unExpectedly Successful

How My Financial Restoration Turned into My Business

• Griselda Martinez

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Journey with us as we dive deep into the transformative life of Jen, the inspiring force behind Jen Inspiring Coaching. Listen as she recounts guiding a domestic violence survivor to financial liberation, painting a picture of resilience that's hard to forget.

Have you ever wondered how to juggle a demanding job, a thriving business, and life's curveballs? Jen reveals her secrets as she unveils her ingenious "lifestyle calculator. Prepare to be enlightened on achieving both energy and financial prowess. 

Delve into her candid revelations about combating a shopping addiction that led to her desire to help others reach financial health. But Jen's wisdom doesn't end with just her tales; she offers actionable steps for every listener, lighting the path toward self-discovery and financial well-being.

🔗 Connect with Jen:


RECOMMENDED readings and programs:
➡️ The Grief Recovering Method, https://www.griefrecoverymethod.com/

🧠 On Mindset - Soundtracks: the surprising solution to overthinking, https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540900800/ref=nosim?tag=unexpectedl0e-20

💬 On Communication - The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication: Apply Them and Make the Most of Your Message, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZBD1HZ4/ref=nosim?tag=unexpectedl0e-20

📈 On Scaling Your Business through Synergies - Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork, https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401962327/ref=nosim?tag=unexpectedl0e-20


🎧 Tune into our unExpectedly Successful Show, on your favorite platforms:


💌 GET IN TOUCH WITH ME

🌍 My websites - herpathtopurposeandprofit.com and ascendostrategies.com
📧 Partner With Me - griselda@ascendostrategies.com
1️⃣ Her Path to Purpose and Profit:
Join a community of like-minded women. Business coaching for aspiring women entrepreneurs and launch their venture.
Website: https://herpathtopurposeandprofit.com/

Who I AM:  
I am Dr. Griselda Martinez, your transformational business coach, podcaster, public speaker, and author, passionate about fulfilling my purpose and helping aspiring women entrepreneurs find theirs. 

Before being here,  "I had made it" in my career. Yet, I remembered that the corner office or the big salary was not the end goal.  

Instead, I knew I could have a much bigger impact by working with other women like me to find their purpose and use their businesses as a mechanism for its deployment. As a result, businesses are founded and rooted in purpose and passion that contribute to their community.
Subscribe now and join the un-Expectedly Successful tribe! 

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Disclaimer: Some of these links are affiliate links, which means I may get a commission if you purchase. However, none of the fees for these resources have been increased to compensate me. In fact, many of these have given me special discounts that I get to extend to you! 😉

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Unexpectedly Successful. Join us to hear their role in general stories of women founders who have created their own pathways to possibilities. Welcome back to another wonderful episode of Unexpectedly Successful, the podcast, where you're not going to only get inspiration, but also learn how to find role models and, most importantly, learn from the lessons of some other people who have been in the spot where you are. Today we have Jen, who is CEO and founder of Jen Inspiring Coaching, and let me tell you about Jen. She is an explorer.

Speaker 1:

She came to the US in 1987 from Trinidad and Tobago. She came here by herself, finding her own path, and I am an immigrant myself. I know that was a major decision in her life with a lot of sacrifices attached to it. So I'm very proud of what she's accomplished and she's going to tell us a little bit more about her journey. But one of the things that she's most proud about is the transformation and the change that she gets to people, including this example of this woman who came to her. She was a domestic violence victim. She was very scared and insecure. Well, while working with Jen, she was able not only to surpass those fears, but she was able to pay over $60,000 in debt. In a short period of time, she was able to save money, she was able to publish her book and she was able to start her own business. So if you want to know the person who was holding this person's hand and guiding her transformation, jen is a person for you. Jen, welcome to our podcast. I'm glad to have you here today.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much, Gisela. Thank you for having me. I appreciate you giving me that intro.

Speaker 1:

I know it sounds really exciting. What excited you most about hearing that intro, Jen?

Speaker 2:

Just the transformation. I mean the transformation when I work with people and I see them. I see so much in them, but they don't see it in themselves, and so when it does materialize, I said, well, I already knew that, but it just feels good that people are willing to work harder.

Speaker 1:

To get us started on the nitty-gritty. Tell me what is for you to be, jen. We already talked a little bit about your background, but tell us more in detail what is to be Jen.

Speaker 2:

I consider myself very creative and curious. I think that's why I became a coach, because I always have questions. I had questions and I always wanted answers, and so I just love asking questions, because most people don't ask questions about other people, and it's a way to sort of get to know the person in a very deep level.

Speaker 1:

Awesome and in addition to asking questions, jen and being an amazing coach and being in the community development field. I didn't mention that in the intro. What else is Jen?

Speaker 2:

Well, I love to play and have fun, that's for sure. If you know anything about the Enneagram and Enneagram 7, all things fun, but I could be serious as well. So I love exploring different places, cultural cruisines, I love to learn about different aspects of life, different things that interest me. I will explore it, even in the deeper level, and at the same time, I love the beach and I love the calm of the ocean and I love the rustling of the quietness of the woods and trails, and so there's a lot of different parts to me. I'm not this or that, I'm both this and that.

Speaker 1:

So I just love the fact that I love options. So, jen, I mean you're an immigrant. That was, I'm sure, a very defining moment in your life as a business owner. What has it been most impactful for you to lead you to where you are right now?

Speaker 2:

I think for me it's always about empowerment. I just feel that when I came to this country, I knew nothing, I had nothing, like I told you, and I really didn't know the landscape. I mean, it was another country, right, and even though I come from an English speaking country, this was a brand new territory that I had to navigate through and there was a lot of suffering, like you said, and a lot of sacrifices that I made. I learned it the hard way. I learned it the hard way. I learned how to navigate life in this new space very hard and at the same time through that I gained a lot of advocacy skills and a lot of empowerment, facilitation that earns me the right to begin to then help individuals in that space. So for me it's about empowerment of the knowledge, the information, skills, resources, and so people become capable of navigating the lives themselves.

Speaker 1:

So you also work with immigrants in the majority of your clients in the cases.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean I sort of seek them out because I'm an immigrant. It's almost like I feel familiar with that group refugees, immigrants, the marginalized, the underserved, all of those sort of things. I consider myself banker. To the poor, I break things down in a very simple way so people could not just understand, but that they can transform that understanding into practical skills to then go from debt to assets and then to wealth. So that whole idea of knowledge is power. But I always ask knowledge plus action is power, because you could know a whole bunch of stuff, but if you don't know where the resources are, if you don't know what your rights are, if you don't know different things like that, then you tend to be silo and you tend to not have the full scope of empowerment that I feel someone should have, especially women and those in the gender gap, that sort of marginalized.

Speaker 1:

So how do you remember having this idea of launching your own business? You're a full-time employee and then you launch your own business and then you've made some pivot. So tell us about that moment of just craziness in Jane looking for options.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's funny because I always shied away from business. I never saw myself, as quote a business person, because there was a lot of fear in the background, there was a lot of limiting beliefs that I had, and every time it came up people would say, why don't you have your business? I was like, no, that's not for me, that's for someone else. I would sort of pull for it, but really underneath that was really a lot of fear. And then I started to volunteer and give my time back, which I was always done, and as I started to work with women I've been all in the space with women Every time I hung up with them, they were like how can I work with you privately? And I was like, what, it doesn't compute because I don't have a private business. But there was a theme Every single time I worked with someone, I had to shift them in 30 minutes and I know how to do that really well. And so when I did that, they were like can I work with you privately? And it kept coming up and I was like, well, why, what is this about? I don't have anything private. Well then I felt so moved by that and I have a deep faith in God, and so my whole premise is God, are you speaking to me, are you telling me something? And I pushed it away for a really long time.

Speaker 2:

And then COVID came, and then I had no choice but to realize wait a minute, I have the skill, I have the knowledge, I have the expertise, I have lived experience, I have professional designations. All of that could be culminating into something, and maybe I could just wet my toe or put my toe in. So I started really small and then started to go from there. I couldn't stop it because I took a step of faith, is what I say. I took a step of faith and I feel that that's really the impetus for movement. Right, action, right. And so action sort of speaks to yes, I know this, but then what? And so for me it's always what are you going to do next?

Speaker 1:

So, Jen, you said a couple of things. The first one is that underneath the consideration was a lot of fear. What do you fear on just considering?

Speaker 2:

The unknown. I mean, I think most of my clients when they come and I have a lot of clients are very smart, intelligent, phds, all of that, but because they don't have knowledge in this area of finance, they get very afraid because it's unknown. And most of the when they fear, it's the feeling of I don't know what to do. I'm not skilled in this area, I don't know the next step, and so for me not having a basis of never owned a business, I don't know what that's like. I don't even know what that feels like. So that was the initial fear. And then the second part to that was a fear of failure. What if I do this and I fail? And so I had to get many coaches to help me To wow Many coaches along the way. Mindset coach first thing, because it's the mind. The mind is what keeps us back right. We can have a great idea, but if the mind is sort of you know, have these big blocks, we're not going anywhere.

Speaker 1:

So, jen, what was like? Do you remember the biggest break through, where you're like oh my God.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I do, she's there. I remember coaching with her and you know I have. And again, I work in a field where there is many constraints. You know you're working with the federal government and all these different contracts and there are many regulations and rules and guidelines. So I'm used to doing that. And when I came over into this world, I remember my mindset coach saying you know, you can do whatever you want, right? And I was like, oh wow, there's no rule. She said no, I couldn't, I couldn't. It took me a long time to dismantle what I was used to, to then come over in this sector and say, okay, it was a slow transition.

Speaker 1:

Wow. So when you said that you love options, that you're creative, did that just come through, that breakthrough, or was it Jen before and he had blocked it came?

Speaker 2:

to that breakthrough. So that was a massive ice. I call it a boulder that was moved.

Speaker 1:

So, jen, was it you having that blockage and it was removed, or did she open a new part of your mind that you didn't even know? That was there, the ladder? That is so cool. I mean, you're like a success story for this coach. Whoever you work with, that's amazing.

Speaker 2:

It is the first thing that I tell people they have to do, because really we create the blocks.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure, for sure. Then you said later on that COVID came and then you had no choice but to take the next step. So what made you believe that you had no choice but just to take your next step as a business owner?

Speaker 2:

Well, first of all, I mean I was stuck in the house.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that's true, that's a good point. And I am a mover, I have a lot of sensory needs and so I was a fitness instructor coach in my heyday. I was a runway model, so I'm always moving and so I was stuck and that felt so debilitating. Doing COVID, I had to use, if not my body, my brain. So I started to write things down. I started to just do brain dumps, mental flushes, just because the ideas were swimming.

Speaker 2:

I had the time, I had the opportunity, I had the bandwidth because I wasn't doing anything, I was just home and everything just started to flow. It was almost like a tsunami of ideas that came, and so I had this big journal book that I started to just do a brain dump and I just started to write what, if, what if, what if, what if this. And I joined coaching groups and I joined masterminds and those, in addition to what I was thinking of and those sort of it created sort of a community of safety. It's like you could never fail, because it's just trying something and if it doesn't work out then it's okay.

Speaker 1:

Right, I mean okay. So in that point do you believe in failure as such?

Speaker 2:

I consider it now as lessons learned.

Speaker 1:

And why do you say now Did you have a different perspective before this, this massive work you did?

Speaker 2:

I do. You know, I, yes, yes, because it's never a failure. It's always that You're trying until you whatever you want is connected. It's like you're trying until you get what you want. It's never like, oh, I'm a bomb, this fail, this is never gonna happen, it's okay, it's, it's fine. I guess it's my perspective of no, it's not. You just try something. You didn't work.

Speaker 2:

And I started to read out of biographies like you know, kfc and others who tried so many times and, of course, I had to go back and read. And so those those things, the mastermind groups, people who were sharing their own story and All of those, my, my mindset coach. I got a. I got a business coach. It was a woman and she started to tell me how she went from zero to two million and I was like, wow, you know so, wow, those kind and sort of the they poured into me and believe, believes in me.

Speaker 2:

So I, so I had, I think, no choice but to believe in myself. And again it is. It is quite a journey, but I think it's worth it if you believe in yourself and what you offer to the world. I think for me, what I wanted to make was more impact and I think that propelled me more than anything else. You know, I wanted to see life's change. I wanted to see woman achieve. I wanted to close the, the, the, the gender gap, the wage gap. I wanted to see those things materialized. Well, in order to do that, I had to do something.

Speaker 1:

There's something. So, as a as a business owner, now that Jen is here in this, in this place, how did you go about getting your first clients?

Speaker 2:

So what I do, is I network with, with my, my, my three target groups, which is, nonprofits in the community, face-based organizations and community-based organizations who have participants already in their programs. So what I do is I come in as a an expert in the field and Build curriculums around what their needs are, and so I'm always, you know, connecting with community groups, community colleges, libraries, you know even funeral homes. I funeral home hired me to come in and speak to their social workers. I never would have expected.

Speaker 1:

So once you started, just the possibilities kept popping up.

Speaker 2:

Just amazing, just it expanded in a way that I never imagined.

Speaker 1:

Wow, wow. So, jen, how do you balance your your full-time job with your business and your other responsibilities at home, like your fun and travel that you love to do? How do you balance out of those?

Speaker 2:

and I have a son, a teenager, so you could imagine his needs are great.

Speaker 2:

But you know he's independent, so that's good. And so what I do is I realize that because I love options and because I love fun, I had to decide of a business model that worked for me. Right, because I don't want to do business like everybody else. That's not who I am. So, as I begin to work with my business manager, I shared with her my struggle. I said listen, I want to have fun, I want to have a business, I have all these other applications. What do you think? And she says what, what would work for you? And I said I really don't want to work all the time. I really don't want to. I want to build it slow, because that's really my goal. I'm not into the hustle grind. I'm not into that. I'm not into. You know, I'm asking a mountain. Well, for this business, that's not the goal. My goal is impact, although I was have to make income.

Speaker 2:

So I started to do some research on what is a lifestyle design business. What is the lifestyle design business? So, as I said to do some research, and I read it, I said, oh my gosh, that's exactly. I didn't have the words for it, but that's exactly what I wanted to do and it's working around my business and my business working around me, and it simply means that I have this limited amount of time that I dedicate to the business, and it's within a seven-day period, and I get to decide that. Not on numbers, not on, and you know, if anybody's hearing this, they may say, well, she's not area into business. Well, I am, but in a way that suits me right, and so I have a. I work with people, with doing a lifestyle calculator in terms of what it. That's is why I came up with the word lifestyle, because if you want a certain lifestyle, that lifestyle is, is really the indicator of, then you finance it.

Speaker 2:

So, if I, if I want to live in a lavish home, then my lifestyle have to be completely different. If I want to have a lifestyle business, I know that my margins will be smaller, and that's okay. I know that my business will grow slower, and that's okay. That's because I've decided that.

Speaker 1:

So you basically set priorities, you, you Allocate a time for your business and then went from there on how, how much to invest towards that goal. That's right, that's right.

Speaker 2:

And so my core values is what's driving everything. So my anchor is my core values. So what are your core values?

Speaker 1:

Jen.

Speaker 2:

So my core values are faith, family, friends, freedom and fun. I love liberation, so I use those as my core values, and my business is that core values drives whatever it is else that I'm doing. So, coming back to that, if I'm not touching those five core values, then I'm not living in my zone, I'm not living my authentic self. And so when I, when, if I budget a certain time for my business whether it's I spend five hours on one day and one hour on the other day I've come to the terms where I can do whatever I want, and to me that's freedom.

Speaker 1:

So how do you balance that part with your full time employment?

Speaker 2:

I have a lifestyle calculator that I use and, again, I this is all part of my business plan that I have and I budget my energy, because most of you budget their time and their finances but they don't budget their energy, and I am a I'm a morning person and so I get very depleted at night because my energy is already drained. You know I've spent 90% of my energy. So I budget my energy to match my, my work, my ministry, my family, my home. My business is last on the agenda.

Speaker 1:

Huh. So what do you say when people criticize you about like you're not doing this seriously? You're, oh my God, cause I'm. I'm guessing people tell you that all the time, right.

Speaker 2:

I love it because because I have tangible evidence to show with this lifestyle calculator really helped me to really zero in on what matters the most. And for me, I talk about life, selling legacy to things go hand in hand. So if I say that I'm a lifestyle, if I say that I'm a lifestyle business, it has to reflect, I have to be more authentic self, reflect right what I do. And so for me, that lifestyle and legacy when I, when I'm at the end, I will not care of how much money I make, it would not be something that I would be having a conversation with, although I will have wealth because I plan very well. And so for me, legacy and lifestyle goes hand in hand.

Speaker 1:

So what is legacy for Jen?

Speaker 2:

Legacy means leaving, leaving something behind for generations to come that lasts for a lifetime. So when I'm gone? So what is it? When I'm gone? My impact in the world about changing lives, transforming families and allowing my deposits into the earth to transcend. So if I teach a mom, just as an example, if I teach mothers in those groups how to create, how to, how to build financial literacy, how to go from debt to assets to wealth, If I teach that these moms that quote financial literacy, they would be able to impact their children. The goal is they would be depositing what they learn into their children's lives. Their children's lives will be changed as a result of what they have learned, what they've understood, what they know and what they've implemented, because more is caught than taught.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so, jen, everything you described there, it's directly tied to your coaching business. So how did you come up, how did you conclude that the vessel, the mechanism to reach that legacy that is sound like, that is so important for you, was through your business? When did you come to that moment of clarity?

Speaker 2:

I realized that in order to create impact, you have to have masses. You have to have a mass of people and I realized if I do, if I serve one-on-one, it's great, it's okay, but I'm not going to make impact in the way that I would if I work with existing groups. So what I do, is.

Speaker 2:

I borrow people's audiences. People are already meeting for other reasons in community-based groups. Why not just use that as a catalyst to launch? Why not just use that as a way to say you know what? These people are already here for ESL, whatever classes they're there for, and I could story tell the idea that financial literacy is not taught in schools, really taught in homes and clearly not taught on any sort of civic or political level.

Speaker 2:

These individuals that are going to school called getting higher education, coming up with tons of debt. How is that going to help them to build legacy? How is it going to help them to pass it on to the next generation? What would happen if that family never learns of how to go from debt to assets? What if they never understood how to get a will, how to get life insurance? You know all these things that are life skills, basic life skills not being taught at that level. And so for me, it behooves me to begin to borrow people's audiences. Storytelling, which actually is one of the cultural ways that people actually tell stories in most countries, and it sticks right, it sticks, and I could tell stories all day long. I have many stories, but that's because I grew up with a storytelling mom, right.

Speaker 2:

And those stories believe it or not, actually is with me today, and that is why I know that it's a powerful mechanism to then create storytelling as a way to begin to make impact and then teach and then create legacy.

Speaker 1:

So how does all of that tie to you clicking that it was a business, the way of deploying this impact, Jen.

Speaker 2:

Well, because I sat in some of those groups. When I first came here, I was a part of the community. When I first came to this country, I was impacted by somebody coming in and sharing their program or project or whatever and I sat there thinking, wow, this is great information. I was a part of that and I realized wait a minute. This is one of the best ways to reach many people say the same thing and create educational opportunity that would impact their life and their children and their children for generations to come.

Speaker 1:

So I'm going to take a turn here what has been moments of biggest fear, now that you are in this journey as a business owner.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I've been money. It's funny. I was watching Shark Tank the other day. I love Shark Tank, it just gives me so much inspiration. But I was watching it and I was like you really have to have your thing, your stuff, together in order to do this, and I think one of the biggest fears is I don't want to say, pitching in front of companies. So I think I feel very comfortable doing that, but it's, I guess, closing the deal, closing the assigning on the dotted line.

Speaker 2:

And there's many, many times you reach out and that's when they say, yes, I really want you closing that deal and then making it airtight. I think that part is scary.

Speaker 1:

So tell us about the first time you closed the deal. Describe the moment.

Speaker 2:

It's crazy because you get that email or you get a call and they said we would love to work with you and you feel like, okay, it's like you don't even know what to say. We really like what you offer, really believe in what you do. And the first time I was a library innovation center I never even thought about going at an innovation center and library and they I don't know where, they saw me or they heard about me and they said they got on the phone and they said, oh my gosh, what you have is what we want. And I was like, okay, that's good, awesome, that is awesome. And so they brought their team members with you with them on another call and there was you know it's multiple calls and they're like, okay, when do we sign?

Speaker 1:

up. You're describing it very simple, but like what was it that moment? Like that for?

Speaker 2:

like you know, you talk about money. You talk about you know, I had to go back to the drawing board of my husband as my business development manager so I was hyperventilating. When I went to him my first time I said, honey, they want me. And he said, well, and he's an engineer, so his brain is very linear. So he says, okay, let's bring out the calculator. And he just went to town and he helped me disorder settle down so that I can begin to focus on okay, now they've actually to deliver, what are you going to do? That proposal ended up being a big deal because he is the business part of it. He helped me to narrow in and say you are serving this group of people, but you are also making impact and income.

Speaker 1:

Jen, one of the hardest things for consultants, for coaches, at the beginning of their journey, is to set prices. Yes, what has it been for you? The best strategy? And knowing that the highest profit is not your motivator, and given the population that you work with? So what is your strategy behind pricing?

Speaker 2:

You know that has come up. When I hired my business coach Coach, we ran the numbers because I'm a financial coach. But business finances is different, right. So it's different in that you really have to look at a very high level all the things that would cost me to run my business, every single thing, including my travel, including my time, and then reverse engineer that, right. Coming down to a place where you want to charge a feed, you want to charge per person, I mean there's all these different parts of it that I had to feel comfortable, feeling uncomfortable with charging a nonprofit. Yes, about the price that I know I was worth. I mean, it's not that I'm worth it, it's just that what I bring to them is valuable, right, and so the ROI is worth it With what I charge. And so I say to them it's an investment in not just your participants but in your agency and the community.

Speaker 1:

So does it still hard to set prices? Or you got no, you got it pretty much down. I got it down. Oh, that's super cool. That's super cool. Okay. So you talked about your vision of lifestyle and managing time. What is the future for your business, jeng? What do you envision?

Speaker 2:

You know I created a vision board two years ago and I shocked myself with the vision. It was so big. But that's just what coaches do, you know, they bring you out to the ledge. Yes, that's so scary, and then you just reel it back. So I envisioned myself training and teaching on a global level, and then training and teaching having a coaching school, this coaching university, specifically for this group of individuals.

Speaker 2:

You know the nonprofits, the faith base, because coaching is seen as someone who has extra money or it's a luxury or it's. You know, it's the sort of like thing I do because I have the finances. Coaching should be done in a way that's not. Coaching should be for everyone, because coaching takes you further. Right, it takes you further.

Speaker 2:

You know, there's this proverb that says if you want to go alone, if you want to go, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go further, go together. So for me, I think coaching really helps individuals to go further than they ever thought. I mean, it did me. And so for me, I feel that everyone, whether they're low income, moderate income or high income, should have access. None necessarily a coach, but have access to a coach.

Speaker 2:

Yes, Because most people are not thinking on a very self aware level. Everybody's just trying to make it happen, especially in those rooms, and so to have the opportunity, like everyone else, to have that sort of guide to take them places where they never thought they could. And they already have it in them, like we're not doing anything extra. They already have it in them, we just lift the fog. That should be available and accessible to anyone, and if I had a coach when I first came to this country, I would not have the scars that I did today. I would not have made the mistakes that I've made today. It took me so long to get to where I was and if I had a coach, I would have been so, jen, you've mentioned mistakes twice, so tell us about it.

Speaker 1:

I mean the good, the bad and the ugly here, the role stories, yeah, so the mistakes was that I struggled with not knowing and I couldn't nail down anything.

Speaker 2:

So I went to youth group. But I did. I interviewed social workers. And what if the mistake was that if I had just asked someone what is the thing that would bring me joy, if I had known to ask that question, I wouldn't have bounced around so much? I mean, I just wasn't a circle because I was put afraid to make a mistake.

Speaker 1:

So being afraid of making a mistake led you to like.

Speaker 2:

Many different things that had no connection.

Speaker 1:

How interesting, how interesting. And, jen, on your website you talk about your own position in terms of financial struggles and how you were able to manage those, and then so you are, in a way, your own client in a previous moment. So tell us about that and how you were able to get out of it and how that links to your why why you're so passionate about this.

Speaker 2:

The whole idea of my story, talking about this shopping issue that I had. Yes, so I was just trying to fill a void. I was just trying to fill a void and I went on talk about a mistake and so I shopped, and shopped, and shopped and really was blinded for years, not understanding there was something on the inside, something that was on the inside. I thought about filling the things on the outside and so when I really realized you know what this is, I can't stop myself, I need help. I hired a money coach, very skilled individual, who took me underneath her wings, and an ICF money coach, and she really helped me in a very deep way. I mean, I'm talking ugly, crying.

Speaker 2:

I wrote that on paper. Wow, in a way that you know, it was loss and grief and trauma, but then she brought me into the present and it was a really skilled way that she did it, because she wasn't a therapist I've had therapists who trust me but she was empathetic, she was compassionate, but she was also skilled in the art of saying to me you know, whatever you're struggling with, if you don't face it, you'll continue on that path. That's when I know the breakthrough happened, where I got to do this for others Like I had. This is deeper than I thought. It was so deep that I have journals worth of sessions that I wrote down.

Speaker 1:

For my audience. Jen, how do you connect how you were spending to trauma and that struggle? How do you connect those two?

Speaker 2:

Well, all of it was behavior, right, all of the outward manifestation of the shopping was just the behavior. It was just the it's called the top of the iceberg, the symptom, the symptom, the root of it. The root of it took a skilled coach who had, you know, experience and certifications in that neuroscience and you know how the brain works, and she educated me on my brain. She educated me on not just the behavior, because the behavior, again, is just a symptom. What was underneath, what was the subconscious? Drivers, the drivers is really the work that I do now with individuals.

Speaker 2:

I see that you're saying this, but here's what I'm seeing. You know, I see that this is playing out, but here's what you know. Can you help me understand? You know those kind of curious questions and the reflection came and the self-awareness came and the fog was lifted after a while. So those sort of I call it, we're excavators in a way. We're simply just pulling off the bandaid and looking at the wound, so to speak, and not going there because we're not therapists, but gently sort of saying, wow, did you know that this was here? Did you? Wow? And so that sort of compassionate at the same time, yet skilled, it's really an art and science, of doing that without getting into people's past. Because we don't get into people's past, we sort of look back very short and then we look forward.

Speaker 1:

So how long did it take you to go through that realization and then be healthy where your finances were under control?

Speaker 2:

And it took some. You know it took, it's not one and done right, it's a journey, right and so it took about three months because I had to do a lot of inner work besides the same, besides the sessions. So it's not just, you know, you see somebody one time and you have to do the work along with that piece of it. So that took about three months. And then, of course, a habitual accountability and you know the practice, and now it's it's like wow, okay, I've crossed that side. I still have a coach, though I mean, I still have a coach, not the money coach, but I still have a coach for business. But I feel like, if that, that if you don't do the work, you don't see the transformation.

Speaker 1:

Wow, Wow. I mean you're going into areas that I hadn't thought about just digging through for financial health, but that's so powerful Wow.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and you said it well financial health. That's exactly what it is. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Wow, okay, so the top three tactics that you recommend to go from debt free to assets, to wealth.

Speaker 2:

And this is going to sound really boring, but it is the number one is to create a monthly spending plan on a profit. Yes, every month, that's number one and that's just the basic right. And then the second one is this is a this is sort of a bit of a controversy, but I, I do debt free planning. I feel like debt gets in the way. Some people feel that debt is is, you know, you shark tank. You know beliefs and debt. I, I really believe that debt free planning is one of the ways to do that. In order to do that, you really have to focus on the debt and, at the same time, do some really investing at the same time, if you can. So savings, investing, those things are fundamentals, right. So, creating a spending I don't say budget because I feel it's very restrictive. I reframe all my names, so I say the spending plan. It sounds more fun.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

So you? So you create the spending plan on on purpose every single month and you create a sort of an investment, a pre-investment plan, to, at the same time, along with yours, along with your spending plan, and begin to track your spending, I can begin to tell you how many people have what I call money holes. A lot of gap, a lot of money holes and it looks like, oh, I got this, oh, I forgot, I got the Starbucks say, oh, if it could, I got this and they never track it and I'm like businesses do that They'll be bleeding. So you have to track your spending in whatever method you choose, whatever method you choose. That's really the foundation. And then start to invest compound interest. I love compound interest. It is the magic of savings and investing. So awesome.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much, jen. You gave us really simple, actionable items. For my audience, this may not sound sexy, this may not sound interesting, but if you want financial health, you need to start creating a spending plan per month, go on to debt free planning and investing and savings, and by that doing that, you'll realize whether or not you have money holes. So thank you for that very simple, actionable list of things, jen. I'm going to take another twist, one very important question for my podcast, where you expected to be successful as a businesswoman, jen. Yes, why Tell us? That was a very solid, confident yes.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think, I know and I believe that once you take a step of faith, you can't go back, you cannot fail, because you have opportunity ahead of you. I always believe that if you take a step of faith and you try something that doesn't work because you've taken a step of faith, it's almost like you will always go forward, you're going forward with every step that you make. You don't take step back, you take step forward. So forward means I am going to try to do something that will lead to success eventually. And success remember success looks different for everyone.

Speaker 1:

Words of wisdom for the aspiring women entrepreneurs who may be listening and are at the verge of taking their next step, or not.

Speaker 2:

I would say don't go alone. I'm a collaborated heart and I really believe that proverb, that African proverb that talks about if you go together with thoughts, with clarity, with a plan. I believe that with together, collaborating with others in a very thoughtful way, leads to compound interest. I love it. The compounding effect of partnerships is key and doing groups and stuff really helps to create momentum.

Speaker 1:

The compound effect of the community. I've never heard it like that, but I love it. I am going to steal it from you. One last question, Jen. If you have to summarize your business ownership journey in one word, what would that be? Roller coaster. Jen, it has been a pleasure to have this conversation with you. Thank you for all the wisdom, the insights and the actionable items that you gave us today for all of us to consider and really go ahead and take their next step. I really appreciate your time. For my audience, this is just another great conversation. Please consider taking action upon these very important, simple steps that will reflect in the better future, not only yours but of your family and your loved ones. So until next time, more to come with unexpectedly successful.

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Dr. Griselda Martinez

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