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Inner View of the Entrepreneurial Path is an interview series with successful entrepreneurs who bravely share the ups and downs of building their businesses. My hope is that as we hear more and more of these stories, we bootstrapping, up-and-coming entrepreneurs will come to see our business challenges as part of the process rather than a sign to give up on our dreams. Enjoy!

For people who don’t know you, could you share about your businesses? Who do you serve in each of them and how do you help them?

Our business has evolved so technically we have one business, with two freelancers doing their own thing. My best friend, Bill Journee, and I decided to join forces and offer social media help to small businesses.

We soon realized that we were rocking it doing our own things so have turned the services site into a ‘network’ of sorts. We are going to create a whole bunch of sites that can help small businesses but we are giving those ideas time while we work on my site. Bill does a lot of freelance web design as part of this.

In our heads, we treat my site as a different business because it serves a different audience. Its people that are part of the online blogging community and want to learn more about how to connect and influence people. This part of the business is a lot funner and means I can help more people without asking for money.

How did you go from dealing with severe anxiety to becoming a rock-star connector?

Basically, Darren from Problogger gave me my first real break when I did a review of Dave Navarro’s “How To Launch” Product. Dave and I became friends, and I kept experimenting on twitter and with product reviews. I soon learned I had a real knack for connecting. I was able to keep track of what everyone was up to, notice patterns and remember the best way of communicating with someone.

People started talking behind the scenes and sending people my way. I also reached out and tried to help them. I did all this while battling some bad problems in my personal life. I worked hard when I could and withdrew when I needed to.

I’ve really only started to make real traction in the last month. I’ve made that many changes that people think otherwise. Finding my purpose really helped me manage the anxiety and the past 2 months have been a lot of fun.

Was there a defining moment where you made the decision: “I’m going to do this entrepreneur thing and make it work.”

I wouldn’t say there was a defining moment as such. Moreso, there was a realization over a period of time that I would have a lot of difficulty in full time employment. When the anxiety plays up, I lose some language, comprehension and people skills. I have techniques to deal with this but it is harder to do when around people. I assumed I’d have to scrap by on low paid, part time work.

Then last year I started to earn trickles of affiliate income and get compensated for high profile reviews. I knew I could make this work but I just didn’t know how. I didn’t figure out how until about a month ago. And, in the space of a few short weeks, I’m now earning consistent income. I now truly believe I can make this work and be able to help out friends, support charities and not have to hustle so hard.

People comment on how helpful you are as well as your honesty and authenticity. Where do you find the courage to speak your truth?

I used to hide my anxiety and personal problems. Eventually it started eating me up. I felt like such a flake because I couldn’t keep track of all my friends and had to drop some responsibilities. Eventually, I started being honest. I revealed parts of the truth.

People have commented that ‘airing my dirty laundry’ is unprofessional, but they don’t know about the bad stuff that I’ve kept offline. There has been so much really, really bad stuff that has happened. The main reason I did that post about screwing up was so I could publicly apologize.

I then wrote a couple of guest posts where I was so tired, that I would write honestly about hustling or how I’d accomplished certain things. I realized that people liked seeing that I was just a normal person and starting engaging with me more. I am very careful with how much I share but I like to talk about what I’ve learned as it can save others from making the same mistakes.

You shared recently about your response to a pending eviction and how you turned it into an opportunity to grow your business. How did you make this happen?

I cried. I cried so hard the night I found out. The next day, I started calling for favors. Testimonials, ideas, leads. Dave and I had been talking about working together for a while but we made it official. I started working smarter, not harder, and started seeing a lot more traction. I took action on things that were scaring me like starting an email list.

It’s been a tough few weeks, but I find I shine when I’m shoved in a corner. I really hope nothing like this happens for a while though.

I love what you shared about aiming to be more present vs. more social on and offline. Could you talk some more about that & give folks tips on how to translate that into how they are in the social media world?

I hate being social. This when you break the ice with someone you have no connection with. Its awkward and really draining for me. Being present is a lot of fun. Its when you already know the person, via either the social media and real world, and just have to participate in whats going on. I can meet people and hug and jump into conversation with them. Being present is so amazing.

You can apply this online by just watching how people use twitter. Some people are JUST social. They broadcast and have no general interest in their community. That’s fine – the best thing about social media is that you get to choose how to use it. I get a lot more out of being present. You get to make genuine friendships and be helpful. Social media has helped transform my life and that only happened because I invested myself into my online presence.

Describe the key moments that moved you from “just blogging” to realizing you had something valuable to contribute?

Then Dave helped my find the hook for the new version of my site. This helped me realize that I had something valuable to contribute via my blog and soon, my mailing list.

You talk about learning to lose control as an important turning point in your business? What helped you get to this point? And how has it enhanced your business?

• how my message is spread
• what Bill was doing

Now, Bill does the wordpress fixing and ebook designing. I’m very fickle with my blog and was very involved in the early work he did for me. Now I just say “I trust you, do whatever you think is best.” This was hard as we have differing views on most things. However, I usually love the stuff he does. I’ll sometimes have to ask for tiny edits, but thats it. Losing the control gives both of us more time to rock.

Now, I was very frustrated at the start of this year because I’d dropped off the radar. It seemed like no-one cared about me and that I had no message. I had to lose control of this feeling and just accept that people would only talk if there was something to talk about. It’s very weird how much your ego is tied up into how others perceive you.

What do you love the most about your business and the work you do?

I love that I’m able to get paid for helping people. It’s fantastic. I get so many DM’s and emails from people I have helped. I just helped a hiking friend make his first affiliate sale and he sent a enthusiastic, thankful message It makes me feel good that I can leverage my skills and experience to make things easier.

I haven’t gotten through your whole course, but what I’ve read is straightforward, super-helpful and content-rich. What were some of the fears/challenges that came up as you were working on that product and how did you move through them?

It got to the point where I hated it. I couldn’t stand writing it. Bill put up with so much ranting about it that by the end, he just said “Jade. What happens if you get like this with our other work?”

That really shocked me. We stayed up late and had a huge discussion about the business and the limitations my anxiety placed on me. We decided to change it, a lot, to fit around my ’stuff’. Bill was fantastic. We chose to focus on my own blogging work rather than targeting small businesses because that made me so happy.

This was really hard to do. I had to be brutally honest about stuff that I had never talked about. Symptoms that were really personal. I had to tell my best friend that and I hated that he saw that side of me. It was a huge challenge and if it wasn’t for Bill, I’m not sure there would still be a business. It’s been a rough year.

Funnily, I was never afraid that it wouldn’t sell. I knew it would. The sales have been disappointing, but that’s because I had an anti marketing strategy from the start. Things are picking up as I knew they would and I’m going to create ways for mavens to spread the word.

What words of wisdom do you have for people who are thinking about starting a business but are afraid or folks who are struggling with their business and contemplating giving up?

Do you have a tatoo(s)? If yes, what are/is they/it? If no, what would you get if you were to get one?

Are you inspired! Jade’s amazing and shared so many gems in this interview. I especially love what she said about being more present vs. social on social media and learning to lose control. Share in the comments what your favorite bits of Jade Wisdom!

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