Jenna Harrison 7/23/24 Jenna Harrison 7/23/24

Ep# 106: How to Break the Pattern of Difficult = Successful for High Achieving Women Entrepreneurs

Have you ever felt like a part of you feels more worthy when things are difficult, and maybe you’re contributing to the overwhelm and chaos in your life? What if you could detox that pattern and create a totally different life?

In this episode, you'll hear from Lauren, a former engineer turned interior designer who was experiencing overwhelm and chaos while her business suffered the consequences. Her story is truly inspiring and will resonate deeply with anyone who has ever felt like they're not fully achieving their potential despite their best efforts.

Episode Summary

In this episode you will:

Learn to detox your life and business to create a smoother, more successful workflow.
Gain confidence in your decision-making to help propel your business forward.
Understand how high-achieving women unknowingly self-sabotage by creating difficult situations, and how to reverse that tendency.

Don’t spend another day making you business more difficult than it has to be -- press play now to detox your life and business, and start making powerful, confident changes today!

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in signature offers and strategies and a first-rate mindset.

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for highly accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Find Jenna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theuncommonway/

This podcast empowers female entrepreneurs to overcome imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and limiting beliefs through somatics, mindset, and spirituality, create 7-figure offers, and build an online coaching business with clarity and alignment.

Episode Transcription

[00:00:00] What does it really look like to move from feeling like a hot mess to feeling capable and powerful?

You're listening to the Uncommon Way business and life coaching podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves. So you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging and strategy and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating.

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've got a really fun show for you today where you'll hear from my client, Lauren, who has detoxed so many things that just weren't serving her and is really transforming her business to make it [00:01:00] work for her and flow more easily. Lauren, welcome. I'm so glad you're here. Let's talk about what was going on with you that even had you looking for a business coach. so much. Oh, it was like one of those middle of the night things.

Um, I had a rather dramatic entree into this period of my life. We all go through phases in life and mine involved a lot of like personal strife and I don't know, anxiety and antidepressant. And I had been a practicing interior designer before that period of my life and COVID hit and there was a lot of things that including having two kids.

And We had moved to Oregon and I was like ready to start my business again, and I just could not get traction. I was super frustrated. I had tried a number of different resources to really try to jumpstart the process, and I was not succeeding and not [00:02:00] getting the clientele that I wanted, though they were lovely.

They were just not the direction I was trying to go. And it really was like a middle of the night, okay, so there's something has got to give here. And I think I've mentioned this to you before. I think you were like the second or third page based on the search criteria that I had used. Right. Which I couldn't tell you now, but I found you and I read your website and I was like, it was like a full body.

Yes. Like everything in me was like, this is my person. This is who I need to talk to. And so I sent you a message. I don't think I even sent messages out to any other coaches and you got back to me and it was like, okay, this is. It's crazy and I'm not making enough money in my business to like pay for this.

And yet I'm going to figure it out and I'm going to do it because it's like this or I just have to go out and get a job because either this or I have to give up on being a business owner and an entrepreneur. I remember you [00:03:00] had a very keen awareness at the beginning, even when you were filling out the questions before our call, where you knew that you were the thing getting in your way.

It's And not everyone has that understanding. It's like you're walking down a road and you see this giant boulder sitting in the middle of the road. And you're like, what do I even do here? Like the woods are dense on either side. What on earth is happening? And you look up and you're like, why does that look familiar?

And you look around and you're like, Oh, why is my face carved in that rock? It's literally me. I am the person. I cannot pass through here because I am literally the person standing in the way. Yeah.

How do you think things that you haven't thought and do things ways you haven't done them and just get out of your patterns and ways of being? I think it's great to let people know that you are a person that they can absolutely relate to because you went from being this high [00:04:00] achiever, engineer, doing all the right things to then taking a step in the direction of your own self interest and what was actually moving and meaningful to you by moving into a more creative path, an interior design, Then there was still this legacy thinking that we needed to start detoxing in order for you to really blossom in your own way of being.

Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn, from Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to [00:05:00] theuncommonway. com slash schedule and set up a time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach. Yeah, engineering was hard. So I became a materials engineer. I specialized in titanium. It's terribly nerdy and I loved it, but I worked in aerospace manufacturing.

And for any woman out there who is working in a business that is not friendly to women, believe me, I know where you are coming from. And I spent two years trying to figure out what that lateral move was going to be, because I knew I wanted to leave engineering. And my husband actually was like, why don't you do interior design?

And I was like, what am I going to pick out, Kurt? Like, what is this thing? And we lived in LA at the time. And so I took a class and it happened to feed into this certificate program that fed into a master's program. And I took one class and I called him and I was like, okay, so I'm done. Like, this is what we're doing now.

It's like finding your website. Clearly there's a pattern here. [00:06:00] And four years later, I had my master's in interior architecture. And yet, like you, that's not the end of the story, right? That seems like the happy ending to the story. And yet, then I went through the process of trying to learn how to become an entrepreneur.

And that education, that ongoing education is insane and humbling and incredible. So well said. Because we do. We're so used to just Achieve whatever checkmark you need to achieve now. And then we get into entrepreneurship and we're like, what is this? What is this mess? Yes. Which is why it's such an amazing journey because we really get to find out who we are and how we want to do things and step into a really, a more powerful orientation

each of us in our own ways are going through multiple individual experiences of overwhelm that maybe in a singular form would be fine to handle, but you [00:07:00] still have to feed yourself and do the laundry and take care of the dog and mow the lawn and manage the people and plan the retirement party.

It's exhausting. Yes. So for you, I think what had happened was you and I had been working on Reinvention work, specifically, and detoxing some of these patterns that we were recognizing weren't helpful, and stepping into what would be possible and what you could create, what you could call in terms of really thinking bigger.

And then there was this point where it all just started, like you call it a flow on effect, where it all just started happening. We started seeing evidence of it start popping up. Can you talk about that? So I have primarily been a residential designer working with people on their homes and I have had amazing success with some of my clients.

I still have clients in LA though I am currently in Portland and have loved that part of it. [00:08:00] But I had a friend reach out to me, I had done some work for him and his wife who's also a very good friend of mine on their home and he decided to build his own plastic surgery practice and he was like, I have a designer that I'm working with who does doing the space planning.

But. This is a high end plastic surgery practice and it needs to be reflected as such. And so he and I started working together and built out this design that was just like amazing. I don't know, like it's rocker ish, we're using like black granite, but it just is so aligned with his vision. He started out with, I want this particular style and the more he and I talked about what his personal brand was and like who he wanted to be in this practice.

It became something completely different and it was a really amazing learning experience for me because I was stepping into commercial design, but also because it made me realize that I [00:09:00] had this really special way of handling my clients in that I was able to, even in the commercial space where it can feel very, everything's like copy paste, really nailed down what his personal style was and help him reflect that in his practice.

And that space is under construction now, and it's going to be so amazing, I'm so excited about it. I love that because I'm helping you step away from the shoulds for you and really create something very cool and interesting and powerful, and then you're helping your clients step away from the shoulds and create something really unique for them and individual and powerful.

Yes. Yes. And it ripples out. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So there were other ways too. So you were bringing on different clients. I remember you had told me, we just got on a call and you're like, Oh, and I decided to systematize all of the backend procedures for my business. Yes. I [00:10:00] signed up for Dub Sotto and I've started creating all of these emails and it was such a huge break and departure from what before would have been.

The hot mess, challenged mom who's running around with like, whatever food, and just doing her best, and I remember once you had this really powerful image of you being at a park talking to another mom, and like, you had one child on one hip doing one thing, and the other one's being crazy, running around doing something else, and like, you were in the middle of this chaos, just, yep, this is just the way it is.

And we started playing with that, right? We're like, what if that no longer is the way it is in my life? And who would that woman be? What would she be putting into place? And then I remember, yes, there was that day where you came back and you're like, oh, and I've just decided to completely systematize everything and make this.

And I'm like, that is what future Lauren would do. Yeah. And it like so much of the work that we did [00:11:00] created in me a willingness to. Lean into the possibility that it could be easier. I no longer felt the need to make things difficult as a sign of success. And I realized that it's okay for me to automate things that can be automated well, to reflect my brand properly, to communicate with clients, especially those who are onboarding easily with a minimum of effort so that I can focus.

on the ways in which I bring the most value, which is doing the design work. It's not sending out the welcome email. And being in your most creative place when you do that high end design work. Yes. So it really, I feel like so much of the work that we did created the room for the possibilities of it being different.

Like it wasn't necessarily that we laid out a plan, right? We just literally played with the idea that I [00:12:00] could. Do things differently, and that could be better than where I am now, even if I can't imagine it that way, it just, it could be, maybe it'll be terrible, but maybe it'll be amazing. And that amount of breathing room was exactly what my brain needed to start spinning off in all directions.

And I have really spun into many directions. Like, you know, me, I love tech. I love the nerdy, like, how do I make this work? Well. There's always a different app every time you talk. I always have an app. Every time. I'm like, have you seen this app? Have you seen this app? But what it has created is, I realized that I was willing to invest financially in certain things.

But somehow I wanted to cheap out on creating the proper flow for my business, which is silly. Like it was such a mental block. Right. Because that's what a person who's running around in hot mess and a [00:13:00] part of you potentially wanting to perpetuate that hot mess ness would never organize the shit out of the back end of their business.

Who wants to pay for software that works? I mean, honestly, that sounds like a terrible idea. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. And that's what I love seeing with you all, are those little breakthroughs when the evidence starts coming back in terms of what you've integrated. Not just what you've thought about, uh, hypothetically maybe, but when it starts sinking into your bones and you're like, it maybe started with the way you were showing up with your kids or it started with the way you were, I remember doing your hair and getting dressed, but then all of a sudden you're just making decisions in your business.

That align with that future person and like confidently making them like I might need to change this later but this is the right decision for me right now and Confidently making business decisions for me was like an unattainable unattainable [00:14:00] dream It felt very unachievable It felt like I was constantly skating on this really thin ice and I could never see where I might break through and plunge down into the water.

Making any sort of business decision confidently was a weird experience for me. And yet, because we had created room for the possibilities of so many positive things, once it finally clicked and it happened, it was like, Oh, Of course, I would do that. Of course, I would take care of this part of my business.

Of course, I would serve my clients in this way. And of course, I would then find that I feel that I am worth more to my clients. And of course, I would then reflect that in my prices. That's right. You've raised your prices. Significantly. In fact. Yes. Yes. Really had no pushback on that. No friction. None. Who knew?

Literally nobody is like, that's too expensive. Everybody's like, oh, where [00:15:00] do I sign? I'm like, clearly should have done this a while ago.

We've had so many conversations, Jenna, and like the bits that you remember sometimes are very different than the bits that I remember. So, I remember this moment of clarity where you said, my ideal clients are the ones who want their house to look like what two years from now will be all over Instagram, or three years from now will be all over Instagram.

So not the ones that want to look like everybody else, and I just think that anyone that's drawn to this podcast and the name The Uncommon Way is really looking to, so a lot of those people. Want help with their homes and the space that surrounds them and they should talk to you. That's what I'm trying to say Please talk to me.

That's great Also, like my drive for design has always been how do I take this individual? this imperfect and beautiful and [00:16:00] incredible individual and make their house feel like You walk in and you're like, Oh, this is you in your like most ideal state in that state where you have had the coach and you have done the work and you've built this great life that you are proud of and comfortable in.

And that's the space that you walk into. We have such different businesses, but we're all doing the same work. It's all, it's all the work of people. And life, and individuality, and success, and artistry, and growth. And authenticity, and growth, and stepping into who you're here to be, and, oh my gosh, so awesome.

And generally being badasses. I mean, let's be honest. Oh, Lauren, it was so great having you on. Thank you for taking the time. Thank you again for having me. It's always wonderful to talk with you.

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 [00:17:00] for growing and scaling your business, visit theuncommonway. com. See you next time.

Jenna Harrison 7/16/24 Jenna Harrison 7/16/24

Ep# 105:Why Contemplating What Might Have Been Is The Key To Becoming Who You Want To Be

Have you ever found yourself repeating the same patterns and not seeing new results?

This episode of the Uncommon Way dives deep into why your current mindset might be holding you back and how shifting your thinking can untangle patterns and create new results.

Episode Summary

Have you ever found yourself repeating the same patterns and not seeing new results?

This episode of the Uncommon Way dives deep into why your current mindset might be holding you back and how shifting your thinking can untangle patterns and create new results.

In this episode you will learn:

The secret process for reinventing yourself and accelerating your business growth.
The practical steps to expand your mind and consider new possibilities you never thought possible.
Gain insights into breaking free from limiting beliefs and conditioning that have kept you playing small.

Tune in now to transform your mindset and elevate your business to the next level—click play and start your journey today!

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in signature offers and strategies and a first-rate mindset.

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for highly accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Find Jenna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theuncommonway/

Episode Transcription

[00:00:00] How do you get outside of your head when your brain, by default, is inside your head?

You're listening to the Uncommon Way business and life coaching podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging, and strategy, and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating.

Here's your host,

Hey, welcome back to the Uncommon Way. Let's dive into it. Today, I want to share the sequence of how I walk clients through their reinvention process. Here's [00:01:00] what we'll be covering. Why you can't create new results with the same brain you have today, so you have got to start with changing yourself, or you'll drastically decelerate your timeline for whatever you would like to accomplish.

You'll learn how, tactically, to start expanding your mind to think about possibilities you have never considered. And finally, how to bring these radical shifts into your business in the most strategic ways we all think that we are swimming in an ocean of possibilities. But the truth is, it's like we're in a fishbowl. In the ocean. And that fishbowl is the way that we've been thinking, the way that we're used to thinking, and the way that we narrow our possibilities through that frame of reference. I see examples of this every day.

And I know that even a brain surgeon can't do surgery on [00:02:00] herself.

Now, the biology of the human brain is to run on autopilot. We couldn't possibly get through the day if we were having to process every bit of information and analyze and make new decisions. So, our brain tries to help us out by cataloging knowledge that it knows and helping us create these lenses and these filters so that we don't have to do so much heavy lifting with every decision and every thought.

Unfortunately, when we're trying to create something new, it's challenging because we have this propensity to stay with the status quo and keep seeing things the way that we've been seeing them. Because, statistically, for survival, it made more sense to err on the side of caution and to keep running on the assumptions that we've always had.

But that is not the way of creators and visionaries who want new things and want to stretch themselves. And [00:03:00] so just like the examples I gave you before, Typically, when we break down the most effective ways to move forward for my clients and really reach that next level that we're seeking, it becomes obvious that something we've been holding near and dear or that we just think is such a part of us or the thing that guarantees our success is really inhibiting progress.

And I believe that is because Entrepreneurship is the greatest spiritual and personal development journey for women. We always run smack into the parts of us that most need to heal or be released or be transcended. It's par for the course when women have so much conditioning that runs directly contrary to the most necessary entrepreneurial traits and skill sets, like taking up space and owning your gifts.

And charging money rather than just giving everything away for free. Developing [00:04:00] risk avoidance. All of those are what a good woman does. And so it's challenging to flip the script. And that's why when we look at studies and statistics that tell us things like Women are less inclined to apply for a job interview, for which they are partially qualified than a man is, or only 2 percent of women owned businesses are seven figure businesses, whereas 30 percent of male owned businesses are seven figure businesses.

A fantastic book that will just hit you over the head with all of these very well linked studies that demonstrate this type of conditioning is Rachel Rogers book, We Should All Be Millionaires. Really just the first chapter or two. Where she's laying all of this out is mind blowing. And you start realizing, oh, when I think maybe I'm not business savvy, there may [00:05:00] not be any basis to that.

It is interesting that women outperform men with investment performance. But we've inherited all these beliefs, and they don't serve us, and they keep us playing small. There are many personal experiences that form our own fishbowl, too, right? Maybe something that happened in junior high. Maybe behavior that you observed from your parents. So what are the beliefs and ways of being that serve me rather than serve society or serve the patriarchy?

Or serve my parents. What serves me? But before anything, you gotta be willing to let your old way of being go. Even though that feels threatening, like you may not succeed if you do that. You've gotta invite reinvention rather than staying with what has worked until now. It's not that it was necessarily wrong.

It got you where you are. It's just not where you're going. I've [00:06:00] found this reinvention process to be such rocket fuel for women's success that I've created an entire new module in the Clarity Accelerator for it. It's now the very first work you'll learn to do in that program. It used to be the work that I was doing with my private clients, until I saw such consistent mind blowing change, women blowing past membership goals that they'd had for a decade, building their business in record time.

Creating the new business they'd been holding off on, or the seven figure business they'd dreamed of. And it became apparent that I needed to get this into the hands of more women.

So to sum up, there is a huge ocean of possibilities available for you in your business, and by the nature of your brain, you're only scratching the surface of what's available. And your life can get so much richer, better, bigger, but you need to be the one to seek it out and do the work to step into it.

And don't worry. It's time to get tactical. [00:07:00] So now I'm going to give you two really powerful prompts that are going to grease the wheels and get your mind used to stretching into these directions that it's not used to and really build that muscle for yourself. Hey, if you want true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator.

See I'll teach you to connect all the dots. The dots that have always been there for you. So that you can show up like you were born for exactly this. Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn. From Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to theuncommonway.com/schedule and set up a time to talk.

I can't wait to be your coach. Okay. Number one is, what are five possibilities from your past that you never considered? Now, in hindsight, you [00:08:00] can see it was possible, but it just never crossed your mind. I like to use the example of Rodeo Clown. It never occurred to me that I could have been a Rodeo Clown.

Now, a lot of my clients tend to go a little deeper with this, but really do stretch your brain. Just see, like, you could have skipped college. Maybe you could have been into polyamory rather than the monogamous marriage you have now. Maybe there's some athletic pursuit that you never even considered for yourself because you had a belief that you weren't athletic.

Go ahead and pause this. And take a minute to come up with three to five examples of possibilities that you did not live. Great. Okay, why did we start with the past when we're talking about reinventing the future? It's because you know more now. You are a different person than you were then. And I want you to see how much you've [00:09:00] already changed and broadened your perspective.

So if that change is possible in the ten or however many years between now and then, Why can't it happen much more quickly for you going forward? We know it's going to happen, but let's help accelerate it. And let's choose intentionally, again, rather than being on autopilot. And then there's another reason we went to the past, and that's that it's a lot safer for us.

We can't change the past. It's already happened. So we're not really going to do the things. What's the harm in playing? But now, I'm going to ask you to do the same for future possibilities. You don't have to pause, right? You can just reflect on it while you're brushing your teeth. Mindset work doesn't have to take work. You don't have to block out time in your day for it. You just have to open yourself to musing over it. Um, in the shower or when you're walking your dog or brushing your teeth. [00:10:00] And try to let yourself be equally as open with what's possible in the future as you were in the past.

Again, we're just building this muscle right now. And you don't have to do any of those things, obviously. But that form of thinking will lead you to more creative, visionary, out of the box ways of being.

Alright, here's your second prompt, which helps really bring that possibility more directly into your business today. Let's just imagine you were a sorceress who could wave a magic wand and work with any type of person you want to. This person's already a big fan, there's zero convincing required, they're just the most exciting kind of person you can imagine working with, and they are hanging on your every word.

Now, what would you say to them about the work you're going to do together? You can imagine this as a conversation, or imagine writing a letter, or creating a social media post. But [00:11:00] in this ocean of possibility, where these clients exist, what would you say to them about what comes next? Oh! I'm giving myself tingles here!

I hope you're getting them, too. Because this is the basis of everything else you'll create. Before you can reverse engineer the copy, the offers, the strategy. You need clear vision. You need to be open to what's possible, and you need to desire it enough to be willing to make some changes to the status quo, which leads into our third tip of the day, which might seem a little out there for some of you, but that's okay because this episode is all about stretching possibility.

We tend to walk through our businesses in a series of have tos. Well, because this is what's possible. I have to do this because these are my acquired skills. And this is what I imagine the most that people will pay for, and these are all the resources I have at this moment, I [00:12:00] have to have this business, or target these people, or use this strategy.

I just got off the phone with a client of mine who was thinking about her next iteration, and she was talking about creating websites, and in her frame of reference, she lives up in the Seattle area, so it was either the tech savvy startups, Or, it was the small kind of mom and pop business owner that would be her two clients.

And I just said, but what about all of these other ones that also have this really strong vision and mission, but they just don't know how to express it visually? They just know how to bring it forward. And I started naming off a few, like this Burst company. Have you heard of this? It's all dental products. It cracks me up.

It's refillable dental floss so you don't need to keep buying plastic containers over and over. And it's also like black and with charcoal in it and there are all these different reasons why [00:13:00] they have up level dental floss. And all different dental hygiene products. I love it so much. I'm such a gimmick girl. And these are businesses that might have had , a strong vision and a strong way of thinking about what they wanted to bring into the world, but not known how to do that visually

we tend to filter our decisions through this lens, right? And it's a lens that's inherently limiting. It's like when we're looking for the perfect leaf. And for those of you who don't get that reference, you can listen to my episode number two, The Decision Tree, which talks about the incorrect way that we are taught to make decisions and how to start making much more powerful, easeful, and aligned decisions.

Is that we tend to try and find a perfect leaf on a tree by going leaf by leaf and then comparing and contrasting and thinking, I could do this, but I could also do that. Well, here are all the pros, here are all the cons. And it [00:14:00] really sends our brains into gridlock, and I believe goes against our nature.

Versus, what is the trunk of that tree, right? What am I really trying to create? And then, when the branches split off. You just go with the strongest branch. And then when those split off, you go with the strongest branch. And you keep following this until you get to your leaf. It's just a completely different way of moving through your decision making process that feels just completely different.

So when you leave behind the have tos and you open yourself instead to what you want and what is possible for you. And you're willing to work towards that, of course, because we only want to use the smartest of business strategies to bring this into existence, right? This is not just about hoping and crossing your fingers at all.

But when you start from here and you flip the [00:15:00] script from, what do I have to do? Into, what if I can create whatever I want? You step into what I call Yes, and energy. And you unleash a torrent of personal power, it gives you tremendous energy and capacity to go kick ass, but it's also magnetic because people want to be around the brilliant, confident person that you are showing up as.

And it's manifestation catnip! Because you are in full receiving mode. If you keep telling the universe, this is all I get, this is my lot, you'll keep getting that. When you say, yes and, more please, why not me? You get the same in return. And this invariably transform your business. It can't not. You start thinking through, if I could do anything, what do I really want to do from that place of power? And then from there, [00:16:00] who would my people be?

If I could, again, wave my wand and have ideal clients, who are these ideal clients do I dare to dream? What offer will they need to be able to say emphatically, yes, what is something I can create so purposefully for them that it's like no other offer is available to even settle for because this is so clearly what they need.

And then from there, continuing to connect the dots, how am I going to talk about that to them in a way that really ties together both me and what I'm here to do knowing myself and them and what they're really about knowing them, and just creating very clear, concise messaging and copy that helps them feel really safe and [00:17:00] really excited.

Okay, my friend, time for you to move into yes and energy. Time for all women to move into it, actually. But time for you to be one of the groundbreakers paving the way, the uncommon way. I will see you back here next week, and remember, you know who you are. Each day, you are 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 first strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit the uncommon way.com. See you next time.

Jenna Harrison 7/12/24 Jenna Harrison 7/12/24

Ep# 104: How To Destress Like A Boss

Have you ever felt like stress was hijacking your ability to think creatively and make the best decisions for your business?

This episode dives deep into how chronic stress affects your brain and hampers your entrepreneurial success.

By understanding and addressing this issue, you can unlock higher productivity, creativity, and joy in both your business and personal life.

Episode Summary

Have you ever felt like stress was hijacking your ability to think creatively and make the best decisions for your business?

This episode dives deep into how chronic stress affects your brain and hampers your entrepreneurial success.

By understanding and addressing this issue, you can unlock higher productivity, creativity, and joy in both your business and personal life.

In this episode, you will:

Learn practical strategies to regulate your nervous system and access your most creative and analytical thinking.
Discover the crucial role of dopamine in maintaining motivation and how to harness it for goal achievement.
Gain insights into transforming stress patterns and stepping into your full potential as an entrepreneur.
Listen to this episode now to learn how to break free from stress and operate at your peak performance!

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in signature offers and strategies and a first-rate mindset.

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for highly accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Find Jenna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theuncommonway/

Episode Transcription

You know when a lot is piled on your plate, and you're trying to keep your cool, and then something else gets dropped on you, and then you're starting to lose sleep, and you notice yourself falling into the victim cave? Well, this episode is for you.

You're listening to the Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves, so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging, and strategy, and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating. Here's your host, top-ranked business coach and reformed overanalyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.

Now some of you might be thinking, duh, I hate being stressed out, of course I want to move out of this situation. But for many of us, myself included, it's not just an innocent ebb and flow of life where things get a little crazy now and then, it's actually a habituated pattern that we ourselves contribute to. And there's a reason, because deep down, we might think this is what makes us succeed, or makes us more worthy, or many other things. So to help that part of you release its grip a little bit more, I want to show you what's available on the other side.

It is now very well established in the field of neuroscience that stress states cause us to lose access to the parts of the brain that you most need to access as an entrepreneur. Because obviously, if you're being chased by a tiger, you don't want to sit there and analyze the pros and cons and think creatively about the most creative solution that you could leave the tiger's path. So many other parts of our brain really just aren't needed in that moment. We need to zero in, we need tunnel vision, we need to get the hell out of there, and we need to not be thinking a lot. But as an entrepreneur, you do need those faculties, you desperately need them. You want access to your most creative thinking. You want access to long-term visioning. You want access to problem-solving. You want to be analytical. You want to think abstractly about the meaning of it all and create compelling intellectual property.

And as people who are serving others and collaborating with others, you want to have the most empathetic parts of your brains lit up, the parts of you that can really connect with other humans, that feel good seeing other humans, that get excited about your interactions with these people, that feel a sense of trust, that feel camaraderie, that feel more like collaboration instead of competition. Think about it. If you are in a high-stress situation, you want to have the most skeptical part of yourself, the potentially most aggressive part of yourself, available to defend yourself against a threat. So again, our brains have been wired in ways that make complete sense. They just don't fully serve us quite frequently. The parts of you that you really want are only fully online when the brain is in what is called a responsive state, which is when your nervous system has regulated, when you're not stressed out, when you're at your baseline.

But you know what else you want access to? Dopamine. Not just because it feels good, like that little hit you get when you're like, ooh, but because recently so much research is showing how critical dopamine is to us seeking out, to us going after big things, to setting goals and sticking to our plan and really continuing with what we say we're moving towards. You know how when you're stressed and you reach a point where you're like, ugh, why even bother? Did you just think that was a coincidence? It is not. And dopamine is released with a variety of activities that tend to happen when you are in your most relaxed, regulated states. Can you imagine where we would be if we were all more regulated and had been in the past? What different innovations might be around? What new ways of being? I mean, we need more people more fully tapping into their genius.

Now I bring on a lot of hard-charging powerhouse women who sometimes, especially in the beginning, really resist when I tell them to get some sleep or whatever the advice may be in the moment, because they've got to do more, not less, with everything going on. So I tell them, oh, I'm not suggesting this because I have some biased agenda of a simple, easy business. It's because for where I know you are going, I need you operating at P Performance, and this is not it. Luckily, the resistance goes away once they start seeing results.

And so this is why when we're looking to really reinvent ourselves, really engage in mindset work and an overhaul of sorts, it's not an in-and-out process. It's sort of like getting into the pool where you dive in, but then if you jump right out, you never really acclimated to the water and you actually need to be in that for a while, be in that soup for a while so that it just starts to feel normal. But again, back to the movement of some sort, something that really gets your heart rate up. It could be a good run, it could be a great orgasm, however, whatever floats your boat. But you know, right, you've been in times where maybe you've had a great yoga class, and then afterwards, you're reflecting on all these things that you had and you're like, you know what, it's really not as big a deal as I was making it into, right, or oh, I know how to, what I'll do, I'll just delegate this or whatever comes up. That is the power of helping your nervous system re-regulate and being able to tap into that higher thinking.

All right, now I want to share the mindset tip. So you've got so much that it feels overwhelming. Hey, if you want true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator. I'll teach you to connect all the dots, the dots that have always been there for you, so that you can show up like you were born for exactly this. Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn, from Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to theuncommonway.com/schedule and set up a time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach.

Okay, good. You are in a capacity-building phase. You are stretching yourself to be able to hold more than you have previously. That might look like more content that you're creating now. It might be more plates that you're juggling. It might be more emotions you're experiencing or heightened emotions than you've typically carried in the past. It might be more patience or more tolerance that you're being called to hold, but it's okay. We can do hard things, right? Now, this advice is not for you if you are in a continually stressed-out state. If it's sustained, there's likely something else going on, and you want to move heaven and earth to work with a coach or another mental health professional to really get to the root of that. This advice is for you if you have overall a more balanced, sustainable baseline, and then things spring up. Because what's not helpful is the thoughts of, oh no, I'm regressing, or I should be beyond this, or I'm a hot mess, or why can't I ever get ahead, or why does this always happen to me?

No judgment. I have thought every one of those. I've thought every one of those countless times. We are all on a journey shedding that mentality, that old mentality that gets us nowhere. I like to think instead about what is waiting for me on the other side. What if this thing right now, what if that were a breeze? What if my husband were asking me, so what's your day like tomorrow? And I was saying, meh, pretty mellow. But it was exactly what I have to do today. What if my future actually looks nothing like this at all? But because of the muscles I've built, the sheer capacity I've built, when that live webinar before was a big thing, well, now I'm on stage in front of thousands, and it's manageable because of all of that back then.

We don't get to there, right? We don't get to our future goals without passing through discomfort. All of those big dreams you have, have you thought about what it would feel like if you had to do it tomorrow? Walk out on that stage, or whatever it is, hold that retreat, or have the booked out client roster, wherever you might be. Yikes, right? When things are far in the future, all we feel is anticipation. We aren't thinking about any of this other stuff, typically. But the stretching required along the path to that place probably won't feel great, all the time, just because of how we're wired.

So along the way, you might find yourself, you start dragging your feet. And of course, really smart, how could you even argue with them ways, naturally? Which leads you to take longer than you need to on your path to where you're going. Or you might just have heightened negative experiences of these growth phases, both of which are great reasons to work with someone that can give you outside perspective and help you get where you're going faster, better, and easier.

So what if you are down for the growth when necessary, but you really want to make sure that you don't attract more of this by accident? Well, just the mindset tip that I gave you is helpful, because what you're doing is you're turning your attention to the future desired state, rather than the current stressed-out state. But there's more. Because how you deal with what's going on right now matters, too. You want to deal with the things efficiently, but without creating huge emotional space for it or drama. I love this metaphor that I heard from Danielle Eiman. These circumstances are like something blowing in through the screen door to your house. And you want to just open the back door, the back screen door, and let it pass through. Because often what we tend to do is keep that back door shut. So it's sticking around and reverberating, and our increased attention very easily attracts more of its kind.

So remember, it's not not thinking about it. Don't think of a pink elephant. Instead, it's very gently choosing to spend your mental energy on what is working, what is going well, what you are learning. Not in a gaslighty, spiritual bypassing way, but in the way where you give your brain the task of finding where you do have things that you believe are positive in your life. Or at least even if they're neutral in your life, other things you can focus on. And this is really why gratitude, I mean the genuine gratitude where you're really feeling it, is so powerful.

Okay, my friends, that is it for today. Was it helpful? If so, share this with someone who could use it. And remember, you know who you are, and each day you are 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 first strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit TheUncommonWay.com. See you next time.

Jenna Harrison 7/2/24 Jenna Harrison 7/2/24

Ep# 103: How To Grow Sales and Ideal Clients WITHOUT Doing More as a Woman Entrepreneur

Are you tired of constantly hustling but not seeing the results you want? Discover the secret to attracting amazing clients effortlessly.

In this episode, Jenna Harrison tackles the common struggle of feeling overwhelmed and overworked in your business. She offers strategies to help you shift from endless hustle to clarity and efficiency, making it easier to attract the right clients and achieve your business goals.

Episode Summary

Are you tired of constantly hustling but not seeing the results you want? Discover the secret to attracting amazing clients repeatedly.

In this episode, Jenna tackles the common struggle of feeling overwhelmed and overworked in your business. She shares the biggest secret to attracting the right clients and achieving your business goals.

You will learn:

How to identify and attract your ideal clients with laser-sharp precision.
Why more hustling isn't the solution.
Insights into transforming your business mindset to create a more successful approach.

Hit play now to learn how to attract amazing clients and build a successful business with less effort.

Find Jenna on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/theuncommonway/

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in signature offers and strategies and a first-rate mindset.

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for highly accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Episode Transcription

And the moral of the story here is that there is no better investment, I'm convinced, than a woman with a burning drive inside of her.

You're listening to the Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging, and strategy, and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating. Here's your host, top-ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.

Hey, hey everyone. Welcome back to the Uncommon Way. I'm so glad you're here. Now typically when we're faced with a situation where we're not bringing in the number of clients that we want or the quality of clients that we want, our reaction is to do more, right? And even if it's not more in terms of putting out more Instagram posts or doing more webinars or whatever it is, it's context switching. So having to learn something new and test it and gain mastery and possibly invest in order to learn it, that's still more.

And that's where our brain moves to. What kind of action can I take? But that is a net drag on your time. And it leads to so much overwork and overwhelm. And unfortunately, some women even dropping out of business. Now again, it's a natural consequence, right? Nothing's gone wrong. There's no shame about this. It's a natural consequence of that uncomfortable feeling of frustration or hopelessness that then triggers our fears. Our mind starts getting involved. What if this isn't going to work? What if it's always going to be like this? What am I doing wrong? There must be something wrong with me. I'm maybe not cut out for this. Or I've gone as far as I can go. I obviously can't break this plateau and reach the next one. And that activates our nervous system so that we spin into action, which is the modern day manifestation of our fight response.

But I'm here to tell you, it's not the most efficient or expeditious way to your goal of a booked out business filled with amazing clients. Because the truth is, you can find clients anywhere. Deep down you know this. Your next client could be your neighbor's cousin. They could be the stranger you meet in line at the coffee shop. Or the person whose post you comment on in a Facebook group. And yes, the person who finds you on Instagram or through an ads funnel. Those are both amazing tools and strategies that my clients utilize. But you are not dependent on any one of them. And it doesn't mean that another one will necessarily be better for you. And by the way, doing more of something that isn't working for you doesn't mean it's going to start working either. I wrote blogs for three months and it didn't bring in any clients. Then I kept writing them for nine months and guess what? Still no clients. Laughs

There's this great interview with Trevor Noah. He's interviewing Oprah. And he's saying something like, what is the common denominator that indicates that people are going to reach their goals? And Oprah says, the common denominator is knowing what they want. And most people don't know what they want. They're too busy in their heads thinking about what they should do or what so and so wants them to do or they're filled with stories of what they always thought they should do. But they aren't bothering to ask what do I want and create that clarity and then make sure that every single decision aligns with that.

Clarity creates attraction. I'll say it again. Clarity creates attraction. Basically it's like a gravitational pull or a candle in the darkness, however you want to look at it. It is literally the most powerful thing, I would argue, in the universe. Human consciousness and specifically clarity of consciousness toward a particular objective. I just finished delivering a new training for the Clarity Accelerator and it's on the topic of reinventing ourselves. And we're talking burn the bridges, caterpillar to butterfly reinvention, not just incremental change.

Hey, if you want true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator. I'll teach you to connect all the dots, the dots that have always been there for you, so that you can show up like you were born for exactly this. Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn, from Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to theuncommonway.com/schedule and set up a time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach.

One of the things I said was that what could possibly be a more significant thing to do with our lives than create possibilities and then live into them. And for that, preach it, Oprah. We need clarity. You need to know exactly who these clients are and who they are not. I can't tell you how many times I speak with people who tell me they're clear on who their clients are, but they're talking about some broad demographic niche and they don't understand that within that, there are so many different psychographic properties, psychographic meaning psychological. There are so many different hopes and dreams and motivators and comfort with risk and comfort with spending and motivations. All of this needs to be taken into account.

You need to know what's important to your people, because only when you're that clear can you call them in and say no to the ones who aren't the right fit. So on a tactical level, it might seem very straightforward to you. Your messaging is clear. Your messaging is calling in those people and none other, because your people need it. Very very few people are tuned in enough to their intuition that they'll move forward if the logical part of their brain isn't satisfied, right, doesn't feel reassured. So this is how you speak to that logical side. People who are looking for clarity arrive at my website and see me saying, I can help you create this laser sharp clarity and the logical part of their brain goes, great, that's what I was looking for and she offers it.

But there's much more depth in my messaging too that helps them resonate with it and know that this is the place for them and that is what inspires them to book a call so quickly with me. Now that's very different than the person who says, maybe I want to work with these people but I also want to work with those people and I don't want to rule out these other people because they could be good clients and then their language really speaks to no one. Again, if you are not clear, they're not clear. This holds true for your offer as well. If you're like, well, we could kind of do this or we could kind of do that, your people aren't going to know if this offer is for them and again that creates frustration when you aren't easily attracting in clients and that stress response pushes us into hustling into action and again, I've seen this with new entrepreneurs and seven-figure entrepreneurs hustling into action rather than what we really need to do, which is get quiet, focus in, make some powerful decisions, hopefully guided in large part by your intuition with a full complement of smart business sense.

The Uncommon Way is here for you. 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.

Jenna Harrison 6/28/24 Jenna Harrison 6/28/24

Ep# 102: Is Now the Time To Hire a Branding Designer? Creative Director Shares When and What To Look For, With Gabi Anderson

Are you unsure if now is the right time to invest in professional branding or if the designer you’re considering is right for your business?

Episode Summary

The Uncommon Way Business & Life Coaching Podcast with Jenna Harrison Ep 102

Are you unsure if now is the right time to invest in professional branding or if the designer you’re considering is right for your business?

This episode will help you make that critical decision and ensure you're on the path to visual success.

As an entrepreneur, you know that strong branding can set you apart from the competition.

But hiring the right designer at the right time is crucial.

This episode dives into the common pitfalls of branding too early or too late and guides you through the steps to make the best choice for your business.

In this episode, you will:

Gain clarity on the optimal timing for hiring a branding expert.
Learn the key qualities to look for in a designer to ensure a cohesive and impactful brand identity.
Discover how a well-executed brand can elevate your business and help you attract premium clients effortlessly.

Don't miss out on these essential insights—listen to the episode now to unlock the full potential of your brand and transform your business.

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in signature offers and strategies and a first-rate mindset.

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for highly accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Find Jenna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theuncommonway/

How To Contact Our Podcast Guest

Gabi's Website: https://www.gabiandersonstudio.com/

Gabi's Branding Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabiandersonstudio/

Gabi’s Art Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabithecreative/

Gabi's Shop: https://www.gabiandersonstudio.com/shop

Episode Transcription

Is this the right moment to hire someone to help you with branding? And if you do, what exactly should you be looking for?

You're listening to the Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging, and strategy, and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating. Here's your host, top-ranked business coach and reformed overanalyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.

Welcome back to the Uncommon Way. Last week, I had our creative director, Gabby Anderson, on the show, and she gave us so much helpful information that we decided to break the episodes into two parts and just not try and edit things out, but to just give you everything in some bite-sized chunks. So today, we're going to be sharing exactly when you should be hiring somebody to help you with branding and when you should not. You're going to hear about the pitfalls of hiring at the wrong time and the pitfalls of not hiring when you should be. And you'll also find out exactly what to look for in a designer so that you can feel assured that all of your bases are covered and you are getting the cohesive brand look that you really want.

Now, as I mentioned last week, Gabby worked at very impressive large companies before she went out on her own, like Shutterfly. She absolutely knows what she's doing and is someone you will want to listen to. Plus, she's very uncommon way in her approach, and she's also an amazing artist and illustrator. I'll be linking to all of her things in the show notes so that you can go check her out.

Okay, let's get down to the good stuff, shall we? Gabby, you've worked with so many different types of companies and people at all different stages. So where would you say it's important for people, where and when is it important for people to brand themselves?

Yeah, this is a great question. Like you mentioned, I work with just a ton of different types of businesses from the consumer space to more like you work with client services and you're working directly with your people. So for me, I think that there is a big distinction between sort of the business to business or client services space and the consumer product space. When you are in the consumer product space, I would definitely recommend establishing your brand very early. There's been a lot of studies about what really resonate with people in purchasing products. And unless you're going the sort of cheap route or the easy route of an Amazon, which I wouldn't recommend because they're very hard to compete, the brand really matters because consumers these days really want to see themselves in the brand and really visually connect with it.

And then when it comes to the client services space where you're maybe consulting individually with people or you're creating more of an agency style, I do think there is a little bit more leeway in when you want to either create your brand's new brand or you want to read. I think that there is space for say starting with just yourself as the brand and really being out there and networking and talking to people and using your networks to market for yourself and your own reputation to market for yourself and to create your sort of base of client. And then with that, you can get more insight into sort of the projects that you like, the direction that you like, and then get the clarity that it's something that you always talk about. And through that process, I think then there is the shift that happens where you have more clarity in your business and more sort of a structure for what you want it to be. And I think that is a good time to then really re-evaluate and level up your visual, level up your brand and own it. I think having a visual brand identity that's really strong and consistent is a really good way to step into owning this is my company, this is who I am and being visually bold and impactful in how you express it.

Yeah, because I think you and I both agree that branding really is a visual representation of your clarity, but it has to start with clarity. I've talked to, I don't know if you feel this way, but I've talked to, I've had clients that are web designers and branding people and they would complain about clients that came and really had no clue about who their people were or they weren't clear or they were in a transition period and really, and it made the other, my client's jobs really challenging. It's like, what are you trying to convey and if they don't know, who does?

Yes, that does make it challenging. I would say it's impossible to create a strong brand if you don't know who your people are and what differentiates you, what makes you special in the market.

Yeah, I know that what you've helped me also lean into is that especially when you are scaling your business and you're going into more streamlined funnels and group coaching that then it's really important to have a strong brand. So could you talk about why that is also for people?

Yeah, so the branding work when it's established and it's strong will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, especially in your marketing spaces, like social media, email marketing, your website, places that you aren't able to physically be. You can then have your own presence or have your business presence in these spaces and have this cohesive world that you've built that you're inviting people into. So it really allows you to scale and to level up so that you can bring in a broader audience and impact more people with just the awesome services or products that you offer.

I love it. So when people are thinking about how to think through their visual makeover, give them some guidance here. I think it's also going to speak a lot to what to look for in a designer because they're going to hear how you think about it having been a creative director and having needed to think about it for larger companies and smaller companies and everywhere in between.

Sure. So there are several steps that I would think about when thinking about what to look for when you're looking for either a branding individual, a branding firm. So when you're thinking about yourself strategically or your business strategically, are you looking to do a brand from scratch? So that would be starting a new company either with a completely different focus, a new name, it's all starting from scratch, or you're doing a rebrand, which is a bit more like a refresh. You're looking, you're hiring a company to look at the asset you have and figure out, okay, what's working? What pieces do we need to reinvent? What pieces do we maybe need to paint? But then reimagine how they're visually used across the board. And that will help you just ground in, okay, when I'm looking at the portfolios of these different options, do they have rebrand, rebrand examples in the portfolio? Do they have new brands? What kind of projects have they worked on strategically? And then I will say it is important to look at people's portfolios and ask, do you like their work? This is maybe a bit obvious, but if you don't like the pieces in their portfolio, the work that they've done, that they've shown you, then you're likely not going to like the overall outcome. And then I would have at least one call with them and really dig into what their process looks like.

So for me, when I'm working on a project, everything is very grounded in strategy. I ask all of my clients a lot of questions about their audience, about where their audience shops, about their competitors, maybe what their competitors are doing better than them, what they are doing better than their competitors, what differentiates them from their competitors.

So my friend, if you are excited by this talk of stepping into new next levels and next versions of yourself, you have got to join me for the first live event that I've held in years. Come on, it's going to be so fun. And I can't wait to talk to you face to face. It's a workshop. We're calling it the reinvention experience, where we're kickstarting your reinvention together. What will you walk away with? Awareness, clarity, activation, and the opening of a portal. You're going to be like, holy shit, is this what's next for me? Now, do not come if you want to stay where you are because you will be changed. When a group of women come together with this kind of intention, doing this kind of work, the energy is really high and always transferable, so you will be infected. I know you've heard lots of theory and stories about other people's reinvention on this podcast, but it's different when you're doing it in real time with me there. No wondering if you've gone as far as you could because you're sewing your head and it's really hard to step outside of it. And definitely no putting off the real work for another day because your brain is conveniently keeping you too busy to get to it. This is the moment where you decide to heed the call and explore what's ready to awaken within you. I mean, it's probably already awakened, which is why you're here. So let's say what's ready to emerge. So let's go. Head to theuncommonway.com forward slash reinvention dash experience and sign up now for more details. That link is in the show. See you there.

So there are a lot of strategic questions that are very important to discuss prior to even starting anything visual. So I personally, if I was looking for someone, would ask them about their sort of process before they start designing and see, okay, what is it that they are thinking about before they even think about the visual? And then I'd also ask them about their process going through the overall branding process. So for me, I have different deadlines for deliverables where we meet and talk about it. This is the first round. What is your feedback? And we have this schedule and this platform where we're talking about the feedback and the work. So I really make sure that there's a lot of structure in place so that my clients don't feel, A, they don't know where their designer is and they're confused about where they are in the process. And B, so they feel very supported and they know exactly, okay, this is when I can expect all the deliverables.

And then I would also ask about what the end deliverables are. So for me, when I think about creating a brand, it's really about world building. It's not just about the logo, it's not just about color, not just about type, it's about all of those elements combined, plus photography and plus illustration. When I am delivering something, I'm delivering sort of a brand identity, but which goes into all of those elements, but it also shows like rules for all the type. For instance, you can have two fonts and they can be used in wildly different ways that look super different. So I create a lot of examples of do's and don'ts for stuff like your typography kit or the way colors are paired so that it can feel very consistent across the board.

So Gabby, I know that's so obvious to you as a designer, but let's talk about just pinpoint the fact that we want to have all of that cohesively together because it really helps you convey who you are and it then makes it really easy to make decisions for your team and everybody. Talk about that.

Yes. Again, it's really related to clarity. It's really helping you, it's a tool to help you showcase how clear you are about the rules of your world basically. It's like in this world, we don't use all caps. We only use sentence case. It really does help you hire people on or hire agencies to help you do your social media or other elements that you don't necessarily want to focus on and it helps your team create consistency across the board. It feels very cohesive and it feels like everyone that's interacting with your brand is living in the same world.

Yeah, and now that I see it all coming together, it looks so good and I remember us even joking about how there may be a potential client who sees me and the brand and says, I'm not sure if I necessarily needed clarity or alignment, but I want that. I want that kind of focus. And so that's just a testament to how your branding can do some of the work for you.

Yes. Yes, it can do a lot for you and it can help you get the premium prices you want. It just helps build this world that you can be really excited about. For me, my branding really helps me show up in an excited way. I'm excited to showcase everything that I do.

Oh, I love that. I'm excited for my client to feel that way too.

Yeah, and when you say creating a world, I love that because I feel like what we do here at The Uncommon Way, it is our own world and it's come in, be with us, we live this way, we think and relate to each other this way. It's very much a community, so I love that it's also represented through the kind of you step into this world and it feels different. Feels exciting. I feel excited about the branding.

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.

Jenna Harrison 6/18/24 Jenna Harrison 6/18/24

Ep# 101: Steal a Top Creative Director’s Framework for Visual Reinvention (BTS of Our New Look!), With Woman Entrepreneur Gabi Anderson

Have you ever wondered how to think through your visuals so they’re hitting all the right notes and not only captivate your ideal clients but also elevate your business?

In today's competitive market, a well thought out visual brand can help you stand out and do much of the heavy lifting for your business.

This episode dives into a proprietary framework for creating magnetic visual branding, ensuring you make a lasting impression.

Episode Summary

Have you ever wondered how to think through your visuals so they’re hitting all the right notes and not only captivate your ideal clients but also elevate your business?

In today's competitive market, a well thought out visual brand can help you stand out and do much of the heavy lifting for your business.

This episode dives into a proprietary framework for creating magnetic visual branding, ensuring you make a lasting impression.

By tuning into this episode, you'll gain:

A deep understanding of a framework for creating enduring and effective visual branding.
Insight into the do's and don'ts of maintaining cohesive brand guidelines across your team. 3. Behind-the-scenes strategies for making bold, authentic branding decisions that align with your business's unique identity.

Don't miss out on transforming your brand's visual impact—click play now to unlock the secrets to powerful, magnetic branding!

https://www.theuncommonway.com/reinvention-experience

Find Jenna on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/theuncommonway/

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in signature offers and strategies and a first-rate mindset.

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for highly accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Links Mentioned

69. Creating Clarity in a Creative Business: Mindset Growth for Successful Creatives with Gabi Anderson

67. Revelations from the Clarity Collective Retreat with Women Entrepreneurs Amanda, Ale, Gabi and Kat

Gabi's Website: https://www.gabiandersonstudio.com/

Gabi's Branding Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabiandersonstudio/

Gabi’s Art Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabithecreative/

Gabi's Shop: https://www.gabiandersonstudio.com/shop

Episode Transcription

  
    [00:00:00] What if there were a framework you can follow to always give you extremely powerful visuals that do the heavy lifting for your business? Stick around.
You're listening to the Uncommon Way business and life coaching podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging, and strategy, and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating.
Here's your host, Top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned Queen of Clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Hello, hello. Welcome back to The Uncommon Way. I have the great pleasure of bringing our creative director, Gabby Anderson, on the show [00:01:00] today, which is such a treat. And I'll tell you about her background in a minute. But first, I want to tell you what we've got in store for you today. The Uncommon Way You will get her proprietary framework for creating powerful, magnetic visual branding that can really do some of the heavy lifting for you.
And we'll give you an example of how it's all applied using the Uncommon Ways new branding. Yay! You'll get to hear the behind the scenes of what was going on that inspired me to make this change and my biggest vulnerability that I had to overcome in order to do it. You'll find out what to do and not to do to make sure any team members or contractors are able to easily stay within brand guidelines, So that you get a cohesive, defined look, even when multiple people with differing preferences have their hands in the pot.
Plus, later this week, we've got some exciting bonus [00:02:00] content, where Gabby tells us what to look for in a brand designer, and when you should and should not hire someone. So look out for that. Before Gabby launched her own business, she worked her magic at large, impressive companies like Shutterfly. And keenly understands what it takes to not only stand out and create strong brands, but also to disrupt the way things have traditionally been done.
So you can tell she's a very uncommon way, and a woman after my own heart. She's also a past client, so you've heard her on the podcast a couple of times before. And she's an amazing artist and illustrator. I'll link to all of her things in the episode notes, because you will want to check her out. And now, without further ado, let's bring her on.
Hi Gabby, welcome back to the podcast. Hey Jenna. Thanks so much. I'm excited to be here. So, usually I start asking a question of my guest right [00:03:00] away, but I think since I was the client in this situation, it would actually be helpful if we start with me talking about where I was at when I reached out to you.
Yeah. That sounds great. Okay. So, at the time, my site was about five years old, and all of my branding was about five years old. Things would fluctuate on social media with different teams that would come on, so I didn't really have. Um, any kind of cohesive look. I'm not really someone who gives a lot of attention to how things look.
I care much more about what's being said. And compliance of even complaint. You remember this as well, but all of my curriculum from the Clarity Accelerator is stored on a Google Drive. And so it's not visual, visuals have never been something that I was really, really prioritizing. And by the way, we are now uploading everything from the curriculum onto Squarespace.
So it's gonna look super cool. Yeah, that's gonna look great. Yeah, yeah. But what was going on with me was that I [00:04:00] realized, When I looked at that site and everything else that was coming out, it just no longer felt like a fit. Visually how it looked, what I was talking about on the site, even where I live, was no longer a fit because I've, I had gone through such a big reinvention.
And I was thinking about it and how necessary it was for me as somebody who helps people with reinvention and talks about reinvention all the time, to really Step into that in all the ways, including visual and just really lean into the fact that the beauty of reinvention is that it does translate into so many different areas, right?
You show up differently. You call in different people. Maybe you have new offers or new ways to help people see your offer. You've been through it yourself, right? And by the way, this is a good point for me to say for anyone who doesn't recognize your name, you and I do have an earlier [00:05:00] podcast episode.
together that we'll link in the show notes and that really talks more about your reinvention. So, I think we all know the feeling, right, of feeling reinvigorated and renewed, whether that is something where you've stepped out of a relationship or you've decided to move somewhere, maybe you've left a job, and you know that energy feels so good.
And it's, it's magnetic also, and you really want to ride that momentum, right? You get into this feeling of what else can I do, right? Where else can I go? And so I also want to mention here that I am so fired up about this now that we're getting this, these final stages of my latest reinvention. So I am going to be creating a special workshop for listeners.
And I'm going to help you all kickstart or really lean into this for yourself. Whatever stage you're at, the next thing is calling to [00:06:00] you. What is that or what are the final touches of that kind of need to click into place? I know that this is what sets you up for strong visuals and branding later. And I just, I haven't done anything like this in years, Gabby.
I haven't done any kind of webinars or workshops. And it's going to be fun because it's going to be me personally there in real time going through this. So y'all don't miss it. We've got details in the show notes and more info coming out on social media about it. And it's come in, be with us. We live this way, we think and relate to each other this way.
It's very much a community. So I love that is also represented through the kind of you step into this world and it feels different. Mm, right. It feels exciting. I feel excited about the branding. I'm excited to, yeah, show it around. Okay, well now let's actually [00:07:00] talk about the branding. So, I think it would be fun just to, I know that people, it's going to be fun for me to hear us, like, talk about what we came up with, but it'll be really great for people who are thinking about their own branding to just hear how you think, right?
And the kind of things you were thinking through and we were thinking through and how we arrived at some of these decisions. Let's pull that up and just start at the very beginning. I love how in my brand book, you start with That's a big question in life. Who am I? Right? Who we are. Yes. So for your branding, we really grounded into who we are and by we, I mean the women and the audience of The Uncommon Way.
And this really all came back from meeting that we had where we went over this long for branding docs. That I talked through where [00:08:00] all the different questions that I mentioned before about your audience for your strategy, where else to shop and your competitors. So from there, I really thought about, okay, what are these brand pillars of who we are as a collective?
And the three that we came up with while we were working through this was powerful, unencumbered, and authentic. So. Powerful was really about how the Uncommon Way is full of women who are really empowered in their journey, and they are committed to having this sort of uncommon lifestyle with their business and with their life overall, and really stepping into that and owning it.
And Unencumbered kind of plays off of that as well, where it's really about these women reclaiming their freedom. And they are really using the [00:09:00] mindfulness tool that you teach and the practice to regulate their nervous system. And also I'd add there that it's also about giving up the have tos. Like you're encumbered by all of those shoulds bes and have to bes and do it this ways and all of that.
Yeah. Which I know you teach so many women how to let go of that because. It's so ingrained in us, so yes, that is a huge part of being part of the uncommon way and similarly, or playing off of that as well, these kind of all play off of each other, but the idea of being authentic is very important to the uncommon way, but it's the true authenticity that is breaking through, should have, and really getting rid of those and thinking about, okay, who am I and what is my business?
If it's, Very authentic to who I am and the lifestyle I want. So these are the feelings that we want to embody. So because we're a powerful, we are [00:10:00] bold. So this was about really owning the colors and owning the imagery and the different elements of the visual guidelines to really step into being bold and being empowered.
And then with the, the feeling of being unencumbered, it's really about balance. So it's about creating this sense of serenity and ease that really just feels like, okay, my, my nervous system is regulated and I feel great and calm being here, even though it is also powerful, this balance. And then with the authenticity, it's really about that consistency.
So. A consistency really builds trust when, because it shows, okay, we know who we are, and it again brings a sense of ease and calm to the overall visual experience. So going back [00:11:00] to the bold part, I think we both knew going in that with a name like The Uncommon Way, we weren't going to be able to look like everyone else out there.
Yeah. So that was like the baseline under all of that. But as soon as you declare. Power and bold, you've got to show up that way. Yeah, for sure. And that was a big thing too, when we were talking and just how I think about branding in general, it was, okay, how, how are you different from other business coaches in this space?
And it really was about creating your own life. It's about having a successful business, but it also fitting in you a life that you really want that in. boldly unique. So we really wanted to express that. Yeah. So good. Okay. So the next section is about the logo. And I think that I love this story so much.
I don't know if it impacted you as much as it did me, but. I just felt like she gets it. [00:12:00] She gets it. And so what happened is I told Gabby, I really like my logo. I don't know that I want to change it because it says the uncommon way, but the N is backwards. And I just thought that was just so subtle and just, and really perfect.
And yet you gave it this makeover, which was so great because you took, it used to have the N was backwards and it was colored a different color than the rest of the logo. And do you remember you said to me? I feel like that's as if you're dumbing it down for your client and all of your people are so smart they're gonna catch that the N is backwards without you saying it.
Bright color. Do you remember that? I love that. I do remember that. Yeah, I remember that because I felt very strongly about it too. I love it. And now it just looks grown up. Yeah, exactly. I felt very strongly about it. People would notice it, and even if they didn't notice it on the first [00:13:00] look, that didn't matter.
That can be a little bit of a visual thing that they realize later, and it can be exciting for them. One of the, one of the cool elements, just the way letters sometimes work, is the fact that they are so legible when you flip them, or there's something scientific where if you keep the U, or if you were to keep the U and an N at the end of your word, and then Jumble up all the letters in between, it would still be readable.
I like the idea of playing with something that's a bit more subtle because you do have a smart audience. Right. Right. Yes. Yes. That was, I, I loved it. It was just like, of course, but you did gloss up the letters a bit, the font. It does look very different, but I just, I love it. I love it so much more. Okay.
So let's go into colors. Yeah. So colors we have. a pretty robust palette, um, of [00:14:00] primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. And with the primary colors, we really were leaning into more neutral colors. And this was to create a lot of airiness and sort of space in the palette. And we have some really strong moments, especially with some of your coming up with some really strong black.
And I love how your brand owns that, and it feels very powerful and bold, but also feeling very elegant and elevated, which feels very, with you and all the women that I've met, they're part of the uncommon way. And then in this secondary palette, we were really thinking about Mediterranean color pop based off of your kind of happy place and where you're moving.
I don't think you've moved yet, right? But where you are moving. We're about a month out. Exciting. And yeah, [00:15:00] so those colors really resonate with kind of who you are personally, but I think also work really well with the brand, especially when we talk about the for additional people from the kind of part for your brand.
There's a yellow in there that we're calling clarity yellow, that really. Is being used boldly in spaces where we're talking about clarity and the idea there is this fun yellow and the idea is that when you do have that clarity, it feels like the light is on and everything's shining brightly because you really understand.
What you have to offer and you're really able to brightly fill that. Yeah. And understand how that permeates all the different areas of your business, how the other pieces stack up based on who you are and what you're really doing. Yeah. And I also noticed, which I don't know if I've told you this, maybe I did recently, but I only recently found out that one of the blues you chose was called Mallorca blue.
It just [00:16:00] so. Oh, yes it is. I know I found it. I loved that. Well done. Well done. Yeah. Yeah. I have a weird amount of fun in animation color, but they feel very in line with the branding. Um, good. Okay. Let's talk the color ratio because I loved that. Yes. So in the branding doc, we outlined primary, secondary, and tertiary, and then I wanted to show you and then anyone using your branding doc, what are.
The actual ratio that we're creating is because I've noticed that when people just have a blanket palette where they just have all these colors, then they get used very differently and it gets very confusing because again, there are so many ways to take these elements and use them and I could take the colors and the type from the stock and use them.
I could create like 20 brands, [00:17:00] but they can be used so differently. So, with this, we're really showcasing, okay, the primaries here really are these nice, elegant neutral, and there's three sort of primary colors that could be used predominantly throughout. And then the secondaries are even less than half of how much we should be using the primaries, and then the tertiaries are less than that.
So. It's tough to describe when it's a visual thing, but it's important to have that ratio balance with it. Okay, really these bold colors that are super bright and fun should only be used very sparingly for potentially. Big moments of emphasis, and it really should be about this calm neutral. Yeah, I think I could take a screenshot of that and put that on social, so people know what I'm talking about.
Yeah, that'll be good. Yeah, perfect. That would be awesome. And then I love that [00:18:00] you gave the team so many different examples, not just of do's, but of don'ts. Mm hmm. I think that is so helpful. It would be for me if I were trying to create off of this. To see, yes, what to do, but what not to do as well. Yes.
Yeah. So that was important for, yeah, again, just showing visual references for the ratio. One thing I also think a lot about is accessibility. So one of the components of digital accessibility is color contrast, which is something you can test with different tools online, but that was an important element of me showing it.
What is doable and what's not doable, because I wanted to make sure that color combinations, especially with typography, that are not accessible were on the do not use list. Oh, thank you for that. I love that. Um, and then we, of course, chose fonts that are not seen everywhere, right? That are [00:19:00] really fun, great fonts.
And then, and then we also incorporated illustration into the brand. Yeah. And I just want to say that is so important because. As I am all about really seeing what each individual person has to offer. And so when I work with a service provider, I want all the best of them. And part of what you do that's so different than what any other branding person does is that you are an artist also and an animation illustrator.
And so you are obviously a woman owned business. You have all of these, you have a very. Uncommon brand yourself and an amazing offer that's able to incorporate all these different pieces of you. And so there was no way in hell I was leaving out an illustrative piece in the brand because that's just, I would have left so much availability out of it.
I hadn't explored that. Yeah. My, I actually studied [00:20:00] illustration in school and then started working in design after. So I do have a lot of. I have experience in both brand design and art and illustration, so I'm always excited when people want that to be part of their, their kit. And I would always recommend it.
Of course. And you personally, like if people go to your website, they'll see that you have a, an e commerce site as well and you sell prints and shirts and all sorts of things, but they'll notice that your look is really this, as you've described it, like maximalist, full of moves. Yes. And I wanted, of course, but that wasn't fully my brand, right, but I wanted to take some of that.
So we decided to go with kind of native plants from the Mediterranean where I'll be living. Yeah. Get that organic, outdoorsy feel into the brand and really bring your zone of genius into the brand, but in this way. Yeah, and I [00:21:00] think it fits really well with the idea that you create of having this business to also, again, having this life that you really want and the way you're embodying your own life and your own.
And yeah, with your illustrations in particular, or well, any illustrations, really one of the great benefits of having a toolkit of illustration that they are really helpful way to do explain. More abstract concept in a really visually engaging way and in a way that photography does not always do. So I think illustrations can work really well on their own or be paired really nicely in a toolkit with photography help lane.
Like for instance, for the uncommon way, we really leaned into plant illustrations for a stand in for your own business. And for the growth of your own business and the evolution of your own [00:22:00] business and by your own business, I mean, your client's business is right. And then we have the sun. Yeah, exactly.
Yep. I was just about to say that. Yeah. So we have this cool linear, really detailed sun that is for clarity. It has a tree concentric circle vibes almost, but to me, kind of wisdom as well as clarity. It feels really ownable and textural and fun too, so. All sorts of things to look out for whenever you see illustrations in the brand, you'll know it's Gabby, which is so great.
Okay, so let's talk about the photography overview because I think people are really going to get a lot of hearing you talk about how you thought through this and how. We're not just putting photos of anything and everything that happened to match our brand colors, for instance. So talk about that, how you thought about that and narrowed that down.
So one of the interesting things and working on [00:23:00] your brand is you came to me with headshots done already, but had the big bucket of imagery to think about in advance. Whereas a lot of times The brand doesn't really have anything or it doesn't, maybe they have stuff, but I wouldn't recommend it. So I'm creating photo art direction from ground zero and really just giving them direction.
But you had a great bucket of images, though. I really went through them and defined, okay, what is usable based off of our brand pillars and what you should avoid, because there was a big range of your pose, how you're interacting with the camera. All sorts of different options. So I put them in three different buckets.
So I had a business headshot lifestyle behind the scenes. So these are photos you already had. And then I created a third bucket called aspirational [00:24:00] indoor and outdoor spaces. And this is where you could introduce potentially custom photography or there are great options for stock photography as well out there, but I do think it's important if you're using stock photography to create.
Really strict guidelines around, okay, how, how are we using this and what is the brand ethos behind it, so that it doesn't feel like stock photography, because stock photography can, if you're not intentional about it, feel really stocky at times. Yeah, and you're really big on cropping in cool ways too, I've noticed.
The crop really makes a huge difference than how the photo comes across since with the business headshot, cropping was very important in that because a lot of your photos, if you left them uncropped for very zoomed out, you couldn't really see you as much. And when I was thinking about your brand and the confidence that you, you laid back, confident you [00:25:00] exude having closer crops and having that.
One to one interaction feels very important where someone can go on your site and they can really feel like they see you. It's not like this far off photo where you're just walking and staring off in the distance. Yeah. It feels like you're interacting with you when you look. And I think that's really important to just put a pin in and then switch back to my point of view with all of that, because what was going on with my site before?
Is that, and I noticed this in hindsight, I was not looking at the camera. It was like me journaling in a book, me staring out into space. And so there was, it was very perfect at the time, but very introspective. There was a very introspective air to it. And I did intentionally want to call to deep thinkers at the time when I was putting that out there.
Bye. But what I sacrifice then is what you're [00:26:00] talking about now, none of the direct eye contact, none of the power. So my friend, if you're excited by this talk of stepping into new next levels and next versions of yourself, you've got to join me for the first live event that I've held in years. Come on, it's gonna be so fun!
And I can't wait to talk to you face to face. It's a workshop, we're calling it the Reinvention Experience, where we're kick starting your reinvention together. What will you walk away with? Awareness, clarity, activation, and the opening of a portal. You're going to be like, holy shit, is this what's next for me?
Now do not come if you want to stay where you are, because you will be changed. When a group of women come together with this kind of intention, doing this kind of work, The energy is really high, always transferable, so you will be infected. I know you've heard lots of [00:27:00] theory and stories about other people's reinvention on this podcast, but it's different when you're doing it in real time with me there.
No wondering if you've gone as far as you could because you're sewing your head and it's really hard to step outside of it. And definitely no putting off the real work for another day because your brain is conveniently keeping you too busy to get to it. This is the moment where you decide to heed the call and explore what's ready to awaken within you.
I mean, it's probably already awakened, which is why you're here. So let's say what's ready to emerge. So let's go. Head to theuncommonway. com forward slash reinvention dash experience and sign up now for more details. That link is in the show notes. See you there. And so, I also want to talk about how that was really vulnerable for me to change in [00:28:00] that way because, as you all know, the vast majority of my business comes through Google.
And so, anything that I'm changing, I think a lot of people can change up their website and it's, people only really come to their website after they've known them for a while on social media, for instance. Or out in the wild, networking events. And then they go to their website and it's a, just a tertiary thing they're doing.
But for me, it's the first introduction to people. And I know that site works. I know that site works really well. And so to think of. Changing it is challenging, and also, people will come and they will specifically say, Jenna, versus all the other coaches on that first page of Google, yours felt really authentic.
You felt like a real person, and it wasn't all glossy. It's funny, I was just at my mastermind retreat with my coach, and I was like, yeah, but shit's about to get really glossy. [00:29:00] Well, for those who really loved that, there is gonna, there is a little bit of saying goodbye to that former version and really stepping into this new version, which again, is so important for all of us to step into what's most authentic and real.
And I do think the reinvention has to be done before you try and do the aspirational photography, or it won't really land. Yeah, agreed. People can, if you're trying to fake it or the brand doesn't match up with the work. The other thing is that I've always had an underlying fear of the too, I call it the too braggy fear.
It's too braggy, right? I'm showing off too much, I'm trying to claim the spotlight too much, which we all know is conditioned in us as women, but I felt it particularly strong. And so. I actually have a podcast on that. When, about the time when I was doing the photography, which was actually last [00:30:00] summer.
But I'll link to that as well for anyone that's interested in exploring those themes a little more because it's a thing to go out and whatever, be glammed up and be in what, so I think my social media team has an image of me in a bathing suit coming out. That's just. It's a departure from the woman who's quietly writing in her journal, all alone in her home.
An exciting departure, I think. Yeah. And so relatable. Like you mentioned, I think women are conditioned to try to be, or that they should show up quietly. And that's something that I feel like I transitioned a lot in working with you, was being able to. Show up confidently and not worrying about being too braggy.
So it's so funny that we all have to work through that. Yes. And that I am always working through it at new levels. Yeah. Very relatable. And I do think when you're thinking about [00:31:00] authenticity and glossiness, there are definitely ways to still be authentic while having. A leveled up consistent brand, and I think one of the ways that we did this with your business headshot, for instance, is the selections that I made were all feel very authentic.
It feels like you're in motion, and you're really engaging with the camera, which in this instance is like the viewer, so it's not really a camera, it's another person. So there, it feels like there's conversation being had between the photo and whoever's interacting with it. I remember you looked at the posed photos and were like, Nope, not this one.
Not, you know, my hand on my shoulder or anything. Yeah. If anything was too stiff, I'd put in the don't use section. And then similar with your, what I'm calling lifestyle photography. So those were. The ones where you're like in a swimsuit or you're with your [00:32:00] family. So that's really about creating spaces to tell your own story, which I think is important in relating to your audience and giving the full picture of what you provide.
And in that, in those guidelines, we really focused on cropping that feels like someone through getting a glimpse into this intimate kind of space or this intimate moment with you. And again, not using pictures that look too posed because I think that's where you can lose the authenticity. Speaking of things that don't look too posed, I think you brought that into the outdoor spaces as well.
Yeah. So with the aspirational spaces, which we, um, did some selections for stock photography, but again, it, it can be custom photography as well. We were really thinking about things that don't look too. Too styled, like maybe there's a notebook or something on a table that shouldn't be there. [00:33:00] But also you don't want it to look messy.
Like it has to really feel easy and elevated, like the brand ethos, like those brand pillars that we want to evoke. So we really were finding this happy medium. Spaces that you want to be in that feel relaxed, so they don't feel stuffy. We didn't want anything that looks super corporate. Super sort of traditional business me.
It's really about creating this idea of the uncommon way of uncommon businesses and hoping the women that are part of the group envision. This is where I want to be, this is where I want to be living my life, this is where I want to be running my business. Yeah, like you could be in a, a nice loungy space, but running your business from there.
Yeah. Or what would your Airbnb look like as you're traveling, right? Yeah. Running your business. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And even some of the outdoor spaces, there were more rugged looks to the [00:34:00] mountains or the ocean. It wasn't necessarily all Caribbean beaches and hammocks. Yeah. Nothing was too grim and staged and we also, we'd mentioned the crops of the headshots, but that also was in the video cropping in on the video.
And I thought that was so interesting that one of the things, one of the reasons for that, of course, what you've just mentioned and really getting in close, but also. Because then the background changes less, and you can more easily put a type, right, in captions over that in, like on social media. Yeah, so one of the things I think about when creating the guidelines is, Ease of use for your team.
When I'm talking to potential clients, I'm always asking who's going to be using this. Do you have designers on your team that are familiar for design lingo and how to use these guidelines or are they [00:35:00] design novices when delivering these? I also am able to flex or when delivering these, but also thinking about it strategically.
I want to make it as easy as possible for whoever is using it to use it. Yeah, so nice. And then I'm just looking over at all the examples you gave of what a story would look like with this kind of photography or with this kind of video. And how we also had video of just from my point of view, if I'm holding a camera, as if I'm walking along, so you all get to see exactly what is going on in the life.
Yeah, so for video. It's such an important aspect of telling a story, especially on social media and people use video so much now. I wanted to create just really easy guidelines for you to use so that you don't have to rely on hiring photographers all the time to tell your story and make it just really easy for you to [00:36:00] take content without having to think about it too much.
So good. So good. Yes, yes, yes. Oh my gosh. And. We, I don't want to go into it now, but I was, I just do want to let you know how blown away I was when I also saw slide presentation examples and journal examples of journals I could have printed for my guests at retreats and my clients and all the different applications you created, like obviously website and the social media headers and there were just, it was just, this guide was just jam packed with so many things.
I hadn't even thought would be in there. I'm still so grateful. It was so great to see it all come together. Yeah, and it's really fun to work on. I like to create all the examples too. It helps showcase how amazing everything can be. Yeah, and we haven't mentioned yet, but just really quickly to let people know, we also created sub brands.[00:37:00] 
So can you just really quickly talk about that? So when you talked to me about that, it was really about Okay, I have these different offerings and I want to make sure they feel somewhat unique and special and differentiated within the parent brand. Still be part of it. Yeah. Exactly. Still be part of it.
We don't want to reinvent the wheels. We don't want to introduce new typography or new, new elements. We just want visual guidelines for how these can feel unique and honorable in, in their own ways. With that, it was really about taking the elements that I created for the parent brand and differentiating how the colors played out through the sub brands.
I don't know if you want me to, yeah, the clarity accelerator is light and bright. Yeah. And really represents that feeling of pieces clicking into place and getting everything lined up [00:38:00] and just being ready to go. Right. And then power and potency is. A darker, right, there's more of that power, that undercurrent of power behind it, and it's extremely elegant and elegant.
So that's really about that up level group of women, yeah, that will be a part of that. Yes. Yes. That cohort. So good. Oh my gosh, it's been so good, Gabby. Okay. Okay, so, I just want to ask if there's any last Tips, final tips for listeners who right now maybe aren't hiring anybody, but they just want some tweaks to help them.
Yeah, that is a great question. So if you're not in a place to hire anybody, what I would recommend is just doing your own assessment of your brand. I would look at all the touch points that are out in the world, whether it's your website, [00:39:00] Instagram, TikTok, whatever socials you have, your email, anything that you're presenting to the world.
I would just maybe even print them out and put them all on a wall next to each other and just see where there are inconsistencies. I think the first thing that I would recommend doing is just making sure that everything is consistent. Look at how you're using type, how you're using the colors, and then just try to refine and simplify.
If you're not an expert in this, then simplify as much as possible. Well, and just make it as consistent as possible. I think that that is really good place to start. So good. So then after you have done this assessment of your brand and figured out, okay, where do I need that consistency? Then there are strategic things that you can do.
You can make a big list of who your competitors are, who else is in this space. And look at them visually. Again, you can print out their [00:40:00] section, physically look at it all on a wall or screen and see, okay, how do I compare it to these people? Am I too similar? For instance, it's not great to be too similar because then you're competing with these other businesses and you're not really showing what differentiates you.
Do you look like you're in a completely different space? For instance, that can be. A problem for your brand as well. Do you look like you're an athletic wear brand when really you're a lifestyle coach, like that could potentially be a problem. I don't know. I can't say for sure, but there is a way to look at the landscape and see how you fit in and figure out, okay, how am I differentiated in this space, but how do I fit into it as well, and just make sure you're not copying people too.
You have to really look within and find your clarity to make sure that you are being authentic to you, your offering and what you bring to the table or [00:41:00] being what other people do and willy nilly doing it as well. So good. Amen to that. Gabby, it's been so great having you on. You've dropped so much value and really helped me give the behind the scenes for everyone.
So we are definitely linking to you. your site in the show notes because I know a lot of people will be really excited to look at what you have and Talk to you and of course consider you for their branding as well. Thank you so much for coming on. Thanks for having me I love to talk about branding, so it was fun.
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 [00:42:00] time.
  

Jenna Harrison 6/11/24 Jenna Harrison 6/11/24

Ep# 100: 100 Episodes: How I Went From Laying Low To Playing Big (BTS of Personal and Business Changes Over 2 Years)

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you completely reinvented your business and personal life, aligning them with your deepest values and aspirations?

In this special 100th episode, our host pulls back the curtain to share the transformative journey that both she and her business have undergone during the time of this podcast.

If you're looking to overcome the fear of being disliked, take bold actions before seeing results, and build your capacity for change without burning out, this episode is for you.

Episode Summary

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you completely reinvented your business and personal life, aligning them with your deepest values and aspiratios?

In this special 100th episode, our host pulls back the curtain to share the transformative journey that both she and her business have undergone during the time of this podcast.

If you're looking to overcome the fear of being disliked, take bold actions before seeing results, and build your capacity for change without burning out, this episode is for you.

In this episode, you will:

Learn how to prioritize authenticity and alignment over the fear of being disliked.
Discover effective strategies for taking methodical risks and bold actions before seeing results.
Understand how regulating your nervous system can vastly increase your capacity and resilience during times of change.

Ready to accelerate your journey and reinvent your business and life?

Listen to this episode now and start creating the uncommonly successful life you deserve.

To kickstart your own reinvention in real time with Jenna, join the free upcoming Reinvention Experience workshop at https://www.theuncommonway.com/reinvention-experience

Episodes Mentioned

6: How Entrepreneurship Made Me Woo & Expanded My Mindset

42. Time and Money: When to Dial It Back As Women Entrepreneurs

99. Unmissable Lessons Learned From 100 Episodes for Podcast Success and Growth for Women Entrepreneurs

Episode Transcription

  
    [00:00:00] Today, I'm getting down and dirty on what has been going on behind the scenes at The Uncommon Way and with me personally over the last 100 episodes and what I've learned, so you can accelerate your own journey in both of those areas.
You're listening to the Uncommon Way business and life coaching podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves. So you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging and strategy and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating.
Here's your host. Top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned Queen of Clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Hey, welcome back to The [00:01:00] Uncommon Way. Welcome, welcome. Phew! 100 episodes. 100 weekly episodes. I'm really proud of that accomplishment, and really, really grateful that you're here to celebrate with me. So, thank you so much. so much. I've learned a lot over these last two years, and last week I shared my top lessons learned about the how to's of podcasting.
But today, I thought I'd pull back the curtain a little and share how much my business and I have changed, up close and personal. In this episode, you will learn how to go from prioritizing not wanting to be disliked To wanting to be authentic and aligned and true. And how to move methodically and boldly and take risks before the results show up in your life.
Plus the shifts that can help you lean back more and [00:02:00] hustle less, while at the same time vastly increasing capacity during times of change and preparation in business. It has been a full on reinvention and business revamp over here, and I think it's important for you to see that I believe in what I say, and so I'm always actively engaged in this myself.
Nobody's done with evolution, ever. And I also know that we humans learn really well through stories. It creates these lightbulb moments that help you jump ahead and skip so many steps. Plus, of course, it gives you that reassurance that you're not the only one and the expectation management so you can prepare yourself more and beat yourself up less.
So I want to be real about all of it. But this is just one episode and these things I've just talked about are the why behind why it's [00:03:00] so important to be in a strong community where women are open with each other. But also, the expectations of what can be achieved are really high. So if you're not in a group like that, you are costing yourself, costing yourself time and angst and energy recreating the wheel.
So if there's one big takeaway from this episode that I would share with you, it's to find that place for yourself. All right, quick update before we get started. Is something sounding different to you? I can't wait to go back and listen to this episode and see if it sounds different. But, typically when I record, I am surrounded by a huge walk in closet with clothes that, frankly, I've had since junior high or high school.
I mean, not all of them, obviously. But I'm kind of a hoarder with certain types of things that I find special, right? That I really enjoyed from certain times, that I find is made really well, or looks really unique. [00:04:00] And so, I've accumulated some clothes. And now I'm sitting in a bear closet. So we may be getting some echo, we'll see.
But the movers came a couple days ago to take our things to Spain. It's actually happening, they're on the way. Of course they won't arrive there for a few months because they're going on the slow boat and we'll get there before they do. But this feels like the real launch. But also, there's nothing like the cost of moving things across the ocean.
Combined with your own reinvention, where you know, like, even a style reinvention, you know what you're stepping into and just how you are, to make it really easy, actually, to part with a lot of the old things that have just been taking up space. So if this episode sounds a little tinny, I'm kind of proud of that.
It's a big milestone for [00:05:00] me. Okay, if I were going to look back on that time and kind of summarize it in terms of a book title, if we were creating a movie or writing a book title, what would I say about me then? And the way I'd sum it up is daring to live my uncommon way in my living room. And I'm going to give you about five or so examples of how that showed up in the business and five examples of what was going on with me personally.
Okay. The main point here, and this is true with any reinvention, is that it was all working. It's a winning strategy, and that's why it's so hard to see these patterns that are not serving you to get to the next level. And once you do see them, it's so hard to change them because, like I said, they're working for you really well.
But when you can rethink those, and when you can choose intentionally who you want to be rather [00:06:00] than how you've been conditioned to be, or We are in the habit of being. Really amazing possibilities open up for you. And I knew that what I wanted to move into was woman going big in all ways, but to get from A to B, I really had to shed some old beliefs and I had to build my brain, build my mind around new ones so that I could start to embody it and now just be the person who I kind of take for granted right now.
So here were some things going on on the business side. I was selling clarity and nothing but clarity. And that was attracting mostly new entrepreneurs or pre entrepreneurs, and even though I could see that clarity was so essential for all levels of business, that wasn't the primary thing that other entrepreneurs were looking for at this point in their journey.
Now, in January of that year, I had launched the kind of culmination of all of the [00:07:00] years that I'd been coaching, everything that I had learned with one to one clients. And I had put it into a group format, a mastermind that I was in love with called the Clarity Accelerator. And it was selling like hotcakes.
That is the power of a strong offer that you love that's really unique in the industry. And so every month I had been setting a goal, and every month I had been hitting that goal for six months straight. Anyway, this is July of 2022. I probably should have mentioned that, but that's when the podcast launched.
Now what was unique about this, if, if you've been around here for a while, you know this, but in terms of my uncommon way, I wasn't doing business the way other people were doing business. I wasn't buying into any of the have to's about being on social media or doing tons of networking. At that point, I was on Google, but I was doing most of my [00:08:00] work energetically, which means.
And if you're just tuning in, this may seem pretty crazy to listen to, but I have a whole episode on it called How Entrepreneurship Made Me Woo. And so I was actually attracting people through my website and the quantity and the quality of people, the type of people, would change over time based on what I was believing about myself and believing about the business and believing about what was possible.
I know, it sounds crazy. And I was seeing my clients get new results as they were really zoning in on their clarity, believing in what they had to offer, zoning in on exactly who their people were. I was seeing how it was transforming their business, but I really thought that the only way to help them accomplish that was through the one to one time with me.
So even though it was a mastermind program, I was spending a lot of one to one time with my clients. And frankly, it was a lot. It was all me at that point in time in [00:09:00] my business. I had a VA in India who was able to help me with a few things. But most of my time in the business was filled with my direct input.
And there was no way for me to step away from the business. Things would just come to a halt if I wasn't there keeping it all going. Which is a natural stage, but by then I think I'd been in business for five or six years. So again, it was serving me well because I had a lot of belief in the results that I could help clients get, in the clarity I could help them achieve, and that was coming through in my selling, but it wasn't going to get me where I needed to go and wanted to go, which is helping more than 10 or 20 people.
And more specifically for what I love is having the space to create really great concepts and teachings to help people absorb faster and create results in better [00:10:00] ways. So that's what I mean about living my own uncommon way in my living room because no one was really there to see it happening. No one was.
Hearing about me. I was very much a best kept secret. I was not on social media. I did not have a podcast. I wasn't out and about in the world. It was more like, if you happen to be on Google, looking in this specific way for a business coach for women, then you would potentially stumble upon my page. I remember I went to a large conference of coaches.
Things had just opened up after COVID and I was thinking, I am going to take this place by storm. And yet when I was there, it was the strangest energy because have you had those experiences where it feels like everything you're saying to people is just passing in one ear out the other and you're not really seen?
I remember I won an award and then later people were like, [00:11:00] Oh, were you up there? It's just one of those situations and I thought, okay, what's going on here? What is this here to teach me? And what I came up with was, of course, they don't know you because you haven't made yourself known. I believe the universe was just showing me in that moment exactly how I was creating that situation, not just in that conference, but globally.
But again, in terms of how this is serving you at one point, but not at another. Even though I could say, oh, my schedule was pretty full and I was putting so much into my clients, I liked it. I liked having that control. I liked not worrying about a client not getting the results without me. I liked being able to course correct right away, rather than having to put my brain to how I could describe it better, for instance, for a large group of people.
But it was only through doing the work of comparing [00:12:00] how this version of me was thinking versus how that version of me would be thinking, that I was able to even see these discrepancies and see that future me just wouldn't think in that way. Not that she'd become a bad person or didn't care about people anymore, none of that.
I would never intentionally create that version of myself, no. I knew I still had to be a person who cared deeply. I just had to be a person who was working wiser, not harder. I knew that I'd be a person who deeply believed that my clients were creating fantastic results and really, what they needed was a beautifully laid out process so that they could really understand the uncommon way and apply it for themselves.
And I knew that if she were going to be leading a larger community, she would have to believe in the power of community. And understand that not all of the wisdom comes necessarily from her, it comes from more brains, the [00:13:00] brain trust applying these principles and iterating and developing more group wisdom.
But of course, then when you start thinking about changing things and putting yourself out there, the objections come up. So for me, at that time, I really had a fear of misleading people. I was afraid that I would say something wrong on the podcast and that would somehow lead people astray because once again, I wouldn't be talking to you one to one individually so that if you started, you know, you misapplied the work or the misunderstood me in some way, I couldn't be like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
And what that really boiled down to when I unpacked it was that age old fear. of not being light and wanting to be liked. So, of course, if I led someone astray, I wouldn't be liked. If I shared exactly what I was learning myself about Wu concepts, then [00:14:00] all of my very logical left brained college intellectual classmates would mock me, of course.
None of them are spiritual. No, no, no. I was worried about the way I talked sounding too braggy about accomplishments. That's a big one of mine. And that really goes back to my elementary school days. If you've listened to that podcast with me being really tall, standing out, also being wealthy relatively to the other military kids and really acing it in all of my classes.
And so I really did double time. I would shrink my body literally to try and, and fit in and not be better than anybody else. And really just be one of the gang. She's just one of the girls. Another thing I did was I was serious and introspective and heartfelt. That proved, right, that I'm not braggy.
Because if I let my other side show, which is [00:15:00] the side of me that loves pretty clothes and loves to vacation in nice hotels and do other things, then that would all, that would corrupt everything. And I'd be shunned. I remember once writing an email and I mentioned something about, after years, finding this pair of boots that I'd been looking for, this style of boots that I'd been looking for years, and somebody unsubscribed.
Now I promise I am not always in my email system, like, obsessing over unsubscribes. And of course I don't want people to stick around if it's no longer their thing. But, I happened to see that one. And I was just, I right away felt that ping that she unsubscribed because I talked about the boots. And I really didn't know after hiding away for so long, if I'd be able to create the consistency and to show up week after week with, you know, full length podcast [00:16:00] content.
But I'd say I was apprehensive, but very determined because there was this other thing going on for me. I call it the whip. And the whip was just this imagery of somebody standing behind me, whipping me to keep going, keep going. And I described it once as a panic. And it was this feeling that all the balls were going to drop and terrible things were going to happen if I just couldn't do more.
And that feeling of panic, I would try and alleviate that through doing more. And when I really started doing the work on this, I looked around and I noticed that the other people in the group had a lot more on their plates. Not trying to shame myself, but just if I looked at it, they were doing social media, they were doing other things in their business.
Maybe they had even more clients than I did, maybe they had more children than I did. And when I stopped and looked at my business, which was really so simple, [00:17:00] uh, Oh, and I didn't have team members, right? And so, it really was simple. And yet, I was spending a lot of time. A lot of time. Now, I now know, having been diagnosed with ADHD, that a lot of this is the way my brain processes and that it is slow to create, to kind of sequence things out and, and create a cohesive argument or piece of argument.
But at the time, all I knew was that the whip, this whip was very real, and it was actually present inside of me, so I could never get away with it, and I did not want to live my life that way. I did not want to continue like that, and I would justify it like, oh, it's just because of this going on right now, or it's just because of that going on, and yet there was always something going on.
And I wouldn't really catch myself in these periods of panic for days sometimes. [00:18:00] And then finally, I would wake up and say, Oh, you need a good night's sleep, right? You need to just take a break and get away from it. And then of course, when I did, that's when I could really just be on a walk and come up with some great thing and come home and write it all down, and it would just come out perfectly.
Or that's when I could see the solution to that problem that I needed. No training about the nervous system or that, that level of training about the brain to understand what's going on. And I certainly wasn't catching myself in it as it was happening really. And on a personal note, I still felt dependent on my husband financially.
Now, that was my thoughts more than anything else because I had a solid six figure business by this point. But for many of us that are in that six figure range and or have very quickly accelerated growth, it's really natural to be in the space of, is this a fluke? Is this [00:19:00] gonna go away? Can I count on this?
And the truth is a lot of us spend our entire lives in that place really devoid of trust. and constantly spinning and often overworking in order to try and fill that hole within us, which is that deep uncertainty. Oh, I'm painting a bleak picture here. And I think what is also really important to point out is that this is not like some story where I was hit rock bottom, and now I'm at the top of the mountain.
Because the truth is, girl, if you knew how far I had come by that point from where I used to be, you would see me here as like this, I don't know. I'm not coming up with analogies, so I'm not going to try right now. What I'm saying to you is that this point that I'm describing, it still had a lot of legacy issues from my past, but I really had come so far in terms of Choosing to [00:20:00] design the business that I wanted, really being true to my secret sauce and what I wanted to bring to the world, and knowing my clients very well, choosing them specifically who they were going to be, creating a business where I wasn't required to jump through hoops.
I could just create really powerful messaging, effective messaging, and talk to people and they would sign up from this one page because my solution was so directly addressing what they needed help with. And I really didn't have to work that much. It wasn't that the business required it. It was that I couldn't get it out of me.
I didn't know how. I also want to say that now, as I shift into where I see myself now in relation to that, I am not there, quote unquote, by any shape or form. I've definitely come further. But evolution is ongoing, and I probably won't be able to fully articulate [00:21:00] how much evolution is ahead of me still until we're a year or two out, and then I'm looking back, maybe we're on episode 200, and I'm looking back on episode 100.
So, July of 2022. That is me beginning with the podcast, and as I talked about in the last episode, true to form with my overdoing things, I'm creating these podcast episodes that are then requiring a lot of input for me. Now, it's funny because when I had a coach at that time who was really a big proponent of me starting this podcast, and she had said to me, How long does it take you, typically, each week to create your newsletter that you send out to your list?
And I told her it's about four hours. And she said, Honey, you could be putting those four hours into a podcast, and you could then repurpose it in so many different ways. That would be so much more. Bang for [00:22:00] your buck in terms of your time, but I was spending even more than four hours on the podcast. And then, of course, I was coordinating with a podcast team and there were just other variables that I hadn't expected.
Then I brought on, very soon after I launched the podcast, a social media team. To help me repurpose the podcast, so right away my business got more complicated and I really needed to get a handle on these patterns that I knew were not going to serve me. And as I do, I didn't try and tackle one thing at a time.
I really went all in. Whenever I see, whenever I finally gain that beautiful clarity and awareness, then I am all in to make the moves. And when it comes to mindset, making the moves is really unwinding this patterning. So like I said, I joined that group of people that were just specifically trying to detox these tendencies in themselves.[00:23:00] 
And in there, I learned that a lot of people were finding EMDR very effective, and so I started doing EMDR. I still am to this day. I love it. I dove in to every podcast. I started doing a lot of healing work, unpacking, a lot of constant vigilance of my mind, getting curious, seeing what was really driving me, starting to see how a lot of this was inherited A conditioned, wasn't really me, wasn't my higher self driving me to perform better, better.
My higher self already believed I was good. I was gold. It was very much the conditioned part of my brain that was in a fear state. Like I mentioned earlier, I knew that my ways of thinking about the business had to transform, and also the business had to transform. But I knew that it started with me. So, my friend, if you're excited by this talk of stepping into new next levels and next versions of yourself, [00:24:00] you have got to join me for the first live event that I've held in years.
Come on, it's gonna be so fun and I can't wait to talk to you face to face. It's a workshop, we're calling it the Reinvention Experience, where we're kick starting your reinvention together. What will you walk away with? Awareness. Clarity. activation and the opening of a portal, you're going to be like, holy shit, is this what's next for me?
Now do not come if you want to stay where you are, because you will be changed. When a group of women come together with this kind of intention, doing this kind of work, the energy is really high. Always transferable, so you will be infected. I know you've heard lots of theory and stories about other people's reinvention on this podcast, but it's different when you're doing it in real time with me there.
No wondering if you've gone as far as you could because you're so in your head [00:25:00] and it's really hard to step outside of it. And definitely no putting off the real work for another day, because your brain is conveniently keeping you too busy to get to it. This is the moment where you decide to heed the call and explore what's ready to awaken within you.
I mean, it's probably already awakened, which is why you're here. So let's say what's ready to emerge. So let's go. Head to TheUncommonWay. com forward slash reinvention dash experience. And sign up now for more details. That link is in the show notes. See you there. My 50th birthday was approaching. That was another thing I used to hide was my age.
Again, thinking about people not liking me or thinking less of me. That was something else that was really healing for me to just own. But that milestone, it had me thinking a lot and evaluating. Who [00:26:00] I wanted to be next, and how I wanted to show up, what it would be like to not always be the messy, bun mom running around, but to actually come into a bit more elegance and glamour more frequently throughout the week.
I got lots of coaching on these topics. I started taking bold action, so my sixth podcast episode was the one I mentioned about how entrepreneurship made me woo. It is not something that I wanted to create. And yet, I knew that I had to. Because until then, I had shared some of these concepts with clients, behind closed doors.
I'd started tentatively putting it out to my email list. But again, those are all people that have come into my world. And somehow, a podcast, a digital asset that would live forever, just felt like a permanent record. And it was a stretch for me. [00:27:00] To stand up and declare it, but I knew that I couldn't keep talking about living your uncommon way if I was hiding out about so many things.
I just started playing with the idea, what would it be like to believe that I could be fully myself, and that people would be really accepting of that, and that even if they weren't, I totally had my back. And I could like me, even if they didn't like me. What would it be like to prioritize being aligned and true, rather than prioritizing not being disliked?
And that gave me the opportunity, each time it felt like a stretch or a struggle, to just know this was another opportunity for me to prioritize being aligned and true, and didn't I love the woman I was creating? And also, didn't she love me for having done those things? I [00:28:00] hired a coach who was very up and out, just so that I could absorb her thoughts, even the ones that she isn't teaching, but she's just saying offhandedly.
I think those are so often the most valuable. To just be around someone and see the decisions they make, how they think, how they talk, and to pick up so much perspective in that way. And then over time, I saw how As I was doing this more and more for myself, I could look around at my peers and see how much they needed my coaching.
In this area, of course, but also with this overall business alignment and clarity. It didn't matter if they were making more than me or less than me. If they wanted to feel this kind of alignment and certainty and calm and confidence in what they were doing, they needed this. And that really opened my eyes to how much bigger the world was that I could help [00:29:00] rather than the subset that I had been helping.
Now I think it's great to niche when you're starting out, but I have another podcast episode where it's like how you know you've outgrown your business. And this was really me, like, bumping up against the edges of that version of me. Like, realizing that I needed to take up more space. And I saw that so many of their patterns were the things that I had been working through.
But they just seemed to think it was the way things have to be. And so I dove in studying everything I could about the brain. I just recently was doing a certification on somatics and body based nervous system coaching, and I was applying it. I was making myself my first student. And I was seeing how I was able to start regulating my nervous system, and what a huge difference that made in terms of my capacity.
How much I was able to hold, how much I was [00:30:00] able to do without freaking out, how much longer I was able to sustain periods of really great creativity and insight, how things were able to roll off my back more. And so instead of firing and triggering, triggering the old neurons, which were the panic and the overwork, I started realizing that I had so much of this from the military training.
So much of the truths about Mindset and resiliency and mental toughness. All of that could now be applied here as well. And so with all of this acknowledgement and belief, I think it's no surprise that over the last two years, I've attracted so many clients that are further along in their businesses, all the way through seven figures.
And it's helped me see how needed this work is at every level, but also how capable I am of coaching people. Any woman entrepreneur because we all have the same kind of issues that come up for us. And [00:31:00] that's what really brought me to the point of being ready to go big and to be very seen all of this together.
And that's why last fall I hired my COO Natalie. I upgraded my contractors all around. We have also another va. I just have full support in my life. Because I know I'm gearing up for massive exposure. After I land in Spain in July, we're going to start running Facebook ads, I'm going to start a podcast tour.
There's a lot coming up that's really exciting, but the good news is that the business is streamlined, because my need to work is streamlined. So I made sure that I took time to About a year to really integrate the concepts I was talking about and to live them. Where I was not working at nights, I was working my 33 hour work week.
I did a podcast on that [00:32:00] a while ago. And then knowing that when I did start ramping up with the new branding we'd been doing, onboarding new people, of course, I didn't fully see the pivot that the business was going to take and I didn't know we were moving to Spain, but that too is indicative of my reinvention.
But I was able to take on, maybe you'd call it this crunch period, in a way where I don't feel afraid of it. I don't feel afraid of, oh, I'm moving towards burnout again, I can't trust myself. I feel that I'm truly building capacity, that it's temporary, and that I'm not driven by the same demons. I'm very much being pulled towards rather than driven away from.
I think. Let's, let's touch base in two years, and we'll get my perspective on it then. But it feels very qualitatively different to me these last six months or so that have been more hectic because of everything I've done before this. And obviously it's showing through in [00:33:00] my work now because I just can't shut up about it and it's all I talk about lately.
Do I still notice myself curbing what I say to not offend people? Yeah, sometimes. Do I people please? Yeah, sometimes. Do I have a fear of misleading you all? Not so much. And I guess I should highlight this for anyone else that does have this fear. I actually brought this to one of my mentors, Brooke Castillo, to get coached on specifically because obviously she's had a podcast for so long and I wondered how she feels about those kind of regrets.
Her response really was, you give everything you've got, your full truth, and if at some point you change your mind, you apologize and say you changed your mind. It's so simple, right? Basically, you are always giving the most up to date learning that you have, and you're only ever able to speak from the most you have at that moment.[00:34:00] 
I know. It was one of those things where it's like the facepalm where you're like, Oh, yes, I suppose I could apologize. Or I could say I changed my mind. I do very much feel that I am a CEO running a business. I have a completely different way of thinking about business. You should check out the business cleanse podcast that we did recently and you'll really get an insight into how I'm thinking about business.
And it's no longer. My energy specifically, it still is a little bit, but where we're going, everything we're putting into place now is so that it's not my energy specifically running the business. The business is becoming its own entity that then takes care of all of us on this team, and hopefully all of you as well.
But that has required. Taking bold action before the results are here. I don't have the seven figure business yet, but I'm making seven figure [00:35:00] moves. And I see this at every level of business when entrepreneurs are wanting the next step, but they're afraid to make the investment that's needed to get to the next step.
So I've probably waited too many years to hire the help that I have now. So I get it. But as you start up leveling your self concept, which I talked about earlier, when I was able to see myself coaching different types of people, when I was able to see myself growing the impact, when I was able to see myself making bold moves about really speaking my truth and being completely uninhibited about who I am and all the different facets of who I am, that was me already seeing myself as a CEO.
of a coaching company that does touch many people and therefore bring in much higher revenue than I do now. And then in order to create what I want to create, I needed to put the pieces in place to do so. [00:36:00] But the mind came first and that's why I love to say that revelations come before results. You have to have the epiphanies of I can do this.
I am doing this. I should have been done, did this, already years ago. I am so ready. Typically you need that before you allow yourself to really go to the next level. I no longer feel that this business is fragile, that it's a fluke, that it might evaporate. I very much know that it's here to stay. We're consistently bringing in a quarter of a million dollars a year, and that is in its baby stage right now.
And that's from when I was hiding out in my living room. So watch out, world. When I start taking the initiative to go out in front of people and put myself in their path and say, Hey. Pay attention to this that we're doing over here, because this shit's gold. You'll hear me talk next week on the podcast with [00:37:00] Gabby, who was the creative director that's helped us rebrand, about all the things that came up for me about changing the photographs on the site and how different they are and why they're so different.
So I'll save that for that episode. But again, it really comes down to just striking away the, the, that fear of being too braggy and instead choosing to live my best life. Okay, my friend, in this episode, you've learned the how to of going from prioritizing not being disliked to prioritizing your own alignment or truth.
I've told you about the most effective tools I've found for laying down that whip, what it's like to take methodical action and risk https: otter. ai
So, yes, rest actually allows us to work more. For those of you who are still in the, I need to work more, I know that's [00:38:00] maybe one of the ways I can get through to you. But the truth is, you don't need to work more, because the value you're creating doesn't come from the number of hours you put in. And I know that when you are in that regulated state, able to tap into that zone of genius of yours, and you have the clarity of knowing where you're going and what you're really about, and when you can start whittling away all the extraneous stuff.
And then you will be capable of more than you can even imagine right now. I certainly, two years ago, would have been overjoyed knowing that I was moving to Spain with the business that I have now. And the clients that I have now, of course, I love you all. But even though you'll be creating big results, you will be able to lean back more, hustle less, and really just walk your path.
Your Uncommon Way, and create what you're here to create in the world, in the way that fills you up to, and allows you the full and balanced [00:39:00] life that you know you're here for. Okay, that's it my friend. Remember, 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 in life, including the Clarity First strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit theuncommonway. com. See you next time.
  

Jenna Harrison 6/4/24 Jenna Harrison 6/4/24

Ep# 99: Lessons Learned From 100 Episodes for Podcast Success and Growth for Women Entrepreneurs

Are you struggling to keep your podcast listeners engaged and coming back for more? Discover the secrets to transforming casual listeners into dedicated fans in our latest episode!

In today's crowded podcast landscape, merely attracting listeners isn't enough. This episode dives into practical tips and mindset shifts essential for maintaining listener retention, which is crucial for growing your podcast audience. If you’re tired of seeing fluctuating download numbers and want to build a loyal following, this episode is for you.

Episode Summary

Are you struggling to keep your podcast listeners engaged and coming back for more? Discover the secrets to transforming casual listeners into dedicated fans in our latest episode!

In this episode, you will:

Learn the top tactical tip to ensure your audience sticks around and keeps listening to your episodes.
Uncover the biggest mindset block holding back women entrepreneurs from podcasting success and how to overcome it.
Understand the energetic importance of podcasting and how it can transform your listener's experience and engagement.

Ready to elevate your podcast game and ensure your listeners keep coming back?

Tune into this episode now and start transforming your podcasting journey today!

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in signature offers and strategies and a first-rate mindset.

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for highly accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Enjoy the Show?

Don’t miss an episode, follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.

Full Episode Transcript:

  
    Speaker: [00:00:00] Hey, want a cheat sheet for podcasting, both the tactical and the mindset components? Let me tell you the top lessons I have learned with nearly 100 episodes of podcasting.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Uncommon Way business and life coaching podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging, and strategy, and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating.
Here's your host,
Speaker: Welcome back to the Uncommon Way, I am [00:01:00] so glad you're here with me again. We are celebrating our hundredth episode next week! Party of one! In my closet! But, I can feel you all celebrating with me. And I have decided to create this mini series to celebrate, and so what we'll be doing in this episode, I will tell you my top tactical tips for the podcast.
But in the next one, I'm going to tell you how I've changed over a hundred episodes, and we'll break down exactly what was going on, like from episode X to episode Y, here's what was happening, and Here were the seeds that were being planted, for then these over here, this is why they sound a little different, and I think that'll be a really fun way to commemorate this time as well.
Now technically, we're actually at episode 100, because I did have a trailer, and then there was another little time where I just very quickly hopped on to give a [00:02:00] little teaser and update, but the way the numbers work out, this is 99, and the next one is 100. So in this particular episode You will get my top tactical tip for making sure that people stick around and keep listening to your podcast, which I have learned is the name of the game, and I'll be telling you why that is.
You'll also get the number one mindset block that I see holding so many women entrepreneurs back from really creating the kind of consistency over the years. That I've been able to do now, or even that keeps them from even undertaking, even trying to do a project of this sort. And then for those of you who are interested, we'll sprinkle in a little woo, and I'll be telling you why this is such an important medium energetically.
All right, [00:03:00] let's get tactical. So at the beginning of this year, I started working with these crack podcast consultants from whom I've learned so much. I've talked about them before. And what I learned was that if your podcast is not really growing like you would like it to, it's not actually a visibility problem.
Most of us would tend to think, Oh, I need to get more people to see this on social media. I have to better entice people to go listen to the podcast if they're in a Facebook group or something. But actually, it's not a visibility problem, it's a retention problem. What it means is that people are dropping off.
They come for a while, but then they don't stick around and keep coming back to listen and listen again. People are always coming into your universe and making their way to your podcast. And so you should see commensurate growth over time. That reframe helped me so much, and I'm going to link to their info in case [00:04:00] you would like a podcast consultant to help you with your show as well.
Or even if you're getting started and you just want to do it right, which you're definitely my kind of girl. But I'll give you some of my favorite key takeaways, and then of course I will link to their podcast so you can go learn more. Now just like any other place in marketing, you need a strong attention getting opener.
Whether it's a subject line in your email, whether it's the, you know, Hero title on your homepage. These days we have to capture people quickly. Now that's something I've been focusing on since the beginning. But you know what I'd do after that? I would warm up to people and I'd start telling them about everything that was going on in my life.
As if I were seeing an old friend or even a best client and I kind of wanted to catch them up on what had happened since we last saw each other. Now obviously when you're sitting in a closet like I am talking to the void, you don't have [00:05:00] somebody that can come back to you and tell you what's going on with them too.
But for a lot of women, including myself, sharing is bonding. And so that's how I would start out. And to be honest, that is how I heard so many podcasts starting out. The truth is, there used to be a lot fewer podcasts. And people could get away with a lot more. The medium was new, there was less competition, and people could ramble on and just expect that their listeners were going to stay there until they got to the meat of the episode.
So if you hop back and listen to one of my early episodes, you'll hear this difference. But now, you'll hear me always making sure, right at the very beginning, to give you three direct takeaways. About big wins, big benefits that you will get if you listen through the episode. Hey, if you want true clarity about your secret sauce, your [00:06:00] people, your best way of doing business and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator.
I'll teach you to connect all the dots, the dots that have always been there for you, so that you can show up like you were born for exactly this. Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn. From Facebook ads to manifestation, just go to the uncommon way. com slash schedule and set up a time to talk I can't wait to be your coach I've also learned how helpful it is to keep things easily digestible A lot of us are listening to podcasts when we're out and about moving around We don't necessarily have a pen and paper there to take down notes.
What we're looking for is what is my next step? Or what is the way I need to think about this problem? What's the thing I need to be focusing on right now? And then in order to keep people engaged and coming back, you want to let them know what's coming down the [00:07:00] pipeline, what they can look forward to and why that's important in a subsequent episode.
And, past episodes that they may not even know about that will really help them. So they get used to jumping around in your timeline and they realize how much is there for them. So again, you need your hooks, your teasers, make it easily digestible, and then do a lot of cross referencing and foreshadowing.
And I hope it goes without saying that the content needs to be really good as well. Like my consultants say. Everything that you think about, oh, I want my podcast, I want to feel really like I'm talking to a real person, and I want to be giving really high value, and I want to XYZ, they're like, yeah, that's the baseline.
Of course you have to be doing that. But what else really separates us and sets us apart, which, of course, is so near and dear? To the heart of the uncommon way, but [00:08:00] sometimes that can bite us on the tushy because let's talk about mindset here. From my point of view, the only thing that holds you back from consistency, even consistency over years, I have not missed a podcast episode for a single week.
Well, to be honest, sometimes I have repurposed episodes, but I've never not put something out. And you know what holds us back? The have dos. I talk about this a lot because those have dos, they show up everywhere. A podcast has to be like this. I have to do that. Now whether those are your expectations or the expectations of others that you've either inherited or absorbed, those are how we make ourselves miserable in business and life.
We have to throw away the have tos, and I get it. It's hard, especially as women who are high [00:09:00] performers. We're thinking things like, anything he can do, I have to be able to do backwards in heels. It has to be that much better. Or, I need to be giving freely. That's what makes me a good woman. Is to help others.
Seriously, when I look back in hindsight now, I can see that my early episodes, they're basically masterclasses. I can see subconsciously, I was thinking I had to give all of the information on every topic. And it, sometimes it was a have to, but other times it was just my desire to not leave anything out.
Like, it wasn't really complete unless I'd told you all the different possibilities and all the different kinds of things that were important to that or that you could actually do. But I'm thinking about it now, and I'm just imagining a client comes to me with a certain topic or question. If I'd responded in that way, no one gets anything done.
How do you prioritize [00:10:00] those things? I can only take in so much information at a time. How is that telling me what to actually do right now to focus on to solve this? But I mean, I still get the thoughts. Full transparency. Of course I do. I'm human. And conditioned. As a woman. But really, it's about how do you react to them?
Like right now. Today, as a matter of fact. I was gone last week for my mastermind in Austin, so I was not working, came back, it's a holiday weekend, so my son was off on Monday, and we're preparing for our move, because this weekend we'll be out of state again for my husband's retirement ceremony. And the movers come on Monday, meaning these couple days right now are when we have to get the things prepared.
And obviously I have a lot of catch up with work. So once again, I see that little siren voice saying to me, well, maybe we'll just miss one episode. [00:11:00] Don't you deserve to miss an episode after a hundred episodes? Won't it be better quality for them if you just wait? Or once that gets shot down, the frog jumps to the next lily pad and it's like Okay, well if we're going to do this then, we need to be staying up late, we need to spend all the time we need to produce a really high quality product, or there's another voice sometimes that says, I just don't have the time, I'm not even going to look at it, like it's just impossible.
But I remember specifically the first time that came up and I had the conversation with myself and I realized. Was I really saying that I didn't have even 10 minutes to sit down and talk to someone that I really enjoy and trust about a topic that's interesting to them? Come on. Of course I have 10 minutes.
And so really, what's getting in the way are just my thoughts about how it [00:12:00] has to be. And maybe even a baseline thought that it's not good enough unless X, Y, Z. Instead of what I have to say right now is good enough and it's a liquid gold for the person that needs to hear it. What if we really just believed and grounded into the fact that everything that we have to say, from a place of grounded intention of course, not when we're just spouting whatever off, but if we just take a few minutes to center, ground, collect thoughts, speak, that's enough.
And that it's more than enough. What if your 70 percent is someone else's 110%? One of my mentors, Brooke Castillo, says, B minus work changes lives. Because you're actually getting your work out there. Whereas if you're always trying to be at an A or an A you'll produce so much less. And it's such a disservice.
Now, full [00:13:00] transparency, I don't usually just sit down and talk for 10 minutes. But when I need to, I have. Usually I spend a full day, so for me that's like 5 or 6 hours. And I do find it more comfortable to script everything out. I'm not doing it right now, but that's my happy place. But I know a lot of people that just sit down with an outline and go for it.
I know people that spend more time than me podcasting, and people that spend less time than me podcasting. You get to make it however you want it to be, your uncommon way. But you're never even going to get there if you're not detoxing those thoughts that are keeping you in that pattern in the first place that isn't serving you.
Now I have an episode called The Thought Cleanse that we're going to link to, and there's a PDF and a seven day course that you can sign up for as well if you want to go deeper into these things. But sometimes it's as simple as sitting down and [00:14:00] thinking. What would I have to believe if I believed it was fully okay for me to just press record right now?
It's a fun thought, right? Or a fun question. Oh, and quick addition about the time that I spend on the podcast. I do not do any editing. I do have a team for that. And as you're thinking about that for yourself, you just want to examine your thoughts, right? Are you holding back from sharing because you say you can't afford a team and you want everything to be so super perfect and high production that you're not even allowing You, whatever you have to say now to actually help people now, and you're more focused on how your ego will feel.
Or if you're further along in your business, maybe you could afford it, but you're not because you just hate to spend money and you don't really value your genius enough. So you're just spending cognitive energy and time on any old thing rather than truly being in the zone. Both of those things will hold you [00:15:00] back.
Both are relevant to different stages of business. Alright, let's sprinkle in some woo. When it comes down to it, podcasting is about frequency transfer. And that's kind of a woo way to say that people can pick up on so much more from you through your voice and the way you talk and the things you say than the actual words that you're saying.
You're really just getting content out there and not letting perfectionism stop you. Because you can know that even if you have a topic where maybe you didn't shine on that day, maybe you think back and you're like, Oh, I forgot to say this thing or I wish now that I'd said it in this way. What underlies all of that is your voice, is your frequency.
I'll give you an example. So many people will come to me and they'll say, I wanted to talk to you because of this calm certainty you have and I feel like I [00:16:00] need more of that in my life. Or, I just really enjoy your laid back confidence. Now, I never do episodes on creating confidence, really, or how to show up with calm certainty.
And yet that gets transmitted. People can pick up on it just because of the way I talk. The throat chakra is what separates kind of the abstract realm from the physical realm. In our body, and so it's very important for manifestation, speaking it out. When you use your voice to clarify your thoughts and inspiration, it sets wheels in motion.
When I say to you, we are women choosing to do business differently, we are choosing to live differently and create our own uncommon way and care about different markers and KPIs than just wealth. That's an act of manifestation that I'm speaking out into the universe. You're benefiting from [00:17:00] it and hopefully lending your energy to it.
And we're creating amplification, which then turns into movement and decisions here in the 3D world. And so, this medium, I believe, and video, of course, too, is just so freaking powerful and protective, honestly. It's a yet another level of drawing your right people to you and signaling to others that this is not the right place for them.
So I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the how What you say is even more important than the what you say. And so you can really lean back and step into flow. Because when you're in alignment, you are already doing your right work. You're already focusing on the information that you have coming into you that you then want to share with others, [00:18:00] and or the inspiration that's generated from within you that you want to share with others.
Good content, of the kind that you could print out in a transcript and just read dispassionately and agree this is good content if there were some arbiter of that, that will speak to people on a logical level. Which is important, yes, science shows us again and again that decisions really get made on an emotional level.
And through voice you have the opportunity to communicate with people in one of the most effective ways that you could ever reach them. And that is what elicits true change. And really helps the people that you want to help. All right, my friend, that is it for the day. I hope you have a wonderful week.
I'll see you back here for episode 100. And remember, you know who you are, and each day you're stepping further into what you're here to create.[00:19:00] 
Speaker 2: 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.
  

Jenna Harrison 5/28/24 Jenna Harrison 5/28/24

Ep# 98:Detox From Overwhelmed Hot Mess To Create More Easeful Business Growth as Women Entrepreneurs With Lauren Dito

Have you ever wondered how to transform from your feelings of being overwhelmed and disorganized to becoming a confident and empowered entrepreneur?

In today’s fast-paced world, many women entrepreneurs find themselves juggling multiple responsibilities, often leading to feelings of being a hot mess.

This episode delves into practical strategies for revamping your mindset, offers, and processes to create a more streamlined and powerful business life.

Episode Summary

Have you ever wondered how to transform from your feelings of being overwhelmed and disorganized to becoming a confident and empowered entrepreneur?

In today’s fast-paced world, many women entrepreneurs find themselves juggling multiple responsibilities, often leading to feelings of being a hot mess.

This episode delves into practical strategies for revamping your mindset, offers, and processes to create a more streamlined and powerful business life.

In this episode, you will:

Gain insights on how to detox from a chaotic mindset and adopt a powerful, capable approach to business.
Learn practical tips for systematizing your business processes to reduce stress and increase efficiency.
Hear a real-life success story of how one entrepreneur transformed her business and personal life by making strategic changes.

Scroll up & press play now to discover the steps to take your business and life from chaos to clarity and confidence!

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in signature offers and strategies and a first-rate mindset.

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for highly accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Links mentioned

https://www.foundryhome.design/

Enjoy the Show?

Don’t miss an episode, follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.

Full Episode Transcript:

  
    Speaker: [00:00:00] What does it really look like to revamp your mindset and your offer and your processes and to move from feeling like a hot mess to feeling capable and powerful? Stick around and find out.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Uncommon Way business and life coaching podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves. So you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging and strategy and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating.
Here's your host. Top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned Queen of Clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Speaker: Welcome back to The Uncommon Way. How are [00:01:00] you? I've got a really fun show for you today where you'll hear from my client, Lauren, who has detoxed so many things that just weren't serving her and is really transforming her business to make it work for her and flow more easily. And she's exceeded her goals to bring in more clients at higher prices.
But has also so completely said goodbye to being a hot mess that it has dramatically changed her life. But first, I just have to tell you about the best day yesterday taking my six year old to an amusement park, which is about 40 minutes away. It's called Hershey Park. Yes, as in Hershey Chocolate, and I haven't opened an episode with a personal story in a while now, cause I do want to keep these short and to the point for you, but this really ties into what we're talking about today, so just hang with me.
Alright, so there we were. It's the end of the day, and he's convinced me to go on this big roller coaster called the Jolly [00:02:00] Rancher. And even though he's 6, he's very tall, so he met the height requirement for all but the scariest coasters. Which, by the way, was where my husband Ben was having fun at that moment.
So it's me and Dylan getting strapped in on this Jolly Rancher thing, where they pull the car backwards up this huge slope, and then bing! They let you go, and you race down this hill into this loop de loop and corkscrew and back into a tunnel and another loop and then back up another slope just like the one you started on.
Except, this time, the car's backwards. And then you slide back down that slope and do the whole course backwards. And while I love loops and flips and things, I hate the big drops. I hate it so much. So for most of the day, I was like, no Later on, here I am, really [00:03:00] sweating bullets. I have this new ring that monitors my stress levels and heartbeat.
It was just hilarious at the exact moment in the day. It's the highest it's ever been, it was sky high. But Dylan looks at me and he's like, Mama, you got this. I love you. I'm right here with you. It's only 45 seconds. You're gonna be okay. You can do this. Which I thought was so adorable and mature, but it actually felt reassuring.
Even though he's six and we're on this colossal roller coaster, somehow those words felt amazing. Now, it turns out that's exactly what Ben told him when it was Dylan's first time on that. And by the way, it is not 45 seconds. But in that moment, it felt very meta, because that is how, of course, Ben talks to him, how I talk to him, how I talk to my clients too sometimes.
And now here he is doing the same for [00:04:00] me. And by the way, I did end up loving the ride. But, friend, this is exactly what it's like in your business. You start out doing all the things to support and take care of your business, and maybe even your kids, too, if that's the path you're walking. And then when you add in the way that we've been taught to succeed, which is being all the things for everybody, it's natural you get stretched so thin that you are dropping balls and underperforming.
And you end up feeling exhausted and like a hot mess and blaming yourself, which of course leads to more drop balls and underperforming. But it's not going to be that way forever if you're proactive, especially for my clients. And you'll hear from Lauren soon and know that it's possible for you too. If done right, that little business baby starts to be like, I got you.
But what's [00:05:00] amazing is that usually you become. That calm, capable CEO first, and right away, you're making different decisions, you're showing up differently, and that's what creates the conditions that your business needs to grow up and take care of you for a change. All of our episodes this month has really been about this process.
They've been about detoxing the things that aren't working for you in your business Yes But also in your mindset and the way you react and of course they've been exposing some things that you didn't even realize We're holding you back Us too We all have blind spots and I can't think of a better way for you to see what this kind of revamp Really looks like in the wild Then to hear from Lauren.
So in this episode, you'll get an up close and candid look at how the personal shows up in business, both positively and negatively. You'll get invaluable insights about how [00:06:00] to detox that hot mess identity and victim mentality in favor of a more powerful way of acting and making decisions. And you'll get Lauren's tactical, mindset, and even energetic tips.
That you can use now to kickstart that process for yourself. I say even energetic because Lauren is an engineer and is not into woo, which is fine, of course, but when you're in a community like ours and you are seeing such powerful outward manifestations of our inner world, it tends to make even the most avowed skeptic stop and scratch their head.
The exact same path that I walked myself. I have a feeling you're really going to enjoy and benefit from this one, so let's talk to Lauren. Lauren, welcome. I'm so glad you're here. I am so happy to be here. So we're going to be talking about all different things today because everything entwines as we know, but we'll be [00:07:00] talking about detoxing from that hot mess identity, uh, from detoxing from a victim mentality.
And also really allowing yourself to lean in to your best way of doing things and how to create like processes and systems around you to really support you so your business is supporting you rather than you just feeling inferior about what the business is like. 
Speaker 3: In all things. Yes. Let's do it. I'm so excited.
Speaker: Yeah. So we've got a lot to talk about. I'm definitely, you have such a brilliant way of even framing things and talking about them that I know is going to be so helpful for people. And I'm also going to have you give, like, some of your tips and the things that you've learned because I think that will be really helpful for people as well.
But let's start out so that everyone feels completely normalized when they're listening to this and they know that they are not the only ones at all. [00:08:00] But let's just talk about what was going on with you that even had you looking for a business coach. 
Speaker 3: Oh, it was like one of those middle of the night things.
Um, I had a rather dramatic entree into this period of my life. We all go through phases in life and mine involved a lot of like personal strife and I don't know, anxiety and antidepressant. And I had been a practicing interior designer before that period of my life and COVID hit and there was a lot of things that including having two kids.
And We had moved to Oregon and I was like ready to start my business again, and I just could not get traction. I was super frustrated. I had tried a number of different resources to really try to jumpstart the process and I was not succeeding and not getting the clientele that I wanted, though they were lovely, they were just not the direction I was trying to [00:09:00] go.
And it really was like a middle of the night, okay, so there's something has got to give here. And I think I've mentioned this to you before. I think you were like the second or third page based on the search criteria that I had used. Right. Which I couldn't tell you now, but I found you and I read your website and I was like, it was like a full body.
Yes. 
Speaker 4: Like 
Speaker 3: everything in me was like, this is my person. This is who I need to talk to. And so I sent you a message. I don't think I even sent messages out to any other coaches and you got back to me and it was like, okay, this is. It's crazy and I'm not making enough money in my business to like pay for this.
And yet I'm going to figure it out and I'm going to do it because it's like this or I just have to go out and get a job because either this or I have to give up on being a business owner and an entrepreneur. 
Speaker: I remember you had a very keen awareness at the beginning, even when you were filling out the [00:10:00] questions before our call, where you knew that you were the thing getting in your way.
It's And not everyone has that understanding. 
Speaker 3: It's like you're walking down a road and you see this giant boulder sitting in the middle of the road. And you're like, what do I even do here? Like the woods are dense on either side. What on earth is happening? And you look up and you're like, why does that look familiar?
And you look around and you're like, Oh, why is my face carved in that rock? It's literally me. I am the person. I cannot pass through here because I am literally the person standing in the way. 
Speaker: Yes. And it is so hard for us to get beyond our own minds because we're so used to being in them. It's just, yeah.
How do you think things that you haven't thought and do things ways you haven't done them and just get out of your patterns and ways of being? I think it's great to let people know that you are a person that they can absolutely relate to [00:11:00] because you went from being this high achiever, engineer, doing all the right things to then taking a step in the direction of your own self interest and what was actually moving and meaningful to you by moving into a more creative path, an interior design, Then there was still this legacy thinking that we needed to start detoxing in order for you to really blossom in your own way of being.
Hey, if you want true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator. I'll teach you to connect all the dots, the dots that have always been there for you, so that you can show up like you were born for exactly this.
Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn, from [00:12:00] Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to theuncommonway. com slash schedule and set up a time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach. 
Speaker 3: Yeah, engineering was hard. So I became a materials engineer. I specialized in titanium. It's terribly nerdy and I loved it, but I worked in aerospace manufacturing.
And for any woman out there who is working in a business that is not friendly to women, believe me, I know where you are coming from. And I spent two years trying to figure out what that lateral move was going to be, because I knew I wanted to leave engineering. And my husband actually was like, why don't you do interior design?
And I was like, what am I going to pick out, Kurt? Like, what is this thing? And we lived in LA at the time. And so I took a class and it happened to feed into this certificate program that fed into a master's program. And I took one class and I called him and I was like, okay, so I'm done. Like, this is what we're doing [00:13:00] now.
It's like finding your website. Clearly there's a pattern here. And four years later, I had my master's in interior architecture. And yet, like you, that's not the end of the story, right? That seems like the happy ending to the story. 
Speaker 4: And 
Speaker 3: yet, then I went through the process of trying to learn how to become an entrepreneur.
And that education, that ongoing education is insane and humbling and incredible. 
Speaker: So well said. Because we do. We're so used to just. Achieve whatever checkmark you need to achieve now. And then we get into entrepreneurship and we're like, what is this? What is this mess? Yes. Which is why it's such an amazing journey because we really get to find out who we are and how we want to do things and step into a really, a more powerful orientation in the world.
Yeah. So let's talk about that because that's the good stuff. So I was trying to remember [00:14:00] exactly when we had the conversation where I was like, you have to come on the podcast. But it is because so many of us spend our life in this place where we're just We just have a lot. I think that is like the entire country at this moment.
I'm trying to, trying to get this retirement party going for my husband now. And everyone's creating a video, like a, just saying a few words to him on video, and then we're compiling the video with some songs and photos as just a keepsake for him. It is so challenging. To get people to RSVP and to create their videos, and we know they all want to.
We only sent this to people that were really a big part of his career and we had close relationships with. So there's no doubt that we want to do the things, but there's just so much coming at us. 
Speaker 3: Yes or 
Speaker: no? 
Speaker 3: Oh God. All the time. In any phase of life, really. We have small [00:15:00] kids and so that's a whole.
experience. Your husband is retiring. That's a whole experience. Each of us in our own ways are going through multiple individual experiences of overwhelm that maybe in a singular form would be fine to handle, but you still have to feed yourself and do the laundry and take care of the dog and mow the lawn and manage the people and plan the retirement party.
It's exhausting. 
Speaker: Yes. So for you, I think what had happened was you and I had been working on Reinvention work, specifically, and detoxing some of these patterns that we were recognizing weren't helpful, and stepping into what would be possible and what you could create, what you could call in terms of really thinking bigger.
And then there was this point where it all just started, like you call it a flow on effect, where it all just started happening. We started seeing evidence of it start popping up. Can you talk about [00:16:00] that? 
Speaker 3: So I have primarily been a residential designer working with people on their homes and I have had amazing success with some of my clients.
I still have clients in LA though I am currently in Portland and have loved that part of it. But I had a friend reach out to me, I had done some work for him and his wife who's also a very good friend of mine on their home and he decided to build his own plastic surgery practice and he was like, I have a designer that I'm working with who does doing the space planning.
But. This is a high end plastic surgery practice and it needs to be reflected as such. And so he and I started working together and built out this design that was just like amazing. I don't know, like it's rocker ish, we're using like black granite, but it just is so aligned with his vision. He started out with, I want this particular style and the more he and I talked about what [00:17:00] his personal brand was and like who he wanted to be in this practice.
It became something completely different. And it was a really amazing learning experience for me because I was stepping into commercial design, but also because it made me realize that I had this really special way of handling my clients in that I was able to, even in a commercial space where it can feel very, everything's like copy paste, really nailed down what his personal style was and help him reflect that in his practice.
And that space is under construction now, and it's going to be so amazing, I'm so excited about it. 
Speaker: I love that because I'm helping you step away from the shoulds for you and really create something very cool and interesting and powerful, and then you're helping your clients step away from the shoulds and create something really unique for them and individual and powerful.
Yes. [00:18:00] Yes. And it ripples out. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So there were other ways too. So you were bringing on different clients. I remember you had told me, we just got on a call and you're like, Oh, and I decided to systematize all of the backend procedures for my business. Yes. I signed up for Dub Sotto and I've started creating all of these emails and it was such a huge break and departure from what before would have been.
The hot mess, challenged mom who's running around with like, whatever food, and just doing her best. And I remember once you had this really powerful image of you being at a park talking to another mom. And like, you had one child on one hip doing one thing, and the other one's being crazy running around doing something else.
And like, you were in the middle of this chaos. Just, yep, this is just the way it is. And we started playing with that, right? We're like, what if that no longer is the way it is in my life? And who would [00:19:00] that woman be? What would she be putting into place? And then I remember, yes, there was that day where you came back and you're like, oh, and I've just decided to completely systematize everything and make this.
And I'm like, that is what future Lauren would do. 
Speaker 3: Yeah. And it like so much of the work that we did created in me a willingness to. Lean into the possibility that it could be easier. I no longer felt the need to make things difficult as a sign of success. And I realized that it's okay for me to automate things that can be automated well, to reflect my brand properly, to communicate with clients, especially those who are onboarding easily with a minimum of effort so that I can focus.
on the ways in which I bring the most value, which is doing the design work. It's not sending out the welcome email. 
Speaker: And being in your most creative place when you do that high end design work. 
Speaker 3: [00:20:00] Yes. So it really, I feel like so much of the work that we did created the room for the possibilities of it being different.
Like it wasn't necessarily that we laid out a plan, right? We just literally played with the idea that I could. Do things differently, and that could be better than where I am now, even if I can't imagine it that way, it just, it could be, maybe it'll be terrible, but maybe it'll be amazing. And that amount of breathing room was exactly what my brain needed to start spinning off in all directions.
And I have really spun into many directions, like, you know, me, I love tech. 
Speaker 4: I love the 
Speaker 3: nerdy, like, how do I make this work well? There's always a different app every time you talk. I always have an app. Every time. I'm like, have you seen this app? Have you seen this app? But what it has created is, I realized that I was willing to invest financially [00:21:00] in certain things.
But somehow I wanted to cheap out on creating the proper flow for my business, which is silly. Like it was such a mental block. 
Speaker: Right. Because that's what a person who's running around in hot mess and a part of you potentially wanting to perpetuate that hot mess ness would never organize the shit out of the back end of their business.
Who wants to 
Speaker 3: pay for software that works? I mean, honestly, that 
Speaker: sounds like a terrible idea. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. And that's what I love seeing with you all, are those little breakthroughs when the evidence starts coming back in terms of what you've integrated. Not just what you've thought about, uh, hypothetically maybe, but when it starts sinking into your bones and you're like, it maybe started with the way you were showing up with your kids or it started with the way you were, I remember doing your hair and getting dressed, but then all of a sudden you're just making decisions in your business.
That align with [00:22:00] that future person 
Speaker 3: and like confidently making them like I might need to change this later But this is the right decision for me right now and confidently making this business decisions for me was like an unattainable Dream, it felt very unachievable It felt like I was constantly skating on this really thin ice and I could never see where I might break through and plunge down into the water.
Making any sort of business decision confidently was a weird experience for me. And yet, because we had created room for the possibilities of so many positive things, once it finally clicked and it happened, it was like, Oh, Of course, I would do that. Of course, I would take care of this part of my business.
Of course, I would serve my clients in this way. And of course, I would then find that I feel that I am worth more to my clients. And of course, I would then reflect that in my [00:23:00] prices. That's right. You've raised your prices. Significantly. In fact. Yes. Yes. Really had no pushback on that. No friction. None. Who knew?
Literally nobody is like, that's too expensive. Everybody's like, oh, where do I sign? I'm like, 
Speaker: clearly 
Speaker 3: should have done this a while ago. 
Speaker: Right. Yes. That's like when Mel was talking about her daughter. Were you there on that call? I may have missed that 
Speaker 3: one. 
Speaker: Oh, so good. She was saying, I don't know, maybe I'm overcharging.
And the daughter who's in high school, you gotta love this new generation, right? It was like, Mom, shouldn't you be more worried that you're undercharging? 
Speaker 3: I need her daughter in my life. Right? That's amazing. Because 
Speaker: of course, as women, It's more likely, it's statistically more likely that we will undercharge than that we will overcharge.
And yet we're always so worried that we might be overcharging. I know. And hurting someone's feelings. 
Speaker 3: Why am I in charge of your [00:24:00] feelings anyway? That's a, that's a different podcast. So, 
Speaker: yes. But let's talk about, because you have talked about the flow on effect. You said you were telling friends of yours, right, about this when they asked about business coaching.
Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. 
Speaker 3: It's funny because I have had friends that I've talked to who've had difficulties in their careers or like trouble with a personal relationship and the language that I use when I talk to them about it has changed and they're like, why are you so wise? And I'm like, it's trickle down therapy.
Like it's, I get help from everywhere and you're just getting the benefit of that. I have started to use the language of like, why don't we allow for the possibility that? What if this was an option, right? Which is something that you do to me a lot. And sometimes I love it. And other times I'm quite resentful, but so many people have been like, wow, like this coaching thing is like a real, this is a real thing.
This is really helpful. And I'm like, [00:25:00] yeah, you have no idea. Like, I cannot enumerate the number of ways in which my relationship with you and the coaching that you have. brought into my life has changed the way that I approach almost every facet of life. And it's really weird to think that like one relationship can have that kind of impact other than like, I don't know, your mom.
You've also created this community for me because I've had, I've really driven really high achieving women in my life. My friends are badasses. But none of them understand the drive to build something from scratch 
Speaker 4: and 
Speaker 3: to build a business and to see it grow and to push yourself to see what you're even capable of.
And you have also brought this community of women who are like, why wouldn't you do that? [00:26:00] And have normalized it for me. Yes. I feel a lot less like a weirdo these days because there's this community of women now. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's doing it. And so I can still have those amazing relationships with my very driven friends, and then I can still build these relationships with these other women who are like, Oh my gosh, I'm struggling with my mindset around this thing because entrepreneurship is hard and dumb and we shouldn't do it, but we do because we're gluttons for punishment.
Speaker: And because there's so much payoff. 
Speaker 3: And because there's so much payoff. And because it's magic. Yes. Yes. Absolute and utter. magic to build something from scratch. Yes, created from 
Speaker: our 
Speaker 3: brains. How crazy is that? I know. I mean, I always say the inside of my head is a wild and wacky place and entrepreneurship is another check in that column, right?
Yes, yes, yes. 
Speaker: I, it's hard though when I, First, meet with [00:27:00] somebody that's not really familiar with coaching and mindset work. They're just coming because they have some business kinks that they want to work through. Maybe they're just working too many hours and they want to work fewer hours. It's challenging for me to convey on that call how much their life is going to change through doing this kind of work.
It's challenging to say that to somebody who hasn't actually experienced it, but I know once you had said, you can totally. Tell me, we'll just edit this out of the podcast, if you're like, I don't really remember saying that, or if you're like, I don't know if I'm comfortable sharing that, but so many people have told me this, and it's something you've said, and it's that you've done years and years of therapy, but you've never changed so quickly in such a short amount of time than doing this kind of work.
It's so different. 
Speaker 3: It's such a different kind of work. And yes, years of therapy. I love therapy. [00:28:00] Therapy is a beautiful place to be. And I, for those of you out there who have lost family members, everybody who raised me passed away before I had my second child, 
Speaker 4: between 
Speaker 3: the ages of 25 and 35, everybody who raised me passed away.
And so years of therapy, years of work on a number of different things, including honestly abusive professional relationships. So there's, we'll call it baggage. Don't worry. It's pretty and it all matches. So doing coaching is a little bit like, like therapy, I feel like addresses so much of the emotional side of things and coaching with you addresses that, but it so much addresses like mindset and the way we talk to ourselves, which was not an experience that I had in therapy.
And it also addresses execution. And so much of therapy is about talking about it and working through the thing, but it doesn't [00:29:00] actually have to do with execution. And it doesn't have to do with growth per se. And I do feel like healing and growth are two sides of the same coin. Therapy deals a lot with healing.
And coaching, in my limited experience, because I have only worked with you, has helped It unequivocally brought an incredible amount of growth. And so 
Speaker: can you speak to how it does trickle into other areas of your life? 
Speaker 3: Yes. So one of the things that you and I had talked about was like when something goes wrong or when you're feeling a certain way about something, there's like a really great opportunity to learn from 
Speaker 4: it.
Speaker 3: And that has something that was something that I had understood intellectually, but never internalized, right? We know in our brains, many things, but. Whether or not we put those things into practice is very different. 
Speaker 4: Yeah. 
Speaker 3: And I had started to really put that into practice and I had put it into [00:30:00] practice in how I approach things in my business, how I approach them personally and also in how I communicate it to my kids.
And my oldest boy is now nearly five and he just is deeply a perfectionist. He wants to do it right or not at all. 
Speaker 4: Yeah. 
Speaker 3: And this last week actually he was out hitting baseballs with my husband and he was on the concrete, like on the street. hits the ball and knocks that thing super far, but swings himself around so far that he falls and hits his butt and his knee and he's crying.
He's super upset about it. And as he's coming down from that feeling of upset, he says, I should stand on the grass next time. And that's such a small thing. Anybody else who's observing that would not imagine that as like an amazing mind shift and breakthrough. But it's true that it was a breakthrough [00:31:00] because here's this kid Who if he gets hurt or if he doesn't win the race or if somebody hurts his feelings, he's like i'm out Yeah, i'll go do something else.
I don't want to be here anymore Who suddenly is like I want to keep going? But, I'm going to learn the lesson from that. 
Speaker: And that's through so many conversations he's had with you. 
Speaker 3: Yeah, we talk 
Speaker: about mistakes, 
Speaker 3: like, what mistakes did you make today? Oh, okay, let's try harder. If you're not making mistakes, then you're not learning.
You got to make mistakes. And okay, this was a thing that went badly. What can we learn from that? Can we learn a lesson from that? That means that it's a mistake that you needed to make. 
Speaker: Yeah. And not just telling him from what you've told me, but also you modeling it for him. 
Speaker 3: Absolutely. Oh, mama made that mistake.
What lesson should I learn from that? Oh, that was a mistake that I made. That's okay. I learned this and now I'll do that differently going forward. And just really like it, it's creating so much growth [00:32:00] in my children, in my three and five year old children and how they are willing to approach. Themselves and the world and mistakes and learning.
It's been incredible. 
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I just, I know there have been so many times where you've been like, I'm going to keep going to the gym and I'm just going to make things work now. I'll talk to you when I'm at the gym. Right? It doesn't have to be perfect. Like I get back into my office and then sit down.
Like I'm going to make my life work for me in so many ways. And I know that has to. It just has to ripple out in so many things that you're doing. I was thinking it might be fun if I talked through just a couple of the bullet points in terms of ways you've changed and you tell us how you thought about it then.
Okay. And how you think about it now. Okay. Because for you now, it's second nature, but for someone listening to this, they might be like, that is mind blowing, [00:33:00] or that is revolutionary, so let's just share some of this gold. Okay. Talk about the things that are like, yes, taking the time to get your self support, systematize all of those things.
You talked about a little, but what, how did you used to think about it, how do you think about it now? Okay. 
Speaker 3: I used to think that, like, I was supposed to do it by myself. I used to think that I couldn't really call myself an entrepreneur if I wasn't on this island of my own making, somehow making magic happen in a vacuum.
Speaker: So good. 
Speaker 3: And now I Kind of back to the reference of that constellation. I recognize that there is no way for me to be successful without support and without having people that I can go to like resources and coaching even where I can go, Hey, I'm [00:34:00] screwing this up or Hey, how would you do this? Or Hey, I did this thing and I need to, like nobody else understands how excited I am about this dumb thing that I did.
Somebody cheer me on. I need applause for a half second. Because we do, as entrepreneurs, we get so little feedback and we especially get so little celebration of the things that are important that we're trying to do or change and to have a community around you that's like, Oh, that's so amazing. I know you were working so hard on that.
And you finally made this change that seems small, like my son saying, I need to be on the grass, right? It seems like a small shift. But it is, in fact, so incredible. 
Speaker: Yeah. Along with the kids analogy again, it's like those relatives that come from out of town and they see your child after a year or two and they're like, Oh my gosh, they're so big.
But when you see them on a daily basis, everyone around them, [00:35:00] they don't get that same kind of feedback. And it's true with entrepreneurship. Our shifts are so important. But they're so micro each day and very rarely do we get someone who has been away from us for a year or two to then be like, Whoa, Lauren, you've changed.
Speaker 3: Who's also 
Speaker: then willing 
Speaker 3: to provide you with the feedback, right? Yes. Because a lot of times you're like, I haven't seen you in a year. Hey, like we don't know each other that well. Like really understand how important it is for me to be able to lean on people who are in the same situation. In the same community of entrepreneurship and personal growth, really, has been game changing.
Speaker: Yes. Okay. Let's talk about your thoughts about rest, because I remember there was definitely a period where I was like, you need to take a nap and you were like, give me the plan, dammit. You remember? 
Speaker 3: I [00:36:00] remember we were in the middle of a group call and you were like, do you hear my regulated voice?
Because you're very activated right now, and I'm like, come on, you know, 
Speaker: good times. So good. Okay. But yes, talk about that. Talk about how you think about it now and how you thought about it then. So people know they're not the only ones thinking of it that way. 
Speaker 3: If you are the person out there thinking that you just have to work through it, go lay on the floor, stare at the ceiling and tell yourself you're not being chased by a tiger.
This is the best advice I've got. Um, I was, I feel like always in fight or flight when you and I first started working together. And one of the first things that you started working on with me was cinematics, regulating your system, really getting your nervous system back to something close to normal.
And there was this moment when we were first kind of building [00:37:00] our relationship and I was like, I think I just need some like accountability. Like I need somebody to be like, Hey. You are going to do this thing, or hey, I'm following up on this thing. And I remember distinctly you saying, what if there was a time where you didn't need somebody to ride herd on you because you are so capable of doing it yourself.
You have built all the tools, you have learned how to manage yourself, and you don't need somebody to check in with you. make you accountable because you know how to make yourself accountable. And I was like, my head exploded. I don't know. Like I was that emoji. And I think that was really the beginning of me starting to understand how rest plays into success.
Speaker 4: Mm hmm. 
Speaker 3: And yeah. We were talking earlier and I was saying April was a hard year because my husband was out of town, like internationally traveling for two weeks. And I was still parenting, trying to run my business. I have active projects. I'm [00:38:00] on site and I got to the end of that second week and I was basically vibrating out of my chair, just like waiting for the moment that he arrived.
And I thought I'm going to rest for the weekend. And then next week I'm going to feel so much better and I may be ready to get back to it. That's not how it works. And my brain took a vacation. I was still trying to work. My brain was in Tahiti, so how effective I was at that work is questionable. It's like this constant learning experience for me and I have finally internalized that if I don't get the rest that I need.
Not just physical sleeping rest, but also rest without my phone, rest outdoors, rest, engaging and meaningful relationships. If I don't get those, then I cannot expect my brain to function in the ways that I need it to function in order to accomplish my [00:39:00] goals and design is very creative, but even for analytical work, you're not going to be as precise in any of that work.
if you can't give yourself the rest that you need. 
Speaker: Yeah, and the crazy thing for us over workers is that you're not going to be as fast at it either No, we're trying to save like we're trying to do more by overworking But we take so much longer and I've seen you I've seen you on days where you've just been like, whoa I really I took Monday morning off and then I just Got so much done in that afternoon, or then I came up with this amazing design, or I just, oh, I remember you remember when you just downloaded all of your website copy?
You're like, oh, I know it's this and blah, blah, blah, blah. And you sent me that blurb. Yep. That you didn't have to struggle over writing it. It just, just, it just existed. 
Speaker 3: I just needed to wait for it to show up. 
Speaker 4: Yes, 
Speaker 3: and there's been a lot of that, like [00:40:00] when I give myself moments of rest or I get outside, it's now getting into.
Spring and summer in Portland, which means less rain and more sunshine. I will take it. When I get outside and I go out and I'm walking among the trees and I come home, I could be mulling over a problem for an hour inside of my house, or I could go outside, rain or shine, walk my dog for 15 minutes and come back and it's like the answer is waiting at my front door.
It's like special delivery, here's what you needed. That was so much easier than I expected it to be. It is so much 
Speaker: easier. We make things so hard for ourselves. Yeah. Absolutely. There are a couple podcasts for any of you that are just tuning in to the podcast that I'll link to. In the show notes that really talk about the mechanics behind how our, the best parts of our brain open up when we do rest and why it's so counterproductive to just try and knock one more thing out, knock one more thing out.
So I'll link to those for easy reference too, [00:41:00] but Lauren, you've lived it. I have lived it. I have lived 
Speaker 3: it. Like the fast paced, I'm working 18 hours a day working on the weekends life. I've lived all of the stress of COVID with small kids and trying to build my business. And the thing, aside from the work that we have done, Jenna, which has been so incredible.
The only thing you had ever taught me was REST. That's the thing that would have been worth every penny. Because I think everything else might have come to me eventually. But the REST part was not something I was going to learn on my own. 
Speaker: It was not native. Yeah. 
Speaker 3: No. That was, my brain was like, I'm sorry, this does not compute.
What language are we speaking here? Like, no. 
Speaker: All right, last topic here. Let's talk about your, like it being okay for you to do things your way. And that could be regarding the schedule or how you prioritize, but just your worth and [00:42:00] feelings of just doing it wrong. 
Speaker 3: Well, you and I talked briefly about this, but for so long, and I think this is a socialization issue.
I think this is a, like a women's specific issue, maybe not. only women, but definitely primarily women, deal with this expectation that we are supposed to fit into the existing molds, right? And I talked about that as we are supposed to align ourselves from the outside in, from society's expectations and our jobs expectations and our family's expectations in.
We're supposed to meet all of those means. and not figure out how to align from the inside from the core of who we are out into the world. Like we aren't allowed to take up space. 
Speaker: Yeah. 
Speaker 3: Basically. 
Speaker: Yeah. 
Speaker 3: And I was approaching my business in that way. I was approaching it as like, Oh, these systems work for so many people.
They should work for me too. So if there's an issue, it's clearly not a [00:43:00] system issue. It's a me issue. Like I was literally morally judging myself. For not liking Asana. I hate Asana. Speaking up. 
Speaker: Oh, such a good example though, morally judging yourself for a software that doesn't work for you. Do you just, rather than just being like, Meh, this one doesn't work for me, I'll try this other one.
We make all this judgment on top of it. Yes. And we talk about a microcosm of all the things we judge ourselves on. 
Speaker 3: It is. It is. Well, and, and you and I talk about like confirmation bias, right? Like I say, like. I use, I'm now learning to use confirmation bias for good, right? I'm using it to look for the things that are positive in my actions and in my life.
But for so long, I used confirmation bias as a way of proving to myself that I was not good enough, that I was a failure, that I was an imposter, all of those amazing things that we do to beat the crap out of ourselves. And this was one way that I did it. And when I finally [00:44:00] started And it didn't start with action.
It really just started with observation. When I started looking at what worked and what didn't from a very neutral perspective, instead of one where I'm trying to confirm my personal worth, it was really easy to be like, this just doesn't work for me. Like for whatever reason, it doesn't matter. I don't have to have a reason for everything.
I don't like it and it doesn't work. And it created this. situation where I was just able to shed so much unwanted, like, emotional and mental baggage. Like, I didn't have to worry about why. I didn't have to explain it. It's nobody's business. It just doesn't work and I don't like it. And so I shed softwares and I shed, like, I shed people, which is a different conversation.
I like, I just was able to go, okay, I don't need to drag these rocks [00:45:00] behind me anymore. 
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I remember you were the one that said it was like Sisyphus. It was like carrying that rock up the hill all the time. 
Speaker 3: Yes. And like watching it just roll back down and knowing that I had to trudge back down the hill and start again.
And I just didn't have that. It just fell away. And I was able to then start really going, okay, well, what could work? Like, what am I trying to do? Yeah. And what are the tools that might align with how I think and how I do things that would allow me to be successful in that? 
Speaker 4: Yeah. 
Speaker 3: And I set aside the idea of money because why am I going to cheap out?
Speaker: But. Yeah. And I remember it wasn't just softwares. It was also even the way you were prioritizing your task list or the way that you needed things that help you work better and get your things done, like internal systems you were also judging. 
Speaker 3: actually as an aside for like the rest thing, right? [00:46:00] So many people think that Monday morning is supposed to be your most vital time.
I have small kids and even when I had small kids, I do not like Monday mornings. I don't like spending time trying to bend my brain back to work on a Monday morning. So I have started taking Monday mornings 9 to 11. I do not work. If there's an emergency or if I feel like it and literally, if I feel like it, if I don't, I might go sit out on my back deck, I might walk my dog, I might read a book, I might make a nice breakfast, or I might lay on the floor and remind myself that I'm not being chased by a tiger.
Speaker 4: Right. 
Speaker 3: But I don't force myself into any particular role for the first couple of hours of my work week. And that's very different than almost any productivity coach I've ever heard of. 
Speaker: Mm hmm. Yes. We are very uncommon here. 
Speaker 3: Yes, we are. At The Uncommon Way. But it was, I could not have thought of that if [00:47:00] I hadn't already been in this mode of observing what worked for me and what didn't.
And it really is a continual process 
Speaker: of 
Speaker 3: figuring out what works and what doesn't. But being able to just not, I just, I have the option to just not with life for two hours on Monday morning. My kids are in school, My house might or might not be a complete wreck, and it does not matter. I'm just going to sit here and enjoy my book.
Speaker: In a place where you were, which is, you're running around trying to do a million different things, you have a business, but it wouldn't necessarily, no one would be like, Oh, she's an amazing CEO. Look at this empire she's building, right? It's more like we're just doing our thing. And they are sitting here thinking about how things might be different for them, how it could be different, how, what would it be like if I weren't always feeling that way?
They're listening to your words. We're going to give them [00:48:00] kind of a tactical and a mindset tip. And energetic, if you can think of anything. But the tactical one, do you want to go with that, lay on the floor and tell yourself you're not being chased by a tiger, or is there something else coming up that's like one, one to do?
Speaker 3: That one's a great one. The other one that I would throw out there is that most women I know spend so much time in their own heads. And if there was a way to create some space, to create some clarity, it would be. Take 20 minutes and meditate if that's what works for you, get out of your house if that's what works for you, Jenna likes dance parties, I vote yes, do that, but give yourself space to not think about it and then allow your thoughts to very gently rest back on whatever the problem was.
Because a lot of times I feel like we dig in. It's almost, there's more resistance to finding the solution the harder we think about it. [00:49:00] And if we allow our minds to just like rest on it, sometimes it just pops up. 
Speaker: Beautiful. Yes. So good. Okay. What's the mindset? 
Speaker 3: I think like, you're either winning or you're learning.
And I don't know where I heard that. But like, Yes. Yes. Failure. I have redefined failure for myself and that is failure is if I quit something that I really wanted to do. That's it. If I quit something that I didn't like anyway, that's not failing. That's actually winning. 
Speaker 4: Uh 
Speaker 3: huh. See ya. Goodbye. Yeah. So I am either winning or I am learning.
So in any circumstance where I have fucked something up, I have done something silly, or I have made a mistake, Or even if it's outside of my control, but I'm responsible for it. If there's a lesson that I can learn, then I did not fail. I won. 
Speaker: Yeah. So good, Lauren. Yes. Okay. I love that. Energetically. This has been an area where you've maybe [00:50:00] been watching a lot of the other ones of us talk about this, but is there anything coming up for you?
I have something I'm thinking of for you, but I want 
Speaker 3: to hear what you have. 
Speaker: Okay. So I'm thinking about the times where you've gotten really clear. And then that thing has, like, typically a new client has come in. Yes. So do you remember when we were like, first of all, right when you signed up with me, there was a client.
And then I remember there was a time where I was like, even though you don't have the capacity to take on another client right now, you can still be selling. Yeah. And what would those clients be like? And then boom, another. And then I got another client. 
Speaker 3: So we've talked about human design. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm a manifesting generator.
And that is the thing. That is, that is a pattern in my life where I allow for the space to believe that's possible, right? Like it's not. I'm not firm. I'm not putting boundaries into the universe. I'm literally just going, what would that look like if I was still [00:51:00] selling right now? What would it look like to get that next amazing, incredible client?
And like, I envision that and it's not something I have to talk about. It's not something that I have to spend a lot of time on. It's the same as like resting my thoughts gently on something, right? I'm just allowing my mind to consider it and then it shows up before me. Okay. And if you can just allow yourself, allow your mind to consider the possibility of the next amazing thing.
There's no expectation. You're not forcing it. There's no need to make it happen. Just allow yourself to consider the possibility. 
Speaker: Brilliant. Because that, so many people when they're trying to do that work. They have to believe it really hard, they have to repeat it to themselves every day, and so that is such a great tip for the energetic of just being open to possibility.
Yeah, that has made all the difference. Oh my gosh, [00:52:00] thank you, Lauren. Okay, two last things. What would you say to somebody who's, I should be able to do this on my own, I don't really have that money to invest right now, I should just make the money first and then get a coach, or should I even have a coach?
What would you say? 
Speaker 3: One, can I hug you? And two, it feels so impossible. It feels so impossible to invest in yourself before you have seen a return on the investment in your business. 
Speaker 4: Yeah, it does. 
Speaker 3: Please believe that you are worth that investment. My biggest struggle was always that I felt that I wasn't worth the investment until my business.
Had made real money. 
Speaker: Yes, 
Speaker 3: and what I had to really learn was that I was worth that Whether or not my business [00:53:00] fails, coaching has been a success, and my business is not failing, by the way, it is growing, but whether or not my business fails, I now understand and deeply believe that I am worth the investment of coaching.
Speaker: Yes. Thank you. I think somebody needed to hear. I hope so. Yeah. And it takes, it is really a huge departure for our brains that I completely understand because I was there too. It's hard to wrap our brains around, right? I just want to reiterate again, I don't think there is any better investment than a woman with drive.
Really driven? Invest in her. She'll pay you dividends, by golly. Yeah, so good. Okay, if people want to find out more about you, where can they find you? 
Speaker 3: They can go to foundryhome. design. The website is, I would say, currently under construction. But it's really delightful and we're very excited and it's growing and it's going to be amazing.
Speaker: Yes, we will [00:54:00] link to it in the show notes. Yeah. And it's so fun because so often people will listen to episodes in, who knows, six months from now or something and website and they'll be like, well, that looks pretty damn good to me. If you are looking, I think it'd be a really fun thing just to tell them also what they are getting into.
Because if you are looking for, okay, you just have to share the thing, I love it so much, about what you said about the people on Instagram or what your, who your clients really are. Do you remember this? I'm trying to lead you into it. I'm just gonna have to say it. Don't lead me. Just tell me. I'm just gonna say it.
We've had so many 
Speaker 3: conversations, Jenna, and like the bits that you remember sometimes are very different than the bits that I remember. 
Speaker: So, I remember this moment of clarity where you said, my ideal clients are the ones who want their house to look like what two years from now will be all over Instagram, or three years from now will be all over [00:55:00] Instagram.
So not the ones that want to look like everybody else, and I just think that anyone that's drawn to this podcast and the name The Uncommon Way is really looking to, so a lot of those people. Want help with their homes and the space that surrounds them and they should talk to you. That's what I'm trying to say Please talk to me.
Speaker 3: That's great Also, like my drive for design has always been how do I take this individual? this imperfect and beautiful and incredible individual and make their house feel like You walk in and you're like, Oh, this is you in your like most ideal state in that state where you have had the coach and you have done the work and you've built this great life that you are proud of and comfortable in.
And that's the space that you walk into. 
Speaker: We have such different businesses, but we're all doing the same work. It's all, 
Speaker 3: it's all the work of people. And life, and individuality, and success, and [00:56:00] artistry, and growth. And 
Speaker: authenticity, and growth, and stepping into who you're here to be, and, oh my gosh, so awesome.
And 
Speaker 3: generally being badasses. I mean, let's be honest. 
Speaker: Oh, Lauren, it was so great having you on. Thank you for taking the time. Thank you again for having 
Speaker 3: me. It's always wonderful to talk with you.
Speaker 2: 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.
  

Jenna Harrison 5/21/24 Jenna Harrison 5/21/24

Ep# 97: Spring Cleanse: The Ultimate Framework for Cleaning Up Your Business to Make Way for Massive Growth and Expansion

Are you ready to detox your business and unlock your next level of growth?

In today's economic climate, it's crucial to find effective strategies to thrive despite market challenges.

This episode dives into practical steps to declutter your business, ensuring it’s primed for success no matter the circumstances.

In this episode, you will:

Episode Summary

Are you ready to detox your business and unlock your next level of growth?

In today's economic climate, it's crucial to find effective strategies to thrive despite market challenges.

This episode dives into practical steps to declutter your business, ensuring it’s primed for success no matter the circumstances.

In this episode, you will:

Discover a step-by-step process to identify and eliminate clutter in your business operations.
Learn how small changes can lead to significant improvements in your business outcomes.
Gain insights into optimizing your offers and systems for better efficiency and profitability.

Listen now to transform your business and position it for sustainable growth and success.

Want to detox your reactivity and unlock your full potential in business?

Listen to the full episode now and download the free Somatics in Your Pocket tool at theuncommonway.com/reactivity-cleanse.

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in signature offers and strategies and a first-rate mindset.

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for highly accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Episodes mentioned

#94 Spring Cleanse: 7 Day Guided Thought Cleanse to Detox Your Mindset & Encourage Growth for A Successful Business

#95 Spring Cleanse: Eliminate Reactivity in Your Business to Manifest Steady Growth and Abundance

#96 Tough Economy? What The Best Strategy for Business Growth During Challenges Really Is, and How Managing Pre-Traumatic Stress Will Set You Free

#16 Business Minimalism and Why We Overwork as Women Entrepreneurs

The Uncommon Way is led by business coach Jenna Harrison, who helps women entrepreneurs feel confident, find their ideal clients effortlessly and avoid overwork so they can manifest money and abundance in their business and life. This podcast empowers female entrepreneurs to overcome imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and limiting beliefs through somatics, mindset, and spirituality, create 7-figure offers, and build an online coaching business with clarity and alignment.

Enjoy the Show?

Don’t miss an episode, follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.

Full Episode Transcript:

  
    [00:00:00] If you are anywhere near the online space, you've probably heard people letting you know that times are tough. Buyers aren't buying right now. So we're going to talk strategy, mindset, and yes, even energetics to help your business thrive and so that you know how to navigate any tough times in the future.
You're listening to the Uncommon Way business and life coaching podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging, and strategy, and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating.
Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna [00:01:00] Harrison. Welcome. Welcome to part three of this cleanse to prime you for better business results. Today, we're going to get down and dirty to get your business house in order. So for all of you who love to geek out on the tactical aspects of entrepreneurship like I do, you are going to love this episode. Now this cleanse process that we're doing is what you will want to do whenever you're ever you want to make room for your business to grow. The same way we might do a juice cleanse before we're going to train for a big hike, or we clean out our closet before we revamp our wardrobe. Same principles apply here.
 Regarding business, we have thoughts, patterns, processes, offers, all sorts of things that we might want to shed or detox
so that we really step into something new and next level. Now here at The Uncommon Way, we believe that [00:02:00] our mindset is the key driver of our results and that cleaning up our thoughts is the domino that really unlocks that leveling up process in so many ways in our business. That's why part one of this cleanse delivered in episode 94, which we're going to list here in the show notes, but episode 94 was a third.
Thought Detox. And you definitely need to listen to that if you haven't already. And then in episode 95, we talked about how to detox reactivity, which is what you need in order to actually reap the rewards of this work that we're doing here, right? So that when you have that growth spurt that's waiting for you, you can remain steady and unflappable in it through ups and downs, so that you really create that momentum.
and generate those results.
That is what I want for you, rather than backtracking or ping ponging off right or left [00:03:00] because we're making emotional decisions.
And then in episode 96, I gave you a real world example of how this shows up. A lot of people right now are feeling worried about the economy, and that is leading them to make these reactive decisions that don't really serve them. 
 So now here we are in episode 97, and it is time to think through the nuts and bolts of your business.
In this episode, you will get a step by step process for evaluating areas of clutter in your business that are at risk. best not fully serving you for where you want to go, and at worst, totally impeding your growth.
You'll really understand how small changes now can have big ramifications later,
so you can better evaluate what needs to go versus what you absolutely want to keep, versus what maybe just needs a slight little tweak or revamp or upgrade. And you'll [00:04:00] also get to see any resistance that pops up for those kind of changes, which is going to be brilliant because it will illuminate what got you here in the first place, what's driving the decisions that have created your current results, and what you're going to need to release to move into your next stage of growth or offer or do.
business most effectively. Now there is a lot to unpack in a thorough business assessment.
So in this episode, we won't be able to dive into all the pieces, but don't worry. We do have an amazing resource that we've created and it is available
by going to theuncommonway. com Now,
I don't know if I have told you all of this, but my new COO, Natalie, whom I brought on in November, I know I've referenced her before, but I don't know if I've actually told you about her. [00:05:00] But she is a genius. She has helped multiple companies like mine grow to seven figures.
And she is a coach, so understands coaching businesses and also is an expert when it comes to organizational leadership.
And in working with her and, of course, starting to think about scaling my business and reaching out, speaking with other friends of mine and mentors, I realized I have absorbed quite a bit in the last few months that really needs to be shared.
But for this free resource that we are giving away, Natalie actually created it. I'd say I contributed to maybe 10 percent of this. 10 or 15%. And I am sharing this with you because if you want to get your hands on a document created by somebody who knows this like the back of her hand
and has helped multiple service companies,
then run don't walk to go [00:06:00] get this.
What it's going to help you do is think through all of the different aspects of your business very methodically. For your process of self evaluation.
Now, here at The Uncommon Way, we conceptualize our business in terms of its processes, which will be different than how many of you might natively think about the different areas of your business or might be different than how you've been taught to think about the different areas of your business or the ways that you will frequently see a business.
Described and broken down and categorized if you just Google it,
you don't need to take notes on any of this. It's all in the PDF and it's very clear 
and visually very easy on the eyes.
So really just listen now and absorb what I'm saying. In a process focused business, there are three key categories. And this is the same roadmap that we recommend using as you declutter your business. So it starts with growth, [00:07:00] then moves into production, and finally stabilization.
And these three things fulfill the two goals of your business, to make a profit, and to fulfill the vision or the mission.
So the growth category is all about attracting clients and generating revenue, aka sales. In production, you're delivering your service and improving on your service. And then in stabilization, you're building a team, you're scaling and systematizing and lining up legal compliance.
But you might be wondering, what does this all look like in real life?
Well, again, we go into this a little further in the free resource. For each of those categories and subcategories, we're giving you five or six problem areas that tend to crop up and are huge growth killers. For instance, let's say it's time for you to start bringing on a team, but you've got an idea that hiring someone costs [00:08:00] you money rather than making you money, so you hold off for a year or two.
That is a perspective that you will want to detox sooner rather than later.
Because your business growth is compounding each year. And so each year that you're holding off on creating the revenue that is possible for you that year is a setback for the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that.
Or let's say every time you try to bring on more clients, you get really overworked and things start falling through the cracks and client satisfaction declines. And so maybe you're tempted to wind that back and move to fewer clients again. What that means is that you haven't systematized your business and automated processes in a way that can support you and can support more clients coming on with you.
Now as I'm giving these two examples, it's perfectly okay if you're noticing resistance to any of that. 
If you're like, uh, an employee, but what if it's just money down the [00:09:00] drain?
Anytime you can notice your resistance, it's actually a good thing because it's an opportunity to see your fishbowl. Now, what do I mean by that? We all think that we are swimming in an ocean of possibilities, but actually we're in a fishbowl inside the ocean, and that fishbowl is the way that we think naturally, and it prohibits us from even considering possibilities that aren't in line with our way of thinking.
So back to that employee example, if I'm thinking that money is scarce and I never quite have enough, and I want to keep as much of it for myself as I can, And that any time it leaves me, it's a net drag.
You're never going to consider the possibility that actually, maybe that's money working on your behalf like an employee for you, as Rich Dad would have said in the Rich Dad, Poor Dad book,
and that perhaps it would actually bring you more money [00:10:00] and a much better quality of life if you would invest in support in order to grow your business.
So I recommend that when you do notice any resistance, you be like, huh, interesting. Why? Why am I feeling this feeling in my body right now? Well, because I don't want to cut into my profit and earn less. And then we get to see, oh, okay, I get it. The main driver here is my fear that I don't have enough, that I'm earning less, And then now you get to question that, just even playing with it, trying it on.
If you have a coach, they're the ones that are going to help you do this and identify these thoughts. But for right now, if you take my advice, when you feel this resistance, you'll be able to say, okay, I see what this is creating for me. So I now have zero support, no team members. But what if that's actually creating less money for me? Less revenue? I [00:11:00] And you have an opportunity to say, this is something that I would like to release or detox because it hasn't been serving me and where I'm going, I will need some help and I want the revenue that comes from it.
And the longer I keep putting it off for another day,
the more drastically it affects the lifetime earning value in my business. And since what got me here won't get me there. I need to start releasing that and moving into a new way of thinking and being. Again, this is not only mindset. This could also be an offer that you have, for instance, it could be putting processes or automations in your business.
So, again, it is ridiculously valuable to have a cheat sheet for all of that which we're offering you because being aware and avoiding those kind of pitfalls, seeing them up front, seeing things that you might not have considered before, will help you increase your revenue [00:12:00] potentially by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
and reduce your drama exponentially too.
And as you're thinking through these different categories, you might notice that there's something there that isn't even necessarily costing your business dramatically, but it's just not contributing to the quality of the business that you want to have. So if you are really looking to be able to lean back more.
in your business that requires working smarter, not harder. And you might start to notice that this runs against you having extra little tasks, extra little offers, extra things that just create clutter in your business. And now it's time to really remove that and clean things up. Yes, so that you can grow, but just so that you can enjoy moving through the day.
and feel lighter and cleaner. I have an episode called [00:13:00] Business Minimalism. If you're interested in this subject, it's episode 16. 
We'll highlight it below. And it's all about why we overwork. And it's hopefully very inspiring to move into a different way of doing business, which is entirely possible for you. But between you and me right now, I feel inspired to highlight one area from each of the three categories I mentioned earlier. So from growth, from production, from stabilization. And specifically, I want to talk about your offers I want to talk about how you're iterating and improving on that offer, and then how you're systematizing and automating in your business.
Offers are one of my very favorite things to talk about because they reveal so much in terms of how well aligned your business is. This is really the most critical part of your business. It's the thing that you [00:14:00] have to nail. Like you could love Apple. You could love everything about its philosophy and about the ads it puts out.
But if they don't have something that you want to buy, you are not going to buy from them. You're going to sit there applauding them from the sidelines. You need a strong offer.
But by the same token, if you have a strong offer that appeals to a particular group of people, and you want to poke your eyes out every time you have to talk about that topic, and every time you have to help these people with that subject, that's not doing you any favors either. And you definitely are not going to sell with as much passion and conviction as you could.
When I have somebody come to me and tell me that they have this offer because they thought that's what would sell really well in the market or that's what so and so told them to do and that would be a good offer or because [00:15:00] that's what people came to them and said they wanted and so they figured, that'll make me some money, when I see that, I know that they are deeply abdicating their power because a woman who is in her power believes that she gets to offer whatever she wants.
She knows that her superpowers, that her secret sauce is liquid gold for the right people.
She knows she's creating value in the world. She knows that she will be paid for that value.
And when she creates an offer that delivers that value to the people who actually want it and need it,
she knows that it's a no brainer talking about it.
True power is not compromising.
And sometimes the offers, or even the people you were working with before, might not be aligned anymore. Maybe they were at one point, but you've evolved, and now they no longer do.
And when [00:16:00] you're in full abundance about your ability to create and receive,
then there's rarely a good reason to hold back on moving towards alignment. I believe that your offers should connect the dots.
You should be able to look back over your life and say, I get it. I get how this all led up to here and why this is the perfect thing for me to be offering. that fully expresses where I am
and who I am.
We move very organically through our offer creation process at The Uncommon Way.
We start with getting really clear on what we're really about and what we're really here to do, knowing that that theme that's moving us will also be deeply resonant with our right people, and therefore we can use that in our messaging later on to create subconscious resonance.
The people that come to me want business coaching, yes, but they are deeply attracted to the [00:17:00] uncommon way. They don't want cookie cutter. They don't want to be doing it like everyone else. They don't want to learn from somebody who just wants to push them into a template process.
If they don't want to be on Instagram, they don't want to have to be on Instagram. If they don't want to sell digital courses, they don't want to have to sell digital courses. If they don't want to be a coach, they don't want to have to be a coach. They want their thing.
But all of that resonance happens by me knowing my thing,
and being able to speak to it in my copy and in my offers.
 And when you know what you're about, It's then very easy for you to move into who are the right people that also want to create that thing in the world.
There was a point in time where I completely shuttered my lucrative business coaching practice.
It was right when COVID was first hitting and I felt deeply moved to help people with clarity. People of [00:18:00] all sorts of backgrounds and aspirations.
But what I realized really quickly is that if I were walking my talk, then I really needed to deeply consider who the best people were 
and the women who were most likely to be able to go and live these uncommon lives of their choosing were actually entrepreneurs.
Not only were they going to have more than two weeks of vacation a year,
And they weren't going to have their income capped by whatever the norm in their profession was. And they weren't going to have a boss telling them what to do all the time.
But they'd already self selected and shown interest in a different way of being by choosing to pursue entrepreneurship.
So from there, I was able to deeply honor my need to move into something different. I no longer just wanted to talk about sales during COVID. I
wanted to ground more deeply into meaning and alignment, which is what I [00:19:00] did.
But I didn't have to spend too long on that decision because I had this framework. And after knowing exactly who the next iteration of my people were going to be, I was able to talk to them, understand them, create a killer offer for them. It is called the Clarity Accelerator, and it's where we move through these pieces that I'm talking about with so much more in terms of what is needed comprehensively to really create your military grade mindset,
your calm nervous system so that you can become that unflammable CEO and some energetic attunement for those who are down.
And that's all wrapped up with the most beautiful community of women.
And when I talk to people, they say that's exactly what they've been looking for. And or they've never seen anything like this on the market before. That's exactly what you want to create for yourself. You [00:20:00] want what you are really about.
The events and the themes that have been showing up throughout your life that bring you to this thing.
That you want to help create more of in the world. You want that to dot, to connect you then to your people, to then connect to your offer and then be able to connect to your messaging where you're just basically talking about all of the things that I just mentioned. You're talking about the why, you're talking about what it means for them 
hey, if you want true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business, and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator.
I'll teach you to connect all the dots, the dots that have always been there for you, so that you can show up like you were born for exactly this. Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever [00:21:00] learn. Clarity From Facebook ads to manifestation, just go to theuncommonway. com slash schedule and set up a time to talk.
I can't wait to be your coach. To really give kind of a cool headed evaluation of your offers
and then pair that with a deeply warm and heart led evaluation of your offers or gut led intuition of your offers,
but just ask yourself,
if heaven forbid, three years from now, I'm on my deathbed, am I in the right arena? Am I throwing my hat into the right ring? Is this what I want to be contributing to?
Are these my aligned people? Is there any scarcity showing up in my thoughts about them? Any have tos? Any compromises? Or are they a full bodied yes? Is this offer the best I can do?
Is it exactly what they [00:22:00] want? Is it different than anything else out there? How can I take it even further? How can I make it even more compelling and luscious and irresistible?
And will I allow myself to do so? Will I allow myself to move into that type of alignment
where it's not just a full body yes for your clients, every day is a full body yes for you?
All right, let's talk about iterating and improving upon your offer. Look. I believe that you are doing great things for your clients. I bet they love you. But chances are, their results pale in comparison to the results that your clients will be getting a couple years from now.
And why is that? And how can we expedite that to help people get even better results sooner?
How are [00:23:00] you screening for people? How are you onboarding people? How are you setting their expectations?
How are you moving them through the flow of their time with you?
How is the information you're delivering
moving them towards the result they want? Now hopefully, part of how that information is being delivered and moving them towards the result is that you have actually paid attention to the people you've been working with to see where are their stuck points.
What could you add in or take away
that would smooth that rough patch?
And will you prioritize then actually watching as the next client moves through that phase,
to evaluate whether the changes you made worked or not.
And then humble yourself to change it again if you need to. To get honest feedback.
To constantly be in a learner's mindset. Now this doesn't necessarily [00:24:00] mean if you, for instance, have an information product of some sort that you're constantly redoing your curriculum.
I challenge you to think through what's the simplest and most effective way
that you can help someone through that one specific area.
I had a client years ago who was an acupuncturist, and her issue with her clients was that they would come in, feel amazing, and then not come back for a while,
until things got bad enough that they ended up on her table again.
And while she was tempted to think that's just kind of the nature of the business, What she knew deep down was that she was always kind of nudging them back towards baseline, but she was never really helping them sustain that level of health or get the kind of results that were possible.
But it's only really through cool headed objectivity that you can kind of analyze the different touch points as a client comes into your practice. And start to try some different things and what she found [00:25:00] was that just by changing her conversation the very first time she met with somebody.
And perfecting how she talked about what was available to them, really painting a beautiful picture of where they could go and exactly what was required for them to get there.
Just that conversation alone was able to start changing her client's results so dramatically that they were starting to refer all of their colleagues. They were actually athletes, and they would start referring all of their team members to her.
What if there's just one small tweak in this detox process that you are here signing up for with your time and listening to? One small tweak that could have a huge, huge impact on your business. Speaking of small
tweaks, let's talk about systematizing and processes. It's It's
The strength of [00:26:00] your systems and processes are directly related to your experience of your operational tempo.
Now you can be in a high op tempo. There's a lot of stuff going on in your business. You can be in a high op tempo and feel easeful. And you can be in a low op tempo and feel totally stressed and overwhelmed. The differences are just two things, your mindset and your processes.
I have a client that you'll hear from next week.
And I was so excited to bring her on because I think her journey really exemplifies all three stages of this business cleanse that I've been talking about. She has done so much detoxing with her mindset and her reactivity, but also cleaning up her processes.
She is an interior designer and there are so many different moving parts in her business. There are contractors [00:27:00] she's working with, there is furniture and fixtures that she's ordering, she's maintaining
good relationships with everyone involved. There are lots of moving parts.
But imagine the difference in a business where you are recreating each of those steps every time with every new client.
Shall we meet on Wednesday? Oh no, I can't meet on Wednesday. Okay, how about Thursday? I mean, it's these little tiny things that will just eat away, not just at your calendar, but at your cognitive load of the things that you can keep going in your head. She's also the mom of two small children, so you can only imagine.
But think about the difference when a new client comes on And she says, great, and basically pushes a button
and the series of emails go out. She just has to customize this [00:28:00] template that's already done for her every week to tell them what's been moving forward in the business.
Invoicing is done automatically.
And I see this at all different stages. You don't need to have a bustling interior design practice in order to need these kind of things.
Even early on in your business, it's so worthwhile to think through.
And honestly, it gives me a thrill every time I do something that I know is going to save me doing it again and again in the future. I have such a different feeling doing that, whatever it is, content piece that I'm creating or email that I'm writing or training that I'm doing.
It's one of the beautiful things about podcasts, as content creation vehicles, they can live for so long. I was talking to someone just the other day who said, I have been listening to all [00:29:00] of your podcasts starting from episode number one.
But whenever we're feeling like a hot mess in our business, and there's too many loose threads, and we're dropping all sorts of balls.
It means that we haven't taken a pause and a deep breath and thought about how we can automate this or streamline this so that the next time it takes even less time and the time after that it takes even less time. Time is such a valuable resource in your business and every time you choose to sacrifice it, and we very often do, we very often choose to hang on to money and sacrifice our time.
That's not the best use of our resources.
I challenge you to just think through one area of your business that you find yourself repeating over and over again,
that you could create a template for,
or create a zap for,
or create a living piece of [00:30:00] content that can be repurposed and reused.
So often what is really going on deep down Beneath all the layers of all the things you're juggling when you're in this stage is that you haven't fully owned
your own magic, your own liquid gold.
If you did, you would no longer be spending it on the things that you're spending it on right now. In the free resource I've been talking about that says, if you don't see yourself the CEO and creationary of your business as the most important asset,
then you need to detox the following immediately. Bullet, bullet, bullet. I love it so much.
What would change if you believed you were the most important asset?
What would change if you really believed what you do is liquid gold?
Not [00:31:00] liquid gold ish until somebody really needs something from you and then they're more important and you're willing to humble yourself or deprioritize yourself, I should say. No, no, no, no.
But truly understanding what a gift your time and focus really is.
All right, you have got your wheels spinning now.
It's time to pull your best resources to really lean on your highest level thinking, your most poignant intuitive downloads,
and just plain old desire, and start decluttering,
detoxing your business, and getting ready to receive what is available to you right around the corner.
If this is the kind of work that you know that you need to do, and you love doing, I would love to see you inside the Clarity Accelerator or our [00:32:00] new mastermind for highly accomplished women entrepreneurs, power, and potency. All right, I will see you back here next week. Remember, you know who you are, and each day you are 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 First strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit theuncommonway. com. See you next time.
  

Jenna Harrison 5/14/24 Jenna Harrison 5/14/24

Ep# 96: Tough Economy? What The Best Strategy for Business Growth During Challenges Really Is, and How Managing Pre-Traumatic Stress Will Set You Free

Are you feeling the pressure of tough times impacting your business?

Dive into this episode where we unravel the secrets to navigating economic contractions and other setbacks, both immediately and long-term.

In today's fast-paced world, it's easy to get caught up in the fear and uncertainty of business downturns.

But what if I told you that even in the midst of contraction, there are strategies to not only survive but thrive?

Join us as we flip everything on its head and explore the hidden opportunities within tough times. Learn how to steer your business towards success, regardless of external challenges.

Episode Summary

Are you feeling the pressure of tough times impacting your business?

Dive into this episode where we unravel the secrets to navigating economic contractions and other setbacks, both immediately and long-term.

In today's fast-paced world, it's easy to get caught up in the fear and uncertainty of business downturns.

But what if I told you that even in the midst of contraction, there are strategies to not only survive but thrive?

Join us as we flip everything on its head and explore the hidden opportunities within tough times. Learn how to steer your business towards success, regardless of external challenges.

In this episode,you will:

Gain clarity on how economic contractions can trigger reactive behaviors in your business, and learn how to interrupt this pattern to maintain growth and stability
Discover the most effective business strategies for navigating tough selling moments, ensuring your business remains resilient and adaptable.
Master the mindset tactics necessary to stay calm and focused amidst uncertainty, allowing you to make strategic decisions and unlock new levels of creativity and self-concept

Scroll up and press play now to unlock the keys to thriving in tough times and emerge as an unflappable CEO ready to conquer any challenge.

Want to detox your reactivity and unlock your full potential in business?

Listen to the full episode now and download the free Somatics in Your Pocket tool at theuncommonway.com/reactivity-cleanse.

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in signature offers and strategies and a first-rate mindset.

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for highly accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Episodes mentioned

#95 Spring Cleanse: Eliminate Reactivity in Your Business to Manifest Steady Growth and Abundance.

#94 Spring Cleanse: 7 Day Guided Thought Cleanse to Detox Your Mindset & Encourage Growth for a Successful Business

#92. Get Through High Stress and Overwhelm Quickly for Peak Performance & Mindset Growth, Joy and Better Results as a Service-Based Entrepreneur

#67. Revelations from the Clarity Collective with Women Entrepreneurs Amanda, Gabi, Ale and Kat

Enjoy the Show?

Don’t miss an episode, follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.

Full Episode Transcript:

  
    [00:00:00] If you are anywhere near the online space, you've probably heard people letting you know that times are tough. Buyers aren't buying right now. So we're going to talk strategy, mindset, and yes, even energetics to help your business thrive and so that you know how to navigate any tough times in the future.
You're listening to the Uncommon Way business and life coaching podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging, and strategy, and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating.
Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.[00:01:00] 
Welcome back everyone. How are you? I am very passionate about this topic and things might get a little heated. So strap in. Remember how in school, you'd learn something in theory, but then your class would go out and see it applied in the real world, and it would just make so much more sense? That's what we're doing today.
Because last episode, we talked all about reactivity in business, which is when we make decisions and take actions based on reaction rather than intention. And now, we're going to talk about We're going to observe it in the wild, specifically relating to the fear of business revenue declining due to economic contraction or whatever other factors.
By the end of this episode, you will understand how moments of economic contraction, or even worries about future economic contraction, will [00:02:00] make you reactive if you don't interrupt that pattern. Causing your business to contract. You'll gain clarity on the most important business strategy for getting through tough selling moments, and the most important mindset tactic to calm yourself.
And you'll get the opportunity to realign your business, recommit to the principles and values that you hold dear, and open yourself to new levels of trust and creativity and self concept. Wow, even just saying these things got me all passionate. But we've only just started. Okay, in this episode, I'll be speaking specifically to my girls in the online marketing space, but it really applies to everyone because we all get into fear cycles about our business.
And life, of course. Now, here's some quick background. I was on Instagram the other day. Right now happens once every week or two, but that will change soon because [00:03:00] social media is something that I'm looking forward to playing with more this summer. But anyway, this ad caught my eye, and I just noticed, I've seen several of these kinds of things lately, whether they are in emails or on ads, and, and I'm sure you've seen them too.
Basically, they're saying, everything is changing. Selling isn't easy anymore. Hardly anybody's buying. The bubble done popped. The sky's falling. Now, regardless of whether or not you, too, are hearing this in your particular industry, listen up. Because, at some point, there will be fears of economic contraction, or new disruptive technologies, or whatever it is, and I want you to be prepared.
Now, notice when I say things like economic contraction and disruptive technologies. I don't know, purchasing behavior, ads costs rising, algorithm difficulties. Notice that creates a little heartbeat [00:04:00] increase as you're hearing it. And now imagine that multiplied by all the people who are feeling the same.
And then when they start talking about it, it seems even bigger. And then there's a vibration of fear that's just lingering in the air, like the smell of french fries around a fast food restaurant. And it gets to the point that even if your business has not experienced any drop in revenue whatsoever, nothing has actually changed for you.
You're stressed in advance because maybe something will happen. This, my friend, is called pre traumatic stress. It happens outside of business, of course. It can cause sleeplessness and awful flash forwards. Maybe it's about a member of your family being harmed, or you pee your pants right as you're giving a keynote speech, or your business revenue isn't what you wanted it to be, dun dun dun.
Once you're feeling this way, what do you do? You spend lots of [00:05:00] brain space worrying about it that you could spend creating value for people. Maybe you stay up late drinking wine and watching Palm Royale because Emily in Paris hasn't started yet. So you're tired the next day and your work isn't your best.
Maybe your messaging shifts slightly and you become more pushy because you're feeling desperate. Maybe you say things that aren't in your fullest integrity. You start working extra hours and resting less, in part because you're not as productive anymore, but also because your old belief that only those who work hard have success has now been triggered.
And then when your dear husband casually asks, How's business? You snap and bite his head off. I'm working as hard as I can, okay? And guess what? Your business revenue does go down. Or, even if it doesn't, you've created a life you despise with clients you dislike or feel guilty about. So it's all the same.
Now you might be tempted to blame the [00:06:00] economy for that and those quote unquote difficult times. But said with love, the true cause was your reactivity due to pre traumatic stress, and your inability to manage it and access your highest level thinking, creativity, and problem solving. You can't create a business where you lean back more and hustle less when you're getting panicked and leaning forward in that anxious, hustly energy.
You can hold that leaned back energy no matter what's going on in the world or your business. I promise, you have that power and you can do so wherever you are in your business. Even though, yes, in the earlier stages you're usually doing more than later on, but it's about the energy you hold and even how all of that relates to manifestation if you're into that.
But plus it gives you tools to detox that tendency, specifically from the vantage point of your body, of your nervous system, [00:07:00] which we won't be going into as much in this episode, but really contributes to your resilience and your calmness. I want to help you be the unflappable CEO with the calm nervous system and the military grade mindset.
It was like, okay, we've got some incoming from the rear flank. We've got hills and rough terrain to the northwest. These are the conditions on the battlefield, here's how we're going to proceed. Hey, if you want true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business, and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator.
I'll teach you to connect all the dots, the dots that have always been there for you, so that you can show up like you were born for exactly this. Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn. Clarity From Facebook ads to manifestation, just go to theuncommonway. com [00:08:00] slash schedule and set up a time to talk.
I can't wait to be your coach. Okay, I first started hearing the doom and gloom talk back in 2023, and it was from people who have seven figure or higher businesses that I was in groups with. It was like, Okay, we can talk about this behind the scenes, one to another, like, I feel like people aren't buying like they used to.
But my business was tracking along fine, so I was just curious, I was just listening. And a few things were happening in the digital landscape that I could see as facts. Yes, at that time, there was recession uncertainty and inflation shock that had people thinking twice about what they were buying in the short term.
Kind of a wait and see. Especially when they were on the fence about things, or things weren't really that important to them. Also, people were becoming desensitized a bit to a tactic which has been a driver of the selling of [00:09:00] courses a lot, which is urgency. You have to buy now. Doors are closing. Now, buyers became increasingly sophisticated, and they knew that if they just waited a couple months, they could join then.
I personally don't choose to bring in people who are driven by FOMO. I want their urgency to be internally driven by their deep desire for change and growth. Which is why I have the always open model that I have, and I don't use a lot of urgency when I'm talking. But for some people that had relied on this, they were seeing a change.
Now, hardly any of my clients sell low ticket courses, so I really didn't think about addressing it. But I need to now. Because I'm seeing it permeate. So here's what I can tell happened. Those entrepreneurs who were feeling a contraction because maybe they had been selling with urgency and maybe they were selling things that were kind of like, eh, this would be good to have, [00:10:00] maybe.
Well, guess what? Those are the very people with the big advertising budgets and the big lists and the big follower counts. So they started sharing their experiences and very human thoughts. And with that broad reach and that sense of authority, it really started creating a feeling of fear in the people who were listening to them.
And then what happened after that is possibly something like those people started freaking out, even though, like I said before, nothing was necessarily going wrong with their businesses. And so then the ones with big budgets were listening to them, and hearing that reflected back for them, so they start talking about it as a given.
And then it just becomes a fact, and it's coming into their Facebook ads, and unfortunately, the most successful ads are the ones that really drove that fear home. Because fear does capture people's attention, as we know from the news. [00:11:00] Until finally, we get to where we are now. Where you might be happily going about your day on Instagram looking for cat reels, when there in your feed is an ad talking about how many businesses fail, how dire the situation is, and how if you don't know exactly what's working at this moment, Then your business might fail.
So let's just take a breath collectively. Know that you and every other person listening to this podcast is taking a breath and choosing to step back and get the big picture view so we can manage our very human emotions rather than react the discomfort of that panic. It reminds me so much of the pandemic.
There was so much fear in business and personal. It was a huge lesson in pre traumatic stress, because so many fears never came to pass. Will the economy tank? Will I end up living under a [00:12:00] bridge? Will I lose all my retirement savings? Am I going to die? All of you listening to this, thankfully, did not die.
And yet emotionally, many of us went through the hell of those things in advance. Because our brains fool themselves into thinking we'll have a better chance of controlling negative outcomes if we worry about them a lot. When usually the opposite is true. So here's the big picture. Listen up. Any recession or contraction is generalized scarcity.
It's people thinking they might not have enough and hanging onto their money rather than spending it and letting it flow through the economy. Businesses decide not to invest, they hang onto their money, individuals hold off on buying decisions, they hang onto their money. So it's not a given that there is less money, necessarily.
Unless you were coming off a boom economy, and then the government's [00:13:00] purposely pulling money out of circulation to cool things off. But often, by the time you know about a recession, the government's doing the opposite. They're pumping money into the economy. So, if money doesn't actually disappear, but there's less floating around, where does it go?
Well, of course, there are monetary distribution problems. Where it ends up clumping around certain groups of individuals, but typically it goes into savings or lower risk investments like treasury bonds or gold. This is why how we think is so critical. When we think nobody has money, or when we think there's not enough collectively, that creates recession.
When we think there's abundance, collectively, and we're all spending, there's expansion. It all starts with thoughts, which is precisely why I began the three part cleanse that we're in the [00:14:00] middle of now with a thought detox. Expansion doesn't happen and can't happen in our businesses when we have unhelpful, unexamined thoughts.
So before we expect to enter a new phase of growth in our businesses, we need to shed some of them. You can do that for yourself by listening to podcast number 94, there's a link in the show notes. And there's also a free 7 day guided process that you can access. And if you want support to uncover helpful thoughts you might not even realize are holding you back, and really create new more powerful ways of thinking that become like a full butterfly style reinvention and transformation, then join us in the Clarity Accelerator.
Because you'll do that for both your mind and your business. Now that you've got the big picture, let's talk the mindset tactic to calm yourself and remain neutral, rather than getting swept up in panic. And it is the [00:15:00] concept of equal airtime. You just make sure you're directing your brain into non negative thoughts at least half the time, and therefore you're also giving your body a chance to calm itself half the time.
So, in these times, sometimes it's really challenging to just be in the positive. And if that's you, that's okay, but at least give equal airtime so that you can approach a level of neutrality and stay out of reactivity. Which is critical for manifestation anyway, because what you focus on grows, so you don't want to constantly be focusing on the negative.
Now, I get this is challenging when there's a threat, right? I'm not saying it's a walk in the park. A well functioning brain will pay attention to threat. It's designed that way. But we can do hard things. We are entrepreneurs who are choosing an uncommon way. And we know that in order to be an effective CEO of our [00:16:00] company, we need to be the CEO of our mind.
So we won't stay with the easy path, which is just letting our thoughts ruminate and spiral and go wherever they want. We will choose, on purpose, to redirect. And if you're thinking, well, like, redirect to what? Again, I recommend you get yourself a coach who's going to help you find alternative thoughts that your brain isn't naturally considering about everything in your life.
But I'm going to give you some of mine that you are free to borrow as well. For one, it is a false narrative when you automatically think, the economy is contracting, therefore my business will contract. It's a thought error. You haven't lived through that future moment, so you don't know. Look at the pandemic, again, and how many industries, entire industries had blockbuster years.
The stock market did amazingly well. We did not enter into a [00:17:00] global economic depression. And that's possible for you, too. It doesn't matter if your entire industry's tanking, you can still do well. Most of the people I work with are working with their clients one to one or in small groups and you only, therefore, need to find 10, 20, maybe 40 humans.
In however many billions who want your solution or product now, not they need to be convinced or scared into it, not who grudgingly decide to get it done, but who genuinely want to and are so happy that you or your company cross their paths. This is not an insurmountable problem. You can find a few humans.
I personally would also choose to focus on how I'm in this for the long haul, so anything that challenges me helps me grow. And therefore, ultimately benefits me and the business. Now my clients are in it for [00:18:00] life, too, I know, and I'm sure you are as well. So this should be a relatively easy thought for you to adopt.
That moments like these are the best times. And that's true whether you're just starting out or you've been in the game for years. Now's the best time to be in it for a couple reasons. If there is in fact some contraction in your business, you'll really learn how to think like an entrepreneur. To remain resilient, problem solve, to really build up that mindset, 3D, to experience human sensations and really play this game of life, I would want a little variety, right?
I wouldn't want boring, I'd want some challenges. And then if your business does well, then you really get to internalize how important your mindset is. And how you are the one that determines your results, not generic economic indicators, or industry gossip, [00:19:00] or whatever's going on with your friend to your right and to your left.
You'll witness how staying cool headed is a game changer. And very importantly, this, right now, this time when you might be tempted to compromise yourself in some way, is an opportunity to question everything and to Realign and become more of who you are, which is the best possible business strategy in hard times.
In any time, really. But it's to become more aligned, become more of who you are. What is your uncommon way? That is what the universe is waiting for you to find out in these moments. And what that strategy of realignment looks like if we break it down is really just the three simple steps that I teach and talk about all the time here.
Which is, the first part, know yourself, right? But [00:20:00] now, it's like you're going even more so with all of these things in times like these. And so, you're getting truer about what you are really about, what you really want, right? What you are, what your superpowers are. And then the second prong, know your people, you're getting to define and get to know your ideal people even more and create signature offers.
That they excitedly want to exchange money for, and that you can deliver with total integrity. And then the third part is just marrying those two things in your messaging. You're talking about why you, and why them, and why this way of working towards a solution. And hopefully talking about it in a way that doesn't compromise your principles and values.
Because, again, that's the whole purpose. of this period if we are in a growth mentality, right? We are really recommitting [00:21:00] to these things for ourselves. Because sure, those things are easy to do when you're feeling completely relaxed and sure that your business will grow and that everything's going along fine.
But in more challenging times, are you going to start selling with fear based marketing? Are you Are you going to start trashing other people and other businesses in the industry in order to make yourself look better? That can be a tendency when your back is against the wall to say it's because these other people were doing it wrong that you haven't gotten your solution, or That you need to work with me, or that the problems that are happening now in the industry are due to them.
And by the way, if you have noticed yourself doing any of these things, or something more benign like chastising the people that are in your audience, it's okay. You get to choose this moment to ground back into a different way of being. All of us have sent out an email or [00:22:00] two that have made us cringe afterwards.
And we sometimes need to go to that dark place to really clarify for ourselves why we never want to go there again. Like when I speak with people on discovery calls, sometimes they'll tell me that they Regret purchases that they've made, that they haven't gotten the results because this kind of program that they invested in didn't offer this thing, and it would be really easy for me to be like, you're right, that's why you need to work with me.
But I don't choose to do that. I almost always will stop the call and have a conversation about it because I think it's important enough for their mindset to really believe in the decisions they make, for one thing. for listening. And I really do believe that most people that are creating courses or putting any kind of service business out there are actually good people trying the best they can to help people find solutions.
I generally believe that. [00:23:00] Of course there are a couple bad apples, but everybody that I interact with are people that also want to create good in the world. And those courses and things do provide information and systems and tactics that, if implemented and implemented properly, would bring you massive value.
But it may be that you aren't able to implement them just yet, maybe because of your mindset or other reasons. But you can in the future, and by then the impact will be even larger for your business. This is kind of a tangent, but again, I've talked to so many women who tell me they regret prior purchases, and carrying around shame over your decisions, and more importantly, skepticism about your decision making capability, is totally toxic for your business.
And you. And if you don't yet have the bandwidth to really have your back regarding those past [00:24:00] decisions, I will. I've got your back. You can't blame yourself for information you didn't have at the time. I remember purchasing Amy Porterfield webinar courses way back in the beginning of my business when I wasn't able to implement them.
That doesn't mean there's not great information in there for me now. If there's thing that you've purchased that gave you zero value, even sometimes in knowing what you didn't want or what not to do. Then really, you need to go back and reflect because you're missing out on something. There are always lessons.
And all of your decisions are moving you forward because you learn more. You're more likely to succeed after a string of things that didn't go your way than you are if you hadn't had those things because you've been learning what doesn't work or what you do need at that moment. And the lessons that are there stay with you always.
Whether or not you're implementing [00:25:00] them now. And then my friend, when you are no longer trying to solve your discomfort by actions that you'll later regret, or diminish your pain through wine or any other diversionary tactic, that's when you get to ask the big questions. Okay, how am I moving through this?
Right? Where do I need to uplevel my trust? What new creativity is available to me? What new things can I think of that I might not otherwise have thought of? And how can I watch my self concept, the opinion that I have about myself, and the thoughts that I have about myself, blossom as I step into new levels of power and new levels of who I'm meant to be?
You got this, my friend. And remember, deep down, you know who you are, and each day you are stepping further into what you're here to create.[00:26:00] 
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.
  

Jenna Harrison 5/7/24 Jenna Harrison 5/7/24

Ep# 95: Spring Cleanse: Eliminate Reactivity in Your Business to Manifest Steady Growth and Abundance

Ever find yourself taking action in your business based on reactions rather than intentions?

Learn how minimizing reactivity can transform your business trajectory.

In today's episode, Jenna Harrison dives into the connection between reactivity, dampened business results and even manifestation, providing practical tools to help you tolerate discomfort, make aligned decisions, and achieve consistent growth in your business.

Episode Summary

Ever find yourself taking action in your business based on reactions rather than intentions?

Learn how minimizing reactivity can transform your business trajectory.

In this episode, you will:

Gain a clear understanding of the connection between your thoughts, your nervous system, and manifestation.
Develop the ability to tolerate discomfort, maintain aligned action, and make powerful decisions in your business.
Access somatic practices to regulate your nervous system, leading to increased clarity, confidence, and maturity in your actions and decisions.

Ready to detox your reactivity and unlock your full potential in business?

Listen to the full episode now and download the free Somatics in Your Pocket tool at theuncommonway.com/reactivity-cleanse.

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in signature offers and strategies and a first-rate mindset. https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released: https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business: https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Episodes mentioned

#94 Spring Cleanse: 7 Day Guided Thought Cleanse to Detox Your Mindset & Encourage Growth for a Successful Business

#92. Get Through High Stress and Overwhelm Quickly for Peak Performance & Mindset Growth, Joy and Better Results as a Service-Based Entrepreneur

#67. Revelations from the Clarity Collective with Women Entrepreneurs Amanda, Gabi, Ale and Kat

Enjoy the Show?

Don’t miss an episode, follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.

Full Episode Transcript:

  
    
[00:00:00] Hey, welcome back to the Uncommon Way. I have a great episode for you today that is going to get you feeling so grounded and confident and secure and mature in the moves you're making and how you're showing up in your business. I can't wait for you to experience this.
You're listening to the Uncommon Way business and life coaching podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves. So you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging, and strategy, and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating.
Here's your host. Top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity. Jenna Harrison.[00:01:00] 
What we'll be talking about is, it's really my latest passion topic. I tend to spend a year or two going really deep in one subject, and now I am fascinated with the nervous system and the study of somatics, which it just means body based rather than thought based work. Of course, we still incorporate all of it at The Uncommon Way.
We're not throwing out the baby with any bath water. It's just kind of layers that I add on. But with this, I just feel like if everyone could understand this one thing, we could change the world, and definitely change our business trajectory. Now, specifically today, we're going to be talking about reactivity, which just means that rather than making a rational decision or acting the way you'd really like to act, you ping pong in another direction because something set you off.
But in a broader sense, we're talking about the connection between that and [00:02:00] what you are manifesting, also known as the actual results that you are seeing. So why does reactivity happen? It's because something makes you feel discomfort and you are trying to move away from discomfort, or your body is trying to move away from that discomfort.
And unfortunately, this situation is responsible for 80 percent of your wrong turns. burned bridges, and stunted growth. So this week we're going to eliminate that tendency and get you seeing new results. I want to help you tolerate discomfort, to manage it, and then be able to get back to you being your awesome, well regulated self who makes powerful, brave, and consistently aligned decisions.
And takes corresponding actions 'cause otherwise this cleanse is incomplete. If I help you prepare to really uplevel and get better business results by detoxing your [00:03:00] thoughts and cleansing the systems and strategies and all the components in your business that might be weighing you down and we stop there, then unfortunately you are not fully set up for success.
This thing we're talking about today is what allows you to keep moving forward, rather than getting caught in reactive mode. If you're saying you want a business with less hustle, but as soon as we clear space for you, you get uncomfortable, and then react by filling the space back up with stuff, then it really defeats the purpose.
So, in this episode, which, again, is going to be a different format than our typical format that has the three kind of down and dirty tips, but you're still going to pick up on lessons that cross a broad range from tactical to mindset, and then some ways forward that are a bit more woo. But in this episode, you will get a sample plan for a reactivity detox that you can implement this week to make the best use of the two other parts of this cleanse.[00:04:00] 
You will quiet that voice that says maybe something's wrong with you, and instead walk away with a clear understanding of this interplay between your thoughts, your body, your business, and even manifestation. And you will move into feeling calm, measured, strong. And, like I said before, extremely mature.
We're going full adulting here. And I'm going to be sharing a free tool that I've created for you to help beyond this episode. I'm calling it the Somatics in Your Pocket tool, and you can find it at theuncommonway forward slash reactivity dash dot com. Cleanse. Now we'll have that in the show notes and I'll also be talking more about it in a little bit.
I was planning to talk about the business part of our cleanse work today, but I saw something in a Facebook ad that I just knew I had to speak to. Now maybe you've seen it too, if you're a coach or a digital [00:05:00] marketer, you might've been hearing a lot of fear language about how the economy is so tough right now and nobody is buying.
I want to talk about that in kind of a short separate episode. Here, what's relevant is that the decisions people make in times like these are very telling about their levels of emotional reactivity. So please forward this episode to whichever friends you think need to hear this. Because I think collectively, we just need to take some deep breaths.
And the other point this highlights is, did you know you just get to switch things up whenever you want to? When you're responding in alignment. I think we forget that sometimes. We forget that business can be fun, that we can have fun in it and make it fun, and we forget that we're grown ass women and that the business belongs to us.
But all of this really is just [00:06:00] so key to, to keeping our business enjoyable, really, and just staying away from the have tos. True have tos are actually very minimal in business. Now, sometimes we get inspired by somebody saying something like that, and so we use it as an excuse to cloak our reactivity, where we really are avoiding something, we're really feeling discomfortable about it, and we don't want to do it, and so we come up with great language of alignment about why we don't want to do it.
That is not what I'm talking about here. And if you're not sure exactly if in fact you are moving in alignment or if you're making changes because of reactivity, that's actually the subject of another episode. We'll link to it in the notes. It's called Should I Say Yes or Should I Say No? But today we are not talking about decisions that are pivots of alignment, we're talking about the reactivity.
Now reactivity comes from either [00:07:00] our thoughts or a nervous system activation. We already talked a lot about thoughts in the last episode, so I'm going to leave that there. And here we're going to talk about what happens in the body. Now sometimes the thoughts cause the activation in the body. Other times, activation in the body starts causing catastrophic thoughts.
They're quite intertwined, but I find it very helpful to piece them apart in this manner. And one of the very telling signs of being in a nervous system activation, otherwise known as fight or flight, is that you don't think straight. I have another episode with more detail on nervous system mechanics and neuroscience in episode 92.
We will also link to that. I know, I'm sending y'all all over the place. But this is a very high level episode, and I do have others that are more detailed, for those of you that completely want to geek out like I have been. But we know that activation shuts down parts of the brain, and we even know which [00:08:00] parts of the brain.
It shuts down. And when I say shuts down, what I mean is that we're not paying attention to them, we don't even have access to them in those times. And wouldn't you know it, a lot of those areas deal with our decision making and our ability to think at our highest level and make great long term decisions for ourselves.
So that can show up in lots of ways. It can show up as rumination. It can show up in taking a long time to think through a decision and just feeling very, very unclear in ways that we normally would be able to find clarity on. It can show up as making rash decisions that then later on we realize were not very helpful.
It can show up as wanting to do nothing at all. That is a freeze response. Maybe you lash out at somebody and you're burning bridges. It may be price reactivity. You go to raise your prices and you notice a whole slew. of nervousness and a lot of thoughts that come up about what this means about you or how you'll [00:09:00] never sell or how you're gonna die penniless.
And so in reactivity, in not being able to tolerate that discomfort, you move back to a different price. Which is not always a terrible thing if done with eyes wide open, but usually our eyes are not wide open. That's the whole point I'm trying to make. It could be rejection reactivity. So, somebody says no to your offer.
Or somebody criticizes you on social media. And then you make changes in your business just to try and make that discomfort go away or to avoid that discomfort ever happening again. It could be expectation reactivity. You expected things to happen this way, and then when they don't, you have thoughts and feelings about that that feel very uncomfortable, and you make decisions to shut down your business, or cancel that launch, or change your offer.
It could be vulnerability [00:10:00] reactivity, where you react to this sense of being vulnerable. Oftentimes, even before it happens, you're creating more stress in advance of what might happen. There's interpersonal reactivity. We all know about that one, right? Somebody says something or their tone is some way, or they don't say something, and we have a huge response and reaction to that.
And this all completely detracts from your business results, from your time. You end up spinning for days sometimes over that thing that person said. You end up losing so much traction and momentum that you were gaining because you deviate in some other way. You close off opportunities that you could have had because you just snubbed that person who later on might have been a great friend.
Or a great partner. And all of this, hear me when I say this, all of this is perfectly [00:11:00] normal. Hey, if you want true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator. I'll teach you to connect all the dots, the dots that have always been there for you, so that you can show up like you were born for exactly this.
Thanks. Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn, from Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to theuncommonway. com slash schedule and set up a time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach. I was messaging with a client last week who noticed herself really, like, blowing things up, which I think is a great thing that I haven't mentioned yet, that we often do, right?
We get into this nervous system activation, And then we make everything worse. We make it more of an issue, right, and then we're telling all our friends, and then she said this. And we cherry pick the facts that we [00:12:00] want to see, and we build our case, and this is why I need to really change everything, and these people were never really my ideal clients.
And she said, you know, I would really appreciate hearing, does this ever happen to you? I messaged her back and I was like, of course it does. Yes, all the time. This is the sign of a working brain. That's it. It doesn't necessarily mean deep childhood trauma, although deep childhood trauma might come into play.
But you know what else comes into play? All of our conditioning and the experiences we've had in our lives. And all the trauma we've inherited from generations of women that were told that they shouldn't speak up or stand out or do the wrong thing or get rejected in any way. And we won't even go into past life stuff because I'm way out of my depth there.
All I do know as a business coach that has worked with over a hundred women, that this is a [00:13:00] very, very typical response, reactivity. It is endemic. We all have it. There's very good reason for it. It keeps us safe. It just tends to be dialed up a little too high, right? We all have a general level of nervous system activation just living in this society.
Extra hypervigilance, extra attunement to social media, waiting for the next ding. There's all the scary news around us. There's people with strong opinions and strong emotions all around us. And so none of this is unusual, but that doesn't mean that we need to live in it. We have so much power to help our brains react in new ways, and that is exactly what this cleanse is about.
For the purpose of this cleanse, we are just talking about, over the course of this week, you having two or [00:14:00] maybe three days. of enforcing regulation in your nervous system rather than reactivity. So every time you start to feel like you're spinning up a little bit or you're avoiding something or there's resistance before you act on it, before you make a decision, I want you to do what we're going to be talking about in the rest of this episode instead.
And what that's going to do for you is you, I keep saying this, you're going to feel very mature. Am I the only one who likes that word? That just makes me feel so calm. It's like, Oh, thank God there's an adult in the room, but you get to be that adult for yourself. So you will feel mature and grounded and calmer.
And you get to then access your best thinking. But not just that, when you're in that place, your higher self finally has more access to you. You have more room for hearing intuitive downloads and [00:15:00] great creative ideas and problem solving. It's very much a virtuous cycle. And it feeds directly into you manifesting the things that you want to manifest, attracting the things that you want to attract.
It's a little out there for some of you, but I'm going to talk about it later in this episode anyway, because it's all tied together. All right, you may be thinking, okay, great, Jenna, so how do we do this already? Well, we're going to work on this in three separate ways, and these are the three things that I would like you to cycle through on these days when you're doing this cleanse and you're moving yourself back to a more regulated place, every time that you can notice yourself, Not there.
Which, believe me, is going to change over time. When you start doing this work, you tend to be fairly disconnected from your body, and so you don't even realize how wound up you are. As you do it more and more, you're going to start being able to notice subtler [00:16:00] differences. Doesn't matter where you are, just start now.
And the three things are very active somatic moments, quiet somatic moments, and then Moving towards some form of bonding or co regulating. Now, I'll explain what all of these things are. The reason all three of these work is because they're all about getting out of your head and into your body. So, whenever you're having an experience of what it feels like, feels like to be in your body, what your posture looks like, the sensations that you're noticing.
Whenever you're there, it helps speak to your limbic brain and tell it that actually there is no tiger present. Even though it feels like it should be running for something, that there's some imminent threat that it needs to get away from, actually, There isn't. And so it is able to regulate the nervous system and calm down.
And the approach that you [00:17:00] might choose to take will change depending on your level of activation. I mentioned this in episode 92, but if you are very highly activated, then no amount of breath work and meditation will help you. Your body needs physical movement in order to believe, I guess, that it's removed itself from this threat.
You know the expression, shake it off? It comes from dogs physically shaking, and that moves the body and it gets that energetic tingling, that heightened prickle sense that you get when you're scared. It removes all of that from their body. But as humans, we're not taught to do that. So whether it is a good shake that you give yourself, or some high intensity exercise, or a dance party, whatever it is, do some movement.
We all know how much better we [00:18:00] feel after a yoga class or sex or a good run, I've heard. I'm not a runner, but people tell me that the high is really nice. But did you know that really what this is helping you feel is a baseline nervous system state? So are drugs. So many drugs are just helping us replicate what a truly regulated nervous system feels like.
And we're so out of touch with it these days. When we went on our retreat, our group retreat for the Clarity Accelerator to Mexico, you can listen to episode 67. We were so zenned out that I even made a comment at one point, and I said, people are probably going to think that we're smoking pot right now, and we are not.
We had just completely detoxed from reactivity. If I could, I would take all of you on a retreat right now. That would be the reactivity detox this week. And you would move into a state of being able to make very [00:19:00] powerful decisions, like my clients did. I just had my own little break yesterday. My son's kindergarten class went on a field trip to a farm, playground type area, and I was the room mom.
And wow, if there's anything better than perfect spring weather, And happy little kids for really getting you out of your grown up problems and into the moment. I don't know what it is. But your task when you feel any kind of discomfort over this couple of days that you're choosing to do this reactivity detox, your task is then to immediately move into movement of some type.
Oh, you know another one I love? Squats. Sometimes I'm writing, I'm creating content, and then I just get to this place where the brain kind of stops. Right? Or there's something uncomfortable that comes up that I notice. Maybe something that I'm afraid to say [00:20:00] to you. And I'll stand up, and I'll just do some squats.
Or I'll swing my arms around. Again, this is dependent on your level of activation. If you've really, if you've just noticed a thought spiral where you're going into some catastrophe in your head, then maybe it's a dance party. It's something more high intensity to get your blood pumping and really help your body feel like it's escaped.
And then you can engage in the second step, which is a quieter form of somatic work. Again, this is an opportunity to be nonverbal and it can be as simple as sitting down, looking around your room. And instead of trying to label things, just notice the colors coming in, notice shapes coming in, notice the seat beneath you, and remind yourself that you are safe in a house.
Feel that sense of safety in your body. Notice your [00:21:00] posture. Notice your breathing. And all of this is you giving direct signals to your limbic brain. That, hey, it can relax. And that slush of chemicals that it has been pumping into your bloodstream, all of that adrenaline, it can taper off now. As I've mentioned before, the process of moving into dysregulation happens much more quickly than the process of moving out of dysregulation.
You do need to metabolize. But that's okay. You're not feeling as impatient when your nervous system is very regulated. If you're really short on time, you know what you can do? You can just let out a big, huge sigh. As begins practically every yoga class and meditation that we've ever done, take a deep breath in and let it all out.
We have so many native tools that we just don't utilize. It is mind blowing [00:22:00] to me how much more quickly I can This is kind of going back to the movement, but how much more quickly I can release this flood of anger sometimes that I feel towards my son when I just take a minute and like roll my neck out and move my shoulders around and move my body.
Instead, what I used to do back in the day when I would find myself sometimes like erupting or exploding is that as soon as I would feel that, I would hold it all in. I'd contract my body, I'd turn it in, and that is only exacerbating this fight or flight response without knowing it. It's a very natural reaction, but it's actually making things worse.
And so I would be telling myself, like, don't lose it. Don't lose it. Don't blow up. When it was just so much more helpful if I just relax, put my shoulders back, move my body, and let it process, let it move through, move that energy through my body. Now for this specifically, I have created a tool, like I said, [00:23:00] and it's a very short, I think three minute guided practice.
That I've recorded for you that you can just download to your phone and over these couple days whenever you need to, you just reorient yourself by listening to this and I'll walk you through some somatic steps so that you can really feel it in your body. And then the third step is co regulating or bonding.
Have you noticed, I know you have, especially here in the U. S., how Nasty some online conversations get and how, of course, divided our politics have become. That type of division and vitriol is challenging when you are face to face with someone, when rather than letting yourself spin out for days, you can just take some deep breaths and get on the phone with someone https: otter.
ai[00:24:00] 
But it's also wildly helpful, even if you're not speaking to that person, or sometimes there is no person, it's just this kind of abstract threat, right? Like sales will go down, and then to be in a very supportive group that is not there to help you amplify those feelings, but is just there to witness and support you in like the normalcy of those feelings.
And in helping you regulate your system, that is priceless and more and more needed in this world. I want to play you this recording that I got from a client lately. I know you'll be able to feel into the power of. I truly feel this week has been so emotionally challenging for me that I really and regularly have been having the thought like, how would I be doing this without Jenna and [00:25:00] also without?
It's an amazing experience to feel the power of the group in tandem with your coaching. I feel like I'm like fully the recipient of your business model this week. It has just been so amazing to know, okay, I'm actually not alone in this. I have solidarity in this group. I have safety in myself, but also in this group and.
I feel so grateful for that. Oh, this is so good. This is why we need strong networks. This is why we need strong groups of friends and need to put in the work to continue to maintain those friendships. And we need people who understand what we're going through. And not everyone out in the wild really understands this journey of entrepreneurship.
Please find a group for yourself of strong women that understand. The importance [00:26:00] of simply being there for somebody, simply hearing them out, simply saying, I've been there too, simply saying, I got you, and then yes, also sharing some wisdom that can help you along, give you that one little nugget that really sinks in for you.
If you don't have that, you are welcome to use me this week. So as you've noticed yourself, feeling maybe a little reactive, you're tempted to do something, or you're feeling a little activated, you're going to have some somatic movement moment, right? And then you're going to have. A quieter moment that's still somatic based, perhaps using the tool that I'm offering at theuncommonway.
com forward slash reactivity dash cleanse. And then if there's some person on the other side actually getting on the phone with them saying, Hey, I'd like to hear about this from your perspective or really understand more, maybe share a little bit about what was [00:27:00] going on for me. And, or share. You can, like I said, send me a DM, send me an email, reply to any email if you're on my list that I send you, go to the website and use the contact form.
You have so many ways to get in touch with me and I will happily be that person for you this week. Now, I have a couple more points to share with you to really round out your understanding of this subject. We can get so easily activated and then react in a reactive manner when we're thinking certain thoughts that start getting us escalated, for instance, being afraid of something.
And the opposite can happen because sometimes there are situations or occurrences that trigger you and on a body level, you start feeling anxious. And as we've talked about, that gives you [00:28:00] access to fewer parts of your brain. Which stimulate more fear based thought. This is very, very interrelated. And you're trying to do all this with this human biology, um, as you're logically trying to move this business forward.
So there's some competing agendas going on. But here's something else that is critical for you to know. When you are trying to change your beliefs and adopt new ways of thinking, you are changing the biology of your brain, which luckily we know is entirely possible, it's neuroplasticity, but it's also challenging.
It requires a lot of calories and a lot of effort on the part of our body, but that process of change is facilitated with the more parts of the brain that you can engage. That's why sometimes when you're doing affirmations and you're thinking the same thought over and over and over again, But the true beliefs deep down don't change.
It's because of this. It's because you're only engaging the rational [00:29:00] part of your brain. When I included a somatic tool in the free takeaway from last week's episode, that was very strategic on my part. I knew that if I could get you to feel the release of that thought in different parts, like to really feel it in your body, and I talked about your posture, and I talked about sensations and lightness.
All of that was engaging different parts of your brain, and that really facilitates the change. It's the same reason why visualizations can be so powerful for some because they've learned how to really Not just think about this and watch it as if it were a movie, but to really feel it in their body.
And then for some people they're like visualizations, visualization, I don't get it. But the other thing that I'd like to highlight and this is the part that's a little more woo is that from what I've seen, the universe is watching us and it's watching us. Specifically, watching our reactivity to certain events [00:30:00] and how we handle things.
This is the barometer of the lessons learned, of how ready we are to move forward. If we have a windfall 100k month, and then we freak out and start getting into fights with our family, or we start overcompensating with extra work, or we immediately spend it all down because deep down it's very uncomfortable for us to hold that money and have that money, All of these are things that I've seen my clients do, or I've done myself, then it really wasn't a helpful endeavor.
The universe isn't here to freak out your nervous system. It's helping you grow and evolve so that you can open yourself to receiving all that's available to you. When you're bouncing around reactively, you're really putting chaotic Frequency. Out into the world, and you get a lot of chaos in return. If I say I want to work with these kind of clients, and have them come in to do this [00:31:00] kind of work with me, and I want the value exchange to be this much money, but then two weeks later, I'm like, I don't like the fact that nobody has responded to that social media post or signed up for a discovery call or whatever it might be.
So I'm deciding to change that. The universe is like, really? Not only does it then need to go about looking to create all of the different synchronicities and chain of events that will help your next group of clients come to you, but it also understands that your nervous system is not yet ready for primetime and that your beliefs are not yet ready.
The best interest of the universe for you to be fully confidently expressed in who you are and the work you're here to do in the world. And what might seem like challenges and obstacles to you along that path are actually opportunities from the universe for you to ground more fully into the truth of what you are absolutely here to do.
And through your determination and [00:32:00] steadfastness, you show, you demonstrate to the universe that you want that. And through your ability to regulate your nervous system when you have obstacles and continue with the actions along that course. You are able to receive and create more and more abundance.
Now, it does work the other way, too. Sometimes people stay with where they are and don't move towards their alignment, again, because of reactivity. That thought of pivoting or changing feels uncomfortable. It's creating that slush of neurochemicals in the body of adrenaline and all the things that are kind of making it feel unsafe.
And so, you stay where you are out of reactivity. And in that case, you're probably just going to get a whole bunch of nudges and little signs and things that keep pushing you slash calling you forward. But I believe this nervous system work. is a key tool for manifestation that so many people miss. [00:33:00] Okay, my friend, if this subject is interesting to you, if you feel that you haven't mastered this yet, and that you would love some support in your business, that's not just tactical.
That's not just your thoughts and mindset, but that it also ventures into these realms. And if you want to focus on aligning signature offers and strategies so that you can lean back more and hustle less, and you want to do it with me and a group of women who have your back, and if you're a woman who's leaving hesitancy behind and is a hundred percent in it to win it for life.
Then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator, the only mastermind of its kind, and my business baby, which I love and believe in so strongly. Okay, that pocket tool is waiting for you. It is at theuncommonway. com forward slash reactivity dash cleanse. And let's go detox some reactivity [00:34:00] this week, and I will see you back here next time.
Thanks for joining us here at the Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business in life, including the Clarity First strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit theuncommonway. com. See you next time.
  

Jenna Harrison 4/23/24 Jenna Harrison 4/23/24

Ep# 94: Spring Cleanse: 7 Day Guided Thought Cleanse to Detox Your Mindset for Better Business Results

Want to clear the way for a new level of growth and fulfilment in your business?

Then, a spring cleanse is what you need!

Join Jenna Harrison as she walks you through the first phase—a thought detox—to refresh your mindset and elevate your results.

In this episode, Jenna dives into the importance of a thought cleanse for your business, drawing parallels between decluttering our physical space and detoxing our thoughts.

Episode Summary

Ever considered giving your business a spring cleanse?

Just like de-cluttering your home or detoxing your body, it's time to detox your thoughts for a thriving business because as entrepreneurs, our thoughts drive our actions and results.

But what if some of those thoughts are weighing us down, hindering our growth, and keeping us from reaching our full potential?

In this episode, Jenna Harrison guides you through a 7-day thought cleanse, helping you detox thoughts that no longer serve you and step into a more empowered version of yourself.

In this episode: you will:

1) Gain clarity on thoughts that hinder your success and learn to let them go.
2) Develop a healthier mindset to reduce hustle and increase ease in your business.
3) Discover the power of thought cleansing to transform your internal world and unlock new possibilities.

Ready to detox your thoughts and level up your business?

Scroll up & press play now to gain the tools you need to get better business results in 2024.

Head to theuncommonway.com/thought-cleanse to access the free resources and start your 7-day thought cleanse today.

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in signature offers and strategies and a first-rate mindset. https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business: https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Episodes mentioned

#93. The 1,2,3 of Reinventing Yourself and Realigning Your Business for Next Level Success

Full Episode Transcript:

  
    [00:00:00] We've all heard about spring cleaning and dietary cleanses. It's just as important in business, especially when you're about to uplevel your existing business or start something new.
You're listening to the Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves, so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging, and strategy, and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating.
Here's your host, Top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned Queen of Clarity, Jenna Harrison.
In this three part series, I'm going to show you the business equivalent of a [00:01:00] spring cleanse, so you can feel amazing, lean back more and hustle less, and more easefully welcome in the kind of results you know you're capable of. Welcome, welcome back everyone. I've got a special treat for you now that spring is here.
I'll be taking you through a spring cleanse for your business, because what works for our homes or bodies is just as important for business, especially when you are getting ready for something big. Now for some of you, that is some new phase of growth or uplevel in your current business. For some of you, that's starting a new business, whether it's your first or your fifth.
Now this episode here is where I will be walking you through a thought cleanse. Because the way you're thinking, and what you're believing and seeing, drives so many of your actions and results. We'd like to keep our really helpful thoughts as we go [00:02:00] forward, but detox all the ones that are weighing us down and wreaking havoc on our potential.
Just like we keep our most vibrant and healthy selves, And let go of the ones that aren't producing at the level we want. So in this episode, you will get a 7 day system for detoxing the thoughts and ways of thinking that might have served you until now, but are not helpful for your future. You'll get to feel what it's like when you flush a thought from your system.
The same lightness and increased energy you get from cleaning your closet or your body. And most importantly, you'll have a new understanding of just how much power you have to change your internal world and be whomever and however you'd like to be. 
Now, if you listened to last week's episode, you know that here at The Uncommon Way, we believe personal reinvention is the domino that sets off [00:03:00] the chain reaction for all the other positive change in your business. And if you didn't get to listen to it, no problem. This episode here stands alone just fine.
But make sure that you don't miss it, that you go back, because I outlined this whole transformation from personal into business, step by step, and I gave you examples to help it all sink in. And some tips. tips, which you're not going to be getting in this episode here, and you don't want to miss.
Now, I've got to tell you, these episodes here were inspired by all of the decluttering that I've been doing in my own life. As our move date gets closer, we are throwing out and selling off so many things. For those of you who don't know, we're making a big overseas move to Spain, and so it requires Massive downsizing.
I guess it doesn't require massive downsizing. We are choosing to massively downsize. And I'm noticing a lot of [00:04:00] feelings come up about some of those objects that I've become attached to.
But really, do we really need all of those high school mementos and or those things that have been passed down to us by other generations that we think we should hold on to? And what about that whole category of things that just work perfectly well, like a bed? Why when the bed is fine, would I potentially get a new bed?
Well, it's because it just doesn't make sense to ship it overseas when we could buy one for about the same price. 
But, ugh, it just gets to me to buy more stuff and create more stuff in this world, 
rather than using what we already have that works so perfectly.
So just know, as you are embarking on this decluttering slash detoxing journey for yourself, if any of that stuff comes up, any of the, But what would happen if I get rid of this? But what if I need that? I am [00:05:00] completely with you and empathize 100%. At the same time, is there anything more thrilling and exciting than moving into some new version, right?
To wondering what's available on the other side. And really that's the energy that we want to carry through in this seven day quest of ours, where we're just seeing. We're not really Having to get rid of anything, necessarily, that we don't want to, but we're just trying on what it would be like not to have it.
Now, if you happen to be walking the dog right now, or driving, don't worry. You don't have to take notes about what to do on each of these seven days. I've got you.
We've created a very pretty PDF for you so that you have everything outlined in front of you and you don't have to take any notes right now. 
And we've also created a little email love note for each day of these seven days that will start sharing some of the actual thoughts that [00:06:00] I've seen pop up for clients of mine so that you will know you're not alone, as well as some substitute thoughts that you might want to start leaning into. We'll also share a meditation that's more of a somatic practice, a body based practice that will help with this thought release.
So if that is interesting to you, you can find it at the Uncommon Way forward slash thought dash cleanse.
Now for each of the days, which are split into different thought categories, there's the same three step process that you want to do with each of them. 
First, you just want to take inventory of your thoughts about each of these topics. You might do that in a journal, you might do that while you're brushing your teeth. And then look at them and think which of them feel really heavy or might make your journey more difficult. Now, you can narrow this down to just one.
 It'll feel so different to move through the day [00:07:00] even if you just subtract one of those thoughts. Hey, if you want true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business, and how you talk about 
your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator. I'll teach you to connect all the dots, the dots that have always been there for you, so that you can show up like you were born for exactly this.
Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn from Facebook ads to manifestation Just go to the uncommon way comm slash schedule and set up a time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach And then last step. As you move through the day, just imagine what it would be like if you didn't believe that thing, or if you weren't centering that thing and thinking about it. How would you act? How would you show up? How would you move through the day? As if you're trying on a new piece of clothing and it's different to the style you [00:08:00] normally wear. How does it feel?
Remember, no one's going to be here to judge you on those thoughts. No one's going to see what you're doing.
And besides, the mini course is just going to completely normalize all of them for you.
But my therapist the other day was saying, yeah, if you put rotten eggs in, you're going to get rotten eggs out. Not sure exactly what that means. I think it means something like if you put rotten eggs into the cake, it'll come out. Rotten? But it just felt really down homey and like those old words of truth and wisdom that you hear from, , older generations.
And so I'm like, yeah, that is it. That's it for our thoughts as well. If we keep putting these thoughts into our system, they keep showing up in our results.
Versus this great saying that I saw on the homepage of a kid's summer camp in Mallorca that we're looking to send Dylan to. And it said,
don't leave your comfort [00:09:00] zone. Just expand it. And I thought, yes, these are my people.
So let's get down to it and see if we can expand our comfort zones and broaden our way of thinking. Shall we?
All right. Our category for the first day is what enough even looks like for you to be successful enough or doing good enough or be acceptable enough, be legit enough.
And as a bonus, what it means if you don't measure up to that. Now most people go through life not having any idea of how many unexamined thoughts they have.
And how many hoops they're jumping through in order to be perceived as successful enough, legit enough, acceptable enough.
I'll tell you a story about two clients of mine. Both of them wanted to move into kind of branding, web design, graphic work. Both of them felt [00:10:00] like theirs wasn't quite good enough and maybe they shouldn't go forward in their business yet.
One of them dove into working with me and really did the work to release those thoughts and move into a different way of being, and ended up having a very thriving business in her first year of business. The other woman was with me on a course, a group course that I put out a long time ago, and then, From there, it turns out, she decided to live into that thought that she wasn't ready yet, wasn't legit enough, wasn't good enough yet.
And so she actually went back and got her associate's degree in design. And two years later, we happened to bump back into each other, and she was still having the same thoughts. That she wasn't quite ready yet, wasn't good enough yet, and she was actually considering going and investing in this other tool set she believed she needed.
in order to finally be ready and be able to move forward. I see this with coaches all the time. I [00:11:00] see this in all industries.
Now, of course, we want to have integrity in what we do, but we really have to question these sneaky little thoughts. So for this first day, just pick one and imagine what kind of things you'd be doing if you didn't have that in the back of your
Because most thoughts in their core, most negative thoughts, lead back in some way to not enoughness and not enoughness is what leads to hustle, it leads to strong inner critics,
it leads to striving but never arriving, and leads to jumping through unnecessary hoops.
Alright, day two. What does it take to create success, or really win? Does it take time? Does it take hard work? Is it only a certain class or a certain gender? Does it take suffering? Does it take being willing to compromise your integrity? You will never be able to lean back more and [00:12:00] hustle less
without detoxing those kinds of thoughts.
Day three. Let's think about what it means when you fail.
Sometimes, to find the really meaty ones here, you have to bring it in close. You might have been around the band a time or two in entrepreneurial circles and know that you're supposed to think that failure means you're learning and failure's the way to growth.
But chances are there's more there. Like if I still have thoughts about this, I bet you do too. It's so funny because I remember when I was first beginning in entrepreneurship and I was a performance coach, I was talking about how, little kids, when they're learning to walk, for instance, when they haven't been, had any negative conditioning yet, they aren't afraid of failing.
They'll just get up and plop back down and get right back up again. And they're just so fearless and determined. Well, then I had my son, and I got to see him firsthand, as he would [00:13:00] wail and pound his little fist every time he fell down. He just couldn't stand failure. So I don't know if this is conditioned or wired in us, or it's different for all of us.
It doesn't matter. We have the capacity to create new neural pathways, new stimulus response patterns. So, even if you are very, very failure averse, it doesn't have to stay that way, but it does have to start with this process of at least even seeing what the thoughts are.
 If you don't know how to create those new neural pathways, then you definitely need to join us because this work changes lives. Alright? If you're struggling to find a place where failure really feels like a strong hit for you. Bring it in close. What happens if that launch that you're in the middle of right now fails?
What will that mean? Will that [00:14:00] mean that maybe you're not cut out for this or maybe you should just like rework your offers, right? Find out what it means at a place where it really feels like something to you.
You good? We're on day four. Remember, you don't have to be writing all these down if you don't want to. You can go pick up the PDF at forward slash thought dash cleanse. But if you are writing them down, stick with me. We're on day four. Day four is the category describing your thoughts and expectations of other people.
Now those other people could be your audience, they could be your clients, your employees.
I had a client come in with a very large business, but she was determined to keep it a one woman show because she'd had employees in the past that she felt she couldn't trust. And guess what kind of thoughts really helped bring in those employees? Thoughts that she couldn't trust.
But when we were able to unravel that a bit, she [00:15:00] found an amazing right hand person that she was happy to welcome in.
I had another client that was really feeling triggered by some of the things that were going on with her clients.
But some of that was a reflection of the parts of herself that she didn't like, and of course that was driving actions and results that weren't completely serving her.
I've had people who were really angry at the people on their list for not buying, for not getting the picture,
and then that tends to come across in their writing. So, what does all of this have in common? One, it feels terrible. Two, it leads to terrible results. And three, it's almost always about you, about your imagination, your expectations, and this, manual that you have about how other people should behave and shouldn't behave.
And if you can imagine just dropping that for one day, like, What if
[00:16:00] it wasn't the job of your audience, client, husband, whatever, to do that thing, right? How would you be able to move forward without that weight of like dissonance?
Number five, let's talk about money, shall we? Imagine money sitting across 
from you at a table. When I first tried this, in my experience, I saw money as this seductive woman who was basically saying, you can't get me.
And every time I've tried this with someone, I've gotten a different answer. Nobody that I've talked to has ever seen it exactly the same way.
But it does bring up about a lot about what you think money is to you, how money is to you, in relation to you.
And that'll give you a lot of fun stuff to look at. But there's also thoughts about what money will mean to you if you have it, or what it'll mean if [00:17:00] you don't have it.
I've had several clients whose families were salt of the earth people, and they really worried that they would be separating themselves from their family of origin and really lose a lot of love that was present in their life at the moment if they became one of those wealthy out of touch people.
Again, this can take on so many shades and flavors, but usually it boils down to, I won't be worthy or I won't be loved.
Around the world, rich and poor,
There are so many thoughts and scarcity and heavy feelings around money, and we have got to, as a collective, break our toxic relationship with it. Because money is finite at any given moment, yes, but so is air. And we don't have nearly the same drama about air that we do about money and not having enough of it.
And globally, we are [00:18:00] continually creating more wealth, so this can be a positive sum game. We don't have to take away from anybody else in order for ourselves to gain wealth. We can, in fact, give way more back than we're ever given. It's just that right now in the world, money looks a little wonky because of how human psychology is playing with it and wielding it.
For those of you who are like, I don't want any part of that. I really just want my little six figures or whatever I'm earning in corporate, and I would be so good with that. I will support you with that if you are decided, absolutely. But Transcribed I hate to break it to you, but once you truly believe that you can create what you want, and you can do it without overwork, without dubious 
integrities and have dos, you're probably going to want to do some really amazing and uncommon things with your life and your legacy that will [00:19:00] require money.
You're probably going to enjoy pursuing wealth at some point, but Rest assured, this isn't your daddy's old outdated type of rich, with material wealth only. Here at The Uncommon Way, we are creating a new 1%. The people who don't just have money, but they also have richness in so many other ways. That type of wealth needs to be less uncommon.
And we've got to set the example by creating it and living into it.
Day six, my personal favorite, time. I have had to really do my own work in this category. Now it's more scarce than money, in our linear perception anyway, but we tend to spend it and waste it much more freely.
So what are your [00:20:00] thoughts? What are your thoughts when you're thinking about your time? Is it that it's not enough? We say that as if it's a statement without realizing its perception. Everyone has 24 hours in a day, but some people create a lot more with it than others.
Let's say you are thinking, I don't have enough time. And then how do you feel with that? You tend to feel scattered and overwhelmed. And when you look at what comes from that, chances are you are doing some spinning, you're spending your off time thinking about how you don't have time in work, for instance, to do what you need to do.
You may be rushing through things, make some careless mistakes that means you have to go back and duplicate your efforts at another time.
And so often what you end up creating when you're thinking, I don't have enough time,
is that you use time inefficiently.
[00:21:00] And just compare that to some other time in your life where maybe you haven't felt rushed, you have felt a greater capacity, and how quickly sometimes you've just downloaded something and gotten it done.
So for one day, I want to give that to you to play with.
What if it weren't feeling scarce or weren't feeling like some judgment of you because I've heard that to people Who think I should have been further ahead by now. I put this much time into it. Therefore XYZ What if you could release your thoughts about time?
What would change for you 
Finally day seven. Let's think about your intellectual capacity and your smarts or your intellectual resources, your business acumen. What if you consider this as valuable as money or time?
Now because of our negativity bias and our conditioning as women and individuals, that's not normally the case.
Now, I bet you go through life thinking you are pretty [00:22:00] smart,
but for this exercise today, I need you to walk right up against your limit.
I remember once I was talking to a client who was a coach, and she was talking about how confident she feels to go in and help people, and I don't remember what the context was, but I made some comment about coaching billionaires, and right away she was like, Oh, I just realized when you said that, I definitely don't think I could do that.
Now for you, maybe it's not coaching, but maybe it's impress those people or build that kind of business. Whatever it might be, find your edge here.
We also sometimes see this category is finite when it's not. Like, oh, well, this is what I've got to work with. This level of business knowledge or marketing knowledge or creative skills, etc.
You might uncover a thought that just feels like fact. It doesn't really even feel charged where you're like, that's just not my strong suit. 
But you are not done, my friend. The game doesn't stop [00:23:00] here. You're not done increasing the resource that is your mind. The most precious, valuable resource you have. You can lose all your money and have very limited time, but if you're invested in your brain and building your capacity in that area, you can make it all back and more.
You can make anything happen. It's the one constant that you carry around with you.
So if you have great thoughts in any of these areas, you want to have especially great thoughts about this area.
Okay, my friend, I hope this episode has got the wheels turning. I hope it's inspiring you to at least play for even just one day with each of these categories.
And if you want more, you're welcome to head to theuncommonway. com forward slash thought cleanse. The link is in the episode notes,
and I'll give you [00:24:00] some more fun food for thought to really help you with this thought cleanse 
and spring detox to make way for whatever is next for you and your business. Alright, remember, deep down 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 First strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit TheUncommonWay. com. See you next time.
  

Jenna Harrison 4/13/24 Jenna Harrison 4/13/24

Ep# 93: The 1,2,3 of Reinventing Yourself and Realigning Your Business for Next Level Success

Have you ever wondered what possibilities you’re missing out on, just because you've never even considered them? How do you break free from your current mindset, which can limit your potential for growth and success, and unlock radical potential? In this episode of The Uncommon Way, we delve into the crucial process of reinvention, showing you why it's essential to question everything and build your ability for expansive thinking … and how to do it.

Episode Summary

Have you ever wondered what possibilities you’re missing out on, just because you've never even considered them?

How do you break free from your current mindset, which can limit your potential for growth and success, and unlock radical potential?

In this episode of The Uncommon Way, we delve into the crucial process of reinvention, showing you why it's essential to question everything and build your ability for expansive thinking … and how to do it.

You’ll bring the transformations into your business and unlock a new level of success and fulfillment.

You will:

1. Learn why it's crucial to dramatically stretch your possibilities in order to create new results in your business and life.

2. Discover tactical strategies to expand your thinking and consider possibilities you've never explored.

3. Gain insights on integrating these radical shifts into your business to achieve uncommon success and fulfillment. Ready to unlock radical possibilities and transform your business and life? Scroll up & press play now to step into a completely new future.

Schedule a call with Jenna to talk about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in the pieces of your successful business and first-rate mindset. https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released: https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Leave a voicemail for Jenna and get her personalized advice for your business: https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Links mentioned

#88 Massive Business Growth Requires Blowing Everything Up (BTS of Our Reinvention & Why You Need It Too As a Woman Entrepreneur)

#2 The Decision Tree

Books mentioned

We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers

Full Episode Transcript:

  
    [00:00:00] Here's a fun question. How do you think of possibilities you've never thought of? How do you get outside of your head when your brain, by default, is inside your head? The answers to these questions will radically up level your business and life. And luckily, it's exactly what we're discussing in this episode.
 You're listening to the Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves, so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging and strategy and step into the uncommonly successful business.
And life you are creating. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison. [00:01:00] 
Hey, welcome back to The Uncommon Way. I don't know about where you are, but here in PA, spring has arrived. We are talking tulips and 75 degree weather and ducks laying eggs, which always gets me jazzed up thinking about reinvention and creating anew.
Even more so this year, because we're about to begin a totally new life in Spain. Since this is on my mind, maybe it's on your mind, too. Let's dive into it. Today, I want to share the sequence of how I walk clients through their reinvention process. Here's what we'll be covering. Why you can't create new results with the same brain you have today. So you have got to start with changing yourself or you'll drastically decelerate your timeline for whatever you would like to accomplish.
You'll learn how, [00:02:00] tactically, to start expanding your mind to think about possibilities you have never considered. And finally, how to bring these radical shifts into your business in the most strategic ways to create the business of flow and meaning and wildly uncommon success that you are seeking.
And I hope it goes without saying, since The Uncommon Way is all about continual evolution and growth, that I am just engaged in this work as you are and as my clients are. In fact,
you can check out episode 88, which we will link to in the show notes, or you can just go to TheUncommonWay. com forward slash 88 and And you'll get my update on what's going on behind the scenes here at this business. And it's going to help you generate more courage if you know that a part of you is staying with the status quo just because that's what feels most safe or you're not sure what your [00:03:00] next step should even be. And also, did you know that you can get personalized coaching from me in the form of a podcast episode?
Think about what could change in your business if I pointed out just one thing you weren't seeing, or I helped you figure out one new thing. But you've got to take the first step. Head over to The Uncommon Way forward slash talk T A L K. And leave me a voicemail. Just let me know what's going on. And then strap in for an influx of calm, laid back energy and direction in your business.
All right, my friend, today we're starting with your mindset tip first. As I mentioned earlier, you can't create new results with the same brain you have today. We all think that we are swimming in an ocean of possibilities, but the truth is, it's like we're in a fishbowl in the ocean, [00:04:00] and that fishbowl is the way that we've been thinking, the way that we're used to.
Thinking and the way that we narrow our possibilities through that frame of reference.
I see examples of this every day, and I know that even a brain surgeon can't do surgery on herself.
I'm thinking about my client, Carrie, who I've interviewed on the podcast about this, but she was in a state of scarcity, believing who would pay her and how much people could pay, and so she didn't realize that. All of that language was actually infiltrating her website and even determining how her offers were structured.
I'm thinking of
another client of mine who had this great belief that she always accomplishes whatever she sets out to accomplish. How can you argue with that? It sounds great, right? But what we identified is that that sometimes keeps her from taking the bold risks, Because [00:05:00] what if she doesn't actually accomplish it?
What if there's failure involved? And so transforming her relationship to failure and her thoughts about it were actually what were necessary for her to go to the next level. I'm thinking about another client of mine that really wanted to grow her membership, but recognize that she also did not want to be seen.
And those were coming through in her decisions about how to market to her audience
in ways that she didn't even realize. Now, the biology of the human brain is to run on autopilot. We couldn't possibly get through the day if we were having to process every bit of information and analyze and make new decisions. So our brain tries to help us out by cataloging knowledge that it knows and helping us create these lenses and these filters so that we don't have to do so much heavy lifting with every decision and every thought.
[00:06:00] Unfortunately, when we're trying to create something new, it's challenging because we have this propensity to stay with the status quo and keep seeing things the way that we've been seeing them, because statistically, for survival, it made more sense to err on the side of caution and to keep running on the assumptions that we've always had.
But that is not the way of creators and visionaries who want new things.
And so just like the examples I gave you before, typically when we break down the most effective ways to move forward for my clients and really reach that next level that we're seeking, it becomes obvious that something we've been holding near and dear or that we just think is such a part of us or the thing that guarantees our success is really inhibiting progress.
. And I believe that is because entrepreneurship is the greatest [00:07:00] spiritual and personal development journey for women. We always run smack into the parts of us that most need to heal or be released or be transcended. It's par for the course when women have so much conditioning that runs directly contrary to the most necessary Entrepreneurial traits and skill sets, like taking up space and owning your gifts and charging money rather than just giving everything away for free, developing risk avoidance, . All of those are what a good woman does. And so it's challenging to flip the script.
And that's why when we look at studies and statistics that tell us things like women are less inclined to apply for a job interview, for which they are partially qualified than a man is, or only 2 percent of women owned businesses are seven figure businesses, whereas 30 [00:08:00] percent of male owned businesses are seven figure businesses.
We have clear evidence of all of that conditioning. Women who are less likely to seek capital investment, who are caught up thinking they should be able to do it themselves. Maybe they're not charging as much.
Maybe they're not seeking out promotional opportunities. There are so many micro decisions that contribute to these results that we see systemically.
A fantastic book that will just hit you over the head with all of these very well Linked studies that demonstrate this type of conditioning is Rachel Rogers book. We Should All Be Millionaires. Really, just the first chapter or two where she's laying all of this out is mind blowing
and you start realizing, oh, when I think maybe I'm not business savvy,
there may not be any basis to that. It is interesting that [00:09:00] women outperform men with investment performance. But we've inherited all these beliefs, and they don't serve us, and they keep us plain small.
There are many personal experiences that form our own fishbowl, too, right? Maybe something that happened in junior high.
Maybe behavior that you observed from your parents. We want to get outside of all of that. In fact, we want to be willing to burn it all down to then build back intentionally this time. Now, it's never fully possible, but we want to at least take a stab at it.
Right? We want to get off autopilot. So what are the beliefs and ways of being that serve me, rather than serve society, or serve the patriarchy, or serve my parents? What serves me?
But before anything, you've got to be willing to let your old way of being go,
even though that feels threatening, like you [00:10:00] may not succeed if you do that. You've got to invite reinvention rather than staying with what has worked until now. It's not that it was necessarily wrong. It got you where you are, it's just not where you're going. I've found this reinvention process to be such rocket fuel for women's success that I've created an entire new module in the Clarity Accelerator for it. It's now the very first work you'll learn to do in that program. It used to be the work that I was doing with my private clients, until I saw such consistent, mind blowing change.
Women blowing past membership goals that they'd had for a decade, building their business in record time, creating the new business they'd been holding off on, or the seven figure business they'd dreamed of, and it became apparent that I needed to get this into the hands of more women. Stat. And also because I hate when knowledge is doled out in tears, like, Oh, you can have access to [00:11:00] this knowledge now, but we'll only teach you this stuff once you've earned whatever arbitrary number, the six figures, or the 10k months, or the seven figures.
No! How about we give everyone a Every woman, the best chance of success now. I know I would have liked to have had access to high level mindset concepts and messaging concepts and strategy concepts, so I couldn't, in integrity, not make them available, not make this reinvention work available. to each and every one of my clients.
So to sum up, there is a huge ocean of possibilities available for you in your business, and by the nature of your brain, you're only scratching the surface of what's available. And your life can get so much richer, better, bigger, but you need to be the one to seek it out and do the work to step into it.
And don't worry, it's time to get tactical. So now I'm going [00:12:00] to give you two really powerful prompts that are going to grease the wheels and get your mind used to stretching into these directions that it's not used to, and really build that muscle for yourself. 
Hey, if you're a coach who wants true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business, and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator. I'll teach you to connect all the dots. The dots that have always been there for you. So that you can show up like you were born for exactly this.
Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn. From Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to theuncommonway. com slash schedule and set up a time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach.
Okay, number one is, what are five possibilities from your past that you never considered?
Now, in hindsight, you can see it was [00:13:00] possible, but it just never crossed your mind. I like to use the example of Rodeo Clown. It never occurred to me that I could have been a Rodeo Clown. Now, A lot of my clients tend to go a little deeper with this, but really do stretch your brain. Just see, like, you could have skipped college.
Maybe you could have been into polyamory rather than the monogamous marriage you have now. Maybe there's some athletic pursuit that you never even considered for yourself because you had a belief that you weren't athletic. Go ahead and pause this and take a minute to come up with 3 to 5 examples of possibilities that you did not live. 
 
 Great. Okay, why did we start with the past when we're talking about reinventing the future? It's because you know more now. You are a different person than you were then, and I want you to see how much you've already changed and [00:14:00] broadened your perspective.
So if that change is possible in the 10 or however many years between now and then, why can't it happen much more quickly for you going forward? , we know it's going to happen, but let's help accelerate it, and let's choose intentionally, again, rather than being on autopilot. And then there's another reason we went to the past, and that's that it's a lot safer for us. We can't change the past. It's already happened, so we're not really going to do the things, so what's the harm in playing?
But now, I'm going to ask you to do the same for future possibilities. You don't have to pause, right? You can just reflect on it while you're brushing your teeth. I have a client who says, Jenna, my teeth are going to be really white after working with you.
But the point is that mindset work doesn't have to take work. You don't have to block out time in your day for it. You just have to open yourself to musing [00:15:00] over it. Uh, in the shower, or when you're walking your dog, or brushing your teeth.
And try to let yourself be equally as open with what's possible in the future as you were in the past. Again, we're just building this muscle right now. And you don't have to do any of those things, obviously.
But that form of thinking will lead you to more creative, visionary, out of the box ways of being. The kind that, in hindsight, people will say, Oh, that makes sense. That was a smart business move. But when you first think of it, you're probably going to feel like, Oh shit, who am I kidding?
I remember when we were on our retreat last October, there was a woman who was talking about selling a business, and she, in her future plan, was stating that she wanted to sell her business for 5 million. And all of us were able to catch her in that and say, no, no, no, I think you mean 50 million. 5 million was already undervalued for what she's creating.
And of course, it didn't feel shocking to us on the outside [00:16:00] looking in, but to her, it felt shocking. She had to absorb that and then be able to integrate it and move on. And that's okay. You can let it percolate.
You get to make all of your decisions. No one's forcing you to do anything. But if you do decide you want support making it happen, then let's talk, because I love this stuff. Alright, here's your second prompt, which helps really bring that possibility more directly into your business today. Let's just imagine you were a sorceress who could wave a magic wand and work with any type of person you want to.
This person's already a big fan, there's zero convincing required, they're just the most exciting kind of person you can imagine working with, and they are hanging on your every word. Now, what would you say to them about the work you're going to do together? You can imagine this as a conversation, or imagine writing a letter, or [00:17:00] creating a social media post, but in this ocean of possibility, where these clients exist, what would you say to them about what comes next?
Oh, I'm giving myself tingles here. I hope you're getting them too, because this is the basis of everything else you'll create. Before you can reverse engineer the copy, the offers, the strategy, you need clear vision. You'd need to be open to what's possible, and you need to desire it enough to be willing to make some changes to the status quo.
Which leads into our third tip of the day, which might seem a little out there for some of you, but that's okay, because this episode is all about stretching possibilities. We tend to walk through our businesses in a series of have dos well, because this is what's possible.
I have to do this because these are my acquired skills and this is what I imagine the most people will pay for. And these are [00:18:00] all the resources I have at this moment. I have to have this business or target these people or use this strategy. I just got off the phone with a client of mine who was thinking about her next iteration and she was talking about creating websites and in her frame of reference, she lives up in the Seattle area.
So it was either the two. tech savvy startups, or it was the small kind of mom and pop business owner that would be her two clients. And I just said, but what about all of these other ones that also have this really strong vision and mission, but they just don't know how to express it visually? They just know how to bring it forward.
And I started naming off a few, like, my dog eats vegan dog food. Right? And they have a really strong belief that dogs do not need to be carnivores anymore and that they can create just as much nutritional satisfaction with vegan products. [00:19:00] Or another one I know about, it's a business that creates products for a natural makeup.
Or there are all of these businesses sprouting. Oh, another one I love, and this is not a paid promo in any way, but I happen to love this burst company. Have you heard of this? It's all dental products. It cracks me up. It's refillable dental floss. So you don't need to keep buying plastic containers over and over.
And it's also like black and with charcoal in it. And there are all these different reasons why they have up level dental floss. And all different dental hygiene products. I love it so much. I'm such a gimmick girl. I'm like, why shouldn't my enjoyment of buying dental products be really super high? And I'll look forward to the shipment every couple months or something.
And these are businesses that might've had a strong vision, a strong, or, , yeah, strong vision and a strong way of thinking about what they wanted to bring into the world, but not known how to do that [00:20:00] visually or through UX or through the back end of their web. So, there are a lot of possibilities.
I'm just sharing this as one other example to help you see what I'm saying here.
But again, we tend to filter our decisions through this lens, right? And it's a lens that's inherently limiting. It's like when we're looking for the perfect leaf.
And for those of you who don't get that reference, you can listen to my episode number two, The Decision Tree, which talks about the incorrect way that we are taught to make decisions and how to start making much more powerful, useful, and aligned decisions. But the overview is that we tend to try and find a perfect leaf on a tree by going leaf by leaf and then comparing and contrasting and thinking, I could do this, but I could also do that.
Well, here are all the pros, here are all the cons. And it really sends our brains into gridlock, and I believe goes against our nature [00:21:00] versus cons. What is the trunk of that tree, right? What am I really trying to create? And then when the branches split off, you just go with the strongest branch. And then when those split off, you go with the strongest branch and you keep following this until you get to your leaf.
It's just a completely different way of moving through your decision making process that
So, when you leave behind the have tos and you open yourself instead to what you want and what is possible for you, and you're willing to work towards that, of course, because we only want to use the smartest of business strategies to bring this into existence, right? This is not just about hoping and crossing your fingers.
at all. But when you start from here and you flip the script from what do I have to do into what if I can create [00:22:00] whatever I want. You step into what I call yes and energy and you unleash a torrent of personal power which like I said before is rocket fuel.
It gives you tremendous energy and capacity to go kick ass. But it's also magnetic because people want to be around the brilliant, confident person that you are showing up as. And it's manifestation catnip because you are in full receiving mode. If you keep telling the universe, this is all I get, this is my lot, you'll keep getting that.
When you say, Yes, and more please. Why not me? You get the same in return. And this invariably transform your business. It can't not. You almost inevitably organically end up moving through my connect the dots method for business, which I highly recommend you do. And it just [00:23:00] realigns everything. It tightens it up or it closes the gaps or it's like a chiropractic alignment for your business.
You start thinking through. If I could do anything, what do I really want to do from that place of power? And then from there, who would my people be? If I could, again, wave my wand and have ideal clients, who are these ideal clients do I dare to dream? And from that, what offer will they need? To be able to say emphatically, yes, what is something I can create so purposefully for them that it's like no other offer , is available to even settle for.
Because this is so clearly what they need. And then from there, continuing to connect the dots, how am I going to talk about that to them? In a way that really ties together both [00:24:00] me and what I'm here to do, knowing myself, and them and what they're really about, knowing them, and just creating very clear, concise dialogue.
messaging, and copy that helps them feel really safe and really excited about moving forward with you. Okay, my friend, time for you to move into yes and energy. Time for all women to move into it, actually, but time for you to be one of the groundbreakers paving the way, the uncommon way. I will see you back here next week.
And remember, You know who you are, and each day you are 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 First strategy for growing and scaling your business, [00:25:00] visit TheUncommonWay. com. See you next time. 
  

Jenna Harrison 4/6/24 Jenna Harrison 4/6/24

Ep# 92: Get Through High Stress and Overwhelm Quickly, for Peak Performance, Joy and Better Results as a Service-Based Entrepreneur

Have you ever felt like the weight of the world was on your shoulders, juggling multiple tasks until stress overwhelms you?

In this episode, discover why thinking your way out of stress might not work and what neuroscience reveals about overcoming overwhelm.

Are you struggling with stress and overwhelmed in your life or business? You're not alone.

Episode Summary

Have you ever felt like the weight of the world was on your shoulders, juggling multiple tasks until stress overwhelms you?

In this episode, discover why thinking your way out of stress might not work and what neuroscience reveals about overcoming overwhelm.

Are you struggling with stress and overwhelmed in your life or business? You're not alone.

In today's fast-paced world, getting caught up in the chaos is easy. But did you know that stress can hijack your brain, limiting your access to creative problem-solving and long-term visioning?

Join us as we delve into the science behind stress and learn practical strategies to regain control and find clarity amidst the chaos.

In this episode, you will:

Understand the neuroscience behind stress and its impact on your brain's ability to function optimally.
Learn practical techniques to effectively regulate your nervous system and overcome overwhelm.
Discover mindset shifts to cultivate resilience and navigate challenges with clarity and confidence.

Ready to reclaim control over your stress and overwhelm?

Scroll up & press play now to gain insights and strategies to empower you to thrive amidst life's challenges.

Leave a voicemail for Jenna: https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Schedule a call with Jenna to talk about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in the pieces of your successful business and first-rate mindset (the precursor for Power & Potency) https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Have you ever felt like the weight of the world was on your shoulders, juggling multiple tasks until stress overwhelms you?

In this episode, discover why thinking your way out of stress might not work and what neuroscience reveals about overcoming overwhelm.

Are you struggling with stress and overwhelmed in your life or business? You're not alone.

In today's fast-paced world, getting caught up in the chaos is easy. But did you know that stress can hijack your brain, limiting your access to creative problem-solving and long-term visioning?

Join us as we delve into the science behind stress and learn practical strategies to regain control and find clarity amidst the chaos.

In this episode, you will:

Understand the neuroscience behind stress and its impact on your brain's ability to function optimally.
Learn practical techniques to effectively regulate your nervous system and overcome overwhelm.
Discover mindset shifts to cultivate resilience and navigate challenges with clarity and confidence.

Ready to reclaim control over your stress and overwhelm?

Scroll up & press play now to gain insights and strategies to empower you to thrive amidst life's challenges.

Leave a voicemail for Jenna: https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Full Episode Transcript:

  
    [00:00:00] You know when a lot is piled on your plate, and you're trying to keep your cool, and 
then something else gets dropped on you, and then something else, and you feel like you need three of you to even begin to make a dent in it all, and then you're starting to lose sleep, and you notice yourself falling into the victim cave or the shame cave?
Well, this episode is for you.
You're listening to the Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves, so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging and strategy and step into the uncommonly successful business.
And life you are creating. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison. [00:01:00] 
Hey, welcome back to the Uncommon Way. How are you? I'm doing pretty good, thanks for asking. But two weeks ago, I was seriously in it. And by it, I mean the stress and overwhelm. So I realized that I needed to do an episode, now, while I have this fresh perspective.
And it's not just theoretical.
I'm very excited to share with you what neuroscience says about your stress, and why you're not going to be able to think your way out of this, and what to do instead. I'll tell you how to clear out the fog and come up with your best solutions for dealing with everything you have going on. And actually, I swear, hear me out, Feel hopeful about this situation.
Plus, I want to let you know how to not get stuck in the trap of [00:02:00] attracting this to yourself over and over. It's going to be juicy. But first, I have two quick things for you. 
 First of all, thank you. It turns out our retention rates are through the ceiling, thanks to you. Now, retention is a podcast term that just means how long you listen to the episode. And so, if there's an 80 percent average, people on average are sticking around through 80 percent of the show, that is amazing in podcast land.
And it turns out, We regularly hit that and in fact have many episodes with an average a hundred percent retention rate, 
and since the algorithm sees all that, along with the number of downloads and the reviews are what help us get seen by more and more women who need this. and can receive help regardless of economic circumstances. So I know there are a lot of amazing [00:03:00] podcasts, and I'm so grateful to you for sticking with this one and listening to this one.
And I just wanted to share that with you from the bottom of my heart. Now, speaking of receiving help, the second thing. Last episode, we did that episode where Peggy had called in with a question so I want to encourage you to follow her lead and do the same thing. This is really the best deal in the industry, at least that I've heard of, where you can get an episode made for you and, of course, everyone else. Thank you, Peggy, because I had a couple people tell me specifically that episode was so helpful.
So every time you have a question, someone else needs to hear the answer. It's really an act of extreme, giving. and kindness to step up and be the one to ask the question.
Now, the [00:04:00] value of this coaching that you're going to get is well over 500, even more if you implement it. There are some small tweaks that I've had clients implement and they begin pretty immediately seeing revenue increases
or lifestyle increases or clarity increases,
and that can be yours. You've got to head over to the Uncommon Way forward slash talk. There's a link in the show notes. And leave me a voicemail.
And in case you're having trouble narrowing in on what you want to ask me about, here is a prompt for you related to today's episode.
What tends to overwhelm you most in your business, and what do you see as one main obstacle to changing that situation? You got it? Of course, you can ask me about anything at all, but that's something to get the wheels spinning. [00:05:00] Okay, let's get down to it, shall we?
I am going to start with a quick primer, giving the full picture of why we even want to move out of these stressful situations as quickly as possible. Now, some of you might be thinking, duh, I hate being stressed out. Of course I want to move out of this situation. But for many of us, myself included, it's not easy.
Just an innocent ebb and flow of life where things get a little crazy now and then. It's actually a habituated pattern that we ourselves contribute to, and there's a reason. Because deep down, we might think this is what makes us succeed, or makes us more worthy, or many other things. So to help that part of you release its grip a little bit more, I want to show you what's available on the other side.
It is now very well established in the field of neuroscience that stress states cause us to lose [00:06:00] access to the parts of the brain that you most need to access as an entrepreneur. Because, obviously, if you're being chased by a tiger, you don't want to sit there and wait. there and analyze the pros and cons and think creatively about the most creative solution that you could leave the tiger's path, right?
So many other parts of our brain really just aren't needed in that moment. We need to zero in. We need tunnel vision. We need to get the hell out of there and we need to not be thinking a lot.
But, as an entrepreneur, you do need those faculties. You desperately need them. You want access to your most creative thinking. You want access to long term visioning. You want access to problem solving. You want to be analytical.
You want to think abstractly about the meaning of it all and create compelling intellectual property.
And as people who are serving [00:07:00] others and collaborating with others, you want to have The most empathetic parts of your brains lit up. The parts of you that can really connect with other humans. That feel good seeing other humans. That get excited about your interactions with these people. That feel a sense of trust. That feel camaraderie. That feel
more like collaboration instead of competition. Think about it. If you are in a high stress situation, you want to have the most skeptical part of yourself, the potentially most aggressive part of yourself available to defend yourself against a threat. So again, our brains have been wired in ways that make complete sense. They just don't fully serve us quite frequently.
The parts of you that you really want are only fully online when the brain is in what is called a responsive state, [00:08:00] which is when your nervous system has regulated,
when you're not stressed out, when you're at your baseline,
but you know what else you want access to? Dopamine. Not just because it feels good, like that little hit you get 
when you're like, Ooh,
but because recently so much research is showing how critical dopamine is to us seeking out,
to us going after big things, to setting goals and sticking to our plan and really continuing with what we say we're moving towards. You know how when you're stressed and you reach a point where you're like, ugh, why even bother? Mm hmm. Did you just think that was a coincidence? It is not. And dopamine is released with a variety of activities that tend to happen when you are in your most relaxed,
regulated [00:09:00] states.
Can you imagine where we would be if we were all more regulated and had been in the past? What different innovations might be around? What new ways of being? I mean, we need more people more fully tapping into their genius. Now, I bring on a lot of hard charging powerhouse women who sometimes, especially in the beginning, really resist when I tell them to get some sleep or whatever the advice may be in the moment. Because, they've got to do more, not less, with everything going on. So, I tell them, oh, I'm not suggesting this because I have some biased agenda of a simple, easy business. It's because for where I know you are going, I need you operating at P performance. And this is not it. Luckily, the resistance goes away once they start seeing [00:10:00] results. I was talking to my client, Lauren, and she said, you know, it's as if this were really working. Like, yeah, it's as if I knew what I was doing.
So, okay, then great. You might be thinking, well then, okay, what do I do about it? And the fact that I've still got A, B, C, D, and E going on at the moment.
Well, you have got to start with the nervous system. You can't think your way out of this. Because it controls everything. By the way, if you are in the clarity accelerator, You have got to go check out that new training on somatics. Somatics, for those of you that don't know, is anything based on the body rather than the mind.
And I've been talking about it on calls for years, but now I've created this training and it's in the Getting Started module.
for those of you that want to hop in there after this episode.
Hey, if you're a [00:11:00] coach who wants true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business, and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator. I'll teach you to connect all the dots. The dots that have always been there for you. So that you can show up like you were born for exactly this.
Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn. From Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to theuncommonway. com slash schedule and set up a time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach. Now, just through the physiology of our nervous system, it is always quicker to activate than it is to regulate. You can get spun up a lot more quickly than you are able to relax and come down from it.
And the level of your activation is really important, because sometimes despite all your deep breaths, you might remain stressed the fuck out [00:12:00] for a while.
And that's where I found myself two weeks ago.
You've already heard about some of the things going on for me. We are moving to Spain in a couple of months.
And there's just a tremendous amount of paperwork that needs to happen for me to get my digital nomad visa. And not only do we need a lot of paperwork, but we need to get it apostilled, which is this process that every single state and or the federal government needs to do to say that, yes, this document that we're submitting is valid.
is, in fact, from the organization that we say it is. Well, as military family, we've moved all over the place. So we're dealing with, I think, five different states plus the federal government. And as if that weren't enough, it all has to be done within a certain time frame. So if we order the paperwork too early, then we may not be able to submit it when we're in Spain.
And if we order it [00:13:00] too late, then we'll be late. Not be here. It will be sent to the wrong address. There's also, , just a lot of downsizing. There's selling furniture, there's deciding what goes where, what we might ship to Spain someday, what would be something that we just wouldn't want to ship and would want to store at my mom's house.
We also, in the last month, have had my son's official ADHD diagnosis, which has just required a lot of extra involvement with his care team and with setting things up with the school and, getting him some outside help.
And I'm planning my honey's retirement party. Twenty eight years in service. Actually, yesterday was his last day in uniform. He now has some leave that he's accumulated that he'll be taking before he actually retires. But it was very significant.
But there's a party [00:14:00] that we're planning. We're going back to West Point for the very day that he was commissioned 28 years ago. And we're going to stand in the exact same spot. And that's where we'll have his retirement ceremony. So it's very beautiful thing. All of these are very beautiful things, right?
Talk about first world problems, but it's a lot. And then there's a business, right? Business where I've been bringing on new people, we've been creating new systems, we're going through a massive rebrand right now. And we have A lot of growth happening and in our future and a lot of preparation that needs to take place for that to happen.
So there's a lot going on. And then there were some extra fun little things like our email server. The host just had an issue and it just shut down for a while. And then when we were trying to get it back up and running, the clients just wouldn't connect [00:15:00] anymore. Basically, I think it was about four days and through a weekend where I was on the phone with tech support and I was really migrating, we ended up migrating all of our email over to Google Workspace and , I'm at that part in my business where there are some things yet that I don't have the right person for in order to handle it.
And so there's some things I have to do for myself. There's some turnover going on. There was an assistant we had that had, had so many mistakes happen, bless her heart. Some of them were just like, you know where things you just like, you accidentally press the wrong button and like delete all the client's information?
And there were so many things that she finally resigned, saying that she wanted to put me and my COO out of our misery, basically, and that there had just been [00:16:00] so many instances that she felt like something maybe was just not energetically aligned. And so all of this kind of happened at once, that we were shorthanded, and that there were tech issues, and it really felt like Mercury retrograde, even though it hadn't actually hit yet.
I think we were kind of on the front end of that curve. The point is, I got very stressed. I didn't really get stressed in my mind, because I have Well, one of the things that I'm going to share with you, and just the way that I've, conditioned myself to deal with all sorts of things,
so I thought I was maintaining perspective and, , people usually tell me , that I seem unflappable. My COO was like, I do not know how you are staying so calm right now.
But what I started noticing is that I was losing sleep, and my digestion was [00:17:00] just really awful. And there were other indicators that told me that even though my mind was in a fairly, and by my mind I don't mean my brain, I mean my way of thinking,
was pretty solid, I was definitely activated. And
I was talking to someone about how You know, I was maintaining this solid mindset. I was doing my breath work. I was Meditating I was doing all the things Trying to go to bed early enough. I was doing all the supposed to's right and the should's and Yet all of this I'd reached a level of activation and it finally dawned on me.
Oh, yes From my somatics training, that thing was that when we reach a certain level of activation, then no amount of breath work will help us come back down. We really need to [00:18:00] move. We need to move our bodies. And, if we were running from a tiger, we wouldn't be able to just sit there and breathe and hope that we could, engage the parasympathetic nervous system and everything would return to our homeostasis state in our body.
Our system would remain activated until we got the fuck out of there.
Again, this is what I mean about not having access to our best thinking. When we're in this state.
I didn't have access to that analysis, to that memory.
And also, this is just how neuroplasticity works in our brain. Neuroplasticity meaning the way our brains change, and can change, first, maybe you're just hearing about a different way of responding and you're thinking that's a good idea. Then maybe you realize you could have done that, but you didn't do it. Then you start thinking after the fact, Oh, . I wish I had done that instead. And then [00:19:00] eventually once in a while, maybe you remember it until finally it becomes so integrated with you that you just, that's your go to response.
Right, to the stimulus. And so this is why,
when we're looking to really reinvent ourselves, really engage in mindset work. And an overhaul of sorts, it's not an in and out process. It's sort of like getting into the pool where you dive in, but then if you jump right out, you never really acclimated to the water and you actually need to be in that for a while, be in that soup for a while so that it just starts to feel normal.
But again, back to the movement of some sort, something that really gets your heart rate up. It could be a good run. It could be a great orgasm. However, whatever floats your boat, but you know, right? You've been in times where maybe you've had a great yoga class and then [00:20:00] afterwards you're reflecting on all these things that you had and you're like, you know what?
It's really not as big a deal as I was making it into, right? Or, oh, I know how to, what I'll do, I'll just delegate this or whatever comes up.
That is the power of helping your nervous system re regulate then being able to tap into that higher thinking.
All right. Now I want to share the mindset tip that I mentioned earlier. So you've got so much that it feels overwhelming. Okay? Good. You are in a capacity building phase. You are stretching yourself to be able to hold more than you have previously. That might look like more content that you're creating now.
It might be more plates that you're juggling. It might be more emotions you're experiencing, or heightened emotions than you've typically carried in the past. It might be more patience [00:21:00] or more tolerance that you're being called to hold. But it's okay. It's okay. We can do hard things, right? Now, this advice is not for you if you are in a continually stressed out state.
If it's sustained, there's likely something else going on, and you want to move heaven and earth to work with a coach or another mental health professional to really get to the root of that.
But this advice is for you if you have, overall, a more balanced, sustainable baseline, and then things spring up. Because what's not helpful is the thoughts of, oh no, I'm regressing, or I should be beyond this, or I'm a hot mess, or why can't I ever get ahead, or why does this always happen to me? No judgment.
I have thought. Every one of those. I've thought every one of [00:22:00] those countless times.
We are all on a journey shedding that mentality, that old mentality that gets us nowhere.
I like to think instead about what is waiting for me on the other side, right? What if this thing right now, what if that were a breeze? What if my husband were asking me, So what's your day like tomorrow? And I was saying, eh, pretty mellow, but it was exactly what I have to do today. What if my future actually looks nothing like this at all, but because of the muscles I've built, the sheer capacity I've built.
When, that live webinar before was a big thing, well, now I'm on stage in front of thousands, and it's manageable, because of all of that back then. We don't get to there, right? We don't get to our future goals without passing through discomfort. All of those big dreams you have, have you [00:23:00] thought about what it would feel like if you had to do it tomorrow?
Walk out on that stage, or whatever it is, hold that retreat, or
have the booked out client roster, wherever you might be. Yikes, right? When things are far in the future, all we feel is anticipation. We aren't thinking about any of this other stuff, typically. But the stretching required along the path to that place probably won't feel great, all the time, just because of how we're wired.
So along the way, you might find yourself, , you start dragging your feet. In, of course, really smart, how could you even argue with them ways, naturally,
which leads you to take longer than you need to on your path to where you're going. Or you might just have a heightened negative experiences of these growth phases, both of which. are [00:24:00] great reasons to work with someone that can give you outside perspective and help you get where you're going faster, better, and easier.
So what if you are down for the growth when necessary? But you really want to make sure that you don't attract more of this by accident. Well just the mindset tip that I gave you is helpful because what you're doing is you're turning your attention to the future desired state rather than the current stressed out state.
But there's more, because how you deal with what's going on right now matters, too. You want to deal with the things efficiently, but without creating huge emotional space for it or drama.
I love this metaphor that I heard from Danielle Eymann. These circumstances are like something Blowing in through the screen door to your house, and you want to just open the back [00:25:00] door, the back screen door, and let it pass through.
Because often what we tend to do is keep that back door shut,
so it's sticking around and reverberating 
an hour increased attention very easily attracts more of its kind.
So remember, it's not not thinking about it. Don't think of a pink elephant. Instead, it's very gently choosing to spend your mental energy on what is working, what is going well, what you are learning, not in a gaslighty spiritual bypassing way, but in the way where you give your brain the task of finding where you do have things that you believe are positive in your life, or at least even if they're neutral in your life, other things you can focus on. And this is really why gratitude, I mean the genuine gratitude where you're really feeling it, is so [00:26:00] powerful.
Okay, my friends, that is it for today. Was it helpful? If so, share this with someone who could use it. And remember, you know who you are. Bye for now. And each day you are 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 First strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit TheUncommonWay. com. See you next time.
  

Jenna Harrison 3/30/24 Jenna Harrison 3/30/24

Ep# 91: Q: My clients are exhausting me! How do I break the pattern of difficult clients?

Are demanding clients draining your time and mental energy, leaving you stuck in your business?

If you're spending too much time dealing with challenging clients and constantly worrying about meeting their needs, it's time to create a balanced relationship with your ideal clients.

Doing so will free up your time and mental space to help more people or focus on growing your business, ultimately leading to greater fulfilment and success.

Episode Summary

Are demanding or high-needs clients draining your time and mental energy, leaving you stuck in your business?

If you're spending too much time dealing with challenging clients and constantly worrying about meeting their needs, it's time to create a balanced relationship with your ideal clients.

Doing so will free up your time and mental space to help more people or focus on growing your business, ultimately leading to greater fulfilment and success.

In this episode, you will:

1) Gain insight into the root causes of excessive time and energy on challenging clients.

2) Learn practical strategies for attracting and maintaining relationships with ideal clients who respect your boundaries and contribute positively to your business.

3) Develop a mindset shift to confidently say no to clients who are not aligned with your vision. This will allow you to focus on serving those who value your expertise.

Listen to this episode of The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast to discover how to break free from the cycle of draining client relationships and create a thriving business that aligns with your goals.

Leave a voicemail for Jenna:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Schedule a call with Jenna to talk about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in the pieces of your successful business and first-rate mindset (the precursor for Power & Potency)

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Links mentioned:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karpman_drama_triangle

Books mentioned:

https://www.amazon.com/POWER-TED-EMPOWERMENT-DYNAMIC-Anniversary-ebook/dp/B01CV1I84U/

Episodes mentioned:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/episodes/finding-attracting-dream-clients

Useful resources for podcasters

www.getmorelisteners.com

Are demanding clients draining your time and mental energy, leaving you stuck in your business?

If you're spending too much time dealing with challenging clients and constantly worrying about meeting their needs, it's time to create a balanced relationship with your ideal clients.

Doing so will free up your time and mental space to help more people or focus on growing your business, ultimately leading to greater fulfilment and success.

In this episode, you will:

1) Gain insight into the root causes of excessive time and energy on challenging clients.

2) Learn practical strategies for attracting and maintaining relationships with ideal clients who respect your boundaries and contribute positively to your business.

3) Develop a mindset shift to confidently say no to clients who are not aligned with your vision. This will allow you to focus on serving those who value your expertise.

Leave a voicemail for Jenna:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Schedule a call with Jenna to talk about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in the pieces of your successful business and first-rate mindset (the precursor for Power & Potency)

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Links mentioned:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karpman_drama_triangle

Books mentioned:

https://www.amazon.com/POWER-TED-EMPOWERMENT-DYNAMIC-Anniversary-ebook/dp/B01CV1I84U/

Episodes mentioned:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/episodes/finding-attracting-dream-clients

Useful resources for podcasters

www.getmorelisteners.com

Don’t miss an episode, follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.

Full Episode Transcript:

  
    Episode 91 addendum
[00:00:00] Do you find yourself spending a lot of time with challenging clients who are either demanding or they're really taking a lot out of you in order to help them along?
And then you notice you're spending even more time thinking about what's going on with them or what they're thinking about you.
Then let's help you create a balanced relationship with ideal clients so you can free up your time and brain space to help more people or to focus on your business instead of being in your business and or free you up to do more of what you love doing outside of your business. Stick around.
You're listening to the Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves, so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging and strategy [00:01:00] and step into the uncommonly successful business.
And life you are creating. Here's your host, top ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison. 
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to The Uncommon Way. This is not just a week since I talked to you. It's a couple days since I talked to you because I'm re recording this episode. And I really want to give a huge to you. Thank you to my production and editing team that has moved everything so that they can get this episode out to you on time.
We had a technical snafu. We've been having a lot of those this week. We're not even in Mercury Retrograde. Not sure what's going on, but I do know I'm not the only business, so I hope it hasn't been affecting you too, whatever's going around, but anyway, James, thank you from the bottom of my heart. James, my editor.[00:02:00] 
Thank you. Any of you that have podcasts, now that I'm thinking about it, you have got to check out the Get More Listeners Academy. They are a great podcast coach for really helping you create new results with your podcast. They also do editing and production, and they have an amazing podcast for podcasters with very tactical advice that I'll link to in the show notes.
Okay. We've got a really special episode for you today because this is the first one in which I get to create a personalized episode for one of my listeners. Knowing that whatever one of you asks, so many others of you are thinking or needing help with, and so it's so win win for all of us. If you've been with me for a while, you might know that the reason I started this podcast was really to be able to help people for free, people that may never be able to join me in the programs. And so being able to provide equitable coaching in this [00:03:00] way is such a gift. And I know that it's going to benefit so many of you because we all have so many similar themes coming up, no matter what level we're at in business.
Now, just to let you know how this goes in case you're new around here, I always respond with some very tactical something that you can actually do, but also mindset coaching or advice because that's really at the base of everything. You almost sometimes don't even need the tactical tips if you have this mindset piece dialed in.
 And then also I'm always going to give you just a little bit of wisdom that's a little more out there. Thanks Or woo, because you never know, right? Now, I don't necessarily know how all those woo things work, but I do know what works after years of coaching women around the world on their businesses and seeing these same themes happen again and again and again.
So, I don't hold anything back from my clients just [00:04:00] because I'm afraid they'll think I'm a little weird, and so I'm not gonna hold anything back from you either. Okay, let's listen in to the voicemail that our listener, Peggy, left me.
Hey Jenna, I love the idea of working fewer hours in my business, but I find that I'm still spending a lot of time with my clients and thinking about how to help them. They message me frequently with all different issues and it feels like I still need to do a lot of the heavy lifting to help them along.
So I get that I have a hand in this too, but I'm trying to figure out what the root problem is. Do I need to change my niche? Is it my messaging? Am I speaking to the wrong people? I don't know. I'm always trying to upgrade my process and explain things more clearly. I thought these maybe were growing pains that I had to give it more time, but I keep noticing this pattern.
I hope you can help. Thanks.
So it's worth looking at where that's coming from. And when you were talking, Peggy, about the different root of the problem, and it could be messaging, it could be all of these things. This is really it, where is it really coming from? Sometimes [00:05:00] it's an identity thing. We Harrison's do things this way, or this is the way I am.
I'm this kind of person, or as a Southern women, we show hospitality, it could be so many things. There's that identity piece in there, or we just don't want to be perceived in a certain way, or we want to be liked. Maybe there's scarcity, of losing clients.
 If we don't respond in this way.
Or maybe it's the super high performer in us that is safeguarding against any form of failure or being less than perfect. And it certainly aligns with previous ways of how I wanted to see myself.
You are used to a high level of performance in your life, you're used to doing things well, you've probably had people give you extra projects, or you've carried weight for others who weren't as skilled or hardworking as you. And pretty soon, your brain equated that with success. And no [00:06:00] smart brain willingly breaks a pattern of success.
So, it keeps happening, and you get to keep gathering evidence that this is what works.
So unfortunately, we aren't talking in person, Peggy, and I hate to make assumptions,
but I am going to take a guess that this might be something that's going on somewhere else, because it's unusual that we have a dynamic in work relationships that is not mirrored elsewhere.
Hey, if you're a coach who wants true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business, and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator. I'll teach you to connect all the dots. The dots that have always been there for you. So that you can show up like you were born for exactly this.
Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn. From Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to theuncommonway. com slash schedule and set up a [00:07:00] time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach. My clients will come to me wanting to talk about something completely not business related. And so frequently they'll apologize. I'm sorry, this probably isn't even what we coach on here, but dot, dot, dot. And I say, this is exactly what we coach on here because everything is related. When we are building businesses, we're having an opportunity to see that reflected in so many different areas of our life.
And working on one thing helps us in all of them.
Now, what we might notice is that whatever pattern it is, is really heightened in our work relationships. I remember someone saying once, I thought I'd worked on this. I've learned to set really good boundaries in my relationship, so why am I seeing this come up again now? But this is why entrepreneurship is so great.
It brings out all the areas where we might still have a bit more work to do, because when we [00:08:00] are working on this basic level of survival, which is our brain equates business to survival, right? And we're working on that basic level of the pyramid in Maslow's Hierarchy, it really brings up our shit. And thank God, because then we can heal it, right?
Then we can learn to work through it, move through it, and come out so much different on the other side.
So therefore, here is the mindset homework I'm going to give you. I want you to think through, do you think it's possible
To have clients that are getting great results without that level of involvement from you. Have you done the work to think through what it would be like to have clients like that? Because the thought of it is actually really threatening for a lot of us. You might find yourself getting little flickers of pride where they say, Oh, I don't know what I'd do without you.
Or you're kind of complaining to your partner like, oh, they [00:09:00] need me again, but deep down you kind of feel good that they need you again.
I tell my clients I would love for them to really want me as their coach, but not feel like they need me as their coach. But honey, that took years to get to.
But start walking down that path now, because you've got to come to peace with the thought of working with your ideal clients. Otherwise, you're not going to be able to bring in your ideal clients. And you need to know why they are, in fact, ideal. Otherwise, you'll probably end up giving mixed signals.
Those signals might come through your messaging, or through actions when you start working together.
I remember one client I worked with who was so busy in her business when she came to me and we started reviewing her processes and she was a coach and there were all of these examples where she was having to rearrange calls last minute and try and fit people in it all different times, even when it really wasn't [00:10:00] convenient for her.
She was working hours that have seen them at times that she wouldn't necessarily have in her business hours. manifesting all kinds of love. She was working with them in an unlimited capacity in Foxerd and, and, and, and. I mean, there was just so many ways in which she was just giving them all of her all the time, whenever they needed her.
And there's nothing wrong with the clients for taking that on that availability, because it was offered to them.
But your right people are longing for the same thing you are. They just haven't believed it of themselves, or have been given the opportunity to experience it for themselves.
There's something called the Savior Model that was developed by Stephen Karpman, I believe is his name, in the 60s or so, a psychologist, where he was talking about this kind of general tendency in human dynamics where someone starts being the [00:11:00] savior and someone is the one who needs to be saved, and it was a triad.
And over time, people have really started to think about that model in different ways. In fact, there's a book called, The Power of Ted, which I'll link to, where they were really thinking about how what we're moving into with coaching so much is rather than the persecutor person, , it's really obstacles and challenges in our life, and rather than the savior, it's the coach, someone who's just there to help the hero of the journey, rather than the victim, the hero recognize his or her strengths.
And therefore, we need to take agency and responsibility, and I know you were already doing that, Peggy, but we do need to step back and see in which ways am I contributing? Why would I want that to continue? But also, where am I, actually not helping my clients.
Where might I be [00:12:00] holding them back from stepping into their hero role by keeping them in a place where they need to be saved and I'm the only one who can save them?
And that mindset will slip through in unplanned and unforeseen ways if not addressed. It is amazing how subtle the mind can be and how adeptly it can guide you and you'd be unaware if you weren't looking for it. I've noticed lately I go down and I wait for my son at the bus stop because kindergartners need to have someone actually pick them up right when they get off the bus, so I always have to make sure to be there before the bus.
And when I get down there, there's an electrical box and I notice myself Sitting on the electrical box. Until finally I thought, I sit all day long, why in the world am I sitting on this box every time I come down here? And I realized that my muscles are just used to sitting. Standing takes a little bit more effort.[00:13:00] 
Nothing that I would ever notice, but enough so that my brain can just float the thought by me that's like, I'll just sit here. And it happened so subtly and quietly that I don't even realize I've made a decision to sit. It just seemed like the good idea. It seems more comfortable. I'll just sit here. And then that's the direction I go.
And so it's taking concerted effort for me to remain standing at the bus stop while I wait for my son. But I just thought it was such a beautiful example of how we
are so guided by choices that we haven't actually made. And ways of being that we're just used to.
So I have a feeling that you throughout your day are not making these calculated decisions about how, well, I need to do this so they'll like me. Or I need to do this so I can feel like I'm in control. Or I need to do this because if the client doesn't get results, that means X about me. But, if [00:14:00] that's an underlying belief system, it will guide your decisions.
And it will guide your actions, therefore.
So then, and only then, after you've explored that work, then we can get tactical. Because we do want to speak to those people and only those people.
I'm going to be working with a new Facebook ads person, and I was reading through some of her posts on Instagram. She was addressing the question of bonuses. When you have a funnel, at what point, how much do you want to rely on bonuses? And she was saying that people rely too heavily on them.
And that in so doing, they can dilute the value of their product. Which I couldn't agree with more. And the way she said it, though, was, When you fly business class, do you expect a bonus? And what I love about that statement was that she was so clearly talking to her people.
Her [00:15:00] people, obviously, are entrepreneurs who have reached a level of success in their business and they know their people well enough and their messaging well enough and their client journey well enough that they can start to scale that into ads successfully and won't just lose a ton of money on it.
But when I read that as someone who flies business class, it landed for me, eh, but it also helped me feel like she gets me, right? Like she knows exactly how to talk to me
in ways that'll really stick.
So you don't necessarily have to talk to your clients or your prospective clients about how they live their life, but you do have to talk at least about how they move through the world, what they think about what's important to them.
And once you've got that person in mind, you have to do your best to maintain focus.
My son Dylan has ADHD and often right in the middle of a conversation, he'll just break off on a tangent or he'll just leave, he'll [00:16:00] exit the conversation and go look at something in the window, for instance. And the business equivalent of that is when you're speaking to one person and then you slip back into speaking to someone else.
We all do it sometimes, but we want to aim to do it less and less because it breaks resonance for our people. And by that, I'm saying their feelings of safety for moving forward are affected. They probably don't even notice it. It's like that sitting at the bus stop thing, right? They don't notice it consciously, but there's a slight question of is this right for me?
Is this the right program for me or is it really made for other people? So scan the landing pages that you have, scan your website, social media descriptions, and do it with the lens of your ideal client. And, put on those glasses for a minute and just make sure that all of those words are really speaking to that person, , to [00:17:00] you, that you as that prospective client feel like, yes, she's speaking to me.
If you don't have landing pages, then just be aware of it next time you're having a conversation with another human, you're at a networking event, or you're at a conference of some sort. The kinds of things you're talking about?
You can be even more active about this by screening for certain types of people in your discovery calls, on your intake forms, for instance. 
If you want, head over to my site and check out mine. You would go to theuncommonway. com forward slash schedule, yes, and then just start booking a free 90 minute roadmap call with me and you'll see all of the questions that I ask my potential clients. And now that you've listened to this episode, you're going to be able to read between the lines and figure out why I'm asking the questions that I ask.
And then from there. I know I'm giving more than one tactical tip, but my mind is moving, right, sequentially. So from there, [00:18:00] you also want to set your people up for success by a strong onboarding process or a video or a PDF or something, or even just a conversation, your first conversation.
You really want to set the tone for how they are going to create their greatest success, right, together with you.
Because they're basically coming into your house, and you're the one that needs to show them where the cups are, where the dishes are, and how to do things around here.
So to recap, I suggested that you check for where you might have a fixer or a savior operating model going on, and then, for the tactical tip, to look over the language that you have and the processes you've put in place from the lens of your ideal client and make sure that it fits. Make sure you're talking to them rather than someone else.
And, find out if you're setting them up to be successful, or [00:19:00] ushering them into a pattern that you relied on in the past that isn't going to serve either of you. And then finally, for the tip that has more to do with energetics, or is a little more woo, are you willing to say no to potential clients who don't seem like they want to or ready to step into the balanced working relationship that you are offering.
Now this one's hard, because when you're wanting to bring on more clients, the last thing you'd think of doing is saying no to people.
But saying no strategically is actually one of the most powerful things that you can do energetically. Because your clarity is what facilitates attraction and magnetism and manifestation. So, I have an episode on that entire subject that I'll link to in the show notes. But I often see people say they want to create this new way of working or being in the world, but they [00:20:00] can't because they're worried they won't find enough of those types of clients, right?
They're not really believing there are enough of those kind of people. Or in their particular niche, or for whatever reason it's not possible for their people. Or maybe they just feel bad saying no to people. So they stay in this loop that's not working for them. But this is the kind of counter logical thing that you need to do.
Even though it's hard for you to say no, you need to say no. It's the only way to get to yes. What happens sometimes is that people set out good intentions. Okay, things are going to be different. Maybe they even change their web copy. But then the next prospective client who comes along seems similar to before, and the person then makes excuses about why to take on just one more, or just this particular person, not realizing that this can significantly delay their [00:21:00] transition.
As if you said, okay universe, here's the new kind of romantic partner I want in my life. But then you keep dating the same old person again and again. The universe is like, really? Is that what you want or is that not what you want? I'm confused. So that's one way to describe it. But another way to look at it is your clarity and your certainty about who you're available for creates a frequency of sorts, an energetic coherence with your right people.
And when your belief, your intention, your confidence, whatever you want to call it, when that wavers, then it's like you're no longer broadcasting the same way. And it's challenging to hold that discomfort of the unknown, of change, right? To calm your nervous system down and lean into trust that what you're looking for is also looking for you.
Or just to believe that you're capable of attracting a person like that because you might have some value [00:22:00] judgment about that kind of person, but this is the work. The fact that you even have the desire. is pointing you to your work. So my advice is to learn to draw a line in the sand where you say, I no longer choose this in my life, and then you mean it.
Say what you mean and mean what you say. It's not a particularly common practice in many areas of the world today, but it is essential for the life you want to lead and the future we are all creating here in this uncommon way community. Okay Peggy, I wish you so much success. And to all of you, you know who you are, and each day you are 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 [00:23:00] clarity in your business and life, including the Clarity First strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit TheUncommonWay. com. See you next time.
  

Jenna Harrison 3/23/24 Jenna Harrison 3/23/24

Ep# 90: Meditation for Bringing Spring Vitality Into Your Business (Usher In Business and Personal Growth and New Results)

Have you ever felt the surge of energy as spring breathes life into nature?

Imagine channelling that same revitalizing force into your business and life. As you witness the transformation around you, consider how this season's energy can propel your entrepreneurial journey forward.

This episode offers a unique meditation on tapping into spring's vibrancy and applying it to your mindset and strategies, fostering newfound clarity and momentum in your endeavors.

Episode Summary

Have you ever felt the surge of energy as spring breathes life into nature?

This episode offers a unique meditation on tapping into spring's vibrancy and applying it to your mindset and strategies, fostering newfound clarity and momentum in your endeavors.

In this podcast episode, you will:

1) Gain a refreshed perspective: Learn to attune yourself to the natural energy of spring, gaining insight and inspiration for your business and personal growth.

2) Enhance clarity and focus: Through guided meditation, discover techniques to ground yourself, release negativity, show up more powerfully and unlock your inner guidance, fostering a clearer vision for your path.

3) Accelerate progress: Experience firsthand the transformative power of aligning with spring's energy, gaining momentum towards achieving your goals and manifesting abundance in your business and life.

Ready to infuse your business with the energy of spring?

Listen to the episode now and embark on a journey of clarity, revitalization, and abundant growth.

Do you feel called to ignite untapped superpowers and join a community of like-minded women committed to extraordinary growth and success?

Click the link in the show notes to join the Power & Potency waitlist and lean into your uncommonly successful future.

Leave a voicemail for Jenna:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency and hear all new information as it's released:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Schedule a call with Jenna to talk about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in the pieces of your successful business and first-rate mindset (the precursor for Power & Potency).

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Links mentioned:

Ep #36: How to Harness Spring Energy for Your Business (theuncommonway.com)

Enjoy the Show?

Don’t miss an episode, follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.

Full Episode Transcript:

  
    90. Meditation for Bringing Spring Vitality Into Your Business (Usher In Business and Personal Growth and New Results)
[00:00:00] Behind the scenes, all the trees and bushes have been orchestrating the onslaught of leaves and flowers and berries that are about to burst forth into your vision. And that has all been going on for a while now. Regardless of whether you can see it or not, the exact same thing is happening in your life and business.
And I want to help you harness and amplify and also just play with that spring energy. So stick around, we're going to ride that wave. I'll show you how. 
You're listening to the Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast. The podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves, so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging and strategy and step into the uncommonly successful business.
And life you are creating. Here's your host, top [00:01:00] ranked business coach and reformed over analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison. Hey, welcome back to the Uncommon Way. I have something a little different for you today.
It's a meditation to help you tap into this spring energy that's all around us in the Northern Hemisphere and really bring that into your business to start seeing different results. Now, that concept might be a little out there for some of you, but you never know, right? And I know that for me and many of the people I know, meditations like this, if nothing else, really help us focus our thoughts for the day and step forward more confidently and show up more powerfully. And who couldn't use a little more of that? So I recommend that you do listen to it for seven [00:02:00] days or so just to get the compound effects. And to let you know, this is a replay of an episode that we did last year. And in that episode, I spent a lot more time in the beginning talking about how it shows up in our business when we're kind of in winter, where we're not quite seeing the results yet, even though there might be so much happening.
beneath the scenes, or underground, however you want to think about it, and what that kind of feels like and looks like, and some actual steps to take to start changing things. So if you're interested, go back and listen to that one. It is episode 36, and we'll link to it in the show notes.
But I want to keep this episode short and just say one quick thing, which is my what a difference a year makes. Because when we released this a year ago, Ben and I were going to North Carolina to [00:03:00] test out different cities to live in and to make our home. And I was feeling so excited and so anxious to move on with that next phase in our life.
We have found a new city, but it ain't in North Carolina. It's in Mallorca, Spain, where we'll be moving this summer. But I am now feeling A lot of nostalgia. I'm literally looking around me and looking up at the oak and the sycamore trees and the bare branches and the gray sky and thinking, Oh, I'm not going to see that next year.
And I'm not going to see my mom's cozy house that I can go over to once a week in the evening and we can watch a girly movie. And there are so many other little things. lovable things about this place that we've called home for the last four years. And , I'm feeling a lot of heart pangs. So I think for me, , this meditation will also be wonderful just to, you know, really [00:04:00] help me orient my thoughts to the future.
And I hope it will be wildly helpful for you too. Enjoy.
Hey, if you're a coach who wants true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business, and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator. I'll teach you to connect all the dots.
The dots that have always been there for you. So that you can show up like you were born for exactly this. Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn. From Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to theuncommonway. com slash schedule and set up a time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach.
Okay, you want to practice all this? I recommend going outside, or listen now, but then revisit this later when you can go outside. Bring a journal, or you can take notes on your phone or into a voice recorder, but don't actually take the notes during the [00:05:00] practice, do so afterwards. You can write down whatever you noticed, or anything that was revealed to you.
Okay, my friend. Sit down on the ground. Maybe find a spot under a tree, somewhere in front of a beautiful view, something that feels comfy. Now, if sitting is uncomfortable for you, just lay down on the ground. What we want is for your body to be in contact with the earth. And now just take a few deep breaths and longer exhales.
Feel your body sinking into the earth and being supported by the earth. And now tune into the energy of the earth itself. There's a vibration there that is very grounded, steady, and also nurturing. for joining. And feel that moving up through your body. And now imagine that within you, you had a little seed or bulb or bud, however you want to imagine it, [00:06:00] right in the center of your chest.
Imagine a little sprout coming from there, a little tendril, and it was moving down through your body and into the earth and forming roots. Feel those roots going deeper and deeper, grounding you into the earth, and just scan your body and notice if there are any qualities that are maybe anxious or heavy.
And with each exhale, release all of this anxious energy into the earth and imagine yourself as just a tiny speck on this great green and blue ball in this moment in time And when your nervous energy is delivered, it's just so inconsequential compared to the earth, relative to the earth, that it's just absorbed.
It dissipates and [00:07:00] disappears into this really rich, fertile soil or rock. And as you're inhaling, especially if you feel a heavier or a lethargic energy, imagine inhaling, that nourishment, that vitality. That is our planet. So just notice this for a few rounds of your inhales and exhales and feel yourself stabilize and then I want you to attune to this springtime energy that we've talked about.
What is actually happening in the trees and the bushes underneath our feet, between the bunnies and the ducks, that momentum. Tune into the quality of that energy. What does that feel like? Maybe it feels like a wave or a tingling on the outside of your limbs. Maybe it feels like momentum [00:08:00] swelling underneath you and carrying you forward.
Just get curious about how you perceive that. And next, I want you to ask your energy to turn on so that you can feel it. You felt the earth energy? You felt the spring energy, what is yours, what does your energy feel like, your highest self? How are you feeling that in your body in this moment? Is there a place for it, a color for it, a movement, a sensation?
What does that feel like when it is turned on, when the volume is increased? And now from the interplay of these very powerful energies, you can kind of imagine them maybe swirling around, playing with each other. These three powerful energies of the earth, the spring, and [00:09:00] you, my friend. From there, I want you to ask for guidance from maybe your higher self, be your inner visionary.
Add the universe, your board of directors, however you think of it, wherever you glean your wisdom from, just ask, what do you need to plant, to nourish, to wait for, or to envision at this moment, right now with this spring energy that will facilitate the most potent use of this time, of this energy, to deliver your future harvest.
There's no right or wrong here, and there's no linear time here. This guidance may come to you now, it may come to you later. Just opening. This is one of the few moments in our modern world [00:10:00] where we can let our energy and our intuition lead instead of our mind, just to help balance out all of our powers. 
Alright, my friends. If this has been helpful for you to tap into this energy, to receive guidance, or even just ground yourself and give your nervous system a reset. You have just experienced a small part of what happens inside the Clarity Collective that accelerates the process of you becoming your future you.
To experience that acceleration yourself, you can join us in the Clarity Accelerator, or you can join me for private coaching. Either avenue brings you into the larger clarity collective. Consider this your invite. Okay. I am cheering you on as you ride this wave of spring energy into tremendous [00:11:00] revitalization and the resulting abundant harvest in your business and life.
Remember, deep down, 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 First strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit TheUncommonWay. com. See you next time.
​
  

Jenna Harrison 3/16/24 Jenna Harrison 3/16/24

Ep #89: Introducing: Power & Potency (The Mastermind for Accomplished Women Entrepreneurs Who Want to See How Good It Can Get)

Are you looking to take your power to an even more extraordinary level and find out just how good your business and life can get?

In this episode, Jenna Harrison introduces her newest offer, Power & Potency, a mastermind experience designed to help accomplished women entrepreneurs elevate what they're capable of to mastery level. Discover how this unique opportunity can propel you forward, even if you're already near the top of your game.

Episode Summary

Are you looking to take your power to an even more extraordinary level and find out just how good your business and life can get?

Discover how this unique opportunity can propel you forward, even if you're already near the top of your game.

In this podcast episode you will:

1) Gain insight into what sets the Power & Potency mastermind apart from other offers, and learn who it's designed for and who it isn't.

2) Understand how joining Power and Potency can provide you with the tools, support, and community you need to maximize your impact, scale your business, and create a life of abundance, ease and joy.

3) Discover the options available to you, whether it's diving into the Clarity Accelerator to successfully dial in the pieces of your business and mindset, or joining the Power & Potency waitlist to embark on a journey of otherworldly success.

Do you feel called to ignite untapped superpowers and join a community of like-minded women committed to extraordinary growth and success?

Click the link in the show notes to join the Power & Potency waitlist and lean into your uncommonly successful future.

Leave a voicemail for Jenna:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency and hear all new information as its released:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist

Schedule a call with Jenna to talk about joining the Clarity Accelerator to dial in the pieces of your successful business and first-rate mindset.

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule

Links mentioned:

Should I Say Yes or Should I Say No (Tapping Into Intuition)

https://www.theuncommonway.com/32

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/32-should-i-say-yes-or-should-i-say-no-tapping-into-intuition/id1635447772?i=1000600299969

Listen to the Full Episode:

Enjoy the Show?

Don’t miss an episode, follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.

Full Episode Transcript:

  
    It's a great name, isn't it? Tanalizing, even. And the fact that the name, power and potency gets such a
positive reaction shows me just how needed this new offer is in the world. I can't wait to tell you
about it.
You're listening to the Uncommon Way business and Life coaching podcast podcast. The podcast
that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves so
you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging and
strategy and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating. Here's your
host. Top ranked business coach and reformed overanalyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.
Welcome. Welcome back to the uncommon way. I am so happy to be here with you today and to be
telling you about our newest offer. Now, in the last episode, I described an experience I had where my
business basically took over and told me in no uncertain terms that an offer I had been sitting on for
years was ready to be birthed. Now, it didn't care what my mind had to say about it not being the right
time, so I listened. Because I've done enough of this work to know when these hits come from a pure
place rather than from a sneaky siren part of my brain reacting to something or avoiding something
else. Now, if you don't have this clear for yourself, you have got to listen to episode 32 about how to
tap into your intuition. So you can go to theuncommonway.com 32 or just click the link in the show
notes. But today we're not really talking about intuition. Not really. Today is the birth announcement
for power and potency, an extremely elevated mastermind experience that I am excited to share with
the world. In this episode, I'm going to let you know what makes this offer so different from anything
else out there, who this is for, who it isn't for, and what to do if you need to get from A to B.
Because you know you eventually belong in this mastermind and how you can find out more if you're
getting the hit that this is your next right step. But first, did you know that you don't even have to wait
to get coached by me right now? You can leave me a voicemail telling me what's going on with your
business and what you need help with. And if yours is selected, I will create an entire podcast for you,
for you, and for everyone else that's having the same issue. Of course, I'll give you the straight up
tactical and mindset tips that I would give a client in a similar situation, plus one other tip that might
just seem a little out there, but that's okay because you never know, right? So do not even hesitate on
this. Open yourself up to finding exactly what you need. All you'll have to do is click the link in the
episode notes or head straight to theuncommonway.com. Talk. That's talk. And hey, you could also
leave me a message with general questions or suggestions. Anything except ads for services. But I
would love to hear from you, and I hope you will take me up on this.
Now let's get us some more power and potency, shall we? As the name suggests, this is where we
practice wielding our superpowers at mastery level. As if you were a sorceress who was playing with
how good can this get? And you wanted to play in the company of other women, equally powerful,
who could inspire you to stretch further, to question what's possible even more, to allow that much
more ease, to harness that much more power to scale those heights. Yes, my friend, even those.
Because here's what I've realized. We, meaning women, will not be able to really fully lean into living
our own uncommon way unless we have a vehicle, a structure to support us. Because the women I
work with aren't choosing to live a forager lifestyle out in the woods with no dependence on the
modern world. Quite the contrary, we want to experience everything that life has to offer without
limits. So yes to first class flights to the amazing hotel, hopefully it also has environmental impact
mitigation baked into its core, and it's giving back to the culture and surroundings. But we're saying
yes to things that cost a lot of money and yes to things that cost nothing at all.
To taking breaks and creating space to actually not think, rather than being tied to a timetable just in
order to earn what we need. And for that, you need a business. And that's what I have dedicated
myself to for years now. Helping women establish and grow businesses that can support a family
that do allow you to set your own schedule and love the clients you work with and be your own boss.
Where we combine smart business sense with the felt sense of working in our zones of genius, with a
clear plan and roadmap, with the most rigorous mindset training in the world. So we are as calm,
confident and collected in how we show up in the world and regulate our emotions and nervous
systems. As calm and confident there as we are, clear, concise, and yet unattached in our messaging
and in the outward face of our business. And those are beautiful things that alone changes lives in
huge and unexpected ways. Because once a woman realizes she can do that, what can't she do? Who
can't she be? And I have watched the world change in wild and wonderfully uncommon ways as my
clients step into their power and as they accelerate their accomplishments.
And I've seen that it's not just my clients lives, but it's their clients lives and their family's lives and
their friends lives. Because this new way of living is fucking contagious, as it should be. There is no
room in our future for the old, stale, stuck ways. But there comes a point where you've built the
business. You know how to manage your mind and emotions like a pro. You've tapped into how
powerful you are, and you realize your only limits are what you're not thinking or imagining yet. And
then what? And then you look around and you realize you're on rarefied ground. There aren't a whole
lot of women playing at your level, even if some of them are making as much as you, or even more
than you. Many are still living in old patterns of hustle and scarcity. And sure, all high performers can
cycle through that. Sometimes we're humans with high expectations, but it seems that much of the
world doesn't realize they're in it. Some stay there and they compromise values or health or
connection, but you are not willing to compromise. And that can feel achingly lonely, because you
know you're not done.
You still want to grow. Your growth is never done. You want mastery level, and maybe some new
things you've never even thought of or tools you've never even heard about. Maybe some woo
concepts. Sure, if they're going to help you step more into who you're becoming and the life you're
creating. You are open, and you want all this in the presence of other similar women. Because you
know from experience that it not only feels amazing to have strong women in your corner who can
inspire and mentor and support you, but that the hive brain always accelerates evolution unlike
anything else. That the sum really is greater than its parts. My friend. If this is you, then you will have
found home in the power and potency mastermind. It is a select group of accomplished
entrepreneurs who have what they need. They have the seven figure business, or the business with
the clear path to seven figures. And now it's really about what you want. You want to see how good it
can get. Like I said, how great is your impact? How disruptive is your thought leadership? How easeful
can your business be? How joyful is your life.
How can you lean back, flick your wrist, and all of this power that you have been cultivating merges
with the power you're now accessing, and they swirl together out through your hand to become
manifest in the world. This is a group where you get to be whoever you want to be. Nobody's going to
raise an eyebrow at the goals or dreams that you talk about or about the way you're choosing to build
it. Is this a moment where you're getting tactical and saying, hey, y'all, how did you scale out that team
and call in such talent? Or what possibilities are you seeing for a next offer for me that I haven't
considered? That's perfect. But maybe it's a moment where you've realized part of you is deeply afraid
of loosening the grip of control that has kept you successful until now. And you want firsthand stories
from your sisters about times that they have successfully let go and then realized they could fly. So
how did they think about it? What was the final step that had them taking the leap? Or maybe, like I
alluded to earlier, you want to talk about something a little woo.
How you've been noticing this happening just the way you dreamed it, and it just can't be coincidence.
And nobody's going to roll their eyes. People outside might. They might roll their eyes at lots of
things. Our decisions, our actions, our dreams. They can call us crazy. I don't care. All genius needs
some crazy. And in some future not too far away, they'll call it normal. I've seen it time and time again.
Crazy just means not understood. So let's declare that this is possible, that life can be this. That I can
do it my way, that all of my creation starts with me thinking it. And then let's put this all into practice.
Together in this incubator called power and potency. We'll have in person retreats at the most divine
locations around the world, probably starting with Majorca, my new home. But that is to be decided.
We will have guides and experts at the top of their game coming to help us stretch beyond whatever
feels available to us in that moment. And we'll become more powerful while our work becomes more
potent in tandem with all of our amazing peers. Again, this is for you.
If you have the established business, you value your life outside of business and have taken strides
towards wellness and cultivating joy and pleasure. And you've built your resiliency and your mind
management in a way that lets you both care for your emotional well being, but also step out of
reactionary patterns that don't serve you and then get back in the game quickly and with fluidity. This
type of environment is incredibly unique. There are very few women entrepreneurs that are producing
at this level, let alone joining together with these kinds of values and focus. We're focusing not just on
accruing more money or not just on developing a certain skill, but on the totality of the yes. And how
much ease, power, joy, wealth, love, health, impact, success unabashedly. Can we call to us now?
There might be some of you who are thinking, Jenna, this sounds amazing. It's what I have been
longing for. But when you were talking about the qualifications, I realized I still have some room to
grow. Well, congrats, my friend, because that clarity is priceless. You need to know what you need to
work on in order to get where you want to go.
And great news. I have just the way to help you get there. You can join us in the clarity accelerator
now and get those pieces dialed in. There has never been a better time to join. Plus, now you have the
added incentive of being able to set your sights on power and potency. I love, love, love the simplicity
of my two offers. Now I hope you do as well. First, you need to build the structure, the thing. You need
the vehicle that can help you create this life. And you'll get all of those tools and wisdom in the clarity
accelerator and be able to put this into practice, creating a hyper aligned and hyper successful
business mindset and life. And then you get to move on to play in real time. I thought of this as a
video game in the beginning. Maybe you choose your avatar, you choose a couple superpowers, and
the game walks you through. Okay, here's how you move your character. Right here are the different
things you can do. There's a certain sense of having the training wheels on, and you probably have a
practice round, and that's where you build that confidence, and you're like, yeah, I got this.
I see how it works. And when you're done with that, are you ready to play? To play the game where
you never really win? You're just playing to see how far you can go and beating your own high score
just because you love the game. If you're there, then strap in, because shit's getting real in power and
potency. We are taking off the bumpers and the guardrails, and we are going for it. So at this point,
you have two options. Which one is right for you. If it's the clarity accelerator, sign up for a roadmap
call with me. Go to theuncommonway.com schedule. The link is in our notes and we will hop on a 90
minutes call to get you fully prepared for that experience. If power and potency is calling you, then
head to theuncommonway.com waitlist waitlist and get on that list so you don't miss any details and
you will be the first to know when applications open again. That's theuncommonway.com waitlist.
The link is in the show notes. Go ahead and hop over there right now. Okay my friend, thank you for
being here. It has been a joy as always. And remember, you know who you are and each day you're
stepping further into what you're here to create.
I'll see you next time.
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.
  

Jenna Harrison 3/9/24 Jenna Harrison 3/9/24

Ep #88: Massive Business Growth Requires Blowing Everything Up (BTS Of Our Reinvention & Why You Need It Too As A Woman Entrepreneur)

Do you ever feel stuck in the same cycle, repeating the same actions and seeing no growth?

Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur looking to scale your business or just starting on your entrepreneurial journey, understanding the power of reinvention can help you break free from old patterns and achieve your goals with clarity and confidence.

Episode Summary

Are you longing to move into the next level of your business, but it's happening slower than you'd like?

What if reinvention is the key to unlocking your next level of success and abundance?

In this episode of The Uncommon Way, Jenna Harrison shares her journey of reinvention and how it relates to your path to success.

In this podcast episode, you will:

Understand why reinvention is essential for personal and professional growth.
Learn practical steps to kickstart your reinvention journey.
Discover how to recognise the signs that now is the right time for change in your life or business.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to transform your business and life. Tune in to the episode now and start your journey of reinvention today.

More From The Uncommon Way

To leave me a question or send me a message, please visit,

https://www.theuncommonway.com/talk

George Carlin’s American Dream (documentary)

https://www.hbo.com/george-carlins-american-dream

Interviews with Kat:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/26

https://www.theuncommonway.com/56

Interview with Gabi:

https://www.theuncommonway.com/69

Listen to the Full Episode:

Enjoy the Show?

Don’t miss an episode, follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.

Full Episode Transcript:

  
    There is no change without growth. That's why myth after myth follows the basic storyline of the Phoenix who sets fire to its nest so that a new Phoenix can arise from the ashes. Right now at the uncommon way, we are going through a reinvention like this. And it's probably exactly what you need, too. If you truly want to reach your next level of success and abundance.
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.
Hello my friend. Welcome back to the uncommon way. Strange and wonderful things are happening here. We are shaking everything up. We are reinventing the business, reinventing our programs, our branding, and before the dust has settled and of course, everything has been tied up in a perfect bow. And you can easily connect the dots between the business that was and the business that has arisen before all of that. Let's get real. Let me share the sense of vulnerability that happens in real time and also what I know to be true from working with client after client on this process. I'm going to walk you through it and help you get started on your own. If that's calling to you now, maybe you're just kind of curious or even fascinated by people who reinvent themselves in this way, and that might point to the fact that it's in your future as well. Or maybe you're just starting this wild journey of entrepreneurship and you are changing from somebody in a corporate environment who's bound by what is supposed to be, into what can be. Or maybe you've reached a milestone or plateau in your business and you know what got you here or won't get you there.
Maybe you've been a solopreneur and now you'll need to scale your offers or bring on a team or create the agency. Or perhaps, like me, you are moved by intuition into something new for the sake of truer alignment. Or maybe you just feel over it, over the circumstances that repeat themselves. The same things you talk about, the actions you're stuck taking again and again. Whatever your reason for being here, I believe this episode is for you, and you were meant to hear this because all of the above means you yourself are likely headed towards reinvention. Whether you realize it or not, there is no growth without change and while some of us can spend years resisting this and can get caught up in a lot of scarcity and fear and even self recrimination when it's happening, maybe you find yourself saying things like why can't you commit to anything? And why can't you just be satisfied? What I found is that life is much richer on the other side because I have been through this before and I walk clients through it daily. So here is what I want to offer you. In this episode, I'll give you some perspective on why this is happening, why it needs to happen, why it's totally okay.
I'll share how to kickstart your own reinvention and how to know if now is not the time to make changes. I'll be giving you a behind the scenes look at the exact moment I realized this was happening for me so you can more easily read the signs for yourself. Plus, I've got a few anecdotes from past reinventions of mine and my clients to help your brain build evidence that this is possible for you and safe to lean into this. And of course, as always, I will be weaving in my top tactical tip mindset tip and energetic tip as I do in every episode. But before we go there, I want to share the exciting news that I have found a new software that lets us talk to each other. And I'm so happy that rather than me just talking into the air here, well, actually into my closet, me and my clothes hanging out, talking about business and life, I'm really happy that we'll be able to talk directly. It's super simple the way it works. You just need to go to theuncommonway.com talk talk, theuncommonway.com talk and there you'll see how you can leave me a message.
Now, what I would love for you to do is to let me know any question you have, any issue or problem in your business thing you're considering. And I'll be selecting some of these to feature on the podcast. And I will be sharing the tactical, the mindset and the energetic tip that I would give you if you were my client. So it's free coaching for you. It's a great inspiration for me. It really lets me know exactly what's going on for you so that I can continue to create content that really serves you. And since I'm a manifesting generator in human design, it allows me to respond to something specific, which is really a place of flow and great ease for me. So you're really doing me a favor and really feel free to ask me anything. Hey, if you want true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing

business, and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the clarity accelerator. I'll teach you to connect all the dots, the dots that have always been there for you so that you can show up like you were born for exactly this.
Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn, from Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to theuncommonway.com slash schedule and set up a time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach. Okay, today I'd like to do something different and start with a story. And it's the story of the comedian George carlin. Now, if you don't know who he was, he was a very straight laced comic in the 50s because they all were back then. They all had the very nice manicured kind of greaseback hair, and they would wear a suit to every tv performance, and they'd do kind of these corny jokes that were really never offensive in any way. But what happened is that in the 60s, he made a radical departure. He grew out his hair. He started looking like a hippie. This is in the Vietnam era. And he started traveling college campuses so that he could say whatever he wanted to say. And many of his jokes and commentaries were political in nature, and they enraged his former fans. Oh, another good point to mention is that he and his wife had just purchased their first home.
They really felt like they had made it, like he had arrived. He was earning more money than they ever could have imagined. They felt so safe and secure and set. But he knew that his art was changing, and he had to follow his truth. But guess what? His audience ended up growing. His wealth ended up growing. And then this happened again and again. And pretty much every time, he managed to offend and lose many members of his previous audience. And each time, his audience grew even bigger, his fame grew even stronger. His art and his craft grew even tighter. And of course, his wealth grew. His power grew. And that, my friends, is what happens when you lean into your alignment rather than letting your head talk you out of it. Because really, George Carlin was merely following a pattern, an archetype that has existed as long as humans have been interpreting the world and telling stories about it. Just Google resurrection myths or even creation myths, and you'll see myths very much like the phoenix. The Phoenix who burns its nest, and from the ashes, a new phoenix is born. This is the creative process.
And humans have understood this for millennia. It's told again and again about how something needs to change. And specifically, you need to say goodbye to something. You need to burn your nest in order to rise. Now, burning your nest can mean so many things. It could be saying goodbye to old patterns. It could be transmuting darker emotions and stories. It could mean completely saying goodbye and changing your art or a part of you. I'm thinking of Picasso, who went through so many different phases. But what's universal is this. You can have small, incremental growth without changing much. We all know that most of us get through our lives that way. But for the kind of growth and impact you're looking for, into what maybe seemed like a dream before, you must pass through a reinvention. What got you here won't get you there, otherwise you already would have created it. Imagine a corporate executive who is a genius at really helping people get to the point really quickly sizing up the information that's most necessary and relevant, and has risen through the ranks through this ability to have very short, concise meetings and really get people focused on productivity and what really matters and not waste space on the small stuff.
Obviously, when that pattern becomes so successful, it's going to be really challenging to change, because you'll believe to your bones that this is what's responsible for your success. But so often what we see is that it's also a cap to your success. I know, paradoxical, right? But just imagine that in order for this exec to really take the company into its much greater level of growth, what's actually going to be needed is a lot of out of the box thinking that only comes through collaborative brainstorming and throwing out ideas that never existed before. And that does not happen in an environment of really tight meeting schedules and hyperproductivity. These are the counter logical moments when you have to stop and think, wait, how can the thing that has served me so well possibly be holding me back now? I'm thinking of my client, Kat, who has been on the podcast a couple of times. You can go back and listen to those and hear the difference in her voice and her presentation over time. It's really fun, but she had dreams of creating a seven figure business, and when we first started working together, she was a freelancer doing all sorts of jobs for almost whoever requested them.

But that pattern wasn't going to serve her for where she was going. She would have been totally burned out, and there just wasn't enough of her to get the seven figures she had to transform herself into someone who is very clear on her highest value zone of genius, is willing to loyally reorient herself to that over and over again. Get comfortable with regularly turning down work. And not just turning down work, but turning down offers that are far larger than what she used to earn. And in so doing, she has become an industry leader who is highly respected and highly in demand. But of course, when we're telling stories like George Carlin's and the Phoenixes and cats we are seeing thereafter. But in the beginning of this process, it doesn't feel like you have this clear roadmap to success. It feels like ass. There's a lot of discomfort, the fears, the vulnerability. Sometimes they're second guessing, which is why more people don't do it. We can't tolerate the level of discomfort that's required. But you are an entrepreneur, which means you're building muscles for tolerating risk and discomfort that rival a navy Seals. How do I know?
Because I've lived in the military most of my life. I've studied with the military and coached many service members. And what both know the Navy SeaLs and entrepreneurs, is that discomfort now is worth. It is worth the bigger picture. For us, that would be worth the payout. The payout in satisfaction, in fulfillment, in business and personal growth. So that is the mindset tip that I want to leave with you, despite what your very human brain might tell you. And that brain is brilliant, but also very reactive because it has been wired to be so for hundreds of thousands of years. Discomfort is manageable. It's just a slush of chemicals in the bloodstream. So now let's get tactical, shall we? How do you actually kick start this magical process? Simply, you gather all of your courage and say, I am open to this and to receiving the clarity I need to move to the next level or to the next phase of my life, or whichever way you think about it. Again, I'm open. And I'm open to receiving whatever I need. Whether you realize it or not, you are doing this exactly when you hire a coach or you geek out with a super detailed spreadsheet listing the things in your life that aren't a 100% hell yes compared to what the hell yes version would be.
Or you reverse engineer a plan of okay, if I dream of having a massive social media following, I will need to drastically increase my comfort with visibility. So what can I do now, today to begin increasing that capacity? All of these are manifestations of our openness to change and our commitment to change. So whether you do something when you do something like that, or you're comfortable just making the declaration to the universe, knowing that life itself will start giving you the information you need. They're all, in essence, signaling something very important. And after that signal, once you keep taking steps, you will create that directional momentum. Now, you might be thinking, how could that really be that powerful? So what? So I say something into my closet, looking at my clothes. So what? It's powerful because your higher self knows where you are going and how you're meant to evolve. So once you're open and paying attention, it will send you signs. Now, whether you see and interpret them is a whole other story. But in our human perception, linear time, point of view, we feel like where we're going is some big unknown. And maybe that getting there is an uphill battle, but the opposite is true.
This is the tide and direction of your life. Life has been moving you along since the day you were born. So our openness is the equivalent of lowering a dam. The water's been accumulating. The tide has been flowing to the point that the pressure is building, and the river needs to not be here anymore, but to flow on, to continue making its way. But we need to lower the dam. To lower the damn dam. And having been through this before, I can tell you that that is exactly what is going on right now with the uncommon way. Actually, let me tell you about an earlier time as well, so you can see the similarities and patterns. Because, obviously, the whole point of me telling you about this, other than that you might be interested, is that I want to help you recognize some similar things that are showing up for you. So, this story is set in the time of COVID when I looked around at all the other business coaches saying, come on, you can still sell. Get out there and sell. And I just had no interest whatsoever in talking about that. I realized that what was truly interesting to me was the fact that this was going to be such a major awakening for so many people, that our world had just been turned head over heels, and it was going to have so many people looking for clarity and wondering, what do I really want in my life?
What meaning do I want to make in my life in this one precious wild ride? And I wanted to speak to

that. So I shut down my business, my business, coaching business, and I solely dedicated myself to clarity. But as I started to actually move through the paces, what I realized was that if I were truly going to walk my talk, which is that we can connect the dots of our business through what we're really here to do to our right people, to the right offer for those people, and onto the messaging that ties all of that up for them. What I realized is that if my mission, my reason for being here, was to help more women live very uncommon life of their choosing, that while, yes, it was helpful to help them get clear on what that would even look like, but that really, the best people who were really primed to bring that vision to life and to lean into it were entrepreneurs, because they had already chosen the path of the uncommon. They were already asking these questions for themselves, and they weren't bound by location restrictions or two weeks of vacation or whatever their boss was demanding of them.
So I realized that it had to be entrepreneurs, but that I was going to do it differently, and that's exactly what I did. So, by the way, I promise to let you know when it's not time to burn everything to the ground and reinvent yourself or your business, and that is if you are purely running from something. So at the time I shut down my business, I was really burning the candle at both ends. And I was not only coaching my business clients, but I was creating copy for them and all of their messaging. And it was tough for me to carry that workload. And it was also tough for me to see that my clients were becoming more dependent on me rather than building their own muscles, their own communication and entrepreneurial muscles. But I didn't shut everything down just because of that, because that discomfort alone might have held some great lessons, and there was space there to figure out solutions. Maybe I needed to raise prices and have fewer clients and deal with the underlying not enoughness that was really holding me back from doing that in the first place. Or I just needed to build my capacity and my skills so that what seemed like time consuming work was far more manageable.
There were so many possibilities for growth there, right? And so it really depends on your growth edge and your historical patterns that need to be transcended. But in my case, I had that very strong energy pulling me towards something as well. Helping women get their business up and running as quickly as possible, that was great, but it wasn't as aligned as helping them create clarity on that uncommon life. So even though I was gripped by fear about shutting down a six figure business, that was the first time I'd gotten to six figures. I was very attached to it. And even though I had a whole bunch of scarcity about would enough people even want this new kind of thing I was offering, I still move towards alignment. And now it's easy to look back and wonder why I even hesitated that this was so clearly much more aligned work for me and that my business would blossom. And now there's another reinvention going on. And I'll give you the backstory. I've known that a new offer was coming for maybe two years now. I even knew its name, but I also knew that it wasn't time yet.
But when I was in Spain last month, house hunting, it became very apparent that it wanted to come. Now. It could care less about the logical timeline that I had prepared in my mind, which, if you're interested, is that I have been putting all of my love and attention towards the clarity accelerator mastermind, my signature program, and making sure that people were understanding the process and getting the results from the process and continuing to get even better results from the process. And now that that was happening, I wanted to start inviting more people and practice with that for a while. But nothing in my life is following the plan right now. We planned to move to North Carolina after my husband retires from the military this summer and then start spending more and more time in Spain until we were ready to move there. Well, guess what? We're cutting ties with no backup. We're selling most of our things and we are moving directly to Spain this summer. Full stop. So not only are we leaving behind the military life that I have known for 15 years, and that my husband is known for nearly 30, but we're leaving the country too.
And in the background, I've been completely making over the team here at the uncommon way I have switched up all of my primary contractors. I've changed Vas. I've up leveled to working with a director of operations. My branding is getting a complete makeover. Many of you know that last year I did a big new photo shoot in Spain and you might have seen the sneak peeks on Instagram. I hope so. The website will look and feel completely different. Everything else will look and feel completely different. I hired my client Gabby, who's been on the podcast before and is just a brilliant artist to redo everything. And I'm having her back on the podcast so we can talk about that full process of

rebranding. And you can gain so much wisdom from her like I did. And all of it was very much in line with the personal branding work that I did last year when I turned 50 up leveling my wardrobe because as I kept valuing myself more and more and having more and more disposable income, I wanted to adorn myself differently and I wanted to have the sensory experience of really amazing fabrics.
This podcast is having a reinvention too. Not just the branding and the COVID art will change, but the title will change. And as you've already seen, the format is changing. And there are many other things in my life that I won't go into that are or were being reinvented. And honestly, I believe the rest of my business was like, hey, what about me? At first, it was a subtle knock at the door to get my attention. So there were some disappointments in my business that really helped me pay closer attention. Like the fact that I've been spending quite a lot of time on sales calls the last couple months. We are having more interest than ever, which is amazing, but with many, many people who are not the right fit. People that I have not seen come through Google in years, many that I didn't even hop on the phone with because I knew they weren't the right fit. And that's been curious. Usually I call in my clients with laser focus and they're very aligned. So I've been paying attention, I've been evaluating, knowing that the universe was helping me clarify what I don't want and why, so that I can get more specific about what I do want.
So it was becoming apparent that I was really being called towards this second offer, towards the energy of this second offer. But then of course, my mind speaks up, saying it isn't time. And I was talking about it with Ben when we were in Spain, and he was offering know some points of view. He is ever logical and absolutely my rock. But he was know, really, I'm going to be taking a big pay cut when I go from active duty pay to my pension. And you are now the breadwinner. And is this really the time for you to change everything? And especially rewrite even the website copy? Because that's our bread and butter. That is my primary source of lead generation. Was I really ready to change things up over there? And it was so perfect because as he was saying, maybe you shouldn't change anything for a while, at least until we get to Spain. I just felt the strongest reaction in my body that, no, it had to be now. It was like a whoosh of intuition. It felt outside of me. And I knew that that was finally the conversation that would allow me to gain the clarity that the universe had been trying to lead me towards for months.
And I just knew, and I let him know. And of course he was supportive. He was like, all right, well, then we're changing everything in life. Why not that too. But there's one other thing I haven't told you, and this is very, very important because I've already said my first love is the clarity accelerator, and I knew it needed to up level like every other area in my life. I can't change everything else and leave my baby behind, obviously, but I didn't know how that was going to happen until I was watching a replay of a coaching call inside the clarity accelerator. I have been having a couple of my most seasoned clarity accelerator clients coach in the program lately as bonus calls and just to over deliver and let my current clients have direct interaction with entrepreneurs who've been through the program too and used it to create a successful business. And as I was watching one of the replays, it hit me. Whoa. It was really good. No wonder how my clients have been raving about it. I realized that these women are much closer in time to where my clients are than I am right now.
They can offer the kind of firsthand perspective that I can't always access in the same way myself. It's hard for me to remember when, for instance, I felt hesitations about sales or I doubted if my secret sauce was enough for my people or my entrepreneurial chops were enough. Of course I can talk about it. Theoretically. I lived through it, but not with the same emotion and detail and the same access to exactly what I did, when to help me change my beliefs about those things. Which is why I frequently bring clients onto the podcast to give you their firsthand perspective, because they can remember it like yesterday and it was like a light bulb going off in my brain. And so now I am so excited to announce that when you join the clarity accelerator, now the greatest mastermind that exists, which is getting even better, you will get one of these women as your personal coach to be with you during the six months of the program. You'll have one to one calls with them, which are so helpful when you want to dive deeper into a topic. And yes, you'll still have the private call with the copywriter to make sure that you are nailing the concepts and the tactics about communication that we share in the program.

I have already found someone amazing, and she is very, very talented. And of course, I'll still be there too, every week, leading calls. And this is still a boutique mastermind where I will know you. I know your business. I know what you're working on. I will be there for you as you learn the principles of how we build such powerful businesses. As you clarify your secret sauce, as you create your million dollar offer, meaning this offer. If it creates a six figure business for you because it's so perfect and tantalizing for your clients, then in ten years you've created a million dollars and even more, and with a shorter timeline, if you're creating multiple six, which you will definitely have the tools to do so, you've clarified your secret sauce, your offer, and lastly, how you'll articulate the value of it and sell it. And then of course, really starting to apply all of this to your business. We don't just think about it and theorize. We always roll up our sleeves and we grow your business together in real time so that you get to see the up level and you'll have your personal coach and me to help with all of that.
And again, this is open to all entrepreneurs. Some people, the lucky ones, start with us at the very beginning of their journey. But there are also people at six figures or beyond in their businesses who are clarifying the next iteration of their business and the vehicles that they want to take them into the next iteration of their business. Meaning the offers, the strategies. On top of that, I am remaking the coursework to simplify everything, to make it so clear and easy that it just folds right into everything you're doing. And of course, you'll still get access to the original materials if you're interested in those. So as you can probably hear, I am beyond excited for everyone who's going to be joining us this year because there hasn't never been a better time to join. And if you are curious about the new mastermind experience, the new offer that I've been teasing on this show that is going to begin in fall. So you will definitely want to make sure that you have your bases covered and join us in the clarity accelerator now so that you can transition easily into that program. Now, I'm going to be talking about that one more next week, but it's going to be very juicy and it's for people that have mastered the concepts in the accelerator.
So stay tuned for more on that. All right, if you have any questions at all, you can drop us an email support at. The uncommon way, you can also go to theuncommonway.com schedule to set up your 90 minutes roadmap. Call with me at any time if you want to see how we would apply the tools in the clarity accelerator and the support in the clarity accelerator to you specifically and your business. All right, my friends, that's it for today. You know who you are, and each day you are stepping further into what you're here to create. Have a great week.
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. Our.

  

Jenna Harrison 3/2/24 Jenna Harrison 3/2/24

Ep #87: My Uncommon Story: Surviving Violence and Stepping Into Post-Traumatic Growth.

In this episode, to continue the My Uncommon Way series, I’m sharing a pivotal moment of my life that I couldn’t leave out of my story, even if it’s about one of the hardest, darkest, and economically poorest periods of my life. I hope it will give people who are in a situation like the one I was in hope that life will turn out better.

Episode Summary

Trigger Warning:
This episode contains mentions of domestic, physical, and emotional violence, as well as suicidal ideations.

Jenna shares stories of surviving an abusive relationship and moving toward greater self-love.

Join us in the Clarity Accelerator by scheduling a call here.

Enjoy the show? Leave a review to help other like-minded entrepreneurs gain clarity in their businesses.

If you'd like to talk about working together, book a call here.

Show Notes

We jump back to the period following 9/11 when I was living in New York City. The environment was heavy; while the rest of the country had started to move on, New Yorkers were torn between wanting to leave and wanting to stay. At that time, I was in a spirit of ‘what could go wrong?’ and eventually involved myself in the most disastrous relationship of my life.

Today, I’m sharing how I ended up in a relationship with this man despite the warning signs, the reality of being in an abusive relationship, how I eventually reached the point of having suicidal thoughts, and what pushed me to seek help. I discuss how I managed my way through it and the courageous steps necessary to thrive.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

What was happening in my life during this period.
How I came to move away from my beloved New York City.
The reality of this relationship and the reasons why I stayed in it.
How I got out of a situation where I carried more debt than ever in my life.
The importance of finding help and support if you are in a similar situation.

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.
Get your questions ready for the upcoming free coaching on the website.
Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes content and daily value bombs!
What’s been the most helpful episode? Comment on our Podcast Thread or DM me on Instagram.
Click here to learn more about the Clarity Accelerator.
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
Ep #34: The ‘Too Braggy’ Fear and What I’m Doing About It
Ep #73: My Uncommon Story: Tales of a City Girl, the Light and the Dark
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-099-7233
Women’s Law Project

Full Episode Transcript:

DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT PDF

Hey, this is a new series where I'm giving you the context behind what I share in this podcast, i.e. what went on in my life to get me here. Think of this as part entrepreneurial mindset building told through stories, part historical nonfiction, and part audacious, salacious, beach read. Hope you enjoy.

You're listening to The Uncommon Way Business and Life Coaching Podcast, the podcast that helps women entrepreneurs get clear on signature offers and strategies that sell themselves so you can lean back and stop the hustle. You will learn to maximize your mindset, messaging, and strategy, and step into the uncommonly successful business and life you are creating. Here's your host, top-ranked business coach and reformed over-analyzer turned queen of clarity, Jenna Harrison.

Hello, my friends, it is so nice to be back with you. I am back from my trip to Panama. Of course, we've had two wonderful guests hosts over the last weeks for Black History Month, and I'm so grateful to them for the tips and the wisdom that they've shared.

I'm also grateful because we got a house. We are now officially moving to Majorca, Spain, in July. Our week was very intense. There is such a tight rental market there and places were disappearing in the day. We were making contact with different realtors, and following up with one, and we have to go see this place here. And oh, now this other one popped up. Let's shoot over to that part of the island.

But in the end of the stars aligned, and we found a wonderful, wonderful place; it is two stories. It's part of a common community. So there's a community pool, and it will allow for, of course, Dylan to meet some other children and us to meet some neighbors. We have our own garden, and we have a terrace overlooking the sea.

In fact, it's overlooking this beautiful green space, and you can just see one house with a red tiled roof. That's actually part of the king's Summer Palace. So, that is our view. Amazingly enough, the family that owns it is moving into a second home and leaving all of their furniture there, which is beautiful.

Instead of moving into a rental property that is furnished with rental furniture, and you know what I mean, it is beautiful, wonderful, quality furniture, and it feels like such a home. We're just walking straight into a home, it's turnkey ready, which makes this whole move so simple for us. We can hop on a flight here, arrive there, and we're ready to go. And as you know, I like to keep things simple.

So, we have the house, we found the school, we set a date, and it's happening. Oh, I'm so excited. And I wanted to share all of this happiness, specifically now, to set the anchor for this episode, which will be about one of the hardest and darkest periods of my life, and one of my poorest periods economically.

I want you to know that things turn out fine for me. And if you happen to be in a similar situation, or you forward this episode to someone you know, I want to anchor this, with this story, to give them hope that their life will also turn out better than fine.

Before we go further, there is a trigger warning. Which is that I'll be talking about domestic physical and emotional abuse in this episode, and suicidal ideation. This is a challenging episode to record for several reasons. And one of them is that there are some details that I'll choose to omit so that I don't incriminate myself. Therefore, you, dear listener, will be left to connect some of the dots for yourself.

But in the celebration of my life story… And in case you haven't been with me since the beginning of the series, that is what this series is about. When I turned 50 years old, I had such a completely different approach to that birthday than any other birthday I had had previously.

Where, rather than thinking about the advancing of years, I really thought about the celebration of life. And specifically, my life, and what a wild and glorious ride it has been. I decided to honor that by creating this series and hoping that any nuggets of wisdom that came through would find their way to the right people.

And so, in that celebration, I couldn't leave out this part of the story. It was so pivotal for me and it is such a celebration of survival. In the last episode of this series, I had just experienced 9-11. I was in my 20s, I was living a great life in Manhattan, and I was really at the zenith of joviality, even sprinkled with frivolity, when the towers fell.

I alluded to how the next period in my life was dark, and it was marked by some reckless and self-sabotaging behaviors, which now catches you up if you didn't get to listen to that episode. After the shock and horror of 9-11…

By the way, somebody asked if I had known anyone that was killed or injured on that day, which I neglected to mention, and the answer's no, thankfully. I knew someone who was meeting in a nearby building, but thankfully, none of my friends and loved ones were lost.

After that shock period of the first month following the attack, we all entered into kind of a tentative phase where it was like, “Is it okay to be doing this? To go out, to have anything resembling normalcy, or anything resembling happiness? Or were we just play-acting in a world that would never, ever be the same?”

Where we were all wondering when and where another attack would happen. Looking around and thinking about how meaningless so many of our old pastimes and old interests had become.

One of the most impactful books in my life is The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera. He really explores the themes of lightness and heaviness in our psyche and our society, and how at both extremes we're not living our fullest, best life.

I think, in this period I was really caught up trying to figure that out for myself. Now, I'm a sixth in Human Design. Meaning, I lived the first part of my life in full experimentation. I need to go through it. I need to experience it all for myself, no one could tell me anything. I need to find out the hard way sometimes.

And this was definitely still that phase. And so, in this phase kind of moving between nothing matters and everything matters, and then feeling the heaviness and pinging back towards the lightness, and vice versa, I, like I said, had some reckless behavior. I remember calling up someone I'd met at a club one time and driving to another city, just to get away from the heaviness of what was New York at that time.

The rest of the country, that hadn't actually been there, seemed to move on from it so much more quickly than we did. And it felt oppressive. You wanted to be there, because that felt like reality. And yet, you also wanted to be away from it, because you could taste what was normal, what once was normal to you.

And so, I remember calling this person up, and just driving to this other city, having unprotected sex with this complete stranger, because why not?

I remember initiating an affair with a famous married man that I'd met in a restaurant; with no regard for the woman on the other side. I decided that because he was European they probably had an open marriage, and so I would just blatantly ask, “Are you very married or just married?”

Luckily, he ended up sending me a dick pic later, and so that killed the romance and excitement for me and I didn't go through with it. But if that hadn't happened, I would have entered very carelessly and callously into something just because it seemed like a good idea at the time.

So, it was in that spirit of ‘what could go wrong? What could possibly go wrong that’s worse than what we've lived through?’ that I involved myself in the most disastrous relationship of my life, with the man that I call “Bozo.”

Called “Bozo,” because when I finally separated from him, I would get so triggered seeing his name pop up on my phone I would become short of breath and so distracted and unable to focus that I changed it to something comical to really lessen the charge, and it stuck.

We met at a well-known hip-hop club in the Flat Iron district called the Cheetah Club. Now remember, this is the 2000s, when hip-hop is fully leading and influencing fashion and pop culture and music. I’d gone with a group of girls, some friends of mine; it wasn't our first time.

Somebody was dancing near me, watching me. A friend of mine spun me around and pushed me into him. He was a very good-looking man; a good-looking Black man. By the end of the night I had given him my phone number. I'll gloss over the details of our courtship, but I'll tell you that he was very attentive and sweet, and really a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Sociopaths can keep up a very good front for a year or so. And while yes, there were definitely red flags, the real flags weren't about violence. They were about his story not quite adding up, and him being a little insecure. Which would later translate into being very easily moved to jealousy. But I'd been dating a rather aloof artist for years by that point, and I liked that this guy was more straight up, as I saw it.

What really led me to my fall, in hindsight, was hubris on my part. It was thinking I had my shit so together that nothing could touch me. And so, like I said, what could go wrong? Now, Bozo was born in Jamaica, and his mother had brought him and his sister and other brother over to the country when Bozo was very young.

Because she was illegal, they lived in very difficult circumstances in Canarsie, in New York, right on the edge of the projects. I don't know if it's true, but he does have stories about being in the same room with different rappers before they were famous; that may or may not be true. But he did have a rough childhood, and was actually shot in the head when he was young which likely contributed to some of his mental instability. I don't know.

But it definitely added to his sob story about how he had come from a good family in Jamaica, and how his mom had been sort of the black sheep, wild child, and had taken them away from this very upstanding family that he had. In fact, he did use to call his uncle, so I would hear him talking to his uncle in Jamaica. So, someone existed, who apparently was very well to do.

Bozo had a singular dream, which was to become a pilot. He had already done some part of his qualifications, and his uncle had helped him finance some of that. His dream, really, was to become legal, finally, in this country that he'd lived in since he was a baby, so that he could continue his education and become a pilot.

Now, in hindsight, there are so many places where I got hooked here. I had always had such a strong passion and fire about the plight of people who were illegal. My best friend in college was a Japanese citizen who had grown up in international, in American international schools, all of her life.

But after graduating, because she couldn't get a job that would be willing to sponsor her in a tight market, she was forced to return to Japan to work. And she didn't even speak Japanese; or at least not the level of Japanese that would be required for her to work in a corporate environment there.

And of course, I, myself, had been illegal living for years in Spain. And then, my dads were both pilots, my brother was a pilot. I had always gravitated towards partners that had this single burning passion and drive for one thing, because, as you know, I had no clue what I wanted to do. That was the most attractive and interesting thing to me in the world.

And I had a great deal of “White guilt.” I've spoken with many White women who have felt this, specifically after George Floyd. And if you've been listening to this series, you know that I had my introduction to these issues of race during my college years, during the Rodney King beatings. It had become clear to me just how much privilege I had had.

Also, I'd grown up in Hawaii, where I was very judged and condemned by many people for that privilege. I internalized so much of that. I felt so bad, so guilty about it. This is going to sound dramatic, but I was nothing if not dramatic in my 20s.

At one point, I had a breast cancer scare. I had a biopsy, and I was certain that it would come back cancerous. My reasoning was, ‘no one can have such a good life without having something equally terrible to balance it out.’ Now, it turned out not to be cancerous. But I think I was still searching for this thing that would be the hard knock that was inevitably coming to me.

While I honestly don't remember any thoughts about being a “White savior,” to the point where I saw Bozo as a poor Black person that I needed to help, or that I would in any way receive glory for helping, or being seen as helping a poor Black man, I do definitely remember thinking that I had had so much privilege that it was only right that I would help in any way that I could.

I believed that we were brought together so that I could help him. Because of all of the experiences I'd had, international experiences I’d had, I didn't think anyone else would be willing to go as far as I would to help someone sort that out and get themselves into firm standing.

And of course, since my shit was so tight, and I had the great job, the great apartment, I was earning well, there was really no harm in the situation. What could go wrong?

So, when he came to me with a story, just a month or so after we met, saying that he'd had a fight with his roommate and the roommate had kicked him out, and now he really had nowhere to stay, I figured, sure, he could crash at my place for a bit. Sure, I could help him out. Not realizing that he would never move back out.

Since the transition from sweet-guy-who-needs-a-helping-hand into maniacal and severely unbalanced abuser from whom I could not escape, happened gradually, over a fairly long period, I'm going to skip over it. Because A- we'd need several episodes, and B- it's honestly a bit muddled in my head still, to remember that whole chain of events.

So, I'll cut to the chase about the three reasons that I stayed with him once I realized that he was in fact abusive. Number one, was fearing for my family’s safety. He threatened to kill or hurt them if I left.

While that might have landed someone in jail, or at least gotten us a restraining order, I believe that my only saving grace was staying with him until he could become legal. Because, during this time, he could not afford one black mark on his record. And so, he was careful.

For instance, he was careful to never leave bruises where they could be seen, or would likely to be seen. Were something to go wrong and that chance for residency were to be lost, for instance, if he was ever taken into police custody, he would of course be deported. But then, he would definitely get into the country illegally again.

In fact, I knew several people in his social circle who had been kicked out at that point a couple of times and come back in. I believe that if that happened to him, he would truly have nothing to lose, and be, of course, furiously angry. So, I believed that I had no protection.

That really leads me to the second reason. Which is, my thought that, “I have to figure this out by myself. I got myself into this mess, and I have to get myself out.” My parents knew nothing. My friends did not know the full story. I believed I couldn't go to the police or anybody. And that really, it was just down to me and my wits of how I was going to play the game and stay alive long enough to extricate myself.

And I notice, by the way, that thought coming back again for me, as if I didn't learn my lesson later on, when I was going to build my business. That ‘I should just be able to figure this out by myself.’ I can see that it is a deep pattern. I've done so much work to rewrite my thoughts on that.

But just the other day, I was helping my mom with something and she was apologizing profusely. I said, “Mom, why are you apologizing?” And she said, “Because I should be able to figure this out by myself. I'm supposed to be strong and independent.” It's like ding-ding-ding.

So often I hear words coming out of my mom's mouth that I now know why I say them, or have said them in the past, and that is one of them. Not blaming my mother, this was fully all on me.

But I will blame my human brain, because that is the third, and possibly most important reason that I stayed with him. Stockholm Syndrome is real. Stockholm Syndrome is when you develop a deep attachment to your abuser. It's a very important survival response for people whose lives are threatened. Because if they can bond and attach with their abuser their chances of survival are higher.

But it wasn't until much later that I learned about the mechanics of this. Actually, that I even learned about this, let alone how it actually works in the brain. And so, I remember feeling so much shame. I remember once, after we had separated, we saw each other again and I got this huge smile on my face.

That smile haunted me for so long. I just felt so angry. I just wanted to go back and wipe that stupid smile off my face. How could I smile at him? I wouldn't say I necessarily felt happy to see him, I felt very scared. But I had such a smile on my face, I just couldn't stop it.

For those years that I was living with him, which were about three, it was like a hostage situation. Where I had to do everything right all the time, or it would devolve into the pattern of him emotionally abusing me and tearing my life to shreds. Until I'd finally flip a lid, yell at him, and then he could hit me or torture me in some way.

I learned later about the cycle of abuse. Which is where, after kind of a climax and intensity in a situation, such as a physical fight, there is some reconciliation. At which point, huge bursts of oxytocin are released. Oxytocin is a chemical that we know about from childbirth, and it helps us forget, but it also helps us bond.

And so, it really creates indelible bonds with this person, even though they're treating you so terribly. And then, there's a honeymoon phase, where this person acts really well. Maybe they've even, and they're certainly saying that they've learned their lesson and it will never happen again.

But little by little, there are these little annoyances, little flares, little comments, little digs, little jabs, that start becoming more constant. Until finally, one or both of you explodes and the whole cycle repeats itself again. And when I say I had to do everything right, I mean I even had to breathe right.

There were times where we would just be driving along and I would finally just be looking out and enjoying the sunshine and thinking for a minute, everything seemed okay. And all of a sudden, he'd say, “Why are you breathing like that?” I'd be completely caught off guard, “Breathing like what?” “You know what,” he'd say. He would use that as evidence that I must feel guilty about something.

My intonation had to be perfect. My actions. My behavior. But often, the standards changed and what used to work no longer worked. And so, I was just constantly walking on eggshells. In the times when we were building up to these kinds of blow-up periods, he would try to exert control or get back at me by disrupting my work very frequently.

He'd start calling 20 times in a row, to the point where then the receptionist would have to tell the boss, or come ask if I were okay. “Why is this person calling you over and over again throughout your work day?” I was doing freelance story design, so sometimes, to exert control, he would keep me up all night and make sure that I couldn't work to finish a project that was due or something.

And that would teach me a lesson that I better not repeat those behaviors in the future. He’d do the same thing with friends. He got so bad that I finally left my beloved New York City. I thought that if we could get into a neutral environment, A- he would feel a bit more secure. And B- at least I wouldn't have to be dealing with the subterfuge of trying to keep everything from my work and my friends.

That's how I came to find myself all alone on my 30th birthday, in a place that I didn't even want to live. Sometimes his disruption was financial. He would spend a ton of money, using my credit cards, of course. It would get worse and worse, and I was always robbing Peter to pay Paul. I became the master of zero interest credit cards.

Again, I'd learned a lot about financing when I bought my apartment in New York, and I used a lot of those skills here. But I was carrying more debt than I ever had in my life. I hadn't had student loans, so this was like my student loan. And in fact, when I was bemoaning the situation later on to my therapist, she said, “Well, it seems like you paid for your graduate degree.” Wise words.

Of course, sometimes the disruption would be emotional abuse or physical. Around this time, the events at Abu Ghraib were revealed, about how American guardsmen had been abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib. As they talked about some of the treatment, and also what was coming to light about the CIA, I was like, “Yep, sounds about right.”

I remember a night where he came storming into the room, ripped the sheets and blankets off the bed and threw cold water on me, opened the windows, and kept me up just talking all night long, berating me. That was really the worst part, just the talking. The talking was the worst part, how he would twist the facts and past events and stories. I started to feel like the movie Gaslight, where I was going crazy.

I remember once where I was on the floor and he was up above me talking, talking, and with every fiber of my body I was saying, “Jenna just don't break. It's just words. It's just sounds. Ignore him. Think about something else in your head. He wants to have you explode. Don't give in.”

But every time, I would just snap all of a sudden, and then I would just hate myself afterwards for not being able to keep it together. Thankfully, he never punched me in the face or did anything that landed me in the hospital. But like I said, he really knew what he was doing, and would make sure that bruises never showed up on my forearms or on my neck, or anything that would be visible.

We were constantly bickering and fighting. The police were called several times. There was so much drama. But each time, of course, I said that I didn't want to press charges and the police would have to leave. I remember so many looks of pity and judgment from them, and from people in the hallways, out and about if we'd have an altercation, in an airport once, of people who had no idea.

We still stereotype women who are abused. Because, as a society, we don't fully understand the brain chemistry and the many pieces that are at play, which is very often the safety of other loved ones, including children. I came to feel so small, so uncertain.

I would have these flashbacks to a time where he and I were walking in a sunny day, in New York City, and it was early spring and unseasonably warm. So, I was wearing these knee-high boots, and this really great skirt that I'd gotten at a very cute independent boutique, down in Nolita. It was kind of cut on the bias, so it had this little sachet to it.

I'd had a jacket on, with a shirt, but because it was so warm, I'd taken the jacket off and put it in my bag. And so, I had the sleeveless shirt on. I just remember the joy of the sun in that moment. I took a few steps, I kind of put my arm out and my face up. I was taking these strong, very purposeful steps. This was at the very beginning of when I'd met him. And he looked over at me and he's like, “Girl, I like your confidence.”

And I was so fully confident. But then it was if he went to systematically breaking it down, piece by piece, bit by bit, until I wondered where all the pieces had gone.

My only consolation during this time were the moments that I would have when reading. I became so interested in philosophy and questions of faith. I desperately wanted to make sense of how bad things can happen to good people. And also, how I could possibly still have anything close to a guardian angel or anyone protecting me if this were going on in my life.

I remember my low point. We were fighting one night and there was a storm happening; these beautiful storms that kind of roll through the tropics with so much wind and lightning and rain. We had an apartment that was on a high floor with a balcony. I remember kind of screaming, and in that moment just thinking, “God, if you do exist, please strike him down right now with lightning. Just make this end.”

I remember pleading that with my whole heart in that instant. And of course, nothing happened. That just shows you how fragile I felt at the time. That I thought maybe that would be a last hope, and then being disappointed that the lightning didn't magically rearrange itself to strike him down. I felt so alone.

I remember, again, flair for the dramatic, but feeling like I am, now it has been proven, I am now truly alone. After that, I was just kind of going through the motions.

Until I remember one moment when I was driving home from work, and I was very close to losing my job. By the way, I've always said that I switched into fashion, away from jewelry, because I was burned out with doing jewelry all day and so how could I start a jewelry business by night? That is absolutely true.

But also, it was because I had to scramble to find a job, because I had to leave my old one. So, I'm driving home along the freeway, there's this curve in the freeway, and in that moment I just realized I could do nothing. I could just not turn the car. I could just go straight into the barrier and end it all. Wouldn't that be better for everyone? My pain would be over. My parents would be safe.

And really, what had become of my life? I was the girl who was getting recruited by McKinsey, and Goldman, and USAID. I'd had such huge dreams. There's a high school essay where I talked about, “Oh, and when I buy my private island…” Like it was just a natural course of action when that happens.

And now, here I was with no real career progression, nothing had turned out like it was supposed to, and I didn't know how much longer I was going to be able to survive in this situation.

Well, needless to say, that moment scared me enough that I realized I needed help. There was another one, as well. I realized that I also would even have thoughts of killing him and feel very cold in the moment. I didn't feel strong emotions about that either way. And so, I finally sought help and found a therapist.

And the reason that I was able to do it, is that I convinced Bozo that it was supposedly my anger issues. Because after all, we'd seen me explode in angry outbursts over and over again, which was clearly my fault. And so, I needed to go to therapy to help resolve my anger issues.

I remember the first time I went to see her just feeling deathly afraid. I said, “Could he get in here?” And she said, “Yes, actually. If he really wanted to, he probably could.” She was in a kind of shared office, there were various offices in this. She said, “Do you want to leave the door open, so that you can see the hallway door if it opens?” And I said yes.

I remember speaking in a very low voice to her our first few sessions, just in case he was out in the waiting room. But it was the beginning of my salvation. The bottom line here is, get help. Get help sooner rather than later. Don't be like me and try to go it alone. That helped me keep my sanity, and also to move up the timeframe for myself of when I thought I'd be able to extricate myself.

He was not fully legal when I left, but he was close enough that I was willing to take the risk. I remember going to the police, telling them the situation and that I needed support as I was moving out of my house. They stood guard while he said awful things about me. Well, directly to me and to the officers.

That's when I moved into a halfway house; it was surrounded with barbed wire. The moments that I was in there, I had not felt that safe since before 9-11. It was such a beautiful, delicious safety. I met so many amazing women. I considered everything there such a blessing. They also had support to teach us all about how the brain works, and exactly what had been going on.

I always love giving to houses like this now, because it is such a needed but also amazing resource for people that have lost everything. Well, not everything, right? They still have their life.

Then I managed to have him think that I got fired. This is now with the new company. In fact, I think I made it seem like that was why I was so angry with him, and why I was finally leaving. I think that's what I did. But the truth is I had not, and the whole company was in on this deceit. And so, I would take a very roundabout way to get to work, because I knew, of course, he would be watching the front.

I would park in the back, by the factory. All the factory guys knew that I was parking there. I'd walk up through the factory, the shipping floor, and into my office working for the chairman of this fashion company. And the receptionist knew not to get caught in any kind of manipulation and to, of course, say that I didn't work there.

I wouldn't answer any outside calls if I didn't recognize the number. The fellow assistants supported me in that. I really was so lucky to have so many people have my back. Of course, it was hard to come out to them about it, but they all just rallied. They just rallied. I was only able to stay in the halfway house for, I think, a few weeks. And so, I started looking for another place to live.

Again, I was so lucky, and found a room in an apartment in South Beach with these two gay guys. They were huge, and I felt so safe with them. They brought back so much levity to my life. I loved them so dearly. One of them has now passed.

Eventually Bozo did get his papers and he moved back to New York City. But then, I got a heads up from a mutual acquaintance that he was talking about coming back to Florida. I think it was that very same day, I walked out of the front of my office, because by then, so long had passed and I thought he was in New York, but he'd already gotten to Florida.

He was standing right there on the steps. And he was like, “Well, hello.” That is that moment where I got that big, big smile on my face that I was so angry at myself for. Although, of course, I shouldn't have been. That is when I decided that it was time to get a restraining order, even though I was still, in some ways, scared of the consequences.

Even though it may just get him deported, and then he'd be off the books, and a loose cannon, looser cannon. But I went through with it anyway. I concocted a scheme with a friend of mine. She was going to come with me to the church that I would go to in South Beach. I knew he knew that I had gone to that church. And so, I knew that he would one Sunday for sure, go back and try and find me there.

I sat in the front, and she sat in the back. After the service, I got up and I left and I walked outside. Of course, he was there and he approached me, and that's when she called the police.

Because, of course, you have to get the restraining order served, which is the worst part of it. If you need a restraining order, and you can't find the person, you have to get into a situation where you can see the person or be face to face with the person in order to get the police to serve this restraining order.

So, she called the police. Those were the longest moments of my life. I stood there listening, trying not to respond as he read me the riot act and told me why I'd been so wrong to leave him and why we shouldn't be together, and on and on and on.

I saw the police officer kind of strolling around, and he kind of glanced at us and walked past, but didn't actually come over. I was like, “Here, here, come over here.” And then he kind of was walking back, and so finally I just had to interject. I had to hope he was the person that had the restraining order to serve.

I said, “Sir, I believe this is the person you're looking for. Please serve the restraining order.” And luckily, it was. They served him the restraining order. I remember the look of absolute shock and astonishment on his face. Then I left. And when we were in a place where he couldn't see my friend, I just hugged and celebrated and cried.

A few days later, I went to the courthouse and had to sit in a room with him for the very last time, as the judge heard our case and decided whether or not to extend it. He was the first person to talk, and he talked and talked and talked, as he does. And afterwards, the judge said, “Okay, so I'm going to approve this.” He never even heard from me. That was the last time I saw him.

I am a survivor, and I am so grateful to have survived that. Though I would never, ever advise anyone to deal with it alone like I did, I did manage to navigate my way through, though with some hefty battle wounds that I am still working on today.

In an earlier episode, it was #34. It's called “The 'Too Braggy' Fear and What I'm Doing About It.” I talked then about how I had a stalker, and why that is added to the difficulty in really being out there and vulnerable. For instance, showing a picture of me in a bathing suit. On the cover of that episode, I was in fact in a bathing suit, living my best life, and choosing to act into a place where I'm not afraid of being watched by him.

He has, unfortunately, made his presence known. Every 10 years or so he'll managed to pop up in my DM somewhere. It has been so wonderful living overseas and on military bases, and feeling that extra added security. But still, when I see somebody that looks like him in a certain way or a certain posture, my heart quickens.

For the last couple years I've been doing EMDR, which is been wonderful for me. I highly recommend that. Not specifically for this issue, although I knew that that was one area of the stored drama that I could probably benefit from exploring and releasing. But what I've noticed is that sometimes, when I’d get so angry with my son, it is in fact tied to trauma responses from that time.

And so, still to this day, I am doing beautiful healing work on many life stories, but it so supports the concept of post-traumatic growth. We've all heard of PTSD, but not all of us have heard of PTG. It's such an important concept of how trauma moves us forward, actually, towards growth. How it's possible to transmute those events into wisdom, into learning, into greater self-love and greater self-knowledge. And I can attest to that.

So, for anyone who needs to hear this, that is available to you, too. But I recommend getting help ASAP. We will link to some resources in the show notes.

Fear and terror keep us stuck. But shame keeps us stuck, too. What I've learned is that shame can be a choice. And please, hear me when I say you have nothing to be ashamed of. You are being manipulated by someone who is lucky enough to have stumbled onto a glitch in our human psyche, in our brains’ survival mechanism. And you are surviving if you're alive listening to this.

And for that, I commend you and honor you. But in order to thrive, it will take some courageous steps on your part. And I want you to do it safely. So, the first is picking up a phone and asking someone qualified for help.

Okay, I want to end on an uplifting note, and I want to share the story of how I got myself out of debt. Now remember, I'm carrying more debt than I ever have; $100,000 in debt. Remember, I still have this place in New York City but it's not worth nearly that much. And the rent barely covers the mortgage.

One day, a realtor happens to write me and says, “Hey, do you have any interest in selling your apartment? I just sold another one in your unit for about $100,000.” Now, I don't think that was the exact amount, now that I think back on it, because that was my debt. Eventually, I did sell the apartment. It was the hardest decision, because New York City does hold my heart and I loved it so much.

I’d always dreamed of giving that little Manhattan studio apartment to my own daughter someday. So, that she'd always have a place of her own, and never have to feel poor. At least, she'd always have a roof over her head.

But as I started to look at the situation, by that point, without Bozo, I really loved Miami. I loved its vibrancy. I loved its passion. I loved the beautiful weather. I loved that I could afford more space there, that I could walk down to the beach, that I could walk to my favorite yoga studio. It just seemed like a better quality of life.

And so, I did it. I said yes to selling. It came at the perfect time, and it, almost dollar-for-dollar, wiped out all my debt. There was no debt left over, and there was no surplus leftover either. It was like it was all just gone and I could start fresh. Such a blessing.

Then that realtor ended up saying that he was coming down to Florida, we met up, and ended up becoming dear friends. That friendship has lasted for decades. He became very good friends with all of my friends down there. Sometimes I just give him random hugs for how perfectly he came into my life.

Alright, my friends. That's it for today. Remember, you know who you are, and each day you're stepping further into what you're here to create.

Hey, if you want true clarity about your secret sauce, your people, your best way of doing business, and how you talk about your offer, then I invite you to join us in the Clarity Accelerator. I'll teach you to connect all the dots, the dots that have always been there for you, so that you can show up like you were born for exactly this.

Come join us and supercharge every other tool or tactic you'll ever learn, from Facebook ads to manifestation. Just go to TheUncommonWay.com/schedule and set up a time to talk. I can't wait to be your coach.

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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