How I Ditched the Fear of Being Seen and Launched my REAL Business

I’ll never forget the moment the Disney team turned around the performance of the Animal Kingdom theme park. This beautiful park opened in 1999, full of compelling backstories and adventure. However, it wasn’t resonating with the Disney guests as expected.

The breakthrough solution to this challenge came in the middle of a 2-day strategy session. The team was poring over the guest research when the most senior operations  and creative executives looked at each other across the table and said at the same time, “You know what – we need to be a DISNEY theme park.”

It’s not the original vision of making this park distinct from other theme park and Disney experiences was wrong. The inclusion of live animals and inspiring messages about conservation were solid ideas. It just forced the essence of what makes a Disney theme park special and what guests love and expect about the experience to the background.

What seems like a simple shift in strategy actually was pretty massive as the operations team had to scramble to find ways to bring more of the Disney magic into the day-to-day experience, the Imagineers thought of new rides and experiences such as Everest and the marketing team had to create ads that convinced the world that this park was “Natazu.”

As the consultant to the operations team - I marveled at the reality that the best formula for success is to live and own what is most true and authentic about who you are and what people value about you.

 And then I started my own business…

…and discovered that this simple reality is easier said than done. Easier to see in other people than to see in oneself.

For the past 13 years, I have built a business on my consulting knowledge and expertise, first through my corporate consulting business, Accelera and then my mentoring business, The Consultant’s Institute.

Just like Disney’s Animal Kingdom – it’s not that what I created was wrong. It just didn’t live and own what is most true and authentic about me and I certainly didn’t position the strongest value that I bring to the table.

So, I am beyond excited to share with you the details of my biggest and most significant business shift and relaunch to date, including the change of my business name to Betsy Jordyn International. 

Betsy Jordyn International

My business is all about helping smart people to BOLDLY turn their purpose into profits. 

And what I mean by "smart people" are those individuals who have hit the top of their profession and wonder what it was all for. They want more, but just not more of the same. And they've got dreams of leaving their high-paying corporate jobs for the freedom and control that comes with running their own businesses. But they feel golden-handcuffed and overwhelmed by the expectations that others have for them.

I want to be their guide because I see so much more than a simple career transition. It’s a total life transformation that happens at this sacred crossroads. The process of leaving the known world of a steady paycheck and accolades into the unknown world of entrepreneurship is the journey of heroes and heroines. It’s the ultimate action learning opportunity for healing, growth and integration.

Through my mentoring, eCourses, live events and retreats – my clients will be able to say, “OMG! These are my best-at strengths and my deepest passions and I know exactly how they translate into a profitable business model that works for me!”

The Consultant’s Institute and all of the programs that I have created for the past 6 years are still there. In fact, I have created a perfect and low-cost way to access all of them that I would love for you to check out. But everything I do now is going to be repositioned towards this broader mission of helping high-achieving professionals create greater success on their own terms and crack the code on making money and a difference doing what they love.

My Lessons Learned

It has taken me years to find the clarity and courage to truly own my gifts and what I want to bring to the table. And I am convinced it doesn’t have to be this way. It doesn’t have to take that long with as many false starts as I have experienced. So, let me share with you a few of my key lessons learned.

1. Playing it safe isn’t sustainable over the long-term.

I didn’t actually leave Disney to start a consulting business. I left because I knew I wanted more but didn’t know what. I was considering a counseling degree and wanted to work with people one-on-one, but life circumstances forced me to “giddy up and go on my own business” to avoid having to return to corporate.

I chose what was safe over what my heart wanted. And while I did experience tremendous success – I eventually hit burnout a few years later, which forced me to reinvent my business...which cost me a whole lot more time and money than if I did it right the first time. 

My big learning - It takes the same amount of money, time and strategy to grow an off-purpose business vs. an on-purpose one.

The difference between the two is simply the cost of vulnerability and pursuing something that is outside of your comfort zone. And as we all know, vulnerability is not fun!

What about you? Are you at a crossroads? Are you thinking about starting your own business or switching up your business model? If so, what would it look like for you to stay true to your heart and trust its messages? What would it look like to stop negating your passions and your best-at gifts and embrace them to the point where you can make money off them?

2. Pinpointing and framing up exactly who you serve (vs. what you do) is the most significant branding decision you can make.

For a long time, I thought my ideal client was a mid-career professional who wanted to start their own consulting business but didn’t know how. And while there’s a part of this description that is accurate, it’s definitely not the heart of my ideal client. 

My ideal client is a high-achieving and purpose-driven professional who is at the most significant career crossroads of their lives. They want to redefine how they experience success and they want to feel that their careers and lives align with all of who they are. And while some of these people want to start a consulting business, others want to start a coaching business or a mentoring business or some other business that leverages their expertise.

I was way too narrow and not inclusive. And I wasn’t offering anything that could help accelerate the transition time because let’s be real – the time between the spark of wanting to start a business and the actual implementation can be a long time.

I tell my clients all the time that the hardest exercise in our brand building process is identifying your ideal client but once you see it, you won’t be able to unsee it and it’ll transform your clarity, confidence and ability to find the words to describe what you do. This is what I experience now.

What about you? Do you know who your ideal client is? If I were a movie director filming the story of your business, can you describe your ideal client with enough clarity so I know exactly how to cast this role? If not, what do you need in order to get to that point of clarity?

3. People don’t work with you because of what you know. They work with you because of your best-at strengths.

All my life I have been complimented on my framing skills – the ability that I have to sort and organize complex thoughts, ideas or content into logical categories so that others can take action on them.

I use this strength all the time. This is how I establish credibility with executive clients, facilitate engaging meetings and focus groups, create insightful assessment reports, develop content and how I help my clients get to clarity about what they want to do with their lives and why.

But like everyone else who operates in their zone of genius, I blew it off and minimized it.

Until now.

Everything I am offering and will offer is going to leverage my ability to help others dial into what they are thinking and feeling and find the words to articulate it in a way that matters.

I don’t sell programs or even mentoring services. I sell confidence. Period. 

What about you? What’s your superpower? What is it that you bring to the table that only you can bring? What do you do that comes so naturally to you that when you’re complimented on it, you blow it off?

4. The path to success isn’t a straight line. It’s more like an ice-skater moving side to side.

It has taken me years to believe in my heart that failure is not only an option but it’s irrelevant. I’d love to say that the way to success as a business owner is to set a goal and then invest money and time to achieve that goal. But it doesn’t work that way.

You put something out there. The market responds. And then you adjust.

My intention for business has never changed. I wanted control over my time and earning power, total creative freedom, to serve my clients with my whole heart and to be there for my kids.

But the tactics and strategies have changed. A lot.

The successes have been great and extremely validating. But the things I put out there that bombed were far better teachers about what my clients really want.

I used to get beside myself when someone unsubscribed from my list. Now it’s neither here nor there. It’s far more important to me that I am listening deeply to the needs of those I meant to serve and adjust what I do for them than it is to make a mistake or misstep.

And that I stay true to my intentions. My kids were 4 and 6 when I started my business. My oldest daughter just from graduated high school. And you know what? I was there for everything. Sure, some years were fatter than others, but I did it. I supported my kids as a single mom on nothing but my business revenue. And I think when I look back on my life, I will probably note this as my greatest accomplishment.

What about you? Do you have big dreams for your career and/or business but experience fear of failure or making a mistake? How can you shift your perspective on the extreme value and purpose for really good mistakes and missteps?

5. If what you are selling with your business is yourself – your “know-how” and strengths - use your own name in your business. Period.

I tell my mentees all the time that they can make their own mistakes but please don’t make mine and one of my biggest was using a fictitious name for my business.

I named my first business Accelera Consulting Group for a couple of reasons. I was going through a divorce and personal name change and thought no one would find me. Also, my favorite client told me that what I was best at was taking an existing fire and making it burn brighter and stronger, so I liked the idea of Accelera for accelerant.

But then when I wanted to start pivoting my business towards mentoring other consultants – I had to come up with another fictitious name for that part of the business and hence the Consultant’s Institute was born.

There are lots of reasons why your own name is better in terms of establishing thought leadership and making searches online easiest. But my #1 is that my fictitious names turned into albatrosses as I grew and evolved.

I am a multi-passioned creative entrepreneur and the business brand and name did not provide me a flexible container to grow within.

My business name is officially now Betsy Jordyn. You can find me at www.betsyjordyn.com. And it’s done. Never again will I change my personal or business name. It’s a pain in the neck. 

If you've got your own business – I beg you: Use your own name!  Set yourself for success over the long-term and accommodate in advance how you might shift and change as you mature.