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, one that helps others to do the same. I created the Hey Spark Plug! Podcast to 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. Ready?
Let's dive in.
Hey, you welcome to another episode of the Hey Spark Plug! Podcast. Every Wednesday, I drop a new episode sharing tips on starting to launch and scaling a business. It's been a fun week for me so far. So, at the time of recording this episode, the first week of my side hustle boot camp is started. And I've been teaching in it almost daily. So, for me, this is one of the most exciting times of the year because I get to meet so many new women to learn about their business goals and help them start aligning those goals towards profits. Plus, I'm getting ready to open the doors to my course The Side Hustle Academy, which will happen in February. So, all in all, this has been a really great start to the new year. And with every new group of students I get to work with, I always end up thinking about why people decide to start a business. Everyone has their own reason and I think that whatever that motivator is, it's so important to your journey as an entrepreneur. But I also think that we forget that it's even more important to match that why to your business goals. So today, I thought I'd talk to you about how to align your why with your business goals to create a profit, and the three steps you can take to make that happen.
So, one of the things that I don't talk about very much is actually the why behind my own business. And for me, one of the reasons I talk about it is partially because I just don't think it's really that relevant and a lot of ways to what it is that I am my storytelling right and kind of the journey, my journey within going from the corporate world into, you know, doing what I do now. However, the why is really directly related to all of the business that has been built from it. And so, for me, my why is that I spent the majority of my career of those of you who follow me a little bit know some of my background, working with businesses that were really needed some stability and had to figure out kind of how to operate with more of a strong foundational footing when it comes to business planning. So, I spent a lot of my time going into businesses where I was mainly nonprofit and charitable sector but going in and helping to be able to kind of write the ship. So, I would rework operational plans, I would take over projects that were just a mess, there's no other way they would explain it. I would fix that all up and I'd hand it back. I'd work on helping to be able to raise really large sums of money or execute like projects that had super tight deadlines and like, kind of like expectations that were just over the top expectations in these timelines with what the budgets that were assigned to them. So, I kind of became known for my ability to be able to, you know, fix the unfixable.
When I first got pregnant, I decided to take I was going to take extended leave from there. And I was working on a really big project at the time and decided that you know, after that was done, I really wanted to have some extended time where I could actually be home, be a mom really experienced what that world was like. And it was something for me that I had waited so long to be able to to know that I didn't really want to rush right back into work. So I was home for a while. And when I decided okay, I think it's time to go back. I walked right in and I think people most people know the story by now is I walked in, and I was like, nope, thanks, I'm done. And I kind of walked right back out of my corporate world. I just for me, it was no longer something that I felt that I wanted to do. It didn't align anymore with my values. I really quite honestly was tired of fixing other people's mistakes. Like I know that sounds a little like, Jan like that's a little snobby sounding. But it's really true. I just got really tired of it. I got tired of having to fight all the time to be heard. I got working a lot of the time with people who were really, really passion driven, and didn't have a lot of business background. And so for me, it was really challenging to always kind of go in and say like your passion is fantastic and I love you for it. But you need to have business acumen because otherwise, this is why you're in the situation you're in. And it's hard to talk to passion-based people about that. And I'm very passionate, I'll say that, like, I'm very, very passionate. But the head rules when it comes to business, like you know, your heart, super important, but the head is really where you got to be working with all the time. So when I was like, Okay, that's it, that's all I'm done with this, my why became all about wanting to help women be able to build businesses the right way from the ground up. So instead of actually going in, and being always like, well, I'm just going to fix all of these problems that exists and try to, like, you know, recreate the wheel and every situation that I was working in, knowing full well that it probably wasn't going to stay that way after I left, instead, I was going to just teach how to do it right, right from the start. So that way, these problems aren't going to exist anymore.
It's an awful lot easier just to back the truck up than it is to try to drive the truck forward through that crazy storm. That happens within businesses. Which are not operating, kind of with all the right things in place right from the start. So, for me, that was my why. It really was I was just tired of fixing other people's mistakes. And I wanted to be able to move forward in teaching women how to do it right from the start. So, they could be profitable from day one, and never have to worry about what do I do now and how I'm spinning my wheels or my family is going to, you know, go without these things, or I might lose my house or all of those things that every single one of us have some point we have worried about. How am I going to put my children through university? How am I going to do all of these things? I wanted to be able to walk out and say, all of those years, like 21 years of business of what I've done, here's how to do it the right way so that you can hit all of those goals.
So, for me, I guess like my why really is a direct alignment with my passion, which is making sure that you know, women are able to actually stand on their own two feet in life and be able to move forward with the things that they deserve to have. But also learn how to accomplish them in ways that are sustainable. So that's really kind of the foundation behind my why. But again, it's not a story that I tell very much. However, when you're talking about like that whole idea of like, how do you marry your passion with your head, I'm going to kind of walk you through the three ways, it's a three-step process that I would say, to be able to start really trying to find that perfect place where your passion, and your profits start to come and align with each other.
So you're ready? Grab a pen, grab a piece of paper, get your phone out, whatever it is that you use to take notes on, we're here we go.
Alright, let's start with step number one, I want you to get clear on your why I want you to take a piece of paper. And I want you to sit down and write out all the reasons why you want to start a business or have started your business at this point. And don't overthink it. Just write them all down. And when you're writing them down, I want you to think about answering these questions. Why did you start your business? What does it give you purpose for like, what purpose are you getting out of having this business? Why does it matter to other people? How will this business change your life? Or the life of somebody else? Really get rooted in like the deeper thinking behind the Why? Why are you doing this? Now you don't need to have deep meaning though, behind your why as well, I'm going to say in the sense that you know, you want your to change the world or that you know you're focused on you know, solving poverty or anything like that. Wanting to make money or wanting to never have to report to a boss, again, are very valid reasons for starting a business. If that's your why you go with it like you own that why there is nothing wrong with having that as the reason why you want to start a business. Anything that has to do with lifestyle freedom, financial freedom, anything with that those are motivators, there's serious motivators behind a business. So you write that down, and don't feel guilty that you know, you have to have something that's deeper than that. You don't, you know, wanting to change the world is really, really a meaningful thing. I've wanted to change the world numerous times in my life in my career. And I've tried, you know, through some of the things that I've launched as well. But sometimes also, the things that I've looked at launching are really because I'm like, I just want to be able to put my daughter through university without a doubt, without a debt and I or I want to be able to, you know, live in that house that I've always dreamt about living and in order to do those things. It takes money. So there's nothing wrong with having to kind of have a figure out what your why is, and have it be something that really comes down to monetary reasons. So once you've dumped all of your ideas, I want you to narrow down to the one core reason behind your why. And I want you to take that and add it to the top of a new page.
Next, I want you to start thinking about how your why can lead you to your ideal customer. So in order to be able to match your passion to profit, you need to understand who's going to buy from you, and why they are going to care about what you are selling. So let's look at my why in relation to my ideal customers. So in my world, my ideal customers are really driven women who are looking to leave corporate life behind, or looking to be able to have financial freedom in their life, they're looking to be able to put their children through university. They want to be their own boss, and make the decisions in their life that are going to benefit their families and themselves. And they're all motivated to make this happen. My ideal customers, my women, if you're listening to this, then you're probably one of my people. My people are gonna do the hard work. They're not looking for shortcuts. They're looking for success. And they're willing to do all of the things that they need to do in order to get that success. And they're willing to follow the frameworks, and they're willing to put in the hard work. And they're willing to listen when they're being told don't do that. They're not going to say, Oh, no, no, I'm just gonna go with it, they're gonna say, Okay, I'm listening, because I don't want to make those mistakes. I don't want to make the mistakes; you've seen other people make Jan or the ones that you've made yourself when you were first starting to launch businesses. I want to do this right from the start. So that's why when I talk about, like, looking at how it is that your why can lead you to your ideal customer, my why led me directly to her. It was a direct line in there. And so, in the sense of that, I'm able to be able to weave that into some of my storytelling that I do as well, and how I speak to my customers moving forward.
So, I want you to ask yourself some questions to help narrow down your ideal customer, and in who they are. So, first of all, think about where do they get their information from? Where they're getting their information is so important because that's where you need to be. So you need to be there where they are, if they're the type of people that are getting their information from Facebook, you need to be on Facebook, whether you like it or not. If they're the type of people who rather be getting information from Instagram, you need to be on Instagram, whether you like it or not. So think about where your ideal customer is, and where you're going to start going to tell your story that's going to be able to reach them and resonate them with them.
Next, I want you to talk about what problems or challenges are they facing right now, that can directly relate back to your why. So in my case, my customers the challenge they face is they can't quite figure out how to get that business acumen up to the level that it needs to be at in order to make their businesses financially successful. So they got the passion, and they've got the heart and they've got the ideas and they've got the spark and they've got the drive, they just need that business acumen. And they don't have the time to go back to university to do it or go back to college, perhaps they don't have the money to do it as well. And they're looking for I want to be able to get this done. And I want to learn the best I can learn in the shortest amount of time possible, in order to be able to reach my goal, because I'm a busy mom, I'm a busy woman I don't have time to muck about. That's what the problem that they're facing. And so that's why I speak directly to the here are the fast actionable ways that you are going to be able to do this work. And I'm not going to take a lot of your time up, I'm not going to waste your time talking about things that you really just don't need to know. I'm not going to fill your time with fluff, I'm not going to kind of pump up ego all the way through here, or tell too many stories about things that really don't have anything to do with much when it comes to getting your business off the ground. I'm going to speak directly to your challenge and give you the answers that you need in order for you to be able to move forward. And then how can your why speak directly to the heart of your ideal customer. So like I was just saying before, what is it that isn't your why that's going to speak directly to the heart of your ideal customer. So here's where I'm going to add a little disclaimer. If you're not able to align your why with the needs of your customer, that I'm going to tell you right now to stop. Write down your why on a post it note, stick it somewhere that you can see it every day as a personal motivator and don't ever talk about it again within your business. Because of your why can't become part of your storytelling that's going to motivate your ideal customer toward doing business with you, then it's irrelevant to your business planning. Don't get caught up in the trap of thinking that because you care, somebody else will eventually start caring too. That's how businesses fail. When you place your focus on building a business that's driven by your own motivation instead of what motivates your ideal customer, you will be constantly learning new ideas and the hope that something's gonna stick instead of being so intentional about creating a message that your customers will listen to, because they see themselves within it.
Okay, so once you've outlined who your ideal customer is, and how your why relates to them, step three is outlining what benefit your why delivers to them. So by speaking to the benefits that you can offer to your customers, you're offering your solution in a way that has direct impact in their lives. Many early businesses focus on what they're selling from a product point of view. So the specs of what's being sold, how many units are in it, and so forth. Instead of focusing on selling, what the benefits are to your customer, and how that will impact them more personally and directly. So they'll find more time, gain more confidence, make more money. Take a good look at your why and how it can be part of the value that you add to your customers experience with you. When you're able to articulate those three areas within your storytelling, you are directly aligning your heart with your head, which puts you on a path to profit from the start.
So that's it for today. If you're thinking about starting a business, or you want to try to get something up and going in 2021, I invite you to join my free side hustle boot camp. So, it's a 30 day business Kickstarter for female entrepreneurs. And it started this week. So, it started on January 4, and it's going to be running through all of January and a little bit into February. And I walk you through eight key decisions within that boot camp that you need to make to be able to turn your idea into a profitable business. So, it's free. It's fabulous. It's already off and running. I'm so excited about all of the people that are in it and all of these amazing women that have come forward with such unique ideas and businesses, you're welcome to sign up at Janditchfield.co/bootcamp. Or you can find the link in the show notes.
And as well if you haven't yet, you can find me on social so you can find me on Facebook at Janditchfield.co and Instagram at the same handle @Janditchfield.co. I'm live on Facebook every Tuesday morning at 10:30am. Eastern, and I'm live on Instagram every Thursday at 1pm. Eastern as well. Talking about business tips and drilling down on things. Telling some stories that sometimes are interesting. Sometimes they're funny sometimes just make you want to roll your eyes of things I've seen along the way in my 21 years of business.
So, thanks so much again for joining me today. And I'll be back next week, same day, same time, and until then sparkplug keep building something magical.
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