Today I’m thrilled to feature a Q & A interview with business coach, world traveler, and fellow Missourian Jennifer Peek. Her blog features tons of excellent business resources served up each week in the Groovy Grab Bag.

Jennifer combines 20+ years of corporate experience with a passion for serving creative solopreneurs to help her clients create businesses that support their life goals. She’s consciously structured her own businesses to support her family’s love of travel and adventure.

Here’s Jennifer…

Q: Tell us about your coaching business, Find Your New Groove. Who do you love to help, and why?

I love working with creative businesses, usually solo business owners, to help them get a structured business foundation in place so they can more easily bring their creative juices to the world.

The biggest thing I’ve seen hang up the more right-brained geniuses is that they have so much going on that they can’t focus on what needs to be done to build their business. As a result, most of them are not making enough money, and they are burning out.

They may try taking courses to fill in the gaps but that is a struggle itself because their minds just don’t work like that.

They need just a little direction, a simple plan that fits their thinking style and a dash of strategic pixie dust to take off like a rocket.

Q: What was the biggest challenge(s) you faced when making the transition from more than 20 years working in corporate American to the entrepreneurial world?

Not having a staff – LOL! Seriously, I had a team of 12-15 people that worked for me. That allowed me to do several things: focus my strengths on what I did really well and have them do the same. It is amazing how much difference this makes.

As an entrepreneur, you have to make the decisions about who does what, what gets done first and what is costs in time and money nearly every day in different contexts than in the corporate world. It’s not better or worse – it was just an adjustment.

The second big thing is relationships. I worked for a Fortune 50 company with about 40,000 employees. That means that nearly all of my professional relationships were inside the company. I didn’t have an extensive professional network when I left, so I’ve had to build that up. Fortunately, it hasn’t been difficult, but it still takes time.

Q: Along with Find Your New Groove, you are also a partner in a commercial real estate company, with your husband. What are your favorite aspects of running your own businesses?

Getting to make the rules! The biggest one really is related to that. My husband’s job is very demanding, and he travels frequently, in the US and globally, for that. Even as a senior manager in the corporate world, I was the go-to parent for the kids’ sports, school activities, etc. I still am, so having the flexibility to manage the family aspect is really important. We had consciously planned for me to make this move back when the kids were still in diapers (they are 9 and 12 now).

A close second place is the variety of what I get to do every day, every week, every month. I am multi-passionate and cannot have just one thing going at a time. It’s why I had the role I did in corporate and why I do what I do now. Of course, there can be a curse to having too many ideas too!

Q:In your coaching practice, you emphasize the importance of creating businesses that work for us. How can women who are just starting to build a business keeping focus on their bigger life/family goals, when there’s so much work to do?

It’s going to sound like a broken record, but you just have to decide what is important to you and build on that.

For example, leading weekend retreats or seminars might be one of the big things that you want to have in your business – whether because you love it or because that’s where the money is for you right now. AND you have two little kids at home. That will tear some people apart – and they will feel like they have to choose. Seminar or kids. Kids or seminar. Either way, there will be this piece of them that suffers.

Unless they make a different choice. There are lots of possibilities on how to make that work if you look at it from the “how do I make this work” view instead of the “either/or” view. Those options might depend on the kids’ ages, but let’s say they are 3 and 5. You could…

• Incorporate them into the seminar in places. Everyone loves to get a peek at people’s private lives, and kids are usually fun. If your seminar is uber-serious, this may not work, but even then, you need a humor break or some light-hearted portions.

• Hire a nanny, bring a spouse, friend or family member to watch the kids. Make it exciting for them – not “it sucks that Mom has to work.” You’d be surprised how affordable it can be – and the kids get a weekend vacation in the process. How awesome for them to get a new experience AND to get to see their mom doing what she loves.

• Leave the kids at home with a nanny, spouse, friend, etc. Again, it can be affordable and they can still have fun while being in surroundings they know.

• Create a kid-friendly watch area as part of the seminar. Who knows how many people attending have the same issue – or are even not coming because of that? My gym has a child watch area with games and staff. I can guarantee you that more people join and come because of that…it is full of kids for all of the hours that it is open.

Those are just some quick examples and a little corner of what I help the business owners I work with uncover. I am a master at seeing lots of possibilities that will work and helping my clients find the ones that fit them best.

Q: You’re making your businesses work with your family’s love of travel. What’s your secret?

There are three big things: technology, flexibility and the drive to make it happen.

Here’s the big thing: you have to set up your business from the outset with the end in mind.

You have to be willing to take the leap of knowing what you want to create instead of just taking the first path that appears in front of you.

For me, that means that I have created my business to largely be virtual and to have a one-day intensive that works best in that environment. I do have local clients that I meet with in person, but it is still in the one-day intensive model.

I see way too many people think small and short-term then get stuck in a business that they don’t really like. They went into it thinking they would change it once it made money, got big enough, whatever.

Now they don’t know how to change it without losing what they’ve built even though it’s not what they really want. To use a construction adage, it is easier to build a new house than to completely remodel an old one, so do it your way the first time.

From the flexibility side, it means that there are some way early hours and some way late hours. That’s OK with me because I am consciously choosing that trade-off. Sometimes, it is having the kids go get ice cream in the hotel lobby so I can do a quick video. Sometimes, it is getting things done in advance or scheduling them in such a way that it works with the travel, the internet access and the time zone differences (those were big ones for our Australia trip at the end of 2011). The combination of my Midwest work ethic and my love of what I do in my business help, too.

Q: What’s the next travel adventure for you?

It’s going to be hard to top the 3-week holiday to Australia in December and January. We also just got back from our annual ski trip to Copper Mountain. We are doing a week-long RV trip up to Niagara Falls at the end of May, and then a two-week RV trip to Florida over Christmas 2012. We have a couple of other ones throughout the year, but those two are the longest.

Q: On your blog you do such a great job of sharing books and online resources for women entrepreneurs. What books do you recommend women entrepreneurs keep on their shelves?

Wow. It’s going to hard to narrow that down. First and foremost, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I first read this twenty years ago, and I still re-read it today. It has had the biggest impact on all areas of my life, hands down.

Second, The Four-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. He may irritate you or you may find him a little arrogant. I find him entertaining, but most of all I like that he makes you really think about what you want and how to start considering the possibilities instead of the impossibilities – whether you aim to work 4 hours a week or not.

Third, Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk. It is about finding your passion, picking a medium that works for you and working your butt off to make it happen.

Beyond that, just about anything by Seth Godin or Richard Branson. Finally, favorite fiction authors: I am partial to cozy mysteries. You have to have something light-hearted to get out of your own head at times.

Q: What did 8 year old Jennifer say she wanted to be when she grew up?

Hmmm…probably a scientist. I love problem-solving and figuring out how things work. I just don’t have the patience for the length of those experiments and scientific studies. Plus, I am so intrigued by business in general that I couldn’t just sit in a lab while the deals were being made outside of it. Fortunately, I didn’t really know all of that when I was 8 so I could dream about finding a new star or making some other great discovery.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you and your biz?

Here is me and what I do in my business in a nutshell…

Through my 20+ years in the corporate world, I learned lots of things about myself – namely, that I am not the pocket-protector and green eye shade kind of business person. I am structured and creative. I am facts and figures along with endless possibilities. I am a CPA and MBA that loves colored mind-maps and bubble charts. I am able to take the most complex business issue and make it sound like your mom’s favorite cake recipe – with icing. I am creative ingenuity balanced by my Fortune 50 practicality and corporate firepower. I am a firefighting, problem-solving maven who loves, loves the mechanics of business and the beauty of creative businesses.

I am the strategic pixie for your creative business. I am your business brain on amped-up green juice + smoothies. I am the structure you crave without all the boring business baggage.

and I have to ask…Jayhawks or Tigers?

This is bad timing considering the recent upset that busted lots of NCAA tourney brackets…but M-I-Z…Z-O-U!

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Jennifer Peek takes stuffy corporate know-how + entrepreneurial experience = a very groovy methodology for creative biz design. She provides left-brained strategic pixie dust for right-brained businesses through her innovative CATALYST sessions. CATALYST is a one-day strategy, business planning + creative business think tank, designed to help you propel your business while keeping a sense of humor and fun about it. Get the full scoop on CATALYST here. (http://findyournewgroove.com/creative-business-consulting-coaching-catalyst) You can find Jennifer on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+: Jennifer Peek.

How are you structuring your business to support your LIFE? Leave a comment below!

I’m so happy to have Cathy Anderson of Just Organize Your Stuff (aka JOYS) as the Women Branching Out interviewee today. Cathy has combined her art direction skills with a desire for peace with her own papers to make a beautiful, colorful, inspiring, and functional set of organizing products.

JOYS offers a mix of print-your-own PDFs and physical products to help you organized all your papers, and life. One of my favorite freebies is After School Flow. It’s great for moms, like me, with kids who bring home mountains of stuff from school.

I’ve asked Cathy to share a little bit more about her business journey with us.

Q: Tell us about Just Organize Your Stuff (JOYS). What does JOYS do? Who does JOYS help/serve and why?

A: JOYS is my pursuit to inspire busy women juggling home, family and career to create calm and freedom by making peace with their household papers (aka responsibilities), so they can have more time to enjoy the good life. 

I knew simplifying, getting organized and taking care of responsibilities would help me find freedom and peace-of-mind. I also had a hunch it would make me happier. And it has. 

Q: Is there a secret messy closet at the Anderson household or have you always been organized?

A: Hardly. I have not always been organized. Us creatives like to collect things. Things bring clutter. And, yes there is an area in my house that drives me nuts, my basement. It’s been organized a number of times…  let’s not go there. 

Q: What are the biggest challenges (business, technical, etc) you faced when launching JOYS and what lessons did you learn from these challenges?

A: Technically it would be the website. I had a vision and nothing was coming together. My original site was a completely custom created Cold Fusion site. Actually, you can still see it on the WayBack Machine. Any changes I made would cost me a small fortune.

I had no skills in web development when I started. I had a bit of experience designing sites but very little technical savvy. My html and css knowledge was nil.I was at the mercy of the pros.This was years back when open source platforms like Joomla and WordPress were not nearly as common as as they are now. I have had developers vanish and others over promise.

So, in sheer desperation to build the site I envisioned, I learned Joomla, brushed up on my html and css and got to work. From this experience alone I learned a lot. On the business end, I would have to say the marketing. But I am working on that. 

Q: What is your favorite aspect of running your own business?

A: I can’t help but smile when I read, “Finally, this all makes sense. I made huge progress.” or “I really like your unconventional approach.” I love feeling like I made a tiny little impact on someone’s everyday life. 

I also love the flexibility. The ability to set my schedule and work out of my home. It’s nice to toss in a load of laundry or start dinner and go back to work. The creative freedom kinda rocks too.

Q: What is your best organization tip for women just starting their businesses?

A: Get your books set up. Start right away with a money management program like Freshbooks or Quickbooks. A good chart of accounts will give you a solid outline for your filing system. Then Balance. Balance. Balance.

All businesses are different. Each will require a unique system of information management. Organizing is a process. Remember, there’s always room for improvement and nothing is permanent. Change your systems if they aren’t working for you.

Q: Who are your business role models

A: Steve Jobs and Apple. If I were just out of college, I would have my resume addressed Apple at 1 Infinite Loop.

Q: What other careers/jobs have you had?

A: A good part of my professional life was spent in the design world as an art director for a small design firm. I had a teaching gig at American University, adjunct professor, for about three years until I moved. Loved that job. 

Q: Who in your personal life is/are your biggest supporter(s) and what does this support allow you to do?

A: Easily my guy. He has picked me up and pushed me through, as well as puts a roof over our heads. His support allows me to do all that I do. Grateful I am.

Q: What did 7 year old Cathy say she wanted to be when she grew up?

A: Hum. 7. I’m not sure. Possibly a nun. I did go to catholic school. Maybe a nurse…

Q: Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you and your biz?

A: Just come check out my website. I’m there. All there. 

If you’re ready for paper peace, download Cathy’s first (free) ebook Blueprint:JOYS the Creative Outline for a Home Filing System. http://www.justorganizeyourstuff.com/blueprint2

Cathy Anderson inspires busy women to make peace with their household papers, so they can have more time to enjoy life. You can find her at www.justorganizeyourstuff.com on Twitter: twitter.com/joys Facebook: facebook.com/JustOrganizeYourStuff and Pinterest: pinterest.com/cathya/

Leave a comment for Cathy below. If you know someone who would like to know about JOYS, please share!

Today I’m thrilled to feature a Q and A interview with love and life coach Sally Hope.

Last year Sally toured the U.S. in an RV as part of Girls Gone Moto (GGM) , coaching and spreading love with random acts of kindness.

Enjoy getting to know Sally, and her gunslinging, rockstar ways, and be sure to connect up with Girls Gone Moto’s Facebook page for details on a free call on Tuesday, February 21 and to follow their adventures this year.

Q: Tell us about your coaching practice. Who do you love to help and why?

My coaching practice is full of amazing women doing amazing things (and some REALLY cool dudes). People that don’t follow the norm.  Entrepreneurs, small business owners, rebels, movers and shakers, lovers, and risk-takers.

I tend to attract the people that want a “thing” (a more successful business, a mobile lifestyle, a better relationship, etc) but what they’re actually searching for is how to become the kind of person they need to be in order to have that “thing.” 

Which usually turns into a lot of talking about how to get through their fears. Why do I do this?

I absolutely love inspiring people to live the kind of lives they want to be living. To realize they can create their own happiness. To know that no matter what they’ve learned or what other people have told them, they can achieve their dream lives. To value their ideal life more than their fears.

I love the moment when someone starts believing that they can have what they want, and their possibilities are endless. I feel like it’s an honor to be able to be with someone during those moments.

Q: We know you really are a rockstar, what other jobs/careers have you had?

Aww…well thank you my dear. Before coaching, I was a touring musician/crossword puzzle writer.  I bet you didn’t know those two things could go together! 🙂 I’ve also been a nanny, bartender, denim specialist at a boutique and worked PR.  I’ve never been very traditional in my work.  

I’ve always created jobs where I had a lot of flexibility and could have a mobile lifestyle. Which is why it’s not surprising to me that I chose coaching!  

Q: What inspired Girls Gone Moto?

Honestly, at first it was simply a personal lifestyle choice.  Natalie (my GGM partner in crime) and I were living in the same city, with no real ties to anything, and both had jobs that are mobile. Last year was a time of experimentation and exploration and we started to want to try out different kinds of lifestyles. In a spontaneous turn of events, we decided to move to Costa Rica to see if we could (and would like) the travel/work lifestyle and what we found was not only did it work, but that it was absolutely fulfilling and fun and easy and inspiring to people. We got to live in a beautiful and tropical place, going to to beach, living in the jungle and still run our businesses successfully as though we were in an apartment in a so-so city. That inspired us, and we wanted to keep it going.

We loved our working and living/traveling together dynamic and we knew we wanted to continue and build something with the two of us. So when we got home, we decided to put all our stuff in storage and get in RV.  We had no real plan. We just knew we had five weeks. So we started driving and let our intuition guide us. And what we found while we were out was that we’d meet people everywhere that were really inspired by our story: Two young, successful girls with their own businesses traveling around and living this whimsical life of freedom, full of amazing experiences.

So on that trip we decided we wanted to go out again, with a more pointed purpose…to inspire as many people as we possibly can to live their most ideal lives, and spread kindness to complete strangers, as a way to pay-it-forward.  We knew that part of this impact was through videos, so we got an amazing videographer on board, and thus Girls Gone Moto was born.  

Q: What was the biggest challenge of driving across the US?

There were a lot of challenges, but I think for me, it was having to manage all the personal lessons that showed up along the way, under really stressful situations. We had extreme weather, lots of technical difficulties, a breaking-down RV, a shooting schedule, our own businesses to run, our new business (GGM) to manage, volunteering opportunities to schedule, Random Acts of Kindness to do, finding clients to coach on camera, speaking opportunities to filter and set up, long drives to be had, and on top of that, we’re people.  Three of us and a dog all in one very small space, having to get along and make sure that we’re all feeling our best so that we can keep going.  

I feel like I came home a different person.  Stronger.  More capable.  

Q: What is your favorite aspect of running your own business?

The freedom!! I make my own schedule so I spend my time exactly how I want to spend my time.  Also, everything is done exactly how I want it to be done.  No one to answer to.  

Q: I love that you are completely Sally 24/7 (guns, guitars, cowboy hats, Costa Rica, unwavering support of your clients/friends) what advice do you have for women just starting out in their online businesses about putting their “real” selves out for everyone to see?

I LOVE this question because I struggled with this a lot in the beginning of my business. At first, I thought I needed to be ‘professional” (whatever that means) in order to be taken seriously as a young coach. I thought I needed to tone down all those things that make me unique. I remember I even went into my first class of coaching school having straight-ironed my hair and wearing this super conservative (for me) outfit. The more time went on, the more I realized that the more ME I was, the better my business did. This day and age, people don’t really buy services. They buy YOU. They hire you because they like YOU.  

I mean, what else sets you apart from the billions of other people in your same profession?  It’s that you’re you. So the more you, you are from the beginning, the better. You have something unique that no one else in the world has. Your experiences, stories, passions, ideas, perspectives, thoughts, etc. Don’t hide them. They’re why I’m going to hire you.

Q: Who are your business role models and why?

I love Gwen Stefani.  I think she very flawlessly walks the line between complete badass business girl with her band, clothing line, personal life, and total sweet heart/down to earth-ness. She is the kinda girl that hangs with the guys, but also gets her nails done and wears lipstick. She sings about real life situations in a very honest and real way. And she is always pushing the envelop with her persona. She is always HER. I also have a lot of respect for Marie Forleo. I love that she teaches extremely valuable information to people in a way that her audience absolutely resonates with. She’s sassy, fun, smart, and absolutely KILLER at marketing. One other girl I love is Ashley Ambirge. She’s has a potty mouth and a stellar work ethic. She’s been running her successful business from the beach for years. She is one to watch out for. This girl is big time.
 

Q: What did 7 year old Sally say she wanted to be when she grew up?

A ROCKSTAR!! No joke.  I even designed my own outfits on paper dolls back then and imagined myself on stage. 

Q: What’s next for you?  What wildest dreams are you taking on next?

Such a great question!!  This year I’m doing a re-vamp of Sallyhope.com, that will include an advice column, a brand new bucket list to complete (CANNOT WAIT!!), some books, and a TON of collaboration with really amazing people doing really amazing things.  More guns. More writing. More dancing. More videos. More specific help for readers.

GGM is also going to be collaborating with some amazing people to put on an epically fun get-together/camping trip/live event that will combine all the best from your most fond memories of summer camp, your favorite self-help live event, and your most helpful business event (all in one!). Think RHH Live meets Summer Camp. It will be Labor Day Weekend and is called Camp Renegades. So keep an eye out.  I will be making announcements in the next couple months.  

Q: Is there anything else you’d like us to know about rocking our own lives?

Yes. Absolutely. If you can dream it, you can have it. Seriously. I know it’s cheesy but it’s true.

The best thing you can possibly do for yourself is to BELIEVE that you can have the life you want. Imagine it, in as much detail as possible. Think about it as though you already have it. Then…take risks. Do the scary thing. Do the exciting thing. Start out small, taking one step at a time, and then ramp it up.

That will happen naturally the more you step out of your comfort zone. And mostly, be kind to yourself. Don’t expect to have everything all figured out right now. Don’t let the fact that you don’t, stop you from moving forward. You can do it.  

Sally Hope is a Blogger/Love and Life Coach who loves hot-pink lipstick, guns, crosswords and cowboys. A former Rockstar, she has taken her show from the stage to the road by traveling around the US in an RV while coaching her clients and inspiring people to live their own Rockstar Lifestyles. Her latest obsessions include traveling, country swing dancing, motorcycles, LOVE, chips and salsa, and adventuring. Whatever it is you are wanting in your life, she will help you get there faster, with a good butt kicking, a wink, and a smile. You can find her at her website or her Facebook page, Twitter, or getting ridiculous on her YouTube channel“

Leave a comment below to share with Sally & the rest of the world how you are showing up authentically in your business and rocking your life in 2012.