Now I know otherwise.

You work full time, serve as administrative pastor at your Church, run a coaching practice on top of your personal responsibilities. How do you balance it all?

Actually, I don't. I don't believe in balance. I think the concept of work-life balance is a myth. To me, balance means equal weight or equal time. However, there are certain things in my life that are not equal. I focus on being priority -driven rather than driven by attempting to find balance. It’s important to be okay with letting something go for a season so that you can focus on what's really essential at that time. I believe you can have it all, just not at the same time. I teach my clients to focus on no more than two or three areas of their life at any given time, and be okay with the other areas, being on the back burner for a season. Not that you completely and totally neglect them, but that you put the majority of your focus into those areas that you're really trying to move the needle in at the time.

What advice would you give your younger self?

I think the biggest thing that I would tell my younger self would be to live more boldly. Don't be so afraid. Tap into the courage, strength and power that's on the inside of you. All the things that you're so afraid will happen, really aren’t as scary as you think they are. You’ll not only survive them, but you’ll thrive on the other side of them as well. That would be my advice. Live boldly, live courageously, and tap into your inner strength.

CONNECT WITH TRASETTA

Email: trasetta@trasettaalexander.com Website: www.trasettaalexander.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ speakertrasettaalexander Instagram: www.instagram.com/ trasettaalexander LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/ trasettaalexander Twitter: www.twitter.com/trasettaa