SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to What Whatever Do with your host, Amber Howard, your weekly dose of guidance, inspiration, and strategies to have your small business and whole life thrive. We bring you incredible guests who share their real life experiences of being an entrepreneur so you can have your whole life work. Now, here's your host, Amber Howard.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to What Would Amber Do. I am very excited and happy this morning to be speaking with Jessica Stevens. Jessica is a transformation coach and speaker, regional vice president for Arbon International, and director of the Toronto Chapter of Hub Inc. Jessica left a career in marketing and brand development and is really committed that people live their best lives in every area of life, whether that's their businesses or their health and well-being. So, Jessica, thank you so much for being here with me this morning and just your time.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Ah, thank you so much, Amber. So excited to be here and to be one of your first guests on your on your on your new podcast. This is super exciting.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

It is. It's really great. One of the first things we talk about, you know, especially with entrepreneurs, is like, how did you end up here where you are today, right? What what was the impetus or what had you choose to kind of start to look at multiple streams of income or stepping away from that typical career that most people start off life thinking they're gonna have? So, you know, what what really started this journey for you?

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Oh yeah. Well, we're gonna have to go a little like way, a little ways back, right? Um, you know, my my background is as Amber mentioned is in marketing and advertising. I had a 15-year career in that industry and totally loved it. It was super fun, really exciting. Um kind of had that like, you know, uh single girl in the city life, right? Like had the corporate career, had the clothes, had the car and the condo, and went to the parties and and and all of that got a good stuff and traveled and shot TV commercials on top of mountains and like all of the glamour that people look, see in you know the media or in TV or movie representations of advertising. Um, but behind the curtain is a whole different game, like in in real, in real life, for a lot of different industries are like that is not what it looks like in real life. Same thing for for me. It was definitely uh it's a it's a grind industry for sure. And it's a place where um, you know, workaholics are bred and I was becoming one. Um and that was this kind of scary notion for me. And I just started kind of looking around and and looking at my boss and realized that I didn't want her job. So that was like a little bit of a huh, you know, like if you if that is that's supposed to be the goal, is to get to the next, like follow the breadcrumbs and you see where it's leading and you don't want it. You're like, oh, maybe I'm on the wrong path. Um, and then the other thing for me is I was approaching the age in which I really wanted to be married to a human. And I realized that I was married to my career. And I was like, oh my God, girl, you don't even have time to date. Like, how are you gonna be married? Like something's gotta change here. And so that's when I started to kind of fall out of love with my career. Um, but it was the only thing I ever knew. So I kind of just kind of kept going, right? Because that's what you were told to do. Like, go to school, get a degree, you know, like go find the the job, right? And build that career. Um, but it wasn't actually until I met my now husband that things started to change for me. And I'm so grateful that he entered into my life because that relationship was kind of like the spotlight down on my life that made me realize that I didn't own my time. And the reason for that is because it was a long distance relationship. I don't know if uh you or any of your listeners have ever been in one of those, but let me tell you, they take up way more time than in-person relationships do. And so that was like my kind of first wake-up call. Like somebody tells me where I have to be and when I have to be there and how long I had to be there. Like I'm gonna be a hard worker like my whole life. Like that's part of my DNA and my programming, but I just wanted to like work hard where I wanted to be. Like the office was now becoming what felt like jail, right? So the freedom to travel and move and work elsewhere outside of this, you know, four-walled environment was what I was desiring. And that was becoming more challenging in that, in that environment. So that's kind of how what started it all wasn't until my husband actually finally moved to the country years later and we were together that I kind of had my next nudge and my my next, you know, kind of tap from the universe to say, okay, it's it's time for you and advertising to really break up. And, you know, you got to get this, get this freedom thing going. Because, you know, my husband's a pilot. And so him physically being in Canada now was great. But then I kind of had that aha moment. It's like, oh my gosh, Jess, like he's actually he's here, but he's not gonna be here, right? Like he's always gonna be leaving, he's always gonna be taking off and going somewhere. And you physically have to show up to this office every day. So that is really when I was like, okay, like now that he's here and we're supposed to start our lives together, we're still not because he's gonna be going and I'm gonna be staying. Um, and I I just knew like our careers were never gonna line up. And so uh I was already feeling the tug to leave it. And it was just the thing that just bounced me up and said, it's it's it's time, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

I I love what you said, like just in terms of because I shared with this with you before we started the the conversation that from everything that I've seen in the time that we've known each other, which I think is probably about a year now, but you know, mostly on social media and stuff like that, you live a very created life. You know, you just got back from a month in Jamaica, you have a number of different businesses that you run. You're you know, a hugely inspirational person for a number of women in the Toronto chapter of Hub Inc. And and and what I hear in what you just said about that journey is it's like that constantly being in the inquiry of like, what do I want? And that that not being something that's stagnant and it's fixed, but it like being an ongoing inquiry, like, okay, well, yeah, I wanted this, and and perhaps wanting the career and all of that was a bit of a, I think sometimes for many of us, we just we we get on our journey doing what we we kind of should do. We're told that you know what it looks like to live a successful life looks like going to university or college and getting a job and creating a career. And so we start that path. But I think for many of us at some point, which I hear in what you said, is you start to go, well, is this really what I want? Yeah. Yeah. And and and that tug and that pull between our parents, our peers, society's expectations around what we should want for our life, versus like actually really looking in the mirror at ourselves and saying, well, this is this is actually my life.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Yeah. Um, yeah, I know I I definitely made the shift into like life, life by design, right? You can create the life that you want um and and put it into action. Um, so that's what I did. I I wanted to have freedom. I wanted to have flexibility. I didn't want to have to be physically uh in a building anymore. And so I went and in search of what was going to give that to me. I didn't actually search that hard. It really actually found me. And that's kind of the best part about law of attraction is like you kind of have these thoughts and you kind of put it out there, and all of a sudden the opportunities start rolling to you. Um and that's exactly what happened. Um, you know, my husband was packing his bags um one evening to get on a flight the next day to go interview for a job that potentially was gonna have him, you know, based in another city or country. And I was just looking at him and our whole kind of life kind of flashed before my eyes. And I'm like, this is it, this is the scene. He's always gonna be packing his bags and leaving. And I'm like, I gotta get out of the office. Like, like I that was the moment that I knew. And I just kind of like said it and tossed it up in my prayers at night, being like, I need to be free from the office so that I can pick up and go and follow him. And literally the next day, um, I went into the office after taking him to the airport, and a girlfriend called me and said, Hey, what are you doing tonight? And I said, Nothing, I'm home alone. Um, I Kirk, you know, just left and she's like, Great, meet me after work for dinner and come to an event with me. And I said, Sure, what kind of event? And she said the word shopping, and I'm like, sold. And uh I met her, and that is where I was introduced to my very first business opportunity uh that I have with an amazing social marketing company of Arbon. And I had never heard of the company before. I had never heard of the brand, I had never really known anything about social marketing. And here it was, you know, me saying, I need an uh a way to get out, and I need, you know, something that can help me transition out of this career so I can do other things that I want to do. I just didn't know what it was yet. And then the next day it landed in my lap. Right. And then I had the courage to acknowledge and see it and take it for what it was because somebody else could have had that same scenario scenario, you know, they they threw it out into the universe, they put it in their prayers, this is what I need. It presented itself to them the next day and they ignored it. So I guess I just had that, you know, part of my brain to see that, oh, this this is the answer. This is the thing that I just asked for. It might not be showing up in the format or package that I thought it might be, but uh I could see that it was it was the vehicle for me. And even if it wasn't the, it wasn't gonna be the necessarily the long-term girl, it was the transition thing that I needed to get me going.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Yeah, uh, you're you're so pointing to intuition, right? And I love that, like that higher faculty that we have that ability to just like not be attached to what something looks like. But I also like what you said really reminded me of deciding. Like when we make when we actually make a decision about something versus like, oh, I'm thinking about it, I'm I'm wondering, I'm wanting, I'm like, you know, kind of yeah, yeah. And like things move when you make a decision and not until you actually make the decision, right? And then it's like once you decide, no, I'm I'm no longer gonna sacrifice romantic relationships for my career. Like, I don't want to be married to my career, I want to, I want to be married to a human being. And then Kirk shows up, right? And then when you're looking at your life with him and was like, wow, okay, he's always gonna be leaving. No, I'm I'm leaving the office. And in that moment, you didn't know how. No, you didn't know what that journey was gonna look like, but you were just like, I'm I'm drawing the line in the sand, it's not gonna be this, right? And and that it's in that moment, and there is nothing more destructive to the human mind and experience than ambivalence. And it's so funny because I I find a lot of people like I when I first heard that, that like the you know, indecision like is actually ambivalence. It's like, should I stay, should I go? Do I eat this? Do I not eat this? Do I want like it just like it's holding two altering views about the same objective at the same time and it and has us be so stuck in our lives. And when we once we decide, like even with buying things, you don't need the money until you decide. And you decide first from what you have, versus like what often human beings do is like we won't make a decision until we know how it's gonna work out, or we have, you know, it's like we have the money, and it's like, no, it doesn't, it's kind of I think a little bit counterintuitive for most of us how we've been raised or those belief systems that we have, that it's like, no, first you leap. First you leap, and then the you know, the trampoline or the you know, the bag is there underneath you. But first you've got to be willing to leap.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

Yeah, um, a similar situation, you know, um, a little while ago, we were talking about where we wanted to, what was our next move, where where did we want to go, and you know, what did that look like? And, you know, my husband being a pilot, you know, being a little bit closer to the airport was, you know, a key part of what what we where we wanted to be. And we were just kind of like throwing it out there, and then uh like, oh, let's, let's, let's, you know, just talk about like what our ideal new home would be, what neighborhood. And literally, same thing, you know, the universe universe answered and literally gave us everything that we wanted within a 10-minute drive to the airport. Um, and that's how we found our new home. So it's it it I really do believe that you need to know or trust that, you know, just put the thought out, just put the, you know, do the ask, and the universe will conspire with you to help you make it possible, as will your brain. You know, your brain is a computer. Its only job is to help you figure out how to get it to get you what you want. So um if you decide, you know, this is what I want, well then it its job is now going to find that path for you and present things to you. Um, so yeah, you got to just tell your brain all the things that you want and it will start doing the math and the algorithm to make it happen.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

So inside of living a life by your design, right, have there been any places where you've kind of bumped up against those, you know, other people's expectations or those typical notions of what it is to be a woman or you know, be a wife or be a business like businesswoman or an entrepreneur or any, you know, what what has your journey been? Because I think sometimes when when you're living a life by design and the other people around you aren't, you can kind of deal with a little bit of their friction. A little friction, a little bit of their expectations. Yeah. Yeah. What's happened like Jessica?

SPEAKER_02 14:19

So for for me, like I've I've, you know, being that little girl and kind of having aspiring to like have that life of, you know, oh, be married and have kids and you know, you know, have all of those things, you know, that's kind of ingrained in us as little girls. Like I joke all the time to people and say, you know, having this long distance marriage was completely not in the plan. Like, no little girls, like, I want a long distance marriage, right? Like, like no, no one says that. Um, but it's it's what it was how it was presented for me. And so I've always kind of, I guess, done things a little bit differently or untraditionally than than most. Um, and uh while it was harder, it wasn't scary for me. So it might have been me also attracting the challenge of doing something a little a little different than everybody else. Um so you know, I got married a little bit later on in life. Um, you know, I I was and it started out as a long distance marriage, so that was definitely very different. You know, my husband and I had only met three times in person before getting engaged. Um, and uh the longest amount of time we spent together um was three and a half weeks in one sitting, and that we didn't break that record until we had been married for three years. Right. So, like definitely not the traditional marriage. Um, we also don't have kids, um, not out of because we didn't want them, we absolutely did, but it just wasn't part of our, you know, our story and our path. And so now living um as a couple without children in a world where that is that's crazy for a lot of people, is also very different. Um, and you know, leaving a very successful corporate career um for a business that people didn't understand or didn't necessarily agree with, also very different. So I've had a lot of opportunities to rub up or to be in in conflict with norms, with um what society thinks, you know, you should do and should have, or even your your own network of people. Um and that's that's gonna be consistent throughout life, right? You're always gonna have that. It's just how how do you show up to it? How do you face the lion and say, you can roar at me and I can turn around and crawl back in the cave and and do what I, you know, you everyone else thinks I should do, or you can just stand there in your own power and say it's not what I want. Um, and and it kind of roar back.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

It's beautiful. I I recently heard that the idea of shoulds, and like I like to say that we should all over ourselves, right? Oh, we didn't like sometimes. Yeah, when we're shoulding, it's we're either like judging ourselves or other people. Like it's actually and and versus like really whose life is this anyway? And and and it's so like I hear you talk about little girls and and little boys, but as parents, and and you know, I'm a parent, I have like the kids, and I really do believe, like, no matter what I say about my own experience of parenting, or you know, and just in as human beings, we do the best we can with the knowledge that we have at the time. And and you know, really no kid comes with a manual on how to like do it right. And and and for obvious reasons, there is no way to do it right. Everyone's like everyone, I think that's one of the challenges in life is so many people are trying to do this thing called life the way it's supposed to be done when there's like eight billion people on this planet and each of the each of us has our own unique journey and and what makes us happy and fulfilled and satisfied in life. Um so I I think, but though when children are little, they are so susceptible to our other people's notions, you know, and and it's just all like, and we know there's like scientific evidence from the world of like mind studies and and looking at neuroling like neurolinguistics and and neurology, like children do not have a conscious mind until they're seven. So literally anything that gets put in there about what life should look like, it just lives for them like that's the truth. So I think it really is important, you know, the conversations are the conversations around conscious parenting. Like, are you bringing awareness to the messages that you're giving your children or what they're being exposed to, or you know, what's in their environment? Um, I think, and the more people do that, and I see that happening more and more with parents, I think we'll probably see a shift around children having this notion of what their life should look like and kind of growing up with that, right? And then in some way, feeling like we've failed. Like we may love our life, but somehow subconsciously, it's like, oh, we're not we're not doing life the right way.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Uh yeah, there's there's definitely a little bit of that. Um, and you know, what we observe as kids and and who's around us and what that looks like. You know, like my parents met when they were 13 and 14 years old, and they lived next door to each other. So like they literally married my dad married the girl next door door, my mom married the boy next door. So um, you know, talk about giving a little girl a complex, thinking like, oh, the first boy I I meet, my very first born, that's the one I'm gonna marry. That was so not my story. And I think as soon as that didn't happen, I knew like it was all the dolly house is broken at that point. So I was like kind of free to make my own path and decisions after that. Um so yeah, it's it's it's really interesting how those seeds of belief and show up later on in our lives when we don't even realize that they were planted in us when we were kids.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Yeah. Such a beautiful way of talking of saying it. The seeds of belief. Hmm. So talk to me a little bit. Like you said when you went that night with your friend, she invited you to go talk about or go to an event about shopping. Um and social marketing, you didn't know anything about social marketing at the time. I think that's been five years for you now since you've been with Arbon, or is that long?

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Uh yeah. So six years. I'm coming up on my sixth year anniversary. So yeah, five, six years. Um, I was I had a little bit of awareness about the industry, but it was definitely like an outdated notion. And I I I really didn't know really what it was about. I knew, you know, there was there were products to be had and it wasn't sold in the store, but how it all kind of worked and how you built a business and all the stuff, I was clueless about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yeah. So, and you said that it uh, you know, in that moment when you went to that event, it occurred for you as an opportunity. Talk, talk a little bit a bit about that, right? Because like for lots of people, and I I mean, as a as a woman who studies business and teaches business, I think network marketing models, social marketing is is, you know, a great model. I think in a lot of ways it makes a lot of sense. And I love how you put it, there are people who have very outdated notions of what social marketing is, network marketing. And oftentimes, instead of looking to the people who are very successful, they talk to their aunt sharing, who is like they talk who knows nothing. You choose to talk to the people who didn't weren't successful and then form your opinions based on on talking with those people and those experiences. And it's not to invalidate their experiences. Um, but what is the opportunity? What is the real opportunity of social marketing for you? Having, you know, from your background as in marketing. But also from your own experience working in it.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Yeah. So what I loved about it and what drew me in was the fact that it was a part-time business that I could build alongside of my existing career. Um and it would give me the flexibility of doing both. Right. Because we're we're we're told, you know, oh, you got you gotta be all in to be an entrepreneur, you have to like put your whole heart and soul and you know, go for it, which is true, and especially in you know the traditional entrepreneurship space. But now in this world of social and um e-commerce, and it's it's easier to become an entrepreneur and start a side hustle or a second a secondary business alongside of something else easier now than it ever had been, right? Especially from a cost perspective. Like it doesn't cost us uh quite the same to start a business now as it as it used to. And so that was really appealing to me because I was not in a position to walk away from my career. Like my husband had not found his um first job here in Canada yet. So I was still a hundred percent, you know, responsible financially for us, and I would be for a long time because that's also part of the immigration agreement, is like you sponsor somebody to come here, you are responsible for them financially for a significant amount of years. Um and so walking away from a six-figure career wasn't even in like isn't it wasn't an option. But I knew that if I didn't start doing something, I was gonna continue up that ladder and it was gonna be harder and harder to let go of that. Um, so I just I just started to do something alongside that I could grow incrementally alongside of my career to the point where one was gonna when one would hopefully start outpacing the other. Um, and then you can kind of do that switch. And so that's exactly what happened for me. I I did it part-time, uh Nooks and crannies style, wherever I could, you know, gather the hours and I dedicated uh to it for us, you know, a few years. Um and I was really tired. I worked really hard. I had, you know, my 40, 50 hours, hour work week uh in my in my job. And then I put a significant amount of time into the business, but then it paid back big, like, you know, big time for me that I could have more choices and I could, you know, decide what I wanted to do uh after that. And I chose to let go of the things that were no longer serving me. And what wasn't serving me was showing up to an office to work for another company. So that's what I want people to really understand is like you can make the opportunity what you need it to be. Like, you know, social marketing companies, uh, there's so many of them out there. Um, and you know, for me and my brand, it can be what it is you need it to be for you. Some people do it for a little extra side cash. Great. They love what they do, they just want a little extra. Awesome. You know, you can have a little extra. Some people use it like I did as a transition vehicle out because you don't love where you are and you want to be somewhere else. So instead of walking, I jumped on the vehicle of ARPON to help me get me there faster. For other people, it's about community, right? They they they just love being part of you know the community of these companies have because there is a really rich culture in it. And some people are doing it, you know, for the personal development and the growth because you know, this to be a business owner, you need to like really grow. And so it was how they got into their personal growth game. And it just happened to have a business alongside. It checked a lot of boxes for me. Um, and I was I wasn't a product person, uh, but I was a marketer. And so I knew, um, even though I necessarily didn't know how to contour or use um some of the products in the lineup, I knew there was a lot of people out there who who did and loved, loved it and would. And so I didn't let my own uh limitation of not knowing everything about the beauty industry or the health and wellness industry stop me. I just went out and, you know, learned the extra stuff that I needed to learn. But also you don't need to be an expert because that's not the point of the business, is not to be an expert in in any of those areas, but to share your personal experience with the brand as a brand ambassador. And truthfully, I was, you know, even though I said I wasn't a product person, at the end of the day, when you go home and you open your cupboard and you you look at all the things that you you do, you do use, you're like, oh yeah, I actually have more products than I think I do. And so I just literally converted, you know, where I was putting those dollars. Was I gonna go to, you know, the retailer down the street and spend the money and buy those same things, or was I gonna buy them from myself and represent a brand that I truly backed and believed in and knew was doing good things in the world? It was a simple choice for me.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Yeah. I think that's I love that you know you said it checked a lot of boxes. I I think it it is a good model for a lot of people for many of the reasons that you said. And and I think part of them, you know, if I look back at my own journey, I think it's also again getting clear about what you want, right? When you say it checked boxes, you had boxes to check. You had done the boxing. Yeah, you had done the looking. You knew, okay, you know, in for me to to shift my career or for me to do whatever, it's got to look like a certain a couple of certain things, you know, probably being able to work remotely, being able, you know, clearly you're someone who loves people and connecting with people and empowering people. So, like, whatever that is. But I I think one of the reasons why people don't necessarily always, and this is true in business in general, but it, you know, I think especially social marketing is they don't take the time to actually look at, well, if I'm gonna do this as a business, what do I want? Right? Do I do I like talking to people about essential oils? Because I I know I've done that. I've like bought certain things, yeah, you know, young living, this, that. And I wasn't even necessarily thinking about them from a business perspective. But I think people don't do the work up front to actually be in the inquiry with themselves. What do I want? Because you're right, there are so many different social networking companies out there, um, whether it's like you want to be in services through like ACN or Primerica or something like that, or you, you know, you want to be in products, what kind of products. But I think it's so much more powerful when it comes from what I want and how I want to serve other people, versus like, oh, I'm trying to make money. Because I think, you know, I know for me, that's the first place I lose power in my business is when it starts becoming about making money and it stops becoming about the contribution and service I am to other people. And when you serve other people, the money comes. Like they it can't not, right? Law of compensation, what you put out comes back to you, right? But so why not have your service be something that's authentic to you?

SPEAKER_02 29:12

Yeah, and that's the, you know, in the two years that I I did my business alongside of my career, that was the thing that I learned is that the the part about the business that I love the most was the helping the people, right? And so that's where I excelled in the business um in helping others, you know, get started, get going, and um and learn and learn the ins and outs of running a digital uh franchise business like one with Arbon. So I found my niche, I found my groove, I found the sweet spot in my business, and that's what helped me continue to grow. So um yeah, I service has to be at the heart of whatever any entrepreneur is doing. Um, you know, most people think, oh, you get into business to make money. No, you get into business to solve a problem in the world uh or for people. And then the the byproduct of that is you are financially um compensated along with emotionally compensated compensated and spiritually compensated, whatever, however, it is that you want to be compensated for that for that act of service. Um, and it, you know, it will be you will be provided for when you do it. So yeah, you it's it you gotta kind of flip the scripts as to why people start a business.

unknown 30:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

And I love that. Like I in my studies over the last few months, I've been really like looking at this notion of leaving others with the impression of increase, like life itself, and I've shared about this book a number of times. You guys might get sick of hearing about it, but Wallace Waddles, The Science of Getting Rich, you know, where he talks about life inherently is for increase. And and I looked at this last night. I was with my students at UFT and we're talking about benchmarking and business and growth in businesses. And I was saying to them, it's even in businesses themselves, like that, that that um the impetus for increase, what what business says, oh, I've got 20 clients, I'm good. Oh, we made a million dollars last year. Okay, we're just gonna hang tight and make a million. It's like you're not going to be able to do that. Every living thing, and in in a lot of ways, businesses are not like a living thing in the traditional sense of the word, but they are a creation and and life is for increase. And when you are someone who leaves other people, whether it's in your personal life or your professional life, whatever, I don't necessarily think there's like that big a difference. Um, but when you're someone who leaves people in life bigger, having been around you, then then they want to continue working with you. They want to be served by you because their experience of being served by you is that they there's more value that they, you know, they're always getting more value than they're paying for. They they, you know.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

Um, it's really it's really interesting that you talked about that. So when I um was in the advertising industry, I worked at a very famous in uh ad agency called Ogilvy and Mayher. You may have heard of it. And uh David Ogilvy was a very famous advertising guy back in the days of Madison Avenue in New York. Um and he used to have all these quotes. And one of the quotes that uh he had was, uh, if we hire people smaller than we are, we will become a company of dwarves. But if we hire people bigger than we are, we will become a company of giants. Um and so that was that kind of impetus for the leadership team to go and hire really smart people and and and make sure that they were bigger and better than we were to continue the growth of this company. Um and I took that quote, and it was kind of like the thing that sparked me when I started my own business and you know, bringing building a team with my Arbon. Um and so I called this team giants because I wanted to go and find people who were in that growth and giant, you know, mindset um and find people who were going to be even better at the business than I was, right? Like that was my goal was you know, to enroll people who could bring so much that this this business could grow and we would be a pack of giants, you know, doing amazing things in the world. So that was kind of the inspiration behind, you know, my my team that I started to cultivate and grow with Arbon was, you know, all being giants and having that mindset of being a giant.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Yeah, I love it. I think great leaders have other people get their greatness, right? It's not about, oh, do people think I'm a great leader? It's about no, like you leave other people, you know, the pe other people on your team have the experience of their their leadership and their bigness. And and this idea that if you're someone who wants to have an impact in the world, whatever that is, right, what to whatever scale, not all of us want to, you know, transform humanity at the level of the globe, like that, the and it doesn't have to be that. But your ability to impact others is is limited if you're the one who's doing all of the work, right? So it's really about how can I um empower other people so that I can impact greater and greater amounts, whether it's in a network business or you know, anywhere in life, whether you want to be a serial entrepreneur and have multiple companies, whatever that looks like.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

Yeah, I that was my kind of desire is to help people, you know, awaken the giant within them, whether whether they were, you know, had a giant heart, they had giant, you know, work ethic, they had giant, you know, people skill, whatever their giant, you know, um personality was is that's what I wanted to help them find the shine. Really great.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

So how does this all connect in? Because I know a lot of the what your focus has been, you know, and I I know you're still doing your your Arbom business and and many of the other things that you do, coaching people, but how does this like share the with us how the transition hub, where did that all come from? You know, I love what Mary, I love what you and Mary are up to in the world for female entrepreneurs. How did that how did that come about?

SPEAKER_02 35:08

So I had just wrapped up, you know, um a season with TEDx, um uh an amazing organization, um, TED TED Talks, most people know them. So I was um helping uh at a local TEDx uh chapter, you know, do their first conference. So I was coming out of that. And um a friend of mine uh who I met through networking uh called me one day and said, hey Jess, I had there's an opportunity I think you know might be perfect for you. Um I don't know what you have on your plate right now, uh, but have you ever heard of Hub Inc.? And I'm like, no, what's Hub Inc.? Tell me more. And she told me about this women's um entrepreneur community, you know, supporting entrepreneurs and teaching them new skills and bringing them together through networking and community. And and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's totally my jam. She's like, I know. Um, and they were looking for a new director for Toronto, um, which had been the home chapter, and and the founder Mary was looking for someone to replace herself because she wanted to focus on business development and grow Hub to become a national organization and international. And, you know, uh, she needed someone to take take reins of the local chapter so she could go and do that. Um, and so I was introduced to Mary. We had a conversation, you know, told her a little bit about myself. She told me about the vision of Hub and Inc., Hub Inc. and what she wanted to do and who we they were as a community. And uh I enrolled as you know, their new director. So I've been in that role for this spring, will be two years now. Um and uh it's great. That's how I met you. We host business accelerator events to teach women skills that they may not know, that they are they're going to need in their business. Um, we help them with, you know, networking and building their communities. Um, so it's a really great space. And, you know, we we thrive on helping entrepreneur women in all areas of their life, right? So it's not just the business side, but you know, how how are you looking at your things at home or how are things in your health? How are things, you know, so so you're a full person, so you're a whole person, so you're showing up for your business in a in a really big way. So yeah, that's us at Hub. Uh, we're across the country, uh, as east as Ottawa right now, um, and as west as uh Vancouver, um, BC, and uh many chapters in between. And and rumor has it we're going to be expanding into some more areas really soon, too.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

So great. Yeah, I love the community that you've created and and all of the different things that uh you just offer both in the the free online community and then as well for those of us that choose to pay. And I think it's like so worth it that networking, that ability to be with like-minded people. I I think you know, they say your your net worth is your network. And I think like so many of us as entrepreneurs have feel like we go it alone, right? So getting that you can, that there are communities that you can step into in whatever capacity that you want, right? And you know, what and grow your own leadership or not, like, but just be there to to contribute or be contributed to depending on what you've got going on in your life. I I think that's great. And I and I love just both you and Mary are such incredible, warm, welcoming. It's you know, it really is you do have the experience of being part of a community that's bigger than yourself, which I think is really great.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

Yeah, it's it's wonderful. Yeah, and we're so happy to have amazing members like you who do great things and contribute. Um, uh, because you know it's it's truly the people that make it, as wonderful it is, right? The the makeup of who's in the community, what they bring, their different talents, the diversity of different businesses, the diversity of different people, we can learn from each other. Um, that's what really makes the group phenomenal, is is the is the members.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

Yeah, so true. So one of the things I love asking, because so much of being an entrepreneur is like self-generating, right? It's like you don't have a boss that's sitting there saying, okay, you know what, just gets time to, you've got this deadline, you got to get this marketing thing, you know, this campaign out, then it's got to be done by Friday. So much of being an entrepreneur is like, and and I actually used to say this as a single parent. Uh, you know, your if if your life is a boat and you're, you know, you're on your own with your kids, like it the you've got to generate all of the energy to keep the boat moving. And oftentimes it feels like your kids are like tugboats trying to pull the boat in the opposite direction. And so it's, you know, have that ability to have why having a partner is so nice sometimes is they give you that, you know, we're all feeling a little bit down, or you know, they kind of like, okay, honey, it's the end of the day, you, you know, I'll do the dishes, you do the garbage, and then we'll watch a movie or we'll cuddle or whatever, right? But having another person to kind of help engine, you know, fuel the engine of the ship, but as entrepreneurs, often we're on our own. And so what are I think it's important for us to kind of have inspiration or motivation or and so where do you source that from for you? What are some of the inspirations you've had over the years that have had you kind of keep extant expanding and getting up to bigger and bigger things in your life?

SPEAKER_02 40:21

Um great question. Because yeah, there's definitely times when you're like, oh me personally, um I'm I'm a very competitive person. Um, and so that's been really helpful for me. And not in competent competition in the sense of like, oh, I'm gonna outdo you or whatever, but I I see what other people do and their achievements, and it inspires me to go and do same or do more. Um not because I want to outdo them, but because it's uh for a personal like, oh, they did it, I can do it, kind of an attitude. So I do have external, obviously, inspiration from a lot of leaders in in my organization who have paved the way, have shown me it's possible. And so that's also really helpful when you know it has been done. It kind of takes the the block away from you to say, you know, is can I do this? I'm like, well, if she did it, I can do it. Um so that's been helpful. Um so having that little bit of that competitive, you know, spirit inside of me has been good. Um, but also just knowing that you you you each of us have been put on this planet for a purpose. Um and to know that you will always have an opportunity to improve, do more, um, excel. And and that's not about not being grateful for what you have or what you've achieved and and celebrating in in the moment, but just knowing like your work's not done yet, right? Um, and there's so many more people um who can benefit from from you showing up. So that's a really good thing for me as well. Um, and I'm not gonna lie, like, you know, for 15 years of working in in the advertising industry, um, being a borderline workaholic, I know how to work hard. Um, uh, but what I've been able to do now is work smarter and at work at a pace in which is sustainable so that there isn't the burnout. So for me, it's not about doing all the things right now and go. It's about pacing out myself, knowing that I can do them all. They just will be scheduled um in a timely fashion so that I can do them all. Um, and I think that was the best lesson for me as an entrepreneur is how to pace myself and not just like out of the blocks and just go. Um and uh so that's been helpful for me so that I because when you are on your own, you can't let let the oar down. Like, you know, you or you will drift and the current will take you, right? Um, and uh having you know other people in your boat to help pull too, really helpful. I was I was uh on the rowing team in university, and so that whole concept of my business kind of like this rowboat, um it helped me to keep it going and keep momentum happening so that you're dividing the work amongst many. So um it's not 100% on you all the time. So that's the other thing is to bring in a really good team to support you um in different areas so that you can maybe relax in this spot over here because someone else has got it, just like you said, in partnership. Um so even though you're a solopreneur, that doesn't mean that you're you're on your own fully. You have other people in your life who could step in and support you in different areas so that you can focus on the things that really only you can do.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

Yeah, so wonderful. Asking for help too. This has been my big breakthrough in the last couple of weeks, is just really getting, I had a hidden belief around asking for help. And once I distinguished that, it was like miracles, magic, like things just started flowing when I got, oh, you're not a person that's alone in the world having to try to do all this out there. Like there's all as much as you love to help people, they love to help you, Amber. Duh. And it's so funny because on the other side of quantum leaps like that, like real shifts in your thinking where you discover something that's been hidden from your view. And for me, that belief was that Amber asking for help was shameful. No one else. Other people could ask for help, and that was fine. But when I asked for help, there was something somehow something shameful about that. And and it really does like we talk about energy, and we, you know, we kind of like coming up in the conversation this morning, law of attraction, all of that. You put all of this energy back, but you've got to be willing to receive it. And one of the ways that you receive that energy back that I've discovered is by asking for help, letting people know that you need help instead of like you're you're someone who's got everything handled and you're strong and you can do everything on your own. So I think uh one of the other things I heard in what you said about the analogy of the rowboat, which I think is really great, is making sure everyone in the boat is rowing in the same direction, right? So whatever that looks like for you, and there's a there's a boat for everyone, but you've got to make sure you get in the right boat. Like i surround yourself with people who are, you know, share your values, are are pulling for you to win and you for them to win. And I think that then you get that synergy, right?

SPEAKER_02 45:31

Yeah. Um, yeah, it's all about filling the boat um there, you know, with the seats and making sure that the people in those seats are aligned to um the same goals and the same and the same mission. Um, and it'll help you get that boat so there so much faster with so much ease, less friction, and it'll just gr glide across the water to that finish line.

unknown 45:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

Well, Jessica, thank you so much for your time this morning. I'm sure this won't be the last time that we speak in various different ways, but in the on the podcast over the years, I'd love to have you back and just continue to be grateful for partnership and friendship and getting to know you better. And and thank you for sharing yourself and your journey with us this morning.

SPEAKER_02 46:14

Well, thank you for having me. It was an honor. Um, and I look forward to um listening to the edited version of this uh when it goes live. And um, you know, for sure, as a member of Hub, you know, we're gonna be in contact. We're gonna collaborate and do some other cool things this year, this year, I'm sure. So thank you, Amber, for having me as a guest.

SPEAKER_01 46:34

You're welcome. And for those of you listening, thank you for joining Jessica and I this morning. And you can you'll be able to check out information about her and Hub and all of the different things that she's up to in the show notes. Have a wonderful day, everyone. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 46:49

Thank you so much for joining us for this week's episode. For show info, visit what would Amber Do.com. And for information about Amber Howard and Associates' offerings and services, visit amberhowardinc.com.