Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview
Jennifer Flynn is on a mission to support service-based entrepreneurs in creating a container for their soul's work in the form of a business that serves as a vehicle for the life they love to live. As the President and Founder of The Balance MavenⓇ, she helps clients overcome the imbalances operating in their lives and tips the scales in their favour. Through her uniquely balanced approach that combines an omnipresent intuitive gift with experience-informed strategies, those who work with her realize their soul-inspired end goals and the exact steps to get there.
You are "The Balance Maven". Can you tell us more about what this means and how you ended up where you are today?
Sure. Early in my coaching career, my mentor coach said you have to ‘niche to be rich’. I hated that phrase…it felt so superficial and money-driven vs service driven. I had deep resistance to this idea, because I just wanted to help ‘everyone’ and as someone who was multi-passionate, I had a hard time settling in on one singular thing. It felt so constrictive. It was then that she told me that we often coach or serve our ‘leading edge’. It was only after coaching lots of general and vague things struggling to serve a wide range of individuals, with no real marketing message, that I realized what my leading edge was. It was the struggle in my own life that had lead me out of my corporate job and into entrepreneurship in the first place. Balance. I struggled for years in running other businesses, acting as a coach for a larger consulting firm, motherhood, homeschooling, perfectionism…etc and losing myself in the process. There was a stage of life where I was living a life of quiet desperation and coming in last behind all things. My physical and certainly my mental health suffered alongside relationships. I was the doer of all things and I was so afraid of what would happen if even one tiny spinning plate dropped.
So when considering my ‘leading edge’, I looked at what one of my greatest challenges had been; one that I had faced many times, got knocked down and got back up, and faced it again and again and again before I won…it was mastering the art of balance. In my early years, it was the balance of work and play. As my brand and experiences evolved, I became a much more finely tuned machine for the nuances of all the polarities in our lives. I discovered that, if harnessed, we have the power to create a very fulfilling experience. It was no longer simply about work and life…it was about the polarities of being and doing, masculine and feminine energy, soul and strategy in our businesses. I recognized that as people who feel called to a higher mission to serve others and create our own business we are as much our business as our business is us. Your business becomes a container for your soul's expression. As such we seek both personal and professional fulfilment. We seek a holistic experience where we feel in sync with the universe and like we are making a difference. So many factors…it is easy to find ourselves feeling like we are in competition with all of the things vs in collaboration with them to reach our full potential. Have I mastered it? Do we ever ‘master’ such a thing? I think it is always an evolution. I just happen to be further ahead on the timeline than those I serve. I have pushed the envelope, as they say, time and time again. Each time finding my way back to a homeostasis until I push myself to the next level where I meet new challenges and often find another imbalance and more solutions that I can then refine and take back to those I serve for when they reach that summit.
In short…I ended up here by witnessing and living my own challenges, being the observer, learning not to judge and having a whole lot of compassion. The greatest reason I am here today…is listening to my own inner voice and standing in my own truth striving to be a lighthouse for others on their journey to finding their own fulcrum point.
Have you encountered any major challenges during your journey and how have these affected you?
I think we ALL encounter challenges on any journey. It is what grows us. I feel like there have been many. Entrepreneurship is not an easy path. It is inherently risky and often outside the box. It takes grit and tenacity and a truckload of self-discipline….often forged by fire.
I believe the challenges have affected me immensely and in a net positive way. I have become not only willing to travel paths that are not yet forged but often found the most aligned paths were the ones that had not yet been travelled. Aligned does not always equate easy. I learned to stand in my own truth and forgo the approval of others as the definition of success. Success typically has the same meaning for us all…what differs is the parameters in which we each measure it (to be happy, healthy, prosperous, fulfilled etc).
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I discovered how mission-critical it is to develop our own internal divining rod and use it as a faithful compass in every goal and action. Trusting yourself and forging your own path can be unpopular and this had a massive impact on who I chose to surround myself with.
There were times when I failed to be the keeper of the keys on my bus. There were times I had no idea who was driving and wondered if this was even my circus…and whose monkeys were those?
This led to imbalances in both my happiness and fulfilment factors, imbalances in thinking over feeling, and doing what I ‘should’ do in the good opinions of others vs listening to my own voice. There was a time I was great at ‘shoulding’ all over myself. I had to create space for my own voice to be heard again, and going further,...I had to allow it to rule.
As a result, I gained and lost friends along the way. Some people got off the bus at stops along the way by choice, others had to be forcibly removed. Ultimately, I removed some seats from the bus so those that were really meant to be on this journey with me had ample room to move around. It became about quality over quantity, deep over superficial, and opportunity over obligation.
Ultimately, I was given many opportunities to refine my own skills. Experience really is the best teacher, and I have been blessed with many teachers along the way. As a coach, I am always being coached. Mentorship is a powerful force for helping us realize our greatest potential. Why do it alone when there are so many gifted way-showers and truth-tellers who can ease the journey and save us from all lessons having to be the ‘hard way’?
My challenges have given me the forum to trust myself so completely that it has become easy to see those I serve bigger than they see themselves and hold space for them while they walk their own path to get there. I have come to a place where when challenges arise I can say, “this must be the breakdown before the breakthrough. I am so close!” and that lets me dig a little deeper and push a little harder regardless of how much I think I have left in the tank. Sometimes I astonish myself at where I can find the reserves. I believe that is true for us all. We never know how much we really have until we are tested.
As a mentor, what are the three cornerstones to relate to?
I find it interesting that you ask for 3 specifically. I happen to have exactly three cornerstones in my business that I strive to support all of my clients in attaining: Clarity, Connection and Confidence.
Clarity: I believe it is important for clients to know in their own minds and in their bones who they are. I want them to be crystal clear about the work they are here to do: what they do, why they do it, how they do it, and who they do it for. I strive to ensure they then share this information freely with the world and with complete clarity and truth as an extension of who they are.
Connection: Entrepreneurship can be a lonely road. I ensure everyone who works with me feels they have a safe, even sacred, space in me. A cheerleader, a guide, a mentor, a confidant, a sage. I am a wardrobe of hats and I’m ready to throw on whichever they need at any given moment. More than a connection with me, I want them to build a connection with their own ‘Inner Wisdom’. I facilitate them developing the skills necessary to become deeply rooted in their innate power and truth, and to feel both in every moment. Furthermore, I have curated a collection of amazing individuals so every person who works with me can find kindred peers with whom they can experience the highs and celebrate every victory as well as have a soft place to land when navigating life’s inevitable ups and downs.
Confidence: On top of all that clarity and connection, I want every client inspired in knowing that they are the best person (the only person really) for their unique mission. They feel competent in their work and confident in themselves. I want them to feel like they are living their best life vs life living them.
When there is clarity and connection, confidence is a natural by-product. Clarity has them on track with their mission, Connection allows them to be fully resourced and Confidence is what allows inspired action with trust in following their own North Star.
Is there something special that keeps you motivated?
My clients keep me motivated and ‘special’ feels like an understatement. I feel so blessed to attract the most amazing people. I am continually affirmed in answering my calling and having a business that allows me to practice what I teach every day. How lucky am I to get to make a successful and rewarding career out of helping others? I get to do something I am good at that feels like play every day! I am also a junkie for learning. I collect knowledge like people collect unicorn figurines. The best part is I not only get to constantly grow my collection but, rather than collecting dust on a shelf I get to use it every day to make a difference. This also translates to tremendous freedom. Freedom to set my own schedule, to determine my own financial opportunity, and chart my own course. I get to live IN purpose ON purpose. That also certainly helps to keep me motivated too.
Can you tell us something about yourself that very few people know about?
I always feel like I am a ‘what you see is what you get’ kind of person. That being said, I am told I can be perceived as having very powerful energy that can have some people feeling a little intimidated. I am a keen observer and sometimes that makes me seem a little aloof when people meet me for the first time. I once had a colleague tell me that while it’s not the thing I lead with, what people don’t know about me is I really am a “Mac Truck full of marshmallows”. That makes me laugh every time I think about it.
What makes you feel ‘out of your comfort zone?’ How do you handle these types of situations?
Much to everyone’s surprise, who sees me speak or experiences me teaching, being in the spotlight and being the centre of attention takes me out of my comfort zone. I feel a tremendous amount of pressure. I can do those things, and do them all well. People would never know I am out of my comfort zone. I am not being inauthentic or faking it til I make it…I have just learned how to manage the discomfort by counterbalancing it with my passion for my purpose.
You can’t make a difference if you can’t be seen. I remember that I have a calling to answer and I have been given these gifts for a reason and that reason is to make a difference. I also remember that I am simply a vehicle by which others get to be the greatest version of themselves and if I don’t show up, we don’t create that ripple effect that only occurs when we each show up in the ways only we can.
So, what’s the next big goal or project for Jennifer and how can someone get in contact with you?
I have a few things we are engaged in growing this year. We are updating our evergreen, 8 weeks, ‘A Scaled Soul’ and’ A Scaled Strategy’ Programs for re-release and also launching the MavenCast™, our multi-series podcast. It has 3 series: The Spiritual Sales Podcast, The BalanceCast, and The Business Alchemist Podcast.
We are always inviting people to our 12-month experience, Find Your Fulcrum™. This is a year of living in purpose, on purpose and growing and expanding your business while focusing on both the soul and strategy. Using the 9 elements of my Intuitive Business Atlas ™ I ensure that business owners enjoy high touch 1:1 mentorship, a like-minded advancing ‘MavenMind’ community, and balance on the journey of building while refining the container for their soul’s unique purpose and expression leading to both freedom and fulfilment.
The website www.thebalancemaven.com is a great way to learn more and get in touch. I am also present on all your favourite social media platforms.
