Unlock Consistent 10k Months: Jan Ditchfield's Ethical Marketing Mastery -1

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Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:00:03

Welcome to Authenticity Amplified, your resource to attract and connect to your ideal client and grow your business. The ideal podcast for mindset, messaging, and marketing for purpose driven founders and solopreneurs. I'm your host, Shawna Rodrigues, a fellow entrepreneur and someone excited to learn right alongside you. I'm honored to introduce you today to Jan Ditchfield, award winning business strategist and podcast host. She is all about ethical sales and marketing strategies and the host of the top 3%, which is so exciting, No BS Business School. I love how authentic she is. That's how I found her on social media, which says a lot because it's hard to, like, have people find you and just resonate. And she resonates.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:00:45

I'm so glad that I connected with her and that we are able to have her today. She is all about you finally having consistent 10 ks months with your business. And we are here to talk about those strategies. Thank you for being here today, Jan.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:00:57

I am so excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:00

Oh, I'm just thrilled that we get to have this information shared that we all need and for people to get to know you and what you can help bring to their business too. Because finding the resources that really resonate for solopreneurs is it's not easy. There's so much out there, and then finding the right resources is hard. So thank you for coming on today.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:01:18

My pleasure.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:20

So our first question is to kinda get to know you a little bit. So if your dearest friend gifted you a legitimate, a legitimate, not a fake one, a real genie in a bottle and gave you we're only gonna do 2 wishes. If they gave you 2 wishes, what would those wishes be?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:01:35

Oh, my goodness. It's a really hard question.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:37

You're already she's like, I'm like ready to talk business here.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:01:41

I'm ready to talk business.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:01:42

Come on.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:01:42

I'm gonna be the thinking of this one. So I think if I had 2 wishes, my 2 wishes would be, one, that I would have the ability to be able to donate endlessly to the causes I care about, without ever running out of money for that. That would be number 1. And, number 2 would be, honestly, I wish my daughter would grow up to have a very happy and fulfilled life. That would be my second wish.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:02:07

Oh, that's beautiful. I love that. How old is your daughter?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:02:10

She's 6.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:02:12

Oh, that's fabulous.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:02:13

Yes. I love it. You got me all misty thinking about that I'm used to it. Let's get down to business.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:02:19

Let's get down to business. But, yeah. We we gotta start with a little balance. We get to get a little a little more of the philanthropic side of you, as well as the mother side of you. I love that we get to have that balance. That is beautiful. That is beautiful. And she's an only child, I take it.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:02:33

She is an only. Yes. Yeah. And so am I. So I think it's, kind of, like, it runs in the family a bit. I enjoyed being an only child, and she doesn't. But she'll eventually, she'll appreciate it, I hope.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:02:42

I love that. Yeah. She'll eventually make people like that to help her appreciate that. I have a a larger family, and I had 2, friends in graduate school that were only children. And I think that they always wished they had siblings until they met me and heard of my adventures with my siblings, and I think that finally cured them. Like, being my friend helped them understand, okay, it's not all it's not all rainbows and Yeah. Exactly. There are challenges at times, so it's not always gonna yes.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:03:10

That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. I love that. And it's kind of nice because it kind of goes into your background is in fundraising. So philanthropy and working with these, causes has always been something important to you.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:03:24

Yeah. I had a very long career as a professional fundraiser, and I worked basically as a gun for hire for most of my career. So I'd be brought in to work with charities that were really struggling, and I would be the person that would come in to kinda steady the ship. So I would come in, do a lot of operational redesign, raise a lot of money, rub elbows with all the people that needed introductions, and then I would move on to the next cause from there. But I specialize in human rights. So and in Canada, which is where I am. So most of my causes I worked with were very human rights focused, women rights focused, disability rights. And I also founded 2 of my own national nonprofits, and one ran for close to 10 years, and the other one is still running, with a really wonderful CEO.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:04:04

And, I'm just founder. That's all I am, but she runs the show, and all the success is for credit as well. So, it's pretty near and dear to my heart.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:04:12

Oh, that is so exciting. I love that you've parlayed that into your current work. Tell us how the sales and marketing connects to. How has fundraising informed what you do now?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:04:24

It basically is everything I do because I teach ethical systems, and so I really focus on helping women who are purpose driven or other women as well who have perhaps, like, colleges, regulatory colleges, have to do things differently, understand how to navigate the online business world without risking your values or your integrity or your credibility or anything that goes with that using fundraising tactics. So I've just taken everything that we I used to do in my career and modified it for this space, and it just works so much better. In my opinion, the most commonly taught. And so that's really where it is. Is I just and, you know, I'm when you're good at raising money, it's pretty easy to teach people how to do it. So that's my career was all about raising money. It's a $25,000,000 is what I was responsible for. So I'm just teaching you how to do it here too.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:05:12

That is so beautiful. I love that you kinda found that way into this space, and it is like your purpose is to help others, like, fulfill their purpose. So it kind of is this cyclical beautiful thing to kind of connect all those pieces.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:05:24

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's really for me, it's always been very important to be able to help women understand that the passion and the talents that you have are really important and that you deserve to be paid for them. And, so finding that way to marry that that, you know, the purpose and the profit together, It's it's what I've done forever. It's what I did out there in the real world. It's what I do here because the 2 can live, you know, side by side. And too often, I think we're pushed that we have to pick one over the other, and it just doesn't vibe. So I'm all about, let's bring it together and I'll show you how to make both of the things work for you.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:05:56

And so it works for your family and your life as well.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:05:59

That is wonderful. And it seems that when we're the online space is tricky because it's so big and broad and has so many opportunities, but trying to find yourself in that space can be a little bit overwhelming. And so this ethical way of doing it is probably a really important piece for us to all learn to be able to see ourselves in. What do you feel is that thing that most online solopreneurs kind of get lost and get confused about with that?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:06:26

I think a lot of it has to do with, like, the actual selling part of it and having like, how do I sell? But, also, how do I package myself in a way that makes me still feel okay about myself? And, you know, like, we're there's a lot of things in the online space where you're taught, you know, well, you can just go Google something that's really popular and then make a course and sell the course and make a $1,000,000. But I think when you're trying to do more with your talents and more with your business, we need better advice than that because, you know, that isn't setting you up to be an expert at something. That's just setting you up to make money. And, again, the money's important, so a 100%. I that's what I teach. But the doing good things through the work is even more important to me. So I think that's why we just need to find different ways to to market and sell and package our expertise so there's more alignment with that.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:07:17

Oh, I love that. I love that alignment and understanding how we fit. And I think it takes a little bit more time and exploration, and we're like everything is rushed sometimes, it feels like. We're trying to do things to rush it and get it done instead of actually having that reflection of figuring out where I fit in this and what my expertise really is and how it all comes together. Is that something that you do a lot more? Is it more coaching or do you feel like it's more like just through the course and the work that you do?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:07:46

I don't really consider myself to be a coach. I think that's, like, one of the I get you get gets used a lot because you put business and people go coach and add it right off the bat. But I'm a strategist. It's really what I am. So for me, it's more about helping women see the opportunities they have and then creating the plan to execute the opportunity, which is the same as fundraising. It's like, you know, I walked in and someone would say, we need the $1,000,000, and my answer would be, do you care how I get there? And they were like, nope. But I was like, great. Write the strategy.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:08:14

Execute the strategy. There's the money. So that's the same thing that I work do within my current job. My job, my career, my my business, I should say. Sometimes it's a job. But, really, I think for women, a lot of the time, we're we're fed this idea that we can become instant successes online, and there's not enough conversation about the different milestones that we hit along the way. So in order for us to get to consistent 10 k months, which puts us into a 6 figure business, we have to first start out by getting to 50. And the what we do to get to the 50 and then go from the 50 to the 100 are also different things from there.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:08:52

And to go from a 100 to multiples also changes. So there is this progression that happens in business that no one ever tells us about. So when we feel like we're not getting there fast enough, we often think we're failing when, in fact, you are doing exactly what you're supposed to do. Just no one's told you it takes a long time sometimes for us. I have no sound. I can't hear you. Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:09:35

And that's why I love that your podcast is called the No BS Business School, because I feel like those are the business lessons we all need to learn is that we don't build a business overnight. And that even when we hear these success stories that sound like the overnight successes, there was years of buildup that allowed folks to get to that place. And so it's important for us to realize that it takes time. And this is really important, this fact that the strategies change based on where you're at. So can you give us an example of a strategy that changes from 0 to 50,000 and from 50,000 to a 120,000 a year? Like an example of how a strategy would change.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:10:15

Yeah. So there's a thing in business, and this is really boring. It's like, I teach the most boring things in the world, and I always try to figure out ways to make them more interesting, but they're not. They're very boring. But in business, there's a thing called an s curve. And an s curve is a natural dip in business that happens. So when we start from 0 and we start kinda going up, you know, things work. And at first, we start with strategy.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:10:37

And then in order to get to growth stage, which is really where we are kind of in that 0 to 50,000 range, that's growth. That's tactics. That at that point is mastering tactics, getting down, understanding how to use them, finesse them, get better at them. And then once we master the tactics, and we're like, okay. It's smooth sailing. Suddenly, we hit this lull in the business, and there's a dip that happens. And everybody experiences it. You, me, everyone does.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:11:04

It's just part of business. And what happens when we're in the s curve is we double down on tactics because we think, well, it got us this far. So if I just keep doing more, it'll get me out of this. And in fact, what happens is it digs us deeper. And so we go further down instead of coming out of it because what we have to do at that stage is actually start professionalizing the business. So that now becomes systems, processes, boring bits. And so all of those fun things that we got to do while we were growing it and we were having all the fun and the excitement and all of these things are working, all of a sudden, we're like, what's going on here? And now it's time to actually start. And I like to call it, we need to become professional entrepreneurs.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:11:43

And so this is when we learn how to do repeat things and how to run systems and patterns and and understand, for me, a lot of it is customer psychology and why people do what they do, and we just get more finesse as we get a little, like, further down the line and get better at doing it. So that's really a, like, a very concrete example of you wanna go from 50 to a100. It's let's double down on systems at this point.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:12:09

That's very exciting, very interesting to know. And then the other piece I think that I've heard is it, you don't need systems until you're at that point. And sometimes we get so dizzy trying to figure out all the systems before we need them that we build, like, this entire beautiful system and big thing before we know if there's a market fit, before we know if it's needed, and then we don't ever take off because we're so busy building and making this beautiful thing that it never actually we never know if it has legs or if it actually matches with the market.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:12:42

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And getting out again, that's why the tactics and I call it the you know, people will say, like, throw spaghetti at a wall, and I don't believe in that. But I do believe in being very strategic with experimenting. And so experiment with things, but watch data. That's the thing. If you're gonna say put something in there to make sure it's actually working, get familiar with your numbers because that's also something that women we tend to stick our head in the sand, and we're like, I don't need to look at the numbers, but your numbers will tell you everything about your business.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:13:12

And there's no emotion in those numbers. So for us, it's the one place where you can just kinda dig into and be like, there's no emotion here. It's just straight fact. And if I master this, then I can figure out how to do more of this. So I would spend more time knowing your numbers and worrying about your systems at this point. Yep.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:13:28

Yes. We need to come up with a better phrase. Yeah. Because people I hear people say, throw spaghetti against the wall. I'm like, that's not the right term. But I get I hope we're meaning something like what you're saying that we're like, we're we're trying things, we're taking risks, we're we're attempting things, but we're also looking at what's working and figuring out what's gonna happen and finding where the alignment is. Because there is that piece of trying to figure out, like, what do I wanna be doing? Where does everything fit? Like, what is the right piece? What are people responding to? And trying to figure that out. Because I know even when I started my podcast network, that when I went into having my podcast, a few years ago, that I was like, I'm curious.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:07

I know I want to have a podcast. I know I wanna do this. I'm not sure how I'm gonna monetize it. I'm not sure what's gonna happen with it. I'm curious what's gonna happen with it. And I think that curiosity going into it, seeing what was gonna happen, and then seeing what's what stuck. So like the spaghetti is what stuck. And the responsiveness I got was other women saying, Oh, my gosh.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:25

I would love for somebody to manage this for me. And then I was looking around, and there was a group of women I was working with that nobody was starting their podcast. I was the only one that started the podcast. And so there was 20 women, and yet I was the only one that actually started the podcast. I was like, Wow. This is where people get stuck. So this is somewhere where people need help. This is a place where there's a a market for this.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:14:44

Right? So it was where I found that there was a fit. And so I was looking and learning and figuring out where things went. So there was it's like, you know, people would say spaghetti gets so well, but I'm like, there's more to it than this. So we need to find a better analogy.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:14:57

I think you just nailed it. I think, actually, saying, like, it's curiosity combined with messy action. That's what it is. You put the two things together. It's just, like, take the messy action, but be curious about what you're doing, and be curious about how people respond and the data and what works. And like you said, find the things that make you really passionate and then double down on that. And I think then you're, like after that, now we can put all the systems in place to scale you. Like, it's great now, but we it is that curiosity part of it.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:15:26

I think that's so important that we forget about that when we start businesses is enjoy the curiosity stage.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:15:32

Yes. And try not to get stuck with, this is what I wanna do, and this is how I'm gonna do it. I need to learn what other people want and how things kind of go together and where it comes out and what people are asking for more of and what they're what they want. And so that market fit, I think, is a a piece that can be challenging because we kinda get attached to what we think is gonna work. And sometimes, we don't know enough to know what's going to work, and especially when industries are new and changing. And I think with AI and different things, things are constantly changing. And I think that's one of the blessings of working in podcasting specifically. It's like, just yesterday, one of the vendors I work with completely changed their model, which changes how I work with a different vendor because everything's constantly changing.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:16:16

So I can't get too attached to how things are working and what my systems are for my business because it is shifting constantly. And I think with AI and different pieces, we're all experienced that with our businesses. But that curiosity and flexibility is an important part of being an entrepreneur and doing this.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:16:32

No. A 100%. I think you nailed it with that. And it's there nothing will ever say static in business, and that's when you think and I say this all the time to the women I work with. What your business looks like right now, it will not look like that in a year. And a year from now, it'll look completely different in a year from now. So if you're not willing to ride that and just allow it to go, we steer the ship. Like, you don't let it just run wild.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:16:54

You have to but it's not gonna stay the same. And so learning to adapt and learning to be flexible within it is what part of the success comes from that as well.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:17:03

Yes. I had really good advice from someone who was telling me to try to vision 5 years ahead in my industry, which is challenging to do in my industry. But you can't look to right in front of you when you're running business. You have to be able to, like, have that ability to kind of look further out, which is challenging to do because everything is constantly changing. Right? But I think that that's an important part of trying to figure out the bigger picture and where things might be going. And so you have a north star and direction for things.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:17:36

Yeah. A 100%. He definitely yeah. And I think, the part about looking out too is sometimes when we start businesses, we don't know where we wanna end up. And I've always also mentioned that is think about what your exit strategy should look like too because not all of us are going to stay in a business forever, and maybe you wanna sell it or maybe you wanna retire out of it or maybe you wanna run it or let someone else run it or maybe you just wanna close it down. But thinking about that exit strategy will also help you set yourself up to get there. So it's the end goal matters.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:18:05

Yes. Because you build things a little bit differently and handle all those things. And that's the unique thing about entrepreneurship is that you are holding so many things, which is why I think, you know, women can be pretty amazing at it because they're good at holding a lot of things. But you are holding so many different things at the same time when you're building a business. Yeah.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:18:28

No. I think women are exceptional at this. We were made to do this and our because our brains, we think differently. We fire differently. We sell differently. We talk to people differently. It's everything sets us up to be successful, in the space, and just the one thing that we don't get taught is business acumen. And that's the piece that we often try to duct tape it and glue it together is how do I do all of the business side of the business things.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:18:54

And that's why, like, again, I always say I'm the person that teaches all that boring stuff because it's what will make you successful long term. But, you know, when you're ready to learn the boring bits, come see me. I will make it fun. I promise. So

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:19:06

You do make it fun. I love that's one thing about your your social media that I enjoy, and I found you on Instagram is where I specifically found you, is that you have this way of making concepts, entertaining and connecting in a way. But I also love because you do. You step away sometimes from social connecting in a way, but I also love because you do, you step away sometimes from social media too, and don't let it completely overtake you. So you've managed to find success in doing marketing and doing stuff and connecting with your audience, but also not letting it overtake things. And I love it because I see you and get excited when I see you and connect with you. And then you're gone, but I'm so excited when I see you again. And they bring you back to me, so you don't totally disappear.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:19:43

So that I love that you have this authenticity and this balance as well with your presence, which I feel like a lot of online entrepreneurs feel like they are a slave to that connection. So can you talk more about how you've managed to find success and that balance with finding your clients and audience with balancing that and being authentically you and still maintaining your family and your time for yourself as well?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:20:07

Yeah. So I social media for me Instagram, specifically. I'm not gonna say social media across. I'm gonna talk right about the gram.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:20:16

Right about the gram.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:20:16

I'm in the middle of the bull's eye here. So, for me coming into the online space, it's like using Instagram for business was such a learning curve. It was, I used, x Twitter, then now x consistently in my career. I used Facebook consistently. I was featured by Facebook originally for using it so progressively in the nonprofit. I was one of the first people to ever actually pick it up in nonprofit. And then so I was like, I'm good at this. I know this stuff.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:20:45

Instagram, whatever. Right? And I got on, and I still remember the very first time I ever did a live. And all of a sudden, all of these things were happening on the screen, and there were eyeballs and hearts and emojis and everything. And I was like, what am I doing here? It just overwhelmed me. So I took I spent a lot of time trying to get really good at it, and then I also realized that this doesn't have to be the only way that I can sell. There are other ways that I sell. There's other ways that I can connect with my audience that feel more natural to me. So I use Instagram not as a growth tool.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:21:16

I use it as a nurture tool. So I'm like, the people who are there are the ones I love on. That's my audience, and I don't worry about my numbers very much. And I spend more time focusing my efforts in other places where I'm able to connect with people in a more, like, authentic real way that I feel that I can through that screen all the time. So it's been my email list is really important to me. My podcast is the most important thing in to me in all of my marketing assets. And then also the way that I tend to do a lot of live trainings because for me, it replicates that feeling of fundraising where I'm able to work a room and get to know people and be me. So you see who I really am, and I can do a much better job helping you there than I can in an 8 second reel.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:21:58

So I treat it kind of for what it is, and, but it's taken time to get there. I'll say that. It's it was not an overnight thing. There's been many a moment where I've sworn at that app. So

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:22:12

yes. Yeah. That's I think the challenge with Instagram, specifically, since we're talking about it, is that it's like it will connect you to people you don't know. Like, you and I never would have found each other, honestly, without Instagram. So, like, it does have this ability to connect you to unknown audiences. Right? To me, it feels like that's the one thing that Instagram provides. But at the same time, it's just so finicky and so difficult, and it's and it's hard for it to feel authentic. And you and I are all people that really like to be authentically us.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:22:39

And so to find that way to make it a way to really actually connect with people and actually get to that next level instead of it just being a surface y thing that can feel like at times is the challenge. And so to make sure that we're letting it be a tool for us and not something that's actually stressing us and draining us. But I do love that you've managed to really find that with Facebook and that when you were doing your stuff with fundraising, that it was such a tool that you were able to utilize.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:23:02

Yeah. We did a lot of things, differently with Facebook when Facebook first came out and we're starting to and, like, so I'm dating myself by saying this because this is this is back in the day now at this point. Yeah. Yeah. But, so we Facebook first, started coming out with their fan pages. That was when I started experimenting using it in my own nonprofit of being able to match up, like, I used to work with, athletes who are visually impaired, so we would find guides for them. And we used it as, like, this matching tool that we would use and really get the word out there, and it was completely different and unique than the way people were using business pages at that time. Because, again, I was using it as a a social platform.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:23:38

Like, let's instead of it being, like, a one way conversation, let's bring this together and use this tool for something that can be collaborative and exciting and different. And that is the point of social, and I still to this day think that the I think one of the reasons why we have so much friction with it is because it's become such a one way conversation.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:23:56

Yes.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:23:57

But it never was meant to do that. It was meant to be, like, hey, friends. Like, let's talk about things we both like, and we'd like to vibe off of. We'll just, like, unpack that together.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:24:06

Yes. And that's somebody, on a in a business group that I was on recently was saying about how frustrated they were with social media and those pieces. And what I said to them is it's because you're we get this impression sometimes from our online gurus. I feel like that we're told that, like, you're just supposed to go viral online. Like, that will make your business be everything it's supposed to be. And yet, really, you're just shouting on a on a street corner. And just because you have a bigger crowd that you're shouting at doesn't mean that it makes any difference. You're just shouting at a bigger crowd.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:24:42

It doesn't actually mean that you're authentically building relationships and attracting the right people and making an impact in your business. And so, the metrics of how many people you shouted out doesn't necessarily mean any difference. Like, the people that you actually smile at when you walk down the street and you shake hands with and have a conversation and connect with is actually a better metric. So if I watch in the street and I smile at 5 people and they smile back, like, that makes my day better and their day better, and that's more connecting than if I shouted at 200 people from the corner. So so trying to find the ways to actually make those authentic connections through social media and being creative about how we can do that is like that next level. And figuring that out is it's a challenge because we're also taught to entertain and, like, and do this. And that's the that's I'm gonna whisper this because, you know, people might be people might hear these on these platforms. That, you know, the platforms are using us to entertain and get people to stay on their platforms.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:25:40

They're not a tool for us to connect. So we need to find ways for that to be our way to connect to our audiences, instead of us just, you know, dancing on the corner and get a bigger audience to watch us dance on the corner, that we actually, you know, it's not just for shouting on the corners. And trying to find that way to be authentic with those platforms isn't always easy. So Yeah. That's why podcasting, obviously, you and I see the power of it, and the individuals listening to us also can understand the power of podcasting because they're here with us. And to see that that's actually ways to really get to know people and share knowledge and growth and humor and laughter and connection to some extent. But that's why that's why podcast network is called Authentic Connections because I feel like it does add to that piece of getting to know people. And list building is something that you also are really good at and have had some success with.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:26:29

Yeah. Yeah. I fully agree with everything you just said on pod about podcasting a 100%. So, and I've always said with podcasting that to me, it's the thing that feels most like my career was the podcasting world because people who podcast are just like, philanthropists. They're open and giving and just here to change and willing and, like, there's no competition. It's a totally different world. I love it. I love it.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:26:55

Love it. Love it. So it's I was like, I'll spend all my time here instead of on the other tours. I get it. Yep. But, list building for me is a really important thing as well.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:27:05

And I think, again, we don't, list building has become, a very common thing that's talked about in the online space. But most people I feel don't understand why it's important to build a list. They just they're just told build a list and not that back end of understanding what that list really is, which are your leads. They're qualified leads. Those are the people that are the most interested in hearing from you. The ones who've put their hands up and said, I actually want to have sales messages sent to me. I want to be marketed to. Please tell me more ways to work with you.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:27:37

And we miss that connection a lot of the time. And we think that our Instagram followers are leads, and they are not leads. They're just people staring at you through a window. So spending more time on that list is really where it's gonna be better for you in the long term.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:27:50

Yes. Exactly. Exactly. And that's an important thing to pay attention to and to understand that component as well. And you have an exciting opportunity. So for those of you that are, like, listening to this podcast in lifetime when it first comes out around this, you actually have an exciting boot camp that you're gonna be doing to actually support solopreneurs and entrepreneurs. Can you tell us more about this boot camp you have coming up?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:28:14

I can. I'm very excited. So it's called Online Marketing Kickstarter, and it's a free 15 day boot camp with me. We're not together for all every single day for 15 days. It's just happening over those 3 weeks. And I'm helping, women be able to understand how to get those things in place to have those consistent 10 k months, looking from your offer all the way down to the way that you're generating leads, how you're selling, how you're pricing, understanding your marketing, and how to do all of this with very ethical aligned, tactics and strategies so that you're not going to again feel like you're just out there pedaling or or being, you know, you know, bro marketing thing that we see so much. Instead being able to do it in a way that's authentic and lasting so that you can really make an impact with your talent, but also be able to make consistent revenue coming in, as well so you can support yourself and your family from there. So it starts on October 8th.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:29:08

I'm very looking I'm looking forward to it. I can't I run boot camps quite often, and I this is the first time I've ever taught this one, and I'm really excited about it. It's gonna be a lot of fun. And everything is free, free, free. Like super high value, super free. Free, free, free.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:29:19

Oh. And that's why I'm so excited to, like, get you on here and share this with everyone. Because 15 days is nice, because sometimes these things happen, like, in a blink. And they're so overwhelming. And they're happening so fast that you just can't even get the things done. So spreading it out is nice because it's time to digest and actually utilize what you're sharing with folks.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:29:40

Yeah. And implement. I think that's the thing as well that I find a lot of the time I've gone to free trainings where I'm like, there's nothing of substance coming to me here. It's a lot of very high level or, like, you know, fluffy type of materials, more marketing that is actually education. And I educate on the other side. I'm like, we're gonna dig down. You're gonna learn it, but now I'm gonna give you space to apply it, and then post it. I'm gonna review it.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:30:02

I'm gonna help you finesse it, then we will move on to the next thing. So at the end of it, you're gonna walk out with a little business plan in place, and and something that you know you've taken the time to put together, and it's actually had, you know, eyes on it to help to make sure it's gonna be work for you the best way, because we don't need more overwhelm. I mean, women are ready. We do too much. Right? We just tell me what I need to do to make it work, and I'll do it. That's it. And that's what I do. I'm like, don't do all that stuff.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:30:27

Just do this. It'll work.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:30:29

Oh, that is amazing. That is incredible. And I am so excited that you're offering this. I think it makes such a big difference. And I think for, especially, women solopreneurs, like, getting started, something like this is just a gift to kinda get you focused and ready to go in that direction to get those things done. So I'm so excited that you're doing this piece. And you're actually addressing, like, offers. You're addressing, like, the important things that people need to, like, get money into the business and get things flowing to get them up to the point they need to be at.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:30:59

Yeah. We're talking about it all. So we're talking about offers. We're talking about tech because tech, I think, is something also that overwhelms us so much. And we're told to buy everything. Right? Everybody has an affiliate link, so buy all my affiliates things, and we don't need it. And, also, I find most of the time when I'm doing audits with women in their business, the number one thing that's keeping them down is their expenses, That their expenses are so high because they have all of these subscriptions to things that we do not need. So we're gonna strip that down and just give you here's the basics of what you need based on your business.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:31:31

Use these and go. And so we're talking tech. We're talking that. We're talking pricing. We're talking marketing. We're talking list building. We're talking sales. I'm doing a whole training on sales, ethical sales systems.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:31:42

And so there's it's a package. It's everything's really we're gonna we're going through all of the stuff. All the things. Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:31:48

That's I was just talking to one of my fellow entrepreneurs just, I think, last week. They were saying, like, that's what you need is just to tell us what we don't need. Because that's the frustrating thing is that trying to figure out a one piece of tech, and then I go so far, I'm like, oh, no. Now it's this subscription doesn't give me these other three things I need. So now I need to do these three things to get this one thing. But now I got this far, and now I can't complete my offer because I need these other two things. And so to actually have, like, the complete like, from A to Z, do you have the offer? Like, this is how I actually deliver it to my customer in the online space. I always feel like there's, like, 2 things I'm missing to actually get it there.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:32:27

Like, I have my email service provider, I have a landing page, and then I had to connect the 3 things, and then I actually have to deliver it, and how do I actually get them this piece of it? And, like, there's always something missing, and then I spend 5 days researching how to find the one thing and get further behind. So this is so brilliant. This is so helpful. Jan, thank you.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:32:46

My pleasure. I I'm I like I said, I love systems. I love processes. I love all these things. So and, again, like, because of the way that, you know, most of us work, this is either some of us are doing this full time. Some of us are doing in conjunction with a full time career. Some of us are doing this in running houses and children and all of the other things as well. We don't have time to muck about.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:33:08

So, like, you know, there are systems all the time and fundraising. That's all we ran were systems. We just would go in and run a system after one after another after another, adapt it to where we were, but it's the same system. And that's what I still continue to teach. It's just, like, here are systems. Here are plug and plays. Here are blueprints. We're going to modify it and tailor it to you, but go do this because it will actually result in money.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:33:34

But you'll see it coming in at the back end.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:33:37

That's brilliant. And I have one really important question. Even though I'm not Canadian, can I say muck about? Because I love it. You could say muck about.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:33:44

I will give you that.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:33:46

I got it. I get to say muck about. I love it. Okay. Okay. Good. Well, good. Because I and we're gonna talk more. So for those of you that have the Apple Podcast subscribers that are gonna get up close, we're gonna talk to Jen a little bit more about this mindset from going from employee to entrepreneur.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:34:01

So those of you that are in that trajectory or have gone through that, we're gonna talk a little bit more about that mindset and also about if you're under 50 k, what we should focus on. So we're gonna spend a little more time on that. But we're gonna get into our classic thing of exploring authenticity that we do every week. So who is someone in your life that you feel lives really authentically, Jan?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:34:21

Oh, that's a great question. Can it be a person I know personally, Or do you want it to be somebody the name of somebody that's everybody will know their name?

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:34:28

Oh, I love it when it's a person you know personally, but we can also do a name that everybody knows, so which everyone comes to mind first.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:34:37

So I'm gonna say my friend, Emily. And that's the first person I think of. And, Emily, I recently met her. I've known her only for about a year now. And the reason why we connected so well right off the bat was because she is the most real human being I've ever met. And I just she owns who she is. She is proud of who she is. She doesn't feel she needs to put on airs, and she has a heart of gold. And so you're I think when you're around people who are authentic, it helps you understand where you fit in.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:35:05

Because, again, we we came out of this world where we were all face to face all the time, and then we all got put into lockdowns and all of the things, and then many of us started online businesses because of it. And so we lost that human connection that happened because the screens kinda block it.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:35:20

Yeah.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:35:20

So it became really I don't know if you about you, but with me, I sometimes felt awkward when I was in a room again, and I came from working rooms. But I get into a room, and I'd be like, I don't know how to act around people anymore. And so when you deal with somebody who's just like, hey, it's me, it drops walls, and you can just be yourself and lean in and relax. And as Emily's like that, I just think she's at the world of her. She's a lovely person.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:35:43

Oh, I love that. I love that description, because I love it that we get to hear that and feel like what we want to be doing to be more authentic and be more of ourselves. So when you show up and you just are willing to just be who you are, that that does drop walls and that does, like, make it easier to connect with others. I love that.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:36:01

Yeah, it does. Yeah. Yes.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:36:03

I always love that. She's gonna hear this, and she's like, oh, that's who she's talking about.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:36:07

If you're at school pickup, I'll tell her.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:36:10

I love it. That's great. So for sharing some of your expertise, what advice do you have for listeners who are trying to amplify their message to better connect with our clients?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:36:21

I think a lot of it comes down to really understanding what you want to be known for. And that's the question that you, I make all of my women I work with go through that, and we spend time on that. What do you want to be known for? And I don't mean I wanna be known for the person who teaches people how to have 10 k months or I wanna be known for this. I mean, what's your impact going to be? Where is it when, you know, at the end of this, do you want no matter how long your business run is, what do you want people to remember about you? And that becomes your driving mission in your business. And you can package that. That can be packaged into all kinds of things we can sell. But understanding that at our core, that's what keeps us grounded and centered and tethered. I think that's our North Star.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:37:05

When we talk about North Stars in business, it's what is it you really are trying to do in the world with the gift that you were given.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:37:13

That's beautiful. I love that. I absolutely love that. And that's actually so as we get to our, like, real world application, we want people to walk away from this conversation. I'm just like, that's it. I'm trying to figure out what is that North Star for you because that's gonna make the biggest difference. And there are hard days. You run your own solopreneur, can feel very lonely.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:37:33

So what is like to know, like, what that mission is probably really important.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:37:39

Yeah. I think it is. And it comes down to, you know, when you think about I believe strongly that we all have natural gifts, and we were put here to be able to use that gift in a way to help the world become a better place. But finding out what is the thing in you that you can really double down on and that will keep you driving for the money, but also on those hard days, like you said, will keep you going forward. That's where your sweet spot's gonna be. Like, that's the revenue. Like, I I call it, like, what's your profit offer? Your profit offer is a combination of your skills and your passions brought together. And so we need to identify what is that passion.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:38:17

Right? What's the thing inside of us that's really keeps us, like, humming? And then we can stick it into a course. We can stick it into any kind of offer, but we need to know that first.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:38:28

Oh, that's beautiful. And if you need help with that, there is this boot camp I've heard of.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:38:33

There is. It's a great and we're doing that in training 1. So it's there.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:38:37

It's right there. October 8th. Yes. We will definitely have that in the show notes. And you also have a freebie for us too, a checklist. Right? Yes.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:38:46

Yeah. I have this great checklist, and it's called your 100 k online business checklist. And it goes through all of the different buckets of the things that you need to have set up in your business if you want to get to a 6 figure and beyond business. And I'll be honest, some of them are pretty boring. They're there. But the nice part about it is it also reduces that overwhelm because when you print it off and you go through, there's a lot there. It's not like here's, like, just 5 things you need to know. There's pages of things.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:39:14

But it gives you something that every week you can say, I'm gonna take this one thing, put this on my calendar, and I'm gonna master this. Check it off. Next week, I'm gonna now do this. Check it off. And by the end of a year, you've set yourself up with the foundations to be able to thrive. And it's just one little check at a time. One little tactic, one little system, one little process, and they're all laid out for you just to follow it as you feel. And, no, it doesn't matter the order.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:39:40

Just do them at some point.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:39:42

Do that. Just do that. Yeah. Do them. Do them. Yes. And we'll have that. So that's at your website.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:39:48

So tell us your website.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:39:49

Yeah. So you can find me at janditchfield.co. And, you can get both the boot camp there. So it's janditchfield.co/bootcamp, or the janditchfield.co/checklist. Very easy URLs to remember.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:40:03

Very smart. Very smart. We like that. And so we'll have both those in the show notes as well. So that's easy for you to just go to the show notes and click on them as well. So you can do that right now. Go and just push the button and get yourself signed up and set up for those. Timing wise, if you're doing this live, like the boot camp will be a great option for you, and the checklist will get you connected regardless.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:40:19

And what's the other best way to connect with you?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:40:22

Instagram and my podcast would probably be the other 2. So, No BS Business School. You can always get me there, and I'm on all the major players, and I release every Thursday. And then on Instagram, I'm at @janditchfield.co there as well. So, basically, if you just type in @janditchfield.co, I will pop up somewhere.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:40:38

Somewhere. That's okay.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:40:39

Somewhere in the ether. Yes.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:40:41

I love it. That's a great way to that's a great way to do it. Perfect. So 80% of small businesses may be solopreneurs. That does not mean you have to be doing this alone. So we're here every single week, and I hope you will be too. So thank you so much for joining us today, Jan. This has been so amazing.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:40:57

My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:41:04

Oh, all right. We are so glad to have our little Apple Podcast up close. Thank you so much for being a subscriber and being here with us. And, Jan, thank you so much for giving us a little more of your time so we can talk a little more for the folks in our community. Our first question is to really talk about, like, what do you think is the importance mindset wise? And for you, when you went from being an employee to actually being an entrepreneur, what do you think is the biggest shift that goes with that?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:41:32

Oh my gosh. I remember that still thinking that, you know, I when I quit my career, because I did, I quit my career in a blaze of glory, and I had pulled back up the I that's a story on its own. And I walked out, and with no plans, no nothing, I was just done.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:41:49

I was, like, that's done. I'm done. My purse, my laptop, my and out the door I went. And for me, the biggest shift of going from that idea of, like, always being an employee, in my case, like, I was a contracted employee the entire time, to suddenly becoming an entrepreneur. What I had a really hard time grappling was the loneliness of it, but also the accountability part of it. Of because suddenly, like, nobody was checking over my shoulder what I was doing every single day. And I suddenly was like, I can do whatever I want. What am I supposed to do? And it became that for me, which was the I could sit at my desk and stare here so I could get lost in things like Canva, Instagram.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:42:30

Right? You do all these things that you're like, I like this stuff, and this will make me money somehow.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:42:36

Somehow. And somehow this will work out.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:42:39

So that was for me, whereas with the always the biggest mindset shift was understanding that I now had to be accountable for myself, And how was I going to do that every single day? Because if I didn't show up and actually do the things that were going to move the business forward, nobody was else was gonna do it for me. So there was a big shift in that.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:42:56

How did you know what to prioritize? Like, once you finally, like, realize that because I we I'll feel you right now. We know this. Like, what did you decide to prioritize and how did you prioritize and get that discipline piece and accountability piece?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:43:10

So for me, I prioritize what's known as I call them the money activities in the business. So I know every single day if to focus on things that either create money in my business or lead to the creation of money, and they are my top three things I do. And I can't do anything else in the business until those top three things are done. And everytime I sit down at the beginning of my day. I write out my list, and this is what it is. And those money activities go 1, 2, 3. And that's what I focus on. And that way I know that, you know, like, for example, why I kind of pop in and off of social media is because social media doesn't drive revenue for me.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:43:45

My podcast does, but social doesn't. So I'm not gonna waste my time there. If I have things to do, I will prioritize the podcast. Like, I'll release more episodes, or I'll do a workshop series, or I will really double down on my content and promoting it and really looking at that, because that's a money activity to me. Whereas, Instagram is, like, it's down the to do list. It's like, I'll get to it if I have time. But for that's it's the same way we would fundraise. I think that's where it came from.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:44:12

It's from fundraising. Because if I didn't keep that money moving, bad things happened. People lost their jobs. You know, we fundraisers were responsible for carrying the weight of organizations. And most people don't understand that. They think it's service providers, but the service provider salaries, we were the ones who were responsible for that. If we couldn't get them paid, they couldn't do the work. So it always started and stopped with us.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:44:36

And so that's why I still think for me, I'm very focused on where's the revenue generation coming from. The rest of it will happen after that, but we can't make a difference if we aren't making money. So that's where my I always put that focus on there.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:44:51

Just to be crystal clear, me reworking my logo for the 12th time does not change revenue.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:44:58

It will not change revenue.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:45:01

Okay. Okay. Okay.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:45:02

Version 11 is perfect. Check it off and move forward.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:45:06

Okay. I I just wanna be clear on that. I just wanna, you know, make sure it applies. Okay. I got it. I got it. I got it. Okay.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:45:12

And so for the second question then for us to look at, for people that are under that 50,000, they're still looking at, you know, $4,000 months and are not getting or inconsistent $6,000 months and aren't getting things where they just haven't quite moved it yet. What do you think is the thing that they need to focus on? Or what would your advice be for them?

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:45:37

So for me, I think you're gonna look at 3 really important things that you need to be focusing on if you're trying to get to that consistency. And the first one is, is your offer actually the right thing that you have in place? Are you selling the right thing? Because we this is and this is where we got we all mess this up because I've done it a 1000000 times. We tend to create things that we feel are what our audience need and not what our audience wants. And so we put it out there and we go out and we're like, buy this thing, and everybody goes, it's okay. I might buy a couple of them instead of going out and packaging it in a way that really like, it's like a magnet. I call it a profit offer. So you people come to you automatically because they see the value in it, and then we slide the things in that they need on the back end once they've paid us. But it's not how we wanna be marketing it.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:46:23

We wanna make sure that we're marketing it to profit all the time. The other thing I think you need to be making sure is that you're focused on your lead generation, and this is where we tend to drop things to the side. List building is lead generation. That's what it is. So growing that email list, making sure that you're bringing people in. People are coming in through other ways like boot camps or they're coming into webinars or master classes. Wherever you're placing them, it doesn't really matter, but you're drawing new people into your world all the time. Because when we exhaust our audience, it you're gonna exhaust your revenue.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:46:56

And you've gotta think of it like a bank. This is the way I always explain it. When we go to our bank and we constantly are taking money out of the bank, it starts to deplete the funds. Right? And that's what happens when we sell to the same people every single time is we're depleting that bank. So we need to spend time topping it back up so it never goes into the red. We wanna keep it in the black the entire time. Lead generation is topping your bank back up, so spend time doing that. And then the last thing is your sales systems.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:47:20

And this I could talk to forever about sales systems. Okay. Sales systems, if you wanna get into consistency, you need to have a sales system that you rinse, repeat. And so it isn't one where you're trying to make up new tactics and you're trying to do things. You are dialed in and you take off that expert hat and you put on a sales hat. You start acting like a salesperson, like a business owner, like an entrepreneur, and you learn how to sell effectively and ethically, but on repeat. And that's the other thing. So you get those three things down.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:47:54

You will see the difference happen in the business pretty quickly.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:47:58

It's hard to do things the same way consistently and do little tweaks. We have a tendency to wanna reinvent everything every single time and not just do the little the little tweaks.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:48:10

Yep. All the time. And my audience, it's full of the most incredibly creative women. And I love working with creative women because our their brains fire differently. Like, there's always say, like, it's like watching a genius at work where they're like, I have 7,000 ideas, and I'm like, I love it. But that's not gonna help us right now. So learning to use the firing in a different way, and for me, that's learning to sell and really loving the art of sales. That's where you can put your creativity in because there's lots of creative ways to sell, but we wanna keep the same systems happening over and over again, and we find creativity at other places from that.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:48:47

And so I I am highly creative. I came from a performing arts high school. I used to do improv. I've done all the stuff, and my brain still does that. I'm like, I have 7,000 ideas, but I take that in my personal time now. So I'll tend to do really creative things that are not related to my business so that I can get the outlet, but it won't impact my revenue at the same time. So that would be my other, like, piece of advice is find something you really love to do that's not tied to the business and put that as your creative outlet instead.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:49:16

Yes. That's my new goal is to get my business running so smoothly that I have time for the painting and for the other things that I could do that are creative and that could take it. And also, like, having a podcast is canonized because that is a creative outlet. Right? So that's nice as the creative outlet. But so that I have time for the writing and time for the painting instead of all my time being my business, and then you aren't doing as much creative and you can get settled into the systems and the repeat pieces with it. Because the goal is to have a business that gets a little bit boring because you have set it up so well, which is hard because we're creative folks.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:49:53

And we're also told as women that we are supposed to be constantly pursuing our passion and that the money will come, and we're marketed to very differently than our counterparts are. And it's so for us, when we hear different marketing messages, and things are smooth and boring and a little rote, we think we're doing something wrong. Instead of it being like, oh, no. This is actually how it's done. Successful business is rote, systems, processes. It's as boring as sin. That's what it is. Right? It's so Wow.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:50:23

What we can like, start a podcast. I would say, get your get it out there. Right? And even then, you'll we both would say the same thing. It's a system and a podcast too. It's very rote with what we do. It's just we get to have lovely conversations with inspiring people. So Yes. That's one part of it comes.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:50:39

Yeah.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:50:40

Yes. That's one part of it. Thank you so much. I really appreciate everything you've offered because it's been so valuable.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:50:46

Thank you very much for having me. I I love this. So thank you for and thank you for doing the show. I think it's so incredibly important.

Shawna Rodrigues [: 00:50:52

Yes. As solopreneurs, we need to be connected.

Jan Ditchfield [: 00:50:58

You do.