With Nicole Jansen, founder of Discover The Edge and host of the Leaders Of Transformation Podcast. Nicole has been on a mission to empower entrepreneurs for the past 30 years. Her vast experience in business, leadership and human behavior along with overcoming adversity in her own life has uniquely equipped her to bring out the best in others. Her coaching clients span 5 continents and range from start-up entrepreneurs focused on growing their business to industry leaders looking to use their influence to make a greater impact in the world.

Nicole shares how she learned early on “the effect of poor leadership, ego and greed” as she watched her parents build a very successful business only to have it fall apart. Nicole focuses on training business owners and visionary leaders to play to their strengths, grow their business and make a greater impact in their community.

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Biggest takeaways (or quotes) you don’t want to miss:

• Why Nicole says getting into a business with someone is like marriage.
• “When emotion goes high, intelligence goes down.”

Check out these highlights:

• 6:30 How watching her parents build a successful business and seeing it fall apart influenced Nicole’s entrepreneurship journey.
• 11:45 “The reason I’m so passionate about leadership is because I know the effect of poor leadership, ego and greed.”
• 25:57 Why Nicole believes “in order to be a great coach you have to have done the inner work yourself”.
• 34:36 The Results Model Nicole uses.
• 42:00 On why every business owner should have a good lawyer, a good accountant, a good financial advisor and a good business that coach that brings it all together.
• 51:03 Nicole leaves us with this, “Get back to why you started your business, your why.”

How to get in touch with Nicole:

On social media:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolejansen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeadersOfTransformation
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeadersPodcast

Learn more about Nicole here. 

Imperfect Show Notes

We are happy to offer these imperfect show notes to make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who prefer reading over listening. While we would love to offer more polished show notes, we are currently offering an automated transcription (which likely includes errors, but hopefully will still deliver great value), below.

GGGB Intro 0:00
Here’s what you get on today’s episode of Guts, Grit & Great Business™…

Nicole Jansen 0:04
You got to look at who are you getting in business with? It’s like a marriage. And it’s as complicated or even possibly even more complicated to unwind that later because now it’s not just about you know, it’s like kids you got you got children involved, you got all this other stuff going on, you know, grandkids maybe depending on how the length of time that marriage has been around. Well, business the same way you got people involved, you’ve got customers, you got a brand, you’ve got reputation, you got all these things. So not to not to scare your audience. Oh my gosh, like I have done this whole workout, you know ahead of time. But you’ve got to have a starting point and build that foundation.

GGGB Intro 0:44
The adventure of entrepreneurship and building a life and business you love, preferably at the same time is not for the faint of heart. That’s why Heather Pearce Campbell is bringing you a dose of guts, grit and great business stories that will inspire and motivate you to create what you want in your business and life. Welcome to the Guts, Grit & Great Business™ podcast where endurance is required. Now here’s your host, The Legal Website Warrior®, Heather Pearce Campbell.

Heather Pearce Campbell 1:17
All righty, welcome. I am Heather Pearce Campbell, The Legal Website Warrior®. I’m an attorney and legal coach based here in Seattle, Washington and serving entrepreneurs throughout the US and around the world. Welcome to another episode of Guts, Grit & Great Business™. I am super excited for you to hear from my friend and our guest today. Nicole Jansen. Welcome, Nicole.

Nicole Jansen 1:43
Thanks for having me, Heather. It’s exciting to be here and continue this conversation that we had on my podcast.

Heather Pearce Campbell 1:49
Yes, a few years, right? Yeah. So Nicole and I have been connected for a few years and trying to think how we first got connected. That must have been through a mutual friend or LinkedIn one of my favorite ways. But yeah, I was on Nicole’s podcast and then we’ve been in touch ever since and did a mastermind group together. And anyways, I am a big fan of Nicole. For those of you that don’t know Nicole, Nicole Janssen has been Empowering Entrepreneurs for over 30 years. Her vast experience in business leadership and human behavior, along with overcoming adversity in her own life has uniquely equipped her to bring out the best in others. Her coaching clients spanned five continents and range from startup entrepreneurs focused on growing their business to industry leaders looking to use their influence to make a greater impact in the world. She is the founder of discover the edge and host of the leaders of transformation podcast, reaching listeners in over 140 countries. Now I think Nicole, you’re just down the coast for me right?

Nicole Jansen 2:56
Now. That’s right.

Heather Pearce Campbell 2:57
I know you go San Diego. Yes, I love all my California friends and being in the same timezone helps when it comes to connecting. Welcome, I’m so happy to have you here today. And so happy to have a podcast where I get to, you know, have a conversation with you, because I’m not sure that we have connected since I launched the podcast.

Nicole Jansen 3:23
I think the last time we were talking was when you were launching and you had the you had the images. And you were sending them to me like what do you think about this? What do you think about that? And they were so nice. I was so impressed right off the bat, like, I know she’s going to be successful, just because you’re already a success and you do things well with excellence. But when I saw your images, I was like, ah, that’s just, that’s gonna land so well. So congratulations.

Heather Pearce Campbell 3:47
Thank you. You know, it’s been so fun. I tell people, it’s been one of the best things to come out of this COVID timeframe for me. So, you know, I know, obviously, you’re in and my relationship goes back before this episode. So I know a few things about you. For folks that don’t tell us like share a few of what you consider to be some of your favorite highlights. From your early days in business. How did you get started? Where did your interest in business come from? Right. I always love to hear especially from entrepreneurs about their roots.

Nicole Jansen 4:24
Sure, well, there’s some highlights and then there’s some little light I’m Lola got both of those going on.

Heather Pearce Campbell 4:35
We welcome them all. We have shared plenty of low lights right this podcast being called guts, grit and great business. Sometimes it’s the low lights that really make us

Nicole Jansen 4:45
That’s right. And I think I started off in a low light and then went highlight low light. So for me, I started off my parents were entrepreneurs. I started off in business when I was in my teens. I knew I wanted to be a business I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I just knew that I wanted to be in business. And so I registered my company at 16 years old. By then I was already helping my parents and their business and helping someone else in a family member in a family friend, I should say, in business as well. And so I was just like knee deep in the sort of like the back end of business. But when I started my own business, and it was more, getting to that front end of sales and marketing and getting out there, and so I actually started out going door to door. I mean, I didn’t know much about what to do and how to do it. But I just figured out that if I got a product that I could sell at wholesale, buy at wholesale sell at retail, find the customer, make the connection, you know, that I could be successful. And so anyway, so I started doing that I literally went door to door to different businesses, and I was selling fax machines, and they quickly realized they didn’t like fax machines didn’t care about those there was brand new, that’s I’m dating myself, but they were literally brand new in the market. And then I quickly went to other things and, and ended up selling like all sorts of different things from from products to services, technology to whatever. And I learned I that’s where I cut my teeth. And I learned so much in that process. And then meanwhile, I was helping my family and their business. And that’s where we, we actually built it to be very, very successful. And then it fell apart. And that’s the low light. And and it was I learned a lot on the way up. But I actually learned more on the way down and in reflecting back on what just happened and where does that leave me and what do I do next. And that’s really what birth my coaching my training company initially. And then I headed the coaching piece, very shortly after discover the edge shortly after, as people started asking me to mentor them and coach them in their businesses and their, you know, life and so forth. And so that’s really where it all started.

Heather Pearce Campbell 7:05
Yeah, wow, that well, quite a journey. And there’s so many people, I think in business that, you know, have a different story, but a similar, a similar, you know, path as far as creating something, losing something like starting even from very challenging circumstances. Can I ask you a couple of questions about that family business?

Nicole Jansen 7:28
Absolutely.

Heather Pearce Campbell 7:29
So is and I’m trying to think if I if I knew that you had such a young start, like as a teenager in business, I love that. So it sounds like it was something that just kind of clicked for you. And you had a natural interest in and then being part of a family that was entrepreneurial, I’m sure had some influence there as well. For sure. Yeah. What, um, what what was it that happened that caused the business to fall apart? What was the business? How did it fall apart? I am curious what your takeaways and lessons from that particular part of the journey were? Yes, so

Nicole Jansen 8:06
We had built this eight figure business had business in multiple countries around the world, it was going really well. In fact, I thought we all thought that’s what we were going to do for the rest of our life. And so I had kind of, I had my own business, but I had focused more and more of my attention here because it was just so we had vertical growth was just amazing. And it was in the direct sales business and my dad owned garage businesses and franchises and so forth previously, and we ended up replacing that income with this business so he had sold those businesses was all in with with the direct sales business. And then you know, what happens in a lot of times and there’s some great things with that industry. There’s also some downsides in the industry in terms of egos people get their ego out of check, you know, and, and what actually happened is that we had you add a few zeros on to the end people get all crazy about you know, greedy about money and so forth. And what happened was our upline actually want one out of it of power trip, okay. And so they wanted to do their own thing and want all the credit and all of the, the benefit of it, and it was in so when, when, long story short, when they started to do their own thing and wanting to do that. It created confusion. It created dissension, they started to undermine my parents leadership, and trying to build relationships go around my parents to build relationships and say, well, they don’t know what they’re talking about. Listen to me. And so all of this started to create confusion where we had so much momentum. And then it was my parents were in the situation where they’re like, What do we do with this right like to we d edify our, our upline team because that’s not what we’re supposed to be doing. So they tried to hide it and they tried to this you know, things over work out, it’ll all work out, and I’ll be okay. And I’m sitting there thinking, Now this is not going to go, Well, I just had this feeling this is going to go really bad. And so part of the reason and so we take responsibility for the, the lack of leadership, the lack of ownership and saying, you know, what, we need to go a different direction, to be able to salvage what we can and, and just do that. And so my parents had a hard time they were loyal to a fault, if you will, and great, great quality. But in this particular case, it caused a lot of issues. And, and so anyway, that’s why we’re the confusion, people stop, they check out they’re like, I don’t know, it was so great. And now i It’s all weird, and I don’t want to get involved. And so they started checking out. And and so first of all, it was slowly and then of course, it picked up momentum, and you get this, you know, the momentum that we had in one direction, it was the upward climb, then quickly turned around. And it went just it was so fast, when really when you look at how quickly it fell apart. And the difficult thing about it was all the relationships talking about 1000s of people that we had relationships with my parents, you know, this was like they had it sold or other businesses. This is the we’re all in I was I was my my, my mid 20s. Right. So for me, I mean, yeah, I had, I had not gone to university, and not I was going to go to law school funny now. So you know, I didn’t do that, because I was already in the business. And I was younger, to be able to, to pivot and to go into the next phase of my life. And then there were a lot older, and it was difficult for them. So watching how they responded to it was a great lesson. Leadership. That’s a lot of the reason why I’m so passionate about leadership, because I know the effect of poor leadership, I know the effect of ego, and greed. And, you know, being out of integrity and having yourself putting yourself first before a mission. So that’s why I’m always talking about being mission driven. My parents were mission driven. But there’s a point where you’ve got to also look at what’s actually going on, and not ignore the the signs of it right and saying, you know, we need to, we need to take the bull by the horns, if you will. And yeah, lead this in a different direction.

Heather Pearce Campbell 12:18
Yeah. Do you think that there would have been a way like, as you look back at that experience, could it have been salvaged? Were there protections that could have been put in place? Like was it about not having clarity in that particular relationship? Right? business relationships are so key to our success, and they can make or break a business, depending on how that business manages its relationships? Right? Yeah. Was it about not having clarity within the relationship? Or was it? Was it more just a mismatch of values?

Nicole Jansen 12:52
Yeah, there was definitely the second, you know, it was definitely a mismatch of values. So their values are different than our values, the way why we built the business versus why they built the business. We’re different ultimately. And so that fundamentally, and you know, I, we had seen the signs long, long before, this was not really a surprise, right?

Heather Pearce Campbell 13:16
He had seen some red flags. I call those red flags, right?

Nicole Jansen 13:19
Yeah. But you see in that industry, that the challenge with that industry, is that you’re stuck, right? It’s not like you, you know, unless you move your entire team, which you really can’t do. Right, so, but you’re there like, you can’t fire your upline, if you well, you can’t, you know, even your downline, you can’t really fire them, you’re kind of like stuck. So you want to choose the people you’re in business with really wisely. And that’s for any business, but especially that business. And so, you know, there was this mismatch, where it was really about, as I said, like them having the credit, and the one particular was the wife, especially in the in the relationship, but it wasn’t even just, you know, one particular person, although she was that catalyst, but there was others that kind of, you know, you have a bunch of people that, you know, some people have never had a business before. Some people are very savvy, my parents attracted some very savvy business owners. But there’s some people that have never been in business for themselves. This is their first experience. They’ve not been taught really to be a leader and an IT company or to translate some of those skills over. And so this is their first experience. And now it’s like, they’re all that more and they’re getting all this act, these accolades and everything, and it can go to people’s heads. And I’ve seen that many, many times over. And so I just have a different perspective. Even when I see people that are successful. I say that i respect success. I honor respect, I do not success. I do not idolize it and there’s a difference, right? So I look at and say, Wow, congratulations. But I also know that that person, I’m not putting them on a pedestal not expecting to be perfect. They’re human, right? And so I don’t I’ve learned one of the things I’ve learned is not to follow. So blindly, which we see a lot right now, with all these gurus and everything that follow blindly this person, this person said, and so forth, I take all this information, thank you very much for sharing, I appreciate all that. And then I take it under advisement and filter it through my own life experience. And for me, I’ve I do use the Bible as it is also a way to filter it through but God’s word, it’s like what’s worked for 1000s of years, you know, what, some principles, right? It’s like, looking at those principles and saying, Does this make sense is this land well, and then go and make my decisions from there. And so that’s where when you’re, when you don’t have those core values put in place right up front, if you don’t have a mission, and even with your team and have agreements around and say, Look, this is where we’re going. And if somebody gets off track, you can say, hey, wait a second timeout. This is what we’re here for. Let’s remember, what we, you know, we’re in marriages are like that, you know, we have to remember why we’re here. What was the initial intent, when the emotions are high, intelligence goes down. So we need to bring the emotions down, calm down, we will look at it objectively, and what’s really going to work for us all to win, versus an either or scarcity mindset, which is, you know, somebody is going to be more successful, or if you are more successful, or you get more credit than I get less, and all this stuff that’s just messy. It’s not it’s not necessary, doesn’t have to be that way.

Heather Pearce Campbell 16:36
Yeah, well, I mean, I can see that that’s such a clear example of how quickly things can go sideways. When you don’t have certain key things in place for your business, write the time for a mission statement, to carve out your values to, you know, have a really clear statement about, about what you’re doing as a team and a company and where you are at in the marketplace and what your collective goals are time to have those in place is before you’re bringing on and building out team, right? Because once you have the wrong person in a seat, can be really hard to correct things that relate so deeply down to like a human’s core values, right?

Nicole Jansen 17:22
Yeah, yeah. Well, it’s like, if you’re building a house, I just had this picture. If you’re building a house, and a storm comes, you know, the time to build the foundation, and all of that is not during the storm. It’s before the storm. And I love that one of my mentors. Years later, we’re having this conversation was explaining about this idea of having a code of honor, and not just your values, but how you live out those values. What do they practically look like? You can say, respect as a core value? What does that actually mean? What does it mean to to support each other in, you know, what does it mean to be mission driven? What is what what did some of these things actually mean? And so when he described it, and the importance of it, and how it holds a team together, even in, in the midst of under pressure, and so forth, I was like light bulbs are going off. And I was like, You’re just describing exactly what wasn’t in place that we needed in place. And if it were in place, we probably going to save yourself a lot of a lot of heartache. And so that’s nowadays it’s like I talk to clients, and that’s where I get to learn all the stuff that mistakes we made the life lessons and all that I get to help business owners and leaders to avoid some of those same mistakes. You know, I don’t usually work with direct sales businesses, I do I have I have, but that’s not really my focus area. But I talk about traditional businesses the same, the same thing like you said, you put somebody in a seat, especially in a seat, let’s say of partnership. And you know, one of my another mentor of mine actually said something which really stuck with me says you can’t do a good deal with a bad partner. Now, the funny part is, is the guy who actually said that became a bad partner. But anyway, that’s a whole another story, right? So you know, it’s true, though, right? Is you got to look at who are you getting in business with? It’s like a marriage. Yeah. And it’s as complicated or even possibly even more complicated to unwind that later because now it’s not just about you. It’s like kids you got you got children involved, you got all this other stuff going on, you know, grandkids maybe depending on how the length of time that marriage has been around. Well, business the same way you got people involved, you’ve got customers, you got a brand, you’ve got reputation, you got all these things. So not to not to scare your audience to oh my gosh, like I have to have this whole workout ahead, you know ahead of time, but you’ve got to have a starting point and build that foundation. So when you start off in a business, you know, this like you just kind of put it out there and there’s phases of a business and you’re not, you know, emergence anybody Invisible phase, you know you’re doing certain things, but then there’s comes a point in time early on, where you are Kind of like locking, you know, you’ve tested the waters and you’re kind of getting a feel of it. And then you’re like, Okay, this is the direction we’re going. And now that’s when you’re actually having the, the putting the foundation in place, you can go check out the land, you know, survey some different areas. Oh, we could do this, we can do that. But then there’s a point where you actually, you know, break ground and start building a foundation.

Heather Pearce Campbell 20:30
Okay, let’s take a pause and hear briefly from today’s sponsor. Today’s sponsor is Melanie Benson, the authority amplifier. Melanie is also the host of the amplify your success podcast. She can be found online at melaniebenson.com. Melanie superpowers helping entrepreneurs like you identify and activate their own unique positioning to become the highly paid authority that their ideal client knows likes and trust. After spending 21 years guiding talented entrepreneurs to success and 15 years in Fortune 500 companies, Melanie brings a unique integration of proven success, business acumen and soulful intuition to each client. Clients who work her amplify roadmap can see a 5x growth within the first 90 days, you can find out about the amplify roadmap and more at melaniebenson.com. She has an amazing array of free tools and additional resources that will help you in building and scaling your business quickly creating Magnetic Messaging and attracting exactly the right client. If you visit Melanie benson.com, you currently get access to 10 revenue rush strategies, where you can discover the 10 fastest ways to quickly increase cash flow and develop a more profitable business. This is a tool that has worked for almost 5000 clients already, again, visit Melanie benson.com. And now back to today’s amazing guest. Well, and it really is true that you know, you have to plan for where you’re going not for where you are. And so many businesses end up doing things on the fly or not having that foundation and they just don’t know, I think to think of think of some of those core components as foundational, right? They think like, oh, well, I’ll address those things when I need them. And it’s just not how business works, or how you build it. You you needed that support yesterday, right before the storm hit. I love what you said about running, especially in a marketplace of gurus running, because there’s so many people that have business advice that are teaching and training on different topics, you know, personal development space, like I know where your work lives, and it’s in the business and personal development space, right, you’re a very mission driven values centered person, and that starts with the individual. And you know, teaching that stuff, we I feel like there are just there’s so many ways that people can end up following somebody that they think they can trust. But I would love to hear your thoughts more on what people can do to really make sure because I believe the same thing. You hire somebody, whether it’s a business coach, whether it’s you know, somebody that’s going to train you in some specific area, to your job to determine what their role is not their job. And I think so many people get that wrong. And they reverse it. They think like, oh, they’re the guru, they’re the person, they’re going to tell me what I need. And I feel like it’s completely backwards.

Nicole Jansen 23:58
Well, and fundamentally, if you if you come at it and saying, I need somebody else to tell me what to do, therein lies the problem. Start off with because it’s your business, it’s your life, you’re going to be the one who’s going to have to live with the consequences or the benefit, you’re going to get to enjoy the rewards that you’re also going to have to deal with whatever consequences the impact of that Yeah, right Ron are different. So you got to take charge, just like with our health, we need to take charge of our health we need to take charge of our you know, our relationships. This is we are responsible. We are not just 50% responsible or 20% responsible, we are 100% responsible. So when I’m hiring or looking at somebody that I’m may may follow you whether it’s on social or whether it’s formally even as a coach. I’m looking at what do I know I may not know exactly what I need, but I kind of have a sense and it’s tricky. coming in and saying, What am I actually looking for here? Before you get on the phone with somebody who’s a really slick salesperson who’s gonna chat, right? Tell you, let me tell you what you need. Yes, you got to have some kind of sense of what it is. Where’s the issue in the gap? Now you may say, I don’t know, um, my struggle is that I’m stuck. And I don’t know. So then my goal is I want to be unstuck. And so then I get on the phone with somebody, and maybe they can help me to get unstuck. And can they do that? And is it does it resonate. But so it really comes down to though in terms of determining if it’s the right fit, yes, there’s chemistry, there’s, they obviously have to be competent, they have to have done, hello, had, they have to have done what their their author teaching, okay. And I love the fact that we have like a gazillion coaches out there and so forth. And we need in order to be a great coach, you have got to have done the inner work yourself. If you’re going to be a great business coach, you’ve got to have built a successful business and not just a six months, right, six years, like he there is a there is a point, I’m not saying it has to be 30 years, but as the same like myself, but it has to be enough time that you’ve seen that sort of like the highs and lows, where you can actually guide somebody through the minefield that you’ve already been through. So you want to look at somebody, do they have that? We talked about core values, I look at it, does this person have integrity? Are they consistent? You know, are they are they are you high emotional intelligence? Are they just hyping you up? Getting you all excited about the possibility without the substance following? Well, then, you know, when you’re in high emotion, you make poor decisions, right? So it’s, it’s looking at that it’s looking at, you know, who is this person? What is their? Do I? Do they have what I would like, really, and it’s not about the trappings. It’s not about the Lamborghinis sitting off there, which they may have rented, by the way, cuz that happens. You know, I lean against it, it’s really do they have the kind of life that I truly want? Do I even know what it is that I’m looking for? And so getting really clear on that, so that you can choose the right coach, I’ve had 400, almost just shy of 400 people on my podcast, a lot of coaches, a lot of consultants, and I’ve even had people that are like, hey, you know, I could coach you and so forth. And so there’s a lot of invitations to do that. Right. And of course, this is similarly I yeah, I could coach you as well. So I’m also a coach. But so when we’re having this conversation, I’m evaluating who this person is, do they know how to actually, you know, do what they’re teaching? Do they even have the skills, let’s say, as a coach? Do they have the coaching skills, because just because they’re successful and effective at what they do doesn’t make them a great coach to teach others? That’s like a salesperson becoming a sales manager. And that generally doesn’t go well, right? It’s a totally different set of skills. But do they have the ability to now not just do it themselves, but to actually help others? It’s funny, because when you build a franchise system, you know, this, I’m sure with working with businesses, a lot of times I’ve had entrepreneurs come to me, and they say, because I’ve owned franchises for you, my dad owns his own franchises, I’ve worked on both sides of the franchise, and franchisor clients. And it’s so interesting, because people will say, Oh, I, I want to build this out, I have this idea, and I want to franchise it. Well, we’ll for you franchise anything, you need to build a corporate, you need to build a system you need to build, you have a proof of concept. And not just one, you need to have a couple of them. So you know, you can do it yourself. And you can duplicate it to someone else. Okay, now I have a system that worked for me. And now I have a system that work for someone else. Now, I can prove that I can perhaps do with another person, another another person, other person, then I can I can start teaching that.

Heather Pearce Campbell 29:07
Yeah. Well, you’re right, that the distinction between being able to do and being able to do and teach is a big one. It you know, so many people are able to do but if they’re not able to translate that in a way that makes something actionable and really supportive for somebody else. There, you know, there’s going to be a gap. And I think a lot of people make the mistake of following somebody like that with big promises. And here’s what I’ve done and, you know, can really be challenged when it comes to getting results themselves.

Nicole Jansen 29:40
And they feel like yeah, I see them I know that these done in and I’m not I’m not getting the information from them. I’m not I’m not learning from them how they’re doing it. And it’s like they have this secret sauce. Yeah, yeah. And they could have the secret sauce and it works for them and it’s fantastic. But is that and that Where my direct sales mind comes back into the play is like is it duplicatable? Is it replicatable? One of the things that when you have an organization of that size you’re growing, you want to be thinking about all the time is that if, if what I’m doing right now was duplicated 1000 times over? Would I like the result? Would the result be good? Would it would it serve the people involved? You know? Because that’s the real issue. Is it duplicatable? Is it replicatable. So I may have a secret sauce, and it may work for me, but I’ve got to be able to extract the things that worked for me that are the system that will work in all these different scenarios and so forth. And what’s the foundation? Tell me about the foundation was the principles, you know, this I’m talking, you know, to the choir here, you know, because that’s the same thing with legal right. It’s like you there’s certain things I know, on your website, for example, you have your templates, right? It’s like, okay, these are some of the things that you’re going to need. But that’s because you work with enough people to know, this is this works, right? And so it’s not just oh, I worked with this one client, and now I’m going to template, everything off of that, that might work for them, but you’re not taking in consideration all the other factors.

Heather Pearce Campbell 31:19
Well, and that that piece about having somebody be able to duplicate results, so that those results are consistent among their clients. I mean, one of the, I think the most important ways we can check folks that we decide to work with is by talking to other people who have worked with them, right. And I think so many people do get caught up, like you say, and kind of looking at the shiny outside all of the entrapments of somebody in business and making decision based on that versus really doing what I would just consider regular due diligence, like, imagine if the online world didn’t exist, what would you be doing to check on a business and whether it was legitimate, right? You’d be talking to people? Yes. Right. And I think that, you know, that can go a long way in double checking, you know, who is the right fit to support you and growing and building your business? So I’m curious, I want to dig into some of the stuff that you’re doing. Obviously, I know about your podcast, if you are listening now. You need to hop over and check out Nicole’s podcast. She has an amazing podcast called leaders of transformation. Like she said, over 400 episodes, I think now that’s amazing. Yeah, congratulations.

Nicole Jansen 32:35
Yeah. Tell us about and you were episode 151.

Heather Pearce Campbell 32:39
Right. Well, that’s been a little while. 151 I know. That was fun. Tell us because when did you start that podcast?

Nicole Jansen 32:48
You 1015. Okay. Yeah. So I started discover the edge in 2005 2015. Is was the podcasts

Heather Pearce Campbell 32:57
and discovered the edge is your business coaching business, right? Yes.

Nicole Jansen 33:01
And I’m now gradually transitioning everything over from a branding perspective, over to leaders of transformation. But I still have

Heather Pearce Campbell 33:09
Both, yes, you’ll have both. And so talk to us a little bit about the folks that you work with. I know you’ve had a wide range of clients, right? Who do you really love to work with? And what kinds of what kinds of topics and things do you help them tackle?

Nicole Jansen 33:24
Yeah, great question. So there’s a lot of clients that were I’ve literally worked with Mom and Pop small businesses. And then I’ve worked with franchisors and franchisees that have owned, like some of the top franchises have large, huge systems and so forth. I had a client one time who was fun to work with it was interesting, unique for sure. And he was into lunar exploration and doing workshops and bringing all these these NASA scientists and engineers together and so there was a whole dynamic and kinda so I was working with his team, but also talk, you know, about the workshops and so forth and sponsorships and developing that out and talk about like an interesting different approach. Right. So model yet salespeople, and then you got like, engineering or duration? Yeah, all right, this is different. So with a prince the principles are, the fundamentals are consistent, though. It’s mindset. Its strategy, and its follow through and execution. You know, and I’m really big on teaching a model which I call the Results Model, actually learn for my mentors and then kind of build on it built on that for myself, is you know, results come from behaviors and actions, behaviors and actions come from the mindset that we have, then what actually influences are mindset, you know, because I need to change my mindset change my mindset, how do we do that? Like what are the elements and so that’s where I get into personalities and the strengths of a person or as an order organization aren’t like an entity, right? What are the strengths? And then from a human perspective, or from individuals leaders is like, what are the human needs? You know that? How do they get their needs met people on the team and everything? And then the big piece is really the belief systems, right? What do you believe about yourself, others in the world around you. And so that creates this self concept. And this ultimately, this life concept, that, you know, when we, when we look at the results that someone wants, the results will never exceed their self concept and how they see the world. So we need to expand this out, no matter what we’re doing, it’s always comes back to like, okay, what are you? Where are you at with this in relation to what it is you’re looking to accomplish? And then how do we expand this and align this to be able to match what it is that you’re looking to create? And then it’s about the strategy? And then it’s about the follow through and execution to get it done?

Heather Pearce Campbell 36:01
Yeah, I love what you said the results will never exceed their self concept. That to me, that feels like another way of saying, you know, what I regularly say, which is the business, the the process of building a business is limited by our personal development. Right? Those things are inextricably linked. And so I love the way that you said that the results that we achieve in our business will never exceed a person self concept.

Nicole Jansen 36:32
Yeah, yeah, I want to give credits that’s from Blair singer, one of my mentors, the one who initially built this model, who’s to say that and it was it just so so true.

Heather Pearce Campbell 36:42
Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think it’s so fascinating in the business world, because you do find people who focus exclusively on the business side, right? fundamental strategy, tactics, etc. But if you never get to this other half, it’s like literally a full half of the equation. You’re not going to fix things for somebody, in my opinion,

Nicole Jansen 37:07
And, and vice versa, if you work on personal development, you know, there, there are many, many people who have been networking junkies, seminar junkies and jumping around all over the place, learn all this really cool stuff personally, supposedly, right? Like, I’ve got all this growth is inner growth happening. But if it’s not translating into action, if it’s not translating into fruitfulness in some way, then maybe there’s a disconnect. And so yeah, there’s a lot of times where coaches will work even one half or the other. And so I always see, it’s like, it has to go together. Because I can talk strategy all day long. I’m a really good strategist. But if you don’t believe that it’s possible, or you’re the one, you know, saying, this is, you know, the obstacle here, and this will never work, because and that person in this person, all all of that, right messiness, then it doesn’t matter how good the strategy is, it won’t, it won’t happen. In fact, there was a franchisor, or ones that I call called, and he said, I was pitching some training or whatever, and, and he said, You know, I’d met him at a franchise show. And he said, Oh, you know, I get all these trainers are always calling me and, you know, pitching me five times a week kind of thing. And he said, so he was like, I’m not interested. If my franchisees would just do what they’re supposed to do. Everything would be fine. And I’m on the other side of the line, this is back in the day when it was just phone. And I was like, thank you for that. That was a gift. You know, so I said to him, would you like to know why that is? Yeah, I want to know why that is. And it’s like that started the conversation. And they hired me to work with all these franchisees because it’s like, you’ve been telling them what to do. But when I looked at his franchisees, I realized so many of them were a mismatch, they should never have bought a franchise, they’re not the right fit. They got don’t have the right attitude for it. And it’s like, you can try to kill them and pulling teeth. It’s not going to work. Yeah.

Heather Pearce Campbell 39:16
Well, and for some, like business becomes a very complex equation very quickly back to the right bonds and the right seats, right. You have to have a match on some of this, and, and understanding what it takes to be successful in certain kinds of business models, when we’re creating certain kinds of business partnerships, right that quote about you can never have a great partnership with a bad partner whatever however you said that Yeah, right. It’s what I tell them to a good deal with a bad partner. There you go. You can’t do a good deal with a bad partner and this is what I tell folks all day long is like you you because I’m in the legal contracts, you know, kind of back end structural world but you know, a couple contract will not save you from a bad business deal. Right? A contract will not save you from a bad business partner, which is why, you know, having conversations on the front end is so critical if you’re going in and you’re building what you think is going to be a 5050 partnership, but you haven’t gone through all the questions together of like, okay, what happens? If one of us gets sick? What happens if one of us gets bored? And just wants out of the business? Those are probably two different exit plants. Yes, right. Yes. And, and people don’t always know how to properly vet somebody else. Anyways, I could go way deep into that topic. But it really is true that, you know, regardless of the business, you have to put a lot of time and attention into connecting with and building relationships with the right people for your business.

Nicole Jansen 40:54
Yeah. And then it and then it’s not it’s been business is really not that hard. It’s difficult when you don’t have some of these pieces in place. And now you’re having to do some fixes, like the house, right? Yeah. So you build this house, you build it solid, you have good contractors, can people working on it, architect planned it out ahead of time, you’re going to enjoy this house, if you don’t, it’s going to be one problem, actually, that was kinda like that movie Money Pit. I know, I’ve had clients who have built like, multimillion dollar homes and stuff. And it’s like, one thing after the other, and, you know, I had somebody one time that, you know, the, they just moved in brand new home. And the the water that somehow the roof, you know, wasn’t secure or whatever. And so the water came down four levels, through the walls. And it’s like, ah, you know, and so when you have the right people, you don’t want to go cheap on certain things, get it set up properly, and then you’ll be able to enjoy your house. And you’ll be able to enjoy the same way your your joy, your business, and you will have fun, make money, make a difference, do all those things. But if you don’t have like, like you talk about, from a legal perspective, you don’t have those things in place, you can run into a lot of problems. And that’s why I believe that everyone, every business owner in my books, should have a good lawyer, a good accountant, good financial advisor. So the accountant is the type, you know, we’ll we’ll let you know, prepare your tax returns and all that, but also do the strategy on it and help you plan. The financial advisor can help you to build your wealth. Yeah, right. So they manage what you have a financial advisor going to help you build, you keep them out of jail. problems, right. And then a good business coach that kind of brings it all together, and helps them deceit to step back and work on their business

Heather Pearce Campbell 42:58
That’s right, that have the map, make sure they know where all those pieces fit. Yeah. What is your favorite part of like piece of the work that you do what what absolutely lights you up in your work with your clients?

Nicole Jansen 43:12
You know, I do love strategy. And I can tell, oh, we could do this, we could do that. And so that’s fun. And what’s fun about that also is seeing the possibility in their eyes where they go, Wow, this can actually work. And so it comes back to that mindset piece. I love helping if I can, I can help people just transform the way they see themselves, the way they see others, the relationships and the dynamics, they really see their business the way they see the world around them, then it’s like that, to me, lights me up, because that’s where the possibility that’s where they can see where the potential can go, or maybe revive what they hoped they wanted to do in their business. But maybe they’re at a point where like, they’re not sure if that’s even possible, but then we reignite that possibility now, and that, to me is just seeing that light come on in their eyes. They’re like cat got this. And it’s an interesting point with that is because I got this not what Nicole, you’re so great. It’s not actually about that. Because one of the greatest compliments is when my clients actually feel like I, I can do this I’m, you know, capable. That’s the goal of a good coach, I believe, is so that you’re not dependent on me. Because if I have to tell you everything that you need to do, like when people ask me, What do I do here? So and I will be flipping it back to them, right? Not because I don’t know the answer, but this is your business because back to your response. You’re going to be living with this, right? So it’s got to be you’re gonna be doing the work. You’ve got to decide, yeah, I’m gonna decide I can lead you and help you and give you ideas but you ultimately need to decide. And so when they have that confidence They’re just flying along. And they’re, you know, and again, that transformation of themselves from the inner and the outer. It’s, it’s, that’s the best thing.

Heather Pearce Campbell 45:08
Yeah, I can tell how happy it makes here, just for folks who are not watching the video, it’s really apparent how much that lights you up. What on the flip side, in your work with clients? What do you find to be the most challenging or frustrating?

Nicole Jansen 45:23
So I picked my clients very specifically, because one thing that and there was actually a point in time, a number of years back, where I was like, I don’t know if I want to do this anymore. Because this is I was in LA, I was living in LA was a lot of personal stuff. Speaking of the correlation, I personal stuff going on, that was drama and challenges. And, you know, and so it affected me, and I was starting to attract these clients that were very resistant, that were out of integrity. And that’s no fun. And I do not like that. And so I just, I’m, if I smell it, you know, from a virus, like we’re gonna call, you know, call that out? And if it’s, if it’s I’ve fired clients before. Because I’m like, you know, what, you are not, you know, I can’t take your money, right? Honestly, I cannot do it, because a greater part of my compensation, like I was just bearing is like the results, the impact. Yeah. And so that part’s not that absolutely not fun for me. And I just, you’ve got to be willing, you’re gonna do the work. I had one client one time who is like, basically wanted to transfer the responsibility of the business and growth. And it’s like, no, no, let’s let’s just back up here. And let’s make sure we’re clear. By coach, you know, you how to do?

Heather Pearce Campbell 46:49
Yes,

Nicole Jansen 46:49
You know, and I give you all the tools. So that’s really, that’s really, for me, you know, the piece in terms of like, logistical and so forth. You know, I mean, administratively, it’s all right now. That’s, that’s, yeah, it’s not really super fun. But I mean, I can do it in my sleep, because I’m kind of a organized person. Yeah. So I can’t I don’t think that any of those things really stand out. I love having people that do the things that I don’t like doing. So like, podcast, post production, I, you know, delegate it out, and delegate all that stuff. That’s not fun, delegate it out to people who think it’s fun, and let them do it. And so that I can do you know, what, what I do best, and that’s, that’s really, I think a good lesson for entrepreneurs is like, don’t do things that you don’t enjoy. Don’t try to figure it out on your own and sales slug through this, because you must just hire somebody to do it, or work your business enough that you have, you can afford to hire somebody, you know, who actually knows what they’re doing just like you, right, like, hire somebody who actually knows how to set up a contract, trying to piecemeal it off of Google, right, and getting yourself into trouble and not being good at in any way, you know?

Heather Pearce Campbell 48:09
Well, and it gets back to the point you made about, like how much it lights you up when people reconnect with that original vision that they had for their business? Because it’s easy to get away from that. And I think what you were just talking about is people taking on too much not hiring the right support when they need it can get you really out of alignment with that bit with that vision. You’re You’re bogged down by all this other stuff. Right. So yeah, I think, you know, having a business coach where they’ve got outside eyeballs on what you’re doing, they can help you spot those opportunities, Spot timeline issues, that you may not be spotting yourself to help keep your business vibrant, and alive and really moving forward. Yeah, yeah. So Nicole, I feel like I could just keep chatting so many questions for you. We are at the top of the hour, I do want to find out from you. For folks that are listening. Where do you like to connect online? Where would you have for somebody that’s thinking like, I need to go find Nicole, see what she’s up to visit her podcast? Where would you send them to?

Nicole Jansen 49:17
Well, first of all, my website was just leaderstransformation.com, there’s that that’s where the podcast is. There’s also, you know, a page there about coaching. So you can learn a little bit more about me, if you want to schedule a 45 minute consult, um, you know, me, I’m not a not a fluff, you know, type person, I get right into it. It’s practical, you can get takeaways from that. And then, if it’s something where, you know, we determined that it’s possibly a good fit to work together, we talk about that. But, you know, I’m really about high value. So that’s a way that people can find out a little bit more. So leaders of transformation, calm, but then I’m also on LinkedIn. I mean, I’m on all the different platforms, but LinkedIn is a good way to connect with me. And the podcasts or courses on the website. It’s also on YouTube because some people love watching videos and maybe putting them on high speed or whatever. Yeah, I do that guilty guilty right here at so I you know, that’s a great place to find me as well.

Heather Pearce Campbell 50:16
Okay, awesome. Well for folks that are listening, you can find all of those links and a few others at Legal website warrior comm forward slash podcast, we’ll share your social media links, we’ll share your, your website, I can’t believe you just offered a 45 minute, like initial consult, if you’re listening, I would jump all over that I know that Nicole hasn’t been as has a full book of business that is probably not something that is going to stay open for very long. So Nicole, you’re so generous, i You’ve always been generous. It’s one of the things that I love about you. What final either action step or takeaway would you like somebody who’s listening to be thinking about or like going to do right now?

Nicole Jansen 51:03
To do right now, it might be that the question is really a being question of checking in with yourself and saying, Why are you in business in the first place? So always? Oh, I always go back with clients to that first, like you said, starting point, why are you in business in the first place? What prompted that? And then you build from there. So get back to that if you forgotten it? Maybe you’ve gotten distracted. Now you’re into all his daily operations, things you got to do, you know, get back to your why. And reignite that spark?

Heather Pearce Campbell 51:38
Hmm. That’s so important. I mean, that is just so clear. Because being in the bogged down phase of business, if that’s where you are, like, get out of that, that is not sustainable. Get back to your why and figuring out why did you do it in the first place? Right? I always remind people, less than 10% of people choose to become entrepreneurs. It says, you know, it’s a slim margin. Like there’s a big reason in there, why people choose this. So I love that reminder to get back to that. Why? Nicole, so great to see you. I appreciate you and your time and your willingness to talk about anything and everything in our conversation. I really hope you’ll come back and join me again here soon.

Nicole Jansen 52:22
Oh, thank you, Heather. I’ve enjoyed it. And hopefully it’ll be of benefit to your listeners as

Heather Pearce Campbell 52:27
well. Absolutely. All right. If you are listening, pop over leave us a rating and a review. If you enjoyed this conversation with Nicole and some of the the wonderful gems of advice that she left for us. Leave her a review, leave me a review. It’d be great to have your feedback. Nicole, thanks for being here today. Thanks again.

GGGB Outro 52:49
Thank you for joining us today on the Guts, Grit & Great Business™ podcast. We hope that we’ve added a little fuel to your tank, some coffee to your cup and pep in your step to keep you moving forward in your own great adventures. For key takeaways links to any resources mentioned in today’s show and more, see the show notes which can be found at legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and if you enjoyed today’s conversation, please give us some stars and a review on Apple podcast Spotify or wherever you get your podcast so others will find us too. Keep up the great work you are doing in the world and we’ll see you next week.