How to Prioritize Your Mental Health & Honor Your Introverted Personality as an Entrepreneur with Jess Williamson

How to Prioritize Your Mental Health & Honor Your Introverted Personality as an Entrepreneur with Jess Williamson

I am so excited for today’s post because I’m recapping a conversation I had with the incredible Jess Williamson. I had a great time recording a podcast with Jess, and I’m going through what we discussed here. 

We talked about building the business as introverts and how to lean into that and how being introverted is something to embrace rather than shy away from in business. Everyone should be who they really are, especially in business!

Jess is a serial entrepreneur and certified award-winning mindset and business coach in Australia. She helps women in business unleash their potential and believe anything is possible while maintaining mental health and well-being. We get a lot into her story, hustle mode, and how she’s prioritized her mental health throughout her journey.

 

 

Jess’ Story

Jess started her entrepreneurial journey in 2016 when she was 22 with a swimwear brand. She had no experience in business, and she launched her swimwear brand. Amazingly, it was global from day one. Amazing, right? She attributes her ability to do this out of the gates to her mindset. She’s super passionate about teaching and truly believes that if she hadn’t thought she would create a global brand, she wouldn’t have been able to do it.

She was invited to New York fashion week ONE week after she launched. Six months later, she was walking the catwalk after her brand hit the runway. It may seem like this opportunity just came to her, but it really was the result of all the things she’d done to get to that face.

She invested in a quality product photoshoot, she grew her following on social media, and these aspects and others worked together to help her achieve what she did. She actually sold this business in the middle of 2021. After five years of doing it, she realized it wasn’t lighting her up anymore. She wanted to give it to someone who could continue to grow it and have a passion for it, so that’s what she did!

Between starting her swimwear business and now, she had four other businesses. Wow! She had a brick-and-mortar events style business, a photography business, and an influencer travel agency.

She’s done a lot of different things and now, she loves sharing that knowledge with her business clients. She works with them on their mindset and combines her mindset certifications with her experience, which really lights her up.

 

The Ability to Start Over

One of the lessons that I want you to really take away from Jess’ story is that you can ALWAYS start over as an entrepreneur. Jess started many different businesses and had success with each of them. Entrepreneurs typically get scared to start over and change things, but the reality is that if something didn’t work or if it crashed and burned, you can always start over. It’s kind of exciting, actually!

When you’re working that way, you never feel like a failure. That’s because when you “fail” at one thing, you take your learnings and apply them to the next thing. Simple as that! Jess noted that in those cases, she questions whether she’s going to spend the energy being stressed or put it into something more productive that she can pivot to from there.

 

 

Building her Business as an Introvert 

Jess talks a lot about building her business as an introvert, protecting her mental health, and staying true to who she is in that sense. Let’s dive further into that. Introverts, by definition, get energy by being from themselves. Many times, this type of personality gets grouped together with being quiet or shy. This is mainly because introverts are introspective and like to work through decisions or problems on their own and with their own thoughts.

Jess shares that about 80 percent of the time, she’s by herself. She needs that time to recharge! She also noted that she’s more on the quiet side. But, over time, she said she’s gotten out of her comfort zone. While for so long she equated “showing up” as having a big personality, she now realizes that she can be quieter and still show up.

She was consistently labeled as a “quiet achiever,” and was told that she was lacking confidence time and time again. These messages surrounding her being an introvert were always delivered in a more negative way. 

She realized that if she was getting these messages as being an introvert, other people probably were too. So, she wanted to start talking about it in a more public way. She was hearing things like, “If you want to be a coach, you need to use group classes to scale your business.” As an introvert, though, she connects deeply with one person and is not as good in a group. So she has decided, true to her introverted nature, she will continue doing one-on-one sessions with clients. She keeps it scalable by changing her prices and other structural things, but it’s important to her to play on her strengths because that’s what she’s confident in.

There’s also an energy side of it all that Jess recognizes. She shared that sometimes she gets energy hangovers, even after doing things that are fun and exciting – like a weekend away with friends. Even though she’s enjoying this time, the interactions can be draining because of her introverted nature. She has learned this about herself and adapts her schedule accordingly, taking a day off after the trip to allow herself to really recharge. She’s also realized that she has two coaching calls per day maximum, which allows her the right amount of time to recharge in between and really show up for her clients.

 

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Balancing Business and Your Mental Health

Many times, people wrongly associate that more time with you equates to more value. But, as Jess and I discussed, this is not necessarily true. When you have a chance to really recharge, you can show up in a much better way for your clients, which is better than being available 24/7. That’s something I’ve come to realize with my clients and the way that I work.

Giving more, more, more as a coach can almost come off as a lack of confidence, at times. Plus, it makes clients more reliant on you and begins a negative cycle where boundaries will be crossed, people may take advantage, and there’s no balance in your life – which is definitely not something you want! 

Remember that whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, you only have so much energy to give in a day. It’s so refreshing that a new trend is that people are celebrating the idea of not working 24/7. 

The truth is that running your own business means you’re going, go, go all the time. Because you’re driving the car of your business and completely in control – and completely responsible – it’s SO much different than working a 9 to 5. That’s something Jess and I both feel so viscerally. 

But Jess is very passionate about showing entrepreneurs there can be more balance and room for their own lives. Every Friday, she shared that she does something called “feel good Fridays.” On these days, she rests. recharges, or does whatever she really wants to do. Some Fridays, that will be something fun. Others, it will be catching up on work so that she feels like she’s in a good place with it going into the weekend. Whatever it is, she makes sure it’s something that makes her feel good. 

She also makes it a point to not jam-pack her schedule because she knows she’s so much more productive that way. Jess remembered that when she started out with her business, she was in the hustle mentality. Sometimes, that mentality sticks around longer than it’s needed. Remember not to sacrifice everything in the name of your business. Give yourself what you need – sleep-wise, health-wise, and so on. 

Sometimes, the smallest mindset or strategy shift can make a huge difference in your business and you HAVE to break your business model and embrace a new one to get that time back. Embrace that! Do what you have to do for yourself and your mental health.

 

 

Believe You Can and You Will: The Bottom Line

Understand who you are first and know that you don’t need to fit into a box when it comes to running your business. It can be hard to learn where your strengths are and what your purpose is, but remember that it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of trial and error as well as doing and not being afraid. Every time you “fail,” though, you get one step closer to where you need to be.

Think of it like this: what’s the WORST that can happen? If you’re afraid of failure, you simply won’t take action. Or, if you don’t believe that your success is possible, you also won’t act. Don’t let limiting beliefs hold you back and remember – if you believe you can, you will! Believing in yourself and that your goals will happen is beyond important, so prioritize more than the strategy. Prioritize and protect your mindset along the way, too!

Thanks so much for reading! 

To sign up for my courses and coaching and explore all the resources I have to offer, check out the links below. And don’t forget to tune into The #PrettyAwkward Entrepreneur Podcast, wherever you love to stream content!

 

CONNECT WITH MEGAN:

Website: https://meganyelaney.com/ 

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CONNECT WITH JESS:

Podcast: https://www.jessicawilliamson.com.au/podcast

Website: https://www.jessicawilliamson.com.au/free-resources

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jess.williamson8/

MEG’S INTERVIEW ON JESS’ Couch Chat’s Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/couch-chats-with-jess/id1509586969?i=1000555513152

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