Jane Turner is an Author Coach, Ghost Writer, Publisher, International Speaker, and the author of four books including the best selling –
“Mindset for Authors: How to Overcome Perfectionism, Procrastination, and Self-doubt”.
As well as holding Master Coaching qualifications through the Behavioural Coaching Institute, Jane is also an NLP Master Practitioner with a gift for seeing a solid book structure emerge out of the conversations she regularly has with first-time authors.
Jane is the person behind “The Power Writing Program”, “The Power Writers Publishing Group”, and “The Author Business Hub”.
CONTACT: For more information visit www.writewithjane.com
Thank you for joining us here at The Corporate Escapists. Please introduce yourself to our reader. They love to know about you, your passion, and how you came to find and follow your passion.
I didn’t escape the nine to five world and find my passion by my own volition. I was forced to dig deep and find out who I really was when I was made redundant at the age of 52, and couldn’t find another job for love nor money. After more knock backs than I’d like to count, I decided to finish a book I had started writing some years earlier. In the end, rather than being a vanity project as it had started out when I was earning a healthy six figure salary, I needed to be really strategic in the way I positioned the book because I was going to have to use it as a vehicle to launch a coaching practice.
The only problem was that as I often joke, I had written the wrong book. I say that because it was targeted towards helping women navigate their way around the midlife space (which I was doing myself at the time). What I didn’t know was that I was going to have an epiphany when I was standing on stage launching my first book which is called “Thrive in Midlife”. The epiphany I had was in the form of a blinding flash of clarity where I realised that I wasn’t put on this earth to coach women through the midlife phase. But what I was put on this earth to do, is help other people get that feeling of wholeness and clarity of purpose that I got when I completed the hero’s journey of writing my first book.
That’s how I found my passion. Essentially guiding others through the hero’s journey of writing a book is what gives my life meaning and gets me out of bed with a spring in my step every morning.
Bob Proctor once quoted ‘To believe in the things you can see and touch is no belief at all. But to believe in the unseen is both a triumph and a blessing”. How important is it to you to have the belief within one’s self?
With the benefit of hindsight I understand why I spent my whole working life up to the age of 52 employed by the Australian government. Having a ‘regular’ job was like having a security blanket. On a deeper level, the cold, hard truth of it comes down to a fundamental lack of belief in the possibility of a different life.
Looking back on it now I can identify times when the universe was tapping me on the shoulder long before it took the decision of getting out of my comfort zone into its own hands.
It turns out that being made redundant was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I say that because it forced me to tap into a level of resourcefulness I would have never found otherwise. I not only believe in myself now, I also love myself for being the incredibly resilient and creative person that I am. The bottom line is that self belief is key to living a life of meaning and fulfillment.
Tell us what the word “Entrepreneur” means to you?
To me the word entrepreneur means being unstoppable in the pursuit of one’s dreams, and staying true to one’s deep and abiding sense of purpose.
What has been one of the biggest business ideas you have had and how did you have the trust and hope within yourself to implement it?
The biggest business idea I ever had took me Monserrat in Spain to meet up with Julia Cameron (of “The Artists Way” fame) to investigate the opportunity of collaborating with her. It wasn’t so much a matter of having faith in myself, as feeling compelled to follow my crazy dream.
Looking back on it now, I guess taking myself (and nobody else) half way across the world to meet one of my hero’s was a big leap of faith. It all just seemed to fall into place though.
I’ve moved away from running workshops based on my own version of the Artist’s Way, but the whole journey from beginning to end taught me timeless lessons in trusting my gut and not the little voice in my head that represents the self doubter that I used to be.
Running your own business can be scary. Success requires moments of trust and hope to push through to the next level. Tell us one of the moments you have had to push through to take your business to the next level?
After the honeymoon period of my first year in business when I wasn’t overly concerned about the tiny profit I made, I started to get really worried about things not being a whole lot better in my second year. Fortunately toward the end of the second year the clients I was working with were getting such great results that momentum through positive word of mouth really started to pay dividends. What’s more, I’d become much more savvy around the business aspects of running a business by that time as well. Since then, I’ve not only survived, but truly thrive running the business that lights me up and makes sense of the fact that I’ve been given the gift of life.
What is your favourite quote about inspiration?
“Learn as if you will live forever, live like you will die tomorrow” Mahatma Gandhi
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start their own business?
My advice would be to not try to do everything on your own. Reach out and get help whenever you need it, and if self doubt bubbles up from time to time, don’t let it stop you from doing what you want to do. Self doubt can bubble up for the best of us, but as long as you’ve done your due diligence to ensure that you’re not setting yourself up for failure by starting up a business selling services or products that there is no demand for.
