Susan Jane is a published author, inspiring speaker, life/business coach, and host of an international podcast The Art of Intuition. Susan has spent over 40 years encouraging people to connect, develop and trust their intuition to enable them to make confident decisions in line with their true core values.

With three young children, Susan set about connecting with her local community. She led a successful project with young families, which culminated in a nomination for Australian Citizen of the Year. However, Susan’s life changed dramatically when her 20-year emotionally abusive marriage ended, and she had to rediscover who she was and what she really wanted.

As part of her development, in 2009, Susan returned to university to update her qualifications. She studied Public Health Promotion full-time while working three part-time jobs. Unfortunately, six months after graduating, a change of State Government saw the discontinuation of all Health Promotion positions. Although feeling extremely out of her depth, Susan again engaged her personal determination. Deep down she knew there was still a lot more she could offer. On a shoestring budget, and with a strong faith in her ability, Susan wrote, published, and marketed her first book. Intuitive Flowers: Empowering your Emotional Goals. An experience that now has her writing three more books of a similar nature targeting personal development.

Susan has harnessed her experiences to mentor others; her altruism constantly benefits those around her. She trained young, elite athletes, volunteered with various community groups, and launched an international podcast in 2020. Susan’s strength lies within, as she relies strongly on her intuition to guide her towards her goals in life. She has learned to trust this power and teaches others to do the same through the tools she has developed over her lifetime.

Nominated Australian Citizen of the Year 1988

An awardee of Merit for three categories of Women in Business Awards 2017.

Gold Coast Woman in Business of the Year Award.

Community Dedication and Social Justice Award. 

Creating Change Award Bronze winner for two business categories in Asian Pacific Stevie Awards 2018 

Innovative consumer event for 2018 

Most innovation communication professional of the year 2018

Susan is sharing what the word “empower” means to her with The Corporate Escapists.

Thank you for joining us here at The Corporate Escapists. Please introduce yourself to our readers. They would love to know about you, your passion, and how you came to find and follow your passion.

My passion is helping people connect, develop and trust their intuition to enable them to make confident decisions in line with their true core values. Hi, I am Susan Jane and I discovered that we have two bodies (Physical and Spiritual) the hard way. During I violent pack rape I left my body and explored the spiritual realm. Here I started to gather knowledge about Intuition, what it is and why it is so important. A near-death experience (NDE) 12 months later followed by a deliberate test to leave my physical body sealed my passion.

As a successful entrepreneur please share your viewpoint if you believe that entrepreneurs are born or made?

Anyone can be an entrepreneur but to be successful is another story. Your intuition plays such a strong part in being an entrepreneur with messages coming from the soul within us which gives us passion. The environment can drive us but we need the passion to strive towards our goals. However, if you have the right physical aspects around you e.g. money, you can pay for things to be done. The entrepreneurs I know had to have the passion they were born with, finances were scarce or limited. Entrepreneurs are born but success is made.

Nelson Mandela once quoted – ‘I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.’  What has been one fear you have overcome?

My greatest fear regarding business is “What will they think of me”. Yes, I am aware of all the right things to say and think regarding that, but it still sits deep within me as a core fear. The best part of this fear is that I know I have it and I know how to overcome it when it rears up. Fear is an emotion, an outward expression of energy in motion. That means I can express it and let it go. It is when we hold onto that energy in motion instead of letting it go that problems occur.

Tell us what the word “empower” means to you?

I don’t like using the word “empower”. Empower means to give (someone) the authority or power to do something. Who do we think we are to do that? We do not hold authority over people, especially our clients. Only they can give themselves the authority to do something. Only they can empower themselves. That’s why I use the word INpower. It means you give your internal self the authority or power to do something. Intuition is the same. It is the inner tuition that guides us, that inpowers us to create positive action towards our goals and dreams.

What has been one of the biggest business ideas you have had and how did you have the courage to implement it?

In 2009 I returned to university to update my qualifications. I studied Public Health Promotion full-time while working three part-time jobs. Unfortunately, six months after graduating, a change of State Government saw the discontinuation of all Health Promotion positions. Although I felt extremely out of my depth, deep down I knew there was still more I could offer. On a shoestring budget, but with faith in my ability, I wrote, published, and marketed my first book. Intuitive Flowers: Empowering your Emotional Goals. *It taught me so much. *Short for: it was a flop so a professional new edition was written.

Running your own business can be scary.  Success requires moments of courage to push through to the next level, please tell us one of the moments you have had to push through to take your business to the next level?

You will think I am crazy when you read this but I always wanted to be an inspirational speaker on the speaking circuit. However, I wasn’t good or confident in public speaking to even ascertain that possibility. Hey, I couldn’t even talk about intuition to start with, let alone stand on stage and do it. So, how could I practice without people in front of me and yet still gauge how I was doing? I purchased a microphone, turned on the video, and started The Art of Intuition Podcast. Now I talk to international guests every week.

Tell us what attributes you feel make a good leader in business today?

There is only one attribute that I strive for when working in my business, posting on social media and for all my marketing, and that is to be authentic. Don’t tell someone what to do. Show them how you did it in your life, or how you have learned from that experience. Being authentic means you make mistakes as well, I did tell you about my first book. Yikes! Authentic people are easy to connect with because people know and can see who you truly are. Authenticity or being real makes for a great leader.

What is your favourite quote about empowerment?

I don’t have a favorite quote about empowerment. Hang on a sec and I will find one. Wow! There are so many and Henry Ford’s “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t – you’re right” is something I have followed most of my (adult) life. But Theodore Roosevelt tickled my funny bone when he said “If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month” With all that’s happening in your world you still need to have a laugh at yourself and not take things too seriously.

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start their own business?

Start as a side hustle and grow it from there. This gives you time to learn how to grow it and all of the moving parts that are within it. If you have other means of support you have the finances and opportunity to develop your business with a strong foundation. That works well for certain personalities, others will want to jump in headfirst. To them I say “Hold your nose, take a deep breath and keep your eyes open” It is going to overwhelming at times but you will see things from a fascinating new perspective.

What would be one (1) question you would you ask the person who most inspires you?  Also, share with us about this person and why they inspire you?

There are many people that inspire me from my next-door neighbor, who does the most amazing drag makeup, to the greats like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. At the moment there isn’t a deep and meaningful question I seek answers to, outside of my intuition. However, just being in the presence of these greats would be amazing. I would love to just sit near them and listen to what they say and how they say it. It is not what is being said that interests me as much as the energy generated through it.

You can connect with Susan right here on Facebook and Instagram.