MWH 233 : Fear Is Not The Boss of You with Jennifer Allwood

A lot of women in business, women in the Mums With Hustle community, are still feeling that things are very weird in the world and in their business… because they are.

But that doesn’t mean that now is not a time that is filled with great opportunity. Everything, and I mean everything, always happens for a reason. I am a very big believer of that!

You’re not going through this alone. We certainly are all in this together. #MWHStrong

If there’s one thing I know about entrepreneurs and business owners, it’s that they can experience many hard knocks and still get back up each and every time. Just like today’s podcast guest…

She has built her business over several years whilst having 4 children. You may have heard of this beautiful lady on the podcast before in Episode 200 where she shared golden nuggets in one of our montage episodes.

It’s my dear friend from across the globe, Jennifer Allwood!

About Jennifer

Jennifer is an entrepreneur and business coach to many women inside her membership. She’s an international speaker and recently, a best-selling author. She released her No. 1 best-selling book “Fear Is Not The Boss Of You.”

Jen has found freedom in her business, her time, her finances and most importantly, her faith, through years of releasing more and more over to God. And she brings this into her business! What started as a desire to help pull her family out of financial desperation became a calling to help other women find the courage to do the same.

Her goal is simple… To use the tools that are readily available such as social media, email, and the internet, as a way to make this happen. Jen knows that getting unstuck, pushing through the overwhelm, and doing things in spite of fear are the keys to growing in any business.

During this episode, she’ll deep dive into this and how much in business is mindset and how much is actually tactical. If you take away any little nugget of information from this episode, I hope that you know, understand and whole-heartedly believe that fear is not the boss of you.

Let’s get into it!

Jen’s Inner Circle

Jen is currently coaching around 2,000 women in her membership called The Creators’ Inner Circle on how to start a business in the online space. She’s teaching them how to use social media to make money, not just to get a bunch of followers, but to actually make an income.

Using social media, these women can make a living to either pivot out of the job that they hate, quit their 9 to 5, or turn their side hustle into a legit money-making business.

Jen’s very passionate about helping women who wanted to be home and wanted to be supplementing their family income at the same time. These are women who are contributing, using their gifts, and also doing what God is asking them to do in terms of business.

Jen’s Backstory

Back in the year 2000, Jen started her painting business. She would paint walls, cabinets and other furnitures. Her business was featured in a TV show in the US called “Extreme Makeover.”

Less than a year into starting her business, she was pregnant with her oldest son, Noah. Jen said that she was left with an internal turmoil that she has a successful business, but she wants to spend more time at home so that she could be with her family.

So she started hiring people to paint for her, and by the end of her painting business she had eight women working for her. This allowed her to stay home full-time with her children.

Social media also helped with her business. Ten years ago when Facebook started, Jen said that people were using it mostly for personal reasons and not for business. But she found out really quickly that when she posted things about her painting business, it gained her many new followers. She also realised that when she posted, these followers were turning into her clients.

Mindset vs. Tactical

Since she came from the creative industry, Jen said that she loves serving the creatives the most, because she understands how the creative mind works.

A lot of what she teaches is about mindset. Jen believes that 80% of business is mindset while 20% is tactical (such as how to run Facebook ads, how to do Facebook lives, etc.). So a lot of her coaching revolves around how to get your mind right!

Five years ago, she started her paid Facebook Group even before memberships were really popular. She started teaching people on how to be successful on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook, how to get more followers, and how to use social media platforms to get more clients and to get more money saved in your bank account.

Although she was not sure about how many people would join, she went ahead and started her membership. From there it kept growing until today’s 2,000+ women strong. Now, she caters to women in different fields not just in creatives.

Similar to the reasons why I started my Social Method Society, to have a community of mums in business, Jen and I are both passionate about sharing our knowledge with women. Women who might have the limiting beliefs that what they know might not be enough to take their business online.

Ladies, it’s important to move your business online. Especially now, in year 2020, in the midst of what’s happening due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Why?

First off, it’s because the online platform is mostly free and you have to take advantage of it. Secondly, people are now doing everything online, even shopping.

I recently wrote about the newest Instagram feature called Instagram Shop and how you can set it up for your business. You can check it out here >>>

Women’s Mindset About Money

Jen said that a lot of women have a really weird money mindset. They have hang-ups about the idea of money. Some women feel guilty about making money, they feel weird talking about it and some think that money is the root of all evil.

She said that even in her religious community, women are saying that since God gave them their gifts, they should give it for free. But Jen said that women shouldn’t. Your family needs to eat and if you make more, you can give more.

So it’s very important to really dig deep and figure out where was it that you first started feeling guilty about money? People can really trace it back and get to the root as to why you feel bad about it.

Finding the root of your money mindset problems is really important in order for you to have a really successful business.

#TakeAction – Answer These 2 Questions

Ladies, here’s something for you to ponder on:

1. How do you feel about money and how do you feel about selling?
2. What is your earliest negative association or money story?

Fear Is Not The Boss of You

Jen recently released her book titled “Fear Is Not the Boss Of You” which become a best-selling title on Amazon. It’s also currently available at Barnes and Noble.

She said that the release was a roller-coaster for her, as now was the worst possible time to launch a book because of the pandemic. She also had a planned 12-city book tour that she couldn’t complete.

But she said that she is still grateful to have written a book that is relevant to the pandemic. The book is about fear and in her 48 years, Jen said she has never felt it more relevant to talk about fear than today.

The book is for women who feel stuck, overwhelmed or scared to make a change. It’s about getting to the root of why fear is controlling your life and your decisions. It helps you in re-framing your fear and working through it

It’s not about getting past or over the fear, but doing things in spite of your fear.

With what’s happening in the world at the moment, it’s so easy to let fear literally be the boss of us. To make decisions based on something that is temporary. If you’re making fear-based decisions, it means that you’re not making faith-based decisions.

Jen said that fear often leads you in a totally wrong direction because fear is a feeling. It’s important that you’re not led by your feelings.

Courage vs. Confidence

Jen shared that the most popular chapter in her book is about the difference between courage and confidence. It talks about women who are waiting to feel confident about their decisions in life and in business. Whether they’re launching a business, putting up a website, moving across a country or asking a guy out.

But Jen makes a case to the fact that you don’t need confidence, but you do need courage. Because how can you be confident about something that you’ve never done?

In the chapter, she breaks down the difference between the two and encourages women to lean heavily on the side of courage. Even if confidence sells, you need to be courageous first.

Confidence comes after you do the thing that you’re scared to do. So even if you don’t feel confident, do it anyway.

Figure Out Your Own Value System

Most women need to figure out what’s greater than fear for them. What’s the thing that you want to do desperately that you’re willing to do what you’re scared of? It’s figuring out your own value system.

If people see you do the things you do even if you’re scared, if they see you lead with courage and slay your own dragons, it gives people the sense that they can do it, too.

When women see other women fight their own battles and work through the stuff that holds them back and keep them stuck, it makes them have this courage that arises in them to do the same thing.

It’s important that we remember that. People are always watching us live our life. So are you living your one great life? If it’s possible for someone else, it’s possible for you.

Leading With Faith

Jen’s unapologetic with how she leads her life through faith. She stands by it and brings this value into what she does and weaves the biblical truth in a modern-day type of message!

She said that the greatest challenge she faced is that she’s not a Theologian and she’s not a pastor, but she hopes that she’s presenting God well and in the right, appropriate, good light. The inner turmoil of thinking if she’s praying enough, reading the bible enough and growing enough that she’s able to speak the biblical truth.

On the other hand, the best part of it is when people message her that through her convictions, she’s making an impact in other people’s lives.

Jen shared that recently a man read her book and emailed her. The man said that he has not been in church since he was little. But because of what she wrote, he felt so convicted by her faith that he had a bible study with his wife and kids at home.

Jen’s Biggest Tip For Mums In Biz

For women who are juggling their time between home and business and who might feel like they are deep in the trenches right now…

Jen said that it’s important to really recognise the season that you’re in.

Sometimes women use their children as reason as to why they couldn’t do something. It’s a way of self-protection. But Jen wants to remind women that you are a whole person before you are someone’s wife and before you are someone’s mum.

If God’s asking you to do something for your business, please know that you can both lead your family and business.

There’s always going to be the next thing where the season doesn’t seem right. Make sure that you’re not using your children as an excuse as to why you can’t do something. Because the truth is, it can be the best reason that your children will ever see.

You just have to make your reasons be bigger than your fears.

Wrap-Up

Well that was truly an awe-inspiring interview with Jen. She is an amazing person and an incredible mother, and a very smart, switched-on entrepreneur.

I just love the way that she was able to use her social media platforms, podcast, coaching groups and her best-selling book to help other women do in their businesses what she was able to do in hers.

In this episode, I did give you some actions to do which was to write down your earliest memories to do with money, in particular, your negative money story.

So give that exercise a go because if you can identify what that is, you are then in a place where you can start eliminating that from your subconscious.

Like I said in the beginning of this episode, I hope that you feel inspired. I hope that you feel free to not give in to fear, but to rather choose faith.

Big love to everybody. Until next week! Stay happy in your hustle.

CONNECT WITH JENNIFER:

Facebook: @themagicbrushinc
Instagram: @jenniferallwood
Website: www.jenniferallwood.com

CONNECT WITH ME

Web: www.mumswithhustle.com
Facebook: @mumswithhustle
Instagram: @mumswithhustle
Twitter: @MumsWithHustle
Biz Club: MWH Biz Club

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