In this episode of Go For Growth, we’re thrilled to be sitting down with a serial entrepreneur who helps business owners and entrepreneurs get their mindset right, improve their profits, and drive their cash flow. Our very special guest is Jennifer Dawn of Jennifer Dawn Coaching!

“I went through a lot of trial and error, and a lot of hardship and heartache, and doing things the hard way because I just didn’t know any better. And so, being able to bring all that knowledge and experience and help all these women in their businesses is everything,” says Jennifer— who, as you’ll hear in the episode, is incredibly passionate about her work.

We’ll chat with Jennifer about why mindset matters, as well as…

• Transformations she’s seen happen because of coaching
• Missed opportunities… and what’s causing it
• How these unsure times are an excellent time to pivot and grow
• Focusing on automation and systems while sales are down
• And more

Listen now…

Mentioned in this episode:

• Jennifer’s Website

Transcript

Doug Hall: Hi, everybody. It’s Doug Hall, the host of your favorite podcast, Go for Growth with Doug Hall. And today I’m honored to have Jennifer Dawn, who is the owner of Jennifer Dawn Coaching. She is nationally recognized as helping business owners and entrepreneurs get their mindset right, improve their profits, drive their cash flow. So it’s, and I’ve just found out that she’s also a fan of the system I teach, which is from the Traction book. So, Jennifer, welcome to Go for Growth.

Jennifer Dawn: Thank you so much, Doug. I’m excited to be here.

Doug: Awesome. So you caught my ear when you talked about mindset. So I want you to tell me, what was your mindset that drove you into coaching? And how do you bring positive mindset to your coaching clients? Particularly in these, we’re recording this during the trying times of COVID-19. We’re in the month of April and we’re all in the midst of that. So help our listeners with that. How did you get into this? And where are you helping your clients now with mindset?

How Jennifer Got Started In Business Coaching and How She Helps Her Clients

Jennifer: Yeah, absolutely great question. And it’s funny because I didn’t really get into coaching because, you know, as a little kid, I was like, Oh, I want to grow up and be a coach. Gosh, I didn’t, I hadn’t even really heard of coaches. Even when I had my first company, I didn’t even know what that really was. And later in my career after I had grown my first seven-figure business, and then I actually bought a business and failed and had to close the doors. And then I went into corporate.

Doug: Ouch.

Jennifer: I know, right? I’ve kind of been through it all. And so I went into corporate and in the corporate environment, I grew another seven-figure business. But the corporate environment, I just wasn’t loving it. And so I stepped out and I was just trying to figure out like, What in the world do I want to do? And I was asked to lead a national network of women entrepreneurs based out of New York City. And they loved that I had this experience of, you know, being an entrepreneur on my own, but also growing a business through the corporate environment.

And so I was like, Yeah, I actually do have great experience. And let me come in and let me help you guys. And so that’s what I did for a few years. And it was really through that process of being able to use my experience. And not all of it was good. Like I went through a lot of trial and error and a lot of hardship and heartache and doing things, you know, the hard way because I just didn’t know any better.

And so being able to bring all that knowledge and experience and help all these women in their businesses, and it was everything from startups to multiple seven-figure companies that bringing all that experience and information, I just loved it so much and I really enjoyed it. And so that’s really was kind of the catalyst that I say kind of gave me the courage to coach and to step out on my own and make that my practice. And so from there, I did. I stepped out on my own and really I just, I love the mindset works so much because I think as entrepreneurs, we really, our mindset is going to be, in my opinion, like the number one thing that’s either going to help us succeed or it’s not.

And if we are working on that mindset, whether it be in the midst of a global pandemic, or just the normal day to day challenges that business owners are faced with, I think it’s one of those things that we just always have to be, you know, nurturing and cultivating and practicing these mindset strategies so that we’re always growing our minds. I think we know, you know, as business owners, we’re always supposed to be increasing our skillset and we know for our health are always supposed to be, you know, taking care of our bodies. But I think it’s first and foremost important, you know, to really be taking care of our minds.

Doug: Agreed. So, since we’re in the throes of this pandemic, I would imagine you’re dealing with some folks coming in with a negative mindset. Tell us a little bit about that and any sort of transformations that you’ve been able to help folks with. How do they get to the right mindset?

Achieving the Right Mindset

Jennifer: Yeah, absolutely. And so I think that sometimes people will tend to feel almost like shamed like, you know, I have a negative mindset. And I don’t necessarily think it’s a negative mindset, but I think it tends to come from fear. And the fear I think will cause us, right, to go into all these places in our thinking that are almost certainly not true and almost certainly not going to happen.

But when we are spending our time thinking about these worst-case scenarios, it can really just bring us down and kind of send us down the rabbit hole. And so I would say that’s really what a lot of more of what I’ve been dealing with. And I don’t really blame them because, you know, you’re a business owner, I’ve had so many clients who have been like, you know, this was the year they were going to hit, you know, seven figures or multiple seven figures, and now it’s all blown up. right?

And they lost, you know, 50, 60 80% of their revenues within a matter of a few weeks. And so yeah, I’d be thinking this sucks, too. Absolutely. So yeah, I think that’s really a lot of what’s been happening, justifiably so. And so of course, your thinking is like, you know, I’m done, the business is going to end, you know? There’s these worst-case scenarios just kind of tend to be the natural way our brain, you know, wants to go in.

And so yes, this is probably for the last few weeks, pretty much all the coaching I’ve been doing is around getting that mindset to be kind of back in a good place and to gain perspective and to realize this isn’t going to last forever. And helping my clients understand the psychology behind a crisis and the stages of a crisis and, you know, know where they’re at right now and understand, you know, appropriate action is what we need to be taking.

And if you’re burying your head in the sand and not doing anything, or you’re taking massive, inappropriate actions, you’re really increasing your chances of going under. And so just kind of really helping them to understand what are those appropriate actions to be taking right now. You know, looking for opportunities. There are opportunities, many of them out there right now that are presenting. But if you’re not in that right mindset, you’re just going to miss them.

Doug: Good point. What I’ve observed with my clients is about 10 or 20% of them are in dire shape, 60% of them are in the middle, kind of wondering, am I okay or not okay? The ones below 20% they’re like, I’m in trouble, like, half my revenue, gone, like you said. Then there’s another 20% on the top who are like, whoo, we’re shipping more than ever. We’re selling like gangbusters, right? Groceries, toilet paper, hand sanitizer. We all know the story. So what do you hear from these, do you agree with these rough groupings?

Jennifer: Yeah, absolutely. I’m seeing that as well. All across the board from, you know, the revenues have basically disappeared. I have a client who sells resort ware and people, literally the day the travel ban hit, you know, 75% of the revenues were gone. And there’s just nothing you can really do about it. All the way to, you know, the other side of the equation. I work with a defense contractor and like they’re an essential company. They’re open, they’re selling more than ever. I have a gun manufacturer. Apparently, a lot of people are buying guns right now.

Doug: That’s what I’ve heard too.

Jennifer: Yeah, I know. I’m like, This is crazy. So yes, I’m definitely seeing across the board, everything from, you know, all of our services have just basically disappeared to we can’t keep stuff on the shelves.

Doug: Well, you know, there’s a lot of advice and chatter going out there for both of those ends. Let’s talk to the people in the middle who are like, am I okay? Their business is not severely impacted. They’re working from home. They’re dealing with their employees no longer being in front of them. What are some stories you have from those? I mean, what do you hear out there? What are you helping folks within that middle group where I think I’m okay, but am I okay?

Jennifer: Yeah, absolutely. So kind of in that middle group where they’re just like, am I okay, the first thing that we’re really tackling are their finances because obviously, the money is the first thing to come up. And so we’re using this time to really just do a, you know, due diligence, to look at their finances, to look at cash flow, look at revenues. If the revenues have dropped some, you know, making whatever corrections we need to make.

If they need to lower some expenses or, you know, pivot a little bit here or there to make sure that they’re good in the cash flow, their numbers are good. So that’s kind of the first area that we’ve been focusing on is the finances. The second area we’ve been focused on, because even a lot of them in the middle, they do tend, or at least what I’m seeing is that they are a little bit slower.

They’re noticing a little bit, but it’s not a huge dip. And so they’re a little slower than they might normally be. And so we’re really using this as an opportunity right now to look at their internal processes. Some of them, their teams are now working virtually. You know, do you need the brick and mortar building? Do you need as many people on your staff to perform all of these functions? And it’s just a really good time right now to really evaluate and look at these things.

Doug: I would agree. So it’s a time, really, it’s sort of a forced opportunity to change things up, to look at is there a different way to do this?

Jennifer: Yeah, absolutely. And I’ll tell you something that’s been interesting that I didn’t expect is I’ve got a handful of business owners who were reduced to, you know, had to reduce their team, and they still have some sales coming in. But they’re actually cashflow positive and they weren’t cashflow positive before. They were running in the red. And because of this, now they’ve had to really change their whole businesses.

They were kind of forced into it. And it’s very interesting to me to see that Oh, wait, now you’re cashflow positive. And so we’re really taking this as an opportunity to now look at Well, what were you doing wrong before that was causing you not to be cashflow positive so that when you scale back up again, right, you’re doing it and you’re remaining profitable?

Doug: Good point. That’s a great opportunity. You know, as they say, every dark cloud has a silver lining. That’s one. What else have you seen as you’ve been working with people? What are the folks that can sort of see around the corner past this pandemic, what kind of opportunities seem to be emerging? What should people be looking for?

Jennifer: Yeah, great question. And so some of the opportunities that I’m seeing come out of this are obviously places in their businesses where they can automate or streamline. Whereas before, maybe they were, you know, throwing a person at a certain job. That person can’t be there anymore. And it’s really requiring them to look at the role and be like, Hey, could we do this virtually? Could we do this with software? Could we eliminate this? And I think that’s actually a really great opportunity because as you know, when the economy comes back, and it always does, this isn’t the first time that we’ve been through something like this.

And when it comes back, and there’s kind of a surge that happens, you know, the business owners who are prepared for that surge are going to be the ones who can take advantage of the new opportunities. Because there will be an increased demand, there will be less supply because all those business owners who didn’t do what they needed to do are going to be gone. And there’s going to be that surge. And so, really, I think the people who are looking forward are making steps and taking actions in their business to kind of be prepared for this surge in the economy that will happen.

And honestly, when you’re going through something like this, I think it’s when we talk about mindset, what a great mindset tool to focus on. When it comes back, I’m going to be ready. And I’m noticing that that’s really just helping their overall, you know, manage their emotions, manage their leadership skills. They’re sending, you know, a really good message to their team. We’re going to use this time to our advantage. And it’s really kind of a beautiful thing for those people who are able to kind of tap into that and do that.

Doug: That’s a great point. Do you see more threats? Are people, you know, you talked about fear earlier and fear is reaction, but let’s talk about things that are happening in the economy. Do you see, is anything that your clients have been coming up with to say, well, there’s more threats? Something that, again, we’re not trying to create fear here, but just trying to help business owners be prepared. What kind of, when this stress hits in the economy, what kind of threats come up beyond just direct customer revenue threats? I mean, customers go away, no revenue. I got that. What else comes up as a threat?

Prominent Threats In This Time of Uncertainty

Jennifer: Well, you know, really great question. I think that from what I’ve seen with my clients, obviously, the biggest threat has been their finances, the revenues. Those being directly impacted. From there, the next concern I’m seeing is they’re people. You know, they’re worried about their staff. And how are they going to pay their staff? How are they going to make payroll? Because these are people who have families and they care about them. And so I’m definitely seeing like, there’s a concern there about, you know, they’re people and keeping them employed and keeping things going.

In addition to that, I’m also seeing a lot of, well, not as much in my coaching group, but because we’re all, you know, everybody’s pulling together and it’s just been really loving and supportive and kind of awesome as we all sort of weather this storm together. But I’m seeing a lot of imagined threats. I would say the threats that we’re imagining are probably some of the biggest threats out there. And are they actually going to happen? Probably not. But the amount of stress and panic and fear that’s kind of stemming from these imaginary threats, I’m going to say that’s probably the biggest challenge out there to overcome.

And from there, right? From there, what we’re seeing from these imaginary threats is this like, massive wrong action. You know, oh, my God, we’re pulling all the money out of the bank, we’re firing everybody, you know, this kind of stuff, which I think is, you know, definitely harmful. Definitely not good. And you’re basically kind of like self-fulfilling prophecy. You know, if you’re imagining all these horrible things, we’re going to kind of make them come true by taking these crazy massive actions.

Doug: Exactly. Yeah, overreactions based on fear.

Jennifer: Yeah, yeah.

Doug: So one of the things that particularly people in professional services have as a challenge now is, what do you do about business development during times like this? Think about, and you’re coaching your clients yourself, myself. I mean, what’s the first, what should be our first reaction?

Jennifer: Yeah. And so with my community, our first reaction has really just been one, make sure we’re all safe, and make sure you’re taking precautions to be safe. That’s been first. Second has really been based on, you know, your revenues and how you’ve been impacted. It’s just really been about taking whatever precautions are necessary in your own business and make sure that you can weather this storm. That’s really been the focus right now of we don’t know exactly how long it’s going to last. We don’t know when the economy is going to come back. We know it will come back, we just don’t know when.

And so that really as far as business development has been concerned, it’s kind of been our focus of just like, okay, let’s assume this is going to last a little bit longer. You know, how are we going to be able to still stay in business, take care of our people. The other thing that’s happening is I am seeing a lot of new products coming out this with, you know, clients going, Hey, wait a second, you know what, I can now launch this, you know, virtual service, creating new product to help people stay active while they’re at home. So I’m definitely seeing some of that coming out of this as well.

So as far as overall business development, obviously making sure that we can weather the storm. But second thing is there’s definitely new product development coming out of it. Just as I’m sure you’re seeing this, too, there’s so much creativity and ingenuity going on right now. I’m just like, wow. I’m seeing new stuff every day. And I know the whole pandemic sucks, I get it. But I’m just really energized by wow, so much great creative things coming out right now that are kind of, we’re kind of forced into but I really love seeing it.

Doug: Yeah, the thing that impresses me in my community, so I work with hundreds of people that teach the traction EOS system. And one of the things we’ve done is to make sure that our clients and our connectors all know that we’re ready to help. And we encourage our connectors, whether they’re attorneys or CPAs, or professional CFOs, or sales experts or others, to offer their help. And even if the client can’t pay, it’s going to pay back in the future. If you help now, they’re going to remember that. And I think that’s for service. You know, when you’re not selling a product, you’re selling a service.

And to be of service to somebody is helpful to them. Whether they can pay or not right now or ever want to pay, they’ll remember and they’ll appreciate that. It’s an investment. So it’s sort of a pay it forward thing. So my advice to business owners is take advantage of your trusted advisors. Ask them questions. Don’t hold back. They’re, today, we’re cloistered to home, in a month, hopefully, we get back out in the world, but they’re there to help. So I encourage business owners to reach out for help, get advice.

Don’t Be Afraid To Accept Help That’s Offered to You

Jennifer: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And I’m so glad that you said that, Doug, because we do a monthly training in our group and this month’s training with leadership through crisis and one of my key points that I taught was about responding with love.

And I love that you mentioned that because one of the first things that I did was I reached out to a lot of my past clients and just said, Guys, you know, if you’re struggling, I want to give you, you know, two months of coaching. Come to the group, come together, and a lot of people took me up on that. And these are, of course, past clients that I have great relationships with and they so appreciated that. And I’m not trying to get anything out of them.

You know, if they, I’m not trying to get them back into paid coaching or anything like that, it was really just from love. And guys, like I don’t want to see all these people that we work so hard, right, to get their businesses to these great places. And I know that so many of them are, you know, they’re suffering or they’re hurting or their mindset is running rampant.

And so that was my first response was like, come and let’s come together and let me help you any way I can get through this. And I love what you said. It’s like, Guys, if you have an opportunity, if you’re hearing this and, you know, somebody who’s trusted in your network, or an advisor or a coach or a mentor, if they’re offering to help, like take them up on that. You know, show up. You don’t have to suffer alone. I know a lot of times it’s just like, you might be feeling like you wake up and you’re just like, I just want to stay in bed.

I don’t want to deal with it, right? But get out of bed, get out of your pajamas and like take these people up on their offer to help because it’s really in your best interest and it’s an opportunity that may not come along again that you’re going to have access to all these amazing, you know, experts for little or no money. You can totally use that to your advantage. So thank you for mentioning that. I think that’s just brilliant.

Doug: So think about what’s worked in the past when you’ve had people come to you and say, Jennifer, what’s your best advice? Obviously, they might have a situation, but I want to generalize that and say when you’re talking to your business owner clients now and getting them to focus on one or two key things, what are you telling them? What’s the, I mean, obviously, you have crisis management now, but in the, step back a little bit from the crisis. What’s your best advice for them? So it’s sort of like, give your best advice to the listeners of this podcast. What comes to mind?

Don’t Concede to Not Knowing

Jennifer: Great. So I would say some of my best advice is stop saying I don’t know and start saying I’m figuring it out. And I know you’ve worked with many, many business owners and maybe, I know I’ve done this in the past, where it’s just like we run into a problem or challenge in our business and maybe we’ve been trying to solve it for a while.

And it’s so easy to use that excuse, that cop-out whatever you want to call it and just say, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know. And as soon as we start saying, I don’t know, it shuts us down. It kind of closes the door on being able to find those answers. And so we want to talk about some of my best advice, this would be it. Stop saying I don’t know and shift that and start saying, I’m figuring it out. Because any problem or challenge in your business is figure outable, but you got to have the right mindset, right?

And you’ve got to open that door and allow yourself to find those answers. And you don’t if you’re walking around saying I don’t know, I don’t know. So there you go. That’s probably one of my best pieces of advice is start saying I’m figuring it out and then the next thing would be get some help. Get some help to figure it out. And too often as entrepreneurs, I did this for years, we just like suffer in silence.

We’re all by ourselves and we think we have to carry every, you know, the weight of the world on our shoulders and it’s just not true. And especially in today’s, you know, not just the economy, but just in today’s world, we have access to so many amazing resources I certainly didn’t have when I started out. And so, you know, commit to figuring it out and then commit to getting some help. And I think those are probably the two best things you can do. And if you commit to figuring it out and you commit to getting some help, then show up, right?

I’m sure you see this too, Doug, where people will, they’ll show up and they’ll be like, yeah, I’m all committed for like a month and then you never hear from them. They’re gone. And it’s like, guys, like, you gotta be serious about this. You actually have to show up. I don’t care if you show up and you haven’t figured it out yet or if you’re frustrated, or you’re angry, or whatever it is, I don’t really care. But as long as you’re just, you keep showing up, the people who do figure it out and they succeed are the ones who kept showing up. And so that’s my next best advice is keep showing up.

Doug: That’s a great point. You’re wonderful, Jennifer. Thank you. And if you’re an entrepreneur that has employees and you’re not the best follow up person, find somebody on your team that’s a real good follow up person and give that assignment to them so that you can keep showing up. Like Jennifer says, You’ve got to keep showing up. Well, tell us how we can learn more about your coaching, how to find you, how to get in touch with you.

Jennifer: Awesome. Well, you can visit my website which is Jennifer Dawn Coaching, very simple. Jenniferdawncoaching.com. And there’s information there. There’s a contact form there. You can schedule a call with me, you can read all about everything that I do and it’s right, everything is right there on that website. Jennifer Dawn DAWN Coaching dot com.

Doug: Excellent, good stuff. Well, folks, look up Jennifer. And thanks, Jennifer, for things today that are really timely in terms of the COVID-19 crisis and for some timeless advice too that’s going to stand whether we’re in crisis or not. So really, thanks for your thoughts, your advice today. And thanks to all our listeners for tuning in. Thanks, Jennifer.

Jennifer: Absolutely. You’re so welcome. Thank you.