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Jennifer has been in business and management since the age of 18, bringing a wealth of experience and intuition to her work with inspired entrepreneurs. She has been known for turning struggling businesses around to achieve multi-million pound turnover and has secured high end contracts with government for one particular company. She has the ability to see where changes can be made to improve the bottom line by putting people before profit and seeing profit actually increase. Jennifer is passionate about building a thriving community of inspired business owners who are awakening to the gift and power that they have to cause change in the world by doing what they love. Her role is to help them stop any struggle or overwhelm and to find clarity and direction on their business vision. She offers coaching services that will give them the tools and inspiration to take action right away to develop a love-based business that supports their lifestyle and celebrates their life purpose, while they do their valuable work. Jennifer also runs Business Love – London, a highly popular, monthly networking and mastermind club. She is the founder of The Business Love Conference held yearly in the spring. Jennifer is a divorcee/widow who loves music, cooking, reading, going to the movies. She adores her two amazing children, who are now young men, living the dream on the West coast of the US. She currently lives in London and has fabulous clients all over the world.
JBW: My typical day starts at 5.30am – where I normally do routine things like meditation and prayers, wash,dress and have breakfast. I used to jog on the sea front every morning, since coming back to London I’ve lost interest. 7.30am I check my phone for any emails or text relating to appointments during the coming day. Then make my calls and follow-ups until 9.30am. My day would then vary depending on what I have scheduled.
- Mondays – Always bookkeeping tasks – then Business Insight sessions.
- Tuesdays – Networking – I’m a Group Leader for 4Networking in Shoreditch.
- Wednesdays – Follow-ups
- Thursday – Coaching day
- Friday – Coaching day
- Saturday – Reserved for family or going to seminars – or holding my workshops.
- Sunday – ditto above
During the week I will fit in any writing, blogging, preparing for workshops or talks, contact with social media, sales calls, admin, coffee dates and my own personal learning, looking for speakers at my events. The day ends at about 11pm – 12.30am – With a cup of hot lemon tea.
RB: What do you do to preserve your health as you run your business? Do you have any rituals, for example?
JBW: The typical things I do to preserve my health are –Eating nutritious meals, a little fruit, lots of veg – and keep away from as much sugar as possible I used to jog every morning for charity when I lived by the sea. Since moving to London I walk everywhere as its so easy to get around town. I meditate to clear my mind from the overwhelm of business. One thing that I would like to change is too many late nights!
RB: Can you discuss some of the major changes that have occurred between starting your business and where it is now? For example, business model or management changes?
JBW: I first discovered Life Coaching back in 1993 and started using the methodology in my work as a manager and in my subsequent businesses. It was not until I started my business as a Life Coach back in 2005 that I realised that the industry was still very new to a lot of people. It was a real struggle to get the message of personal development and coaching as a real benefit across to the public. Added to the fact that coaches were very fearful of one another and stealing business from each other. We now come to understand that this is not always the case and our clients buy into our uniqueness and in our personal brand. As coaches, we tend to now collaborate and work with each other a lot more. Also in terms of the running of the business, more and more coaches are adding online products and running webinars to reach and inspire more people. Which is a good thing – however this is much more accessible which means that the market place for coaches is overcrowded and it’s harder to be seen. It’s very much a case of getting the right message across in the right way to the right people at the right time. It’s not easy but it’s so worth it.
RB: What are some of the challenges you are facing or have faced this year?
JBW: One of the main challenges is my intention to rebrand and move the business in a new direction and take the business more online in terms of marketing and interaction. The other main challenge is of course Brexit! Which I see as a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs and innovation. There is never a better time to start a business than in a crisis situation, where you can solve problems. Business is all about solving problems and being paid handsomely for your solutions. Hand in hand with the change of direction and with the new challenges facing businesses there has never a better time for me to help and support business owners.
RB: Describe what innovation means in your business and how do you go about it?
JBW: What innovation would mean in my business would be things like new or improved techniques to offer my clients for confidence building, marketing and growing business. Also ways of making my business more visible to the world, which I can also share with my clients. Innovation means that I will always be keeping up with the needs and wants of my clients in a changing market place and fast changing world.
RB: How do you balance being a “big dreamer” vs setting realistic goals for your business?
JBW: Being the big dreamer is always the starting point for me. The main principle of coaching is to be able to stretch your clients expectations of themselves and reach their full potential. I encourage my clients to think outside the box and go for an impossible dream – Then we get realistic on how it can be achieved. For example – Sending a man to the moon in a tin can and returning him safely to Earth – US President, John F Kennedy set the impossible dream and then the team at NASA found innovative ways to make it reality. I wrote this in my first book “I don’t believe in being reasonable, mediocre and comfortable. Being unreasonable causes miracles – Being extraordinary causes strength – Being uncomfortable causes growth…..” As for my own business goals – my attitude is – if I aim for the impossible and I reach half way I would have reached further than if I stayed within a “reasonable” parameter.
RB: Who or what motivates you to keep going with your business? And Why?
JBW: My motivation is my Why? – I’m on a mission to make the world a better place for my children and make my family proud of me again. I see the world is lacking in love and it does not have to be this way. I strongly believe that the business community is going to change the world and I want to help them do their valuable work, so that my children and grandchildren can live in harmony and learn that anyone can come through adversity to be celebrating their successes.
RB: Has your definition of success changed since you have started your business? If so, how?
JBW: Yes my definition of success has changed since starting my business. I used to think of success as having the nice car, designer clothes and beautiful home, a fortune in the bank, etc. Now I think of success as knowing who I am and why I’m here – having that sense of bliss at seeing my clients achieve their success. And yes I still want the material things however they are just the icing on the cake now.
RB:What would you say is the most important skill required to run a business?
JBW: The most important skill required to run a business is a combination of listening and connecting. Listening to your hearts desires and really connecting to what you want for your business and what your clients want of you. Connecting with your market, your peers, your customers. Connecting and knowing what your clients pain points are and what they are actually seeking help for. Unless you know what their problem is you cant help. You have no product or service and no business. Listening to your team or employees as though they are your eyes and ears of your market.
RB: There are a lot of myths about entrepreneurs. Now that you have started and are successfully running your own business what would you say is the biggest myth? What have you learned most from it?
JBW: One of the biggest myths about running your own business is that it’s easier to work for yourself than to be employed. Most of the people I know who have started their own business have said the same thing to me. They thought it would be easier to make more money and have more time. However, even if they knew beforehand that it would be so hard, they would still choose to have their own business. The reality is that you need a different mindset to approach running a business than working for someone. Yes it may be harder and you may be working longer hours for less than you would being employed at first, however the things you learn and feeling you get when you are creating something of value and serving your clients, is so worth the pain you go through and eventually, if you stick at it and find the right support and help, you gain your freedom.