Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to the Solopreneur Sisterhood Podcast. A podcast designed to help heart centered service providers like you build a purposeful, profitable and sustainable business that supports what matters most to you. I'm your host Becky McClary and I am so grateful that you are here.
Now, while I love the freedom of having my own business, I can admit that being a solopreneur can sometimes feel lonely. And at the same time, I think that a lot of what we see online can actually hold us back from success because we slip into comparison and self doubt. With this in mind, I wanted to have conversations with other solopreneurs and so we're doing a special series. Each episode is short so that it's easy to listen whenever you need a little bit of encouragement. My hope is that these episodes will inspire you and and remind you that you are not alone.
This special series is brought to you by the Solopreneur Sisterhood Society, a close knit, supportive mastermind and business community that goes beyond your regular business course or mastermind group. It's a movement transforming how women build their businesses through connection and collaboration. The women featured in this series are the types of women you'll find inside the society and we'd love to have you join us. I invite you to learn more and apply to join our next cohort by visiting thesolopreneursisterhood.com society. In this episode we are talking with Jackie Brown, a career and leadership coach who helps purpose driven leaders navigate the messy middle toward a future that aligns with our strengths, values and vision. Prior to her own mid career Remix, Jackie spent 30 years as a creative director, half of those working with financial institutions, both in house and as a consultant. When she's not coaching, you can find Jackie lost in a creative project, deep in a good book, her flower beds or on the golf course. Welcome Jackie. I am so grateful and excited to have you join us here today. But before we dive in, I would just love to hear more about your story. So can you tell us what you do and how you found your way to this work?
[00:02:14] Speaker B: Well, thank you Becky. I appreciate this opportunity. So I am a mid career coach.
So you know how people spend decades in their career and they have really gone about the career, proving themselves. They're climbing the corporate ladder, doing all the right things, but then they wake up one day and they probably have felt like they're not getting anywhere. They're restless, unfulfilled and they're not really sure what to do next.
So I help them uncover their next step by Reconnecting with their strengths, values and purpose so that they can then create the impact that they're looking for, the impact that they crave. And I came to this business through my own mid career challenge and it actually stemmed from decades of my own career. I spent 30 years as a creative director and absolutely loved it for about 28 of those 38 or 38 years.
So it was a really interesting career. I worked in house at agencies and in corporations. And in the last eight or so years, I ran a business of my own as a creative director, working with credit unions and banks and small businesses to do advertising campaigns.
But then as I went through this mid career challenge, I really discovered, rediscovered what my strengths are and how I wanted to be expressing them moving forward. And it was basically, I was really tired of helping businesses grow and I wanted to help people grow. So these last couple years is when this phase of my business has really spun up.
[00:04:08] Speaker A: I love that. I love hearing kind of the journey and how you got a little more clear about, hey, this doesn't feel as aligned anymore and how that experience, which I think a lot of people experience, but they don't know what to do with. I love how you saw that as something that you could help other people with. And I know there's a real need for that.
So I am so grateful that you're here with us. So I know that you have had a couple of different businesses. So this question could either go back to the very beginning or the beginning of this business.
Thinking back to when you started out, what is something that you know now that you wish you had known then?
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
So I really take it all the way back to starting a business in general that I wish I had known, that I always needed to be building a network that, that first year of the business, I've heard some people call it a honeymoon period where as I left corporate America, people were really excited for me. My current network felt like they were helping the underdog.
So the, the influx of business was actually pretty amazing. And I thought this was so easy. But then after that first year, the work that I did for that current client started to fade off. So I wish I had known to keep building my network up so that my network would expand and allow me to have more capacity to reach more people. So certainly always be. Building a network is a lesson I wish I would have told myself, what, 10 or 11 years ago?
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Okay, I love that. And I think that's something that a lot of us, well, we either don't know or we Just get so busy that that drops off. But I completely agree that if you keep building your network, then when you do have those openings, it's less stressful because you have more people that you can can let know and fill that space with. So I love that recommendation.
So over the time of your business, is there a lesson that you have learned or maybe a piece of advice that you have received that has been really beneficial?
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Oh, let's see. I think some advice that's been really beneficial is to just keep going. There's certainly a lot of ups and downs with running a business that is smaller especially.
And there are cycles of clients that come and go. There are cycles of the economy that go up and down there. But certainly somebody mentioned to me when I was feeling pretty stuck in my business, just keep going, keep moving, one foot in front of the other, even if it's just a tiny step, but forward momentum keeps building, whether we feel it or not.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Yes, I think that's such great advice and I really love that mention of the tiny step because I think a lot of us put so much pressure on ourselves to make these big leaps in our business. And especially if we're feeling stuck or frustrated, that can just feel overwhelming. So I think that's a really important reminder. So thank you for that.
Yeah.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: Yeah. So if someone is listening right now and they are feeling stuck or frustrated, they. In their business, what is one piece of advice that you would give to them?
[00:07:52] Speaker B: Certainly that advice, I think can apply to everybody is to just keep moving forward. But one of the things that has absolutely helped me to do that is to find a supportive group of people, especially if there are other business owners, to encourage that forward momentum to talk about and share the different struggles that we have as business owners.
It's really made a difference for me to have other people to chat with, commiserate, and then also to encourage to find ideas from each other and how they've been running a business. I remember when my first business was struggling there for a while during COVID but I went to the local chamber asking if there was a group of small business owners who might have just be one or two because they talk about at the chamber, a small business to them might be a brick and mortar store, and that's what they tend to focus on. But our my business anyway is more service oriented. It is one person and I was having a hard time finding that in the local chamber.
So certainly was glad to come across online groups like yours that really do help people who are running similar businesses to get that support.
[00:09:25] Speaker A: I love that recommendation because you're so right. So I love the flexibility of having my own business, but it can be really isolating. And I think if you're going through this experience, you don't know what's normal or what isn't. And I have found it to be so reassuring to connect with other business owners and realize, oh, it's not just me, this is hard or this is frustrating or this is normal. I'm not failing at this. And it just helps to have other people who understand and at least for me and where I live, people in my daily life still don't understand what I do. And this whole idea of having an online business where you work with people all over the place, it doesn't seem real to them. So again, it just helps to have other people who do understand that day in, day out reality and can kind of cheer you on as you go through.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: Absolutely. And I think it's really interesting too to have different types of businesses be able to connect to each other even if they're in this one person type of business model.
It's really shown me that there are so many different ways to run a one person type of business.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:10:38] Speaker B: That we can, we have choices for how it best aligns with our own strengths, values and purpose.
Me, I know I love working with clients one on one and that's what I really look forward to building.
But I've met some business owners who really enjoy building courses and the, the online self paced type of courses that are less interactive with a client but that, you know, help that business owner support what they feel is important. So even being able to explore the different type of business model and that there are options out there is really been eye opening for me and helped me refine what it is that I do want from my business.
[00:11:25] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. All great reminders and pieces of advice. So thank you so much Jackie. So I want to be mindful of everyone's time and we're trying to intentionally keep these quick so they're easy to listen to. But I know there are going to be some listeners who are thinking, I want to connect with Jackie, I want to learn more from her. So how can our listeners connect with you?
[00:11:47] Speaker B: I'm very active on LinkedIn. That's probably the easiest way to get in touch with me. And if they just put in the search bar Jackie Brown coach, then that typically brings up my profile pretty quickly.
[00:11:59] Speaker A: Wonderful. And we'll also have a link right by this recording so it's very easy to find. I want to just thank you again so much, Jackie. It was really lovely talking with you today.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:12:08] Speaker A: Becky thank you so much for joining us and listening to the Solopreneur Sisterhood podcast. I hope this episode has offered you some encouragement, some insight and some new ideas to support you in building a business that works for you. And if you're ready for deeper support and love the idea of connecting and collaborating with other heart centered service providers, I'd love to have you join us in the Solopreneur Sisterhood Society. You can learn more and apply to join our next group by visiting thesolopreneursisterhood.com society.
Remember that our world needs you, your gifts, your vision and your work. And I'm cheering you on as you bring your vision to life and build a purposeful, profitable and sustainable business that supports what matters most to.
