Happy Productive with Jennifer Dawn: Grow Your Business Without Giving Up Your Life

Thinking about what you want for your life can be scary!

Dena Jansen, author, speaker, and coach, with a background in corporate leadership, began her adult life in accountancy and as a farmer’s wife. Making the transition out of corporate to entrepreneurship, Dena walked into a different space in her career and within her marriage.

Dena’s book, Soul Farmer, is a book of self-reflection, which guides the reader through giving yourself time to be with yourself - remembering to invest in yourself, and allowing yourself time to rest. Farmers know that the ground needs time to rest, and Dena believes the same is true for us as people; her husband grows plants, and she grows people, as they both found their own passions, they were able to support each other as they grew.

Growing is not easy - but you do not have to grow alone!

Notes:
💍 Dena realized that her marriage and career weren't healthy: she and her husband aged together, but didn't grow together. 2:51
🤩 She and her husband are now on their "second marriage": her husband can grow plants, and she can grow people. 5:32
📙 Her book Soul Farmer talks about everything you receive from her as a coach. 7:02
📕 Jennifer's book is for business owners who find themselves sometimes hating their business. 9:43
🌱 A different perspective on growth: from the farmer's perspective vs. seed's perspective. 12:05
☯️ The biggest tool that comes out of the Soul Farmer book is self-reflection: giving yourself time with yourself. 14:47
⚠️ It can be scary to think about what you want. 18:38
🧘‍♀️ It's about pacing yourself: even the ground needs time to rest. 21:01
📵 Invest in yourself: if nothing else, put your phone down for 60 minutes. 25:29

Links:

Website: https://www.denajansen.com/

Dina’s books: https://www.denajansen.com/books

Instagram: @dina_jansen

Jennifer’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Stand-Rekindle-Love-Business-ebook/dp/B0D26NQ8NT

You cannot solve a problem if you don’t admit that there is one!

Tiffany Sauder manages 3 businesses and 2 careers with her husband, with whom she shares 4 children. Watching her father start his own business, Tiffany grew up with an understanding of risk and and a healthy dose of curiosity. Having graduated with a degree in finance and starting a career in the corporate world, Tiffany convinced her dad to buy a small business, which went on to amazing success.

However, Tiffany eventually found herself in a place where neither her business nor the way her marriage was going was sustainable. By undertaking radical changes in her business and starting marriage counseling, she was able to make the changes necessary to prioritize what was important in her life. She managed to get the ordinary bits of life to fit in the smallest possible container in order to make room for the extraordinary in life!

Her advice? Be willing to be vulnerable - you do not always have to be perfect!

Notes:
👨‍👧 Tiffany is driven by significance: she grew up watching her dad's business, which made her start her own. 2:21
👩‍💼 We need the courage to talk about the silent suffering that goes along with having a business. 5:56
🤓 You can't solve things differently until you admit something's not working: making the necessary changes. 9:45
👩‍💻 She wanted to make radical changes in her business by using the EOS framework. 14:19
🍀 Changes in her personal life and marriage: the "triage" version of marriage counseling. 18:48
💎 How Tiffany got the ordinary to fit in the smallest possible container, so she has time for the extraordinary. 22:39
🛠️ Life of And Academy course tools: the morning round-up and the evening wind down. 25:23
🎯 The concept of implied expectations versus explicit agreements. 29:43

Links:

Website: https://elementthree.com/team/tiffany-sauder/onn

Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanysauder/
Connect with Jennifer: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com

Retreats: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com/our-retreat

Join our Academy: www.jenniferdawnacademy.com

Success is closer than you think!

Michelle Rockwood, author of Joyful Selling, unintentionally became a sales coach. She realized she had something others did not; a skill, a passion, and a joy for sales coaching. Michelle believes strongly in creating a connection with people we are supporting and coaching, in making offers to people who really need them, and in ensuring we are prepared as we work in sales.

There is a distinct difference in masculine and feminine sales energy, and Michelle realized that the majority of sales training programs are written and delivered by men. It’s no wonder women are uncomfortable with this way of selling, and sometimes make our stomach churn, and often don’t find any joy in it. The goal is for you and the client alike to have an authentic sales experience that you both enjoy. This comes from authentically connecting with the client and ensuring we slow down and work smarter, not harder.

It IS possible to have a sales conversation that you actually enjoy!

Notes:
👩‍💼 Michelle's journey into sales coaching started as a complete but beautiful accident. 02:19
👠 The difference between a masculine and feminine sales approach. 05:13
📞 The importance of creating an authentic connection with people on the call: they need to know they aren't being tricked. 11:34
🥅 Making offers to people who really need your solution is the difference. 14:52
⚠️ We shouldn't just have a conversation: it's important to have boundaries. 16:57
🤓 Michelle's coaching clients around their decision: how to get support around the problem. 20:52
🌸 A gentle release: dealing with people who might not have the financial ability. 23:50
👉 If you don't like sales, it's probably because you're not prepared. 26:28
📙 What Jennifer took away from Michelle's book: calendar and rescheduling. 32:30
😇 Get people to know you before you get on a call with them. 35:17

Website: https://michellerockwood.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV8R6KFB
Connect with Jennifer: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com

Retreats: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com/our-retreat

Join our Academy: www.jenniferdawnacademy.com

We can only control ourselves - we cannot control how someone responds to us.

Lori Crooks, CEO of CADRA, began her working life crunching numbers and auditing in accounting, before life as an IT auditor and working with companies to ensure that they comply with security standards and apply best practices. Many businesses are simply overwhelmed and unsure where to turn; Lori ensures that companies have the guidance they need to comply and for their IT environments to be secure. Lori encourages women to achieve appropriate education, but also to create a connection with men. The IT industry is a male-dominated one, however, connections are important and can be forged through conversation, having a sense of humor, and perhaps sometimes via sarcasm. Lori teaches that women need to believe in themselves when they sit at a table where they are the only female and remind themselves that they deserve to be there as much as any male. Never forget to have an open mind, and to seek out different opinions.

SHOW NOTES:
😊 Lori began her career as an IT auditor: ensuring IT environments are built securely. 2:08
⚠️ Small businesses are more vulnerable to sensitive information. 5:03
🤓 Lori’s team makes sure companies comply with security standards and are applying best practices. 6:56
👠 How Lori has been able to fit in to this typically male-dominated industry. 8:06
👉 The hardest thing about developing your own business is finding the right clients. 12:23
🤩 Jennifer’s experience with both corporate and entrepreneur software work. 13:32
🎯 Lori’s advice for women is to get the appropriate education, but to also create a connection with men. 18:54
🎯 If coworkers can provoke a strong emotional reaction in you, it may indicate there is a certain issue you need to work on. 21:20

LINKS:
Website: https://www.cadra.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-crooks

Connect with Jennifer: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com

Retreats: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com/our-retreat

Join our Academy: www.jenniferdawnacademy.com

When you get committed, solutions appear.

Amy Kemp is the author, owner & CEO of Amy Kemp, Inc. After deciding that she did not want to work as a teacher, Amy started her own business which grew faster than she ever thought it would. Amy now helps leaders and business professionals understand how deeply thought habits impact every part of their work and lives.

Mindset and habits are two things that are foundational for any result in our lives. We usually want to bypass each of these and push through to a result we are looking to achieve. However, we end up realizing that there was no foundation and therefore things begin to collapse. Amy explains how structure is not a restrictive cage but rather a path to freedom if used properly.

The power lies in embracing the gentle structures within our business and when we allow flexibility and unexpected things to happen. Allowing ourselves and others to recharge and shift perspective, brings in a space for change.

You cannot always be in the space of problem solving - give yourself time and space to recharge so your creativity (and productivity) can blossom.

Notes
👩‍🏫 Growing a business in the laundry room: from teaching high school to direct sales business. 01:14
🙃 Tutoring 1000 independent sales consultants: a message Amy kept hearing and a sentence that changed her life. 03:09
▶️ Habit finder coaching: starting a new business. 05:45
🤓 Jennifer’s story on the most powerful exercise she did: a flip side of habits. 07:25
📘 Amy’s book: observe your resistance - if you dig underneath it, you will find unhealed pain. 09:54
🪷 Lower the bar and go easy on yourself: Keep structure flexible to make it work and try with gentle structure. 14:07
🦜 When neglecting and pushing the structure away because you think it's a cage, you end up in the cage. 20:39
📈 Structures needed for business growth: embracing structure but in the middle of the pendulum. 23:36
🚦 Slow down: you can't outwork your thought habits - schedule guilt-free play time during your day. 26:47
☯️ Inspired ideas come when we give ourselves a break and time to replenish and relax. 29:52
🚗 Business is just a vehicle to create a life. It's not the life 32:06
📚 “I See You” book is a guide for women who want more influence, impact, and income without more work. 35:31

Links:

Website: www.amykemp.com

Book: www.amykemp.com/book

Connect with Jennifer: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com

Retreats: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com/our-retreat

Join our Academy: www.jenniferdawnacademy.com

When you let go of something, you create space for something new to show up.

Danielle Sunberg, a former Big Law attorney turned wellness entrepreneur and expert in the art of conscious living and award-winning author, shares about asking and answering the big question: Who am I?

Having been diagnosed with depression, Danielle realized that where she thought she was on top of everything, with plenty of zeros in her bank account and being on top of the corporate ladder, she wasn’t in tune with who she was herself.

Allowing yourself to be vulnerable causes a step into real leadership. Peeling the layers away allows for an acceptance of who you really are and allowing yourself to take up space.

Hitting burnout is not always a bad thing - as long as you use it as a chance to change everything!

Notes:
👩🏻‍💼 Danielle was an accomplished corporate litigator for a big law firm in Washington, DC. 1:59
🥀 Despite her success, she felt empty, personally. 3:43
😞 She felt nothing when hearing the news about winning a case, and she just quit. 5:34
❓ Danielle needed to answer the question: Who am I? 8:14
✌ ️ Burnout is not just a bad thing: a chance to change everything. 13:31
😍 Burnout requires you to say: I've tolerated enough suffering here, and I'm actually going to make a change. 18:33
🤗 Mastering the art of being, which is what is left when we stop all of our doing. 22:06
🎯 The biggest changes that happen are clarity, confidence in decision-making, and relationship dynamics. 23:40
🥅 What needs to be addressed is creating safety, with others and within yourself. 27:11
🎯 When we can be vulnerable, we are stepping into real leadership. 29:00
⚠️ Vulnerability doesn't mean that you have to tell everybody all the dirty details. 32:03

Links:

Website: www.daniellesunberg.com

Connect with Danielle: www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-sunberg

When you force yourself to do something, your energy shifts to lower emotions, but there is a solution to beat the Monday Blues.

Monday mornings usually start with: “I don't want to deal with my job, I don't have enough clients, I'm in a lot of debt, my marketing is terrible” But when you're taking inspired action, and you feel excellent about it, and you're pouring your love and your joy into it.

The goal is to always feel inspired. Jennifer shares one trick how to inspire yourself with the ‘Flow and Go” game. This is a practical and inspirational tool to shift a negative mindset and increase productivity. This game will help you recognize your negative emotions and shift them intentionally towards positive outcomes. The concept of this game is to align thoughts, emotions, actions and results into a positive feedback loop and take action.

The Go and Flow game can be played whenever you need it to get in the flow and start getting the results that you want in your business and your life. Check it out!

Notes:
🐌 Monday is not a very productive day: most heart attacks happen on Mondays. 01:46
📅 Having issues getting started after the weekend: don’t over-schedule your first working day. 02:27
✌🏼 The Flow and Go game: emotional states and physical relations, so it is important to think of different thoughts to move the flow. 04:14
🤔 Dreams and outcome thoughts: pivot on your thoughts to feel better as all good things happened already and then go. 08:27
🎯 Aligning with your dream, practicing your dream, and taking action. 10:16

Connect with Jennifer: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com

Retreats: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com/our-retreat

Join our Academy: www.jenniferdawnacademy.com

If you are investing your money in hiring a virtual assistant, you really want them to be able to pay for themselves.

Gina Cotner, CEO of Athena Executive Services, began her business by becoming a virtual assistant herself. Encouraged by an employer to start up a business finding the right assistants for business owners and CEOs, Gina found herself hiring her own VA and realizing the freedom it brought.

Time zones and internet reliability are two considerations when hiring a VA outside the USA. Gina stresses that while you could ask a VA to do anything for you, it’s worth remembering that they are not experts in the same subject as you. Hiring a VA through an agency, such as Athena Executive Services, allows peace of mind that VAs have already been screened and vetted; an agency is likely to pair you well with the right VA.

Having the right person for your business will make a massive difference to your life, as you find you no longer have to deal with the minutia!

Show notes:
🏡 Gina became executive assistant due to divorce issues: her journey to entrepreneurship. 01:26
😒 Feeling tired and grouchy: you might need a Virtual Assistant to free you up. 04:39
🤔 Why you should not hire a VA: some business owners can’t work with assistants from the Philippines. 07:20
⚠️ Things to think about when hiring overseas and even in the US. 08:49
🌞 What you can ask your VA to help you with: getting a shoulder-to-shoulder business partner in VA. 12:52
🌸 Executive assistant world and VA’s world are very similar: nomenclature doesn’t exist and VA is a part of a huge garden of skills.14:59
🆚 Agencies vs. individual hires of VAs: rates and challenges that you might come across. 17:30
⚡ Vetting, screening, and paying VAs: what questions to ask agencies. 20:51
🩹 Athena helps entrepreneurs with tips if you don’t know what your business needs. 22:56

Links

Dive into EA world: www.athenaexecutiveservices.com

Connect with Gina: www.linkedin.com/in/athenaea

Connect with Jennifer: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com

Retreats: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com/our-retreat
Join our Academy: www.jenniferdawnacademy.com

Creating a winning day plan is possible in just five minutes!

In this podcast, Jennifer explains 4 steps on how to do it. It starts with the right mindset and then organizing your tasks. Business owners, tend to forget important stuff and that is themselves, so don’t forget self-care to ensure your dream can come true. If you need additional help with organizing your day, check out the webinar and Best Plan Ever.com.

Notes:
👓 Get your mindset in the right mindset: read your vision statement. 00:53
✍️ Different ways to create Vision Statements: what you don’t like about your life? 02:37
🔠 Map your day to do priority stuff: divide the day on the ABCDE tasks of productivity. 05:45
🤩 Don’t overschedule yourself: time blockings are important. 08:04
3️⃣ Step three: self-care is crucial - schedule it! 08:36
🌸 Best Planner Ever and how to use it. 10:15
👉 Take Back Your Time Workshop. 12:06

Links:
Join our Academy: www.jenniferdawnacademy.com

Connect with Jennifer: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com

Retreats: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com/our-retreat

Growth requires you to change right down to your core.

Dr Michael Matucci, PhD, is a founder of Encompass Life, is on a mission to ignite the truth of who we really are and what we are really doing here.

Until you go into your own core and shift things at the soul level, as in, your emotions, will, and subconscious mind, then it will continue to perpetuate itself no matter how powerful you are. You have a universe inside of you, and you have the emotional power to deal with anything that may come your way and to act in the most profound way possible.

Stepping into your core being and soul level may be uncomfortable and cold, but ultimately you will find treasure!

Notes:
🤩 Creating miracles inside and outside of us. 01:19
😎 Michael’s path of personal growth and spirituality: the Navy SEALs of spirituality. 05:12
🪞 Everything is happening inside of you: people around you are reflecting you, all the time. 07:24
4️⃣ Extreme Ownership: blame, shame, guilt, and hate are 4 emotions that keep us stuck. 11:26
🌞 When you realize you don’t like some things in your business: you undergo spiritual bypassing to heal and grow. 15:54
🥋 Internal Judo and mastering your inner world: carrying baggage vs finding your inner divine. 21:16
🤯 When you numb yourself down: unconscious emotions and their connection to issues and illnesses. 26:04
🌞 Jennifer’s experience with water fasting and cleaning pockets of emotions. 34:58
⚡ Explore the message your inner voice has for you: trust life and your powers. 36:59
💎 Spiritual work and miracle stories on Michael’s clients. 41:36
💥 You can facilitate miracles: you are the changemaker. 44:22

Links:

Special link: www.encompasslife.com/breakthrough

Connect with Dr Michael www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmatucci

Website: www.michaelmatucci.com

Join our Academy: www.jenniferdawnacademy.com

Connect with Jennifer: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com

Retreats: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com/our-retreat