LeTonya Hudson - Certified Life Coach
“Make Startups Gave Me the Tools…Now I Just Have to Do My Part”
- LETONYA HUDSON, ENTREPRENEUR
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LeTonya Hudson was at a crossroads.
For years, she was an administrative assistant with the family advocacy program under Fort Gordon’s Army Community Service umbrella, until she went back to school for her masters in counseling. Then her mother had a stroke, and Hudson had to adjust to being a full-time caregiver. Careerwise, she switched gears again, earning her certification as a life coach through the state of Georgia.
Then, she wasn’t sure what to do next.
“Everybody was telling me to start a business, but nobody could tell me the correct way to put a business together,” says Hudson.
Hudson says that all her life, people have gravitated to her as a sounding board. “Maybe I have an auror spirit,” she says. “People just talk to me and tell me things.” At Fort Gordon and in her role as a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) for children, she worked tirelessly on behalf of new parents, victims of domestic violence, service members struggling financially, and children in the foster care system. “I’ve been an advocate for half my adult life,” she says.
But she didn’t know how to advocate for herself in terms of building a solid foundation for her life-coaching business—until she joined theClubhou.se’s Make Startups program.
A business contact referred her to theClubhou.se, and she was able to land a scholarship through Worksource CSRA to cover most of her fees. She’s been a part of the year-long Make Startups program since October 2021—“and I hate to be a cliché, but it’s priceless. You’re not only learning things about business but also about yourself. You’re learning if you have the potential to really be a business owner or entrepreneur.”
Hudson says she used to Google everything she could find about starting a business, attend online webinars, and watch YouTube videos. “You can get all these materials and tools, but no one actually shows you how to implement them,” she says. “But Make Startups not only gives you what you need but shows you how to use it. That made all the difference in the world.”
Now five months in, Hudson has a full notebook outlining her business plan and step-by-step instructions to build and grow her business. She has financial templates she can turn to, suggestions on what bankers and angel investors are looking for, and notes on insurance and legal requirements—“all those little things that go into a business.”
She also has a group cheering for her: “They really want to see us succeed.”
Her plan is to launch her business by summer. “The program gave me all the elements and steps I need to put together a business that is going to be sustainable,” says Hudson. “I just have to do my part. That’s really the secret to the whole program. They give you what you need and hand you all the resources and show you how to utilize each and every one. Now it’s up to us.”