Ep #11: The Birthday Cake Strategy for Getting Clients
Clients are the engines of our businesses, so why do so many people have trouble getting them? If you’re not seeing the results you want in your business and you’re not getting clients, there is a clarity gap. And this week, I’m showing you how to close that gap and start getting more clients.
Clients are the engines of our businesses, so why do so many people have trouble getting them? If you’re not seeing the results you want in your business and you’re not getting the amount of clients you want, it means there’s a clarity gap. And this week, I’m showing you how to close that gap and start getting more clients.
What I’m teaching you isn’t just for those with smaller businesses. It impacts all business owners. If you’re in the energy of why isn’t this working? or you’re confused about what to do, this episode is for you.
Join me this week as I show you how to make the necessary shifts in your strategy and business to find your people and get the clients you want. I’m helping you with the most direct and advanced stages of client acquisition, where your messaging needs to be for each of those stages, and how to identify whether your current strategy matches up with your current messaging.
If you would like help getting clear on what you are offering and how to talk about it, you have to join us in The Clarity Accelerator. It’s 60 of the best-spent days you’ll ever have, and you’ll get my eyes on your business and your messaging helping you dial all this in. There’s a spot available for September, so click here to schedule a call with me as soon as possible to learn more.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
What The Birthday Cake Strategy is and how to use it to improve your messaging and get more clients.
The quickest way to bring on clients.
Why sales don’t happen without resonance.
The reason people aren’t knocking on your door even if you’ve been showing up consistently.
Some actions steps that will help you if you’re struggling to find clients, get sales calls, or meet revenue calls.
Three umbrella categories my clients fall into when they come to me.
The difference between being salesy and offering something no-strings-attached to people.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
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Full Episode Transcript:
Today we’re going to talk about how to get clients and how to go out and find your people. And what I’m going to say is not just for those of you who are just starting out or have smaller businesses. Regardless of where you are, if you’re feeling yourself in the energy of why isn’t this working, or in the energy of holding back because you’re confused, this is for you. And especially for those of you who are like, “Just give me the steps, I just want to know what to do and when.” You are going to love this episode.
You’re listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the only podcast that helps you unlock your next level in business and life by prioritizing your clarity and your own uncommon way. You will learn to maximize your mindset, mission, messaging and strategy in order to create a true legacy. Here is your host, top ranked business coach and reformed over-analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Hey everybody, welcome back to The Uncommon Way. I am prerecording this so we’re not actually in Italy yet. By the way we did find someone to watch Sky, actually two people. We had to break it up in the end so all is good there. Dillon has been my little shadow which happens whenever he starts to get a little disconcerted, he belongs onto my side like a little barnacle. And really the excitement is starting to kick in. It’s going to be so fun. So, when this drops I will be in Italy. Come over to Instagram, say hi, you’ll see pics of the house.
And there’s this area I’m so excited about. The house is right on the beach by the way in Sardinia. And there is this area that juts out from the house and it’s kind of dug into the ground and there’s a firepit and seats all around. And of course, since we’re staying into October it is going to get cooler at night. It’s just going to be so fun. My brother-in-law and his wife are coming as well and my mom will be there. Yeah, it’s going to be just great family time. And I’ll be posting pictures and updates the whole time. So, I would love it if you’d come along for the ride.
So, we have been receiving such great questions about the Clarity Accelerator. I know you’re excited about this opportunity. There’s really nothing else out there like it that combines clarity and messaging in this way, plus the human design and energetics work for those of you that are interested.
I was talking to a podcast listener the other day who decided to sign up. And she said, “You know, I just realized I had doubts about several areas of my business and I wanted the best help possible to get myself super clear and grounded on this foundational stuff so that I can move forward with confidence.” And I was like, “Yeah, that is exactly what this program is all about. It’s an investment in your future but it’s also a gift to yourself where you carve out the space to do this because I know how it is when you’re running a business.
There’s so many things to do, so much learning and research you could be doing. And yeah, deep down you know you should do some mindset work. Maybe you know your belief’s a little shaky here and you’re not really sure about your client there. I have been there. In fact, I am there. I’m always there. Why did I say I’ve been there? I do the work in the Clarity Accelerator at the same time as my clients over, and over, and over again. I never stop doing this work. And I usually find the time on our calls, on our workshop calls to prioritize this for myself as well.
So, I get you but you owe it to yourself and your future clients to take 60 days of think time, really it’s think time to just do this. It’s like when dust bunnies are building up under your sofa and you know you need to get to them but you aren’t. Your business is your house and the actions you’re taking and the way you’re showing up are never as powerful when your house has you feeling on edge. And what you don’t realize is that you’ll actually have someone cleaning out dust bunnies you didn’t even know were there with you, which is me by the way.
Am I going too far with this analogy? I am the one cleaning out the dust bunnies. Let me give you an example, that’ll help. So, I was talking to a client the other day, I remember she was telling me about a call that she had with someone who ended up becoming her client. And as she was relaying this she was telling me the story for a completely different reason. But of course, my brain, the way my brain works is always thinking about the client language, and the copy, and the psychology, and what that really means.
And so, there were a couple of times in that conversation I was like, “Stop that. You need to do content on that. You need to incorporate that in your explanation of the program. That is so good right there.” And she was in her story and she wasn’t even taking that broad view, that overview to be able to see those things and how perfectly it all comes together with the work we’ve been doing. And this is why it’s just such a gem to have someone that knows you and your business and can see the things that you can’t see.
So yes, all of this to say that if you want more info on the Clarity Accelerator right now the best way is to hop on a call with me. Not because I’m trying to withhold info from you. At some point I’ll put out a podcast episode just on this. But because I know you’re excited now and you don’t want to wait. And really the timing is perfect to enter in with us now or next month because then you start off 2023 with this clarity under your belt and imagine what you can do with it the rest of the year. How your results will shift because of it.
So, I have call spots open Mondays and Fridays. And I’m happy to break everything down for you module by module, answer any of your questions. It is a four figure investment, an absolute steal for what you get. My eyes on your business and your messaging with limited availability, on purpose I’m keeping it small. And don’t worry, our call will be very easy going and I’ll ask you all the questions I know to ask to make sure you’re a good fit and will actually get results.
I’ve been doing this for five years. I’m not going to make you an offer if it’s not a fit. That wouldn’t serve anyone. It’s not good for the other members of the collective that want to be surrounded by women that are both aligned and capable, frankly, of this work. So, you will be in good hands. We’ll make a clean decision and you’ll know then if this is for you.
Okay let’s talk about getting clients, although I really prefer the term, calling in clients for the record, but that’s semantics. So, most people say that they have trouble getting clients. See, that’s my client language. The reason we’re focusing on this is because, well, this is the engine of our businesses after all.
But also, there are basically three umbrella categories that my clients fall into when they come to me. Either they’re unclear about what they’re selling to whom or they’re unclear about how to overcome some mindset issue of some sort. Or they’re unclear about how to bring on more clients and create messaging that calls in ideal clients. And recently I’ve had a string of conversations with people talking about not finding clients. So, I want to respond to that and lean into this side a little more.
This is the universe sending me signs that this is something we need to talk about on the podcast. So today I’m introducing you to the birthday cake strategy. This is something that I’ve been teaching online for years and people tell me how useful it is so I know it’s going to serve you too. And even though it may seem like it’s geared towards entrepreneurs with smaller businesses, it applies to everyone.
Because you might start to notice a recurring theme in this podcast which is that many six and even seven figure problems are solved by going back to the foundation and closing a clarity gap. If you’re not seeing the results you want to see in your business there is a clarity gap. Maybe you’ve altered your messaging in some way.
Just recently I was on a call with a seven figure earner who was talking about a launch that didn’t do well and it all came down to a clarity gap in her messaging. As she evolved as a coach she had started to speak differently and speak about different things. And so, her audience wasn’t feeling resonance, conscious or subconscious. And remember, sales don’t happen without resonance. Luckily I can help you create resonance. I can help you get clear on what your clients want and need to hear.
But first you’ve really got to understand that this works in stages. If you haven’t watched my training on the Clarity First Strategy then you need to pause this. Head to my homepage, theuncommonway.com and sign up for that free training. It’s going to save you so much time focusing on all the wrong things and help you identify exactly where you need to go back to, to fix any current problem you’re having.
So, let’s talk about the most direct stages and then the more advanced stages when it comes to getting clients. Where your messaging needs to be for each of those stages and whether your current strategy matches up with your current messaging. Okay, now I love a good metaphor. They always help me clarify things in my mind because lord knows I can get into some complexity somersaults if my brain is left to its own devices.
So, if your brain’s like mine and maybe you’re currently either stuck in the analysis stage of maybe I should be doing this to get clients or this person over here says this thing really works. I’m not sure but I know I don’t want to keep doing that thing anymore. Or if you’re trying everything, throwing spaghetti at the wall, burning out and/or you’re beating yourself up with like damn it, you should have figured this out by now then here’s my suggestion.
Think about your client getting strategy like birthday cake. And here’s what I mean by that. You know when you take a bite of birthday cake, the part that’s closest to you on the fork is the least sweet, that’s the cake itself. As it gets further from you, you have the filling, some sort of yummy fruit or cream filling, that’s a little sweeter. And then the furthest away from you is the icing. That’s the sweetest of all. So, relating this back to clients in your business, think about people that are the closest to you that are within your network or maybe they’re one step removed from you.
Maybe you have a friend that referred this person to you, or maybe you have a client that referred the person to you but either way there’s some level of personal connection there and that’s why they feel a good amount of trust. The cake is like the messaging and actions required to bring on a client from that realm of people. The truth is it doesn’t have to be as sweet because when you have 20, 40, 60 minutes on the phone with somebody, it makes up for a lot of imprecise messaging.
Your language doesn’t have to be as tight because there are so many other ways to transmit value, trust, safety and warmth. It’s so much easier to make a connection and create resonance. You have your body language, what you transmit through your voice and whatever you can respond to. The person you’re talking to says, “I need to x.” And you say, “I can help you with x.” This is why you don’t want a set sales script where you just read something off.
By the way, this is why you want to be able to respond and engage to exactly what the person’s saying to you. Or the person says maybe, “I have a four year old son.” And just naturally you’re like, “So do I.” But the person says, “It just feels like I’m on this hamster wheel but I’m not actually getting anywhere in my business.” And you say, “I remember exactly how that feels.” So, you really don’t need the perfect hook statement or concise delivery at this point.
You need to be a human that they can relate to and trust, that can help them create different results. You need to show them how they’ll get those results. That’s it. Now, let’s talk about the people at the other end of the spectrum. These people are called traffic, people that you would advertise to, or they just came across you some other way like through SEO or a hashtag strategy and they don’t know you at all. Just like the frosting on your cake your messaging needs to be extra, extra sweet, extra tight.
You need to know these people inside and out if you’re going to be able to get through to them and they’re not right in front of you giving you all of this great information and clues. And then somewhere in the middle of those two groups are people that you could maybe be speaking to in a Facebook group. Or maybe you both took a course or a certification together or something and so they don’t know you personally. They’re not hearing the intonation of your voice but there is some level of trust.
And what I see so often when people come to me and they’ve been struggling, they say something like, “You know, I’ve been blogging for a year, I’ve been being and consistent. I’ve been putting it out there.” I mean that was my own experience blogging for a year. Or, “I’ve been running Facebook Ads, I’ve been showing up in Facebook groups consistently. I’ve been posting on Instagram every day. Why aren’t people knocking on my door?”
Well, it’s because you’re speaking to people that are too far removed from you. And your language isn’t tight enough yet for them to feel compelled to action. It will be, you’ll get there. But in the meantime, you need to make a decision. Do you want to keep doing what you’ve been doing or do you want some clients? Because if the answer is clients, you need to shift your strategy so that your efforts are focused on people one step closer to you or they’re focused on quickly getting people as close to you as possible.
You need to think about how you can actually get into a really human interaction with people. The same with my entrepreneurs that have bigger businesses. If your messaging is falling flat you need to get personal again just for a little bit. Go back and listen to my episode on Knowing Your People 101 and Five Steps to Nail Your Messaging. Even if you’re using the exact copy from a funnel that used to be successful, your audience might have become more sophisticated. Yes, you need to personally engage in your business to take it to the next level.
And I know, we don’t want to, our brain doesn’t want to reach out and engage with strangers. We want to hide behind our computer screens with this call me maybe kind of language. Because our brains don’t like discomfort. Expect that. It doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. It means you’re human. When my brain starts whining, but I’m an introvert, maybe there’s another way. Just do this other thing first. I should be past this by now.
That doesn’t mean I stop doing what’s best for me, my brain also wants to drink half a bottle of wine every night but I don’t unless I’m in Italy ha-ha. Now, sometimes people are attracted to my work because they love the idea of doing all this self-exploration and finding their secret source and they’ll never have to interact with a human because they’ll just put it up somewhere and clients will just flow in.
Now, the work we do does greatly accelerate the process of creating resonance, no doubt, and on a much deeper level than anything you’ve learned in some kind of persuasion copy course. But you still have to test your ideas and tweak them. And I recommend doing that with real humans. It’s by far the fastest and most informative way. It will spark so much great thought leadership which helps you create your blue ocean. And because of what I’m explaining here, it also ends up being the most lucrative thing to do when you have a smaller business.
So here are the action steps if you’ve been struggling to find clients, get sales calls, or meet your revenue goals. First take an overview look of your client getting strategy. How much of your focus is being spent on activities where your clients are further away? And how could you reprioritize and bring that a little closer? If you’ve been posting on Instagram maybe you could send an email to your friends or colleagues saying, “Hey, this is what I’m doing. These are the kinds of people I’m working with. Do you know anyone that would need this help?”
Or maybe you want to spend less time on Instagram and more time going to meetups or networking events, or coffee chats where there are the kinds of people you’re looking for and you can just listen and respond to what they’re saying. Let them know there are ways through what they’re experiencing and offer to get on a call and talk about it more. It’s so simple.
If you’ve been focusing your efforts on a semi warm audience like showing up on Instagram or a Facebook group, instead of just posting and putting information out there where you need your copy to be tighter, what can you do to get people on a call? The order’s kind of like this, in person is best. They can pick up on your energy more directly. Then a video call where you’re interacting directly with them. Then a live webinar where you can interact with them via chat but at least they can see or hear you.
Then some other form of video. There’s no interaction but they can see or hear you. Then some form of audio like a podcast. And finally, the written word. Way too many of you are spending way too much time with the written word and wondering why you aren’t getting results. All you have to do is back it up a little. So, the biggest bang for your buck, the quickest way to bring on clients is going to be through a conversation. What can you do to facilitate that?
You might be wondering, what if I don’t have much of a following yet and the Facebook groups all say no promotion, then what do I do? I would challenge you to get creative. I have a friend who does free in person events at local libraries. There are so many ways to do this. But even if we just focus on the easiest Facebook groups, those are the easiest because you know the kinds of people hanging out in them and it’s very searchable and very easy to get to.
A lot of groups offer free promotion days and so you can just put it out there. You can just say, “Hey, are you having trouble with x? I can help. This is what I do. Maybe here’s some social proof. I’m opening up a couple of spots to help people through this. Here’s why. Here’s what you’ll get out of it. If you’re interested, comment below or message me.” We go into more detail with this strategy in the Clarity Accelerator for people that want to explore this and personalize it to you and what you’re doing but that’s the gist of it.
It's really being a human but let’s say there are some groups that don’t allow promotion. They often will have a thread on a certain day of the week and you can offer a free call then. And even if they don’t allow promotion there are still ways. Get creative, be a human, strike up a conversation like you would in person and then move from there. And if you’re thinking, I would never do that. I would much rather drive them to a webinar or something. That’s fine, you can totally do that.
My clients build their businesses all sorts of ways because it’s never about the specific tactics. It’s about stuff like this, understanding the underlying dynamics of what creates resonance. But I will say, if you’re not currently booked out with clients then we need to talk. Because there is a mindset issue that is dragging down your growth, if you’re not willing to speak to a person and tell them that you can help, or you’re being challenged with visibility issues.
Alright, the first action step was evaluate your efforts and see where you can shift to more in person higher converting strategies. So, the second action step then is to think up a free offer, that’s something your clients really, really would love and would really help them to see that the end result they want is absolutely possible. Nowadays people don’t usually jump and raise their hands if you offer a free coaching call. But if you can offer something they really want, maybe some kind of specific result and they find it enticing enough, they will.
This is one of the things I teach inside the Clarity Accelerator is how to create a mini offer like this that aligns with you and leads your people to get on a call with you and makes sense for them to then continue working with you. And they will feel lucky to get on a call with you, this is possible. I remember when I was doing this, people would say, “Oh my God, I was just asking the universe for this and then it just appeared. I couldn’t even believe that you were offering this.”
And then of course I also teach what it takes to move your ideal clients through to actually becoming a client. How to think that through before you even get on the call or eventually on a sales call if they’re interested in learning more about what you do. Because the beauty is that I’m going to be honest, not everybody hits this out of the park on their first go. But once you’ve been successful at this with just a few people, I’m saying three people, you all, you can scale that system. You can create a webinar with the same kind of information or a PDF lead magnet, whatever you want.
So instead of spending a ton on Facebook Ads to drive people to a webinar that they may or may not attend, that you may or may not be able to convert in, you’ve done the groundwork with real humans. And because you are on the phone with them, you know what questions came up for them. You know what objections came up for them.
You can tell that I’ve taught this before to real humans and I know the main concerns. Some of them are I wouldn’t know what to say in my post. Facebook groups won’t let me promote. I wouldn’t have a big enough following. And the big one, I don’t want to seem pushy or salesy. Let me tell you, and I’ll be doing a whole podcast on this at some point but salesy is an energy. When you’re like, “Hey, I’ve got this thing you can benefit from, here’s how, here’s what to do if you want it.” That’s not salesy. That’s offering them extreme value for free with no strings.
Yes, you heard me, no strings. If you do something like this, this mini offer strategy and your energy is, I need to turn them into a client, I need this. I’m not going to let them get away. No, don’t do that. What you want to be thinking is, this is so win, win. I am practicing my messaging here and they are giving me all of this great information and they’re going to get such great value, I can’t even believe I’m giving this for free. And we’re going to part friends. And who knows? Maybe they’ll go on to tell someone about me and that person will end up becoming a client.
I don’t know. I don’t know how this is going to work out. It doesn’t matter, I know it will. When you’re in that energy and you’re just excited to get on a call and talk with someone and practice this, and get their feedback, and help them move a step forward. I mean it’s just a beautiful value exchange.
I had a client the other day, she said, “It’s right and true.” I just loved that. It’s so beautiful. It’s right and true. So, when you’re thinking about this mini offer, give them a quick win. And there are different ways to do this. You could help them get a little bit of the way there so that they get excited and then maybe they want to take the rest of the journey with you. A classic example is maybe they want to lose 20 pounds and you help them lose the first two.
When I was doing this I was helping people figure out what kind of business they really wanted, basically what they wanted to coach on. Because they’d be far more excited about hiring a business coach to help them build out a business if they had landed on a business that was really connecting the dots of their life. So, it was very strategic for me to offer that and ‘give that away for free’ because I knew it would set them up to be in a position to want to move forward.
And they probably had had disbelief about how I’m not going to be able to figure this out or this is going to take me a long time to figure out. And then when I’m able to help them through that so quickly then they’re really excited, they’re in the energy of wanting to keep moving forward and continue that momentum. You can also serve somebody by giving them the pitfalls or showing them what they’re doing wrong.
This is very common. You’ll see people like web designers, social media people that will offer to do an audit. And that really shows them the gap between where they are and where they could be. That is very valuable. When you are doing things and you’re not quite sure if you’re doing it right or what could be improved, what could be optimized, that is hugely valuable. You could also offer to diagnose what the real problem is, what’s really going on for them. Or you could give them an overview to show them what’s really possible.
That’s what I used to promote on my webpage, I’d give people a personalized roadmap based on their business and based on their goals, how they can get from where they are to where they need to be. That’s a huge win for people that have been struggling with overwhelm and they’ve been thinking about how in the world they’re going to make it happen and doubting that it’s going to happen. I see you. And then you can say to them, “Hey, look, this is doable. You can do this.”
I hear you saying maybe you can’t because you’ve been trying x, y, z but that’s exactly what my clients and I used to think too but here’s what’s different. Here’s what you’re going to do, and by the way, don’t worry too much about giving away too much information because even if you tell somebody exactly what to do, it doesn’t mean they know how to apply it to their situation specifically, or that they’ll actually do it. Come on, how many podcasts have you listened to from business coaches sharing great ideas that you haven’t implemented?
How many courses have you bought and not implemented? Join the club. But there’s always a reason and this is why we invest with coaches, to get out of our own way. And you can even explain that to your person when you’re on the call. You can say, “Look, I’m giving you the roadmap but here’s what tends to happen afterwards.” That puts you in the role of expert because you can see into the future about what’s not even on their radar yet. And that’s how you create the opportunity for them to enquire about getting your support to create the results.
They want to trade money for support. They want to trade money for faster results. You aren’t twisting their arms. When I hired my parenting coach, I knew I could read a ton of books and learn good techniques. I didn’t want to do that. I’m busy with my business, plus I didn’t want all the cognitive dissonance of one person says to do it this way and another person says to do it that way. No, I wanted someone I trusted who knew all the things and had distilled down the best practices that actually worked to just give that to me and help me when I was feeling stuck, or confused, or getting in my way.
And once you’ve had a personal interaction like this with an ideal client and you’ve gotten them some kind of win, it’s very natural and easy for them to feel safe about going further with you. They may or may not, again there are no strings, but it makes sense that they would. Wouldn’t you?
So just to review, birthday cake, the least sweet is what’s closest to you and the sweetest is something that’s far away from you. So, the further your clients are from you, the tighter your copy needs to be. The sweeter the enticement. If you’re not converting where you are, your first step is to evaluate and see how you can move your efforts back down the metaphorical birthday cake. No shame, audiences change, you change or you’re just learning this, it’s all good. It doesn’t have to take forever, you’re not going to be there forever.
You’re looking for just three clients that you actually want to work with, who respond to the same kind of offer and then say yes to working with you using basically the same kind of sales conversation. And then you can move a step closer to the icing and try it there, do a webinar or an Instagram post, or a Facebook Ad, depending where you are. And if that doesn’t work, just question, what was it that made it work before? If it’s your warmth on the call or how relaxed or confident you are, how can you bring more of that into the webinar for instance?
And if you’ve gone back and seen that your messaging is still on point and you’ve evaluated and checked all the blocks then it’s probably a mindset thing. It might be an undisclosed fear, or an upper limit, or something that’s not aligned. We all go through this at all different stages of our business. But at least now you have a clear guide for what you need to be doing at this point in your business and where the hang-up most likely is. And if you’re earlier in your business, you know what to focus on now, what your strategy should be.
And the second step after evaluating is to reflect upon what your clients really want and then test out your offer, paying attention to what they need to hear in order to feel compelled and safe about moving forward. So, I hope that helped. I’ll see you next week. And remember, you know who you are and each day you’re moving further into what you’re here to create.
Hey, if you enjoyed today’s show, you do not want to miss next week’s. Seriously. Follow the show wherever you listen to your podcasts so you don’t miss an episode. And would you please leave a super quick rating and review about this episode? It’s how you’ll let me know what you liked and what you’re so curious about so I can create the most valuable content for you going forward, as well as how you’ll help other highly driven but slightly uncertain entrepreneurs, find this show and get the tools they need. Thank you so much.
Thanks for joining us here at The Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including the Clarity First Strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit theuncommonway.com. See you next time.
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Ep #10: 4 Types of Thinking That Keep You Playing Small
There are so many stories we hear about what happens when you don’t leave good enough alone, or when you strive for more. But there are also so many stories of regrets from not stretching ourselves and going after something we want. We have to question our thoughts and beliefs and start taking action from an empowered place, and this week, I’m showing you how to get started.
Join me this week as I share 4 types of thinking that will cloud your decisions and keep you playing small. Learn how these 4 types of thinking can show up and what you can do about them, and how to start making empowered decisions from a clean place.
When we are evaluating where we are and thinking about where we want to go in the future, there are two places that our brains tend to go: where I am is not acceptable and I need to make a change, or maybe where I am is fine and it’s good enough. Today, I’m speaking to the latter.
There are so many negative stories we hear about what happens when you don’t leave good enough alone. But there are also many stories of regret from not stretching ourselves and going after something we want. That’s why we have to question our thoughts and beliefs and start taking action from an empowered place, and this week I’m showing you how to get started.
If you know you have a ceiling holding you back, but don’t know what it is or how to bust through it, I can help you, my friend. You don’t have to stay in the land of “what ifs” any longer. I am opening up a spot for a 1:1 private client and I would love for us to get to know each other. If you are ready to follow the nudge, click here to schedule a call with me, I can’t wait to talk to you.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
Why having a pros and cons list isn’t always helpful in your decision-making and can stifle your creativity.
How false dichotomies can keep you stuck and indecisive.
What happens when you catch yourself in black and white thinking.
A simple question you can ask yourself if you find yourself in victim thinking.
Where imposter syndrome comes from.
Some tips to help you make empowered decisions.
Why you can be grateful for what you have in life AND be excited for more.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
Want to work with me? Click here to find out how!
Click here to sign up for my newsletter and find out how the Connect The Dots Method has helped clients in all stages of their business.
If you would like help getting clear on what you are offering and how to talk about it, you have to join us in The Clarity Accelerator. It’s 60 of the best-spent days you’ll ever have, and you’ll get my eyes on your business and your messaging helping you dial all this in. There’s a spot available for September, so click here to schedule a call with me as soon as possible to learn more.
Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes content from my trip to Italy as well as my daily value bombs!
Into the Unknown – song from Frozen 2
Full Episode Transcript:
There are two places our brains tend to go when you evaluate where you are, or you're thinking about the future. Number one, where I am is not acceptable. I don't like this; I need something better. And then, there's also, where I am is so good. Why don't I stay with good enough. And today, I'm speaking to the second one. If you're not there now, you likely will be at some point.
I'll be outlining four types of thinking to look out for, because they will cloud your decisions and keep you playing small. Not because I want you to choose any specific course of action, I cannot know what's best for you, but so that you can make the decision from a clean place. Rather than through a filter that might not be serving you. And therefore, you can move more powerfully from a more grounded place whatever your course of action.
I'll show you how these four common types of thinking show up and what to do about them.
You're listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the only podcast that helps you unlock your next level in business and life, by prioritizing your clarity and your own Uncommon Way. You will learn to maximize your mindset, mission, messaging, and strategy in order to create a true legacy. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed overanalyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Hey, welcome back to The Uncommon Way. when you hear this, on the day that this is dropping, I'll be on a plane to Italy. So, we made a commitment a few years ago, that we would spend a month every year somewhere in the Mediterranean with our son, Dylan.
Traveling is a very important value for us. We really want him to grow up never even remembering when he started to travel, and always being very comfortable in different cultures and used to seeing different perspectives and points of view.
So, we made this decision, and then we did spend one month in Greece, several years ago, a couple years ago, I guess. And then, COVID. So, we are now resuming operations, and it's very, very exciting. The Mediterranean is definitely my happy place.
But it's a little difficult, too. I mean, it's a logistic endeavor to move the family over there. And like, as a matter of fact, at the time of this recording, we still don't have a dog sitter for our puppy, Sky. So, there are a few things that still need to fall into place, lots of packing that needs to happen, all the things. And I admit, there's that little voice in my head that says; aren't we good? You know, September's nice here in Pennsylvania.
I just love the fact that my life seems to tie in so perfectly for the topic each week, that I had planned. So, we're going to kind of be dissecting the things that lead to that type of thinking. That lead to the ‘Is this good enough? Aren't we good?’ type of thinking, just so that we can move forward from a clean place.
Because sometimes you do decide to stay exactly where you are, or to repeat what you've done, or whatever it will be, but you do it from this powerful place, when you have really analyzed the question from a few different viewpoints.
And by the way, if you're not following me on Instagram, do that right now. Open up your app; I'm @theuncommonway. And not only will I be posting behind the scenes, Italy pics, which will be fun, but I'm putting out little 60 second value bombs that are completely independent from what I'm doing here at the podcast. I’m doing that daily, so you don't want to miss it. And honestly, I’d just like to get to know you, that would be so fun. So please, do say “Hi.”
And now, I would love to give a listener shout out. So, this one is Northyo. The title’s so enigmatic; she wrote or he wrote, “When the Universe sends me…” and then I don't know what it is; sends me things, sends me this. Super curious, but Apple’s® not showing me the full title.
But what Northyo wrote is, “She is so clear and totally knows her audience…aka me. Her episodes are so approachable and concise as to my problem AND the solution which are so doable. These episodes are exactly what I needed. Thank you!”
Thank you, so much. That is absolutely what I want is for this to be very, very doable. And you to be able to take the action, gain the clarity, and move forward with the amazing things you're meant to do in the world. If you haven't left a review yet, totally get it. We're all busy. Maybe you had kids that are just now going back to school. But I would so appreciate if you could find the time to do that. Even as you're listening to this episode.
You just look for the show, The Uncommon Way, and then scroll down to the reviews and the ratings. I'd love to know what you think, what you liked, what you'd like more of, what you have questions about. So, that we can really form this podcast into what we want it to be, together.
Okay, let's get down to business. So, the first type of thinking is black-and-white thinking. I had a client that came to me with a very successful seven figure e-comm business, and she was thinking about shutting it all down. Which is not unusual for my people, right?
A lot of us, not necessarily her, but a lot of people, you know, move forward and build something out of hustle. They think they just, you know, find an opportunity in the market, and they really just want more freedom, they want to leave corporate, all the things.
And then they get there, and they realize that they have this question inside of them about; is this really what I want to be doing? Right? Or, maybe that was what I wanted to be doing, but now I'm being called to something else. So, she had so many pros and cons for each course of action, that really got impossible to compare. And that, is when you reach gridlock.
So, if you haven't yet, go back and listen to the episode called The Decision Tree, it talks about how we're taught to make decisions, in this pro and cons kind of way, compare and contrast kind of way. And, it really can just stifle our creativity.
Because what if it's not either/or? What if it's yes, and? Or there's some shades of grey in between? There might be something in between, you shut down the one and launch the other, or you do nothing. Maybe there's something in between all of that. Maybe there was a way for her to incorporate what she was being called to do, into the company she already had.
I remember this type of thinking myself, when I was a yo-yoing with whether or not to leave corporate. My thinking was either I'm grateful with where I am, and I don't want anything more out of life. Or, I'm ungrateful, and I want change. But no, right? That type of thinking was blocking me from seeing that you can be grateful and be excited for more.
This shows up with coaches in the Clarity Collective who feel conflicted with; either I have to run my business this way. Or, this other way. These kinds of false dichotomies, keep you stuck and indecisive. Or, they feed your confirmation bias, where you become more and more entrenched that your way of being is the right way.
So, we really go at this head-on in the Clarity Collective, because we are creating your uncommon way of doing business. You don't want to be all one way or another. You want to stay in that curiosity and playfulness. And you want to do, you. So, what happens when you catch yourself in this black-and-white thinking?
I'm going to use an analogy from my yoga teacher days. In the same way that you develop flexibility in your body, you want to develop flexibility in your brain. So, for that you need to stretch in the opposite direction than what you've been doing, to build a muscle.
So, if a runner came to my class, and they had been really pumping with their legs, then we would want to stretch the hamstrings in an opposite direction. Instead of contracting, were expanding and stretching. And we can do that with our brain, as well. If you've been thinking in one way, practice stretching it, just for the fun, of it in the other direction. Don't let it stop where it wants to stop.
Keep questioning; what if? Is that true? How is the opposite true? All right, that was black-and-white thinking, let's move on to future perfect thinking. This is where you think that if you just continue what you're doing, everything will be great.
So, this is where you get all of that worry about; I'm afraid of messing things up. Right? Things are really pretty amazing, why would I disrupt this? When is it ever going to be good enough? Is this some kind of self-sabotage, that I'm even considering this?
I've seen this show up for my clients as; I don't want to break anything in my business. I'm not going to change anything. They forget that they create the results. And instead, they're outsourcing those results to a process or to a platform. And so, in their mind, if they continue with that process or that platform, they have this clear, perfect vision of the future. That's why we call it future perfect thinking.
So, the brain is believing it will stay safe and insulated, and can safeguard happiness if it just continues with where it is. Now, brains have evolved with a bias towards this; let's stay right here in this cave and everything will be fine. But we know there are no guarantees.
A bunch of poisonous scorpions could push their way through the little crevices in your cave, right? Or, your account on that platform get shut down. The truth is, it's just as possible that things can go south if you don't do anything differently than if you do. We don't want to make decisions based solely on a future we can't predict. You also need to think about what you want and what is right for you. What makes sense at this point in your life, this juncture in your life.
Now, I have suffered from all sorts of variations of this kind of thinking. Like I mentioned, feeling guilty about wanting to leave corporate. Or, fear that if things got too good, the other shoe was going to drop. I have this vivid memory of driving Dylan home, he was in the car seat in the back, I think he was about two, maybe one.
We would pass by a Ronald McDonald House™, and at the time, in my head, I was working on some sort of like, visioning or goal setting and I was really thinking into my future. And you know, on the drive home, I was imagining, you know, what was coming around the corner.
We were at the stoplight, and this family was crossing the street in front of us, and their son was paraplegic. And I heard my brain, in that second, go, “Jenna, don't ask for too much.” Right? The thinking was, that I was somehow going to jinx the perfect, easy life, and that something really bad could happen if I push too far.
And I've heard this from many other women, as well. There's this fear, right, this upper limit, if things get too good, something else is going to crumble. And even recently, even though I work with people on the same thoughts every day, it came up for me.
I have, for a long time, I think my whole life, dreamed of adopting a little girl. But I have a lot of fear around it, too. Right now, the three of us have a really nice life. How will the dynamic change if I bring another child in? What if my relationship with Dylan is negatively affected? What if this child ends up having special needs, that greatly disrupt and challenge our lives?
My thinking at the time, was I can't apply the type of tools that I use with my clients for this particular situation, because it's just too big and important; lives are at stake. Right? I could ruin my husband's life, ruin my son's life, if I choose, I don't know, impetuously.
So, you can hear, kind of, the judgment involved in this, as well, the self-judgment. But luckily, my friend and an excellent coach, Laura Swartzbaugh, was pure coaching me on this. And she helped me see that really, there were no guarantees about this perfect future, if I didn't adopt the little girl. And there were of course, no guarantees about what will happen if I do.
Basically, there are no guarantees. And my brain could spin into all sorts of possibilities, negative or positive. But I can't know what'll happen. And so obviously, I need to lean into the decision that I want. Knowing that I'll figure it out, as I always have.
And by the way, adoption is not a simple process anymore. So, if anybody listening has any type of connection, or even advice for me, or knows of a mother that does want to adopt out their child, I'd be grateful if you would contact me. Because this is happening, one way or another.
So, this type of thinking is very pervasive. There are so many stories, you watch any Hollywood movie, or read any fairy tale, so many stories about what happens when you don't leave good enough alone, right? When you strive for more.
But there are also so many stories about regrets from not stretching, right? My favorite work of modern fiction, touching on this topic, is the animated Disney® film, Frozen II. It's the one where the song, Into the Unknown, comes from. Elsa keeps hearing this phantom call, and in this song she's basically like; I don't hear you; I don't hear you. I'm afraid of what will happen if I follow you into the unknown. Those are her exact words.
If you haven't seen the movie, that's your homework assignment. I was joking with a friend of mine, “Well, no need for me to coach anymore. I can just tell my clients go watch this movie.” It's amazing, huge props to Jennifer Lee, who's behind these Disney films. I mean, what she's done for little girls and boys around the world with the storytelling, is really amazing.
Especially compared to all the Disney damsels in distress that I grew up with; the sleeping beauties and Rapunzels. I mean, these are complex themes, right? When is it good enough? How do I know if I should listen to that call? This is the work that all of us are doing, you and me.
Anyway, what do you do when you find yourself in this thinking? My advice is to at least get yourself to 50/50. Imagine both, a positive and negative outcome, for doing nothing. And, a positive and negative for the change. Have this kind of conversation with your brain to bring some emotional neutrality. And then, an extra pro tip, is to just really like your reasons.
So, one of the exercises that I recommend is: Imagine that you are talking to your granddaughter, years from now, about this point in your life. How are you telling the story of the decision you made? How do you feel about that decision? What were your reasons that really made you be able to tell this story with pride, as you're sitting with her?
All right, we've talked about black-and-white thinking, we talked about future perfect thinking. Now, let's go into self-limiting thinking. Which is I'm not going to go after that thing, because it wouldn't work anyway. This is where impostor syndrome comes from.
Or, too many other people are doing it. People wouldn't want to learn about it from me. I'm not ready yet, right? I'm not ready to start a podcast, yet. I don't want to reach out to that influencer. Nobody would pay me that much. We are all familiar with these, we all have these thoughts. on the daily.
And so, what we do when we don't take action, because of this kind of thinking, is that we fail in advance. Rather than actually trying and feel the shame of failing, we just don't take action. And we actually get the same result.
I remember my dad once, was mentoring a young man. My dad was a former Navy pilot. And this young man also wanted to go into the military, but he really was riddled with this kind of self-limiting thinking. About how, you know, why even bother? It was going to be such a hassle to apply. Probably wasn't going to get in anyway.
And my dad just said to him, “Well, if you don't make it in, then you'll just be exactly where you are right now. So, you have nothing to lose, you might as well do it.” And that young man has been happily serving for many years, as an Air Force pilot.
Sometimes we just need to get out of our way, and give the thing a try. So, the solution you're working yourself into, the action taking, is to gather contrary evidence. If you haven't listened to last week's Episode #8, How to Surpass What Your Brain Thinks Is Possible, go back and I give more detail on this.
But the truth is, you don't really need evidence, you just need belief. If you think about the famous story of Roger Bannister running the four-minute mile, nobody had done it before him. And he had no proof therefore, that anyone could do it. He wasn't gathering evidence of people doing this thing. But he just believed he could do it. And, he believed it enough until he made it a reality. And then, so many other people did it too.
So, this is of course, why we have coaches, why we have unbiased people that can help us question everything. This is why in the Clarity Accelerator, we start each module with a mindset topic, specifically addressing what we'll be doing in that module, so that we don't get stuck in these traps. And it's why every week, we are coaching on these topics.
We've got to question our thoughts and beliefs. We've got to get ourselves out of autopilot. We spend so much of our lives like this, driving down the street, and you don't really know if that light you passed was red or green; you just drove on autopilot.
So, stick around for the solution that's coming up, for the fourth way of thinking, because it also applies to this one. And that fourth way of thinking, is victim think. I'm powerless, because… Because of all this overwhelm, there's no way that I can do this. Because of these life events, there's no way that I can do this. I would love to do this. I could definitely do this. But there are all these reasons that I can't do it, outside of me.
But again, kind of taking this Roger Bannister example, what if you knew that every single woman starts a business while breastfeeding. That's just an example. I'm not saying that you should start a business while breastfeeding. From personal experience, it can be done. And so many other things can happen, too.
I mentioned that I was at my mastermind retreat a week ago, and there was a woman there who is building her business. She's a humanitarian, ex-humanitarian worker, but now, in her off time, she still contributes to the causes that she feels are most in need. And so, she is currently in the Ukraine, building her business. Starting up her coaching business, while contributing to relief efforts from the ground, in Ukraine.
And she just shared that example about how really, we can do so much more than we give ourselves credit for anyone. Anyone who would say you can't build a business in a war zone, she's like; actually, it can be done. So again, there's no judgement about what you decide to do. You are the driver of your life. This is just about making the cleanest decisions.
So, very simple question you can ask yourself, if you catch yourself in this type of thinking is; if accomplishing this from where I am now, we're pretty normal, how would I be thinking about it? How would I be making it happen? If I were guaranteed success, what I want to do this now?
So, I've walked you through four types of thinking that keep you playing small; you want to be on the lookout for these. If you're thinking; maybe where I am is good enough; maybe I don't really want to rock the boat. Those modes of thinking are black-and-white thinking, future perfect thinking, self-limiting thinking, and victim think.
Each of them is completely normal, we all do them. And we all need to snap out of them, so that we can make our best decisions. Like, let's not make decisions based on a brain tick. We can still make smart and calculated decisions that are also in alignment with what we actually want. Because while part of our brain wants to keep us safe, there's another impulse within us, too, right?
It's the one that's led mankind is spread out to every corner of the globe, to cross oceans, to go to the moon. Our souls seek expansion, just like the universe keeps expanding. That's part of us, just as much as our safety impulses. That's the part that says, and what else? And, there's more.
Now, just like the seasons, there is always a time to rest. Rest is what regenerates us and prepares us. But I believe that is seasonal, rather than permanent. Especially if you've found your way to me, or to the type of wisdom I've been exposed to. And I gotta tell you, staying still for too long probably isn't in the cards for you anyway; expansion is inevitable.
You can't silence it. Now, there's no rush, but the natural evolution of your soul is towards its greatest expression, which includes your leadership, your visibility, and abundance in every realm. If you're pulled to that way of thinking, it's because you're here to accelerate your evolution in this lifetime.
And you're not alone. So many women are being called to overturn millennia of disempowerment, repression, scarcity, all in this generation. That's no small feat. But we're doing it, aren't we? Together.
All right, my friends. That's it for this week. On a certain level, you know who you are. And every day you are stepping further into what you are here to create.
If you know that you have some sort of ceiling that is holding you back, but you just don't know what it is or how to bust through it. And you're dying to see what's on the other side, I can help you with that, my friend. You do not have to stay in the land of what ifs, any longer. I've come up against my own limitations and then broken my brain about what is actually possible, over and over.
You can listen to Episode 6 for some of my story, but I've surprised the hell out of myself, repeatedly. And I've helped my clients do it, too. This goes way beyond business coaching. Repeatedly, my clients have said things like, “You are so much more than just a business coach. You're better than my therapist. I've been in therapy for 20 years, and I've never gotten the kind of transformation that I have with you.”
And it's interesting, because I, myself, have been doing EMDR lately, with my own therapist. And I'm like; huh, I've been doing some of this kind of stuff with my clients. I just didn't know what it was called. I just intuitively knew that that's what was needed to get us our results, in some situations.
Sometimes we need to go deep, and we need to support your nervous system as we do. This is just what I do, I quantum leap the healing and evolution of my clients. But what does it actually look like to move beyond that cap or ceiling and reimagine everything?
I'm talking, a 22-year-old, straight out of college and all unsure, who now runs a wildly successful business with massive impact. And, oh yes, just also happens to bring in multiple six figures. Because that is a natural byproduct of centering yourself, and then removing the ways that you hold yourself back.
Or, another woman who had been chained to a job with this codependent boss, who greatly underutilized her talents. Who then quit that job of over 20 years, and started earning just as much with just a few freelance clients. But taking back so much more time for herself, and exponentially increasing her joy in the process.
Or another, who sold consumables through the internet, hiding behind a screen. But had a calling to share everything she'd learned with other women; she just didn't know what that could look like. And when she described it to me, I said without missing a beat; oh, you're going to turn your company into a spiritual lifestyle brand. And, it was instant clarity for her. Scary as hell, but instant knowing.
Once you see it, you can't unsee it. Or me, who sat in confusion for two decades only to now become the flippin’ queen of clarity. Are you kidding me? The me of only seven years ago, would have laughed out loud with that one. Anything is possible, my friends. And, the residual effects become almost more exciting than even the goal that we start out with.
Transforming your body, because you're no longer suppressing all of your disappointment with food. Or, ditching the loser boyfriend, because your own amazing worth becomes so glaringly obvious, that the partnership is now laughable. Or, moving cities or even countries, because when you untether your mind, you also untether your spirit.
If this type of complete makeover is calling to you, if you know this is your next work, I've got an invitation. I'm opening a spot for one private client. Typically, I constrain my private coaching to graduates of the Clarity Accelerator. But when I get a ping, I listen. My business is heavily guided by this knowingness. And this one is telling me to open up the spot; maybe for you.
Here's what we'll do together over six months:
We will cut out the years of confusion, frustration, unproductive, stuckness and huge investments that I have made, in order to figure out exactly what this process entails. So, that I can do it on repeat. We'll cut all of that out for you and just focus on these four simple things.
Number one, we are going to do a full inventory of where you are mentally. How do you think about your reality now? What are those beliefs and supposed circumstances that you've never even questioned? You think you just are the way you are? Think again?
Next, we'll question everything. Because you have to be willing to burn everything to the ground, in order to create what's even more extraordinary. I've loved watching Judd Apatow’s new documentary on HBO®, about the comedian George Carlin.
Because at the height of each point in his career, he would reinvent himself and step more fully into his own truth, leaving his current fans behind and willing to leave his current fans behind. But each time he just got more and more successful.
Third, we're going to construct your new identity, on purpose this time. How does she think? How does she see the world? What is she willing to receive that you aren't? And where's the disconnect right now? What's really holding you back? What aren't you willing to feel to get to the other side?
This is where many people stumble. They spend all their mental energy hanging out in the past, and let that past drive their actions, so they end up creating the same results over and over. We are not; we're going to create from your future.
And if you worry that you won't be able to, because you can't really even envision it, or you don't quite know what you want, don't worry. When you sign up for this work, when you commit with full seriousness, the universe conspires to get you focused.
And lastly, we're going to build it. We are going to create. We are going to take this beautiful vision out of the abstract, and turn it into concrete reality. This will not be a comfortable process. Most of the world holds themselves back from greatness, because they don't want to do the scary things.
Now, you'll have a different perspective by this point. You're going to think about reality and possibilities, from a much different place by the time we get here. But that will not let you escape discomfort. It won't help you escape your human brain that’s saying, “Nuh-uh. That’s too much. Changed my mind. Things are really pretty good right here, in the status quo.”
This is for you if you are a seven-or-six-figure earner, or perhaps near six figures. And I am happy to coach on business topics, because I don't think you can separate business and life. Entrepreneurship is the number one personal development journey. But the focus will be on transforming you, so that your world can mirror your transformation.
The right candidate has already accomplished some pretty amazing things in life. You have a history of challenging yourself. You know you're 100% capable. And, you know it's time to take it to the next level.
This level, these ideas you've been toying with, they feel a little different this time, don't they? And you're right, they are. Otherwise, you would have already done the damn thing. Come on, we know who we're dealing with. But your life has brought you here, specifically, so that you can be challenged, with the exact situations and decisions you're being challenged by.
It's not easy. But on the other side is the accomplishment; the sense of rightness, the arrival, the relief, the wealth, the joy, the connections, the peace of mind, the impact that you were born for.
It's simple to apply; you just head to my website or to the link in the description, schedule a call, and we'll get to know each other. I will be able to pinpoint, right then and there, the main things that have been keeping you stuck. And, you will know by the end of our call if this is for you or not.
I really get excited about these conversations, regardless of whether someone's coming to me for coaching or I'm applying to work with a coach, because they are always so clarifying. They always produce ah-ha’s.
And oh, by the way, if you're feeling a little bit nervous about the idea of a complete makeover, just know that you are always in control. You get to keep what you want to keep about your life, and up-level what you want to improve.
This is a serious multiple five-figure investment, where we're going to spend six months shattering your own glass ceiling. So that you can step fully into the potential of who you're really meant to be, at this point in your life. Once the spot is gone, it's gone.
Again, you'll find a link right here in this episode description. So, you can follow the nudge and book your call right away.
Hey, if you enjoyed today’s show, you do not want to miss next week’s. Seriously. Follow the show wherever you listen to your podcast, so you don’t miss an episode. And would you please, leave a super quick rating and review about this episode?
It’s how you’ll let me know what you liked and what you’re still curious about, so that I can create the most valuable content for you, going forward. As well as how you’ll help other highly-driven but slightly uncertain entrepreneurs find this show, and get the tools they need.
Thank you so much.
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Thanks for joining us here at The Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including the Clarity for Strategy for Growing and Scaling Your Business, visit TheUncommonWay.com. See you next time.
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Ep #9: What We Get Wrong When We’re Unclear
There is a huge misunderstanding that happens every time we’re unclear about something, but perspective is powerful. With the one small perspective shift that I’m sharing with you this week, you can unlock so many of the benefits already available to you and develop the clarity you want.
Can you imagine how differently you would feel and act if you believed that you had all the clarity you need to get the results you want in your business? When you take that leadership stance in your brain, you’ll be amazed at what happens when it comes to clarity.
There is a huge misunderstanding that happens every time we’re unclear about something, but perspective is powerful. With the one small perspective shift that I’m sharing with you this week, you can unlock so many of the benefits already available to you and develop more clarity than you realize you have.
This week, I’m giving you something short and sweet that packs a punch. Discover what we get wrong when we’re unclear, the reason a change in perspective can be so powerful, and a practical example to help you get clear on this. I’m showing you how to stop striving and start arriving, and how to use one specific sentence to obtain the clarity you desire.
If you know you have a ceiling holding you back, but don’t know what it is or how to bust through it, I can help you, my friend. You don’t have to stay in the land of “what ifs” any longer. I am opening up a spot for a 1:1 private client and I would love for us to get to know each other. If you are ready to follow the nudge, click here to schedule a call with me, I can’t wait to talk to you.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
What a thought error is and how it might show up in your life (even if you don’t realize it’s an error!)
How to start believing that you have all the clarity you need within.
The reason it feels frustratingly elusive when your brain doesn’t offer the clarity you crave.
How realization always comes before results.
One simple perspective shift that can change everything for you.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
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Full Episode Transcript:
There's a huge misunderstanding that happens every time we're unclear. And I want to clear that up, once and for all, today. Because there are so many benefits available to us when we just make this one small perspective shift, that I'm about to share with you.
You're listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the only podcast that helps you unlock your next level in business and life, by prioritizing your clarity and your own Uncommon Way. You will learn to maximize your mindset, mission, messaging, and strategy in order to create a true legacy. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed overanalyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Hey you, welcome back to The Uncommon Way, I am just coming back myself from my own mastermind. And, there's just no substitute for getting out of your own head, getting a different perspective, changing up your environment. And really being surrounded by high-level thinking, and a bunch of other women that are ambitious and absolutely making amazing things happen.
It's kind of like when you brush your teeth with your left hand rather than your right, if you're right-handed, obviously, just that act alone can inspire new thoughts and new ways of thinking. And, perspective is actually a topic for today.
So, this was leading into something but first, I really want to say thank you to a listener. So, this is a review from Geraldine Mock. And she says, “Hey, Jenna, I've been catching up on your podcasts the last couple of days. As a new coach, I find your content really helpful and thought provoking for me. Clarity is needed at every step of the way, indeed. And thanks for reminding me that I need to craft my messaging in a way that connects with my people and meet them where they are. Would love to hear more about building a business without having to rely on social media.”
So, I love that because I've been asking for your topics, for your feedback on what's working, what's not working, so that we, as founding members of this podcast, can create something really different and special. So, I can absolutely see why that would be interesting to someone starting out, to just hear about even the possibility of having a business that doesn't rely on social media. So, thank you, Geraldine Mock, I will absolutely do an upcoming episode talking just about that.
But today, what I want to talk about, is what we get wrong when we are unclear. Because usually, how we feel is that there's this stuckness and we can't do anything about it. At least that's how I felt when I was in my two decades lacking clarity. And then, when I was building my business, as well. So, there was a lot of beating myself up, a lot of ugh, why isn't this working? And I hear this over and over again from my clients, so I know it's not just me.
And really, what's going on in these moments, is a thought error. So, a thought error is just when you're thinking something, and that thought is not actually producing the results you want. And it's not necessarily even accurate. So, it's a just something that your brain comes up with. It's just a sentence in your brain to describe your perception. And it feels so real in the moment, but it's not.
Now, you might be saying, Jenna, no, I really am unclear about this thing. And I just want you to know, I am not dismissing your experience at all, that is 100% what's going on for you. But what's driving that situation is the way you're thinking. So, I'll go into more detail, of course, but here's the bluff.
That's a military term, it means the bottom-line up front; you can choose clarity, it is available to you. That's right. Clarity is a choice. So, you think that clarity is something outside you or it's not available to you right now. Maybe it's something that you need, in order to inspire you or to make things clear. We think, oh, if I give it time, right, the time is outside of me, if I give it time, that is what will get me clear.
Or, if I try this other thing, right, then that will force everything to click. Right, maybe that's the funnel, or this new hashtag strategy, or the copywriter. But those things are all outside of you, so they never work.
I have so many friends that are ad experts and copywriters and they just love my clients. My clients make great testimonials for them. Because when other people come to them, they're expecting miracles and they don't really have the underlying clarity, so the copywriter’s like, I got nothing. Right? How do you expect me to know your people better than you, and who those people actually are?
But when my clients are able to come with something really meaty, and then you turn that into a Facebook® ad, or then you work with a copywriter, right, magic can happen, and it makes such great testimonials for them. And it all starts with a sentence: My clarity is within. And, it's just like changing your perspective.
It's changing your perspective from, I can't get clear, to, my clarity is within, my clarity is here. And perspective can be so powerful. Like today, I was dropping my son off for his last day of preschool; sniff. And I noticed that it gave me just this instant clarity about what really matters. All of a sudden, I was so focused on every moment, every step, every smile from his teachers, every sweet little look, all the things that he's learned to do; we go straight to wash his hands.
And just thinking back to this first day there, and comparing it to now, it made every moment so special. But just a couple days ago, I didn't have that perspective right then. I was thinking about how much I needed to do today, how long he'd been stalling to get into the car, how rushed for time I was; dammit, why can't he just, you know, move forward?
So, it was the exact same motions that I was going through, but with totally different awareness. It's like a remembering, right? It's like realizing what was there, and you just weren't quite seeing it in that way. But when your brain is not offering up this clarity within, it can feel so frustratingly elusive, right? Like this big tangle of thoughts and ideas. And, you just want someone who can take all the confusion and like transmute it into something.
There's, I think we have this concept of coal turning into a diamond. Like, here's the coal and if we just apply the pressure, right, then we're going to somehow untangle all these chemical bonds, and it's going to coalesce into this beautiful, clear crystalline structure, where all the light can flow through. And I'm telling you, that transmutation doesn't happen until you first open the door to knowingness. Realizations always come before results.
So, this is what we get wrong. We think clearer, just means a lack of confusion. But really clear is a state of being. So, clarity is the emanating of that state of clear. The being state of clarity is what allows the mental state of clarity. It's crazy. I know. But it's a chicken and the egg thing. Luckily, like I said, All it takes is that shift in perspective.
Here's a practical example. When I get into that space of confusion, because I do, right, this is what brains do. My brain steps back into confusion, back into thinking the answer is something I need outside of me. But when I finally catch that happening, I remind myself; Oh, no, I absolutely know what to do. Right?
Or, oh, no, I absolutely know who my people are. Or, oh, no, I know how to solve this. And it's like the voice in your head with the most conviction wins. It is amazing. It silences all the other voices. They're like; Oh, we do? This is something that I learned from my coach, Stacey Boehman. And it was one of those truth bombs, that I was like; I've got to try this out. And it worked.
So, when you take that leadership stance in your brain, you'd be amazed what can happen, especially with clarity. So often, the brain is like; alright, she's really doing it, right. She's really hiring the coach, she's really going to sit down now in this podcast interview, I might as well offer up the truth, right, I might as well make this available to her now. Because an even stronger driver would be her falling flat on the face, right? I don't want that.
What the brain really wants is just for you not to take the step in the first place, not to step into the light, right? It wants you to stay in that comfort zone of, exactly what is working and what's not working in that moment for you. But when you raise the stakes, when you start acting as if, there's amazing shifts that can happen.
These thought errors, this misguided perspective is why so many new businesses fail. It's that energy of; this isn't working. I don't know what to do. I don't know what they want. This is too hard. It's all driven by the primitive brain that wants you to stay exactly where you are, and live no more and no less than your current life.
And that keeps us from seeing the solutions available to us, the opportunities available to us, to figuring it out, to getting the support, to creating momentum from that place. Just imagine how differently you'd be feeling and acting if you believed; my clarity is right here. I know exactly who I am. I know who my people are. I know what they want. I know what they're dying to hear. I know why I'm the best person to help them. I may not see it in this instance.
But it's a heartbeat away, it's just going to click, because that is exactly what happens. Right? It'll be when you're in the shower then, or when you're taking your dog for a walk, I swear, that's where I get my inspiration. Once the door is open, the light starts to trickle through. Sometimes, it happens like you've opened the floodgates. And other times, it's that little drip, and then the next one, and the next one that lets you know, it's happening, it's working.
The more you experience this in your body, the more willing you are to start making these declarations in your mind, to start believing it always has been there. And that all that's going on right now, is that your brain is obscuring the truth. If you really believed that, if, instead of talking right now, I had given you some pill, and then when you take that pill, you just are in my brain, you absolutely believe the things that I believe.
How much differently do you show up? What risks are you willing to take? What courage and resources do you suddenly find within? How committed are you to doing what it takes? How worthy do you feel of being in the room of taking up space of being visible? Of hiring the right support, of surrounding yourself with the best people, of taking a fucking break for once?
You're not spending all that mental energy, like trying to push the rock up the hill, you're already at the top of the hill. It all changes, when you change. And that's when the results start happening, and faster than makes any logical sense. Because clarity doesn't live in the land of logic. It lives in the knowingness, the tapping in, the insight. That is when you stop striving and start arriving. And that's available to you as soon as you're open to receiving it.
Alright, my friends, I wanted to give you something short that packed a punch. But with this little seed planted in your brain, let's just see what happens. And remember, on a certain level, you know who you are. And every day you're stepping further into what you're here to create.
Hey, if you enjoyed today’s show, you do not want to miss next week’s. Seriously. Follow the show wherever you listen to your podcast so you don’t miss an episode. And would you please, leave a super quick rating and review about this episode?
It’s how you’ll let me know what you liked and what you’re still curious about, so that I can create the most valuable content for you, going forward. As well as, you’ll help other highly driven but slightly uncertain entrepreneurs find this show, and get the tools they need. Thank you so much.
Thanks for joining us here at The Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including the Clarity for Strategy for Growing and Scaling Your Business, visit TheUncommonWay.com. See you next time.
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Ep #8: How to Surpass What Your Brain Thinks Is Possible
When we think about what’s possible, we have a bias toward what’s happened in the past and we use this to determine our future results and possibilities. We think that evidence creates belief, but the truth is that it is the other way around: belief creates evidence. And understanding this simple fact is the key to making a change and creating the results you desire in your life and business.
Do you ever feel like you need to see the evidence before you can truly believe in something? Do you ever think things like “When I start making more money, then I’ll know I can start investing in my business.” Or “When people engage with my social media, then I’ll know my content resonates?” Well, what would you say if I told you that kind of thinking just perpetuates more of the same results you’re already creating?
When we think about what’s possible, we have a bias toward what’s happened in the past and we use this to determine our future results and possibilities. This is how we’ve been taught, and how our brain naturally works. We think that evidence creates belief, but the truth is that it is the other way around: belief creates evidence. And understanding this simple fact is the key to making a change and creating the results you desire in your life and business.
We can’t just sit back and wait for evidence to build itself, we have to get out there and build it for ourselves. So this week, I’m helping you transform your relationship with possibility and showing you how to use it to start creating results you can only dream of. I’m showing you how to really ground in to see how to open yourself to the truth of what’s possible, and sharing two simple but effective practices you can do right now to change your beliefs and transform your life.
If you know you have a ceiling holding you back, but don’t know what it is or how to bust through it, I can help you, my friend. You don’t have to stay in the land of “what ifs” any longer. I am opening up a spot for a 1:1 private client and I would love for us to get to know each other. If you are ready to follow the nudge, click here to schedule a call with me, I can’t wait to talk to you.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
Why affirmations by themselves don’t work to create manifestation.
A very common fear among new coaches that’s completely baseless.
How to use this work to create what you want in life.
Why you shouldn’t look for the vanity metrics in business and what you should be looking for instead.
Two simple but transformative practices to build belief for something you don’t think is believable (They’re WAY more effective than ladder beliefs.).
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
Want to work with me? Click here to find out how!
Click here to sign up for my newsletter and find out how the Connect The Dots Method has helped clients in all stages of their business.
If you would like help getting clear on what you are offering and how to talk about it, you have to join us in The Clarity Accelerator. It’s 60 of the best-spent days you’ll ever have, and you’ll get my eyes on your business and your messaging helping you dial all this in. There’s a spot available for September, so click here to schedule a call with me as soon as possible to learn more.
Full Episode Transcript:
A lot of you, as coaches, know about ladder beliefs. You can start stepping into your belief by saying, “Maybe, someday, I'll believe it's possible that I could X,” and you can baby step your way closer, and closer, and closer over time, until you're at your full belief.
That's not what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about the very hard work, but very simple work, that I have my clients do, over and over and over again, to completely change their lives.
You're listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the only podcast that helps you unlock your next level in business and life, by prioritizing your clarity and your own Uncommon Way. You will learn to maximize your mindset, mission, messaging, and strategy in order to create a true legacy. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed overanalyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Hey, friends, welcome back to The Uncommon Way. I just got home from a morning walk with my puppy, Sky. We were just kind of meandering along the streams, looking up at the beautiful oak trees here, in Pennsylvania. I noticed this difference in the weather, this shift in that the really hot days of summer broke, and now we have this little bit of coolness in the air. And, there's not a cloud in the sky.
Just those changes in conditions, help this feeling of being completely limitless. You know what I'm talking about, right? You've been there. And so, I just knew that I had to come back and hop on the mic. We're doing this very extemporaneously, but I have a very ambitious goal; I want to transform your relationship with possibility.
Today, we're going to do that through talking about the mechanics of what creates our results. Also, really grounding into how we can open ourselves to the truth of what's possible. And from there, create new results. And I'm going to give you two key practices, they're very, very simple. But just doing these two things will absolutely transform your life. Before we get there, I did want to thank a podcast reviewer.
Okay, this is from NeighborLover, “I really enjoy this podcast! Jenna's voice is very pleasant to listen to (Thank you) and she speaks with relaxed authority. The way she combines mindset with tactics is quite effective because she DOESN’T GIVE TOO MANY TACTICS all at once. She gives just enough for them to feel doable. Jenna speaks about experience, potential pitfalls, and mindset shifts, and THEN sprinkles in enough tactics to make the podcast feel very valuable. I can't wait to listen to more.” Well, thank you, NeighborLover, for that review.
I think it really highlights how much we can do from these reviews, from this conversation that we have in the review section. Because I know from working with clients, that my clients like a combination of tactics and mindset. Do they like that in podcast form? I don't know. I've never done a podcast before. But apparently, according to NeighborLover, that's really helpful.
And what is also helpful, is not having too many of the tactics. So, this is the kind of feedback that I would love to encourage you to think about and leave. It doesn't have to be a glowing review, although thank you to everyone who has had such positive things to say. It can really be, maybe you listened to the Klucharev interview on nonconformity, and you came up with some unanswered questions. And, you'd really like those answered in a follow up interview.
Or, maybe you want to tell me what you do like, and something that you want to hear more of. Maybe there's a topic that you want to hear about. I want to hear about all of this. And, the best way to do that is in the review section. Because we together, you as founding members and I, we're creating this from the ground up.
Since we're talking about possibility and potential today, there's no better way to create the possibility and potential of this podcast, and specifically of this podcast’s ability to transform your life, than to join with me in creating what it's going to be. So, please do communicate with me that way. If you've already left a review, you can leave another review. That's the beauty of it. You just keep the conversation going there, so that I can really make sure this is exactly what you need.
All right. Moving on. Where do you think possibility comes from? Possibility really comes from your state of mind. And, this is so difficult for us to really wrap our brains around on a practical level. It's something that most of us, as coaches and personal development seekers, can do intellectually. But when we bring it into the practical level, it's very difficult. Our brains are really wired to look at everything we learned in the past, and then make assumptions about what will happen in the future.
But the truth is, we don't know. Right? None of us could have predicted, well actually, a lot of us predicted the pandemic, that was a terrible example. But in our day-to-day life, we weren't going around thinking about this pandemic and what that could mean for us. We will often think about, when we think about what's possible, we just naturally have a bias towards what has happened in the past, right?
If we've earned this much, we can probably earn incrementally more. If we've worked in this type of industry, and the normal, you know, career trajectory is X, then that's probably where we'll end up. But in truth, we determine our results and our possibilities. And mechanically, we know this is true, because we know that what we're thinking about influences our feelings, right?
And then from there, our feelings really drive our actions. And our actions produce different results. We have to be careful with each one of those steps though. Because, for instance, this is why affirmations by themselves don't work to create manifestation. So, you can have a thought like; I could sign a client today. And that can be so exciting for you, it generates this feeling of excitement. And then, you go forward from there, and you just show up in with this excited state of mind. You're speaking to your people from the heart. You are open to new opportunities and possibilities. You're just kind of scanning, maybe your social media feed, or you're listening to conversations, and you're just out there to serve. And, it just feels so exciting. This might lead to results that include a client being signed, and probably a lot more.
But what if you have been saying that to yourself, because someone told you, you should for thirty days? For thirty days, you have been saying, “I could sign a client today,” and you haven't signed a client. Let's say sixty days. Let's say ninety days. How does that thought actually make you feel in reality?
You might feel disappointed. And then, all of the actions you take are fueled by that sense of disappointment. But it can lead to even darker emotions, maybe that leads to disgust. You're just disgusted with yourself for not being able to figure this out, already. I mean, come on, it's been ninety days. You are just so fueled with this sense of; maybe they don't like me, right? Maybe this isn't even possible? You start to generate some anger; maybe this whole coaching industry is just a giant Ponzi scheme.
All of those emotions are fueling your actions, which may end up then being Netflix®, that may be your action for the day. Or, it could just be you going through the motions and doing the things, and really thinking about what you think your clients need to hear in order to get that client. What's the lowest common denominator client that you can speak to? And really tap into their pain, because that's what the marketing gurus have told you to do. Enough that you can, like, persuade them through urgency or whatever to sign with you. It's completely different.
That is why you really need to be careful about the affirmations you say, or the things that you think you need to think. And why, for coaches that understand this, so much of our coaching time with our clients is really helping them find the thoughts that actually work for them, and feel believable at the same time.
Now, those of you that have been listening to all of these episodes, might have heard my episode on energetics, and how I wasn't actually taking any action to bring in the clients that came to me through Google®.
I would just remind you that I had taken action in the past, I had developed this relationship with my future clients, by way of really getting to know these people. Understanding them and suspending the way I thought they should think. And then, turning that into messaging that I tested, and made sure actually resonated with them. So, there was that.
But also, in your A line, in your action line, you can put things like holding the belief, right? So, just because you say you think something doesn't mean you believe it. When I had created this messaging that I knew worked with people, I knew resonated with people, it helped me establish the belief that people would find that and would click with it, and would be motivated to get on a call with me.
So, this is an example of, no matter how much coaching you've done, even if you teach people about this every day, my own brain was able to hold the belief because I had created this past evidence. However, there are times in your life where you don't want to rely on past evidence. Why? Because we know how much we have a filter, as we look out of the world.
And so, let me give you an example of this. I had a client who had a belief that only coaches that helped people make money, such as business coaches, those were the only ones that would actually make money themselves. Those were the only people that could actually have a successful business, where people that were helping others make money.
Now, what she wanted to do was not help people make money. And so, she was in this cycle of thinking her business was never going to work. So, I asked her to put out a post in a really large Facebook® group of entrepreneurs, that we both belong to, asking if people could share their recommendations about coaches that inspired them, that were very successful, and that we're not specifically teaching people how to make money.
Because I knew, that I see so many of these people out there. To me, there was no question about whether this is possible. I mean, people make a million dollars teaching knitting online. Of course, they could do the deep transformative work that this client of mine was going to be doing with her clients.
So, my client put out a post. And honestly, it took a while to get to the point of the question, the question was a little further down. I think maybe people were scrolling. They didn't read the whole thing. But she only got a couple of responses back. And some of those responses were; what exactly are you looking for? And she used that as evidence to further her belief that; see? It's true. People can't even name successful coaches that don't help people make money.
Now, I know a lot of new coaches think this, it's a very, very normal fear, in the beginning. I don't tend to attract people like this anymore, because I'm no longer marketing to; hey, if the reason you haven't been making money is because you haven't had these clarity pieces, right? You haven't known yourself and your true secret sauce, and you haven't known what your people are really wanting, and then how to speak about that to them.
I used to say, “This is why you haven't been making money, and I can help you make money.” And so, I was attracting people that really only invested if they were going to make money. If they thought they were going to make money directly, that was why it was worth it to them to invest.
And so, they tended to believe that other people held that same worldview, and would also only invest if they had some sort of guaranteed financial return. Right. So, even though I believe that passionately, I don't talk about it.
I'm willing to sacrifice that part of my messaging, in order to draw in the clients that really deeply want the clarity work, and are also able to sell services that don't just help people get money. Okay, I thought that was important to share. So, you could see it from that perspective.
But back to the story. I knew something had to be going on here. And so, I went into the exact same Facebook group, I created like a one-line question, very simple. I put it out there; we got over 200 comments with suggestions for coaches that we should check out.
I just had to laugh. To my client, I said, “Be careful what you ask for,” because now she had over 200 websites she had to go through and look at, in order to build belief for herself. But here's what this story is illustrating for us. And I want you to just pause what you're doing right now, and really tune in to what I'm about to say.
We think that evidence creates belief, but actually, belief creates evidence. What do I mean by that? My client thought that she had been seeing this in the world, right? She had just looked around and noticed, as if she were, you know, watching the news or something. These are the facts reported, that you don't make money unless you're teaching people how to make money.
And, she had all this evidence to prove it because she had never seen it. And, her brain was helping her build more evidence by focusing on all the other entrepreneurs who were complaining about not being able to make money, if you're not helping people make money.
So, this was just compounding her evidence. And it was just, you know, reinforcing this belief. So, her point of view is; I can't change this belief, because look at all this evidence. I would be delusional to change this belief.
But here's the thing, when you're able to change your belief, and this is a bit of a mind bender, right? How can you believe new things? But once you're able to do it, the evidence in your life changes. Because the part of your brain that has been scanning all of the information for you, starts bringing you the information that supports that belief.
So, the way I think of this is, if we had a really, really talented executive assistant, I call her Miss Peterkins in my mind, and she is one of these people that pretty much can run the company, without the CEO. She's really the person behind the scenes that is making things happen. And, she's been with this company for ever, right? She knows the ins and outs, and she knows that her very visionary boss, or she believes that sometimes her visionary boss goes off on tangents.
So, she will sit there taking notes diligently, as the boss says, “I've got this gut feeling. This is the direction we're going now. This is really what I want to create in my life. Let's go do this completely new thing.” She sits there nodding her head, and then she goes back to her office and she does exactly what she has been doing that has kept the company successful. It takes effort to really convince Miss Peterkins that you're serious. That you are going to create new results. That you do want new possibilities in your life.
And yet, that work can be done, right? That actually can happen. And it's amazing, because once you get her on your side, she is so capable that it just flows, it becomes so much easier. All of a sudden, like I said, she's the one bringing the evidence to you that you didn't even realize you were asking for.
You're looking through your feed, and all of a sudden, this article pops out to you. And it's this article, that this respected publication, like Forbes™ has put out, that's talking about all of these coaches that don't help people make money, and yet they are killing it in business.
That only happened because your beliefs were strong enough to transfer those instructions to the part of your brain that is scanning for this information. And that evidence then helps you create more evidence, and more evidence, and more evidence.
But here's the thing, guys, we can't just sit back and wait for this to happen, which is what so many of us do. When I sign the clients, then I'll start believing this as possible, right? Or, when I sign the clients, then I'll start believing I'm worthy of investing in myself. Or, when people start saying nice things about me, then I'll know that my coaching is helpful. Or, when they start engaging with my social media, then I'll know that this content resonates.
Again, like I've said, I have had so many clients come through that have never liked or commented on my social media. But it was motivating enough for them to feel a shift, an internal shift, that was strong enough that they knew they needed more. And, they were coming to work with me. That is the kind of results, when you're in business, that you need to be looking for, not the vanity metrics.
So, you might be thinking; okay, Jenna. But how do we actually establish these new beliefs, when we really don't believe it's possible? A lot of you, as coaches, know about ladder beliefs. You can start stepping into your belief by saying, “Maybe, someday, I'll believe it's possible that I could X,” and you can baby step your way closer, and closer, and closer over time, until you're at your full belief.
That's not what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about the very hard work, but very simple work, that I have my clients do, over and over and over again, to completely change their lives. It starts like this.
And, it may not surprise you to know that one of these is work that you do within, and one of these is work that you do without, outside of yourself. Because that is how we roll here at The Uncommon Way. There's always our internal work, and then the feedback that we need from the universe around us.
So, the first thing that you need to do, is the internal work. Whatever it is that you aren't quite believing yet, you have to do the work of assisting your brain in believing that, by sitting down with a journal, or a voice recorder, or just going on a walk with your dog, and thinking about all the ways that the complete opposite is true.
Here's an example: You have identified a belief that you know is not helpful, it's not driving the helpful thoughts. It's not driving the helpful feelings, or the helpful actions, and it's not creating the results that you want. And this thought is; I gotta be honest, I really don't believe I could sign a client today.
First of all, congratulate yourself, hallelujah for that awareness. You didn't keep going on autopilot, forcing it. And, just trying to muscle through with this programming that's not even working for you. But where might it be true? If it were true, what would I be seeing right now? Or, what would be an indicator? And it doesn't have to be from without, but anything you can think about here, journal it down.
Well, the truth is… Of course, my brain hasn't been focusing on this because there's a natural negativity bias. And on top of that, we have this confirmation bias, that wants to confirm that we already know what we know. But if I go back and look at the facts, I have actually been building my email list. More and more people have been coming on to my list and sticking around for something.
Or, you know, the truth is, I do get people DMing me more, and asking me for advice in ways that didn't used to happen. Or, there was that person who said she wanted to work with me and just wasn't going to do it now. And, that hasn't actually happened before. And you know, what else? Now that I remember it, there a lot of people out there that say that you need a certain number of no’s, before you get to your first yes; I have been getting some no’s. I have been acquiring some no’s.
Hmm. I guess that I don't really believe that I would never get a client. If I sit down with myself, I mean, someday I'll get a client. I don't know if I'm going to have a six-figure business. But there's probably going to be one person out there in the world.
Oh, you know what? That's a really good way of thinking about it. There are how many, you know, billions of people in the world? There's got to be one person that wants this help. I know I would have given anything.
Okay, that's a good way of… Yeah, let's talk about that. I would have given anything for this work. Why wouldn't people want this work? Yeah.
And what's naturally going to happen, is your brain then is going to start problem solving for you. Where else could I try to get in front of my people? Have I just not found my right people? Is there something, some reason that maybe I've been projecting a certain thing into my messaging, and I'm not calling in my right people? Is it that my own disbelief, has been leading me to speak to the kind of person that I feel like I need to convince, rather than the person that is hungry for it, and wants it right now?
This is the beauty of doing this work. And we think it's impossible, we think; I know the truth. The truth is, I'm not signing clients. The truth is, I'm not going to sign a client today, because I've gone ninety days, and I haven't signed a client.
But you don't know, my friend, you don't know. And your lens is filtering your idea of what's possible for you. Now from there, remember, we want to work with the brain; we want to understand Miss Peterkins and how she works. And really facilitate this for her, so that the belief can sink in. So, then I would suggest you go out and you find external proof.
You can't expect this to just come to you; you need to go look for it. You need to do this work. You need to start asking in Facebook groups; who are people that kind of had a dry run and went for a few months, and then signed a client? You know people are going to respond to that, because it happens to all of us.
But it would be helpful if you can get more detail on it. Maybe someone will be willing to hop on the phone. You want to step in to the excitement that they felt when things just kind of came together. When they realized something, and they'll share what it was maybe that they realized, that then created this shift for them.
You can go out and search for how people are looking for this exact thing. Again, you could do this in a Facebook group, just asking people to share examples. Or, you could go Google it, you can get really creative. I'm not going to give you all the ways you could do this. This is part of the fun, right? This is your detective work.
I used to have a belief that my marriage would erode if my business got too successful. And of course, I didn't realize that right away, but once we identified it, this is the exact work that I did. I started finding proof of very successful women and their relationships that had stood the test of that transformation, of one partner.
I've got good news for you. Sometimes, this can happen in an instant. This is helpful if you have a really trusted relationship with your coach, because you can borrow their belief. So, I've had so many times where I've presented something that I just thought was a fact, it's just the way it is, to my coach. And my coach has said, “No, that's not how it is at all. It actually works this way. Here, let me show you how it's true.”
That alone has been a shift for me. That alone has created a shift. Sometimes it doesn't work like that, we have more entrenched beliefs, that's okay. This is exciting because when you have an entrenched belief like that, and you are able to transform it, you understand the power that you have for everything, going forward.
You understand that you basically have to break your brain, you have to break everything that it thought it knew. And you have to create the possibility from within. you step into the driver's seat, there are no limitations. What you're capable of is so much more than you realize. And it's what you've always known is possible.
You aren't here listening to this because you think you are going to have a life of mediocrity. You're here because you know that there's a power within that hasn't been tapped into. You know that it's possible for you to create results, like no one around you would believe. That you, yourself, wouldn't believe.
And what we're doing here, is we're just stepping into the possibility. We start out with something very small, a belief that we want to change that doesn't have too many teeth in it, right? It's not going to completely effect our identity, our sense of identity. It's not going to completely challenge our worldview. It's very accessible. It's some small belief.
Then, we start to tackle bigger beliefs, more entrenched beliefs, until we get to the point where we're like; what the fuck do I want to create in life? All right, let's go do it. That sounds amazing. Would people really pay that much for coaching? Could I really make that much in a year? Could I really have this kind of impact?
That all depends on you; no one but you. I'll leave you with that today, my friends. Any questions or thoughts about this episode, please let me know in the reviews. And, I look forward to being with you again next week. And just remember, on a certain level, you know who you are, and what you are capable of. And every day, you're stepping further into what you're here to create.
If you know that you have some sort of ceiling that is holding you back, but you just don't know what it is or how to bust through it, and you're dying to see what's on the other side, I can help you with that, my friend. You do not have to stay in the land of what if’s, any longer. I've come up against my own limitations, and then broken my brain about what is actually possible, over and over.
You can listen to Episode 6 for some of my story, but I've surprised the hell out of myself repeatedly. And I've helped my clients do it, too. This goes way beyond business coaching. Repeatedly, my clients have said things like; you are so much more than just a business coach. You're better than my therapist. I've been in therapy for twenty years, and I've never gotten the kind of transformation that I have with you.
And it's interesting, because I, myself, have been doing EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) lately, with my own therapist. And I'm like; huh, I've been doing some of this kind of stuff with my clients. I just didn't know what it was called. I just intuitively knew that that's what was needed to get us our results in some situations.
Sometimes we need to go deep, and we need to support your nervous system as we do. This is just what I do, I quantum leap the healing and evolution of my clients. But what does it actually look like to move beyond that cap or ceiling, and reimagine everything? I'm talking, a 22-year-old straight out of college and all unsure, who now runs a wildly successful business with massive impact. And, oh yes, just also happens to bring in multiple six figures, because that is a natural byproduct of centering yourself and then removing the ways that you hold yourself back.
Or, another woman, who had been chained to a job with this codependent boss, who greatly underutilized her talents, who then quit that job of over twenty years, and started earning just as much with just a few freelance clients. But taking back so much more time for herself, and exponentially increasing her joy in the process.
Or, another, who sold consumables through the internet, hiding behind a screen, but had a calling to share everything she'd learned with other women. She just didn't know what that could look like. And when she described it to me, I said, without missing a beat, “Oh, you're going to turn your company into a spiritual lifestyle brand.” It was instant clarity for her; scary as hell, but instant knowing. Once you see it, you can't unsee it.
Or, me, who sat in confusion for two decades only to now become the flippin’ queen of clarity. Are you kidding me? The me, of only seven years ago, would have laughed out loud with that one. Anything is possible, my friends. And, the residual effects become almost more exciting than even a goal that we start out with.
Transforming your body, because you're no longer of suppressing all of your disappointment with food. Or, ditching the loser boyfriend because your own amazing worth becomes so glaringly obvious that the partnership is now laughable. Or, moving cities or even countries, because when you untether your mind, you also untether your spirit.
If this type of complete makeover is calling to you, if you know this is your next work, I've got an invitation. I'm opening a spot for one private client. Typically, I constrain my private coaching to graduates of the Clarity Accelerator. But when I get a ping, I listen. My business is heavily guided by this knowingness. And this one is telling me to open up the spot, maybe for you.
Here's what we'll do together over six months: We will cut out the years of confusion, frustration, unproductive stuckness, and huge investments, that I have made, in order to figure out exactly what this process entails. So, that I can do it on repeat. We'll cut all of that out for you and just focus on these four simple things.
Number one, we are going to do a full inventory of where you are mentally. How do you think about your reality now? What are those beliefs and supposed in circumstances, that you've never even questioned? You think you just are the way you are? Think again.
Next, we'll question everything. Because you have to be willing to burn everything to the ground, in order to create what's even more extraordinary. I've loved watching Judd Apatow’s new documentary on HBO® about the comedian George Carlin. Because at the height of each point in his career, he would reinvent himself and step more fully into his own truth, leaving his current fans behind and willing to leave his current fans behind. But each time he just got more and more successful.
Third, we're going to construct your new identity, on purpose this time. How does she think? How does she see the world? What is she willing to receive that you aren't? And, where's the disconnect right now? What's really holding you back? What aren't you willing to feel, to get to the other side?
This is where many people stumble. They spend all their mental energy hanging out in the past, and let that past drive their actions. So, they end up creating the same results over and over. We are not; we're going to create from your future. And if you worry that you won't be able to, because you can't really even envision it, or you don't quite know what you want, don't worry. When you sign up for this work, when you commit with full seriousness, the universe conspires to get you focused.
And lastly, we're going to build it. We are going to create. We are going to take this beautiful vision out of the abstract and turn it into concrete reality. This will not be a comfortable process. Most of the world holds themselves back from greatness, because they don't want to do the scary things.
Now, you'll have a different perspective by this point. You're going to think about reality and possibilities from a much different place by the time we get here. But that will not let you escape discomfort. It won't help you escape your human brain, that’s saying, “Nuh-uh, that’s too much. Changed my mind. Things are really pretty good, right here in the status quo.”
This is for you if you are a seven or six-figure earner, or perhaps near six figures. And I am happy to coach on business topics, because I don't think you can separate business and life. Entrepreneurship is the number one personal development journey. But the focus will be on transforming you, so that your world can mirror your transformation.
The right candidate has already accomplished some pretty amazing things in life. You have a history of challenging yourself. You know you're 100% capable. And, you know it's time to take it to the next level.
This level, these ideas you've been toying with, they feel a little different this time, don't they? And you're right, they are. Otherwise, you would have already done the damn thing. Come on, we know who we're dealing with. But your life has brought you here specifically, so that you can be challenged with the exact situations and decisions you're being challenged by.
It's not easy. But on the other side is the accomplishment; the sense of rightness, the arrival, the relief, the wealth, the joy, the connections, the peace of mind, the impact that you were born for.
It's simple to apply; you just head to my website or to the link in the description, schedule a call, and we'll get to know each other. I will be able to pinpoint, right then in there, the main things that have been keeping you stuck. And you will know, by the end of our call, if this is for you or not.
I really get excited about these conversations, regardless of whether someone's coming to me for coaching, or I'm applying to work with a coach, because they are always so clarifying. They always produce ah-ha’s.
And oh, by the way, if you're feeling a little bit nervous about the idea of a complete makeover, just know that you are always in control. You get to keep what you want to keep about your life, and up-level what you want to improve.
This is a serious multiple five-figure investment, where we're going to spend six months shattering your own glass ceiling, so that you can step fully into the potential of who you're really meant to be, at this point in your life. Once this spot is gone, it's gone.
Again, you'll find a link right here in this episode description, so you can follow the nudge and book your call right away.
Hey, if you enjoyed today's show, you do not want to miss next week's, seriously. Follow the show wherever you listen to your podcasts, so you don't miss an episode. And, what do you please leave a super quick rating and review about this episode? It's how you'll let me know what you liked and what you're still curious about, so I can create the most valuable content for you going forward. As well as, how you'll help other highly driven but slightly uncertain entrepreneurs find this show and get the tools they need. Thank you so much.
Thanks for joining us here at The Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including the Clarity for Strategy for Growing and Scaling Your Business, visit TheUncommonWay.com. See you next time.
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Ep #7: 5 Steps to Nail Your Messaging
You might think you need the cool-girl copy, snappy language, and to present yourself as someone they want to hang out with. Or you might feel like you need persuasion copy to put the urgency on your client to buy. But the truth is you don’t need any of those things. All you have to do to nail your messaging is follow the five simple steps I’m outlining for you this week.
Do you ever wonder if your words are even landing with your people? Do you wish you knew how to use your words to call in your ideal clients? It doesn’t have to be the big mystery and pain point you might be experiencing it as. Why? Because people will tell you everything you need to know.
You might think you need the cool-girl copy, snappy language, and to present yourself as someone they want to hang out with. Or you might feel like you need persuasion copy to put the urgency on your client to buy. But the truth is you don’t need any of those things. All you have to do to nail your messaging is follow the five simple steps I’m outlining for you this week.
In this episode, I’m sharing the big secret that conversion copywriters understand and charge a fortune for and showing you how to use it to grow your business in a grounded, aligned way. I’m showing you why no amount of marketing or fun copy can make up for a lack of good messaging, and the 5 steps to nailing your messaging.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
How to become an expert on your people.
What to actually do in order to create effective messaging.
The stage that 80-85% of new entrepreneurs skip in their businesses, the reason they do so and why it’s a problem.
Where true resonance begins and why it’s what sells.
Some examples of where you might be letting your limiting beliefs get in the way of your future.
Why your people will resonate if you have great messaging.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
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Click here to sign up for my newsletter and find out how the Connect The Dots Method has helped clients in all stages of their business.
If you would like help getting clear on what you are offering and how to talk about it, you have to join us in The Clarity Accelerator. It’s 60 of the best-spent days you’ll ever have, and you’ll get my eyes on your business and your messaging helping you dial all this in. There’s a spot available for September, so click here to schedule a call with me as soon as possible to learn more.
Full Episode Transcript:
Do you wonder if your words are even landing with your people? Do you wish you knew how to use your words to call in ideal clients? Well, I have got some good news. At its core, this really isn't rocket science. It doesn't have to be the big mystery and pain point that you might be experiencing it as.
Why? Because people will tell you everything you need to know. This is the big secret that conversion copywriters understand and charge a fortune for. But I'm taking everything I learned from my communications career in fashion. And everything I've learned in my years of online business and coaching entrepreneurs, just like you, through these very steps.
I'm distilling it all down in this episode. All you have to do, to really nail your messaging, is follow the five simple steps that I'm about to outline for you.
You're listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the only podcast that helps you unlock your next level in business and life, by prioritizing your clarity and your own Uncommon Way. You will learn to maximize your mindset, mission, messaging, and strategy in order to create a true legacy. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Hey, welcome back to The Uncommon Way. As I'm recording this, I'm getting ready to head to a business mastermind in Florida. I am so excited about it. Being around other like-minded people is just so invigorating, right? You always come back with this transformed energy.
And this is the reason actually, that I started the Clarity Collective, long before I launched a group program. What was happening was I was speaking to my clients individually, one to one, and I couldn't get this thought out of my head.
I kept thinking, “If only so and so could talk to so and so. Either, she'd see she's not the only one going through that thing. Or, she would understand how much further she'd come, because now so and so is going through that thing that she went through.
Or, maybe she needs to talk to so and so, because so and so solved it this way, or so and so went through the exact same thing, and now can give her perspective that feels so different than just when your coach is telling you something.”
So, I just put the offer out there. I was like; Hey, everyone. Would you like to start meeting for group calls, as well? No obligation, no pressure. But I think it would be really good for all of you. I think it'd be a lot of fun. And, it'd be no extra charge. What do you think? And a lot of them were like; hell, yes.
That was the beginning of the Clarity Collective. It wasn't, you know, some fancy launch of a group program. It was something that happened really organically. And I know that's because I've always gotten so much out of groups, as well. I mean, there are people that I'm still in touch with from my very first mastermind, that I consider...
Well, one in particular I'm thinking of, she is just a rock for me. I always rely on her. I know, I could ask her anything and vice versa. And it's just, they're really priceless places. So, I know that I have more of that coming to me, with this new group of people that I'm about to meet, and more to learn from all of them. And, it will be so great to bring that energy back to you all.
Okay, before we dive in, thank you so much for everything you all did to help me promote this podcast, and get the word out. I'm going to be sharing the names of the three winners, yeay, of our giveaway a little later in the episode. I'm so grateful. I know that if it weren't for you all, there are people that I wouldn't be reaching right now.
They'd be sitting there feeling like something should be different, but not really having anyone in the business space that would stand up for them, and their desire to approach their business from this clear and knowing place. Like, we just hit number 16 in Singapore, for the crowded business entrepreneurship category. How cool is that?
It never would have happened without a listener or listeners in Singapore, downloading every episode, leaving some reviews, maybe sharing it with their friends. This is how it happens. And because of it, we get to reach new people and say, “Hey, you're not crazy.” Basically, this is a completely valid, and actually very smart way, to start your business or to grow your business or to deepen your business.
So, speaking of reviews, I want to highlight goofyfoot35, who wrote, “So many people talk about how important purpose and your ‘why’ is, but they don’t tell you how to actually identify it … let alone how to use it in your business to attract the right clients (rather than just sitting in a document somewhere).” Thank you, goofyfoot35. I love that. And, you're so right.
This is a very much about making your purpose and your mission active, throughout every single part of your business. That is what we're talking about. We're not just creating mission statements for the hell of it around here. We're making that knowledge applicable with every decision and every action in your business.
Which is why, one week, we'll be talking about the role of energy and entrepreneurship. And then next, we're talking tactics or neuroscience, or what does data actually show us? I mean, that is our human experience, right? That play between the divine the idea around the abstract, however you want to think about it, and the material.
So today, we're talking about the material. Let's get on with some tactics, specifically, market research. Not the kind that you might have learned in business school, where you estimate the size of your market and get consumer feedback on price points, etc., etc. Yuck, no. Instead, we're talking conversion copywriting market research. Which, if we get really simple about it, is nothing more than having conversations; piece of cake, right?
This is where you talk to real humans about their hopes and dreams. And you listen, as actively or even more so, than you do when you're coaching. So, that you can become an expert on your people, which allows you to fulfill the second step of a successful business: Know your people.
If you haven't listened to Episode Five, Knowing Your People 101, that is going to be a great complement to this episode. It's the mindset primer for everything I'm about to say. So, you can find that at theuncommonway.com/five.
But in this episode, we'll talk about what to actually do, in order to create effective messaging. Because you think that what you need is what I call, ‘cool girl’ copy, right? Where you throw in all these funny little asides, and have really snappy language, and present yourself as the cool girl that they want to hang out with. Or, you think you need lots of persuasion copy. But usually, if you believe that, it's because you are motivated by persuasion copy. You don't hit by until there's a countdown timer attached to it.
But no, you don't need those things. Just like you don't need flashy Instagram® shots or a fancy website. Now, I do teach copywriting, inside the Clarity Accelerator, because thinking through it aids with clarity, for yourself and your audience. And, we're just not taught to write for effective online copy in school or at work. So, if you want me to talk about copy here, in a future episode, let me know in the review section, I'm happy to do it.
But please know that nice copywriting is not a requirement for a successful business. No amount of marketing can make up for a lack of good messaging. No amount of fun copy can make up for a lack of good messaging. But if you have great messaging, your people will still resonate with you. They don't care about the writing style. They care about, can you help them?
So today, we're talking about something much deeper than coffee, much deeper than marketing. We're talking about messaging. I am on a mission to end ungrounded, unaligned work in the world, as you know.
But also ungrounded performative messaging, the kind where you're saying things that you think your people need to hear or want to hear, and probably sounding just like everyone else does. Rather than directly responding to what your specific people have told you they need, and showing them how your secret sauce is the way to the results they want.
Full disclosure. This market research sometimes trips up new entrepreneurs in my programs. They'll go full speed ahead through the introspective Know Yourself work, unraveling years of confusion. And then when we get to step two, Know Your People, they find really important dust bunnies under their sofas that they need to clean out, or conveniently get distracted on social media and oops, where did the time go?
If people get tripped up and spin their wheels for a few weeks, it's usually either at this stage or when they're trying to bring on their first clients. But fingers crossed, that won't be your experience at all. Hopefully you're like I was, where you've been longing for clarity for so long, that once someone shows you the exact way out of uncertainty, you'll do whatever. Even if it feels uncomfortable, at first.
So, I like to say this is the stage that 80 to 85% of new entrepreneurs skip. And, why is that? Well, A; it may be because they don't know how to do it, right? We just don't know, what we don't know. Or, it could be perceived lack of know-how. “I don't know how to have deep conversations with people and ask them really targeted questions, even though I'm a coach.”
But yes, you do. And, you don't have to be a coach. If you're listening to this, it means you're an insightful person who cares about people. You know how to have deep conversations; you just have to create the conditions where you feel safe enough to have that kind of a conversation.
Sometimes people are in desperation, that's why they don't do this market research. Because they think: I'll just take anyone. I can’t afford to limit myself. Why would I create targeted language, when it's so hard to get any clients at all? I need to leave myself open.
Or, there's a perceived powerlessness: I am completely incapable of finding a human like this. Okay, maybe I got my medical degree, but I can't do this. I promise you, you can. You can find three humans who are experiencing the problems you want to help solve, and talk to them like a human.
Or, sometimes there's a limiting belief: If I were to try to have a conversation with someone, they’d think I was trying to sell them something. And, I refuse to be salesy, ick. There's nothing worse than trying to offer someone premium value that's going to change their life, right?” Seriously, though, you don't know what they'll think.
Usually, again, it's a projection. Especially if you are a person who looks for everyone's ulterior motives. Or, if you're a person that actually hopes you can sell them something. But you know what? You can tell them, “I'm not going to try to sell you anything.” And then, you can maintain the integrity of that promise, you are in the driver's seat.
Most of the time, though, it's really about discomfort. It's so much more comfortable to keep everyone at arm's length, and hide behind the computer screen: I don't need to talk to humans, I'll just put out an anonymous survey. Or, lurk in Facebook® groups watching how people talk. Even though they're writing publicly and are obviously editing what they say.
And all of that is so telling, my friend. Because those things I just mentioned, all of them, are you making this about you, rather than making it about them. But that is not sustainable. When we move into phase two, Know Your People, the focus shifts away from you, and towards greater service for your people.
Because otherwise, here's what happens. You just post tips each day on social media. And once in a while, you get brave enough to say you're a coach, or even that they can book a call, and wonder why nobody books in. Or, you do what I did, you blog for a year. I really liked to hide out. And you offer advice in Facebook groups, and tag on that awkward “call me maybe. Please”, at the end.
I liken this to wanting to start a catering business. So, each day, you put out something you baked, in front of your house, with a sign that says “free food”. But nobody knows why they might want that food, or that they could pay you to cater their event this weekend, or why you're even putting free food out.
And actually, only a few people even drive by your house. But they're pretty distracted with their own lives, and they don't really notice the free food. So, you keep thinking the food is the problem, thinking people obviously don't want to pay for cookies. Or, thinking you're the problem; you're obviously not cut out to be a caterer because you're a horrible baker.
I've worked with clients, like me, that did this for a year or two, and by the time we joined forces, they so desperately wanted to throw in the towel, but luckily didn't. Instead, they doubled down, hired a coach and turned things around. So, if you find yourself in that loop, it's okay. Plenty of successful businesses have started there.
Now, you know what to look out for. And when you recognize it, you can gently reorient yourself. Hopefully with the help of your coach, and get yourself focused on knowing your people, using the five steps to nailing client language that I'm about to teach you.
This is what I share with my clients, and it's also what I practice myself continually. This work never ends. What I teach you isn't just for the ‘now’ of your business, it's for the life of your business.
Alright, if this is the first time you're listening, then the preamble to everything I'm going to share right now, is to know yourself. First, you know yourself, then you know your people. And finally, you speak to how the two connect. It's that simple.
Because you start with know yourself, since you don't want to live your life just being what everyone else wants you to be, do you? That's what we've been doing most of our lives anyway, as women. No, you want to lead with you, then connect the dots to your people, then find out what they want. And finally, create the solution to solve the problem. So, knowing yourself is where true resonance begins. And remember, resonance is what sells.
Okay, ready to better know your people, so you can create messaging that lands? Here are the five steps, based on what's been working for me and my clients, throughout my five years of coaching entrepreneurs. Plus, my prior career in communications and marketing for fashion companies.
Number one, suspend disbelief. Number two, ask better questions and actively listen. Number three, organize your information. Number four, contemplate what you've learned. And five, verify what you've understood by echoing it back to them. All right, let's go through each of those.
Number one, suspend disbelief. It's impossible to get to know your people if you don't believe they exist. You've got to put your disbelief aside. Episode 5 has more on this topic, but in a nutshell: If you're assuming those people won't pay, or those people wouldn't want help, or it would be too difficult to sell to those people, you might be letting limiting beliefs get in the way of your future, of your true work in the world.
I'll never forget, towards the end of my corporate time, I was corporate editor for a fashion house that owned over thirty brands. I was in charge of overseeing the language and voice used for all of their customer facing communication. So, everything from ads to websites, to the little hang tags, that hang off clothes when you buy them in the store. Yeah, someone has to write that stuff, right?
So, some of the brands were big enough that they hired outside agencies, but most were done in house. We bought this one brand that used to be well-recognized years ago, it was an old golf brand, but it wasn't around much anymore, and we wanted to resurrect it.
At first, the C-level people were thinking they'd sell it to places like Macy's™. But they ended up bringing on this very young but super visionary guide to run the brand. And, he saw a completely different future. He wanted independent retail stores and imagined this becoming like a total hipster baby. My bosses were doubtful, but the strength of his conviction won them over. And it ended up being the most fun I'd had in this position.
I took over all the E-com (E-commerce) copy, all the little blurbs about each article of clothing. I decided on this approach where we'd reference little New York insider things; really, only if you lived in New York or had spent time there, would you really get it. Because the allure of the brand is that it was an insider’s thing. It was a best-kept secret.
Anyway, I became totally attached to this little brand; rooting for it, believing in it. Even as the C-suite people were like, “Wouldn’t we actually be more profitable if we just sold this stuff in Kohl's®?
So, I'll never forget the day that that fateful picture came out. It was when Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were still married, and someone snapped this picture of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on set. She was leaning back against the railing of a bridge. I don't know if you remember this, if it's burned into your memory, but she was leaning back against the railing of a bridge and he was kind of leaning into her with one hand on that railing.
You could just see he was totally into her. And, what is he wearing? What is the logo facing the camera, in what will become the most talked about image of the year, especially when he ends up leaving Jennifer Aniston and going off with Angelina Jolie? You guessed it, our brand on Brad Pitt.
Of course, our sales took off after that. All because this one person held the vision of this brand becoming totally coveted. Something that hip, ‘in’ people would love, that people would resonate with. And so, it was. So friends, don't sell yourselves short. Think about this lesson that I learned and that I'm sharing with you: Don't sell to Macy's when you've got something so unique that you can sell to whoever you want.
You owe it to yourself to at least talk to some people and gather the data. Also, in Episode 5, I told the story of Crystal who was ready to walk away from what she was passionate about, health coaching. All because she hadn't opened her mind to the idea that the kinds of clients she really wanted to work with, would actually want to work with her too.
But that's not Crystal’s fault; you can't see, what you can't see. It takes someone else to point it out to you. And just a word to the wise, if you have a strong disbelief, you've got to be a little suspicious of the data that you gather in the beginning. You've got to try a little harder to find those people. Because chances are you'll unintentionally gather evidence for what you already believe. You'll gather evidence for the fact that nobody wants the service, right? Or, no one wants it from you.
I'm going to be talking more about how we do that to ourselves. next week. This is one of the many times that having a coach can totally help you get where you're going faster, better and easier. You'd be so in your world thinking, “Well, this is just the way it is.” But your coach is going to say, “Nope, that's absolutely not the way it is.” You need someone who can lend you their objectivity.
All right, number two, ask better questions and actively listen. Because once you've pinpointed who you'd like to work with, you want to find some of these people and have a really good heart-to-heart with them. People will open up to you in ways you'd never expect, if you ask them deep questions privately, in a non-judgmental way.
What you're looking for is three humans that you'd actually want to work with. Simple, right? Because you don't want to use the language of people that aren't your people. If they don't think that the thing you help people with is a primary concern in their lives, or people that you wouldn't want to work with, don't use their language.
The language on my site doesn't come from people that think the key to their business is to learn to sell better. No, my people are like; I would do anything for clarity, then I could finally lean in. Then, I wouldn't feel like an imposter on my sales calls. Then, my marketing wouldn't be all over the place. Then, I'd finally have that thing, that I'd resigned myself to maybe never figuring out, purpose. God, I just need someone to help me get clear and focused.
Those are my people. Now, you might be wondering, how do I find these three people? It's a good question, and the answer is; get creative. Don't overcomplicate this. Put up some posts on social media, or send a note to a bunch of your friends asking if they know anyone that matches this description. Meet people at the supermarket.
I've watched my clients get so creative with this. All you really need to do is open yourself to the belief that your clients are everywhere. And stop letting your own worries, about what people will think of you and how people will be suspicious, create that very reality for you.
I don't think there's anything weird about asking to learn more about an issue, from people that are experiencing it. In fact, I'm the first to raise my hand in groups, whenever I see a post like this, from someone who's describing my situation. I'm like, “Yeah, I'll help you out.” And because of this, I've never had a problem getting people on the phone with me in the times that I've asked.
I have five or even ten templates for this in the Clarity Accelerator, so that people can just pick a post that feels aligned and go. But basically, all you have to do is say, “Hey, is this you? Or, do you know someone like this?” And then you describe them. You let them know exactly what to expect; we'll talk for 30 minutes. And then, you tell them why you're asking in the first place.
It's very simple. Basically, exactly how you'd speak to a real human face-to-face. Because these are real humans. You trying to sound all professional or like something you're not, will only create distance between you and them. You need to be yourself and do what feels comfortable for you, in integrity for you.
If you feel like you need to promise people that you won't try to sell them anything, do it. If you need to tell them that you're doing research for an article, then do it. But then of course, stay in integrity and actually write the article. If you don't know anyone directly that you can interview, then in the beginning, start with your best guess language to describe what your person is going through.
Sometimes you'll see that the language you were using, was not calling in the right type of person. Like when Crystal kept calling in people who had been struggling with their weight forever and had tried all sorts of things, but nothing worked. It wasn't her person. And when you get that aha, oh, it's not my person. Then you can get creative about what would be something they'd say?
When you do find someone you'd like to help, great. Use that person's language to call in your next person. And then, you're next. Until you get to the glorious moment of knowing that what you write, is speaking directly to and calling to the kind of person you want to help.
Sometimes nobody will volunteer to talk to you. It's okay. It's not about you, it could be as simple as the time of day of your post. Or, you might need a little more to motivate your people.
Some people are motivated by altruism, and they're willing to give up some time when they feel it's going to help the greater good. Others are motivated by self-interest, and you'll need to offer something of value.
Figuring this out is a good thing. All it means, is that in your future messaging, you'll always remember to speak to the greater good, or you'll know how busy your people are and you won't bother suggesting things without some high value return. Either way, you'll have so much more, you guessed it, clarity.
Now, I'll give you a little tip, I see a lot of new entrepreneurs run into this issue. They'll tell me, “I found this person who I'd like to help, but they don't want to pay for coaching. Do I have to throw all this language out?” Obviously, if you can find someone that would want to pay for coaching, use their language. But in the meantime, recognize that your own beliefs have likely attracted that person.
When this happens, it's often happening to the people that think it's easier to sell a low-priced course rather than coaching. And then, they're attracting people with a similar belief. So, I recommend that you keep the language, but you really spend some time contemplating what the willing-to-invest version of that person would say.
Same goes for when people say, “Jenna, I want to help an earlier version of me, but I never would have paid this much.” It doesn't matter. You can create a composite avatar, or the person shares some similar traits with you, but has different ideas about investing.
Lord knows when I was thinking about what business to start, I never would have paid five figures for a one-to-one coach. But people in that situation used to pay me that all the time; cold traffic, too. So, go back to number one on this list; suspend disbelief.
Now, do definitely spend some thought getting strategic with the questions you're going to ask. Each one needs to have a purpose, usually to aid you with understanding how they think and see the world, and their problem and their solution. Don't be afraid to get deep. In fact, push past your comfort zone to get deep.
Be willing to ask things like; but what are you really afraid of? So what, so what if that happens? What would that mean? A great framework is the five why's: When someone answers a question, they'll tend to give you the most acceptable answer, first.
You'll ask why they'd consider working with a health coach. And they'll say they want to feel healthier. But if you keep asking, it turns out they're going to a reunion in a few months, and really want to fit into their skinny jeans. Or, you'll ask why they're interested in paying down their debt. And they'll say, for more spending money. But if you keep exploring it, it turns out they're deathly afraid that they're going to ruin their child's life, and give them the same scrimping paycheck-to-paycheck existence, that they themselves grew up with.
Listen carefully, as they answer you, to their exact words and their way of expressing themselves. But also; to the tone of voice, to the emotion under the words, to what they're not saying, to limiting beliefs, to where they're leaking their power. Record the sessions, so that you can be fully engaged with them at the moment, and then you can relisten.
And don't be afraid to use these kinds of appointments to help you flush out the answers, to any part of your business that you're wondering about. I'll give you an example. One of the questions I recommend my clients ask is; what’s something, where if you just knew how to do that one thing, you'd be so much closer to getting what you want.
If they're stuck for an answer, I tell this story. Let's say you're a man that really wants to be in a relationship. If you talk to that person, they may say that the one thing that would really just help them so much, would be to know how to even initiate a conversation. They don't even know what to say to then start talking to the person.
So, once you know that information, you can provide guidance on that one thing, and you will instantly capture their attention. You could turn that topic into a webinar or a PDF lead magnet. Right? This is how we use these foundational pieces to grow your business so much more quickly, and take a lot of the guesswork out of the funnels that we build.
Okay, phew, that was a lot of info, but it's important so stick with me here. We did number one, suspend disbelief. And then two, ask better questions and listen actively. This next one, will aid with some top complaints, like; when I try to write, it just all comes out all jumbled. Or, I just don't know what to write. And it's also, what will keep you from sliding back into your language rather than your client’s language.
All of this beautiful information, that the three humans gifted you, now you've got to organize it. This is the only place that I really geek out with my clients. But I have you put the answers, to those questions you've asked, into a spreadsheet.
In each column, you put a different type of language. Maybe; here's how they talk about what they really want. Here's where they talk about how it feels to not have what they want, etc., etc. And, we create the spreadsheet.
Here's why I do that. One, because it will give you so many insights, when you can sit back and see it in front of you clearly like this. It's the difference between having ten to-do lists on different scraps of paper all over the house. A ton of other ideas stored in your head. And then of course, you're stuck wondering why in the world, you don't know exactly what you should be working on.
This is part of what clarity is about; it's about getting things out of your head and into the light, where everything clicks into place. It's the kind of thing you'll want to review quickly before you hop on a discovery call, just to ground into who your people are.
And it's also extremely effective. It makes creating content almost too easy. In the training, inside the Understanding Your People module of the Clarity Accelerator, I show you how to create a compelling social media post in about 60 seconds. A post that resonates, where people say, “I feel like you were in my head.” And even with just the language from three souls, you can create so many different posts, it's all plug and play.
But also, when you get used to categorizing the information, it will teach you to listen for that information. It trains your brain to listen actively, on autopilot, so that the experience of it is more effortless. And that practice, of listening actively, helps you be a better coach, too. It helps people feel respected and listened to. It helps you get to the root of the problem and distill it down to its essence.
People on discovery calls, often tell me they're impressed at the details I keep in my head, that I relay back to them later in the call. But my brain is always scanning for how people express themselves and how they think; I find it fascinating. And like I said, this is something your brain starts to do for you naturally, when you give it some structure like this.
Before we move on, I want to do a quick reality check here. Just because someone knows you get them and feel seen by what you write or say, does not necessarily mean they'll buy from you. This is not a magic bullet. You still need to create an offer, that's a no brainer, and prove that it's saleable. It's called “proof of concept”.
That's why we never spend the time to build out a course without first knowing that we can actually sell that course. And, how often has someone said, “Oh, yeah, that's such a great idea. I’d totally pay for that.” But then, do they actually pull out their credit cards? So, if you want to know more about proving viability, then let me know in the reviews, and I will absolutely create something for you.
Alright, step four, is contemplate. Up till now, this has really been the science of resonance. But here in number four, that's where the art of resonance comes in and combines with step one, know yourself. And this is the work that you want to get as close to target as you can, as quickly as you can, and then keep refining and deepening it for a lifetime.
This is where you sit back and contemplate all the information you've gathered. What really sets these people apart from those people over there? What did they think the solution is? And what can you show them about the solution that they've probably never considered? What do they need to believe in order to work with you?
For instance, if someone believes, as I myself used to believe, that clarity on your purpose is just something everyone needs to figure out for themselves, and nobody can help them. That person is never going to hire me. So, how exactly, will you explain what you need to explain to them? What would be good metaphors or stories to illustrate the point you're trying to make?
You do not need to answer all of these questions, all at once. Do the best you can. Clarity is an evolution. I am constantly doing market research. I'm constantly learning more about my people, not in the same way. I have enough people coming into discovery calls that I don't need to create the conversations, but I still have my spreadsheet that I update. And it's second nature for me now.
On every discovery call and in each coaching session, and when I hear people being coached in other venues, I'm the one nodding, “Interesting. People are saying it this way now. They have this baseline knowledge, so I don't need to explain this thing anymore, that I used to. Meaning, I can speak to this now. Oh, this is a slightly different angle that fits really well with my people and my mission. Let me try saying it this way next time. Let me see how that lands?”
So, if you get one insight, one breakthrough in a day, well done. The important thing is that you develop the habit of contemplating the minds of your future clients. They are the lifeblood of your business. They're the ones that help you fulfill your purpose, and grow so much as a human.
Truly seeing a person and meeting them where they are, is the greatest act of love and empathy that you could give. Your future clients are humans who are about to do the bravest thing in the world, which is bet on themselves from a place of complete vulnerability. Without certainty that the result is possible, because they've never experienced it for themselves.
So, whether you're a coach or a designer, this is true for your clients. And that needs to become a priority for you; understanding them and speaking to exactly where they are.
All right, step five, is to verify it by echoing it back. This is a simple one, but super important. You need to verify the data you've gathered by echoing it back and seeing if it lands. You've got to test it. You cannot paraphrase here. This is why you transcribed the language into your spreadsheet.
It may not seem like an important distinction for you, but if they're saying they want peace of mind, don't tell them that they will attain inner peace. Remember, subconscious resonance; we want them to feel at home.
Now, social media is a great place to test out your new content. And in fact, that's a great way to think of the purpose of social media for you. You're just there testing out content. It's fun to see what people like and what they engage with. But what really matters, is what resonates with your clients. What stood out in their minds, as they were getting to know you, that they tell you about later when they actually start working with you.
But the very best way to accelerate all of this and verify the information that you've gathered, and what you've been contemplating, is another in-person conversation. Yep. All of you that like to create safety through the distance of the Instagram app, I am calling you out. Because here's what you can't do in your DM’s.
You can't watch someone lean in as you're talking. You can't see their eyes light up as they laugh, “That's totally what I say to myself.” You rarely get to hear them say, “Yeah, I'm still thinking about that story that was so good. I've never thought of it in that way.”
You will not gain clarity on your people if you deprive yourself of in-person conversations. Meaning, you won't be making sales as quickly as you could, either. Fall in love with the work of knowing your people, and you will see your business transform.
And listen, if you are called to the simple truths of; know yourself, know your people speak to how the two connect. And you want guidance, support and my magic as you work through it, I'm here for you. We will work together personally, to get you clarity on your right people, the specific questions that make the most sense for them, how to interpret what they say, and really wow them in your content and on discovery calls.
Not to mention, a life-changing overhaul of how you view and own your secret sauce. I've gone through the trial and error, over two decades of it in fact, so you don't have to, and created a system for accelerating your clarity. It's called the Clarity Accelerator, and it's essential work for every coach, regardless of where you are in business.
There's no other work that you need to do first, nothing else to prioritize, because this is what amplifies everything else you'll learn or do. This is what takes you from just going through the motions of marketing and selling; second guessing everything, wondering if this is what you should be selling, if these people are even the ones you should be selling to, if you're really even the best coach for the job, if you're selling with integrity, and if you're just self-sabotaging yourself with all of these blocks.
And instead of feeling stuck, frustrated, and emotionally drained, you get on a call knowing so confidently what you do and don't do, and you articulate it so clearly, that you're certain the person will work with you if they're the right fit. And if not, that's okay. Because there are plenty who are. You feel calm, assured and unattached. After all, this is really about returning to who you are, and what has always been available to you.
Spots are limited, since everyone currently gets one-to-one calls with me. But I don't know how much longer I'll be offering that; it could be six months, it could be one month, because I rely heavily on intuition in my business. And when it's time to shift into a new offer, it's time to shift into that new offer.
So, if this is calling to you, and you want to work with me in 2022, let's hop on a call. Let's see whether or not this is a hell yes, for both of us. And if so, get your spot secured for some time in the next few months. I want to help you finally get clear on what you're offering and how to talk about it. Plus, actually believe in it.
And now I'm very excited to announce the winners of the podcast launch giveaway. Our top winner was Laura, so she gets the AirPods Pro™. Second place, was Jamie, who gets the Audible Plus™ subscription. And then, Kate gets the $50 Amazon Gift Card™. Congratulations, everyone.
And, thank you to all of you that participated and are still helping me get the word out about this podcast. I really want to let people know that it's not only okay to prioritize getting clear in your business, but it makes smart business sense to do so. And with every download, rate, review, and share. You're helping me do that.
Seriously, thank you for tuning in and for sharing these episodes. Okay, my friend. That's it for today. And remember, on a certain level, you know who you are. And every day you're stepping further into what you're here to create.
Hey, if you enjoyed today's show you do not want to miss next week's, seriously. Follow the show wherever you listen to your podcasts, so you don't miss an episode.
And would you please leave a super quick rating and review about this episode? It's how you'll let me know what you liked and what you're still curious about. So, I can create the most valuable content for you going forward. As well as, how you'll help other highly driven but slightly uncertain entrepreneurs find this show and get the tools they need. Thank you so much.
Thanks for joining us here at The Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including the Clarity for Strategy for Growing and Scaling Your Business, visit TheUncommonWay.com. See you next time.
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Ep #6: How Entrepreneurship Made Me Woo
Being willing to stand out from the crowd and even bring on some criticism is of critical importance. It’s what separates a life fully lived from a life where you show up and just do what’s expected. So this week, I’m modeling showing up unapologetically in your business by sharing a story of what led me from being fully logical, rational, and science-based to what I have become: a true believer in and practitioner of what I would have once believed to be some very woo concepts.
Many of you are hiding out in some way. You are dimming yourself and hiding from your choices; it is something I can relate to in my own business, but it is so important to own your truth, your choices, and your uniqueness, even when it feels uncomfortable. If you want to really live your uncommon way, you need to show up for yourself and your beliefs unapologetically. And this is exactly what I’m modeling for you this week.
Being willing to stand out from the crowd and even bring on some criticism is of critical importance. It’s what separates a life fully lived from a life where you show up and just do what’s expected. So this week, I’m modeling showing up unapologetically in your business by sharing a story of what led me from being fully logical, rational, and science-based to what I have become: a true believer in and practitioner of what I would have once believed to be some very woo concepts.
What I’m revealing this week might just blow your mind and open you up to seeing your business and the world in a completely different way. I’m sharing a story that led to my belief in energetics, how I learned to get out of my own way and start showing up unapologetically, and how you can do the same in your life and business.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
How I realized what I was really called to help people with.
The barometer I use with my clients to help them decide where to pivot in their own businesses.
How to step into your most resilient, grounded, knowing self.
Why being unapologetic is the work we are all here to do.
How much of a role energetics has played in my business.
Some tips to help you attract your soul-aligned clients and the lifestyle you’ve been longing for.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
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Click here to sign up for my newsletter and find out how the Connect The Dots Method has helped clients in all stages of their business.
If you would like help getting clear on what you are offering and how to talk about it, you have to join us in The Clarity Accelerator. It’s 60 of the best-spent days you’ll ever have, and you’ll get my eyes on your business and your messaging helping you dial all this in. There’s a spot available for September, so click here to schedule a call with me as soon as possible to learn more.
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Tag or DM me on Instagram and let me know how this episode has helped you - I can’t wait to be your loudest, proudest cheerleader!
Full Episode Transcript:
I'm just going to tell it to you straight. I have seen some crazy things over the last five years, since I've been in this whole entrepreneurship game. Now, the causes of the events that I'm about to share with you, are totally open to interpretation. Of course, you get to and should form your own opinions.
But I'm going to give you my take. And I'm deciding to share these things, that I've never shared publicly, because I want to model showing up unapologetically. And also, what I'm going to reveal might just blow your mind. It might open you to seeing your business and the world completely differently, which is what it did for me.
This is the story of what led me from being fully logical, rational science-based, to what I have become; a true believer in and practitioner of what I once would have considered to be some very woo concepts.
You're listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the only podcast that helps you unlock your next level in business and life, by prioritizing your clarity and your own Uncommon Way. You will learn to maximize your mindset, mission, messaging, and strategy in order to create a true legacy. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Welcome back to The Uncommon Way. I have got an important episode for you today, and I want to dive right in. Because yesterday, I realized that I've been hiding out and that I wasn't going to waste even one more minute doing so. I've been hiding myself from you, from the public; with a capital P.
Not from my clients, I consider my clients soulmates, right? It's my duty and also my honor, to just serve them with everything I have, all the knowledge I've gleaned through experience or investments. That's given to them with a pretty bow.
And to the people on my newsletter list, I've been opening up to you too, right? In fact, last week, I shared how I'd been interviewed on another podcast about the energetics behind what had me creating $130,000 in six months. Even with a new offer that's a lower price point.
And, I'm purposely restricting the number of people I bring through right now. One would expect my revenue to decline, and I was prepared for that. It was a strategic decision. But it didn’t. And I purposely sent that email to my entire list, rather than just my most engaged readers, because I decided I wanted to have people unsubscribe if they were uncomfortable with me talking frankly about my experiences or my perceptions. But nobody really did.
So, you might be sitting here thinking, Jenna, “Of course, there's universal energy at play. This is such a non-issue.” But here's how the issue relates to you. I know that many of you, probably all of you, are hiding out in some way; you're dimming yourself in some way. And I want a model owning your truth, even when it feels uncomfortable.
I had a client who was a lesbian, and she told me, “It's so crazy that I can be totally out of the closet about my sexuality, but I'm still closet woo.” Yeah, I get it. So, here I am coming out. Now for you, following your uncommon way may not have anything to do with woo concepts. It just means doing your thing, whatever that is.
But for people who follow their own path, by definition we're going to make some unexpected decisions. And there will be times when those decisions are guided by nudges that we can’t explain logically. Now afterwards, when they work out in your favor, other people are like, “That was a stroke of genius. How did you know?”
I'm thinking of Amazon selling clothes online. I remember that, and thinking; how could that ever be successful? What if the clothes didn't fit? Who would want to give up the fun experience of shopping? But of course, now I buy clothes from Amazon all the time. I just got, seriously, the most comfortable pants ever; I'll link to those in the show notes.
So, following these nudges, and being willing to stand out from the crowd, and even bring on some criticism, is of critical importance. It's what separates a life fully lived from the life where you just do what's expected. I believe that's why we're here; to find our path.
But a lot of us do that very quietly. Maybe in our heads, without actually taking action. Or, taking action, but only in the ways that feel safest. But next level, and really, the reason why you're here listening to this podcast, is you need to own your choices and your uniqueness. You've got to stand for them unapologetically, if you're really fully living your uncommon way.
The full expression of your uncommon way is never going to be you hiding out. Even for introverts. Even for people like me, that are introverts and have a two-profile line, which is the hermit in human design. You get to choose the realms that you want to play in. For the last couple of years, I haven't played in social media. I haven't played on a podcast.
But the ones that you do play in, you need to own your truth. Now, I know it comes as no surprise to you that our brains can be very sneaky. The primitive part does not want us to cast out from the tribe and take risks. And since the brain knows us better than anyone, it creates the perfect arguments to sway our decisions towards safety in the status quo, without us even realizing what's going on.
Which is why everyone benefits from a coach. I mean, if I had car payments, I would forego one of them rather than forgoing a coach; the car isn't going to help me get out from under having to make car payments for the rest of my life, but the coach will. And it's also important to surround yourself with people that can help you coach yourself to the highest level.
Which is what happened yesterday. I was having a workshop call with the Clarity Collective; which is the larger group comprised of both the Clarity Accelerator Boot Camp clients, and the clients that continue on with me, either privately or in a group. And, I realized my brain had been doing something sneaky.
Now, I knew when I decided to move forward with this podcast that I would need to speak my truth. And a whole bunch of people were therefore, going to see a different side of me than they'd seen previously. But what my brain had been doing was delaying. So clever.
It had been telling me, “Yeah, Jenna, we'll get to that. But first, it's really important that I introduce this new audience to key concepts like; know yourself, know your people, speak to how the two connect, or connecting the dots up through your mission, to your people, to your offer, to your messaging.”
And, and, and, right? The list kept growing and growing and growing, of things I just had to get out to you first, before I can talk about this. Who knows how long that would have gone on? Some of us can stay in that delaying space for years; I did for two decades. Especially if you're smart and you have a particularly sneaky brain, and don't have a coach.
And once you're onto yourself about something like this, it is critical, both energetically and from a psychological point of view, that you take action on that clarity; sooner rather than later. Which is why I halted production on other episodes, and I'm recording this one, now.
Some of you like to hang out in the space of ‘getting up the nerve.’ I have clients who get the clarity, but then taking action is scary, so they delay. And all they're doing is giving the brain more and more opportunities to create the perfect argument, or to make things feel 10 times worse and scarier.
Like, if you're dreading the next dentist's appointment, six months away, and all you're doing is ruining those six months beforehand. The inevitable is going to happen; you are going to go to the dentist, and you are going to take action and you are eventually going to speak your truth. Because all of those are good for you, right? They're healthy. It's where you're going, because it's always what you've had the potential of being. And, we are not here to squash our potential.
To give you some context on my story. I come from a very logical, scientific group of critical thinkers. And not only that, I used to be the black sheep. I used to be the spiritual one. And through events in my life and observing the world, I lost trust. And then, I started bringing myself evidence for this new belief, right? For all the ways I'd been misguided.
Have you ever met former smokers who now are so vehemently against smoking? That was me, when it came to anything that couldn't be explained scientifically. Looking back, I felt a lot of shame, I think, for, as I perceived it, very naive and magical thinking beforehand. And I felt resentful, true, like my heart had been broken.
So, the journey, from that point to where I am now, I can break into three stages once I started entrepreneurship. So, there was denial, curiosity, and finally mastery.
I started out in full denial, right? When I decide to hire a coach, I hired the most left-brain coach I could possibly find; like very gifted in quantitative analysis. I just knew that the entrepreneurship game had to be about the funnels; I'm convinced.
I worked with her for probably six months building trust, when she said, “You know, Jenna, you're doing all the things right. And, we should be seeing more clients for you now. I think it's a mindset thing. I think you should hire a mindset coach.”
Well, I was in full money scarcity back then. The thought of plopping more investment onto a credit card, when I was already paying $20,000 a year for this mastermind I was in, was definitely not palatable. But neither was not getting the results. So, I did it, of course. Of course, I did it.
Something interesting happened; when this coach helped me see some ways in which my beliefs were interfering with how I was showing up, and I released those limiting beliefs lurking there, I became a booked-out coach within a month or two.
Now, that's not particularly woo; I didn't see it that way, right? That's just basic psychology; whatever you think and believe will alter your actions. But in hindsight, I remember that I came across a guide, in my business coaches course materials, that I had never seen before. Now, I had gone through the entire curriculum, but never seen it.
But it inspired a tactic for initiating conversations with people, that led to me getting all these discovery calls. And then, of course, showing up to them in a new way, which led to clients. That's an amazing coincidence. Still, I dismissed it. You know, maybe it was like some psychological self-sabotage. Like, I had, in fact, seen that guide and it just didn't register, or something like that.
But after this, my business coach started to open up more and more to me. Instead of just talking about mindset, she was talking about energetics. She was telling me that these are really the kinds of things they talk about in these high-level masterminds for seven-figures plus earners. Where you pay $100,000, and you just meet up a few times a year, with like hundreds of other people. And yet, they think it's worth it because understanding this stuff is what's most important.
She started telling me about the real work she'd been doing to create her very successful company, mindset and energetics work. And, how there was no rational reason for her to be bringing in that much money, with the type of business she had and the size of her list, if it weren't for these other things she was focusing on.
So, that is when the curiosity started, right? I let myself open the door, just a crack, because I trusted her so much. And she seemed a lot like me, you know, with both feet on the ground. So, then my client load went back down a bit, and I kind of hit this plateau, so I dove more fully into this work, specifically around money.
I uncovered another block, and right after started hitting those mythical five-figure months. But that wouldn't continue forever, because I had an awakening. When the pandemic hit, I realized that what I was really being called to help people with, was not exactly what I was helping people with.
And if my business is an expression of my purpose, I'm not going to give my time and gifts to something unless it's a ‘hell yes’. I did that for too long in corporate. And that's the barometer that I use now, to help my clients decide when to pivot their own businesses.
You know, don't pivot because the grass is greener, because you think that niche will be more lucrative or easier to sell to, or you're getting frustrated figuring out how to talk to them, right? Pivot, because you realize it's bringing you more fully into your mission. Which, is what was going on for me.
So, I shut my business down. I was hitting 17k plus months. I was charging $10,000 for my services, and I shut it all down. And I poured myself into service, knowing that this global shock would be the catalyst to wake up so many people, and have them question what they were really devoting their lives to.
And I was literally, the best person to help them through this clarity crisis. At a time, when I really just wanted to curl up into a ball and watch the news, I started putting out daily content, which was a stretch for me, and creating a funnel to this super low-priced accessible course that I put together. Knowing it would help people get true clarity and understand how to move into action.
I did this all within, I think, a month or six weeks, I don't remember. But it was a big stretch at the time. I just knew it was urgent, right? Not just for entrepreneurs, for everyone. Quick aside; obviously, I did go back to working with entrepreneurs exclusively, but now, focusing on clarity. Because I quickly saw how it aligned with my mission.
And I want to walk you through this quickly, in case you are also at a decision point. But if I'm here to help people live uncommon lives of their choosing, it makes sense to work with entrepreneurs who have already decided that's important to them, right?
They moved away from corporate jobs for a reason, rather than trying to convince people, that are following the rulebook, that they don't actually have to follow that rulebook. So, these are the kinds of decisions that we make in the decision tree. Go ahead and listen to Episode 2. That's theuncommonway.com/two, if you want more on that tool.
So, right in the middle of delivering that course, the army told us that we need to move in a little over a month, during a pandemic. And then, would have to go on ahead, and I'd have to sell the house and move two houses across country, because my mom lives nearby and always follows us when we move.
And then, when we got to Pennsylvania, we'd be hanging out in a hotel room for over two months, with my very unsettled two-year-old acting out in all sorts of creative ways. Because the house that we needed to move into on base, wouldn't be ready yet.
So, I took some time off from the business. I went off social media. And, something very strange started happening. A client booked in and said that she'd found me on Google®. I asked her; did she consider herself an abstract thinker? Because I do have several posts on my site, that do very well, about abstract thinkers.
But no, no, she said she was looking for a business coach, and she couldn't remember the search term. And, she said she'd instantly resonated with my site. Now, I had heard that before. But usually, people found my site because I was posting in Groups™ or on Facebook®, and they'd hop over there to check me out, right? And then, book a call. This had never happened through Google.
Now, mind you, I hadn't done anything to my website, right? I wasn't adding new keywords or anything, it was the same as it had been for years. So, in my mind, being a business coach meant I'd also be spending a lot of time writing copy, with and for my people.
But I took a gamble and offered her something different. Something aligned with my new awareness, right? This clarity, mindset, strategy, at a very low price, because I honestly didn't know how this would work out and what kinds of results she'd achieve. And she said, yes; she was my first client, in this present form of my business.
And then, another one booked in, and she told me the exact search term. She said, she Googled “business coach for female entrepreneurs”. Now, I'd been a travel blogger, I understood that that would be a highly competitive search term. I doubted what she was saying, completely. As soon as we hung up, I googled it thinking, you know, maybe I'd be on page five or something. I wasn't; I was on the first page.
I saw my domain authority there, compared to everyone else's, and I was floored. So, I believe this happened at this time, because of all the service and value I'd created during the onset of the pandemic. It is good juju, but also my own feelings of deservedness were in play. Because I had a story that you had to work hard and go through a lot to deserve good things. And once I finally felt deserving, through all of this service, the Universe could finally meet me there.
Plus, I had another, what I call, “belief opportunities”, right? I believed it was possible to rank highly on Google. I'd been on the first page already with my travel blog; always for kind of obscure travel destinations though, nothing as competitive as this. And of course, for the abstract thinker posts, which again, is a narrow niche.
So, I was able to receive this because it wasn't outside the realm of possibility. I'd never tried to make it happen. I specifically, you know, I thought that you rank well on blog posts that are structured in a certain way, not on my ‘work with me’ page. I'd never set it up in that way, to be compatible for SEO. But still, it was semi-believable in my realm of possibility. It wasn't a pink elephant appearing out of nowhere.
Plus, this was work I needed to do. If I look back, I see this reason very clearly. And I know what you're probably thinking, you're thinking, “What work? You're just sitting back and receiving consults; you lucky B.” But for a person whose identity had always been caught up in what I was doing and what I was achieving, to do the difficult work of not working, and letting myself earn less, and unpacking what my true worth really was, outside of all of that, and then letting myself receive from there, oh, that was, by far, the hardest, most important work I've ever done.
Luckily, I was going through coach certification training at the Life Coach School at that time, so I had wonderful tools for observing and questioning my thoughts. It was a perfect laboratory for deep work. And, I realized it was also a perfect laboratory to practice these energetics that my coach had been talking about.
None of my copy was changing. I wasn't showing up differently, in a way that could influence my results. No, I was just doing my own mindset work. Testing out different energetic states for myself each month, and then seeing how it influenced what was happening in the business.
For instance, I'd heard people talking about manifesting by making the goal non-negotiable. Well, that sent me into a tailspin of action and frantic neediness and attachment, bringing in a whopping $0 that month. So, that was not helpful. Okay, check; on to the next.
And so it went, month after month. Not only was it a question of the number of people coming in, it was different kinds of people. So, I mentioned that I had previously worked on the copy with my clients. And, there was a big part of me in disbelief that I would be able to help people get results, without doing that piece for them.
And so, I was spending a lot of time on belief work; that they would not need that, right? That people don't really need that. And then, I couldn't believe it, I started bringing in people... I looked at their intake form, and they would say things like; you know, I'm a marketing manager at my day job, but I really just need help getting out of my own way. Or, I really just need help getting clear on what kind of business I wanted to start.
I mean, perfectly aligned, and not needing any help with copy whatsoever. But I just need to stop here and clarify that this is not how you should start your business. I've had some clients that really wanted me to teach them magic. Who wanted me to teach them how to bring in money, without lifting a finger. And, it doesn't work that way.
I had done all the heavy lifting before, to create that messaging on the site. And now, I was just putting it to work for me. I do think that understanding energetics will expedite the journey for new entrepreneurs, for sure. That's why I teach it in the Clarity Accelerator. But it's not going to get you out of doing work and experiencing discomfort.
Entrepreneurship will make you feel terrible. Not because it's so difficult, but because as humans, and especially as women, we perceive extreme difficulty. We make a lot of meaning out of all the ups and downs. Our nervous systems are so triggered by failure and taking up space, and charging appropriately, asking for money, all the things. And, I believe that it's designed this way.
These are the triggers that are going to help us finally heal all that bullshit, and help us step into… Almost said, our magnificence; that sounds so woo, scratch that. An earlier me just would have cringed. But what I really mean to say is, help us step into our best selves; our most resilient, grounded, knowing selves.
So, I hired another coach that could help me specifically with energetics. My previous coach was no longer taking clients. And this, is where the mastery stage of my journey begins.
There I was, just kind of watching all this and experimenting. Raising my prices again, bit by bit, as I saw my people were, in fact, still getting results. And I don't know how long that would have continued, but my Higher Self was like, “Nuh-uh, time to uplevel,” and threw something else in my path.
I applied to a well-known mastermind, and was turned down. I honestly never expected that; I was so surprised. And I was really disappointed, too. Crushed, even; like the wind knocked out of you kind of crushed. And I gave myself a day to feel crushed, which is so important for us to do.
And then, I took my dog for a walk. And, I started asking myself; why? Why was I disappointed? And, I realized that my thoughts about joining the mastermind were, “And then, I'll be one of those elite coaches. You know, the kind who deserves to be on the first page of Google.”
But immediately, I realized that thought was totally available to me now. I was the one making it dependent on something outside of myself, this silly mastermind. But I could go to work showing my brain the evidence of how it was already true; I was an elite coach. I did belong right there on Google. Nobody else offers what I offer. I've created a totally blue ocean. And my clients’ lives change because of it.
I've had so many people tell me that they've been in therapy for years and never gotten the transformation that they have with me. I have pages and pages of testimonials. Yes, business results, but also life results; changing cities, ditching the loser boyfriend, losing weight, repairing relationships. You can’t step into your power in business and not transform your life.
The only one who was thinking Google was a fluke, was me. I was not seeing that. I was only seeing all the ways that I was insufficient. By the way, an earlier me never could have talked about myself favorably, like I just did, without buckets of shame. That took concerted effort to rewrite all that patriarchal programming. And, extreme discomfort to start posting that on social media and desensitizing myself to it.
But I started a little movement of women who were like, “Hell yeah, we need to do this work and encourage each other.” We used the #not sorry. It was a trip; it was so empowering. So yes, it was time for me to stop getting in my way, own what I do and start getting the word out.
Because too many people were suffering, because they were only given half the story. Either the tactics or the mindset. Or, their own inner knowing was suppressed in favor of ‘just market to these people who are most likely to say yes’. Or, they were left to flounder for years, as they figured out their path on their own and reached a certain revenue, and then other coaches would finally work with them.
I became filled with all this certainty. And also, I'll admit, a good dose of proving energy towards anyone who would say I wasn't a good bet for that mastermind. I kept hearing Beyoncé in my head singing, “Oh, you must not know about me.”
Proving energy is a shadow aspect, but it can fuel you in the short-term. And, that's when I had my first $25,000 month. It was as if the Universe were saying, “Finally she gets it. Now she can step into the work that she's here to do.”
Everything that I'd wanted from that six-month mastermind, I got it within one month; the 25k month. I created a hybrid group one-to-one program, and I seriously up-leveled my thought leadership, meaning the way I was explaining my teachings to people.
Fast forward several months… Of course, I'm skipping over tons of ups and downs, but let's just go to the end of the year. And, I'm wanting to hit my yearly goal, this is now last December. I have another coach for energetics, by this point, who teaches through the lens of human design. And, I was very committed to not reverting to hustling up the clients, which was hard. I really wanted to reach that goal.
But instead, I'm waiting for inspiration or signs rather than trying to make things happen. And, I'm holding the expectation that this is going to work up until the end of the month, but also without attachment. Very difficult. Such hard work, especially when you're up against a deadline like that.
But things happened in ways that seem to defy logic. Like, I would overhear a podcast episode that led to me writing a post, that just happened to be right up the wheelhouse of someone who had never even heard of me. And just happened to be on social media at that moment, who then decided to check me out, and then saw my site and knew she had to book in.
It's just hard to explain empirically. And, I was really doing my mindset work. I was examining all the thoughts and emotions that were getting triggered, and I was looking for the lessons. I realized how much resentment I was feeling towards the Universe. I uncovered the story that I get so close to my goals, but then I don't quite get what I want. As if the Universe is toying with me. A lot of victim energy here.
I uncovered how much I wanted recognition. But once again, the one who wasn't recognizing my accomplishments, was me. I held myself back from taking any kind of reactive actions, from my, like low-vibe moments. But I took quick action after my epiphanies and any of my pings.
In the end, I ended up well-surpassing my goal, and bringing in great soulmate clients through all sorts of different ways. After December, I knew I could never turn back, and I haven't. I've continued to practice and hone this. This is the work that has led to that $130,000 in the last six months.
But more importantly, I'm completely rebuilding my trust with the Universe. And with my Higher Self, who's a presence that I never recognized. She guides me so precisely into what's next for me. She represents the parent, sage, lover that you want to rely on and externalize, when you haven't yet recognized your own power; how powerful we all are with creating.
She's me, right? She's who I really am, who I've always been through lifetimes, I'm pretty sure. But also, who I'm becoming. Not because I have to go anywhere, but because of what I don't yet recognize in myself. She is me, without the illusion of the mind.
When I used to talk about these things, even with my clients, I always delivered it with something like, “Look, I don't know how this all works. But here's what does work. And, you can come to your own conclusions.” I'll still tell people to come to their own conclusions, of course.
But I'm going to step further to say, “Here's how I interpret it. Here's what I see going on. Scarcity is a lie. Our own limitations are lies. And this is the work of uncovering our truth. I believe our souls are here for a reason. They came with a purpose, and the Universe wants us to fulfill our purpose. It wants us to connect with the souls we're meant to help evolve, and who in return, help us evolve. We all teach what we need to learn. And all the obstacles, all the tears, are opportunities to help us more deeply recognize our true worth, our abundance, our power.”
Like, back when I had a string of clients who didn't feel that clarity was that important. They just wanted the results they saw on my testimonials page. Like yesterday; someone stopped working with me, she broke her contract. She wanted instant clients, and someone to tell her exactly what her people wanted, and what to do to captivate them. She wasn't willing to work through the aligned, deeply resonant messaging that requires more of you.
And I knew that was so bad for her own psychology and energetics, to pull back from what her Higher Self decided she wanted, when she first agreed to work with me. But to me, it was a gift. Because it hurt like hell, don't get me wrong. I have a human brain; I have perfectionist tendencies. And this was the first time this had happened. I made it mean terrible things about myself, at first.
But after the emotional storm of that Zoom® call, where I sat there crying big crocodile tears in front of my mastermind sisters. After all that, it ignited something. I said to myself, “Man, I would have paid anything for this clarity. I would have made a deal with Rumpelstiltskin and trade in my future child if he'd said, ‘Not only will I help you find your purpose, so you're not in the torment of watching your life slip by without ever reaching your potential or even knowing what it is you're here to do.’
‘And then, I'll help you turn that purpose into physical, tangible form. Into a business that's a full expression of you, and therefore, attracts the soul aligned clients and the lifestyle you've been longing for. And as you build that business up, you see all the pitfalls you can't see, and exactly how everything is happening for you specifically, so that you can evolve into something that you can't even see for yourself yet.’
‘But I can see it clearly. Because my gift is seeing people’s superpowers and what's ahead for them.’” Oh, my God, I would have been like, “Where do I sign? And whatever you tell me I have to do, I'll do it.”
And that is the moment when I felt everything goes still. And my Higher Self was like, “Finally, a yes. That's exactly what we've been trying to show you, Jenna. And now, you don't ever have to doubt it. Or, downplay what you offer again.” Which is when I started marketing specifically to clarity. I changed all my website copy.
Even though my ego was like, “No, you're going to lose your Google rank if you change a word.” But I knew it was inevitable. Clarity is like that; it empowers you to do bold things. And my rank didn't slip. I started turning people away.
My clients are surprised that I choose not to extend invitations to about 50% of the people that apply to work with me through Google. Usually, if they come from other sources, they're a better match. But yeah, I got willing to turn away a lot of money, to ensure that I was bringing on the clients that deeply wanted this. And, would be committed and up to the task.
Which is why the Collective is such a special place to be. We are all very capable women, who are specifically choosing this discovery, because we're called to not just build any old business, that's not what we want. So, it's a slight shift to go from, ‘I don't know why these events happen this way’ to, ‘here's why I believe these things happen’. But it's an important one.
You feel that shift, right? There's an ownership underlying it. It's unapologetic, and there's risk and vulnerability and commitment to authentic expression. This is where I am, at this point in my evolution.
I'm willing to be wrong. And if something comes along to disprove or improve my perspective, you'll be the first to know. But I'm not going to tiptoe around with my words, even in the most public places like this one. I grew up in a very regimented military community, where there were clear lines between acceptable and not acceptable.
When my mom married in, her “performance”, was rated on my dad's yearly performance report. Because it was assumed that the officer wouldn't be a good candidate for commander, if he didn't have the supportive wifey willing to do all the unpaid commander’s wife work.
And he certainly couldn't be effective if his own kids were out of line. Obviously, he lacked leadership. And I say he, because there were hardly any women officers. So, we all learned how to play the roles for optimal approval.
Now, I rejected that early on. I did anything I could to get myself on exchange trips, or college far away, and to live my life differently. But our conditioning runs deep, doesn't it? And as women, most of us have been conditioned this way, to some extent. It feels very wrong to risk blowback and to not please everyone. But we can't please everybody, can we?
So, this is me coming back to that work, once again; new level new devil. And saying, “What you hear, is what you get.” I'm willing to have some people roll their eyes or unsubscribe, because being unapologetic about where I am and who I am, is the work that we're all here to do.
If you haven't listened to Episode 3: Finding Your Voice, you can find that in your podcast player, or at theuncommonway.com/three. It goes into this in more detail, and it gives some tactics for you to try out, too, for finding your voice and your convictions.
So, I want to say with gratitude, thank you for having been here with me as I did the scary thing, and I shared publicly for the first time, just how much of a role energetics has played in my business. And now, it's your turn friend.
Where have you been hiding? Are you saying one thing but thinking another? Are you trying to look good? Or conversely, are you not owning your gifts, because it's easier to hide them and lay low? What is the discrepancy between when you're most fully yourself and how you show up to your audience? And, what would you have to believe in order to come out from hiding? What would you have to believe?
I'll leave you with those questions to ponder, because they have clarified so much for me. And if you feel moved to do anything with them, I would love to support you as you've supported me. Tag me or DM me on Instagram® @theuncommonway, and I will be your loudest, proudest cheerleader.
We have all got to stick together through this uncomfortable work, for the sake of the other women that might be watching or the younger generations who will soon be watching.
Alright friends, until next week. On a certain level, you know who you are. And each day, you're stepping further into what you're here to create.
Thanks for joining us here at The Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including the Clarity for Strategy for Growing and Scaling Your Business, visit TheUncommonWay.com. See you next time.
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Ep #5: Knowing Your People 101
If you are early on in your business and can’t wait for things to finally click, you’re wanting to attract clients that are more aligned, or you simply want to create more impactful thought leadership that lands for your audience, you’re in the right place. In this episode, I’m showing you how to better connect with those amazing clients of yours.
How clear are you on what you offer to your clients? How well do you really know your people? So many entrepreneurs struggle to get clients or fully connect with them, and it holds them back in their businesses. But if you want to build a better connection and get that stop-the-scroll reaction from the content you provide, you need to know your people.
If you are early on in your business and can’t wait for things to finally click, you’re wanting to attract clients that are more aligned, or you simply want to create more impactful thought leadership that lands for your audience, you’re in the right place. In this episode, I’m showing you how to better connect with those amazing clients of yours.
Join me this week and learn how to step out of your frustration and limiting beliefs in your business and become the woman who confidently puts out content that really lands with your people. I’m sharing five key mindset shifts you’ll need to adopt to reap the benefits of this work and some tips to help you get comfortable with selling your customers what they want and giving them what they need.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
The number one problem I see across the board with new and established entrepreneurs.
What leads to years of low or no sales and crickets on social media.
How so many of your business woes will change when you do this work.
The importance of prioritizing deeply knowing your people.
A thought I frequently have when I’m wanting to hit a goal.
The difference between messaging and copy.
Why connection is a two-way street.
How to sell out your services and work with clients you love.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
Want to work with me? Click here to find out how!
Click here to sign up for my newsletter and find out how the Connect The Dots Method has helped clients in all stages of their business.
If you would like help getting clear on what you are offering and how to talk about it, you have to join us in The Clarity Accelerator. It’s 60 of the best-spent days you’ll ever have, and you’ll get my eyes on your business and your messaging helping you dial all this in. There’s a spot available for September, so click here to schedule a call with me as soon as possible to learn more.
Full Episode Transcript:
If you're early on in your business, and you can't wait for things to finally click. Or, your words are connecting with people, and you know it, because when someone hops on a discovery call with you, they still remember that thing you wrote. And they say, “That, that was speaking right to me.” Or, if you're further along, but you want to call in clients that are better aligned, or you just want to create more impactful thought leadership that really lands for your people, for your audience. Here's what you have to do: You have to prioritize deeply knowing your people, and how they think and how they talk.
You're listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the only podcast that helps you unlock your next level in business and life, by prioritizing your clarity and your own Uncommon Way. You will learn to maximize your mindset, mission, messaging, and strategy in order to create a true legacy. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Hey, I'm recording this on the first week after the podcast went live. It is so exciting to see this baby alive and out there. Thank you, everyone, for leaving reviews and downloading episodes and all the things. Now by the way, I am getting over a cold, so I might sound a little different.
Okay, here are just a few of the stats from this past week: We had over 100 downloads in the first three days alone. We had 11 five-star ratings, and we jumped up over 40 points on Apple's competitive business entrepreneurship listing. Now those would probably make big podcasters cry into their soup. But I am thrilled. Thank you for making that possible.
And thank you to those who have left reviews. Here is one from Doodly5; Hi Doodly5. They say, “Ok. This podcast is worth the time! I see why Jenna is called the queen of clarity! Just listening to her has helped me have MULTIPLE breakthroughs about my business! Through actionable advice and grounded tips, YOU are empowered to be your best, clearest self! Thank you Jenna for your wisdom and for sharing it with all of us!”
Aww, thank you, Doodly5. Thanks for taking the time to do that. I'm so glad you're finding it helpful. And, I know all of us are busy, right? Maybe you listen to this as you're working out or driving. And you tell yourself, “Yeah, I am definitely going to help Jenna out and leave a review. But the fact that you actually turn that into action is just; thank you so much.
It's kind of like smiling at a stranger, it's this little thing you do that takes less than a minute, and you're on with your day. But it ends up being so impactful to the person on the receiving end. And your reviews do have a huge impact. Just like with Amazon products or local business listings, reviews are the primary drivers of podcast success, and downloads too, obviously. But there's a short window when the algorithm favors new podcasts. So, I am grateful for your help.
As a founding listener of this podcast, someone ahead of the curve naturally, I am grateful to you for creating the momentum that will get this podcast in front of that woman who is struggling with a decision, or tempted to give up on that inner nudge to do something a little differently. Or, they're going crazy because they can't figure out what will resonate with their audience, which is today's topic, of course. So, let's get this podcast in their hands now rather than later.
A quick reminder that this is the last day within our two-week launch window. So, this is the day to leave a review. And also, the last day to enter to win one of the great prizes we're giving away. You'll find that link in the show notes. And if you're listening to this after August 13th, I'm still asking you to please leave a review, they still matter.
And now, let's talk about how to better connect with those amazing clients of yours. Because the number one problem that I see across the board with entrepreneurs, I'd say at least 80 to 85% of new entrepreneurs, but a lot of more established ones too, is that you don't put the time and attention into really listening to and then speaking directly to your people. Not the people you were serving two years ago, but the people in front of you now.
So many of your business woes will disappear once you change that. It’s like igniter fluid for your business. And you'll just feel better too, more grounded, and confident, for sure. Because you won't be wondering if this is all landing, you'll know. And you won't have that icky feeling of resenting your audience, which we all get at one time or another. But since connection is a two-way street, you'll feel the warm fuzzies in a way you might not right now.
So, do this quick exercise with me. Think about how it feels in your body when you're thinking: How do I interest people in my services? Feel that. Okay, now compare that to how it feels when you're really so interested in them. When you're fascinated, curious, enthralled, feel that. Yeah, that feels way better.
I remember I heard Brooke Castillo say, “You need to learn to fall in love with your potential clients,” it's true. The same level of interest you have from learning about yourself from that BuzzFeed® personality quiz or your psychoanalyst unraveling your childhood trauma, you need that same level of interest for your people. And personally, I'm honored to get to help my people, even the ones that will never buy from me.
I've overheard Christian parents saying things like, “God gave me one of his children to raise as my own. And, I'm honored to be given that trust.” I'm not Christian, but that's how I feel about my clients and my audience. Each part of the work, of knowing my people, is to me like a spiritual practice. From that place of service or curiosity, you can so much more easily stay in the energy little bring in more clients.
And it is possible to connect with your future clients much more quickly than many of you realize. It's not better or worse than any other way. But it can absolutely happen in a flash. This is how I made 90,000 last year from Google® alone, with zero nurturing other than what people read on my website, and what we talked about on a single call. Even if they were interviewing a bunch of other top business coaches. And the same phenomena happens sometimes, with random Facebook® posts that I or my clients put out, too.
But that kind of stuff, the scroll reaction, doesn't happen by accident. First, you need clarity on your zone of genius, so you know exactly what you're offering. And then, you've got to know your people well enough that you can describe it to them in a way that lands. You've got to get really intimate with your people.
I just said intimate, and it reminded me of when Ben and I were first dating, and I thought, “I might want my home base to be in Panama.” Right? So, I drag him down there with me; we're house hunting. And in typical style, I choose like, an island off an island off the main island, in Bocas del Toro. Because otherwise it just be too on the beaten track, you know.
So, we're staying in this tree house in the jungle. This was not glamping by the way. And we walk in, and the bathroom door is nothing more than a few rows of beads hanging down; very 70’s. And Ben turns to me and he just sighs, he's like, “Okay, well, we're gonna get to know each other really well, on this trip.” I just lost it.
So yeah, you don't want to get that intimate with your people, not bead curtain intimate. But yes, intimate enough that they're probably telling you things they haven't actually expressed to anyone before. And intimate enough that when you overhear them talking, you're like; yep, that's one of them right there.
To do that, you need to have old-school, analog, person-to-person conversations with the kind of person that you'd like to work with. You need to ask them good questions, that go way beyond surface level. You need to analyze and contemplate the information that you gather. And, you need to verify that it's useful for calling in more of the people you want to work with.
Now, you might be thinking, “But Jenna, I used to be my person, I know exactly what she's going through. But for some reason, people aren't responding.” Listen, even if you're helping people with a transformation, you yourself went through just a few months ago, there is a world of difference between how you see the world and the language you have to describe your experience, and your client’s perspective.
And it's your job, literally your j-o-b, to speak to your audience in the way that they understand, not the way you understand it. Or worse, the way you want them to understand it. Let's say you're using coach language like; I help women increase their self-worth, so they can feel empowered to make transformative decisions.
But what they're saying, is they want to get brave enough to tell their loser boyfriend to take a hike. They might think that what you're saying sounds nice. They may even think, “Oh, maybe someday I should do something like that.” But they're not going to be all, “Oh, let me whip out my credit card, because I need that exact thing, right now.”
That's an oversimplification, but it paints the picture of the huge disconnect between what so many people are selling, and what most people decide to buy. Don't let yourself get discouraged, right now. I can honestly hear some of those internal groans all the way here in my walk-in closet, in Pennsylvania, where I'm recording this.
“But Jenna, it's not about being brave. It's about her low self-worth. If I help her with her self-worth that solves everything.” Don't worry, I'm not asking you to say anything you don't believe. Believe me, there's plenty of room for nuance in your messaging. I'll give you some examples of that in a minute.
I am all about depth and integrity and not dumbing anything down. But I stand beside my primary point which is, that we fall into the trap of using our language rather than our client's language. She doesn't think it's about self-worth. Otherwise, she would have said that. She's an adult with a fully functioning vocabulary.
The link with self-worth is what you get to show her, once you are her coach. And sometimes you might want to do it very strategically in your content. But we'll save all that for future episodes. For now, we're focused on their perspective. This disconnect is what leads to years of no or low sales, or crickets on social media, which I don't personally care about. Because I've had tons of clients that have followed me but never even clicked like. But I know a lot of you do.
And then when you're getting the results you don't like, you're making it mean something about you. And maybe you start ping-ponging among different offers, or niches, or throwing spaghetti at the wall, and wondering whether or not to just give up on this whole crazy idea anyway.
Which reminds me of my client, Crystal; she came to me for clarity, because she wanted to switch and start doing a different kind of coaching. She was a health coach. And when I asked her why, she told me she was so sick of dragging people along to the result, that they said they wanted. Maybe some of you can relate to this. But that set little alarm bells off in my head, because I know not everyone is like that.
So, I asked her how she was marketing, what was her messaging like? And she said that she would say things like; have you really been struggling with all different kinds of diets, but nothing seems to work? And you wish you just had something that was easy, that you could actually do? Something like that. Well, that is a tried and trusted messaging for weight loss. But it's also what's used on commercials for diet pills, and for TV dinners.
Those are marketed to people that want the quickest, easiest solution. So Crystal was bringing in all of these people that were in struggle, would probably continue to struggle, for reasons other than the scope of this podcast, and she was calling in the ones who just wanted the quick, easy fix.
So, I asked her; if she could work with anyone, what would they be like? And she said, well, honestly, it would be women like her. You know, career women that are used to going after what they want. And, they tend to get it. Right? When they put their mind to something, they accomplish it. But those people, she told me, would never actually buy from her because they could do it on their own.
I suggested that she go out and just talk to some of those people, right? Find a few of them and just have a conversation with them. And there's a set of strategic questions I give my clients, so they can draw out the answers and the language they need. Because what I knew, is that she had an underlying belief that she couldn't create a business around what she wanted.
You know, we talk about money scarcity, or time scarcity. But there's client scarcity, too. And, I see it a lot. So, it turns out that after she spoke with women, she did actually find women like this, we noticed something very interesting in the client language. And it was this; those women never talked about struggle. What they said instead was, that it hadn't been a priority.
They had had families, kids, they were focusing on their careers, and they'd put on some extra weight. And until now, it just hadn't been a priority to get it off. But now it was, and they wanted someone to just help them get it done; faster, easier, better.
So, when she started speaking to those kinds of people, using that language, she immediately booked out her group program with clients she loved. Can you believe that she was almost about to give up on what she loved? All because she had some limiting beliefs about what was even possible, and didn't know how to gather and analyze client language.
This is the kind of thing that drives me crazy. And, I want to help you step out of that frustrated, throw your hands in the air, version of Crystal and step into the after version. I want to see you become the woman who confidently puts out content, knowing it's what your people care about and desperately want help with. Or, has conversations with people, or goes on TikTok®, whatever; it doesn't have to be social media, the medium does not matter. I just want you to feel that peace of mind.
One of the thoughts I frequently have, that I want to share with you, when I'm wanting to hit a certain monthly goal, or maybe there's a potential client and I'm not sure if she's going to come through, and insecurity starts to surface. I say, “Jenna, they want this so much more than you want it. To me, it's another client. To them, it's changing their life.”
I know that because I've talked to so many of them about it. Not because I've decided that's how they should feel about it, and I'm trying to convince them of that. Sense the difference there? So then, I can just relax. I don't have to go chasing after anything, or stressing about ‘will they, won't they.’
And once you feel that sense of clarity, you can focus on much higher value things in your business, than ‘what do I talk about today?’ You're focused on getting in front of your people. You're focused on figuring out how to move your people along the buyer’s journey and into a yes. Or, how to help them get the best results, once they've said yes.
I know some of you right now, are like; but I'm just not a good writer, it's so hard. This isn't about how you write. Don't confuse messaging with copy; there's a difference. I do teach some copywriting in the Clarity Accelerator, I’m happy to talk about it here. If you want that, just let me know in the reviews.
But messaging is different than copy. You could be standing in line at the coffee shop and deliver great messaging to the person next to you, and never write a word. Messaging is what reflects your understanding of your client psychology; their way of seeing the world and moving through the world.
And since your clients are the most important part of your business, this is where a large percentage of your time should go, especially in the beginning. You need to be like a detective. That's why, in my three-part Clarity Formula, part one is know yourself, and part two is know your people; they have equal weight. And they're both the precursors to the final part, which is talk about how you and your people connect.
Okay, here are some key mindset shifts you'll need to adopt, in order to reap the benefits of this work. If you aren't in a place where you can pause this and take notes, make sure you check the time on this episode, so you can come back to this point.
All right, number one, I've got five of them, by the way. Number one, you can form a business around whatever you want to form a business around. If you're convinced that those people would never buy, then you're not going to open yourself up to testing and getting to know that audience.
Number two, your people are telling you what they want. There really is no mystery about this. You just have to ask the right questions to get the key answers, and actively listen to what they say.
Number three, you aren't exactly the same person you used to be. You perceive the problem and solution differently, and your language is different now.
Number four, okay, this one's for my entrepreneurs who have been in business for a few years. Markets grow increasingly sophisticated over time; you can't rest on the messaging that used to work for you.
And number five, you will always end up helping your clients with much more than they expect. But you've got to become comfortable selling them what they want. I’m going to repeat that: You have to become comfortable selling them what they want. As long as you say it with integrity, of course.
So, let's break those down. Number one, you can form a business around whatever you want. I have a feeling I'll get some strongly worded feedback on this one. But I've seen the limiting belief in action too many times to not address it. People get so convinced that a certain type of client doesn't exist or would never buy, that they force themselves into something that's not a fit.
Now, it's true. Sometimes you do need to make some adjustments to where in the buyer’s journey or people are, etc. I mean, yeah, you can't sell a Mercedes® to homeless people. But you can still sell Mercedes to people who will then feel like they found home.
Number two, your people are telling you what they want. And they're telling you how to sell it to them, too. So many people, especially people that have a habit of confusion, stay in the energy of ‘I don't know.’ And worse, “I can't figure this out. I just don't know why I'm not connecting with them. I don't know what they want.” I can certainly empathize; I have been there.
But that is very disempowering. Trying to create content and lead from that place, will not bring you the results you want. I went before you; I can attest. But when you shift into; how can I ask a better question? What do I already know for sure? And what's left for me to figure out? That is a very different energy.
Number three, you aren't exactly the same person you used to be. I gave more detail on this earlier, with that example of self-worth in relationships. This is especially true if you've gone through a coach certification or done years of personal development work.
Now, you can, of course, choose to market to people who are anywhere along that spectrum, of whatever started you on this journey up until where you are today. Those are all valid options. But the closer they are to where you are today, the less help people will need from you.
The transformation you're offering will not be as great. They may or may not still value it highly, you'll have to test that. But for sure, the people that are right where you are now, spoiler, they're probably not going to pay money to get where they already are.
So, figuring out this nuance, the question of; where is that sweet spot, between who will pay me for help and who am I actually interested in speaking to, is really part one type work. It's ‘know yourself’ work. You need to make that decision, especially if you're just starting out.
Some of you might have picked up on the fact that I market to entrepreneurs at different stages in their journey. But I've also been in marketing for years. And I'm very clear on the psychographic undercurrents that tie people together. That's why I can have a group call with very new entrepreneurs and seven figure business owners, and we can all derive benefit from the call. We're talking about a lot of common themes, just at different levels.
Speaking of which, let's talk to those entrepreneurs that are further along. Number four is markets grow increasingly sophisticated over time. This is something that my first coach, Luisa Zhou; I love you. This is something that she taught me. You can't just keep reusing the messaging you used years ago.
This is a product of more and more people entering the market. Which means, more and more people serving that market, talking to that market, more information available and shared among the people in that market. But also, it's a product of our consciousness as humans. It is evolving rapidly.
Do you ever watch 80’s movies, and you are just shocked at what people used to say? That's easy to spot, but it's happening at a more subtle level all around us every day. There's no way I could have spoken about some of the things I do now, even just five years ago.
Like nowadays, most of my clients that come to me with confusion or indecision, they already know that their own brains are getting in the way of their clarity. So, I can end this podcast each week by saying, “On a certain level, you know who you are.” And my people will be like, “Yes, she's right. It's so true.”
That's languaging I evolved into, through carefully paying attention to my people. And the thing is, it's not just your people that evolve, you evolve too. You're called to serve a slightly different person. Or, you do your own belief work or personal development work and your audience changes. The truth is, you can see a lot of your own evolution reflected in the clients that are coming to you.
I remember being so surprised when I was starting out, because I saw a Facebook post with someone asking; why is it that clients always say they don't have the money? And I was like, that's not how mine object. Mine say, they don't have the time or now's not the right time.
We were each attracting the people that reflected our own issues. So, I always say, clarity is an evolution, it's never done. I never stop doing the work in the Clarity Accelerator. That's why I offer a lifetime access. Because I know my clients will use it. I get to my next level, and it's time to start again.
Likewise, with my clients. I'll help them with their messaging in the bootcamp, that's the Clarity Accelerator main program. But six months later as a private client, and then, for as long as we work together, they're learning more about themselves, and their precise work and secret sauce, and practicing owning that and stepping into it more fully. And they're updating that in their messaging, along the way.
Number five, you've got to become comfortable selling them what they want, with integrity, of course. Here's how you can massage your messaging to speak to your people but still be in integrity. I still have people who tell me they need help because they're just not finding their clients.
Now, I know that their clients are everywhere. I even believe that the universe will facilitate their connection with their clients for them. But that's another topic. But I need to address their concern, otherwise they won't believe that working with me will help resolve their issue. So, my place of integrity is to say that, “Yes, I'll help you call in your clients.”
I'm going to the end result of what they want, clients. And if someone presses me, “Yeah, but are you going to show me how to utilize Nextdoor to get in front of my clients?” I'm not going to mislead them. I'll say, “I'm going to show you how to create such effective messaging that you can put it out anywhere.” And depending on what other cues I picked up from them, I might explain the mindset shift of believing that your clients are everywhere.
But if I get someone that stands their ground and says,” I really want someone who's going to show me to use Nextdoor.” Then I will say, “Here's a coach that I recommend you speak with.” Because the last thing you want, is to bring in a client that isn't hungry for the magic that you're offering. And, it might be that a year from now they come back to you. They're now at a point where they get what you were saying, and they're way better client because of it.
Here's another example. When I hired a parenting coach, I thought I just wanted someone to give me a personalized guide for dealing with my son's issues. Later, in the post-sale coaching, I learned that my thinking and behavior was more of a problem than Dylan's was. But if my coach hadn't been willing to meet me where I was, I probably wouldn't have hired her. I just would have thought; Oh, she thinks it's all about me. But she's never met my son.
My coach addressed that in her messaging, which, by the way, was just a conversation; it wasn't a fancy sales page. She said things like, “I know, for me, I just wished someone would give me a personalized playbook for dealing with my son.” And I lit up because that's exactly what I think.
Well, she did definitely personalize things for me. And, we did talk about how to deal with my son. His behavior changed in many ways. And, my experience certainly changed. And, I wrote her a glowing testimonial. But it didn't happen in the way I expected when I was on that discovery call.
So, I'll give you some quick tips about how to become comfortable with this whole idea of selling them what they want and giving them what they need in case you're feeling resistance right now.
First, you have to clean up your judgment. If you're judging the person who wants to get skinny, or the one who thinks her business will suddenly transform if she just uses a new app, or the mom who wants to change her child's behavior so she can feel better, clean that up.
It often involves healing your own judgement of yourself in the past, maybe you used to be like that. There's some reason that you feel so strongly about this. Or, there's a reason you don't feel in integrity; figure that out and heal it.
Because otherwise, you're inadvertently telling people that they are wrong and not good enough. Who wants to work with someone like that? They don't know what they don't know, period. They're doing the best they can with what they have.
And, you're so excited to help accelerate their journey because you know what awaits them. Only after you've cleaned all this up, can you make some strategic decisions about how you'll choose to speak, about what they want.
Where are you going to use direct client language? Where will you massage it? Where will you speak to their humanity? Where will you speak to their higher self? Once you incorporate these mindset shifts, and you lean in fully to this work and apply this work, you are going to have a very different business.
Your clients will feel conscious resonance. Conscious, like what I told you about when I hired my parenting coach; how is she in my head? That's exactly what I think. But they'll also feel subconscious resonance. There's a form of subconscious resonance that happens when you bring forth your mission or your purpose into your messaging. That's not what I'm talking about in this episode.
What I mean is, they'll feel safe. What you're saying feels familiar, and they feel seen. And ultimately, priming them with that sense of safety, is what will help them get not just the results they so desperately want, but the totality of the transformation available to them with your help. The brain allows change when it feels safe to do so.
So, for instance, I tend to drop some big words here and there, contrary to marketing best practices. But the women who work with me are comfortable with that. They're used to it in their own lives, and they feel a little safer investing with me because of it.
Those who aren't comfortable with it, don't stick around, even though they probably don't have any conscious judgment about it. Kind of like swearing. It's important for me to swear publicly because it's likely going to come out on some coaching call, and when I'm in the middle of the coaching space, I don't want to be putting my energy into thinking about what I should or shouldn't say. But for some people, swearing is a no-go.
This kind of self-selection is a beautiful thing. Resonance is a beautiful thing. It means less work and fewer upsets for everyone involved. Your business will get easier in other ways with this work, too. You don't tire yourself out deliberating what to even write about or pivoting your business. You make decisions more quickly and decisively. And you move more quickly.
There's a training I have, in module five, it's the Understanding Your People, and I show clients how to create a social media post in about 60 seconds, just by plugging and playing this information that people give you. And the combinations are endless because your people are constantly feeding you new bits of data.
But you know what I love? Keening into the language and mindset, it helps me tap back into the emotional space of where my clients are. Honestly, sometimes it's hard to get my brain back to how it used to be. Now, sometimes there are events that trigger those old emotions, like right now, with launching this podcast, I'm feeling some of them. And, I love that level of connection and empathy that it's gifted me. But sometimes it's a little harder to get there.
And you know, what else gets you back there? Having a heartfelt conversation with somebody who's struggling, who is right smack-dab in the middle of that pain or frustration, or however they experience it. And, they're really searching for a way out. That brings me right back, every single time.
Now, we've covered a lot of mindset and key concepts here today, so even though I usually like to share both mindset and tactics on each episode, we're actually splitting this one into two. In a coming episode, I'll be sharing the five-step process I recommend for nailing your messaging. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please pop them into a review, so I can make sure to address them.
And now to recap: Messaging is not copy. But it's why a lot of new entrepreneurs struggle to get clients, and why a lot of other entrepreneurs aren't calling in the right clients, or aren't maximizing their thought leadership.
It's your job to speak to your audience in the way they understand, not the way you want them to understand it. Luckily, your people are telling you exactly what they want, and how to sell it to them. You just have to listen and ask the right questions to get the answers.
And then, you've got to become comfortable selling them what they want, what they’ve told you. The way you do that is; you clean up your judgment, you heal your own past, you fall in love with your client’s journey, and you'll get clear on what you will and won't say out of integrity.
Remember, you can form a business around whatever you want. But even once you're up and running, this work doesn't end. You evolve, and markets evolve too. There's not an entrepreneur out there who should ever stop doing this clarity work. And if you're starting out, begin this work sooner rather than later. It's not something you can afford to put off.
If you'd like help getting clear on what you're offering and how to talk about it, join us in the Clarity Accelerator. It's 60 of the best spent days you'll ever have. You'll get my eyes on your business and your messaging, helping you dial this in. I walk you through everything step-by-step. Everyone says they love the structure.
There's a new module each week, with a mindset training that relates directly to what will likely be coming up for you. I only bring a few people through each month, so this is not the kind of place where you can get lost. And, you don't have to move at anyone else's pace either. I make sure to stagger all of the start dates.
You and I will have one-to-one calls, and I'll know everything about your business. Plus, we have weekly group calls and workshops where you get to learn from peers who are at different stages of the journey. Yes, but it's always very relevant because everyone here is solely focused on clarity. You've never been in a room like this before.
It took me five years to perfect this system and the way of delivering it, to help my clients as quickly as possible. If you suspect this might be exactly what you've been needing, get on a call with me as soon as possible through the link in the show notes. At the time of this recording. There's a spot available for September, but it won't be available long.
Okay, my friend. That is it for today.
And remember, on a certain level you know who you are. And, every day you're stepping further into what you are here to create.
Hey, to celebrate the launch of the show, I'm going to be giving away three really great prizes; a pair of AirPods Pro™, a six-month subscription to Audible®, and a $50 Amazon.com Gift Card™. I'll be giving these away to some lucky listeners who follow, rate, review, and share the show.
Here's why your help is essential. I need to know what resonated with you and what you're still curious about. So, I can create the most high-value content for you. I don't want to create what other people want. I want to create what you want. So, I need to hear from you.
And also, this work changes lives; it sure as hell changed mine. I am on a mission to get these episodes into the hands of everyone who needs it. Since this isn't your first rodeo, and you've listened to a podcast or two before, you know that follows, rates, reviews, and shares are how this new baby podcast will get seen and bumped up in search results. Thank you for spreading the word!
To learn more about the podcast and how to enter to win the AirPods, the Audible subscription, or the gift card, just visit TheUncommonWay.com/podcastlaunch. I’ll be announcing the winners on the show, in an upcoming episode.
Thanks for joining us here at The Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including the Clarity for Strategy for Growing and Scaling Your Business, visit TheUncommonWay.com. See you next time.
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Ep #4: The Science of Nonconformity with Vasily Klucharev
Learn why the more we can understand and unpack social influence, the cleaner our decisions and the more grounded our convictions become, and some powerful ways to think about social influence, conformity, and nonconformity.
What exactly is going on in the brain when we let our opinions or decisions be swayed by others? Why are some people more likely to go along with the crowd than others? Where are we most susceptible to conforming? These are just some of the questions that led me to contact Dr. Vasily Klucharev, possibly the world’s leading neuroscientist studying conformity, or what he would label Social Influence.
If like me, you love to geek out on brain science, you are in for such a treat this week. What Dr. Vasily Klucharev shares is going to change how you think about your decision-making and the decisions made by those around you forever.
Listen in this week to hear the impact of social influence on decision-making and the importance of questioning your opinions and allowing them to be questioned by others. Learn why the more we can understand and unpack social influence, the cleaner our decisions and the more grounded our convictions become, and some powerful ways to think about social influence, conformity, and non-conformity.
To celebrate the launch of this show, I’m giving away a pair of AirPods Pro, a 6-month subscription to Audible, and a $50 Amazon gift card to some lucky listeners who follow, rate, review, and share the show. Click here to find out more about the contest and how to enter, I’ll be announcing the winners on an upcoming episode.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
The only three things you need to focus on to have a successful business.
Why, to understand our own decisions, we need to understand the decisions of others.
The importance of knowing the why behind your decisions.
What conformity and nonconformity are and the difference between the two.
More about Dr. Klucharev’s ground-breaking experiments and what they revealed.
The interesting chain of events that led Dr. Klucharev to this line of study.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
Follow, rate, and review the podcast for a chance to win some great gifts. Click here to find out more!
Click here to sign up for my newsletter and find out how the Connect The Dots Method has helped clients in all stages of their business.
Dr. Vasily Klucharev: LinkedIn
Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
Full Episode Transcript:
What exactly is going on in the brain when we let our opinions or decisions be swayed by the opinions of others? Why are some people more likely to go along with the crowd than others? And, where are we most susceptible to conforming? Those are just a few of the questions that led me to contact Dr. Vasily Klucharev, who's possibly the world's leading neuroscientist studying conformity, or what he would call social influence.
If you're like me, and love to geek out on brain science you are in for such a treat today, because he agreed to an interview. And, what he shares is going to forever change how you think about your decision making, and the decisions made by those around you. So, stick around.
You're listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the only podcast that helps you unlock your next level in business and life, by prioritizing your clarity and your own Uncommon Way. You will learn to maximize your mindset, mission, messaging, and strategy in order to create a true legacy. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Jenna Harrison: Hey, welcome back to The Uncommon Way. I have such a special episode for you. Obviously, it's a fascinating subject, and it's such a gift to be able to learn about it directly from such a preeminent scientist. As an entrepreneur, you know that decisions are everything. And since you're drawn to doing things your own way, your own uncommon way, you're looking to make autonomous, conscious aligned decisions.
But you're also the kind of person that questions why you are the way you are. You know that sometimes your decisions aren't really your decisions, made from your highest most visionary place. They're someone else's, or something else's, like your biology or your triggers. The more we can understand and unpack all of that influence, the cleaner our decisions, and the more grounded our convictions become.
I mean, think about it, how can you build a business that's a true reflection of you, without getting to know you? That's why it's step one of the only three things you need to focus on for a successful business. Know yourself, know your people, talk about how those two connect. And, it's in that spirit of self-understanding that I am so excited to bring you this episode.
But the other reason this episode is special is because it has a personal significance for me. This was the first podcast episode I ever created. And guess what? We recorded it five years ago. I wanted to share that because I see too many content creators develop a short timer’s attitude. You think the worth of your content is determined by the likes or engagement it gets over the next 24-hour period.
It can feel really heavy when you're thinking that you're pouring love and effort into something short-lived, and you let that heaviness hold you back from sharing your ideas more. But what if you believe that your content was definitely going to land with someone. You just might not know when; it could be right away.
But what if the work you're creating now is going to resonate with someone a year from now, when you repurpose or retool or even flat out recycle that exact post? If that's an exciting thought, I have an upcoming episode on content resurrection that you've got to check out. So, make sure to click follow or that little plus sign on your podcast player so you don't miss it.
Okay, before we dive into the interview, I really want to say thank you to those of you that have supported what we're doing here, by sharing this podcast, downloading episodes, and leaving a review. You have the ability to brighten someone's day by getting this uncommon way of thinking, about business and life, into their hands or ears, I guess. And, we do that by getting noticed by the algorithms during these critical first couple of weeks. It's a very special opportunity in time, to get in front of people that might otherwise take years to find us. So, thank you.
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Okay, now back to our interview. In this episode, we talk first about the interesting chain of events that led Dr. Klucharev to this line of study. And then, he'll offer some powerful ways to think about conformity and nonconformity. And about 10 minutes in, we dive into his groundbreaking experiments and what they revealed.
And then in the end, we move on to what that means for the future. What deserves to be studied next? And, would it ever be possible to lessen or intensify a person's ‘give a shit’ factor? It is such a good conversation. And it's just the beginning, we would love to have him back for a five-year update. So, take note of any questions that come up for you, and then pop them into your podcast review, so I can make sure to cover them in our next episode.
And now, I hope you enjoy this conversation with Dr. Vasily Klucharev, preeminent neuroscientist and the head of the Department of Psychology at the Higher School of Economics, National Research University in Moscow.
Dr. Klucharev, thank you so much for being here with us. There are so many interesting things about your research and the studies, but let's start off with; I know that it was not heavily researched, a heavily researched topic, so I'm really fascinated about how you became interested in it.
Dr. Vasily Klucharev: Actually, I think I got interested in this topic by an accident. So basically, 20 years ago, I investigated neurobiological mechanisms of emotions. And I conducted my studies in St. Petersburg, in Russia, in my home country. I read the book on social psychology, and this is the best-selling book of [Robert] Cialdini on social influence. I was fascinated by social psychology.
And for a neurobiologist, it was a shock to discover how much we’re influenced by others. Because in classical neuroscience, we kind of ignore this fact that our decisions and our behavior is very much affected by others and modulated by others. And it was a very new idea for me, that to understand our decisions we have to understand also decisions of others, or at least take into account social influence.
Twenty years ago, I had no idea how to investigate neurobiological mechanisms, social events; no tools. Actually, also by an accident, 15 years ago, a new field of neuroscience was established, so called neuroeconomics, and in neurobiology of social influence. This field is trying to create an interdisciplinary model of decision-making.
Neuroeconomics is very much affected by social psychology, by behavioral economics, and by neuroscience. Neuroeconomics is a kind of a theory of decision-making. This new theory, or this new field, gave me a tool to study social influence. So basically, my idea was to investigate how social agents manipulate this decision-making mechanism, affect this decision-making mechanism. It helps to understand the neurobiological mechanisms urging conformity in some.
And actually, 15 years ago, I joined the new laboratory in Netherlands. And it was an interesting laboratory, established by the Department of Neuroscience and by the Department of Marketing. They were interested, actually, in my topic in neurobiology of social influence. At that time, I think only a couple of laps in the world were interested in this topic.
Jenna: It's just a beautiful irony that you are studying nonconformity, and at the same time, you are a nonconformist. Because there weren't too many people studying this. So, were you like that growing up? Would you say you were a bit nonconformist?
Dr. Klucharev: So, I would say I would be careful with the label nonconformist. I think an ultimate nonconformist is a very unique and annoying person; a person who doesn't follow any norm. So, I would say in some context, I am nonconformist. Perhaps when I deal with my personal values and scientific interest.
In some contexts, I like norms. For example, I like norms during conversations, communication. I am annoyed by non-polite communication. In this sense, I'm kind of a conformist. I like the social mores. But as this regards my personal values and scientific interest, yes, I am kind of a non-conformist, because it was actually quite difficult to push this line of research. Not many people understood it.
For neuroscientists, it was a relatively new idea that others do affect our brain activity and decision-making. For social psychologists it was also a bit of a strange line because they couldn't understand the added value of neurobiology. Why should you get some neurobiological mechanisms of explaining this series? I think it took a lot of time to overcome this skepticism of the community.
And to be honest, actually, social influence also helped us a lot, because one of our early studies was published on the cover page of a very popular journal, it was kind of a social influence in the scientific community. Actually, it effected a lot of people.
Jenna: So, would you say that you could describe this conformity, human conformity, as a spectrum? Because I agree that there certainly, on one end, an antisocial behavior that could even be pathological, right? On the other hand, there's a situation where you have an individual that's so conformist, that even though their deep underlying values are urging them in a different direction, they refuse to follow that, whatever that is; that drive.
Dr. Klucharev: Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, to be honest, we don't fully understand the neurobiological reasons of individual differences and in formatives. So, I think it's also important to mention that conformity is not something negative. Conformity is a cheap way to learn from the behavior of others.
So, evolutionarily speaking, this is a very good strategy. We shouldn't try everything ourselves. It's enough to look at what others are doing. Most of the time, particularly the constant environment, it works very well. Medical models show that the community can face some problems when the environment changes. In this case, very strong conformity can actually destroy them as a community, because social norms will drive us in the wrong direction.
But normally, conformity is a good way to learn many things. And it looks like we have some natural, individual differences in the levels of conformity. And to be honest, we don't still understand the reasons. So, we have some hints why do people differ. They have subtleties, for example, they show even a difference in core cortical structure of people who are more nonconformist, as compared to conformists. But we still don't understand the reasons why do we have this variety of conformism analysis?
Jenna: Interesting. So, in terms of your own social influence, are there any things you can pinpoint in your environment that made you who you are, in terms of a scientist?
Dr. Klucharev: I lived in a very, in a way, a strange and unique environment, because I entered university during a collapse of Soviet Union. And it was an interesting moment of a kind of freedom, and a completely new experience. We were able to read new books, we discovered free speech, freedom of journalism. I would say, of course, many people leave during that time.
I think also in my family, and actually my father and mother were scientists; they were physicists. So, in a way they also tried to discover new things. I don't think that something really unique happened in my life that drive me to be a nonconformist.
I was very much affected by my scientific supervisor. She was very talented lady, unfortunately, she’s dead now. But for example, she told me a lot about new developments in neuroscience. She believed the future of neuroscience is related to interdisciplinary research. She particularly, actually, mentioned social neuroscience; that in the future, neuroscientists should take into account social interactions.
So, I would say maybe things could affect me, but I don't think there is a particular event or factor that could predict my research; I wouldn’t say so.
Jenna: They're all fascinating stories though, for sure.
When Dr. Klucharev was preparing to set up his now famous first experiment, there wasn't much precedent. It wasn't until he was in the middle of the project that he came across a couple of articles by Gregory Berns and Read Montague, and realized he wasn't alone in his interest.
What he had hypothesized was that the brain monitors our behavior and the behavior of others. And, when there's a deviation from the group norm, it produces a kind of signal, an error signal. It's a warning that something has gone wrong, that a prediction or expectation was not met.
He knew he’d be able to verify his hypothesis by monitoring the brains of his subjects with Magnetic Resonance Imaging, because that type of error signal had already been studied extensively for other behaviors. And lastly, they also thought that perhaps, the stronger that error activity was, the higher the probability that the subject would then change his or her opinion, in order to conform with others.
I'll let the doctor tell you about how they set up that experiment and what they found.
Dr. Klucharev: We just knew the regions of interest. This is the medial prefrontal cortex, and also so called, nucleus accumbens, and also ventral striatum, are the two related brain regions. They're both involved in the learning and error monitoring.
We exposed our subjects to the opinions of others. I can say a few words about our paradigm. I think we were lucky to create a very simple paradigm, but later it was used by other groups a lot. So, our subjects rated facial attractiveness of more than 200 faces. Subjects had to rate attractiveness on the scale of say, from 1 to 7. And at the end of each trial, our subject was exposed to the opinion of the group.
It was an average opinion of more than 100 students from the same university. In fact, actually, we manipulated this group opinion. Sometimes the group had the same opinion as our subject, and sometimes their opinion was different. We were able to compare brain responses to those two situations; when your opinion matches others and when your opinion mis-matches others. And we discovered that indeed, there is a conflict of opinions as this error-related activity is elevated. In next studies, we proved this discovery using other techniques.
Jenna: So, how were you actually able to manipulate their decision about whether to conform with a group?
Dr. Klucharev: Okay, this is kind of next study, because with different neuroimaging tools, you can answer very different questions. So, with fMRI, you cannot really show like a causal relationship between the brain activity and the behavior of yourself. So, you don't know whether this activity’s necessary for conformity.
To prove that, you have to use a different technique. In our study, we use Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. So, with this device, Transcranial Magnetic stimulator, you can temporarily shut-down a brain region. So, by an alternative magnetic field, you can disturb activity for 10-20 minutes in a small region of the brain. So, we focus Transcranial Magnetic stimulator on this medial prefrontal cortex, and we temporarily suppressed activity in this region. And, what we showed is that it will lead it to the less conformative. So, our subjects became kind of nonconformist for 20 minutes.
Jenna: So, so interesting.
Dr. Klucharev: Basically, it shows the causal relationship between this neural mechanism and conformity. Some other groups later used other techniques, they manipulated - they gave some education [inaudible] to those subjects and also changed conformity of subjects, as well, using our teams.
Yes, a very interesting experiment was conducted in Denmark, because this brain region is rich of chemical called dopamine. So, you can manipulate the amount of dopamine in the brain, by some chemicals. And in that study, our Danish colleagues, they gave a drug that increases the amount of dopamine temporally, in the brain. And they showed that subjects became more conformist.
So, vices, drugs pick-up increased activity in this brain region. So, kind of like we have increased this error signal, indicating that you're different from others, and people started to change opinion more. Altogether, we got a lot of kind of support for our hypothesis; this particular brain region is involved and confirmed.
Jenna: Yeah, yeah. So, what are you interested in for the future, in this topic? What needs to be studied?
Dr. Klucharev: I think that many things are interesting. So first of all, many of my students asked me, “Okay, you investigated conformance, but do you know something about nonconformist? And to be honest, non-conformists are not very well investigated.
One interesting topic would be to investigate action non-conformist? Who are these people? Why are they different from majority of people? Another, actually, fundamental question is yeah; what are the major factors making people conformist? Is conformism based on our genotype, on social environment, on our childhood? To be honest, our field is missing this information. So, these factors have been studied by social psychology but not by cognitive neuroscience.
Also, it will be very interesting to investigate the influence of minorities, and then, how the minority is able to affect the majority. Of course, most of our studies focus on majority and how majority influences are working. But on the same time, we know that minority can also affect majority. And this is still a puzzling question. And then, how the majority is able to overcome the influence of… What kind of minority is able to overcome the influence of the majority?
Jenna: Oh, I love it. I love it. We'll have to keep up with your work.
Dr. Klucharev: Thank you so much.
Jenna: Are you aware of any corollary tendencies yet, with nonconformists? Other things that they're more likely to do?
Dr. Klucharev: There is some literature in social psychology on nonconformance. So, there are some psychological factors affecting the behavior. I remember one study, conducted in Japan, that investigated the difference in brain structure of conformists and nonconformists.
They actually investigated an interesting kind of… Portrayed a need for uniqueness. So, some people have a strong need for uniqueness; they actually would like to be different. And this interesting study actually showed that there was a difference in some brain structures, in people who have a strong tendency to be unique. And particularly this brain area, medial prefrontal cortex, is thinner.
So, you can speculate that perhaps these people experience a lessened error related signal when there’s a difference from others. But this is pure speculation. So, to be honest, nonconformists are not very well investigated. So, we have to, because there are not so many.
Jenna: And perhaps more difficult to identify, because there is this range that we talked about. So, you mentioned pharmacology, as a potential modulator of behavior with conformity and nonconformity. What are some of the other ways? I know you've talked about, in prior interviews, maybe looking for behavioral techniques that would affect that activity. Can you speak about that?
Dr. Klucharev: I think there are basically two ways to create these techniques. One can be like neuroscience [inaudible]. We actually tried to create something like that, it's not easy. I think we’re in the middle of this process. I think it will take time before we will create some techniques, based on our knowledge of neurobiological mechanisms, to come forward. We have some ideas. But to be honest, we are just testing these approaches right now.
There are some more classical ways to do it. In social psychology there are some ways to help people to prevent social influence. Something really simple for example, you can get a warning signal that you will discuss a certain subject. And in this case, you will be able to come up with some contrivance in advance and actually help.
Anyway, social influence is very strong, normally. In some cases, it could help you; a simple warning signal. Some techniques, based on so called inoculation theory, suggests that you can kind of, you can learn how to generate counterevidence.
So, for example, before social influence, you can get a very weak argument as that can be easily destroyed. And it will help you to practice, a bit, how to generate counterevidence. So, it's kind of inoculation technique, you can practice a bit, how to deal with social influence.
Actually, the same theory suggests that some kind of a tree of facts can be very much affected by social influence. It can be easily destroyed, because some facts that you've never criticized in your life, can be actually easily modulated by social agents. Like, to brush your teeth in the morning, you don't have a strong experience of criticizing this.
Actually, studies show that these kinds of beliefs are easily manipulated, because you never generated arguments supporting these ideas. On the other hand, this technique allows you to practice the generation of arguments supporting your [inaudible]. So, there are some kinds of basic mechanisms, including, for example, a training to say no, to refuse. It's particularly important for, let's say, alcohol consumption or for drug addictions, when teenagers, for example, have to say no.
And the rest of them, I would say, contradictory studies and results, it looks like some techniques are effective, some are not effective. I don't think there is a consensus on the effectiveness of the techniques. But it looks like, in some cases, you can help with this.
I would say that social psychology gives us right now, much more tools to resist social influence. Even though we have to take into account, that social influence is extremely automatic. And we basically never pay attention to social influence. Many studies shows that people just ignore the fact that they're affected by others. And this is the last reason for people to explain their decisions. Even many studies show that this is the most influential factor affecting our decision.
I think that some studies on alcohol consumption, on energy conservation, shows that with decisions, they're determined, fully determined by social norms, by behavior of neighbors, by behavior of our friends. And if you will ask people, they would never name this factor as a critical factor for your decisions.
So, I think that's the most important points that we basically never recognize socially. Yeah. Even enough education warning about social [inaudible], I think would help.
Jenna: Yes. Definitely. And then, the two ideas for the behavioral modification that I heard you say; one would be repetition. So over time, then we become less affected perhaps by this prediction error. If we get into the habit of purposely choosing to say no, or purposely choosing to go against the majority.
Dr. Klucharev: Yes, this is true. Yeah. But that's driven by this idea of neurobiological findings. This is true. So, habits are particularly resistant to change. To any change but particularly [inaudible].
Jenna: And then, I also heard that there might be some influence just of using logic. So, you mentioned building up an argument and taking time to work through the argument yourself, might help modulate your behavior over time.
Dr. Klucharev: Another point here, is that basically what do we see in our neurobiological studies is that this error signal, neurobiological error signal is a very automatic process. And. it's kind of a really fast response of our brain. So, you see the signal within 20 milliseconds after you detect that your opinion is different from others. And, this is a really fast process.
So, theoretically, that's one way to overcome it, is to delay your response and switch on other decision-making mechanisms of brain. So, to put it simple, we simplify of course, now, the neurobiological story, but we have multiple decision-making systems in the brain. Some people would call it system one, system two, emotional system, rational system.
Emotional decision-making system is really fast, but sometimes makes a lot of mistakes. Rational system is slower, and it can modulate the activity of the emotional system. So, I would say, in a particular situation, you can avoid some decisions imposed by social influence by delaying the decision, and switching on your rational decision-making system. Loading from your memory, whatever, from other sources and additional information. And you can treat the situation in a more rational way.
So, you have to remember that your initial fast response, your brain will need a very fast learning signal that will modulate your opinion. So, you can overcome it by kind of, if you will be able, by delaying your decision.
Jenna: Is there anything else that you think we should have covered, or that you'd like our audience to understand or know more fully?
Dr. Klucharev: I can just say a couple of words about our kind of recent version of the neurobiological mechanism, kind of informative. We call it sometimes, like a prediction error mechanism of social influence. And prediction error is an idea from computational neuroscience, from neuroeconomics, that basically suggests that each moment, during each decision, we generate some expectations of outcomes of our decisions.
So, it always generates expectations, and we compare the result of our decisions with expectations. And, whenever the outcome of the decision is different from your expectations, the brain generates a so called prediction error signal. It basically indicates that you have to change something in your behavior, in order to collect things expected out. If prediction error signal is zero, it means everything is okay, you shouldn’t change your decision.
So nowadays, we basically say that our brain, during our behavior, predicts that our decisions should match our group decisions. And, whenever our opinion or the outcome of our decision is different from norms, this learning signal is generated by the brain. So, whenever you read in my studies, like a prediction error mechanism, this is a kind of a basic learning mechanism, suggested by computational neuroscience, that change our behavior.
So, I'd say nowadays, I state our hypothesis in a bit more complicated way than we initially stated. That's basically it.
Jenna: Okay, fantastic. And so, you know, that just makes me wonder if a person has a tendency to be more nonconformist, and to assume, set their expectation that they are unique or different, like you mentioned in that Japanese study. I wonder if they exhibit an error signal when they realize that their opinion goes along with the general population, the majority?
Dr. Klucharev: Indeed, at least, what we do see in our studies and some of the previous studies, is they have a less error signal when they are different from the group. Actually, there was a very interesting study conducted by Keise Izuma in the States.
He asked people to, I think, rate t-shirts or something like this. Sometimes they were exposed to the opinion of their in-group, to the opinion of students, I think, from Caltech or something like that. And sometimes they were exposed to the opinion of out-group, and they were like criminals.
And, what he found is that this error signal is emitted when your opinion is different from the opinion of the in-group and when your opinion matches, so this error signal is context dependent. So, a brain likes to be similar to the out-group and doesn't like to be similar to the out-group.
So, for our brain, it is kind of mismatch when we're similar with out-group. It's a very context dependent, and so it looks like it can be that it causes nonconformist. The thing behaves differently from conformist. They present basically, that it's an error to be similar. In contrast to this.
Jenna: Interesting. Makes sense. Makes sense. Okay, Doctor, thank you so much for speaking with us.
Dr. Klucharev: Thank you very much.
Jenna: All right. I hope you loved hearing about these groundbreaking experiments and the nonconformist visionary who created them. It's sobering to know that conformity is one of the foremost reasons for our decisions, and yet we rarely recognize it's even happening.
But I think it's worth reiterating how Dr. Klucharev said that one of the most effective means of lessening that inclination to conform, is to prepare in advance, by coming up with our counter arguments. So, if we take the time to ground into our values and opinions, to know the why behind our decisions, we're less likely to be swayed. We're less likely to change everything because some coach or consultant suggests we should, or some shiny object happens to float across our feet.
I'll give you a very recent personal example. Preparing this podcast, I hired a top-notch team to help me. We're talking professional graphic designers, illustrators, sound editors, music editors, voiceover artists, producers and more. And, it has been amazing. Listening to this beautiful audio and watching everything come together feels like a total makeover.
I told my newsletter subscribers that I feel like Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada, after Stanley Tucci worked his magic. So, a little plug for the crew at Digital Freedom Productions because they are fantastic. But an earlier me would have been very swayed by all of their opinions. They do, after all, know more about podcasting than I do. And they have a clear track record of success.
But because I've done the work of knowing myself and my people, it was very easy for me to say, “No, that professional headshot is not right for the cover art. It's not going to capture the attention of my kind of people, in the way that a less perfect but more evocative image will. And that copy, that is really appealing, but it won't call in my ideal clients.” So, I need to create the copy because nobody knows them better than me.
Just watching myself with all these industry pros and how decisive I am about what works and doesn't work for my business, was the best part of all in the pre-launch process. It illustrated so perfectly, why I'm creating this podcast. I want you to have that same sense of certainty and control.
Now, another insight that Dr. Klucharev shared is that questioning your opinions and allowing them to be questioned by others, is actually how you come to better understand them and solidify them. You're more likely to change an unquestioned belief like; you should brush your teeth twice a day, then you are to change something you've repeatedly questioned. Which I find so ironic, because we spend so much of our lives hiding our truths away from others, and often even from ourselves.
We think we're keeping them safe, but actually we make them more vulnerable to getting swept aside. Are you ready to change that? Then, go do your thing. Turn left, if you want to turn left, even if it seems like someone else is turning right. Share your opinions because they're just as valid as the broader group, which is primarily made up of people who are just conforming to the group themselves.
And look, when I say this to you, I'm saying it to me, as well. We all need to be reminded. Maybe you're putting out your first social media posts. Or maybe you're like me, and you've been in business for years, and you're fully comfortable speaking your mind in your own circles. But now you're doing something new, like stepping onto a stage or writing a book, or launching a podcast.
But from now on, thanks to Dr. Klucharev, whenever you get the nudge to conform, you can just reassure yourself, “Oh, there's that prediction error firing in my brain again, that's all. I know what's going on. And, I have some remedies.”
So, my friend, if you want a place where you can start unpacking what you really believe and who you really are, and then use that to transform your business and the way you show up in it, then you've got to join us in the Clarity Accelerator. There's no other place like it.
Alright, my friends, that's it for today. And remember, on a certain level, you know who you are. And every day, you're stepping further into what you're here to create.
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Ep #3: Finding Your Voice
I’m sharing what it actually means to find your voice and why it is so important. I’m sharing why we all have a voice, the reasons you haven’t been practicing yours, and giving you five down and dirty tactics to help you find your voice.
Our voice isn’t just how we say things, it’s the content of what we say. It is our thought leadership, our values, and our convictions. It is how and in what ways we speak up.
Women especially are taught to speak softly, be ladylike, and to not make waves. We’ve inherited the genes, legacy, and trauma of centuries of oppression when it was dangerous for women to do anything different. Is it any wonder that we struggle to find our voice? But finding it is imperative for all women.
In this episode, I’m sharing what it actually means to find your voice and why it is so important. I’m sharing why we all have a voice, the reasons you haven’t been practicing yours, and giving you five down and dirty tactics to help you find your voice.
To celebrate the launch of this show, I’m giving away a pair of AirPods Pro, a 6-month subscription to Audible, and a $50 Amazon gift card to some lucky listeners who follow, rate, review, and share the show. Click here to find out more about the contest and how to enter, I’ll be announcing the winners on an upcoming episode.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
The best way to feel truly confident.
Some questions to ask yourself around your voice.
How we all have a voice, we just need to find it.
Some common fears your brain might offer up to keep you in your current zone of safety.
Why finding your voice is a stretch in the beginning, but how to keep going.
How finding your voice relates to clarity.
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Full Episode Transcript:
Find Your Voice. Find your voice. Find your voice. Find your voice. What does that even mean? And, why is it important? If I don't really have one, what do I do to get one? Stick around, I got you.
You're listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the only podcast that helps you unlock your next level in business and life, by prioritizing your clarity and your own Uncommon Way. You will learn to maximize your mindset, mission, messaging, and strategy in order to create a true legacy. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Welcome back to The Uncommon Way, Episode # 3. My podcast gurus tell me that I shouldn't talk about myself much in the beginning of these early episodes, because you and I aren't really tight like that, yet. But I know a lot of my clients are tuning in, and some people from my email list. So, I gotta tell you friends, wowza!
Creating this podcast, I am experiencing everything all over again: All the clarity questions. All the old thoughts and feels. Especially with things like the description copy, where something has to be really tight and condensed. Is this really how I want to say it? How will they judge me? What if I'm doing it wrong?
Which is all helping me reconnect emotionally with what so many of you are experiencing. I get to watch how I walk my own brain through it, so I can share that with you. That's why today's episode theme, about finding your voice is so perfectly timed.
I surveyed the amazing women on my list, when I was creating these first episodes. I want to make sure what I was saying was really, really relevant. And one of them, Kate, asked if I could talk about finding your voice and how it relates to clarity. It's a fantastic question. The two are just intimately linked, which makes us so meta; I'm literally in it.
You can't really use your voice any more literally than on a podcast. And, I'm talking about it to the people who are creating their own copy and podcasts, most likely. But also, maybe, speaking up in investor meetings. or sharing your vision with team members, or bringing on collaborators. or mentors. So, this is going to be fun. We'll talk about the mindset, of course. And, I'll also give you some down and dirty tactics, that might or might not involve alcohol.
But before we dive in, I just want to give Kate a shout-out. Kate, thank you for being willing to ask the question, so that we all can benefit. And by the way, Kate has such an interesting business. She is a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, meaning she has the training to run testing and evaluate your blood work, in order to create these highly personalized health protocols.
If you want to feel better or lose weight, increase mental acuity, longevity, there are ways my friends. And, as if that weren't enough, she's all about mental and mindset optimization, too. She's totally my girl. According to Kate, leveling up the mind is so much easier when you have the body to support you in it. I love that. Anyway, if this sounds intriguing, we've linked to her in the show notes. Go check her out.
Okay, so it doesn't surprise me that Kate was asking about voice. I see this a lot with clients that have a strong academic or professional background, which she does. We all have that to some extent, of course, but more so, the more you continue in those environments. And look, I was a professional copywriter. I oversaw the voice for multiple distinct brands at a top fashion company. And, I still sounded too formal when I first started writing online copy.
But this goes even deeper than that. Because our voice isn't just how we say things. It's the content of what we say. Our thought leadership, our values, our convictions, how and in what ways we speak up. Women especially are taught to speak softly, don't make waves be lady like, you know, in essence be silent. We've inherited the genes, the legacy, and the trauma of centuries of oppression when it was extremely dangerous for women to do anything different. And, we still see that oppression around the world. Right? And at home, unfortunately.
Is it any wonder then that we struggle to find our voice? But finding it is an imperative, for all women. Doing so subverts the norm. That is the work for those of us born in this time. It happens first through, you guessed it, remembering who you are. You weren't born without a voice, you already have it; you just haven't been practicing it.
One of the first things we do in my program, which is called the Clarity Accelerator, it deals with finding your secret sauce. It's part of a two-prong strategy for eliminating even the idea of competition. First, you get clear on your personal secret sauce, and then later, we figure it out for your offer. What the personal secret sauce work is designed to do, is to bring up evidence for you of the ways in which you're uniquely you, and why that matters to your clients.
We take so much for granted when it comes to ourselves. Like, when people go, “Oh, you're so…” whatever, right? And you're like, “Really?” But knowing what makes you, you, is the best way to feel truly confident. When you see value in it, you're more likely to be okay speaking and writing as you, too.
And spoiler: The answer doesn't lie in your certifications or qualifications. It doesn't lie in the skill set from your past jobs. If you want me to do a future episode talking about where it does lie, best place to let me know that is in the review section. I'll be reading each and every one of them.
So, one of my Clarity Accelerator clients, [0:06:24.9 spelling Carrie], Hi, Carrie told me she was overflowing with excitement about what she learned in that section. Those were her exact words, that that alone gave her so many mindset shifts. That is the power of just seeing with new eyes, what's right there in front of you.
We just get so used to ourselves, and it's like we have blinders on. It's like my client who told me, she wasn't sure whether she wanted to do high-end art consulting, or create courses to teach people how to use LinkedIn™. And as she's telling me this, she's lounging amidst this gorgeous art and furniture she'd collected, looking so at home, like some regal Goddess. I just wanted to take a screenshot and send it to her; do you not see yourself?
Or, this other one. She seemed really surprised about this string of new clients saying they wanted help being less inhibited and breaking free of their good girl shell. But yet here she is exuding all this untamed, I don't give a fuck energy, going live with her new dance moves, and showing up to calls in her underwear. It's like, can I have some of what she's having?
So, when your brain offers up that you don't really have a voice, get suspicious. Especially if, when I just said that right there, your brain immediately compared yourself to the two clients I just mentioned and said, “Well, but I don't stand out like that.” That's what they thought, too.
I don't know how to find my voice is just another version of, “I don't know,” which is never a productive or helpful thought. You've got to catch that thought as it happens and switch to, “If I did know, what would it be? When do I tend to allow my truest voice to speak?” When your brain wants to focus on what you don't know, start asking it what you do know. Your brain can't resist little tasks like this.
It is so fun when you start learning to use your brain for what it does best, rather than letting it run wild and destructive, like my four-year-old after Nana has given him a ring pop. If you sit there and show your brain that you're serious, you'd be amazed how quickly you'll start to get some helpful answers. And, once you're open to at least playing with the idea that maybe you do have a very defined voice, the next question is; why aren't I using it? Do I have some judgment about it? Am I feeling inhibited?
Here are some really common fears that your brain might offer up to keep you in your current zone of safety: I need to sound legit. But what will they say? What if I get canceled? These are the people most likely to buy, so I have to appeal to them. I don't want to turn off potential customers.
We have spent so much of our lives gaming out how we have to speak for optimal approval, that it's very threatening to forsake that. Your brain really wants to protect you from that. But look, what are all of those fears really saying? That your voice is wrong. That you are wrong. That people won't love you. That you won't make money. These are all very primal, human, normal fears. They're just not very helpful for the kind of life you want to build.
Your real voice reveals itself when you calm the judgment and release the inhibitions. In daily life, that probably happens when you're with friends or family. You feel safe to say what you want or be how you are. Ask yourself then; how can you create that safety for yourself? So it's not dependent on the presence of someone else. Where you have your own back.
It's going to be different for everyone, but I can bet it's going to involve really understanding your thoughts and working through them. Plus, relaxing and resetting your nervous system. You'll do that through a walk in nature, or meditation, or a bubble bath, whatever floats your boat. And you do that each time you baby step your way into exercising your voice, because each time is a stretch in the beginning.
In fact, let's do something right now. Take some deep breaths, wherever you are, feel all that energy in your headspace with this highly active electricity box you've got in there. Imagine it all swirling around inside and outside your head. And then, imagine just lowering the energy with each exhale. So, bringing it down through your heart, through your gut, and then all the way to the base of your spine. You there? Okay. From that, more grounded space, receive this.
When we adjust what we're saying to garner approval, we're creating the opposite of what we truly want. We think this will create more connection for us, right? We’ll be part of the tribe. Maybe, we’ll be looked up to. But they're not really liking you, the real you. They're liking a fabrication you created. So, you effectively blocked the possibility for connection, the thing you really wanted.
You don't know if you could have connected with this person, because you haven't given them the chance to connect with you. And. would you rather have a hundred ardent fans or a thousand ‘meh’ followers? You can make a lot more money with the former. But also, you can impact so much more profoundly.
The transformation doesn't happen until someone feels an emotional connection. So, let's start getting the juices flowing, shall we? That's the best way to think about this. It's just a little dry, like a pen you haven't used in a while, so we're just going to scribble around a bit.
Okay, moving from the mindset to the tactical tips, I've got five for you. Number one, stop writing and start recording. You don't really talk like that. Get a transcription app and save time on converting it later. This is going to be so helpful to see how you actually talk, in written form, so your brain can learn how to do it.
It's like once, I was complaining to my dad about how different my voice sounded in a recording, and he's a former DJ. So, he said, “It's just about your brain reconciling the difference between the two sounds, until they don't really sound as different anymore.” You can do the same with written and verbal language.
Number two, think about where you feel most you. Where you feel the safest and least inhibited. And then, get into that space to practice. Have a friend ask you questions about what you do or whatever topic you need to explain, and record how you would answer naturally.
Have a glass of wine if you need to loosen up; hey, it worked for Hemingway. But don't become an alcoholic, obviously. Or, put this into practice while you're driving, or any other things my lawyer would want me to say; don't do that. But seriously, there was a part of your brain that's inhibiting you. And, it's up to you to think about the conditions that best help you circumvent that.
Number three, test yourself in this way: Have someone write a blurb for you. If you're tempted to use it, you're probably not being free enough in your language. Or, you're discounting your own voice in favor of someone else's. Our collective vernacular is becoming less and less formal, even in professional environments. The people you want to connect with are, first and foremost humans, speak to them like a human without being performative.
If you're not funny, you don't need to be funny all the time. I'm only occasionally funny. So, I only make very occasional jokes. If I wanted to become more funny, I'd work on that through mindset and practice. You're sensing a theme here, right? But I would only do that if I had decided that doing so, would be helping me step into more of who I really am.
That's kind of next level work when you intentionally create rather than dig down and find, but you don't embark on that work when you're saying you can't find your voice. You embark on that work when you're saying, “I'm outgrowing this voice. There's a next level of expression moving through me.”
Number four, cut it in half. We put so many qualifiers and disclaimers in what we say. Look at what you've written, objectively, and ask where and why you might be tempted to over explain or soften things up. When you cut it down to the essentials, it forces you to speak clearly and decisively.
And number five, write an opinion piece, once a day. Even if you never publish it or speak it out loud. It's best if it pertains to your work, but it can be on any topic, politics, anything. Just build the habit of being opinionated and verbalizing your opinions. Doesn't mean you're not open to new information, doesn't mean you can't change your mind, but you know where you stand.
Our viewpoint is such a large part of what makes us uncommon. After all, you're attracted to this concept of an uncommon way. There's a reason for that. But so many of us hang out in the uncommon-ness of our ideas, of our internal world without ever putting it out there, let alone into action. More is being requested of you now, right? Will you answer that call from within? Because your people want to hear your opinions, in your exact voice.
So, to recap: Our voice isn't just how we say things, it's what we say. And, it's no surprise that after being told our whole lives, and for the millennia previous to that, exactly how we're supposed to express ourselves, that finding our true voice can feel elusive. But it's there, because you are there. Your voice is just an expression of you. Finding it requires being suspicious of your brain, switching your energy from ‘I don't know’ to ‘what do I know’. And then, calming your self-judgment, releasing inhibitions, and creating safety for yourself from within.
The only path to true connection is through you being you. And from there, you get to watch your impact. And yes, your profits transform. As you cultivate this skill, and don't expect it to just happen, it's okay to be getting the juices flowing. You can practice speaking instead of writing, and cutting opinion pieces in half. Or, maybe, even having a glass of sparkly because after all, this is a celebration of you and your forthcoming work.
I hope this has helped you move further down your path. And remember, deep down, you know who you are. And, every day you're stepping further into what you're here to create. Bye for now.
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Thanks for joining us here at The Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including the Clarity First Strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit TheUncommonWay.com. See you next time.
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Ep #2: The Decision Tree
I’m sharing more about The Decision Tree and showing you how to intertwine your purpose and mission into your decision-making. Hear some examples of how my clients have used this process in their businesses to instantly illuminate their decisions and how this tool can help change everything for you in yours.
Do you spend a lot of time in your head when you have a big decision to make? Do you weigh the pros and cons, getting so stuck in decision-making instead of action-taking that you become tired of thinking about it, put it away, and don’t do anything? This is a natural result of how we’ve been taught to make decisions, but I’m here today to share another way to make them.
Throughout the life of this podcast, I’ll be teaching you several different ways to become a better decision-maker, but today I’m sharing a favorite. It’s a game-changer, and by the end of this episode you’ll have the answer to that thing you’ve been trying to figure out. It all comes down to The Decision Tree.
This week on the podcast, I’m sharing The Decision Tree and showing you how to intertwine your purpose and mission into your decision-making. Hear some examples of how my clients have used this process in their businesses to instantly illuminate their decisions and how this tool can help change everything for you in yours.
To celebrate the launch of this show, I’m giving away a pair of AirPods Pro, a 6-month subscription to Audible, and a $50 Amazon gift card to some lucky listeners who follow, rate, review, and share the show. Click here to find out more about the contest and how to enter, I’ll be announcing the winners on an upcoming episode.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
What I see so many people doing throughout their business journey.
How to stop letting your knowledge get in the way of your knowing.
Why clarity isn’t all about decision-making.
How we’re taught to make decisions.
Why your clarity is always there, you just need to uncover it.
The role of purpose in decision making.
Listen to the Full Episode:
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Full Episode Transcript:
Do you spend a lot of time in your head when you have a big decision to make? And honestly, sometimes, even when you have a little decision to make, are you gaming everything out, weighing the pros and cons? And then, you're so tired of thinking about it that you put it away and don't end up doing anything, so you get stuck in the decision-making instead of the action taking?
Or, maybe you're like, “Fuck it,” and you choose something that feels groundless, with no real rhyme or reason. And then, you second-guess yourself later. All of that, is a natural result of how we've been taught to make decisions. But here's the thing, you're letting your knowledge get in the way of your knowing.
So, I want to share another way. It's called the Decision Tree, and it is a game changer. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if, by the end of this episode, you have the answer to that thing you've been trying to figure out.
You're listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the only podcast that helps you unlock your next level in business and life by prioritizing your clarity and your own Uncommon Way. You will learn to maximize your mindset, mission, messaging, and strategy in order to create a true legacy. Here's your host, top-ranked business coach, and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Welcome to The Uncommon Way Podcast. There's only one way to start with this: Clarity is queen.
There is nothing more important or gratifying than clarity when it comes to your business and life. Think of how much time you save when you're not in brain somersaults. Then you have extra bandwidth to focus on really serving your people, what they need to hear, and how to get them better results. Which, of course, is the cornerstone of any service-based business. So, it produces better income, which gives you greater confidence, and you show up even more unapologetically.
It's this virtuous cycle, and your business grows and grows. And then, throughout it all, nothing beats that feeling, right? That feeling of being a decisive woman, of walking through the world believing that you know what you're doing. That this is happening. That you are a capable CEO making waves.
Now, clarity isn't all about decision-making, although our decisions reflect our clarity. But I know it's a huge pain point for some of you. So, I'm going to teach you several different ways to become a better decision-maker over the life of this podcast. But today, I want to share one of my favorites. It's a crowd favorite, too.
This is one of the things that I've had clients and people from the audience say that this right here instantly illuminated their decision. So, it's tested and true to reduce the time it takes to make decisions and to skyrocket the certainty you feel about the decision you chose. It's called the Decision Tree. And it is a game changer.
When I was creating this episode, I surveyed my email list, and I asked about what kind of difficulties they were having in their business. I just want to give a huge thank you to all of you who responded because it really helps me tune in to exactly where you are.
I know sometimes, when I get an email that says, ‘just reply here,’ I find myself wondering; are they really going to read it? But I really read it. So, keep the questions, the suggestions, and the feedback coming, please. I want to keep creating really helpful episodes for you. Just reply to any email that I send out.
Okay, so some of the things I heard about were: Wanting to call in more ideal clients. Create more downtime. Find your voice. Manage fears, doubts, and disbelief. Or, sell and charge with deeper belief in your offer. Maybe level up to the next big iteration of your business. So, stay tuned because we're going to be addressing all of those, with both tactics and mindset, in future episodes.
And by the way, I am so excited just as I even say that because I have been wanting to produce this podcast. The desire’s been building for some time. And now, I literally feel like a racehorse at the gate. It's going to be so fun, and definitely feeling the nerves, too. But so fun. But I digress.
So, the number one issue that my newsletter readers brought up had to do with some decision they were trying to make in their business. That could be about a niche, maybe a pivot, offers, what should I be working on next? What's the right way to create this new result? A or B? Etc.
If there's one thing that I want you to take away from this episode before I get into the how-tos, it's the mindset piece. I always try to focus on the mindset first because it drives everything else. And, tell you that in these moments, all that's happening is you're letting knowledge, whether that's too much knowledge or a lack of knowledge, get in the way of your knowing.
I'll say that again; you're letting your knowledge get in the way of your knowing. And credit here to Geeta Nadkarni, the first person I ever heard say it in this very concise way. So, what do I mean by that?
Have you ever noticed that you somehow know the answer in times of heightened duress or urgency? Like when the pandemic first hit, and you had that ‘oh, shit moment,’ wasn't it like, after that, the noise quieted, and you knew what was most important? Your loved ones, for instance.
Or, maybe you're in some sort of pressure situation like you're being hotseat coached in front of your peers, or you're being interviewed on a podcast. And the person opposite you asks some question, and you just blurt out the answer. And afterward, you're like, “Damn, that was good. How did I phrase that again?”
That's happened so often to me. When things got serious, I suddenly knew what had to be done; I knew who I was. Now, in full transparency, I am a person who spent a full two decades of my life spinning in confusion over what my next steps were. I did not figure everything out that I'm telling you until much later.
But I've come to see that our clarity is always there. And I love helping my clients surface that clarity. Because having it, it just transforms everything about how you show up; as a coach, as a CEO, but also as a woman. It's your relationship with yourself and how you hold your head when you walk down the street. It just changes everything.
So, let's just start from there, with just that little seed of possibility planted, that maybe you already know your answer. Okay? Okay. Here's how we're taught to make decisions, and it really can mess us up: We get two opinions. We make a nice list of pros and cons for each one, right? And then, we compare and contrast; super simple. But what happens when you have ten or fifteen different options, and your brain can come up with thousands of pros and cons for each.
We're very creative in this way. It just leads to gridlock and complete overwhelm. And that's where so many of us spend our time. That's where I spent my time for those decades. And then, of course, there's another group of us that's more like, “We'll just choose something. Fill forward.”, Which, I've got to say, is more helpful for entrepreneurship than the former. But it still doesn't help develop your belief and your knowingness, and it doesn't give you any cohesive strategy behind your decision-making.
I have a better way that I want to share with you, the Decision Tree. I want you to imagine that you're looking for the best leaf on a tree. One way you could find it is to go leaf by leaf, looking at every single option. That's how I felt when I was trying to figure out what kind of business I wanted to start.
There was just an infinity of different choices. And, it was impossible to compare and contrast each one. It's also what I see so many people doing throughout their business journey. “Well, I could target this niche or that one. I could launch this type of offer, or this one.” There's so much complexity that our brain just stops, and it doesn't make the decision that needs to be made. Understandably.
But what if you did it in a different way, I want you to think about if you were able to look at the trunk of this tree, and then when the tree branched off, you just went with the thickest, most solid branch. And then, when that branch split, you just follow the most likely logical, the strongest part of the branch, and you kept going all the way to your leaf.
How different would that make things for you? All right, let me bring this back to real life; the trunk of your tree is purpose. Now, purpose can be the big capital-P purpose; you know your life's purpose or the mission that your business is here to accomplish. But it can also be the purpose of what you're learning in your business right now.
If you allow purpose to guide you to your leaf, you're going to have a completely different experience because you'll make decisions a lot more quickly. But you'll feel more grounded in the decision. And that way, you're not going to be course correcting later on and losing so much momentum. And, you won't be stalled at the gate either, making sure that you're making the right decision.
All of these things, frankly, are what your brain wants you to do so that you don't go do the scary thing. There's nothing better for yourself, like I said, as a woman and as a CEO, than cultivating knowingness, the knowing who you are and what you're about, and then taking decisive action from that place.
So, let me give you some real-time examples of this in business because if you're like me, you want to see it all laid out. First, we'll talk about how to use the tree through the frame of the little P; the purpose of what you need to learn in your business at this moment. And then, we'll pull back, and I'll show you an example of using it for the big P, the purpose of your life.
I had a client who had this goal she wanted to accomplish within a certain timeframe. But she got to a point where she knew she wasn't going to complete the project. So, she was stuck between all these different options she could take from there.
She could decide to throw something out anyway, even though it was just going to be a fragment of what she'd really wanted to do. Or, she could just extend her timeline, meaning the next project she was planning would have to wait. Or, she could scrap the project and move forward with something else to reach her bigger overall goal of bringing in a certain number of clients.
So, she found herself in gridlock, with her brain reverting to that old decision-making method of pros and cons: Well, if I did this, then this, this, and this, right? But if I did that, then that, that and that. And that's exactly how we're used to thinking. We revert to practicing habituated thoughts.
But when we switched into the Decision Tree and got very clear on, what is the purpose of all of this right now, in your business? What are you trying to learn? What are the skills that you need for the long run? What's important for your future self to learn, and to have experienced, and to have moved through? Because that's what's going to build the muscle you need to get to the next level.
I really want to credit my coach, Elizabeth Salazar, for the inspiration here because she helped me become very fluent with this form of thinking. And then, I realized it fit perfectly into the Decision Tree, which previously I'd only used in its other application. So yeah.
What is it that you need to teach yourself when you didn't meet your time goals? Is it that you just need to do B- work? You need to learn to be okay with imperfection? And, to not meet your super sky-high standards? And, that is really going to allow you to get out there and serve? If so, you probably need to just put the funnel out there and then deal with the discomfort afterward. To learn to be okay with that, sit with that, and completely transform your life.
Or, maybe you need to learn that you accomplish your goals, no matter what. In that case, you'd push the timeline back, so you can reinforce to your brain that you always do what you say you're going to do.
So then, you need to sit with the discomfort of, “I didn't make my goal. And, that sucks. But I have my back. I've learned so much and can improve next time. No more of this starting and stopping. I decide what I'm going to do. And then I follow through. I know I can count on myself for that.” That's a huge lesson. So good. These are all so good.
Or, maybe you need to learn that you can pivot really quickly. It doesn't matter if a wall comes down because you are a very agile solopreneur. You can quickly pivot and then know that you can come back to something later, and you have no drama about that. So, that's where the lesson comes in. Right?
When you look back on your business from your future, you'll be thinking, “Oh, that's when I was learning to X. That's when I was working on building this belief, this skill. That's when I had to understand this about myself. And it has now taken me so far; I've used it so much. I'm so grateful for that obstacle, back then. And, the past version of myself that really rolled up her sleeves for me.”
Usually, my clients are pretty self-aware. So, when I press them, they know where their growth needs to happen. And I have a feeling you do, too. So, my friends, get clear on what the purpose is for you now in your business, as clear as you can. True, sometimes you don't get the full clarity until an opportunity like this is presented to you, to go a little deeper. But it is an opportunity. It's like, “Thank you, and may I have another?” Growth is uncomfortable, and that's okay; you can do this.
It definitely makes things easier if you can get there beforehand, “You know, this is what I'm working on right now.” And then, you can filter your decisions through that lens. When this situation had come up for my client, she would have been like, “Boom. Done. Decision made. I know exactly what to do.”
But if that hasn't been thought out or predetermined, because you haven't known what you didn't know, right? Then as soon as it happens, just start thinking, “Okay, this is my opportunity to more fully understand what the purpose of this time in my business is all about and what I really need to be working on right now. So, pure gratitude. Now, I know what I'm doing.”
And then, just ground into that beautiful feeling. Reward yourself for that decision and that decisiveness so that you can continue to make higher quality decisions that feel completely empowered, and like you are absolutely in the driver's seat. That you will learn from, grow from, and go on to absolutely kick ass with. Good? Good.
Okay, now let's talk about the big P ‘purpose.’ So, I had a client who wanted help bringing in clients more easily. She had been in business for a few years. By this point, she knew she was a great coach. And, by this point, she thought it just shouldn't be so difficult.
When I looked at her website, I sensed a disconnect between her and the people she was calling in. I had a gut feeling that this really wasn't just a problem with her messaging or her funnel. Here's what I saw. She was like a shining light. First of all, so grounded and calm and thoughtful. And she just chose her words carefully, like someone who does her frickin’ meditation.
It's just a joy and uplifting to be in her presence, really. But she was calling in this very heavy personality of super stressed-out corporate high-achievers, who were even having pain manifest in their bodies. And, there's just all this pressure. Even reading her website, I felt it. Now, there's nothing wrong with that niche. But I do know to listen to these nudges that I get.
So, I asked her why she’d chosen that group. And if she'd said, “Look, this is my work in the world. I am so lit up taking them through this transformation, there's nothing more fulfilling,” then I would have been like, “Great, let's do it.”
But that wasn't her answer. The answer was that she thought they were the ones that most needed her help. She felt a little sorry for them. And truthfully, she was thinking they'd be likely to pay for her services. She definitely found clients. But then she admitted that working with them and even thinking about them and their problems when she was creating content, for instance, really took her energy rather than enlivening her energy.
Obviously, her reasons were very business savvy; there's no denying it. We could have continued to work on her mind to change her thoughts about her niche and how she felt about her niche. But you know, that's just not how we do things here at The Uncommon Way; we don't lead with that.
We always start with the premise that you can create a business around whatever you want; if you're willing to do the work, go out and find the people aligned with your mission and who want to pay for your offer. So, we decided to ground her more fully into her purpose. You know, what she really wants to bring forth into the world while she's here.
In an upcoming episode, I promised to walk you through my connect-the-dots method for figuring that out. Because I mean, let's just go deep, right? This life is so precious. It's way too precious to spend it doing just any old thing. Now you're free, obviously, to take that opinion or leave it. I grew up in a test pilot community where you just never knew what would happen when you went off to work. I grew up thinking about making your days count from an early age.
So, what we uncovered for my client, was that she really wanted to help people who felt silenced and were holding themselves back from speaking up. Because ironically, those are the people she thought the world needed most to hear from.
Go back to this Decision Tree. If you think of that, that purpose as the trunk of the tree, then it's kind of obvious that working with the stressed-out overachievers probably isn't the group that will best fulfill her mission. They don't have an issue with voicing their opinions. So, who's the group that does want to work with my client? What's the strongest branch off of that purpose?
There are a couple of other steps involved here in terms of how you apply this to a niche. But I'll just fast-forward to the part where she decided to work with coaches who were holding themselves back from putting themselves out there. Or, they're holding themselves back from getting visible and really saying what they have to say.
And then, from there, you can go even further than the niche; you can start going into, “Okay, which offer will best serve them and therefore serve my mission?” What's the strongest branch from there. For her people, they wanted to know they weren't alone.
They were served by seeing themselves as part of a community of people who were precisely the ones whose opinions needed to get out there. And they would love that group support while they were inching forward on that path. So, she launched a group program. Which is similar, frankly, to a lot of my clarity people and why I formed my mastermind group; it's called the Clarity Collective.
Same thing. When you're really committing to furthering this calling of yours, and you're in this noisy online space; you're being bombarded with advice to ‘just crush it’ and ‘maximize your revenue, no matter what,’ and you're dipping into comparison-itis with all the lovely Instagram businesses that seem to be doing so well, that's when a group of like-minded people is so helpful. So, you can reinforce, “No, wait; this is what I'm creating. This matters.”
I had a client; it's the same one who didn't meet her time goal. And she was talking to me once; it was so good, she was like, “And I think to myself, yeah, I could just sell this other thing. It might be easier in the short run. But that's not the business that's going to get me on to Oprah.” Boom, right? That says it all. Really, do we need to go any further with this episode than that? No, I don't think so.
So, remember, your knowingness is there. We just need to keep our overthinking from getting in the way of it. One of the best tools you can use to access it is the Decision Tree. Whether you're thinking about the overall purpose of your business or you're thinking about the purpose of what you're learning in your business at the moment, this tool works. Try it out.
Tell me what changed for you. The best way to do that is in the podcast review section. It'll just take a few seconds, and I'll be so grateful. I will probably want to share it here on the show, because those are always the best stories when you have those light bulb moments. I can't wait to hear what you have to tell me.
Thanks for joining me here at The Uncommon Way Podcast. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including my Clarity for Strategy for Growing and Scaling Your Business, visit TheUncommonWay.com.
And remember, deep down, you know who you are. And, each day, you're stepping further into what you are here to create. See you next time.
Hey, to celebrate the launch of the show, I'm going to be giving away three really great prizes, a pair of AirPods Pro™, a six-month subscription to Audible®, and a $50 Amazon.com Gift Card™. I'll be giving these away to some lucky listeners who follow, rate, review, and share the show.
Here's why your help is essential. I need to know what resonated with you and what you're still curious about. So I can create the most high-value content for you. I don't want to create what other people want. I want to create what you want. So, I need to hear from you.
And also, this work changes lives; it sure as hell changed mine. I am on a mission to get these episodes into the hands of everyone who needs it. Since this isn't your first rodeo, and you've listened to a podcast or two before, you know that follows, rates, reviews, and shares are how this new baby podcast will get seen and bumped up in search results.
Thank you for spreading the word. To learn more about the contest and how to enter to win the AirPods, the Audible subscription, or the gift card, just visit TheUncommonWay.com/podcast launch. I'll be announcing the winners on the show in an upcoming episode. Thanks for joining us here at The Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including the Clarity First Strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit TheUncommonWay.com. See you next time.
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Ep #1: The Clarity Gap
Discover the importance of clarity and some questions to ask yourself around clarity in your own business. I’m sharing a three-part formula that I’ve used to create a six-figure business that doesn’t rely on ads or social media, and show you why using this formula in your business will change everything for you.
Welcome to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, I am excited to be here with you. For my first episode, I’m talking all about clarity, and more specifically, The Clarity Gap. True clarity in business is not just about the introspective work of knowing yourself; there are other aspects to consider. A lack of clarity could be showing up in your business in sneaky ways you don’t even realize.
Clarity isn’t something to gain later in your business. It’s affecting your results right now! Wherever you are in your business, clarity is your work. It is not something you have to wait for, get lucky with, or anything beyond your reach; it is available to you immediately. And I’m here to help you tap into it.
Join me for my first episode and discover the importance of clarity and some questions to ask yourself around clarity in your own business. I’m sharing a three-part formula that I’ve used to create a six-figure business that doesn’t rely on ads or social media, and show you why using this formula in your business will change everything for you.
To celebrate the launch of this show, I’m giving away a pair of AirPods Pro, a 6-month subscription to Audible, and a $50 Amazon gift card to some lucky listeners who follow, rate, review, and share the show. Click here to find out more about the contest and how to enter, I’ll be announcing the winners on an upcoming episode.
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
Why confusion can be a superpower.
Why all the marketing in the world won’t make up for a lack of clarity.
Some of the mindset issues that blocked clarity in my own life.
Why I hate the term “niche drama.”
How to know if a lack of clarity is getting in your way or holding you back.
Listen to the Full Episode:
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The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
Full Episode Transcript:
Welcome to kickoff Episode #1. You are about to get a crash course in our work over here at The Uncommon Way, and all the rules we like to break, so you can decide if you want to step aboard for this wild and life changing ride. We'll be talking about how a lack of clarity might be showing up in your business in sneaky ways you don't even realize. Why being uncertain or confused might actually point to one of your superpowers. And, the simple three-part formula that'll change everything for you.
You're listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the only podcast that helps you unlock your next level in business and life, by prioritizing your clarity and your own Uncommon Way. You will learn to maximize your mindset, mission, messaging, and strategy in order to create a true legacy. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Hello, and thanks for tuning into this episode. I'm dying to get straight down to business, you game? Okay, we're gonna do a quick quiz. It's based on five different stages in business, things I've seen from clients that are just starting out up through seven-figure earners. If something doesn't apply to you yet, just skip it. Focus on what applies. Ready?
Are you uncertain about exactly who you want to work with, what you want to offer, or how to articulate the value of what you actually provide in a way that makes people say, “I want that?”
Do your clients come in unpredictably, they're not all necessarily the ones you choose to work with, and overall, it feels hard to find and get clients?
Is your business going great on paper, but deep down, you wonder if this is really it? But on the other hand, you're afraid of breaking anything because you've gotten really used to the lifestyle it supports?
Are you exhausted trying to do everything you're supposed to do and make things happen, rather than trusting that your results are available to you in uncommon ways?
Do you know you're capable of more and you've figured out that really, you are the one holding yourself back, but you still keep reverting to old patterns and playing small?
If the answer to any of these is ‘yes,’ I've got some good news. There's only one thing going on here; it's a clarity gap. It might be clarity on what's really going on in your brain and in your heart, or how you best create results, or what your people really need from you. But it all boils down to an inability to see what's there, to see your Uncommon Way.
And, that manifests in so many ways. You know, sometimes we know that a lack of clarity is getting in our way. We know that we haven't decided on our niche and that's why we're not putting up the website. We're fully aware that we're holding back rather than leaning in.
But other times, it's not so obvious. For instance, we think we're not bringing in clients because we have lousy Facebook ad skills. When the truth is, that if you knew how to bring in cold traffic clients, if you knew what helps accelerate your people's movement through their buyer’s journey then the actual delivery vehicle wouldn't matter. Right?
You can do it with Facebook ads, or on Instagram, or waiting in the line at Starbucks. And until you know that, those Facebook funnels of yours aren't going to be converting anyway. All the marketing in the world won't make up for a lack of clarity.
I'll say it again. All the marketing in the world won't make up for a lack of clarity. Hats off to Geeta Nadkarni for phrasing it like that, it's so well put and so true. Yes, ads can help you speed up your clarity process, but you need to be strategic about them. And you have to know what data you're prioritizing.
Otherwise, and I've seen this so tragically often, you're paying to bring all these people onto your list that might not even be compatible. Facebook is showing your ads to the people most likely to click. But maybe they're just random grandmas that like clicking on ads and think, “Oh, maybe I'll get some info here to help my daughter,” but they'll never become a client. And, you'll use that as evidence that you're not a good business person and you're just not likable, and it's obvious you're a terrible coach, too.
This very thing happened to someone I know. I can't make this stuff up. She was super happy about low ads cost, disappointed about zero conversions, but then drilling into the data, she's like, “Oh, wait, they're mostly 60- to 65-year-old women and I know my offer is not a fit for that group.”
For both of those examples, holding back on the website or misdirecting your energy and resources with ads, there's a very high cost. Of course, the frustration and beating yourself up; never fun. And the actions you take from that negative place; rarely productive. Definitely not showing up as your best, most powerful self.
But there's opportunity costs too, which isn't something our brain naturally thinks about because we're just not wired that way. If you're bringing in $0 in revenue, and you hold off on putting yourself out there for one month, it's like, “Well, I'll just go another month with zero revenue.” But two years from now, you're making six figures, so if you had a one extra month of that income in your bank account, that's almost $10,000. And what about what you're making in five years? Or, ten? What's that monthly revenue?
So obviously, we want to course-correct as quickly as possible. And we can, in fact, you already have so much more clarity than you realize about what will work for you. But before we dive into solutions, we have got to address the elephant in the room.
Shame. It comes with the territory. If you're like my clients, you're smart, independent, accomplished, and very embarrassed that you can't figure things out on your own. I've been there; looking around when it feels like everyone else seems to have their shit together. But there's nothing shameful about where you are. You know what? Even a surgeon can't do brain surgery on herself. You're just really close to the problem.
Besides, confusion can be a superpower. Yeah, you heard me right. Sure, lots of times we confuse ourselves. It's a form of procrastination; that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about when something within calls you to reorient closer to your purpose. And, you can actually pick up on that.
Do you know how many people go through life completely out of touch with their internal guidance system? And how many others pretend they don't hear it, and just bulldoze their way ahead? Your Higher Self’s like, “Come on, we need to go right,” and you're here, “No, shush. We're going left.” Been there.
But kudos to you if you're not in either of those camps. It's super easy for shame to come up, when there are so many strong opinions out there about exactly how you should be making decisions. Early on it's, “Just pick something. Just charge people for a skill you already developed in your day job. Just teach whatever people come to you for naturally,” etc., right?
And then, later in your business, you hear things like, “Just double down on what's already working. Don't overthink it. This is a proven business model.” Now, I'm not saying that advice is wrong. And many people are well served by it every day, it just might not be right for you, right now. Maybe there's something deeper that needs to be revealed.
I mean, that kind of advice is great. And, maybe exactly what you need to hear if your focus, above all else, is money or speed-to-market. Right? Because you really want to enjoy time-freedom, or location-independence, or a job that's marginally more pleasant than your old day job was.
But maybe, you could already create all those things for yourself without having your own company, staying a lot more comfortable and stretching yourself far less than an entrepreneurship. I mean, the Great Recession is giving talented people some pretty nice bargaining power nowadays.
So maybe, the biggest driver for you is; “I'm just gonna go there,” purpose, true self-expression, finding your thing. And never, ever going back to giving away your talents and energy to something that isn't a ‘hell yes.’ Or, even worse, makes you want to poke your eyes out.
When you think about it, a question like; who am I really here to help, is directly related to the questions that humans have asked forever. What am I here to do? And, who am I? And those are valid fucking questions, which is why I hate the term “niche drama.” Is it being dramatic? I don't think so. I think of it like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. At a certain stage, we're focused on survival. We need the security. the money. At another stage, it's more about recognition or power. Right? There are all these different stages. And this is all perfectly human, of course, no judgment for any of them.
But once you've kind of got those things, then you have the privilege but also, the natural human inclination to set your sights on the top of the pyramid, on self-actualization. So, here's what you don't have to do. Just pick a direction. Just wait for the answer to come. And, you sure as hell don't have to get somebody else's opinion or permission.
I remember when I was trying to figure out what kind of business to start and somebody told me to just help people with something I'd already overcome myself. And I was like, “Well, I got myself out of financial debt. But I am completely uninterested in devoting the rest of my life to that.” That was a clear ‘no’ for me.
And the same kind of thing happens at all different stages in business. You get the call to go deeper, to more fully align with a part of you that wants to be realized. Though, sometimes, you wouldn't express it that way, right? It's more subconscious.
I remember once, I was telling my husband, Ben, about my latest business idea. This is when I was transitioning out of corporate and we were in Brussels, because we used to live in Europe. We're outside, we're eating mussels, we're drinking rosé on this perfect spring day. And I'm telling him about this idea that, I don't fully remember, but I know it had to do with sunglasses, like some kind of customized sunglasses.
He's there looking at me, like, why are we even talking about this? And he goes, “Jenna, but is this just about making money to you? Or, are you in this for something more?” And I told him, “The money. Yeah, the money, for sure.” I gave him this whole speech about generational change for women, and wealth distribution, power distribution, and the whole thing. But he knew me well, because I never followed through with those ideas.
Something kept leading me back to my journals, to try again. I didn't know coaching was a thing. So, I was just doing the best I could. And, you know, I'd been complaining to him for years, by that point, about how much I long to find my thing. But then, I read The Four-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, who was like, “Just find your muse business for the time being. Worry about your thing later,” hence, the sunglasses. I was like, “Well, maybe ambiguity is just what happens when you're good at lots of things and interested in even more.”
But the waiting drove the high performer in me crazy. I so wanted to be an action, doing rather than being in this horrible place that felt so blocked. Plus, to be real, it filled the yogi in me with guilt. Like; why couldn't I just be grateful and focused on the here-and-now? When was it finally going to be good enough?
I own properties in Manhattan and Miami, for God's sake. I had a sexy title at a top fashion company. I even negotiated a telecommuting contract, back when that wasn't even really a thing. I had made it, right? I could work from Panama, from Morocco; and I did. But I'm so thankful for the confusion I had then, for the part of me that kept giving me that nudge.
Sure, I stayed there longer than I would have liked. But it's because it took me so long to get help. It seemed like everyone was telling me, “This is just the kind of thing you have to figure out for yourself,” which I now know is because I believed it was something that only I could figure out for myself.
And then, even once I got clear on my purpose, and I began turning it into a business, I was still stuck in the habit of being confused. I still had to shake off the mindset issues that had blocked the clarity in the first place. And to be fair, I needed to develop the system, that I've created, to connect all these dots; from your life, to your people, to your offer, and up through your messaging and strategy. So, that took me a while, yeah.
But I tell people this all the time; when you are on the other side, you're not going to be telling yourself, “I wish I hadn't taken the time to get this right, and have this super aligned business that I love.” Right? I am so grateful now that I'm here talking to you, rather than drop-shipping frickin’ sunglasses. No judgement; just not for me, right? If my mission was Warby Parker's™ mission, then glasses would make perfect sense; but it's not.
Alright. Back to the point. There is nothing wrong with you. We're not taught how to tap into our clarity. It doesn't mean you've got an overthinking problem, or are indecisive, or are a big commitment-phobe. Look, you've been conditioned against clarity. You've got to check out Episode Two, it's called, The Decision Tree. And, it spells out how we've been taught to make decisions and how counterproductive to true clarity that can be. It's going to change the way you see everything.
But it's not just conditioning and how we've been taught. Your brain is wired not to see it. It's paying attention to survival, first and foremost. And, it believes there are far easier and more proven ways to keep you alive than to venture into the unknown. It's actually right about that. But who wants to live that way? We're here for far more than just staying alive until we die.
Finally, your subconscious may not want you to see it, because then you'll actually have to go out and do the scary things. So, it filters the information you receive to support the objective of keeping you right where you are. Just like I kept getting the information that ‘nobody can help you figure out what you want to do.’
It amazes me that I didn't even know that coaches existed, really. And yet, I have this memory of a close acquaintance. I remember overhearing her telling someone else that she was a life coach, and it didn't even register. I think I interpret that as energy healer or something.
When I finally discovered my resistance to doing scary things, I was blown away. I considered myself a very confident person. I was the one who turned down prestigious jobs after college, in order to run away to Spain for a few years, positive that I'd land on my feet. No problem. I even worked on a nudist beach, at one point, when I was there. No one would have called me timid.
But it turns out that my fear of failure was huge. My whole identity was caught up in doing things really well, and accomplishing whatever I wanted. But the only way you can do that is when you choose challenges that, honestly, aren't that much of a stretch. So, I'd created an ideal state of affairs. My ego still got all the accolades, “Oh, Jenna’s got so much potential, she can do whatever she wants. As soon as she finds her thing, watch out world.”
But I didn't have to take any of the risks; it was brilliant. I didn't have to risk failing at something I actually cared about, in front of everyone. Everyone with a capital E. I didn't have to say, “This. This is what I believe in, more than anything.” Rather than, “I mean, yeah. It's a good gig that pays well and makes career sense. So, whatever.” You hear the difference?
Because if I were to fail at that second thing, it would just be because, “Well, my heart wasn't really in it, anyway.” Even when I did finally push post on that Facebook announcement, that fateful Facebook announcement, and was like, “Here's what I'm doing now,” I was still unraveling all that mindset stuff.
I called myself a performance coach rather than a life coach, because I thought it sounded more legit. And, I wasn't offering to help people with clarity. I thought, “You know, I'm just helping them accomplish their goals in their own Uncommon Way.” But then, since most of my clients were entrepreneurs, and I was investing more heavily in business mentorship than they were, and of course, I totally wanted them to succeed, I started sharing what was working.
Before long, they were calling me their business coach. And then, I started getting these clients where I just knew they were struggling, because they were missing foundational clarity pieces. Because I remembered that from my own journey, I was like, “Okay, look, here's what worked for me. I have no idea if this will work for you, but you want to try?”
Well, I've coached well over a hundred women now, through this; it's safe to say it works. And what I've seen is that with all the stuff going on in your brain, all the analysis, and conditioning, and wiring, and fears, and doubts, and subconscious self-sabotage, we desperately need to simplify. Because that's how clarity is, it's a very simple. It's just, “I'm doing this. These are my people. This is what I'm about.” It's the mind that overcomplicates.
Now, for instance, I never waver. Just kidding, I totally get all up in my head on the regular. The difference is that now, I've got a rock-solid foundation of what I'm about. I know where I'm going. And I've got some incredible tools to get me and my clients tapped in again, far more quickly now.
That rock-solid foundation looks like this. Are you ready? Know yourself. Know your people. Talk about how those two connect. That's it. Those three simple things are the key to business: Know yourself. Know your people talk about how those two connect. And it works, whether you're just starting out or at seven figures.
So, let me show you how it plays out in real life. I'll use the example of a coaching business since so many of my people are coaches. Part one, know yourself. It all starts with your mission. There's more involved with knowing yourself, like really understanding your secret sauce, but let's focus on mission.
What is it you're really here to do? Here's how you want to think about this. You know how in hindsight, it's so easy to connect the dots about how this thing led to this other thing and now you're here, but in the middle of it, it all seems so random?
Well, you're in the middle of it now. It might seem random but that doesn't mean it is. Because of your unique brain, your experiences, and maybe even your soul's desire when it chose to be born, it's like you're wearing glasses with a special filter that helps you make meaning of things. And your filter’s totally different from my filter.
It makes you uniquely primed to do your work in the world, because you've already been focusing on it your whole life. Put another way, your life has been preparing you for it, but until you see it, you can't own it. And you can't act on it either, which hamstrings your business, and your lifestyle, and your fulfillment. So, whether you realize it or not, there are themes that have been showing up for you and sticking in your memory.
When we do this work, we see that the thing that happened when we were seven, has a lot in common with that other thing when we were seventeen. Now, we're multi-dimensional people, so there are several, I call them, meta-themes. We're always able to narrow them down to three to five. And, when we do, my clients are then always able to see the ones that stand out to them more than the rest.
Once you see it, you can't unsee it. And that meta-theme, that mission, will drastically narrow the range of potential business ideas for you. All you have to do is ask; which is most likely to further that mission? And of course, meshes with my lifestyle preferences, too.
And then you use the same type of questioning to lead you to your people. I have a process for this, and it has nothing to do with; what have you always been good at in your day job. Because here's the crazy secret about your mission, your people are also interested in furthering that mission in the world. Even if they've never expressed it in that way, or put much thought into it. Even if you never say it outright, just knowing it changes how you show up.
And when you start sprinkling it into your copy, it creates next level messaging. Because there's a subconscious resonance that makes you stand out compared to others. It's very powerful. This is where we eliminate the idea of competition. Imagine how you'd show up if you really believed that you and your offer were a no-brainer, and the only real option out there for your people. Game-changer, right?
If you're interested in case studies about how understanding their mission has helped clients in all different stages of business; do everything from figure out their niche, to completely transforming their business model, then you have got to sign up for my email newsletter, because that's what my welcome sequence is all about. All you have to do is go to the UncommonWay.com and then sign up for any of the helpful freebies there on the homepage.
But true clarity in business is not just about the introspective work of ‘know yourself,’ even though that is where it all starts. The second part, know your people, is about learning to understand them, like the back of your hand. How do they think? How do they talk? What do they think the problem and solution is? And, how is that different from those other people over there.
This is what probably 85% of new entrepreneurs skip, but it makes all the difference. And when you can combine the two, your knowledge of yourself with your knowledge of them, and move on to part three, which is talking about the connection in a way they'll understand, both in your copy and in your interactions with them, it is a recipe for success.
It's why I brought in over 90,000 from Google alone last year. People that had never heard of me; they landed on my website, they felt moved to book a call, and they became clients on that call. I don't have tons of persuasion copy on there, nor am I a genius with SEO. And while I know a lot about manifesting, there is more to it.
Really, it's that 70% of that site is client language, with concepts that I tested out on real people, and so, it resonates. People stick around and read. And, Google sees that and ranks me highly because of it even though other sites have a much higher domain authority than mine. And the people that don't resonate, know right away that I'm not for them. So, the ones that do book tend to be ideal clients that I want to work with.
Just with a three-part clarity formula, I've created a six-figure business that doesn't rely on ads or social media. Until launching this podcast, I went two years without being on social; and, I don't foresee it ever being my main effort. I don't do launches. I'm creating a 15-hour workweek. I’ve basically thrown out all the ‘have tos’ and ‘shoulds,’ and I'm not alone.
My clients are doing it their way, too. Nobody's business looks the same, and the results are beautiful. Even though this work isn't primarily about making money, or impressing others, or healing inner wounds, that's what ends up happening.
As you evolve, and you continue stretching to better and better understand, you open to more pure, more inspired output, and much greater impact. It's simply where you need to go, because it's where you've always had the potential of going. My clients say over and over that it's that clarity that gives you that confidence, and consistency, and willingness, to move through discomfort so you can accomplish the results you want in your life.
Of course, it's also about the mindset they develop through the process of uncovering the clarity, and then actually implementing it. Which is why each episode, I'll always give you both the mindset perspective and the tactical steps that you can apply.
So, to recap: Clarity isn't something to get to later, it's affecting your results right now. Wherever you are in business, clarity is your work. It's not something you have to wait for, or to happen to get lucky with, or anything beyond your reach. The seeds are already there within. All you have to do is start by deeply understanding yourself, then getting just as fascinated and curious about your people. And finally, speak simply and clearly about how you and they connect.
The whole purpose of this podcast is to help you better understand and apply those three things. Because when you continually check your business against them and against the questions that really matter in life, you keep reorienting to truth, to your truth, which is how we create legacy.
More importantly, though, you finally get to become the woman who walks through the world knowing who she really is and what she's doing, to feel what that knowingness feels like. The real reward is you. It always was. And, I so look forward to seeing what comes of that, and how you grow the business you want, your way, without rules.
That's it for today. I can't wait for you to listen to episode number two. It's one of the most popular tools I teach. And remember, deep down you know who you are, and each day you're stepping further into what you are here to create. See you next time.
Hey, to celebrate the launch of the show I’m going to be giving away three really great prizes: a pair of AirPods Pro™, a six-month subscription to Audible®, and a $50.00 Amazon.com Gift Card. I’ll be giving these away to some lucky listeners who follow, rate, review, and share the show.
Here’s why your help is essential. I need to know what resonated with you and what you’re still curious about, so I can create the most high-value content for you. I don’t want to create what other people want; I want to create what you want, so I need to hear from you. Also, this work changes lives, it sure as hell changed mine. I am on a mission to get these episodes into the hands of everyone who needs it.
Since this isn’t your first rodeo, and you’ve listened to a podcast or two before, you know that follows, rates, reviews, and shares are how this new baby podcast will get seen and bumped up in search results. Thank you for spreading the word!
To learn more about the contest and how to enter to win the AirPods, the Audible subscription, or the gift card just visit TheUncommonWay.com/podcastlaunch. I’ll be announcing the winners on the show in an upcoming episode.
Thanks for joining us here at The Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including the Clarity First Strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit the UncommonWay.com. See you next time.
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