Jennifer Flynn · Strategic advisor to founders · THE BALANCE MAVEN®
I was the overfunctioner. Then the math stopped mathing.
WHAT YOU GET
A soft place to land, and a firm push. Both can be true.
I'm a soft place to land, where you're 100% accepted, and the kick in the ass you need but can't take from anyone else without getting defensive. Both can be true. With me, they usually are.
The founders I work with get more than advice to go think about. We build the strategy for how to do it together, and then I stay in the trenches with you for the action and the execution, so you actually get to live in the results. Questions get answers. Challenges get solutions. Empire Ops™ sits underneath as the operating system that keeps the change from sliding back.
HOW I GOT HERE
My story
Small town, big rooms.
I grew up in a town of 500 (counting the rural folks), where everyone looked out for each other and you learned what it meant to be a good neighbor. I still work that way, just in bigger rooms.
Plates.
Workaholic, perfectionist, high achiever, and a control enthusiast (I don't like to use the word freak). Every time I turned around, a plate was falling. I swept it up and set another one spinning before anyone noticed. The problem: I noticed.
A lighthouse, after all.
For years, people asked me to work with them, and for years I said no. Eventually I ran out of good reasons. One Saturday afternoon, sitting on my living room floor, I finally heard it: I'd always been a lighthouse for others. Time to stop saying no to that.
My best bet.
So I bet on myself. I paid for my coaching certification with a loan and put my truck up as collateral. (Not a strategy I recommend. It did clarify things.) The lesson stuck: you will always be your best bet, and your best investment.
The math stopped mathing.
When I finally gave every part of my life its share of my bandwidth, it added up to 400% on a 100% allotment. No wonder I was exhausted. That exercise became the root of Return on Energy™.
New math.
Life Math™ started with friends, talking about return on experience. Every yes is a no to something else, so every choice is a net loss, net neutral or net positive. Balance stopped meaning 50/50. It became a fulcrum, and I shifted mine to allow more weight on the life side of my world... without losing the business.
I notoriously hate traditional math. This math, I measure everything with. It's the math that matters.
THE RÉSUMÉ, BRIEFLY
The background
Business operations and high-ticket sales (from a recovering introvert who used to hate selling). I worked the phones as a setter and a closer, then built and led the teams, so I know how a business really runs, from the front desk to the P&L.
Certified coach
I've sat across from a lot of people carrying a lot, and I can usually name the pattern before they finish the sentence.
Business owner
I've signed the front of the paychecks while running a household and relearning algebra at the kitchen table with my kids. (Great for the life math. Less great for my patience.) I know what it feels like when the business and the rest of your life want the same afternoon.
NON-NEGOTIABLES
I hold people capable.
Most people get held accountable. I'd rather hold you capable, and I'll keep holding you there on the days you forget.
Alignment first, then strategy.
You can have the best-laid plans and still fail without the right mindset. With a rock-solid mindset, you can win without the best-laid plans. So we check what you believe first, then build the plan on top of it.
Your business works for your life.
Your business should give more than it takes. When it's taking more, we fix the math.
FAIR WARNING
I'm not for everyone, and I stopped apologizing for that a while ago. If you want a one-and-done fix, I'm not your person, and I'd rather tell you now. If you want the truth with a little grit on it, and someone who stays while it lands, pull up a chair.
YOUR MOVE
The door is always open and the welcome mat is always out... just please take off your shoes.