Achieve Success in Introversion: A Dialogue with Jacqueline

Jackquline EXP

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[00:00:00] Hello, school believers and welcome to episode number 62 of the undiscovered entrepreneur. And it's me DJ. Scoob.

Coming at you on whatever device you happen to be listening on. And today we are covering two of three of our experienced entrepreneurs. So today we're actually talking to Jacqueline shallows. Now Jacqueline shallows is the excitable introvert and she helps introverted women get seen. And this is going to be great for anybody, not just women. But anybody that's introverted.

There's some great information just for you. So let's go ahead and take a listen to Jacquelyn. Sharla's.

Salutations, school believers. And we are here again with another amazing entrepreneur today. We're actually interviewing an experienced entrepreneur today.

We're here with Jacqueline. Hi, Jacqueline. How are you?

Hello. Hello.

It's so great to have you on the undiscovered entrepreneur. Thank you so much for agreeing to be on the show.

Absolutely. I'm looking forward to jumping into this

[00:01:00] conversation. Oh, this is going to be great. I can already tell. All right. But I do have one kind of semi serious question to ask you.

Are you ready? Yeah. Okay. Are you a scuba lever? Oh yeah. All

right. I don't think it gets much

better than that, Jacqueline. so much for being a scuba lever.

I don't think

so. All right. So Jack, do me a favor here and just kind of describe for me who you are, what you do and the beginnings of your entrepreneur

adventure.

Well, I'm Jacqueline shawless, the excitable introvert, and I work with introverted women to get seen, heard and respected by embracing. They're awesome. And this entire journey started with me trying to find my own life raft in my own life. And it just so happened what worked for me ended up working for countless other women as well.

Well, so I am an introvert, which often shocks people because I smile and I [00:02:00] like people and I'm bubbly, but for a long time growing up, I had this kind of duality of either you can be this person who has this vision of being on stages and traveling and doing all of this. Or you can be the quiet person who's in the corner who needs solitude.

And that never made sense to me. Both of those things were true. And so I got something of a golden ticket to test out my hypothesis. Okay. If I am this person that I see in my mind. What would that person do? What would they say yes to? How would they show up? And in me just trying this out for myself, I began to have these massive doors open for me.

Um, so being a published author in my early teen. Doing international competitions, um, paying for college, teaching college at 16, like these sorts of things happened when I said yes, um, and then later on as an adult, when I really wanted to do this [00:03:00] professionally, I started with just like, okay, these are the things that work for me.

Hey, you, you try it out. Let's see if it works. And after about a dozen or so women were having these similarly massive changes, it's like, okay, this is what I want to do. This is, this is what I want to get paid to do. And that is my job. And so for the past 15 years or so, that's what I've been doing, teaching women and really guiding them on how to embrace their own awesome so that they're showing up more powerfully in their own world.

So when you say finding your awesome, what does that mean exactly?

So embracing your awesome is, um, it's a bit of a journey. Awesome is actually an acronym. It stands for amazing works of expression, serving others with maximum enjoyment. And it's really kind of a three pronged approach where first and foremost, you're acknowledging who you are and how you show up in your world.

Your amazing works of expression. So being a parent, being a [00:04:00] sibling, being a business owner, being a coffee lover, being an introvert, each of those are ways for your light, your gifts, your talents to shine through in different ways. All of them are honorable. All of them have value. So how do you make the most of those expressions?

That's part one. Part two is serving others. And there's the recognition that your life isn't just for. you to live. It's actually a lesson for other people. Now you can make it a cautionary tale. You can make it an aspirational tale, but your life is teaching others as you're learning. So how can you be intentional about the life that you lead so that those are aspirational tales?

Um, as you're growing, you're helping others grow as well. And then the Third and final piece is maximum enjoyment. And that is the piece that I find the women that I work with struggle with the most, and that is incorporating joy as service, your joy, your delight, your [00:05:00] pleasure. for your own sake. You're not happy because other people need your happiness.

You're happy because you need your happiness. And from that overflow, now you're able to share your happiness, your joy, um, as opposed to being that energy suck that some people are, they come into the room and just, ah, it's just, everything's dead. Uh, being that lively person comes from you embracing that joy.

And so each of these fits in hand in hand in hand to create awesome.

That's fantastic. I think we all know an energy vampire when they come into the room, they kind of sucks the whole place dry. Like, Oh, he's here again. You know, that kind of thing. So I kind of feel that for sure, but I think my favorite part of that, everything I said is serving others.

I make, I think serving others is probably one of the most important things we could do as entrepreneurs. Cause we do have other things to offer other people that, you know, that are, we do deserve them. That's what we do as entrepreneurs and maximum [00:06:00] enjoyment. That could, that's an important part of that whole thing too.

You make a great point in that Jacqueline.

Yes, absolutely. And it's I like to point out that when I talk about serving others, because sometimes it can be overwhelming, especially if you're a new entrepreneur, you're trying to figure out like what you want to do and who you want to serve and how you want to execute that.

And then there's like the operations part, like, you know, like taxes and marketing. Funnels. I like all of these things that no one told you about before you started your business. All of that's there. But service doesn't have to be this giant extra thing services and how you show up for your deliverables, the ways that you show up the ways that you are not only hearing what your target market needs, but the ways that you're acknowledging how they're feeling that you're representing.

This is a problem. I recognize that this is something you're struggling with. I'm here to take That off of your plate, you might have everything else going wrong, but instead of 99 problems, you got 98. I can take [00:07:00] one of those at least, you know, off of your plate, that is service. You being able to give them a good price with high quality, you're delivering on time.

So whether that's a service or a product, all of that is service. And even when there were times which will inevitably happen. You were doing the best you can and something fell through the cracks. Something didn't get shipped on time. Something was late had nothing to do with you when even when there are those times you simply reaching out and say.

You know, I made a mistake here. Let me make this right. Let me do what I can to make this right for you. That, too, is service. So it's important to keep in mind that there are so many ways as entrepreneurs. We have a plethora of ways that we can show up in service that are more than the money exchange.

Absolutely. Absolutely. We all have our gifts and talents that we use to help other people and, and I, you know, I, I'm really curious. Um, there are some people out there that [00:08:00] don't know introvert from extrovert and actually, you know, or might even be an introvert and what they think is an extrovert. Can you give us a really short description of each one?

So people that are new that are doing what we're doing, kind of get a better idea of who they actually are.

Absolutely. Um, 1st and foremost, there's no either or there's often you're either introverted or extrovert and that's a false dichotomy. Everyone is a gradient of gray. So we have 1 drop introvert, 1 drop extrovert and lots of drops in between.

And so. To just starting off with that. And there's no pure one or the other. Um, and, and that term is simply a matter. It's a designation for how someone processes energy, how they process stimulation. And so introverts tend to be internal processors, meaning that they take in all of the information around them, what people say, what they do, how they look people's responses, their energy, their vibe, their own thoughts.

All of that is processed in their [00:09:00] own mind, in their own spirits, in their own way. And then after they personally have internally processed this, then they give a response. So then they get their opinion, or then they write out about something, or they have whatever the reaction may be. Extroverts are external processors, so they need to talk through their thoughts.

They need to walk through it. They need to have this external way of processing their world. And so oftentimes, extroverts look like the social butterflies because that's how they process. So they're talking, talking, talking, talking, and then they reach what they actually Like, think or what they want to do.

Everything that came before that was just like processing. Um, and so it can be a little confusing for introverts because we hear the extroverts talking all of this stuff and we think that they mean all of the things they're just thinking it through. Um, and for extroverts, it can be confusing.

frustrating when you have an introvert that just seems to be sitting there looking at you, but they're internally processing instead of outwardly processing. And so [00:10:00] really that's all it is. It's just a matter of how someone processes stimulation. And so whether that is an internal process or that's an external process, we each have situations where we're slightly more one, slightly more of the other, and how that shows up can vary even from situation from day to day.

Yeah, that's amazing. Thank you so much for that explanation. That actually makes me feel a little bit better because, you know, being able to be explained that in one way. I'm definitely going to clip that out because having that explanation for a lot of people are going to go, Oh, yeah, that's true. Or something like that.

I'd like to have that aha moment for them.

Oh, absolutely. And it's always people a lot of times will think of introverts as being the quiet ones, the shy ones, the socially anxious ones. But you can be extroverted and still be like socially anxious because it's about the way that you process stimulation so you can be an external processor and also get super self conscious and have like physical like you're shaking and [00:11:00] sweating when you're around people but you need to do that because that's how you process and that can become its own sort of a stew to deal with and Um, yeah.

By the same token, you have social introverts. And so these are people they still internally process, but they also are around other people. They enjoy engaging with small groups. They enjoy that, that being around people in small doses, and then they need to recover for hours, days, weeks, depending on the level of engagement.

So both of those exist, and it's because of that processing.

All right. Thank you for that explanation. I really appreciate it. All right. So in your first year of business, when you were just getting started, did you have any pitfalls or problems that you encountered when you were just getting started? Can you explain any of those to me that kind of stick out in your mind?[00:12:00]

The biggest problem that I had was actually running the business because everyone is like, Oh, if you, if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life. And that sounds great. And there is some truth to that. However. You still do need to, like, track your expenses. You still do need to, you know, make money.

You have to let people know you have something to sell, and then you need to sell said thing. Like, that part of it did not register for the first couple years, to be truthful. Uh, because I was doing what I loved, and I would take the, the little bit of money that I would get, and at that time it was Speaking, I'm speaking to different groups around communication.

I was like, okay, well if I'm speaking to this group and they're giving me 50 bucks, I'm happy for this 50 bucks, but I'm not like tracking any expenses for it. Do I pay taxes on 50 bucks? Like what do you do with that? I don't, uncle [00:13:00] Sam will let me know if I owe anything like this. No . No , no. So it's very, very important that you recognize that as an entrepreneur.

There are two sides of what you are doing. There's the delivering of the thing that you started the business for. So whether it's a product that you have, like you, you are amazing at baking cookies and you decided to sell cookies. And so there's the baking of the cookies. And then the other side of that is the actual running of the business.

How much inventory do you have? How much money do you spend for that? How much money do you need to spend for advertising? Are you going to advertise and how? How are you keeping track of what is actually profit or not? Are you paying yourself? All of that stuff that nobody talks about, that is essential for you to continue to do the thing that you love and also be able to sustain, you know, your life, like paying bills.

You know, things like this. And so that was the major pitfall for me [00:14:00] is I was clueless about any of that other stuff. And even when I started getting kind of an inkling, it's like, Oh, I should be like getting people's emails and like actually reaching out to them. I should do that. I shouldn't just. Make some new thing and just magically expect them to happen upon my glorious website.

If I should be, what, what is this? It took a moment for me to, to get systems in place and I had to get help. And there is no shame in getting help for that, especially if you don't know what you're doing. And even if you know what you're doing and you hate it, even if it's just, okay, in exchange for my cookies.

I will give you a batch of cookies every month. If you CPA friend will balance my books. So I at least know that that's getting done, or I love you so much marketing person. How about instead of me being able to pay you right now, I'll give you [00:15:00] the X amount of dollars and a batch of Christmas cookies until I can generate enough revenue to actually pay you.

If that's what you need to do at the beginning. There is no shame with you doing that is what you don't want to happen is to be so focused on delivering your passion and doing that that later on you get bitten by all manner of things where you have put so much of your own personal money in that you're.

Tens of thousands of people who have been hundreds of thousands in the whole personally, because they had no systems to actually run the business, or you're getting you're getting hit with this tax liability that you had no clue about you. Don't want those problems down the line. So make sure that you get those systems in place.

Oh, I wish I had known that before. Oh, my goodness, show up. That's all I need to do. I think magically what's going on.

Yeah, I think we all [00:16:00] go through that when we're first getting started. We have such high hopes for what we're going to do. We're just going to think everything's going to magically come together.

But yeah, those definitely think that, especially in the beginning, if you could think about those specific things right there at the very start, then it'll start becoming part of the business. It'll be a normal thing to be able to look back and say, Oh, I spent this much money and I gained this much money and that kind of thing.

Uh, we don't always have to pay with money. Everybody's so worried about money. All the time everywhere. I got to tell you, I actually got some graphics, graphics done and to be able to pay for the graphics, I gave the guy a commercial for six months on my podcast. There was no money exchange. I got these amazing graphics and he got some commercialism out of it.

So it doesn't always have to be about money.

Absolutely. Yeah, especially in the beginning when you're just getting started and there's no money for you to like, give to anyone else because it's all being poured into and just starting this thing, unless you had some good guidance and you have funding that's helping [00:17:00] you get things off the ground.

But yeah, it's especially when you're early on being creative in those ways, those creative ways to bootstrap those pieces. No shame in doing that. Do the bootstrapping while you can to get the things in place and upgrade and modify as your means increase.

Exactly. And, you know, work is a little different for us.

The definition of work is different for entrepreneurs than it is for the person that's doing the regular nine to five thing. When they say things like, you know, you're not working a day in your life. You are working harder than most people that are actually have an hourly job. But because we hope. What we're doing is actually in Arizona genius.

It doesn't really even feel like work. It feels like we're having fun. It feels like we're having a blast doing it. And that's why I do this. What I, what I do now with my interviews and whatnot. This is amazing to me. I love doing stuff like this. It doesn't feel like work for me. It feels like I'm meeting a new friend.

And that kind of thing. And then I get that conversation and I cut it up and do all kinds of [00:18:00] cool stuff with it. And I make it a podcast. Okay. But yeah, having those actual deliverables and then running an actual business, two totally separate things. And we got to make sure that we don't forget one from the other.

Absolutely. You don't want to be so focused on the operating of business that you lose track of why you even started this whole thing to begin with. Or you're just, it's like, you know what, I, I, I wanted to do this, but just forget it. Like the whole world can burn. I'm just sick of it all. Um, you don't want to be in that space either because we do need.

What you have there, your audience is waiting for you to show up with your thing. That is their solution. Um, so it's, it's important to, to hold those two and dynamic tension. They are both necessary. They're both needed. And the better that you get at handling these two, the more you can scale and grow and ultimately impact and benefit more people.

And all that's going to come with repetition. It's not something that's going [00:19:00] to come automatically to you. Bang, there it is, you know, and that kind of thing, it's something that you learn. Oh, I wish. Yeah. I know. Oh my gosh. Just, just download it like they did in the matrix and then we'd be good to go.

Yeah.

If the entrepreneur fairy could just like sprinkle like genius, um, money, um, uh, market dust on me in the night. And then I just wake up and I know how all of this stuff goes together. Every person that I need to serve magically knows how to find me and their pockets are overflowing with cash to give to me like that would be the most amazing thing.

But so far that has not happened. So we have to do, we have to put forth effort and be very intentional in the things that we do so we can. Get to those people. We can find ways to be in front of them and to relieve that ache.

And, you know, as entrepreneurs, what we'd probably end up doing is collecting it and then selling it.

So,

yeah, exactly. Cause that's how our minds work. [00:20:00] This

stuff's neat. I wonder if I could sell this. Okay. So

But put a little bit of this in those cookies. Yeah, that'll be great.

That's great. So speaking of failures, this is what I was like talking to my, my, uh, experienced entrepreneurs about. Is there a, a, a failure that you were actually proud of?

So this happened, I know this happened, it didn't go good, but I'm glad this happened because this is, was the outcome of it. Do you have any experiences

like that at all? The one that comes to mind, um, it's one that's, that's still kind of, it hurts a little bit, but it was good ultimately. And that was one of the books that I wrote.

Um, so my son and I, during the pandemic, we wrote a book about being quarantined and different things that you could do. And I was very proud of this. We worked on it together to come up with different ideas. We did the graphics. It was [00:21:00] this wonderful, like mother son bonding. So we put it out. We did great.

We sold lots and lots of copies. It was fantastic. But the reviews, the reviews were so harsh. And I was like, well, these people are very mean. Like, what are they talking about? And so then I went back. It's like, okay. We have a few reviews that are less than stellar, rather than dismissing them, let's actually look at what they're talking about.

And they were right. The complaint was for that first, like, that first run of the books was just how they were printed. And so. It wasn't, it wasn't the quality that I would have wanted and I missed that and without having those reviews, which I wish I could get rid of, but you can't. It was a wonderful moment for me actually showing my son like, okay, we thought we did really good.

And people had other opinions just because you don't [00:22:00] agree with someone's opinion and you don't like it doesn't mean it's not valid. So you should always take that time. Take that moment to say, okay, rather than just being upset and like, oh, these are just a bunch of haters are all of that kind of nonsense.

What if they're actually telling you something worthwhile that you can do something about and they were so we had to pull the book, we had to redo, um, kind of the layout, the editing, we expanded it and then we released it. Um, so that was, it was frustrating because those reviews are still there. I can't get rid of those.

Those those are there. Um, and so that ranking is like tanked, but it was rightfully so. It was, it was a failure that I'm glad happened. Although I wish there's the part of, there's the vain part of me. I was like, I wish I could just like, just erase all of that. But because it was that type of a teachable moment for me and also for my son, it was worth it.

It was absolutely worth it.

Negative reviews aren't always like. [00:23:00] Negative. I mean, yeah, they're negative because there was a problem, but we can learn something from those negative reviews from those negative things that are said, as long as we know that they're not just doing it just to be haters. I mean, there's, there's the obvious one start with no wording or anything like that.

That's something that just doesn't care. But if they actually say, Hey, this was wrong, but you know, look at it constructively where you can say, okay, let's make this change and maybe make a better product in the very end. So yeah, that's, that's, uh, I've had a few of those myself too. It's like, okay, this was wrong.

Let's change that. Uh, I had before this podcast, I had another one. Um, you probably nobody's ever heard of cause it went nine episodes and then we went because I had to change everything about it. Yeah. Yeah. It was because of those changes and improvements that I've made that I have the podcast that I have today.

So would I get rid of those negative things? And not really. I'm actually glad I had those negative things because those actually helped me along to where I [00:24:00] am today.

Absolutely. And there will be so many of those moments in the entrepreneurial journey, especially at the beginning. I mean, as you're figuring out you, you don't know what you don't know, and you do the best that you can with what you have, there will never be a point when it's perfect, because even when you think that it's perfect, someone will write, well, this doesn't make any sense.

There's a typo. Your glorious thing just you. Was shot. And so that's also, um, I'm glad that you asked that question because that's another part that really does not get discussed nearly enough. Like the amount of failures and missteps that are required to get to a place where you have a quality product that is consistent and can scale and you have the systems in place in your business for it to grow, um, that's.

That's inevitable. There's, there's no dodging that bullet. Now, the goal is to not get shot in the same place repeatedly. [00:25:00] You may get shot lots, don't get shot in the same place. Like, like let that one heal, fix that. And then keep limping on until the next great thing, uh, that's, that's part of the process.

It's, it's what we have to deal with as entrepreneurs. It's just part of the deal. As long as you're mentally prepared, you know, you're going to have a failure. It doesn't sneak up on you, surprise you. I mean, it can, but, but ultimately, you know, it's going to come. So

it's normalizing that like just recognizing you are not the only one, you're not the first one.

You won't be the last one. That's not the first mistake. It won't be the last one, but hopefully it won't be the same mistake. That's where it's a problem when you're having the same mistake repeatedly.

And that's how we deal with those mistakes as an, as a human being, as an entrepreneur is what makes us who we are as people, because we can either look at it.

Okay. I'm not going to do this anymore. My I'm throwing my hands up in the air. I'm done. Or [00:26:00] I'm going to say, I'm going to take this as construction. I'm going to take this as a way to point into a different direction that actually might improve what I'm doing question. Do you know the acronym for

fail?

False evidence appearing

real. No, that's fear. You're the secret. That's closer. Yeah,

no,

I use that one a lot too, just so you know. Yeah, no, uh, first attempt in learning.

Oh, I like that.

Oh, she's writing it down. Ladies and gentlemen. Yes. I will borrow it.

Okay.

Attribution. Yes. I've, I borrowed it too. It's okay.

But yes. Um, and that's what I think about too, when I have a failure is this is my first try attempt and what I'm actually doing this. So what I do with that failure is I incorporate it into the next thing I do. So I don't have that failure again and actually use it to, to construct a new, whatever it is, new product, new process, new SOP, whatever it is ends up being.

Yeah, I [00:27:00] love that. Yeah. And that's and it's so important to remember.

Yes, definitely as we go along. I'm going to get onto a different question here. If you don't mind, uh, we all have. Uh, people that push us along. We have people that we look up to. We have mentors. We have people that coach us along.

Did you have anybody like that when you were going when you were going along in your entrepreneur

adventure? Oh, absolutely. Um, I, I had the people who were kind of encouraging me, like, they don't understand what I'm doing or why, but. I support you because you're you. There were those people. And then as I was going along, I came across people who actually were familiar with the entrepreneurial journey who were successful in their own.

Right. Who had done really well. It's like, Oh, you're like 15 steps ahead of where I want to be. Okay. I'm going to watch you from way back here, [00:28:00] but if you see me slipping, like I need you to like, Hi back there. . Pick it up. . So I had those people as well. Um, and it's important at, at least for me, it was essential to have both and still is essential to have both.

So I have like my, my son is my business partner. Um, I made him a business partner in the company early on because he was just, he gave a lot of really good insights and he still does. Um, and so he's very motivational just from a personal standpoint and also from a business standpoint. Where did you come up with that?

That's freaking brilliant. So good thing you're already on the payroll. Extra. Um, and so he's definitely a chief amongst those. Um, but then I do have my, my actual mentors, people who I pay to be in proximity with, and so mastermind groups have been really, really helpful. For me, and there are some that I've been in and I've kind of grown out of and I go [00:29:00] back to support people that are in it.

There are some that are like stretches for me and I'm like the, it's not even like I'm a small fish in a big pond. I'm like the guppy in the ocean. Um, and that's, it's a terrifying feeling. But it has been so beneficial in my own growth as an entrepreneur and as a person, having those types of relationships and seeing kind of like, Oh, you're, you're in the soup.

Like I am. I thought, like, yep, you are in the soup. There's some things that are just consistent with the entrepreneurial journey. So whether you're just starting out or you're eight and nine figures in. There are some things that just come with it because humans are humans and you're a human. Um, and so there's some, some parts that you will just have to navigate.

Um, the only difference is that those problems become more specific and they become with a larger scale. So there are, there are bigger stakes, but it's the same problems. Um, people not [00:30:00] paying, um, wanting to set boundaries, how to make time so that you're not consumed by your like those conversations are the same at the beginning.

And way down the line, I mean, just there's higher stakes further down the line. So having that support has been essential for me. And I can't imagine what that journey would be like, without any of that. Like, with there's no 1 to support me. There's no 1 to look up to. There's no 1 to do any of that. Um, there are colleagues that I have who.

Nothing paid. Like I met you, you're amazing. I like what you're doing. Okay. Let's keep each other accountable. And that also, these are completely different ways of support, completely different means. They all have their value and they've all been really beneficial for me.

Yeah. You make a lot of great points there.

Being a part of our mastermind is. It's great. Uh, if anybody has listened, listen, I listened to my books, I'm sorry, but all read, uh, Think and Grow Rich, that really goes right into, uh, [00:31:00] How to Develop Masterminds. That's a great book to think about too. Um, yeah, and don't be afraid to, you know, come up to people that are a little further along than you are and say, hey, can you help me with this?

Just like you say, they're humans too. They're not like gods or anything like that. They're not going to look down and you go, I'm not going to help you. A lot of times, more times than not, they are willing to help you at least with a little bit of advice to say, Hey, you know, you're doing this. You really should think about doing this in place of that or whatever it is that you might be coming across with.

Um, my biggest virtual mentor, Pat Flynn, he, he's the guy I follow. And I actually have had conversations with him. Uh, DM conversations, but, uh, but he, as big as he is, he's been doing it for 14 or 15 years. He still takes time to talk to people like me that are just getting started. So it's amazing. Even though these were bigger people, don't be afraid to reach out to him.

Absolutely. And let me just jump in with a quick caveat [00:32:00] for my introverts, because we will say, oh, this person, I can't, I can't possibly talk to that person. Like I have to have this special, like formula or the special approach, or I need to, you don't really need any of that. Okay. First and foremost, there will be some people who are jerks because people are people.

So let's take them out of the equation because they will just be that way. Um, aside from those people. What you need to do when you want to approach someone, whether this is in person or this is virtually. You need to just be yourself. You need to acknowledge. You're not sure if this is the right thing or if this is an odd question, but whatever your thing is.

So if it's something like, I'm not sure if this is like, I'm, I'm really nervous about asking you this, but I'm curious with when you started, how did you make that mental transition from being in a corporate space to being an entrepreneur? If that's your question, That's how you would frame it. And you would be, I know it sounds like this is absolute malarkey, there needs to be a better way to put it, [00:33:00] and I'll, no, you don't.

Let me tell you, you do not need to do any of that. Because when you're trying to like fancy it up and judge it and make it all so whatever, you are totally focused on you. You're not focusing on them and whatever they say is going to go in one ear and out the other because you're so self conscious. You come across as just like, okay, creep fest.

But when you are acknowledging that, okay, I don't, I'm not sure even where to start. Is there a resource? I'm not sure if you can help me. What is your question? When you are coming with that level of authenticity to be vulnerable enough to say, I might be making a complete fool of myself. However, when you're getting that level of vulnerability and openness, the person that you're approaching now has the permission to also give that openness and that vulnerability.

So even if what they have to offer is to say, well, I can't answer that question. Here's a great book. They've given you a resource or, well, I can't [00:34:00] help you with that, but I know someone who can. They've pointed you in the right direction. Or if they're giving you specifically what you need, you were open first for them to then open up to you.

And this allows also, not just for your question to get answered. Now you have the basis of building a longer term relationship. How can you do something to support them? How can you share something that they're doing? Can you buy their book? Can you let them know? Hey, I grabbed your book. It was great. You know, these are things that now you're building upon the much bigger relationship.

And that's where we introverts. thrive. We are amazing at relationships because we connect so deeply. So don't be afraid to, to reach out to them, to have a conversation. Even if you feel awkward, even if you are awkward, even if all of that, it is more than fine. And you will find Vast majority of the time, like overwhelming majority of the time, people are willing to help.

They are willing to support [00:35:00] your vision and helping you to serve bigger because they want more good people doing good things in the world.

Exactly. And that's actually how we change the world. I think, I mean, somebody helps you and then once you get to that point, you help somebody else with a similar situation or problem and so on and so on and so on.

And that's how we improve things around us. It's just that ripple effect of, of, of generosity and everything to help other people. That goes right back around to where we started. This whole conversation is having that way to help other people. So yeah, that's great. And you know, go where these people are.

So you can have those conversations, go to the groups where there's people or go to the, to the. Uh, groups or conventions or whatever it is that these people are at. Cause you could have, you know, contact with these people so they can give you that information. They can't give you that information if you're not there to receive it.

Yeah, absolutely. And [00:36:00] find, find the creative ways to get to those places. So, okay. Money is tight. You can't go to a convention. You can find their website. You can find their podcast. You can find their Facebook group. You can find someone who is connected to them on LinkedIn that you have a mutual friend to you can do those things to initiate that.

And if you can be in those spaces where you can attend an event that they're putting on, or you can go to, um, to like a signing or some, if you can be in those places where they are the ones who are hosting it, that's even better. But along with that, if you're not able to don't let that be a reason for you to not be in those spaces and.

Kind of a side piece to that, even if you're not connecting with, like, the big wig person, what I found, the most valuable connections are with people who are in those spaces. So I might not be the one having a conversation or getting to ask the question to, like, a Tony [00:37:00] Robbins or a Lisa Nichols or a Brendan Burchard, but it's, But the people who are in that audience are people who either can connect me with him or even better have an audience that's more aligned to what I do and what I need, and that I can provide value to them.

And so rather than relying on just this initiation or this conversation or relationship with the big wig, you have. This whole audience of people who, you know, are aligned because you're both there at this event, you both invested in this. So there, there is a level of alignment that's there. Now, your reach has expanded greatly.

So you have this person, the big wig and also people who are aligned. With them and with what you're doing. So don't, don't sleep on all of these different ways to engage. Um, especially for us introverts, there's a number of ways that you can engage, um, in ways that will still honor your energy and allow you to expand what you're doing in the world.

Exactly. All

great points. [00:38:00] Thank you so much. Thank you so much. That's so amazing. . And your vast number of accomplishments, what is the one accomplishment you were most proud of besides the book with your son? Cause that was actually pretty awesome, but I mean, is there an accomplice you really, really super proud of?

Um, Ooh, I mean, accomplishment is kind of like, eh, it's what I'm most proud of is the decision that I made in high school to test out whether I could actually be me. That is what I'm most proud of because I had no idea how that was going to go like I had no clue like if I'm just this, I know the person that I see myself being I see myself from when I was like in single digits, I knew that I would be a speaker on these massive stages I would be traveling the world I would study books, [00:39:00] like I would have like these are world atlases and I would literally read them and study because I need to know about cultures and all of this when I'm flying around the world.

Nobody flew in my People didn't even go out of our state. Um, so here I am with this. So that decision to like, okay, let me just try this out. If I am this person and also I'm the girl who's in the corner with a book, what if I'm just that person? I am both of those things. What if I just did that? And I'm just like, okay, let's see how this, let's see how this goes.

That decision is the thing that I'm most proud of because. Everything else to this very moment came from that one thing came from me just giving myself permission to try this out and see how it goes. Now. Fortunately, it worked out. Well,

absolutely tanked. It's like, oh, okay. Oh, you quiet girl wants to be like the lead of the school play. Okay. [00:40:00] No, let's just expel her from the school. Like, it could have gone terribly, but It went really well in each door, opened another door, opened another door and another door. So that, that is what I'm most proud of.

That's fantastic. Yeah. You make a good point. When you're moving things along and you're doing what you love to do most, things start to gravitate towards you that are positive, that are opening those doors for you, that wouldn't be go opening if you weren't actually taking this adventure. I get a lot of people that tell me.

You know, I didn't have the opportunity. Did you look for the opportunity? If you're not going to look for the opportunity, the opportunity is not going to find you. And you're not going to have that aha moment like you had when you were younger, mushing these two things together, introvert and extrovert and seeing what actually comes about that.

So yeah,

it makes perfect sense. And when you give yourself that permission, it, your eyes open to opportunities, like I, I'm sure [00:41:00] I had opportunities to, to do some of the things that I eventually did. I just wouldn't, I would have said no, like writing a book. Like, I was 11 when I published my first book, like, first of all, what?

But there would have been opportunities for me to do something akin to that, like, let people read my writing, like, actually let, like, This be in a book, like in a, in a store with strangers. Like, you want me to do what now? Uh, so opportunities for other people to see my work were there, but no, you can't, you can't read what I, you can't read that.

Like that's, yes, I wrote this and I wrote it for people, but you can't look at it because you're people. So there's, there are those moments where you give your permission to say, okay. Let's just see what happens. Let's, let's give this a try. Let's see where this goes and approaching it from that kind of playful space.

Like, there's, there's no, it may absolutely tank or it'll go great. [00:42:00] Let's see which coin. Let's see which 1 being in that space opens your eyes to things like, okay, I know I said, I wanted to meet this person. All right. And opportunities here. Like, there's, there is this international speaking competition.

Now, that's terrifying, but you are going to be on stages, right? That person who's on stages would totally say yes to this, so I guess I'm going to say yes. Um, you know, these, these sorts of things, it opens your eyes to the possibilities and reminds you that, okay, If I say yes to this, this may go terrible, or it may go great.

Let's see what happens. Let me say yes, and let's see what happens. Let me go ahead and take this on. I'm terrified. I don't know how I'm going to do this. I have no clue how it's going to work out. But yeah, yeah, I'll do it. Sure. Why not? That approach just, it just opens and expands your eyes to what can happen.

And then once you do it, it's like, [00:43:00] oh, I actually, I'm Wait a minute, I actually did that? Like, that, that really happened? Like, I was, I was actually on that show? Like, I was actually in that thing? You want me to do, wait, I did it? Oh, okay, that was, I, I didn't die? No one else died? Like, I'm still, I didn't implode?

Like, okay, so if I said yes to this terrifying thing, that was impossible for me to ever have the experience of. It not only showed up, I said, yes, I did it. I did it. Well, people were happy with how I did it and I didn't die. Okay, so if all of that happened for this one impossibility, what are some other things that I think are impossible and I can't do, which I probably could.

Okay, well this is another thing. Let's see if it happens again. Let's see. I got lucky the first time. Let's see the second time. Oh, I got lucky the third time. Well, by the fifth time, maybe not so lucky. Okay, 15th time. 15 is going to be the [00:44:00] one where it all implodes. No, 57th time. I know I've got it, but maybe I don't.

Maybe this, there's this little tiny voice like, okay, maybe I don't got it because 56 times I thought it was impossible and I totally did it. But maybe this time, I think it's going to be fine. But maybe like that, that's kind of the trajectory of it. And so you are able to build upon that, but as you're doing those things, as you're showing and proving to yourself that you can do it, other people are benefiting from you showing up.

So even though you were nervous, even though you were scared, even if it wasn't perfect in your eyes, because many of us introverts are also perfectionists. And so everything was not exactly precise. And so we think in our minds, it was a failure. Meanwhile, other people are positively transformed from our presence, from our delivery, from what we're doing, from how we're doing it.

The fact that we did it, there are all of these [00:45:00] ripple effects that we don't give ourselves really the time and space to notice, but it comes from us just saying yes and being open to saying yes.

Exactly. And you never know who you're going to actually impact when you go up there. Yes, it's scary when you go up there, but you might say that one thing that somebody else in that audience needed to hear to move on to their next thing.

She's right. She made, Jacqueline made a great point. I think I'm going to go do it. And then, I mean, you never really know for sure yourself, but at least, you know, that you're saying something that's going to impact somebody else, but if you don't take that chance, you have no idea if it's actually going to work or not going to work.

How do you know for sure, unless you actually go out and do the thing. And know for sure if it's going to work or not going to work. You're going to, if you don't do it out, if you don't do it, you're going to have that regret. I, I wonder if it was actually, it would have worked. If I went out there and actually did this, we can, it would have, would it something have changed?

Would my [00:46:00] things have changed for me? I don't know. Now you kind of missed that chance. So you always want to, I mean, when you come across something like that, you want to be able to take that chance and not be afraid to, to know for sure if it's going to work or not. You never know until you try. That's what I keep telling, telling my son when he tries to do stuff, that book that you published at 11.

Is it still around?

It's not, it's not. And I was, I was having this conversation with my mom, um, a few months ago, because this was. This is the early nineties. This was forever ago. Um, and so there was no like digital media. This was like actual print anthology. And we were trying to remember the name of the books.

I don't remember. I was 11. I don't remember the name of the book and the copy, the copy of it that I had, it was lost in a fire. So I don't, I don't even have it anymore. And we were both like, yeah. I don't remember. [00:47:00] I remember what it was about. I remember the other people who were part of this group because it was part of an anthology.

Can't remember the name of the book to save my life. My mom can't either. It's like, okay, well, well, there's that great experience. I remember the experience. And that's what's most important.

Jacqueline, you just need to rewrite the book. I

just need to write yet another one, write the book about forgetting the name of the book that I originally wrote and what I would write.

I ask this of all my, uh, experienced entrepreneurs. If you had somebody that was just starting out, just starting out their entrepreneur adventure. What kind of advice would you give them? What kind of tips would you give them?

Um, I, it would go back to treating your business like a business. That's like the most important thing.

Um, [00:48:00] your passion is there to, to like, be there to impact people. But if you don't have the business to support that. Then you're not going to have the level of impact that you want. And ultimately, for us entrepreneurs, most of us, of course, you want money because you want money. But let me tell you, the money is not flowing like water when you're first starting out, and it won't flow like water later on.

If you don't treat it like a business, so you need to have your passion there, but make sure you have the structure so that you can impact more people. You can benefit more people. So having with marketing or with social media with having your knowing where your money is going and how. Like, those are the things you need to sustain you so that you're not like, I think, I think the statistic, it's close to 90 percent of businesses fail in the first year.

And a lot of that is because there's no structure. There's only passion. So make sure that you're treating your business like a [00:49:00] business. You have those structures in place. Like we talked about before, a bunch of tips on how to do that. And you'll, you'll be set. You'll, you'll be better off than. You think that you might be

great advice, everybody write that down, whatever you need to do to remember that.

Uh, that's great advice. Thank you so much, Jacqueline. Okay. So what I like to do with all my guests, every single 1 of them is I'd like to get a 6 month goal for yourself and your business. So where do you see yourself in your business in the next 6

months? Well, my big goal for the next 6 months is to launch an international retreat and I'm in the thick of planning that and that is terrifying.

That is absolutely terrifying because 1 is an international trip. I will be responsible for other adults being there and being safe and getting what they need out of the experience. And of course, there's marketing and financial goals. Um, that's my big goal. focus, um, for the [00:50:00] next six months. So I'm, I'm in that space of having to breathe and focus on service and incorporating that joy that I talk about.

Um, because that's, that's a daunting thing, but I, what I know and trust in my bones is that. Even though it will not reach my level of perfection because my level of perfection is like here and everyone else's is like here, you know, typical introverts. Um, but what I do know is that the people who are a part of it are going to get everything that they need and more.

Fantastic. Where is that going to be at? What international place are we going here?

We are currently looking at Panama as being our, our location. So we're, we're figuring out the details for the dates, but yeah, it'll likely be the summer and it'll be in Panama.

Fantastic. That's great. So what I'd like to do with you, if it's okay, Jacqueline, is I'd like to actually follow up with you in about six months.

Yeah. I have another [00:51:00] interview with you just like this one. I'd like to see if you actually made that retreat out to Panama. Make sure it's when you come back. Cause I want to have those stories.

Oh yeah. That'll, Oh, that'll be exciting. It's like, Oh my God, there was, Oh my Lord. But it worked out so great.

And Oh, the people were amazing. I didn't have enough room. Cause there were so many people that signed up. Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's the conversation

I'll have to do it twice. Yeah.

Oh no.

All right. All right. Jacqueline, this is your time to shine. I'd like you to just talk a little bit more about who you are, what you do and how we get ahold of you if we, Wanted to see these books or if we, if we want to do the retreat or anything else, how do we get ahold of you?

Absolutely. You can always find me at I embrace awesome. com. That is the home base of all things. Awesome. So when you go to I embrace awesome. com, [00:52:00] you'll see different resources that are there to get you on your way, uh, ways to connect with me on social media. I'm at J K shawless everywhere. Um. Yeah, that's, that's really the biggest thing.

And when you go to, I embrace awesome. com, you'll have an opportunity to sign up for notifications and we're putting together the last finishing touches on, um, on a challenge that we'll be doing in January. So we hope that you can be a part introvert so that you can launch the year beautifully to leverage your introversion.

When you have that, that challenge set up, let me know about it or send me a link to it. And I'll go ahead and put it in the show notes. That way people could look at it. Okay. Perfect. We'll do awesome. And what's the name of the books that you've written now? Not the one that you were written when you were 11, when we were already talked about that.

Tell me about your books real quick.

We, we have a few. So there's, um, embrace your awesome. There is stop waiting, start living. Um, Yeah. Awesome. Your awesome matters. I've written 26 books, so I'll, I'll stop with those. Um, but if you go [00:53:00] to amazon. com, uh, slash J K shawless, you'll find most of my books there.

And of course, on I embrace awesome. com, you'll find them.

All right. And what I'm going to do is I'll actually put an Amazon link to that in the show notes too. So people can look at that real quick. Jacqueline. All right, Jacqueline. It's been, um, this is probably one of the most awesome, uh, conversations I've had in a really long time.

I really appreciate it. And, uh, I really look forward to talking to you in the next six months. Okay. Thank

you so much. This has been a blast.

All right. All right. Scoob believers. Thank you so much for joining us and make sure you stay tuned for the wrap up. Okay. All right, everybody have a good evening.

Bye bye.

All right, school believers, that was Jacqueline with a whole mess of advice for brand new entrepreneurs. Always keep that stuff in mind. I mean, being able to work in your zone of genius, and being able to have your passions, it's always an important part. [00:54:00] That's always something that you're going to want to be in.

But we can't forget the other stuff, too. We can't forget about the money. We can't forget about the The licenses that we need, the taxes, whatever it is, that's working in the background there because that can kind of sneak up on you and bite you if you're not prepared for it. So always be prepared for that.

Uh, geez, Jack, I can't wait to see Jacqueline in six months to see if she actually got her, uh, her retreat in Panama and those stories. I'm really looking forward to those stories. So we'll follow up with her real soon.

All right. So a little bit more about what's going on with me. And, um, this is going to get a little bit deep for me, but I wanted to make sure I shared this with all my school believers out there. So it looks like I've been, uh, it looks like I need to move on. We going to be. Getting out of my place here real soon, uh, into a different place.

Fortunately, I was able to find another place pretty quickly. But because of this unexpected thing, looks like we. [00:55:00] Uh, well, it doesn't look like we're going to make it to pod Fest this year. Y'all. Um, I just didn't make enough money. On top of the money that I did have to save, I ended up having to use for deposits for a new place to go.

Uh, I am upset about this, but at the same time, Aye.

I'm still. Okay. I'm still okay. Uh, I will take a little pity party for me, probably for about a day or so, just to feel bad, but. I think what I'm going to do at this point is just get ready for next year. And or if there's one, another one that pops up close by. Um, I was really looking forward to going to this one, but unfortunately, uh, life seemed to have a different, a different way for me to go, but for some reason it has to be done.

So that's the way it's going to be. I'm okay with this. I'm not, but I am at the same time, uh, I would just got to keep looking forward and we're just moving on to the next thing. So. I'm not going to. Cry over spilled milk. I'm just going to keep moving and that's the way it's going to be. Okay. So now that that squishy stuff was out of the way. [00:56:00] Uh, next thing I want to talk about real quick is I'm actually going to be doing my first live, speaking on YouTube and Facebook.

This is going to happen January 16th at 4:00 PM central time. I'm not sure where that is on your time, but that's where it is on mine time. So you could actually find that on the undiscovered entrepreneur. , YouTube channel and you could find it on my Facebook, Facebook backslash. I am. Scoob. Uh, if you want to look it up there. , subscribed to me or friend me there and we'll get you in there and you can actually watch that happen. What's the subject going to be. I'm hoping that actually it's going to be the subject for my book that I'm going to be writing.

I've actually already started it. I started it. Oh, probably about a week ago. So here we go. Yo, we're actually writing a book. We're going to see how that works out. Really, it depends on how. The reception of my talk goes. If the book is going to continue. Um, I have really high hopes for it and it goes over everything that I talk about.

And I've talked about [00:57:00] up to this point. Also one final thing. Undiscovered advice is coming this Friday. Make sure you subscribe to wherever the heck you're listening to right now to see that happening. And that's gotta be happening from every Friday, from here on out. We're going to listen to entrepreneurs that give just the advice we're going to skip all the talking, all the fluff we're going to take.

It takes about 15, 20 minutes. So it's really one of the shorter type of podcasts I've put out. Listen to this. If you just want to hear good advice from. Entrepreneurs. Aren't everybody. That's everything. Thank you so much. Y'all have a great evening, but by now.