Jennifer Myers is our guest today on the Join Up Dots podcast
To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:
Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)
If you like the show, we would be so grateful if would consider leaving the show a review in iTunes as well as Stitcher Radio. A couple minutes of your time can help the show immensely! Thank YOU!
Introducing Jennifer Myers
Jennifer Myers is our guest today to share her insights into running a successful business without that business running you.
She is the founder of Gener8 Leadership Solutions, and also one of the 90 Day Divas, a coaching business she shares with two other ladies that all have been through the ups and downs of business and can ease the way to a better life.
Which is exactly what she wanted but just a few years ago was a long way from experiencing what she now teaches.
As she says “I’ve got an amazing personal story to share that totally suits YOUR philosophy – that life and business doesn’t have to be HARD!
As a matter of fact, I’ve just contributed to a book that will come out this month and my contribution is titled ‘Life Doesn’t Have to be Hard.’
One night in early 2009 after a manic day, my husband and I looked at each and basically said ‘Our life is totally running us – not the other way around. How did it get like this?!’
We knew the balance in our lives had gotten skewed, and we knew we had to do something about it ASAP.
How The Dots Joined Up For Jennifer
To make a long story short(er), just 10 months after that ‘OMG’ moment, we had sold or given away everything we owned, packed 3 suitcases and 3 large boxes (talk about learning the difference between ‘need’ and ‘want!) and purchased 3 one-way plane tickets to New Zealand without ever having visited there before.
What started as a ‘let’s see if this works’ move turned into a new way of life in a new country, and we’ve never looked back!
She has now been a Certified Business and Leadership Coach and Trainer for over a decade now where she helps develop leaders and teams learn how to communicate more effectively
I often encourage my clients to step outside their comfort zones when it comes to activities that will help them take their businesses forward, and it’s so rewarding to watch them grow and develop!
So when business is simply a series of decisions that we take to grow and establish our reach, why do most people never consider the impact on their own personal lives?
And what would she say was the biggest learning curve as she finally decided that “Life Doesn’t Have To Be Hard”?
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Jennifer Myers.
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty subjects with Jennifer Myers
How we should structure our daily lives to allow time for our businesses and minds to flourish. Allow ourselves to find the gaps and make them work for us.
Why we make life hard for ourselves by comparing with others and what they are doing. Just focus on yourself and get your head down and do the work.
Jennifer shares openly about the decisions that she takes daily to align with her values and purpose
And lastly……..
Jennifer tells us the fascinating story about the decorator crab and how we can all learn from the lessons of nature.
How To Connect With Jennifer
Return To The Top Of Jennifer Myers
If you enjoyed this episode of Jennifer Myers, then why not listen to some of our favourite podcast episodes such as Infinite Banking System, Dan Lok, Sophie Radcliffe, or the amazing Simon Mainwaring
Or if you prefer just pop over to our podcast archive for thousands of amazing episodes to choose from.
Full Transcription Of Jennifer Myers Interview
Intro [0:00]
Life shouldn’t be hard life should be a fun filled adventure every day. So now start joining up dots tap into your talents, your skills, your God given gifts and tell your boss, you don’t deserve me. I’m out of here. It’s time for you to smash that alarm clock. And start getting the dream business and life you will, of course, are dreaming of. Let’s join your host David route from the back of his garden in the UK, or wherever he might be today with another JAM PACKED episode of the number one hit podcast. Join Up Dots.
David Ralph [0:39]
Yet Good morning. Good morning. Good morning and welcome to Join Up Dots. Now, have you ever started running a successful business or maybe it wasn’t even a successful business and you found out that that business started running you? Well, today’s guest on the show is going to show us how to basically ease into a life that isn’t like that she is the founder of Jenna eight leadership solutions. And also one of the 90 day divas a coaching business, she shares with two other ladies that have all been through the ups and downs of business and can ease the way to a better life, which is exactly what she wanted, but just a few years ago was a long way from experiencing what She now teaches. As she says I’ve got an amazing personal story to share that totally, totally suits your philosophy. But life and business doesn’t have to be hard. As a matter of fact, I’ve just contributed to a book that will come out this month, and my contribution is titled, life doesn’t have to be hard. Now one night in early 2009. After a manic day, my husband and I looked each other and basically said, our life is totally running us not the other way round. How did it get like this, we knew the balance in our lives had gotten skewed and we knew we had to do something about it as soon as possible. So to make a long story short, just 10 months after that, oh my God, my fan base sold and they gave away everything they owned, packed three suitcases and three large boxes, and talk about learning the difference between need and want and purchase through one way plane tickets to New Zealand without ever having visited bear before. And what started as a let’s see if this works move turned into a new way of life in a new country. And they’ve never looked back. And she’s now been a certified business and leadership Coach and Trainer for over a decade where she helps develop leaders and teams that learn how to communicate more effectively. And as she says she often encourages her clients to step outside their comfort zones, when it comes to activities that will help them take their business forward. And it’s so rewarding to watch them grow and develop. So when is a business simply, you know, a business is simply a series of decisions that we take to grow and establish our reach. So why do most people never consider the impact that those decisions are going to have on their own personal lives? And what would she say was the biggest learning curve as she finally decided that? Yeah, life doesn’t have to be hard. Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Jennifer Meyers. Hello, Jennifer, good morning to you.
Jennifer Myers [3:12]
And in New Zealand its evening, so thank you David,
David Ralph [3:15]
Good evening, I don’t care if it’s evening or morning or whatever. We’re, whatever time we’re ready to rock I did. I was just having a message with a guy. And he was a client that I had a few years ago. And now we’re sort of friends. And he said, you know how is life at the moment and I said, I should be walking around feeling really Zippy because everything’s going great. But I feel a bit like a turtle at the moment. I feel like just pulling my head in and sort of allowing life to pass me by. Do you ever have that? Because I’m always interested on a podcast, people are always very up and positive. But do you ever console wake up and go? Oh, God, I’ve got to that podcast episode this morning.
Jennifer Myers [3:58]
Absolutely. You know, y’all, we all have those days. And I tend to be one of those relatively positive people who, you know, always takes the glass half full approach. And you know, people ask me how I’m doing. And I’m like, oh, yeah, I’m great. Because most of the time I really honestly am. But yeah, you get those days where you wake up, and it’s like, do I really feel like doing this today? And I’m just gonna roll over and sleep in for an extra half an hour. Yeah, sit and curl up in the corner with a book.
David Ralph [4:25]
Yeah, I shouldn’t say this. Because I always say I don’t watch much TV and I don’t watch much TV. But in the last two days, I’ve watched 15 episodes of yellow stone with Kevin Costner. And I’ve just sat there. I’ll just watch another one. I just watched another one. And now I’m starting to feel like I’m coming out of it. I feel like I’ve allowed my body to get what it wanted from just being slammed P for a little bit. So when you create your business, let’s talk about that. Because at the beginning, it is all exciting and it’s Oh, I know what I’m going to do. I’m going Make a billion by the end of the year and everything’s great. How do you shift from being a corporate person to that corporate person up to that entrepreneur without going into overwhelm and allowing these decisions to run your life? How did you do it at the very beginning, Jennifer, why the very start of building your business? How did you remain in control?
Jennifer Myers [5:24]
Well, it’s interesting, because when we shifted here to New Zealand, I knew nobody, we didn’t have family here, I didn’t have any business networks, no friends. And so it was really, really getting out there putting myself out there getting visible networking, and gosh, that’s tiring, even for pretty much an extrovert, like it’s exhausting after a while. So it’s interesting that you mentioned a second ago that you set 15 episodes at Yellowstone, because what I found was when I was feeling overwhelmed with starting the business, and doing all of that hard work in the beginning to build a profile and meet people, I would go Go, go, go, go not give myself a break. And then I would just hit a wall and be useless for two or three days. And it’s like, oh, that’s not very productive. Because, you know, I’ve just taken myself out now. So I’ve finally over the last 12 years, figured out that you know, what, I just need to go at a slightly slower pace, and give myself a day in the week, that’s mudgin day, and I can choose to work or I can choose to not work. And that’s okay, it will feel guilty if I choose not to work. So,
David Ralph [6:33]
I mean, is at the beginning, but they are wrapped, because I was I was wrapped in that every second I had to make the most of you know, and I was transitioning, you know, we’re talking about 15 years ago, we’re transitioning from a corporate wage, to earning my own wage. So there was a sort of a mild panic, to say the least. But I never reflected on my body saying, hang on, just hold back a little bit and just give us a breather, you know, you wouldn’t put your foot down and go at 110 miles an hour in your car above eight hours. But that’s how we operate in our body somehow, don’t we, and we ignore those signals.
Jennifer Myers [7:16]
We think we’re indestructible. And you know, I can just I can just push through, I can power through, and you can, but at what cost, you know what I mean? So it’s, I think that’s a really good piece of advice that if people can, you know, someone who’s starting out now can just structure their week, so that they give themselves a little bit of breathing space, whether it’s each day or you know, a day a week, gosh, that can be productive. Because even for your brain, when you’re just going going going doing doing doing, you don’t really give yourself a chance to sit back and look at where you’ve come from the bigger picture, how am I doing reflecting on your activity for the week? You know, what have I done? Well, what have I not done well, and that’s really important as well, in the beginning, because you’re learning so many new skills and creating new habits, that you need to give yourself time to reflect.
David Ralph [8:05]
So do people need to give themselves a day off or a weekend off, you know, because weekends are there for a reason. You work from Monday to Friday, and then you have your weekends, and that they’re supposed to be to sort of recharge yourself, but basically what everyone does is they start mowing the lawn and going to the supermarket and looking after their kids. And then on Sunday afternoon, no, absolutely knackered and they’re ready for another week. So in sort of entrepreneurial land, when you have got that option to sort of fit things around your life, you can go to the supermarket on Tuesday morning at 10 o’clock when there’s no one else there and sort of whiz around. Is it important to have that fixed day? Or can I just do an hour here and an hour there?
Jennifer Myers [8:49]
You know, I’m not the best person to ask about that. Because I still I still, you know, run myself on the weekends pretty heavily and you know, the weekends are sure accomplishing things for me. But yeah, on the week, so as I reflect back on the weeks where I’ve, you know, been at my best, the weeks where I have had particular goals at the beginning of the week have specific things that I need to accomplish that week. But I fit them around life. You know, the life things that need to happen, because I’m a mom and all that fun stuff and a life and whatever. Yeah, those work best. So it isn’t for me sitting and doing, you know, an eight hour day each day because that’s why I don’t like working for someone else. It’s like I like to be flexible. But I also a little bit of a workaholic. So I need to make sure that I’m not overstepping my own boundaries.
David Ralph [9:47]
I’m gonna sound really old here really old and I’m not that old. Not that old Jennifer. But on Monday morning, me and my wife were walking around a garden centre in the United Kingdom blessings Some plants for our garden. And it’s our little sort of refuge where we close the world behind and we Potter around and it’s lovely. And it was just full of what I classed as old people. And I if I had to choose when ever they want to go and I said to my wife, isn’t it amazing how easier life can be when you can choose the time to do stuff? You know, you’re not queueing up with people on a Saturday morning, you’re not doing on a Sunday afternoon when everybody’s where you’re, it’s just like, the world is closed somewhat, when you can do it whenever you want.
Jennifer Myers [10:36]
Yeah, I agree. And it is, you almost feel like you’ve, you know, accomplished something amazing when you can go to the supermarket. And you know, you’re not standing in line to check out or there’s only one person in front of you instead of 20. So, yeah, I get that. It’s just nice when you can fit life and work around life. Yeah,
David Ralph [10:55]
so So does life. You say life doesn’t have to be hard. But I think a lot of listeners out there who are traipsing up to London on the train, and they’ve got their their air pods in and air headphones, and they’re listening and they’re going to their office, and they’re gonna say, Oh, it’s a wiper. Jennifer, it’s all right for Jennifer, but life is hard. When did you decide that life actually doesn’t have to be hard?
Jennifer Myers [11:22]
I think we make life hard for ourselves. Because we put unrealistic expectations on what we where we think we should be at a particular point in time. We make life hard for ourselves by comparing ourselves to other people. And we make life hard for ourselves by just self sabotaging in a whole lot of different ways. Whether that’s, you know, in your own life in your relationships with your business. Yeah, we were not very kind to ourselves. And I think we make things harder than they need to be.
David Ralph [12:02]
I became a Taoist I say I become a Taoist you don’t become a Dallas, you just say that you’re a Dallas a few years ago by reading this Chinese literature called the Tao de Ching. And one of the things that it says in there is basically, don’t put a label on what’s good or bad. Just Just accept whatever comes your way. Just accept. So instead of going home at night, and go, Oh, that was a terrible day. Oh, that was the worst day. Just go. It was a day, it was what I got given. And I can honestly say once I decided that I wasn’t going to beat myself up for spending eight hours in my office and not actually getting anything done. Because life took over. Life did become easier. And it wasn’t that life was ever hard. Just the way that I was thinking about life. That was where I started picking up the bat and beating myself with it because it hadn’t gone to structure. It hadn’t gone the way I was expecting it to be. Does that sort of make sense to you?
Jennifer Myers [13:11]
Absolutely. We are our perception, we create our reality. And I think sometimes our you know, our perception is our reality. So just like you were saying, if we’ve perceived we’ve had a crappy day, then you know right now life is crap. We tend to we tend to generalise sometimes, you know, we’ll take one thing Oh, I have a good story for you, David. There’s some there is a crab that lives I don’t know which ocean it lives in. But I’ve heard this years ago when I saw pictures of it. It’s called a decorator crab. And basically what a decorator crab does is when it feels threatened, it will protect itself by putting little pieces of rocks and shell and leaves and algae or whatever killed on itself to hide and to protect itself. But what I think of the decorator crab, and the way I think of it is sometimes when we see one thing that didn’t go to plan during the day, we’ll go oh, that didn’t go to plan. And you know what, now that I think about it, this didn’t go to plan either yesterday, and you might remember that interaction last week that really stuck I could have been way better at that. You know, we just kind of pile stuff on kind of like the decorator crap does we just cover ourselves up in negative crap. And that becomes our perception of life. So absolutely. Just taking what comes each day, appreciating the good stuff and being intentional about appreciating the good stuff can absolutely change your perspective and change your life change your reality.
David Ralph [14:43]
Now, I can kind of say this because I literally don’t have to think about money anymore. I I’ve got some passive income streams that just pay all the bills, and sometimes I hustle a bit harder and we do really well and other times I just don’t have floating around. And we still do all right, you know, so I’ve got no concerns about income at all. But at the very beginning, when you’re starting to build your business, and a story, money’s going out quick event, it’s coming in, and you’re paying for certain things, and you’re paying for things that you didn’t really need that you thought you needed. And you’re paying for virtual assistants and you’re paying for lots of stuff. Now, can we still have that that mindset of the decorator crab or not being the decorator crab at the beginning, when ultimately we haven’t hit that threshold or paying our bills, because that’s what it all comes down to? No one wants a business, I always say this, nobody wants a business, they just want the lifestyle that a business gives them. And basically, they don’t want to have a boss anymore. They want to be in control of their own time, they want to earn their own income. And the only way you can do that is by actually owning your own income. And whether it’s selling on eBay or, or creating your own online structure, or whatever it is. So do you think right at the very beginning, you can have that? Or are we are we talking to people who have already got that? Are we sort of preaching to the converted? Jennifer?
Jennifer Myers [16:10]
Well, I think in the beginning, you’ve you’ve got to have a bit of that. So that you can stay sane through the days that are really hard, because there are going to be really hard days and days when you think why did I do this? And you know, I can’t do this and all sorts of things. You have to find a way?
David Ralph [16:27]
I’ll bet you didn’t. Because I didn’t, I’m listening to you saying that. And I’m thinking, I agree with you totally. At the beginning, I didn’t understand that at all.
Jennifer Myers [16:41]
I think in the beginning, you can get lost in emotion. And you can get lost in you know, feeling inadequate, feeling stressed, feeling panicked, over, you know, what’s gonna happen next, where’s the next job coming from? Where’s the next contract coming from? But I truly believe when that happens, and I’m I am a person who stays who stays positive and focuses in on, what can I do? What am I doing right now? Is this productive? And what can I do that that’s going to be more productive, you know, if I just sit here, and wallow and feel sorry for myself or beat myself up, I’m not going to work, I’m never going to accomplish what I want to accomplish. So I think it’s being able to give yourself a little bit of a kick in the pants or having someone around you who can do that for you and with you.
David Ralph [17:33]
Now, why is a key point why? Okay, so I want to I want to delve into that. Because unfortunately, I have found, and I’m gonna be proved right on this because I’ve spoken to about 6000 people now. And they all pretty much say the same thing. But the people that care about them the most ie their family, their parents are the ones that held them back more than anyone because I didn’t understand why they wanted to, to leave their job and do things. You know, that’s what people do. They go through university, they get a job they do 40 years, they get a clock and then they retire and wander around with me at garden centres on a Monday morning at 10 o’clock. That’s That’s what life is. So who was it that supported you at the beginning, when things might have been difficult financially and things weren’t going the way that you wanted? Who was it that was your, your flagbearer.
Jennifer Myers [18:30]
So there were a few. So moving here, and not knowing anyone, I’ve got myself, excuse me, I got myself into a women’s network and finding connections, and getting involved in a community of females who were in the same space I was, you know, starting up their businesses, being new in business was absolutely key to maintain my Mojo and my sanity, and for connecting me with opportunities. So it was extremely valuable to have that community, excuse me, community around me.
David Ralph [19:06]
And does it matter that you’re new? Because I think a lot of people go, I don’t want to join up with these networks, because they’re going to be so far ahead of me. And I’ve only just started and what am I going to do? I’m just going to sit there listening? Does does it really make a difference of where you are on the journey?
Jennifer Myers [19:24]
No, it doesn’t. Because if you go and visit if you’re looking to become involved in a network, identify what your goal is, what do you want out of that network? Do you want friendships? Do you want connections? What business? Do you want to learn things and upskill and uplevel yourself? Once you identify that go visit some and see which ones are going to meet the goal that you have and some will and some won’t. But it doesn’t matter what stage of business you’re at.
David Ralph [19:52]
Because I’ve got a network of basically ex clients funnily enough, and they’re people that I’ve worked with over the last 10 years. and they have continued to develop their business and they keep on coming back to me at certain times. And I find that really useful because sometimes I think I’m ahead of them. And then when they’re talking, I realised actually, they’ve they’ve outdone me in certain areas. And it’s bad. It’s that understanding of where they are, is not a complete stranger. It’s somebody that I’ve kind of grown with. So I’ve got about 10 of those that I sort of message and connect with. And we occasionally meet in a pub, if they’re local, or if they’re coming over to this country, we sort of meet up and stuff. So it doesn’t have to be, you know, complete strangers, it doesn’t have to be people across the other side of the world, it can be people on your doorstep, as long as they’ve got those same dreams and aspirations and sort of work ethic. But I think that’s the key thing is work ethic is, is the biggest eye opener that I’ve seen over the years of how little people want to put in effort to change their lives, they kind of want to just press a button, create an Instagram post, and then suddenly never have to work again, you know, if there is work involved in being free from work isn’t as you’ve got to put the effort into, say, Yeah, life doesn’t have to be hard, because I’ve done the effort.
Jennifer Myers [21:19]
Absolutely. And that first, the first two, the first two and a half years for me were the hardest. Sorry, David, I have a cold.
David Ralph [21:29]
No, you go for it, you you you blow your nose and be as snotty as you want.
Jennifer Myers [21:34]
I’m just gonna cough in your ear. There we go. Ah, but no, the first two and a half years are probably the hardest, because you’re just, you know, grasping and clawing, and, you know, attempting to be known and to build these relationships, because depending on what you sell, or what you do, right, I provide a service, which is very personal. So it’s getting to know people and building trust and the know, like trust factor was takes a while. So you know, two and a half years of 90%, marketing 10% service delivery gets difficult. But the interesting thing about the network’s is, yes, you want to be around people who have similar values, similar work ethics. And you’re absolutely right that so many people just want overnight success. And there’s no such thing in my book. But also, you want to network with people who are. And yes, you can be new in a network. But you also want to be putting yourself intentionally near people who are a couple of steps ahead of you. Because if you’re not, in what term, oh, the guy who started BNI International, Ivan Meisner, he did a training around this. And he calls it networking up. And if you’re not networking up, or if you find that you’re the smartest person in a room, you’re in the wrong room, right. So it’s also it’s getting around people who are at your same level so that you’ve got that nice support, but it’s also finding people who are a couple steps ahead so that you can learn and continue to develop, because you never arrive, you never know everything there is to know as you found with your clients, right? They’re out, out levelling you in certain skill areas, or whatever. And that’s absolutely true.
David Ralph [23:14]
Now, let’s listen to Oprah, we’d be back with Jennifer, the way
Oprah Winfrey [23:17]
through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself, what is the next right move? not think about, oh, I got all of this. What is the next right move. And then from that space, make the next right move, and the next right move, and not to be overwhelmed by it. Because you know, your life is bigger than that one moment, you know, you’re not defined by what somebody says, is a failure for you. Because failure is just there to point you in a different direction.
David Ralph [23:48]
Now, I’ve been reflecting on that speech. We play that a lot on the show, because it’s so powerful. And one of the things that I’ve been reflecting on it, and because you were coming on the show, really was that, yeah, life doesn’t have to be hard. When we listen to that, or when I used to listen to that it was very much business focus, what’s the next thing to do, and I’ve done that thing, but I spent too much time thinking about the next right thing to do for me. It was always about income streams. It was always about webinars, it was all about coaching. It was whatever I was doing in my business, and we got about five or six things going through Join Up Dots a moment, but I don’t think I ever looked at myself. Because I kind of fancied being one of those, those multifaceted entrepreneurs that just have business after business after business after business, and it brought me to my knees. So when you ask the right question, Should you be asking for business point of view or should you be thinking about yourself first of all, is it always yourself because you’re the sort of catalyst that makes makes the business grow?
Jennifer Myers [24:59]
You have to. And I think I’ve learned this over the last, you know, 12 plus years, you are the most important thing in your business. Because if you’re not operating at your full potential, and if you’re not operating from a healthy space, you know, mentally, physically, whatever it’s going to show in your business. No matter how many businesses you have, or how involved or not you are, your mojo, your, you know, your example of what you’re doing flows over to everyone else, you interact with your clients, team, whoever that might be your suppliers, your strategic relationships. Everyone’s gonna see what you’re doing and realising that, you know, hey, he really needs to take a break, you know, this is affecting his performance, or it shows and we don’t see it most of the time. But yeah, when you ask that question about what’s the next best step for me? It’s got to be me first, and then my business, I believe.
David Ralph [25:55]
So how often do you ask that question to yourself? How often do you actually sit down and go, I’m not just going to plough into stuff, I’m actually going to be strategic for the next right thing, not not 10 things down the line? Because I think that’s the issue that people have they create plans that are monthly, or yearly, or weekly, but not often did I think what is simply the next thing I have to do?
Jennifer Myers [26:23]
I think, for me, the when this comes up, is probably I mean, it comes up probably weekly to say, alright, what do what do I need to do for myself this week? Is there something that I need to set aside time for is there? You know, a test I need to do for myself? Is there an errand I need to run? There’s something I’ve been putting off to take care of myself that I need to make sure I put into the week. And then taking that longer term looking at the longer picture? What what do I want for me? And I think that turns into the life’s mission, or, you know, the woman who accomplished before I did the legacy piece?
David Ralph [27:08]
I do I get there? Yeah, I do weekly, I do a weekly plan. And I do daily. And basically what I do I come up and I just have one thing that I want to do on that day, because I think if I achieve that, I’ve done seven things that week. And that’s that’s a big sort of inroad. And there might be simple things like well, today is gonna be quite hard, because I’ve sat at your first podcast on recording, and I’m planning to do 12 today. And so by the end of the day, I’ve done 12 podcast interviews, and Vax, you know, that’s my focus. So I’m not going to come out of Join Up Dots HQ till then. But other times it might be, they’re just gonna send an email that I should have sent a couple of days ago, you know, so it’s not like huge, great blocks of work. Sometimes it’s just very small things, but I like to do daily. And then weekly, I think any further than that is too far ahead, you get caught up with other stuff. And then you don’t achieve it anyway. And then you feel bad about yourself. So that’s my my Join Up Dots advice to people out there. Just look at it and think what is the next thing to do?
Jennifer Myers [28:16]
You know, there’s a tool that I have used, and isn’t it funny how sometimes we’ll start doing something that works well for us. And then we stop, do that. But there’s a tool that I have used, and it is quite powerful. And it’s just a daily habits checklist. And it’s old school, it’s analogue, you print it out, you put a little ticking each day. And it’s basically what do I need to make sure that I’m accomplishing each day of this week, to reach the goals I’ve set for myself, my health, my personal stuff, my business. And you know, you take as many boxes in a row as you can, and the more of those you string together, the better your results are going to be. And it’s so simple, but it’s just that little reminder.
David Ralph [29:00]
It’s I’m probing my mind with what you just said there the amount of things that you do, you know, it works. And then for some reason, you just stop. It’s like, I’ve been doing a think or yoga nidra, which is like a mindset medication. And it’s a game changer. I keep on talking about it on the show. And I must have done 90 days on the trot. And then one day I couldn’t do it. And then suddenly I realised I haven’t done it for five days. And when you suddenly said that, I thought Yeah, I haven’t been doing that. Why? Why do we do that? When we know it’s so good? Why do we suddenly stop? That’s a big question, Jennifer.
Jennifer Myers [29:39]
Is it’s so many, you know, clients, business owners network people. You know, I’ve asked that question. I’ve been in workshops, and I’ve asked that question, everybody raises their hand. Yeah, I’ve done that. And it’s with anything, but it’s just that that habit stuff that if we’re not, you know, in the habit, you know, we think once we’ve started a habit and we’ve done it for what it is Some research now says 66 days, I’ve done it for 66 days, I’m sweet. But something happens to take us off track. And I think sometimes, at least with, you know, when you’re in business, and it’s a business thing, when you’re doing well, it’s like, oh, I don’t need to do that. Now, it kind of goes out of your brain, because you’re too busy, you’re on service delivery, or your whatever, instead of doing the basics. And then when you realise, Oh, crap, I should have been doing the basics, because now you know, I’m finished delivering this service over here. And the next one is for a couple more months, oh, I should have been doing that all along. You know, we go back to it, it’s just human nature.
David Ralph [30:39]
I got lost in the weeds, when I have all my bills. And I look back on it now. And I remember, once I got to a point that money wasn’t important, I kind of totally lost my focus. And I was still running the podcast, I was still doing everything. But I didn’t have that drive and ambition. I didn’t have that direction or pole to where I was heading. Because I kind of felt like the race I was running had already finished, I got to what I needed to be financially free. And it’s taken me a long time to sort of find my new direction. And my new direction now, which is why I’m going to be leading into this is no egg in one basket, just multiple income streams, some of them bringing in a couple of hundreds a month. Some of them, I’ve just started one, which hopefully I sign off this weekend, which will be about $2,000 a month passive income. And I tell you what it basically is, and I have a piece of land. And I was talking to somebody who wanted to store a load of cars that I was selling. And I had this piece of land, but it was locked in, I didn’t have access to a road. And so I went and bought another piece of land off of this person for 30,000. And I’m aiming to be in profit in three years, basically, from the money that they’re paying me in three years, it’s going to be passive income again, and I’m doing a load of those kinds of things where I just look at it as an opportunity to create value for somebody else, away from just putting all our eggs in one basket. And I think that’s when life does become easy. When you realise that there’s opportunities everywhere, you just have to be able to listen and and make decisions and start moving in that direction. So with your generate Gen eight, it’s hard to say that Gen eight leadership solutions and 90 days divas, which is the one that has more eggs in one basket out of those two, which one that is the one that sort of really is your lead income generator
Jennifer Myers [32:54]
would have to be generate leadership solution that that’s been around for the longest period of time. And it’s kind of the iteration of in the beginning. You know, in the beginning, I was a GP business coach, you know, as you do you kind of overlook the whole thing. And you know, you look at every system. Over time, what I realised was and I want to speak to your concept of the motivation, money motivation in just a second. So bring me back around to that. So
David Ralph [33:22]
I will jot it down in my mind.
Jennifer Myers [33:26]
But yeah, generate has developed from that overview helicopter view person, to me now specialising in leadership development in communication skills, helping people learn how to connect and communicate, and to developing kind of done for you training programmes. So that’s a fun way for me to have an impact on a lot of people with what I’m creating. So it isn’t one to one delivery, it’s one to many, which is cool.
David Ralph [33:57]
Money motivation, I stored it, and I’m bringing it back.
Jennifer Myers [34:02]
So the thing that you said about money motivation, where you lost your, you know, motivation to do stuff, once you have a particular income level, that speaks to that whole internal external motivation thing. And I think, for me, part of what made my life easier is when I clarified for myself what my mission or my purpose on the planet was, and I know that sounds heavy, but it really isn’t. It’s just, you know, to add value to millions of people before I die. And that’s key, right? I don’t know how that looks, but it drives everything I do, including sitting on this podcast with you, and having a lovely conversation. So you know if I can inspire or improve the lives of millions of people, I’m going to be a happy Chappie and I’m going to make money along the way. It just happens.
David Ralph [34:54]
A well it doesn’t happen and that’s the thing. I think, not just The Law, I think the majority of people think that they’ve got to create some kind of business, which doesn’t ultimately provide accurate value. They, they, they look for a business where they have 100,000 customers and but actually, you only need to provide something really, really useful for maybe, you know, I know somebody who has 10 customers a year, and makes over six figures, just because it’s absolutely laser targeted. And this person, I can’t even remember what his name was now, but he was down in Australia, I think he went from going, I need 100,000, I need to have a membership site on a monthly basis. And he got it down, down, down down to just knowing exactly what he was offering for these people. And that takes it to life doesn’t have to be hard, again, 10 customers a year, you know, that’s one customer a month, basically. And he’s making six figures. And it’s because value comes first, you’ve got to define the value that one person wants. And there’s going to be a few more people that you know, unless you’re teaching. Now, even if you’re teaching somebody to be a serial killer, I was gonna say there’s, there’s only one person but I bet there’s a few of those out there as well. You know, there’s always value that you can show.
Jennifer Myers [36:25]
Absolutely. And I think it’s people are so scared, to, to niche over to, you know, really target and zero in and who they want to work with. And, you know, I’m going to cut myself off from opportunity, you know, shouldn’t I serve everyone? No, you shouldn’t, because you’re going to be unremarkable. If you specialise in something, then figure out what problem you’re solving for what person and talk to that person, right? Find those people because you’re gonna find them. If your messaging is right, you’re gonna find them and they’re gonna resonate with what you’re saying, and they’re gonna go, Oh, my God, I need you to help me. But you can’t do that until you get really clear on who it is you help. It opens up so much more opportunity
David Ralph [37:07]
when it does, and it’s not who you’re helping, but it’s how you’re helping them. Because I think bottom line, when it comes to business, people are lazy. And people are going to pay for something that helps them achieve their aim, the quickest, and understory. And it could be as simple as going round and offering to mow someone’s lawn. You know, I say that a lot when we’re kids. We’re all entrepreneurs, we’re quite happy to knock on the door and say, Excuse me, mister, do you want your lawn mowed? And I thought pet rocks, David. Yeah, you know, and I used to go around washing people’s cars on really cold wintry days, because I knew that they weren’t going to do it. Now, I didn’t in my head think, Oh, this is entrepreneurial spirit, I’m providing the most value because I’m freezing cold day by you don’t have to be out there doing it. But I’m there. But it was it was exactly that. And that’s all you’ve got to do, you’ve got to find value that takes somebody from one point to another point as quickly as possible. And the bigger results you get the bigger value that comes your way. It’s it’s really easy. And it’s not about keyword research. When there’s 100,000 people a month searching for that, forget about 100,000, just keep a niching down niching down niching down to 50 100 150 people, whatever. And then build your structure, your sales funnel or whatever, based on that know your customer, I’m getting quite passionate on this, Jennifer, but you get to know your customer and their demographic and their interests. And don’t just sort of sit there for 15 minutes and say, oh, yeah, it’s a lady called Jennifer and she’s aged between this and bad. You know, know what Jennifer’s doing first thing in the morning. And you know, it’s not stalking, we’re not expecting you to go around, trying to fight back. You can find out amazing amounts of information about people by going onto Facebook and using Google Trends and Google insights and all these platforms that tell you basically what people are doing on a daily basis.
Jennifer Myers [39:17]
Because if you can figure out I mean, what is a friend of mine, one of my fellow 90 Day divas always says you want to enter the conversation that’s already happening in their head, right your, your target your ideal client. And a lot of times especially with service providers, because that’s heavily who I work with is we’re serving who the person that we were 10 years ago or five years ago, and that’s our ideal.
David Ralph [39:42]
Do you find that dated? I do I totally because with Join Up Dots. Dementia of Join Up Dots is everything you do good or bad gives you the experience. And you shouldn’t run away from your crappy times because bad is value for somebody else. And when you come out of it, it’s like I’m bringing a new platform to the world called tinnitus cure dot Pro. And I had tinnitus ringing in my ears terribly a year, a year or so ago. And it got to the point that I couldn’t even do podcast interviews, because I couldn’t hear it was just like water rushing in my ears all the time. And I got to the point now that I’ve solved it, and it’s gone, but I had to look at it and think to myself, now how how have I done that? And that’s that was that was a difficult bit, how can I explain the kind of things I’ve done to myself so that other people can get the same results? And so I’ve held back held back held back, I’m now at that point, but I could have gone? Oh, that was crappy. Thank God, it’s gone. But now I look at it and think no, thank God for that. That was really, really rough time, I thought I was going deaf. But now that is value for other people. Let’s go back into the dark times. Let’s look at my life experience. And that’s the whole thing of Join Up Dots. Every single person is living a life to make their next part of their life better. If only they look at it as an opportunity.
Jennifer Myers [41:16]
Absolutely, there’s no and you know, that quote from Oprah that you played, you know, there was no failure. Basically, it’s you’re learning something, and you’re if you can take something away from something that didn’t go to plan, life becomes easier, because you take it as a lesson instead of an opportunity to beat yourself up. And you’re absolutely right was looking and reflecting on, you know, how you do something. And I think that’s partially kind of what has led me to do some of the training and things that I do now is I used to get feedback. Sorry, calls kicking, kicking in again. I used to get feedback from, you know, people who I’d run workshops with and they go, Gosh, Jen, you’ve just got a great way of explaining blah, you know, whatever the topic was, in a way that I just haven’t heard before, or that makes sense to me this time when I hear it. And I sit back and I go, okay, like I get great feedback. And what makes me different, as a facilitator or trainer than other people in my space, and how can I distil that down to something that’s teachable? So it’s just like what you’re thinking about with what the tinnitus? Yeah,
David Ralph [42:26]
is hard. But when it’s something really easy, you know, I’ve always had something that I call my motivation rocket. And when I start talking to somebody about something, and I start to get passionate, I can see them sort of grow, you know, and I used to use it as a sort of fun weapon. When I was in corporate land. And I used to go down the pub, I’d inspire somebody, and then they’d quit the job and leave. And I used to think, yeah, I did that and sort of like laugh internally. But it was very difficult to find a place where that was valued, globally, you know, as always sitting on a store, having a chat with somebody down a pub over a few. And that’s when the podcast came along. Because I realised, ah, that’s, that’s what I’ve been learning. That’s what the true message of all those things are. So if you’ve got some talent, sorry, easy, you just laugh and you’re always just what I do. It’s, you know, it’s no great thing. That is something that you’ve got to look at and go, well, actually, how do I do that? For other people? How do I do that for 10 people a year, you know, and just sort of drill into that it’s all in us. We’ve we’ve all got that hidden talent, that secret thing. But other people want, we’ve just got to know it ourselves.
Jennifer Myers [43:42]
Absolutely. And that’s where you know, stopping to take a breath, and reflect and just think for a little bit every so often, about where you’re going, where you’re at, where you’re heading, and what you’re doing. And, you know, what the heck am I here for? That’s important self investment time, in my view.
David Ralph [43:59]
Now, let’s hear from Steve Jobs. And then I’m going to talk about the 90 day divas.
Speaker 5 [44:03]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [44:39]
Now, it does make all the difference as we’ve been saying it emphasises the experience. Now with the 90 day Divas, I’m interested in this because what is 90 days about where where do somebody get that figure and what do they achieve in 90 days.
Jennifer Myers [44:57]
So 90 Day levers came about Oops, as a collaboration over locked down in 2020, I met a couple of lovely ladies here in New Zealand, different parts of the country. But we connected over zoom. And we realised immediately that we had synergy, we were on a similar path with our businesses, we served a similar target market, and we just had the same values. So we knew we had to do something together. So long story short, this year, we’ve made that official. So now we’ve incorporated as 90 Day data is limited. And what we do is we work with people who are in corporates, who are exactly what the intro introduction of your show says, you want to turn in your pink slip, because you know, a pink slip the other direction, because it’s like I’ve had enough of this, I’ve got a great idea, I found out what my thing is, that comes to me so easily, I can do it in my sleep. And I want to be able to share that with the world in my own business. So what we do with the coach 90 days is we take people through a foundational programme of really identifying, getting clear on the mindset, they need to have the as they go through the process of starting a business because it’s not easy. Identifying the problem they’re going to solve and who they’re going to solve it for. Looking at what product specifically, they’re going to offer, what the pricing is looking at a sales process that they can feel good about. And that gets them to achieve their goals. And then looking at technology systems, habits, routines, things they can leverage, because it’s usually just one person. Things that can help them maximise their time and their effectiveness. And we do that over the course of 90 days. And it’s been a blast working with my two colleagues.
David Ralph [46:43]
And after 90 days, are they on their own? Or do they get continued support,
Jennifer Myers [46:49]
they get continued support. So we’ve got something called blueprint and bosses, which is a community that they can then roll into, which is monthly, asked me anything sessions. So it’s hopping on with three coaches, myself and my colleagues and saying, sweet, what questions do you have? Where were you at? Where are you stuck, they receive a free training every month, and some interviews with some experts here and they’re thrown in. So that kind of keeps them in the loop, keeps them accountable, keeps them showing up, which is brilliant. But we’ve had folks come in to the beginning of the 90 days with, you know, an idea, you know, this is what I think I want to do. And I’ve left in 90 days with a name it reserved with, you know, business cards on the go with a website being developed, and their first couple of customer beta customers in process, which is just so cool to watch. It’s rewarding,
David Ralph [47:46]
isn’t? Yeah, I can imagine it is. And it’s also interesting, because when you go back to those people more often than not, they’ve pivoted in some way, that that initial idea, I always say to people, is not going to be V idea. It’s just to get you starting to go right starting you operating in a different way. You’ve been in corporate land where you go there, and you get to your office and you look out the window and you scratch your backside for 10 minutes, and then you get a coffee. And that’s wasted 40 minutes, and then you sit there and, you know, to actually trying to maximise your own time and building connections and stuff. And people I don’t think should look at the first thing as the thing. I just think it’s learning, it’s just learning and what you learn from that you can move on. Now I could effectively build a business a week, I honestly believe that there’s there’s nothing to stop you, I wouldn’t do any of the technical aspects, I wouldn’t build a website, I wouldn’t do I wouldn’t build organic traffic, I’ll just pay for traffic there. I’d get somebody to build the funnel. But I do know from all the others, what I’m aiming how to hook the person in how to ease them to the point where they’re gagging for it. And you know, it’s not a hard sell. And the fact that you don’t have to be selling for 1000s, you can just sell for, you know, $60, whatever. And you get 10 people a month you’d made 600. And then you know, you add another business on and it’s just that those constant income streams, I could do that weekly.
Jennifer Myers [49:28]
And I think you’re right, and I think people have this image of oh, I’m going to start a business. And it’s going to be this massive thing. And it has to be extremely complicated. And no, it doesn’t have to be very complicated at all. They’re in your right. There’s no barriers to starting a business anymore. It’s just amazing what can be done. Technology’s beautiful.
David Ralph [49:46]
Does it excite you now moving forward with AI becoming to the fore and everything or do you kind of think, actually, in a way it’s taking people away from under Finding the real being a business. And that’s relationships and building real relationships.
Jennifer Myers [50:08]
I think AI oh gosh, I see, I see both sides of the coin, because for me, as someone who likes to create content, it can help me start pieces of content, it can help me start a blog, it can help me kind of get the creative juices flowing. And I can also see that, you know, taken too far, you’re totally removing the human element out of, you know, the interaction. And to me, business is human to human. So I believe that while AI can be a fabulous tool to help us save time, it also has the potential to further disconnect us, which I think we’re already incredibly disconnected. But yeah, it’s keeping that human element keeping emotion, keeping some form of face to face contact, whether it’s over zoom, or whatever is just important, because you need that. I don’t know you get something from a conversation with someone that you’re not gonna get from an article.
David Ralph [51:19]
So with the people that are looking at 90 Day divas, and also Jenna eight leadership solutions, how do you build that connection with them? So they realise they’re not just in a sales funnel, they’re in an area where people care, they care about the results that they are offering to them? How do you actually do that?
Jennifer Myers [51:45]
I’d love to give tasters of me. So whether that’s you know, providing a little online webinar where people can see me in action, you know, builds credibility gets them to see my personality, you know, they can hear me explain things. That’s been a great tool. So the whole advent of video has been an amazing business tool, both in generate leadership solutions, I use it when I’m delivering proposals, you know, I’ll send a video to walk through a proposal instead of sending a loan document. And in the deepest, so in the Divas, we do a podcast of our own, and we do regular emails out to our database. So it’s just you know, writing blogs, doing videos in a Facebook group, there’s just heaps of different things that we do to try to show who we are as humans and try to make that connection.
David Ralph [52:34]
Yeah, and it is all about, it’s for the listeners out there. Don’t be clever. Don’t try to think back, you got to dominate the world, all you’ve got to do is provide value to one person and the right value. You can’t go to niche. You can niche niche down until you’re you’re dealing with you know, alpino Eskimo from Alaska, you know, yeah, and you think how’s that a market, but there’s still gonna be that market if it’s the right person. And I can’t emphasise that enough. We’ve been talking about life doesn’t have to be hard. And business doesn’t have to be hard life doesn’t have to be hard. You’ve just got to focus in on what you’re doing, and who you’re doing it for. And how can you provide the greatest value to take them from A to B in the shortest way possible? And that’s it. That’s it. I’m just sort of raising my hands and going, I can’t say anything simpler than that.
Jennifer Myers [53:33]
No, it is simple. There’s no rocket science in business. And, you know, if I’m, often when I start a workshop, or when I started teaching or training, I’ll say that because people kind of expecting you to come down from the mountain twist. Oh, what are you going to tell us today? Hopefully, it’s something I’ve never heard before. And that’s just not true. I’ll step up and say, Hey, much of what I’m going to tell tell you today, you’ve probably heard in one way, shape or form, there is no thing you know, very terribly difficult or earth shattering. We knew about how to do business, there’s just some basics that you need to grasp, but that you need to take action on. And that’s the key.
David Ralph [54:10]
Yeah, absolutely. So this is the part of the show that we’ve been building up to, and this is the part when you get to go back in time and speak to the young Jennifer on a sermon on the mic, and if you could go back and give her some advice. What advice would you just love to tell her? Well, we’re going to find out because I’m going to play the theme and when it fades, it’s your time to talk. This is the sermon on Mike
Speaker 6 [54:37]
here we go with the best bit of the show. The Sermon on the mind, the sermon on
Jennifer Myers [54:55]
Jennifer, I want you to listen to me now. This is the older Jennifer she 53 She’s moved around the globe to find peace and balance in her life. But if she could go back and do it all over again, she would probably be smart to not care so much about what other people think, not care so much about trying to be perfect. And speak up and advocate for herself when she knows she’s not happy. So if you’re listening to me, now, Jennifer, or anyone else out there in, Join Up Dots land, if you know, in your gut, that there is more out there for you that you can accomplish amazing things, but you just don’t know how. So you’re scared, step out, do something different take action. And yeah, like we said earlier, take that next best step for you, that puts you in the direction of taking you towards what you want. Why think for so many years done, Jennifer, you kind of were so concerned about pleasing others that you didn’t really think about what you wanted any impact that you wanted to make. So there you go, step out and speak up for yourself and take action, even if it’s uncomfortable.
David Ralph [56:20]
So Jennifer, what is the best way that our audience can connect with you?
Jennifer Myers [56:27]
The best way the audience can connect with me is probably to find me on LinkedIn honestly, because that’s probably where I spend a decent amount of time and it’s quite up to date. However, they can also find me at Jennifer at generate g n e r and the number eight, the leadership dot solutions. flick me an email, tell me what you thought of the episode, I’d love to connect with you and find out why you do what you do. And if you need support,
David Ralph [56:58]
we will have all the links on the show notes to make it as easy as possible. Jennifer, thank you so much for spending time with us today, joining up those dots. And of course, please come back again, when you got more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining those dots and connecting our paths, it’s actually the best way to build our futures. Jennifer Myers, thank you so much.
Jennifer Myers [57:20]
Thank you, David. I appreciate it was really fun.
David Ralph [57:24]
Jennifer Myers, so yeah, life doesn’t have to be hard. And business doesn’t have to be hard. either. You got to make the decisions on what you want. And then what you’re going to offer to the world and who wants it. And it’s as simple as that. It really is all the other stuff that you see people talking about all the Tick Tock channels and it goes away from actually what business is, you you use, those are calls if they’re right. But the bottom line is, is a one to one interaction with somebody out there. And whether they buy online or whether you meet up with them or you create a sharp or whatever, is always down to how can you provide what that one person wants, and then learn from it. And then just just develop it and that’s what we do at Join Up Dots as well. We will help you get your business up and going. If you’re struggling with a business idea, just come across and you can go to our pre courses and download a series of those we’re adding to those more and more. But until next time, we will see you again you look after yourselves you of course stay sexy, and I’ll see you again. Cheers. See ya. Bye bye.
Outro [58:33]
That’s the end of Join Up Dots. You heard the conversation. Now it’s time for you to start taking massive action. Create your future create your life. Easy only you live God we’ll be back again real soon. Join Join Up Dots during the gods Join Up Dots. Gods Joe Join Up Dots
