One Entrepreneur's Journey: Jen Spencer of Jen Spencer Coaches

This is part of a series called "One Entrepreneur's Journey," where I'm talking with solo entrepreneurs about their successes (and failures) along the path of entrepreneurship.

In this interview, I caught up with Jen Spencer of Jen Spencer Coaches, a coaching firm specializing in working with individuals and companies who earn their livelihood through the expression of creative thought (the "creative class").

We started by talking a bit about balancing the creative side of business with actually getting work done.

Entrepreneurs, in general, are pretty creative people.  I look at business as a really great medium for creativity, but it's not one that's always recognized as such.  I think there's a passion in a project, to make sure it's exactly how your vision is, and then there's this other part that I have just recognized that's systems and getting stuff done so that you can, in fact, reach where you want to reach.  They're not mutually exclusive, but as an entrepreneur, figuring out what you're willing to let go of is definitely a process.

I don't think that I can do my business without other people.  I've come to the realization that I cannot grow my business without the help of others.  It takes a while to get there.  You often don't know what you don't know.  Even if someone gave you a handbook, I think entrepreneurs are pretty independent.  They really like to do it their own way.  It takes you a while to figure out what you need.

What is your main job as an entrepreneur?

I think anybody's job as an entrepreneur is to be of value and be a resource.

What do you think of the idea of balance?

I think of balance as a state of mind.  I don't think it's some destination that we hit.  There are days you're present.  There are days when you're less present.  The balance, to me, is really being present where you are.  You're not thinking about what you have to do or what you need to do.  You're just experiencing what's in front of you in a way that is peaceful.  There's ease.  There's engagement.

Another thing I think is really valuable as an entrepreneur is giving your time to the community, whatever community really excites you or that you're inspired by.

I like the way that you put that.  You give your time to a community, not the community around you, which I think is an important distinction.  It's important to give back, and I think anyone who does allows people to see who they really are and what they represent.  I think that's key, which community do you give your time to, who do you give your time to.  Who are the people that you want to serve?  When you figure out who that is and why you want to serve them, you're really motivated by that group of people, and it makes you want to do your best work.

There's something on your website that I think is interesting, "We're booked, but we'd love to talk with you about it January."  It's always a struggle that you've got to pay the bills, but what I have found is, once you're selective and really clear about what you want your capacity to be, the right kind of clients show up.  You have to have discipline to be able to say no to what's not right for you.  Saying no is actually saying yes to what you really want.

And that's actually one of the toughest jobs for an entrepreneur, saying no.

It's a lot of habitual thinking.  A country road, if it gets driven on enough, will get paved, and eventually you can have a ten-lane highway.  A ten-lane highway is really difficult to remove, but it's really easy to create a new country road that's a better route.  We've got these habits, these ways of thinking that save us time, but your brain doesn't know what to make a ten-lane highway.  It only makes a ten-lane highway out of what gets driven on the most.

What's your best advice for new entrepreneurs?

Something I recognize for myself is that when I stress out about my business or the money that's coming in or being able to meet my goals, it's amazing how much that cuts off what comes to me.  I don't have any other way to describe it other than when I have faith, faith in my higher self, and that means different things for different people, but when I have faith in my abilities, and I just trust, and I still do everything I need to do, money flies into my office like I've never seen.

I also think you really just have to be patient.  I have really learned a lot in the past two years about being patient and understanding that I'm building something.  It's not this quick fix.

At the end of the day, it's about the work you provide and being confident in your ability to be able to create what you want and making sure you have people around you who support you.  Always ask for help.