I'm Jan Ditchfield. And I went from frustrated corporate business consultant, and serial entrepreneur to the CEO of a thriving online business. But it wasn't an easy journey. And after many missteps, and moments of massive self doubt, I finally found the secrets to get past my roadblocks. So I can build the business of my dreams when that helps others to do the same. I created the hay spark club podcast share with you these easy-to-follow strategies and frameworks that will help you take your dream from spark to launch. If you are a professionally driven woman, or a first-time entrepreneur, who is looking to understand how to build a business, which allows you the lifestyle freedom you want, then this is the podcast for you.
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Hey, you and welcome to another edition of the podcast. I'm really excited. You're here. And this week has been a crazy week for me. So I think, you know, I opened up doors to my signature program, the Side Hustle Academy last week, and I've been just running like crazy, since I've been doing tons of lives, teaching in masterclasses getting a chance to talk to people as much as I can about the program and why I think it's such a really great fit for people who are first starting businesses, or a year or two into business and trying to figure out kind of how can I scale what I'm doing? And how can I tweak it so that it's going into it's growing? Right? It's moving forward. And so that kind of just being stuck in the same space, that a lot of small businesses tend to get stuck, we know what happens. But one of the things that keeps coming up, because I hear a lot of people talking about their excitement, and a lot of people talking about what they're really passionate about and the things that they feel they can accomplish. But I'm also hearing a lot of people starting to talk about thinking like, well, I don't want to join because what if I make this investment, and then I fail. And I don't want to start a business because you know, what happens if I fail. And there's a lot of imposter syndrome that's happening, and I can hear it. And I hear it all the time. With new businesses, and I hear it with my students. There's lots of imposter syndrome talk that happens with my students as well. And we talk about it a lot within the Side Hustle Academy, and in our private groups, I have it myself, I get moments to where I get really stuck in my head about certain things, it's for me, it's always one specific thing that I always get really drilled down on. But imposter syndrome is a real thing. And it's something that really holds people back in being able to move forward with, you know, what it is they should be doing. And, and being able to really like lean into your business and believe in yourself. And I think that's even more important is, is having that confidence to say, you know what, I can do this, I know what I'm talking about, I you know, I'm going to go for it, I'm not going to worry about the failure, I'm going to worry instead about becoming too successful, that's a much better worry to have.
So I thought today on the podcast, what I want to talk a little bit about is about failure, and the fear of failing. And I was going to share with you to just my own journey through failure. And when I landed flat on my face, and I did professionally, and it was probably it is really the single greatest failure of my professional life and kind of how I worked my way through it and what came out the other end of it.
So I think if you followed me for a while now, or if you're one of my students, you'll know that in addition to having my own businesses for a long time, I also spent the majority of my career working as a gun for hire. So I'd go in, and I'd help to overhaul the operations and the finances of businesses that were trying to scale or remain relevant. And I have to be honest, it was not a stress-free career. It was very stressful. And I worked with businesses that had leadership issues, which means if you've ever worked in any place that has leadership issues, you know, that always means that the work culture is pretty much guaranteed to be toxic. And the timelines that I worked with were always really high pressure, because of funds didn't come in, people were going to lose their jobs. They were always trying to do too much with too little. Or they either had zero money for professional development or zero interest in investing in their staff. So overall, it was just a really challenging career. And I was really, really good at it. But I didn't know if I wanted to do it anymore.
So after having my daughter and I took extended time off from work to raise her, and I just sunk into being a mum. And it was like that was the best job I've ever had and continue to have. And I'm really glad that I made that decision to take time to be with her. But after that, and I had to make the decision of whether I wanted to go back to work. And if I wanted to go back into the career that I had had for so many years. So after a lot of soul searching and a lot of sitting down and really thinking about it. I decided that I was not going to do this anymore. I decided I was going to start a new career. I was going to start fresh. I wanted something that was going to sparked me in a different way, one that had a lot less stress that was around it as well and provided me more opportunities to really be able to be a mom, and a spouse and me just me as Jan, and not have to have that pressure on top of me all the time to be like, you know, always having to produce, produce, produce, in order to save, save, save all of the things that were going on around me. So I made the decision. And then guess what I did? Yep, I walked right back into the world that I said I was not going to be part of anymore. And this time, I did it as a mom. So and this time, I failed large. And when I say large, I mean large like this was the this was the biggest failure ever. I was spending 2 to 2 ½ hours every morning commuting into work, and between daycare drop off and traffic, by the time I got to the office, and my stress levels would already be sky high. And then I was right back into that same high-pressure job with the same impossible situations to navigate and I started failing. And by failing, I mean I started failing myself. So I was having like 50 or more panic attacks a day. And that's not an exaggeration, like I was panic attacking like nobody has panic attacks before it was crazy. I was breaking out in stress rashes. I stopped sleeping. I was barely eating. Some days, I was only seeing my daughter for like an hour or two a day. And then it really had to sit down and say to myself, like, why am I doing this like for what is the purpose of this a paycheck? This like this, to me is not worth the paycheck. So I decided I was walking away. And I stepped out of the world that I knew for 20 years. And I just said, that’s it, I'm done. And I look back at this as being the massive failure on my in my career. But I also look at this as a failure as a lesson. Because I had spent almost 20 years trying to fix problems and businesses. And I thought to myself after that, like, so if I have done this for 20 years, and I have all of this knowledge and this expertise in a specific area. And I know how to do this, like this is what I know. So if I took all of that, and I turned it into my own business, where I was helping women learn how to build businesses that were right from the start, what would happen like, could I actually do that? And that's actually what I ended up doing. So now every day, I actually get to go to work with remarkably talented women who are dedicated to doing things the right way in their business. And if I hadn't failed so badly at the end of my past career, I know I wouldn't be here right now.
And this is the point that I'm trying to get to. So failure is always about thinking you're not good enough at something. And that's a mindset that we get into, which holds us back from moving forward with things that we dream about doing. And it's so normal because we all fear failure. But we have to keep going anyway. Because success is a skill. And like all skills that you have to keep practicing it in order to master it.
So I'll say that, again, success is a skill and like all skills, you have to keep practicing it in order to master it. So that's what I talk about inside the Side Hustle Academy, I teach my students to learn from someone who's gone before them. I talk about sitting at their feet, and listening to their stories, and applying their teachings to your business, and focusing on getting really, really good at what you do by learning from people who are really, really good at what they do. Because when you find yourself starting to think what if I fail? I want you to stop and ask yourself instead, but what if I succeed? Like what if you succeed at starting a business for the first time? Imagine what your life could look like if you move forward with starting that business and you succeeded in it. Imagine having more time to spend on things that matter to you. Imagine having the lifestyle freedom you want. Imagine waking up every day feeling proud of yourself because you chose success over fear. What if 2021 is your year to start your business? And if you hear this and you say you know what, this is my year, then let me help you do it.
So I want you to look at joining the Side Hustle Academy. I want you to take some time to really like go over look at my website. So janditchfield.co forward slash Side Hustle Academy and look at what that course can do for you. And if you have questions like send me a DM, like get in my DM’s I love it. I'm totally happy to chat with you. I'm happy to get on a zoom and talk about it. I just don't want your fear of failure to be the reason why you don't move forward in doing something you were destined to do. Because when we fear fail, we fear the failing part of life. We miss out on so many opportunities that are waiting for us. And I think there's something that keeps coming up with a lot of my students as well is that they keep saying like, you know, I was at that point where I was really questioning what it is I wanted to do and what I wanted to believe in and, and where I wanted to go in my life. And all of a sudden, you popped into my feed or you landed in my inbox, or there was just something there. And it was like the universe, just put you right in front of me at that moment when I was like, I think I need to make a change. And I always say the universe puts things in front of you when you're ready to see them.
So if you're at a point right now, where you're like, I am so unhappy with my life professionally, I want to be my own boss, or I want to be able to put my kids through university debt free. Or if I want to be able to take that trip that I always dream about doing. Let me teach you how you can do it by running your own business, because you can be profitable in business if you do it the right way from the start. And you can be successful in believing in yourself. And you can take those things that you have, which are your gifted talents and turn it into profit. And that's what I teach you how to do within a Side Hustle Academy. Plus, I teach you how to get over the whole part of tech overwhelm, and the fear of having to get on technology, and the fear of social media, and the fear of podcasting and the fears of not knowing how to create a marketing plan or build a website, like I walk you through all that stuff. And the one of the things that I think I'm most proud of within the course, is the community that's been built with inside of it. So there is not only do you get access to like a private group, where you get chance, a chance to like learn with your own students. But you also get access to the group that I run that has all the alumni in it as well. And these women are phenomenal women like, and I don't say that lightly. Like I mean this, I believe in these women, I've seen how hard they work, I see how much they support each other, they pull each other up, when they're down, they tell each other when they're doing a great job, they openly say you're going down the wrong road, don't do it. And it's never done in a way that's catty, or petty or competitive. And there's a lot of people who are in the same space like they're in the same space. But they're they know their lane in that space. And they support each other with it. And they hire each other like that everybody gets business outside of the in within the Side Hustle Academy pretty quickly. We're we are each other's first customers, like that's what's happened. And we are each other's biggest champions. So for me, like I understand as well how lonely It is to be an entrepreneur. And it is it's not the same as working a desk job where you can turn around and just have a like a, you know, a chat with the person beside you or complain about your day or complain about your boss. When you are the boss, it's hard to complain about yourself to someone and have them listen to you. But you need that outlet. So that's what exists within the Side Hustle Academy as well. And I think, for me, that's probably the most important piece that's come out of the creation of this program is that support system, because it really honestly takes you far, it takes you really far when you know you have people who believe in you, on those days when you don't believe in yourself.
So doors closed on Friday, February the 19th at 9pm, eastern time, I don't know when they're going to be opening again. So I really would encourage you if this is the time like and you're really thinking about it and you really you know, you're just at that point, you're like I need to make this change, I need to lean into the belief in myself, I need to get over my fear of failure. Then join me inside this Side Hustle Academy and let me help you get to where you want to be in your professional goals. And becoming boss, your own boss. It's an amazing feeling to be your own boss.
So I hope you learned a little bit from my story of failure. It's one that I am getting more comfortable talking about it definitely there was a lot of baggage that comes with that because it was it was a pretty hard thunk on my face. But again, if I hadn't have made thunk, I would not be where I am right now. And I have never been so happy in my career as I am right now, having the chance to do what it is that I love to do, which is creating successful businesses, but working with people who are really dedicated to knowing how to do it right from the beginning.
So that's it for today.
I have, I'm excited about everything that's going on. I have some big news that's going to be coming out as well next week about something that I'm dropping in March that you can take part in for free. I can't wait to share that with you as well. So make sure you're following me on my social media if you haven't had the chance as well to grab me there. I'm on Instagram @janditchfield.co and Facebook the same place janditchfield.co. So let's be friends. You can keep up with all of my latest stuff there. I am live a lot. So you can always find out the things that I'm talking about kind of in real time once a week, twice a week. And again, take a look at Side Hustle Academy, janditchfield.co, forward slash Side Hustle Academy, and let's make 2021 your year to make a business that matters to you.
So until then sparkplug that's it. I'll be back next week, same time, same place. And until that time, keep building something magical
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