The Power of Transformation: Overcoming Failure, Finding Inspiration, and Transforming Your Life

Trial error, coaching trial error, investing in myself, getting in the right rooms, taking notes, taking time to study, practicing what I preach. It's a lot that actually goes in to finding what works for you. It's not something that you can simply be taught as in someone just teaching you, having a coach guide you, that is a big part of it. Having someone who knows the process to, to share their step by step plan with you. But then there's your trial and error. You have to try and keep trying even when you fall and land flat on your face. Because then you get to connect the dots and say, okay, this didn't work, but this did. But then it's being in the right environment, putting yourself in the right rooms, investing in yourself.

Oh my goodness gracious. You know, when someone comes into your life and you just are moved, you're inspired, you are motivated, you are moved in your core to shift something. Well, today's guest, our guest on the show, Suzanne Peters, has had quite the journey. I'm going to share a snippet of it with you, but Suzanne is also going to share more with you and go deeper as we step into this episode. And if you are feeling stuck, if you're feeling like things aren't going your way, this is an episode to listen to because it is one of overcoming and it's navigating hurdles and it is stepping into the future that you want. And Suzanne shares how she did that and how she does that. Today she's the CEO of Woman to Woman Network, a personal growth and business development company for women who want more out of one life. She's also a best selling author, international speaker and story based business coach. As a coach, she specializes in training ambitious women to leverage their story, life experiences and voice to create the income and impact you want so you can live life on your term. She grew up on the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago. At the age of 28, she left her corporate job to begin her entrepreneurial journey. Her business failed, leading her bankrupt. Suzanne lost everything, became depressed and suicidal. But she heard someone's story and it inspired her not to give up. She decided she would figure it out, find a way to transform her life. And when she did, she would share it with others. Having accomplished her goal, Suzanne is now on a mission to impact the lives of 1 million women worldwide and to help them do the same. Suzanne's story, as she says very early on in this episode, goes deep and it may move you and you may feel things. So I want to give you that warning and that invitation to pause listening or that invitation to step forward and hold space for Suzanne, but most importantly, hold space for yourself with whatever you have going on right now. And listen past the hard times with Suzanne shares to what came next for her and how she navigated that. You are an incredible, big hearted leader and I am so grateful to have this time with you and Susie. Here we go. Suzanne Peters, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Thank you for having me. Amba. It's a pleasure to be here.

It is going to be such a beautiful conversation. Your energy, your presence and the work that you do is so incredible and so powerful. So I'm really pumped.

I have to talk about your energy because I am like listening to you, looking at you and I'm like, oh, my God. She is so passionate about what she does and you can feel that it makes a difference in, you know, you're not just there. Just going with the script.

I love that we are not going with the script. I shared with you before we started, actually let, let you who are listening in on this. I shared with Suzanne that we're just gonna flow with it. Certainly Suzanne's got some incredible expertise that we're going to dive into, but I feel like there's something powerful in letting things flow and unexpected things come up and right on time that take us exactly where we need to be. So thank you for going with the flow. I shared your story with everyone as we were kicking off this episode, but I wanted to open it up to hear from you because you have such a powerful story. I can't imagine the things and the experiences and what you have to share, but I'd love to hear a little bit about how you got to where you are today.

I would love to share. And in order to do that, yes, I am going to have to go a little deep in my story for you to understand. I am one of those people. Now, I don't believe life happens to us. I believe life happens for us. The good, the bad and the ugly. And I know there are a lot of people that wouldn't agree with me, but I consider it based on my own experiences. I mean, I know we all have our own trials and challenges and mine was no different. Grew up the eldest of four girls. Got married young. My husband was abusive. Finally got the strength after being in a horrible marriage for three years. But thinking about my younger sisters and being so used to setting an example for them, I realized I needed to get out of that. And that is what gave me the strength to leave that Relationship. But some, sometimes when we do things to change our lives, we expect that things are going to start to get better right away. They don't always. Because from there, I was living this whole new life. I was in a corporate job. I was an accounts officer in one of the largest insurance companies in my country. But I hated my job because I was now in a place where, okay, I realized I am so powerful. I was able to leave this horrible marriage. Now I want to fix my life to a point where I can do what I want and enjoy my life. And I always wanted to start my own business. So I got this bright idea that I was going to leave my good, good job. No, I have to stress on a good, good job because I was making a good salary. I wasn't accounting. I left my good job and decided that I was going to start business. Now, one big, big lesson I want to say here, before I even say what it is in detail, is if you don't make decisions based on the right reasons, they are never going to go right. I just wanted a fresh start. I mean, that part was fine. But the decision of the type of business I decided to start. I just wanted to start a business that would make a lot of money. There was no passion. There was nothing. And manage my own time. So I decided to go start a vehicle import business. Biggest mistake ever. I mean, at first it started off like any other new venti. I was excited. Oh, money was flowing. I was. I felt like I had made it, like I was there. But in less than three years, my business started to go downhill. I had no idea what was going on. It didn't occur to me that I hadn't been managing my books correctly. It didn't occur to me that I didn't know anything about starting a business before I did that. And it occurred to me that I knew absolutely nothing about managing employees. All I knew is everything was going downhill. And I just saw everything being taken away from me. I literally lost everything when I lost my business, including my dream car. But that wasn't all. I mean, because I still had a roof over my head. I still had ideas that I wanted to act on. But sometimes you can find yourself in a place where you look at your life and all you see is failure. I felt like a failure in the eyes of my family. I felt as a failure looking at my failed marriage. And for me, the last straw was when I came home one evening and there was an eviction notice on my door. I can still remember just entering my apartment and collapsing on the floor and just started to cry. Because it's as though that was the breaking point that really sort of put pushed me over the edge. As in, listen, this is it. Now you have nowhere to live. You need to get out. I just sat there and I started to cry. I spent that entire evening just in the land of depression and lost hope. And I don't know about you listeners or you, Amber, but back then, before I knew better, whenever I felt depressed, I would take out my phone and I would go on YouTube and I would listen to some really depressing music. So I found myself later that afternoon listening to that music while I sat on the cold white tiles of what used to be my bedroom. The music I was listening to and the thoughts that were going through my head weren't doing me any good. I found myself literally thinking, what is the best way to take my life? I wonder if I were to take tablets, if it will kill me. I wonder what would be faster? Should I drink some bleach? And I can remember getting up and started to search my apartment for tablets because I always had pills. I had so much pills that people always came to me whenever they wanted pills. But funny thing, as I searched my apartment, I couldn't find a single bottle or pack anywhere. So I was like, okay, so what are you going to do, Suzanne? Because by this time, I had already made up my mind that, you know what? I'm tired of being a failure. Just, I just want to go. I just want to leave this word. I think it's better for people to miss me and think about the person I was than look at me and shake their head and say, what a disappointment, what a failure. So I came back and I sat there and I said, you know what? I think I am going to have to drink this bottle of bleach. But the problem was I didn't know if the bleach was going to kill me or if it was going to hurt me. Because if it only hurts me, then I would still have to live with a disappointment and the embarrassment of people knowing I tried to take my life. But if it killed me, I would have accomplished my goal. So as I sat there, the bottle of bleach on the floor in front of me, and I'm looking at it, the music on my phone went out now, and that's something that happens when your phone is connected to your neighbor's WI fi. I couldn't afford my own Internet anymore. So while sitting there, the WI fi kept going in and out, and I couldn't be bothered because it was only making me more frustrated and distracting when it came back and those random commercials would just pop up. I mean, let's face it, it's YouTube. So as I sat there and thought, the Wi Fi came back in again. But this time, something strange happened. When the WI fi came back in, I heard someone's voice say, there is greatness within you. If I'm being honest, I started to laugh. I started to laugh and I laugh. I'm like, greatness in me. Is he talking to. But that laughter soon turned into tears, and I found myself screaming at the top of my lungs, crying, oh, my God. God help me. And that was the first time while in that state of going through that process of failure and losing everything, that was the first time I actually called out to God. That was the first time. All this time, I had been trying to figure things out on my own. Now, the person who said that on YouTube was Les Brown. He was no stranger to me, but I had disconnected from listening to those type of talks on YouTube and those things, you know, because I was in my own world. But after Les Brown went off, Lisa Nichols came on, and I listened to her story. After Lisa Nichols, listen. By this time, I was up, phone in hand, and I started going through listening to more because it made me feel different. And I ended up spending that entire night listening to other people's stories, Some of them whom I have never met and will never meet. But the stories were so powerful. There were stories of people who literally transformed their life. People who came back from the brink and just created this beautiful life for themselves. By the time morning came, I was no longer thinking about taking my life. Instead, I got down on my knees and I asked God to forgive me. And I thanked him for answering my prayer that night before from when I called out to him and I made a declaration day and then that I was going to figure things out. And when I did figure things out, I was going to share my story. Because I knew for a fact that just like their story impacted me, I knew my story would impact many others who. And I haven't looked back since. I have no regrets. None whatsoever.

What an unbelievable story. But also, this is your life and what a journey you were on to get to this place.

And I have no regrets. None. I love it.

Oh, my gosh. Can you that. That journey up. I heard this lesson story and then Lisa shared, and then I just kept going. And was it in that moment or did it come, you know, months later that you're Like a story. The story is what propelled you and moved you and is the fuel for the connection and the growth. Like, when did you decide realize my purpose is here?

The actual fact of knowing it's in the story itself. That came long after. But that day was when my decision was made that I was going. I wanted to be like them. You see, when I was younger, I wanted to be like Les Brown. I wanted to be a motivational speaker. So that experience there brought me back to that point. But making the connection of okay, no, it's the story. I need to focus on sharing my story. That was only confirmed later on.

And what has been the impact of you sharing your story?

Sharing my story has literally created a whole new life for me. Because I have a successful business, I have been able to impact women's lives all over the world. And when I say all over the world, I mean all over the world. And it just proved what I have been saying. Because when I share my story, I give others the courage, the motivation, the push Danny. To share theirs. So those women now are now stepping up and they are now sharing their story, but they are also like me, using it to build an entire business. Teaching the lessons they learn from their own experiences.

That's pretty incredible. And you work now with people on creating their stories and their speaking and how did you build your frameworks for that? How did you design your model, your system, your process for identifying the stories that we should tell and then going from there and sharing them?

Trial error, Coaching trial error. Investing in myself, getting in the right rooms, taking notes, taking time to study, practicing what I preach. It's a lot that actually goes in to finding what works for you. It's not something that you can simply be taught as in someone just teaching you, having a coach guide you, that is a big part of it. Having someone who knows the process to share their step by step plan with you. But then there's your trial and error. You have to try and keep trying even when you fall and land flat on your face. Because then you get to connect the dots and say, okay, this didn't work, but this did. But then it's being in the right environment, putting yourself in the right rooms, investing in yourself. Because I was always willing to go the extra mile once I made my decision. I have been in the presence of so many amazing, powerful people and have the opportunities to learn from them consistently. It has completely transformed my business even less. Bro.

Did you meet him?

Yes.

That's pretty cool.

I attended a Mastermind in January of this Year. I knew he was going to be there, and I know the investment was a lot to be in the room, but I was so amazed when I saw the intimate environment. There were about 20, 25 of us in this room. And then when he stepped out, I said, oh, my gosh. And of all the people he shared with us, he was sitting right in front of me, and he shared with us tips on building our business and speaking and different stuff. And of all the people, he pointed at me, young lady, tell me about your business. I said, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I said, Mr. Les Brow, before I tell you anything about my business, I have something I need to say to you. He said, what is that? I said, thank you. He said, thank you for what? I said, it's because you answered the call on your life, and you obeyed and shared your story, and you kept going that I am here today. And he asked me to explain, and I shared my story. I got to stand there and share my story with everyone. And when I was finished, he walked over, he hugged me, and he said, suzanne, let's take a photo.

I love this.

It was such a special moment for me. It was just out of this world. And I've been able to meet many other people since before and even after that. But that's one would always stand out in my mind, because he distracted me just when I needed it.

Oh, he distracted me just when I needed it. Because so often those distractions come up and we look at them negatively. But maybe there's a nudge and a calling and something that is pulling you toward your purpose.

Yeah. Yeah. It's been amazing.

Oh, my gosh. For people who are listening and thinking, either thinking, I have no story to tell. I know you have words.

Yes.

And for the people, the person who is thinking, I have a story, how do I craft it? What do you say to these two people?

First off, we all have a story to tell. Even if you think you don't have a story, even if you think your story isn't important. We all have a story. And the fact remains that we are all humans. We create stories every day of our life, every day. But we all also have a signature story, meaning a story that had the biggest transformation in our life. And we've all had some sort of transformative experience in our life, every one of us, even Amber. And when I say transformation experience, I don't necessarily mean from one place to the next. I mean in your mindset, the way you think, the way you do things, the way you apply yourself to situations. The way you were able to overcome an obstacle, a challenge, anything. Now, keep in mind, it doesn't have to be anything bad. Your signature story or that story you are meant to share doesn't have to be anything bad that happened to you. You don't have to be someone that grew up in poverty or anything like that. Or like me being in an abusive relationship. You don't have to. There are people right now who are simply sharing from a place of passion. People who had really amazing life, grew up two family, home, they had all the money, they were comfortable. And even them, they are sharing their message. Because let me give you one example. Maybe you were in a job that you didn't like and you knew you were meant to do more, but in order to do what you really wanted to do, maybe you had to go do a course or you had to go back to school to be able to get what you needed to get to where you wanted to be. That is a powerful story right there because you are willing to take action to get what you want. There are stories in every area of our lives, at every levels. Maybe in your home, maybe where you were living, you were in an unhappy place. Or maybe you were just really comfortable every day of your life and you managed to be one of those people who were comfortable and happy. Because let's face it, there are a lot of people right now. They have the money, they have all the material things, and they are not happy. But yet you are happy. You understand what it means to wake up every day and say, oh, thank you for this new day. Simply, that is something positive, something worth sharing. Enough with the examples. But for the people out there who want to get started sharing, let me give you this one tip out of everything I'm going to share. This is going to be the biggest tip ever.

I've got my pen, actually. Hold on. Okay. All right. Ready?

Before you're ready. If you want to start speaking, if you want to start sharing your story, the best way to get started doing that is to just start.

Start.

Just start. That is it. Like Les Brown had this quote. He said, speakers, speak. That's it. If you want to be a speaker, you need to start speaking. You can simply go on social media, start speaking. You can find podcasts like Amber where you want to share your message, share your story, start Speaking, go on YouTube. There are too many opportunities right now for you not to be sharing your story, sharing your message, and doing what you know deep down you are called to do. The best way to get started is to do that, to just get started. Because what happens is when you do that, you position your place yourself in a place where you have taken some form of action and now you start noticing people, things and opportunities that can help you with the next step. So then you know, okay, I need to do this. And that's how it gets started. First of all, right? The next thing is for you to know exactly what you want. Because there are a lot of people who want to share their story. They want to speak, they want to do things. But they don't all want to be platform speakers, they don't all want to be coaches. So what do you really want when it comes to your business, to that area of your life? Don't just say it. Take a journal or notebook and write it down in detail. The more clarity you have on what you want to get out of this calling you know you have, the better it's going to work out for you because again, that's going to play a big part in you identifying what that next step is. Now this right here is the secret of all secrets. Are you ready? Now this applies to this profession. It applies to if you want to be a coach, it applies to almost any professional there now get a coach. Get a coach or a mentor. Now mind you, I am being very blunt here. It does not have to be me. It does not. But find someone who is doing what you want to do. Then find out what it takes for you to work with that person. And once you do get in, because I mean, even I and I know other people out there are picky with who they work with because they want people who know what they want. Once you know what you want and you find someone who is doing what you want to do, do what it takes for you to work with that. That's it. Once you do that and you are coachable, you are going to go a long way because that coach is going to give you a step by step plan that works. What you would be able to do now is to implement that step by step plan and add to it your experience, your story, your everything, your personality. And you would create your own winning formula. Those are the three biggest secrets you said.

These are good too. And of course there's a simplicity to them. But we have a tendency as humans to over complicate things and it does come back. Start speaking like start talking and telling your story. And you're so right. There are so many platforms in spaces where today you can immediately start speaking and connecting.

Yeah, even like when I first came to the U.S. you know what was the first thing I did? I went and joined a Toastmaster Club.

Yeah.

I had never been part of any Toastmasters Club before, but I was literally the first thing I did when I came to the US Because I knew what I wanted. Once you know what you want and you get that level of clarity, you are able to easily identify, decide what steps should I take to get there.

So good. And those actually, you've got to decide what do I really want? And whether it's creating and telling story or it's something else that applies across the board. Get clear on your decision, because, Suzanne, do you find if we are not clear on what we want and where we want to be going, this is when the unhelpful distractions come in. Shiny objects who. But really, we haven't decided on our course. So anything is possible, which is also part of the challenge.

And to add to that, if you don't know what you want, you could literally find yourself going in circles, wasting time, spending a lot of money in places you don't need to spend it. And here's a silly example, but it's so plain. When I say what you want, I mean where you want to be. Right. If you were leaving home now. No, don't laugh at this example. If you were leaving home now with the intention to go to the mall, can you get there if you don't know where you are? No. How would you know which route to take? Well, it's the same thing. You have to know what you want, where you want to b. What is your endpoint? What does it look like? Get absolutely clear on that. Only then would you know what do I need to do to get there. Do I call an Uber? Do I get in my vehicle and drive there? Do I go join this speaking organization? Do I need a coach right away? Do you understand what I'm saying? Do I go invest in a website?

Good.

Yeah.

Because it is. It's every. And this is where we get stuck in inaction or, to your point, going in circles, which is almost more painful some days than not taking action. It is as you think about where we started this conversation and where you started this journey of this season in your life. And fast forward to where you are now. Where are you today? What are you doing? What does life look like? Can you tell us a little bit about. About the present day for you?

My present day. So do you want just in general, or do you want to know what an actual day looks like?

Oh, I'm gonna leave it to you what you got the story.

Present D First of all I have to say I have a beautiful life. I am very comfortable and sometimes I wonder if people know of the possibilities or where I come from compared to where I am now when I see how comfortable and happy I am today. Oh and did I mention I'm remarried. I am. I'm happily married to a man I believe was created just for me. We are like bim and bam. So in sync. I am happily married, I have a beautiful house. This is the first house I have ever owned and it's huge. And it's just my husband and I, we have and I'm not saying that to brag. I'm saying that from someone who got evicted from an apartment that ended up sleeping on family members couch and not having anywhere to call their own to now having her own and something that she can be proud of. My business that started with no vision, that started with me just wanted to speak. That was all I wanted to do when I started. I just wanted to speak. I started speaking on social media. I was invited to interview as was an interview they had invited me to first on a radio station and within a couple of months they invited me back to host my own radio show. From hosting my own radio show I went on to host my own television show. I am telling you once you get started the world is a little bit. But anyway, today my life is I get up, do my meditation. I get up at 4am every single day. It's programmed in me from Sunday to Sunday. There's nothing I can do to stop stop it because this is me. Even when I'm on vacation I'm still up early because it's a part of me. But at least I get to start my day with my meditations, my journaling. I go over my things to do list for the day and set the tone for my day so that I am sure that whatever this day brings, it's going to be a success. Whenever I have appointments with clients, one on one clients, I do few one on one calls. I always put them for the morning so that my afternoons are free 90% of the time where work is concerned, I am finished working for the day by about 11:12. My husband is retired so we get to spend a lot of time together. Yesterday afternoon we spent it in the pool relaxing.

Okay, I'm loving this so.

And the thing is you get to create what you want your life to be, what you want your business to be. I do group coaching, few one on one clients. I Host events. There is so much constantly going on. But when you get to that place, the place I am at now, it's, I don't want to say it's not stressful at times because there is some level of stress involving different projects or whatever is going on. But I'm at that place where I know everything is going to be good. I know everything is going to be okay. I am comfortable. I don't have to worry about where money is coming from for anything. Because I do have a profitable business. Yes, a profitable business, doing what I love. I mean, who would have thought this?

Incredible.

I got so carried away there. I don't even know if I answered your question.

You sure did. You sure did. And I have a follow up because as I think about where you are and, and where you were and where you are and this journey and the strategies that you shared with us, I am feeling inspired and motivated and excited to decide and take the next step. Step. And so I'm, I'm, I'm sitting here thinking, but what if I haven't decided yet? I haven't decided on the path, I haven't decided that I can do this. The belief isn't there yet. So what would you say, Suzanne, because you're so good at this, what would you say to the person who has not decided yet?

Get in the right environment. That makes a big, a big difference. So let me tell you what I mean with my organization. Woman to Woman International Network. What we do is we host networking events for women who are entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, and those who just trying to figure things out, you know, so you can come together every month, network with these like minded women, have interesting conversations, share your ideas, get positive feedback that you could actually implement, start going to even start going to conferences, be in that environment with people who know what they want, who are consistently working towards their goals and it does something to you. You can walk in there totally confused, not knowing what you want and you could be right there in the midst of all that energy around you and you could simply be like, I know what I want to do. You get that aha moment in the strangest times. But as long as you find yourself in the right environment, it can be life changing.

That's pretty incredible. I, as you said that I was immediately thinking back to a group of colleagues that I spent time with learning we were going through a training together, we were collaborating and supporting each other in a mastermind space after the training and we were so spot on. It was in that environment that I started to again shift my thinking for my next season journey phase that we'll be coming into. And the momentum was restored and I was able to make some decisions from a new perspective. So for anyone who's feeling stuck, undecided, ready to do something but not quite sure what, you don't have to decide right this second on what it's going to be, but decide to show up and get in an environment where you can see some different perspectives.

And when you get into those environments and you realize just how much you have in common with some of the people there, the friendships, the bonds that are made, wow, they're out of this world. I've made some really good friends just getting into those environments.

Oh, dang good. Oh, Suzanne.

Okay.

So for the person who is listening and wants more of you like I do, where do people find you?

Well, to keep things simple, I'm going to give people one place to find me because once they go on that one thing, they're going to get everything. And that is to go to woman to woman coach dot com. Woman to woman coach dot com.

That's the one.

Once you go there, you get my information, you get my network information, you get upcoming events we have coming up. You get amazing opportunities. You get a lot.

Go find Suzanne@Womantowoman Coach.com we'll link that up in the show notes as well. Suzanne Peters, thank you for being here.

Thank you for having me. I appreciate you. This was really fun and exciting and I'm just loving it.

Same same. I appreciate.