Episode 9

Season 2

Hey Introverted Entrepreneurs, The World is Waiting for You

Welcome Jen Jones, with Connect and Elevate, to Saturday Soundbites! She uses her skills and expertise to help introverts tap into their gifts to authentically connect with others to grow their businesses.

Jen and Veronica discuss some of the classic challenges that introverts, and extraverts have in both networking in person and virtually. Jen coaches her clients on how to recharge and tap into their natural gifts to be effective, especially with their visibility strategy.

All you introverts, tune into this powerful episode of Saturday Soundbites!

You can learn more about Jen and the strategies she shares with her community on her website - www.connectandelevate.com.

[00:00:00] Veronica: Hello. Hello and welcome to Saturday soundbites. I'm your host, Veronica Sofer. And I'm thrilled to be here with you for another conversation. That's really going to help you with your visibility strategy. You know, here on Saturday soundbites, we talk about all things, advertising, marketing, public relations, networking.

[00:00:18] All of those components that really fit together to help you build your business, whether it's an entrepreneurial venture online or traditional brick and mortar profession, we've got great tips and strategies that are going to help you put it all together. And a lot of that work starts with understanding how you process and how you work best and honoring that.

[00:00:36] And so I've got a guest today that's really going to dive into. Space, especially for your introverts to, um, get some strategies. But before we get started, let's take care of some housekeeping. If you are listening on the podcast, make sure you hit subscribe. We don't want you to miss any episodes and Saturday sound on your favorite podcast platform.

[00:00:53] If you're watching on Facebook or on YouTube, make sure you drop some comments. So my guests and I can go back and connect. We will go ahead and get this conversation started by inviting Jen Jones up to the stage. Hello, how are you? 

[00:01:06] Jen: Good. How are 

[00:01:07] Veronica: you? I am fantastic. And I'm very excited about our conversation today because I think a lot of listeners are going to get some great value.

[00:01:15] Um, so Jen, you are an introvert entrepreneur and I don't really know what that means. So I want you to kind of share with our audience, um, what it is you 

[00:01:25] Jen: do and how you got there. All right. Well, that's what I, I was like, well, I'm going to have to tell a little story first. So I had always described myself as an ambivert cause I was always out there networking and really connecting with people.

[00:01:40] And as I. Older and really dug into going to more networking events. I kept hearing people say, oh my gosh, I see you everywhere. I hate networking. I hate getting out, coming and talking with people. I really just. I stay in my office or stay at home and I'm like, geez, like, it just seems weird that, you know, people who are showing up really don't want to be here.

[00:02:06] And so it took me quite a while of like, getting to know and hearing this over and over again, to realize that the people that were coming up to me were introverts. Typically where I'm not working it's with other entrepreneurs. And I had to sit back and think, because I identified as an ambivert, which really is just someone who can get out there and talk to people, actually enjoying sometimes, you know, those big groups and definitely the smaller groups and then coming home and being able to rejuvenate on my own.

[00:02:40] So that's where I get my energy. I get my energy from going inward. Experts get their energy from going outward and being with other people. That's how they get their energy. So as an introverted entrepreneur, which didn't happen until early 20, 20 as we headed into the pandemic was, oh my God. I'm an introvert.

[00:02:59] And I keep saying I'm an ambivert. And I realized that I think I was saying an ambient part because I didn't want to identify as an introvert because in our culture it is very extrovert based. And if you think about, when you think about it and introvert, you think of shy, weak, someone who, you know, really shouldn't be in business.

[00:03:19] Those are just some of the things that people think about when they hear introvert. Nevermind, introverted entrepreneur. And so that's where connecting elevate, really birth into being a place to come together as introverts and be coached in bringing you through the skills, looking at your introverted gifts and how can you run your business on deep, meaningful relationships.

[00:03:44] So that's where it all came from. 

[00:03:48] Veronica: Yeah, that's fascinating. And I love that there was reflection inside of that and, um, ownership in, in how it is you showed up, because I think you're right. I think in our culture, um, extroverts are celebrated and the, um, maybe they might come across as, um, much more courageous or more bold when that isn't necessarily the case.

[00:04:09] It's it's, it's just the way it's society has kind of categorized our skillsets. 

[00:04:15] Jen: Correct. 

[00:04:16] Veronica: Yeah. So tell me a little bit about what an introvert might struggle with, especially in the online space, because I, um, as you were talking, it occurred to me that the people that I think identify as introverts, still show up boldly and their businesses, and I'd love your perspective on.

[00:04:35] Jen: Yeah. So there are introverts that are amazing leaders and are amazing business owners. So someone who can, you know, those are what I call introvert gifts is, you know, we, as introverts can be leaders and we can be successful entrepreneurs. We just have to, we have to take a different path. So for one, and probably the number one thing that I talk about with my introverted entrepreneurs is energy.

[00:05:03] So although we can go to networking events that are a couple of hours long on zoom and some introverts actually prefer to be on zoom, they don't want to go back to going into in-person, but for the most part, it can be really difficult, even for myself to spend two hours on zoom. During a networking event, even if I know people, it's just, it's a long time.

[00:05:29] And especially if it's in the evening and I haven't paid attention to my energy level, I could be going into that meeting. And I'm on red, you know, like your cell phone, it gets to red and I haven't taken the time to get that to, you know, 90 a hundred percent. So then I'm drained when I'm going in there.

[00:05:46] So. Even showing up in my best self. Maybe I take a break from the video, maybe I go to the bathroom. So it's one of those things where we have to really pay attention as introverts to our energy, because things that are draining, we have to identify. And that's really something that I work with my clients on and we have a free tool kit and all that stuff where we look at what drains your battery.

[00:06:11] Cause what drains my energy might be different from what drains someone else's. But once we can identify that, then we can go through and figure out, okay, do I need a full charge or do I just need a mini charge to sort of get through the rest of the day? So I'm going to go with my answer. My last answer is energy awareness is the biggest thing to pay attention to.

[00:06:37] Veronica: I love that. And I love the phone analogy. Talk to me about what it looks like when you need to recharge, because you talked about. Small bits of time, bigs bits of time. W what does that look like for the average person? 

[00:06:53] Jen: So for the, you know, the introverts that I know and have talked to the biggest thing for them is other people's energy.

[00:07:02] So other people's energy is draining for them. So even if you know, they're doing one-on-one, you know, maybe their kids too, so other people, so not just like clients or people in their business, you know, it's maybe it's family. So other people's energy affects. Most introverts energy. And if we're not paying attention or another thing, which I am, I was just saying the other day, last Friday, I booked myself back to back to back to back for things back to back without any white space.

[00:07:35] So it's other people's energy and it's, self-inflicted things like not putting white space in your calendar because. 30 minutes an hour in between things give you the opportunity to actually breathe for two minutes and be intentional about grounding yourself. Because when we're not grounded, then we're just trying to we're grasping at whatever we can to get that red into the black.

[00:08:01] And it doesn't usually makes it worse. 

[00:08:04] Veronica: Right. So tell me a little bit about some of the grounding techniques, because you read a lot of different things. Sometimes a coach might recommend some. I listened to Bernay brown. She's got some wonderful tips, but I'd love to hear from you what works really well.

[00:08:19] When folks need to ground, especially 

[00:08:21] Jen: introverts. Yeah. So like I said, breathing is really one of them and it also shifts just how you're thinking of in the moment, especially if you're like stressed or overwhelmed. Um, another tool that I use to get grounded is actually a brain dump. So if you have time and you're feeling like you can't, you can't get anything because you're just so crazy in your head, a brain dump.

[00:08:45] Absolutely we'll work. And then I go into other stuff, but the brain dump actually gets it on paper out of your mind. And then if you have 10 or 15 minutes, or if you have a longer period of time, you can go outside and take a walk. So I'm in Massachusetts. So it's really cold out right now. And I don't like the cold, so I wouldn't necessarily go do that.

[00:09:05] I mean, in 

[00:09:05] Veronica: Texas, in Texas, we can do that. So. 

[00:09:10] Jen: Um, if the sun is out, what's nice, is it comes in through my slider and I'll be like a cat and I'll go and like find the nice sun to come and warm me up just enough to like breathe and maybe do a little better journaling to ground us in the moment because, you know, you know, it's not just an introvert issue.

[00:09:29] It's really entrepreneurs, brains just have a hard time shutting off. And so when we can be grounded breathing, Writing, whether it's brain dumping or journaling, or just getting out into nature or just super helpful for anybody. So whoever's listening. This is for anybody to really get grounded and be in the present moment and stop worrying about the future.

[00:09:52] What happened in the past? 

[00:09:54] Veronica: No, those are really great tips. And I'm curious, you know, um, about. The struggles that an introvert might have when they're trying to promote something. So like, for example, if there's a product launch or a service launch, From the visibility perspective, your PR person, your PR coach will say, okay, these are the things you need to do.

[00:10:15] You need to be here. We need to book this, we're going to do this interview. Then the next day you're going to do a podcast. And then right after that, you're going to do and use interview, um, on zoom. And so we book people out, really pushing, um, what we might call immediate tour or campaign. And I'm wondering how you help on, um, introvert.

[00:10:34] Who have that entrepreneurial spirit really connect with the value that being out there will be versus the need they have for self care. Because I, my guess is that's probably the biggest struggle for folks who are trying to do that. 

[00:10:49] Jen: Yeah, it's a, it is a big struggle. And you know, for myself, I get carried away too.

[00:10:55] And I know other entrepreneurs, they get excited about this stuff, but then when the time comes, they like, ah, maybe I, maybe I just won't do that. So some of the things that we talk about and. Let me back up for a minute. And so the basis of that always comes back to the entrepreneur's confidence so we can build the skills for visibility, but if you don't have the confidence in what you're doing and what you're talking about, then they're going to struggle.

[00:11:24] They're going to be completely depleted. When they have confidence in their product and services, and they've had a couple podcasts, maybe they've done small group things, which is where I try to have people start to begin with, you know, some introverts don't even want to do lives. They're like, I'll record it.

[00:11:44] I'm like, Hey, one step at a time once, week, I don't want you going back and editing every piece of every piece of that video that you recorded. And so it's these what I call baby steps to come. Because once we, we, as introverts or even any entrepreneur become really confident in what we're talking about, then showing up and being here like this morning, I, I did nothing else, but take care of myself this morning because I knew that this does take energy.

[00:12:12] And usually it gets me excited because I love conversational style. And I'm talking about something that I'm really passionate about, that the entrepreneurs that are introverts have these little baby steps, you know, they'll, they'll do small things at first to build their confidence. And then we're going to, you know, you talk about visibility and we're going to get out there.

[00:12:32] And it's like, okay, what about doing a workshop? What about, you know, doing some one-on-ones with people that you can partner with or do a collaboration. So. The foundation has confidence. 

[00:12:44] Veronica: That makes complete sense. And I love that. Um, the words you use in your business are, so I think connected to that, um, because it's, it's a multi-faceted and you got to come, come at it from a lot of different ways and, um, connect and elevate is really.

[00:13:02] The challenge that a lot of us have, but I think maybe a introvert struggle with it and just a different way just shows up differently, I think for some folks. And so how do you work with clients, um, who are ready to do it? They've they've got taken those baby steps. They maybe have done some of the things to prepare them for the work.

[00:13:23] What do you do next with them? 

[00:13:24] Jen: Yeah. To two things it's sort of crossroad is someone who wants to really dig into something really specific. I offer VIP days, which are really tailored to that one or two things that they want to get done in their business and move forward. And, and then I also have a four month one-on-one VIP coaching program that I help people go from where they are.

[00:13:50] Everyone's in a different spot to being more visible being in that. So one of my biggest things that I talk about, I talked about it this morning is being in the spotlight, but it's building that confidence up. And if they're not there, how do you move through all of that paying attention to one, your energy or weirdness, paying attention to how are you cultivating relationships in your business?

[00:14:13] Because. In my business and the people that I work with, it's all meshed together. We're friends, we're businesses. We have everyone in our circle that we really love on, and we want to build more deep, meaningful relationships that bring out those what I call master connectors. People who would stand on top of a mountain and shout like Jen Jones, connected, elevate, go meet her, you know, and there are introverts who will shout from the mountaintop about somebody.

[00:14:44] But not about themselves. So it's working through, how do you get there? How do you get out and network and pay attention to your energy? How do you build your business? So that in the end, your working by referrals, repeat clients? Yeah. Bringing in the income that you really want your bottom line matters and you don't have to go out there.

[00:15:05] And I say cold call, not really cold calls anymore, maybe in real estate, which I also do the cold calling or the cold messages. You're really honing in on your introvert gifts by building those deep, meaningful relationships, whether it's one-on-one small group, larger networking groups in person, or I say on zoom, but there are other platforms.

[00:15:28] So online. 

[00:15:30] Veronica: Right. Right. And I love the way you talked about that. Um, because I feel like the pandemic change the way a lot of people do business. And I'll give you an example. Um, we've got folks who were, who thrived in those face-to-face networking situations that you described, and then they went to virtual.

[00:15:49] When the pandemic started and then all of a sudden their energy shifted or the way they started connecting with people shifted and some folks aren't okay. Transitioning back. So I'm curious how the more traditional introvert that you work with has dealt with it because it seems to me. From my side of the table, they would be doing better because they like it better.

[00:16:11] But I don't know that that's true. So 

[00:16:14] Jen: you know what, there's two groups here and they're probably pretty equal. So you have the people who are like, please, I never want to go back in person. Well, maybe one-on-one coffees, but otherwise I love being online. It's the best thing ever. And then you have other people which I fell into this category for a little while, which was, if I have to go on one more zoom call, I'm going to like.

[00:16:36] It's just it's dreadful. And then I started doing one-on-one coffees. It was in September. It was when things sort of were like, oh, the kids are back to school, let's go and have coffee. And that was so energizing. I left those one-on-one meetings going. I never going back on zoom. And so here we are, you have these two people or at least two groups of people.

[00:17:01] One who were going online, one who really want to thrive on in person and ultimately what people are doing right now, because they're either exhausted or they're thriving is they're looking at where is my energy and time going to be best spent because they've just spent the last year or two getting to know everyone and anyone, and being in like 30 different groups to wait them.

[00:17:26] I need to run my business too. And so groups bring the most value to me and that I can bring to them. And so I'm doing that with a lot of my clients right now is evaluating as we're in the new year. Where are we networking? And is that in-person or on zoom? And it's usually. What I'll call hybrid, you know, it's, it's a little bit of both, but it's a lot more one-on-ones people want to connect more one-on-one than they do, even in small groups right now.

[00:17:55] Veronica: Yeah. And I think I fall into that category too, because there was a time when the zoom fatigue was real and, um, I really just wanted to physically be in people's space. And then when we started opening up, I got a lot of energy from it. And then I appreciated the benefits of connecting on zoom and most.

[00:18:13] Hi, right. Because you can connect with more people and, um, create more opportunities, especially if geography is an issue for folks. And I'm assuming your business is, is pretty, um, widespread across the country. Yes. 

[00:18:27] Jen: Yep. I even have people in the UK, so it's definitely widespread. And so zoom works really well, but let me tell you, being in person is I started a mom per newer group, like four or five years ago.

[00:18:41] And so those, you know, moms. Mom entrepreneurs. We're not all introverts. Some of them are extroverts and they still get, you know, lots of value from things that I have to say, because we are in this different place. When you know, talking, you know, networking on zoom, getting on zoom, lots of the tips that I just talked about.

[00:19:04] Extroverts are like, oh, I never thought of that. Oh yeah. I kinda need a break right now from that. Everyone seems to be benefiting from, you know, listening to their bodies instead of going back two years ago that maybe that worked then, but isn't working anymore. 

[00:19:20] Veronica: Yeah, no. And that's a great reminder and I loved your grounding tips.

[00:19:23] I think they were fantastic. Well, gin definitely connect and elevate.com is your website. For those of you listening on our podcast, the link will be in the show notes, any parting words for our guests. I mean, for our audience, I want to make sure that they can connect with our guests as often as possible on Saturday soundbites.

[00:19:39] And I think you've really provided a lot of great insight for those of us who are reflecting right now and trying to figure out how to move forward with our visibility and just our businesses and general. 

[00:19:49] Jen: Yeah. So I would love to be able to share my book. Um, intrepreneur with the, or intrepreneur, which is the introverted entrepreneur.

[00:19:59] It is on Amazon. It is a net. It's an international bestselling book. I can't even believe I, I say that I, every time I say it, I'm still in awe and it isn't just for the introvert. The extroverts have also, you know, given feedback saying this is a great book and great tips out there. So if you're looking for your next book to sit on your nightstand or your desk, please go onto Amazon and look up intro.

[00:20:27] I love 

[00:20:27] Veronica: it. All right, Jen, you've been fantastic. I appreciate all the tips. Check it out. Connect and elevate.com is her website reach out to Jen. Um, she's a great resource. And if you've got a Facebook group or community, that's looking for some resources, I can tell you that it's very valuable content. And I think that your community would love it.

[00:20:46] So with that, Jen, I will thank you so much for joining the show. 

[00:20:50] Jen: Thank you. 

[00:20:52] Veronica: All right, guys, that wraps up this episode of Saturday soundbites connect and elevate.com. Check out her book. It is available on Amazon. Jen is a great resource and there's a lot of work that all of us can be doing to grow our businesses.

[00:21:06] And this is a conversation just for introverts. Extroverts can definitely learn and grow from it too. So if you are looking to grow your visibility strategy, just know that there are all kinds of resources out there, and it really starts with some of the foundational work that you can do with your mind.

[00:21:20] So with that, I'm going to wrap up this episode of Saturday soundbites by wishing you lots of positive energy and light.