The best social sharing snippet from this interview is by far… “It’s just your vulnerability is your strength. It is, you know, it’s your empowerment. And so, you know, working a lot of times with people with their inner child things that they have. You know, they still haven’t had resolved inner child wounding and still keep with stories that have become really stagnant for them. And, and again, it’s that, it’s that repeated pattern. And it’s just repeating things over and over and over and over again. And there’s a lot of guilt and shame and blame going on. And you just need to, you know, it’s important for me to go, let’s zero in on all the positive things, all the things that you can do, all the ways that you’re of value, all the ways that you’re of worth.”
In this episode I walk with one of my wonderful Sweet Spot members, Nancy Jackson of Authentic and Aligned. She talks about her passion for customer service and helping others, which led her to eventually start her own business. She talks about the importance of boundaries in business, how she manages to stay grounded, and the importance of helping clients see their potential. The conversation goes into common struggles people face, including lack of self-trust and feeling unfulfilled, and how Nancy helps them overcome these challenges.
Resources
Listen On Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Watch the Podcast
Raw Transcript
Hello, and welcome to the small business sweet spot. I’m your host Barb Davids, and this show is dedicated to helping small business owners like you get more organic website traffic and also to help create and distribute content and analyzing the numbers so that we can make better informed marketing decisions. It is action oriented, direct, and conversational. And if you’ve been looking for SEO or content marketing help, please stick around to the very end where I share about the group coaching program, small business sweet spot. I’m so glad you’re here. Let’s go.
Hello and welcome Nancy to the sweet spot. How are you today? I’m doing very well. Very excited to be on your podcast. Thank you, Barb.
Thank you. Thank you. All right. So for the sweet listeners, I’m talking with you today, Nancy Jackson of Authentic Aligned. And we’re going to talk about your business, who you help, your sweet spot, because you are a member of my sweet spot program. And I just found your business interesting and I wanted to talk about how you help other people.
And learn about you and your business. So thank you for taking the time today. I appreciate it. Thank you. So let’s start with how you got into what you’re doing today. You can start as far back as you’d like, or as far forward as you’d like. You can start wherever. Yes, honestly, I feel as though my entire life has been about in customer service or patient service or in some sort of service to others.
I always knew that I was going to run my own business at some point. And it kind of started off when I was 12, believe it or not. I was running my own babysitting, dog sitting, plant watering, watch your house while you’re on vacation. I will do events and things for your children’s birthday parties so that parents can relax.
And I’m just, you know, so I was branching out and doing about five to 10 different businesses. It just depended on the season. You know, I would help if you’re going to go into a, a dinner party, I would come there and be a hostess and serve food, make sure that the table still has things on it. So for me, that’s always been, how can I help?
How can I help? How can I make your life easier? How can I let you be focused on what’s most important to you? So, you know, that, that was fun for me. That was, that was fun. My friends had other types of jobs where they had to go and work for a, you know, a boss, you know, maybe at a restaurant or. Fast food.
A lot of them are fast food restaurants. So, you know, and they just say, Oh, the hours and I’m like, I make my own. So, But you know, you know, I’m from there. I’ve basically just done customer service. And then I got into being a medical assistant. So working a lot with patients and whoever I worked with was always very much.
Yeah. More interested in talking to me about what was going on with them and asking me for advice or they would talk about something and I helped them understand it better or just help them kind of be more at ease with the situation. And everybody was just like, I don’t know why you’re not, you know, a counselor or a coach or something.
And it’s like, it has always been in the back of my mind. But, you know, life gets kind of in the way and you have to do things because this will pay the bills and this may not and, you know, so for me, it has always just been about being in service with others to others, helping other people rise up, see themselves the way that they are meant to see themselves, not.
Not the kind of more negative, you know, things or their flaws being too focused on that. And so the last, you know, and I also went through job after job after job. I didn’t like pretty much anywhere I worked for very long. So finally I said, you know, eight years ago, I was like, I’m just doing it. I don’t have the big setup.
But I’ve got the credentials and I’m going to, you know, I’m going to open up shop and so authentic and aligned was born. It was all about my soul mission. My soul purpose is to be an integrity and authentic and true to me and in alignment with my mission and my purpose here, which is, you know, clearly to help others.
So that’s where that came from. And I love what I do. I love my business and I love the people that I get to work with every day. I love the name authentic and aligned. It’s just a, it is a very comforting business name. I feel like so. Yes. And you know, when I actually, when I first thought of the name, it was not even kind of used as much.
So I was actually, you know, when I got on to, to, to do my website and it’s like authenticandaligned.com and there it was and I was just like, that was supposed to be there for me. You know, that’s just the way things are. That’s the divine timing and, and I truly believe in those things. So and you know, it’s again, just as much.
Been, my soul purpose here is to make sure that I’m always doing that. I do believe we are the student and then we are the teacher. What was, when you first started your business, what do you think was something that you maybe misjudged or didn’t realize that you would need to know about or learn about in order to make it a success?
Boundaries. I kind of pretty much came into business with zero boundaries. It was just like, how can I help? How can I help? How can I help? And and I was very much like I didn’t run the show and it was, you know, I, I did my part. I did my part just fine, but it was, I, it was just like, oh, you want to do a different time while we can do that.
And we, oh, you want to switch the day. That’s fine. Last minute. Okay. That’s fine. Because yeah. It was that overriding excitement of, oh my goodness, I’m doing what I love. So so the, for me having like zip boundaries was that, I mean, I learned pretty fast. It didn’t take too long to recognize that that was not going to work very well, and then I need to be the one that’s running my business and not letting the business run me.
So boundaries boundaries was the first and I just didn’t even think about them at all. You know, so yeah, did you I’m going to show my uneducated side. Did you know what boundaries were at that time? And the reason I’m asking is because I only learned what they were like maybe a year ago. So I had none because I didn’t even know what they were at all.
Yeah, a little bit. I mean, just through working with patients especially with patients is because I’m very empathetic and an empath and I just really kind of, Can be a big sponge. And so I did recognize. In the training of that, that I was going to have to be a different way with, with patients and not make sure I don’t take on their stuff and their, maybe their fears or their their stress or their worries coming in to see a doctor and what is that doctor going to say?
Because I’d be the first point of contact. And, and so part of my thing was to kind of ease them into talking with the doctor instead of tell me, tell me all about it and then I’m going to take it on and, and take on your, your fears and stuff. And so I had to, I did have to recognize then that I would go home so drained because I was taking on a lot of, of their insecurities and their fears about, you know, Hey, someone’s checking me out my body.
You know, that’s a scary thing. So I did have an understanding of that, but I didn’t at all equate it to business. That I’d be running. So that was brand new to me that that would be of any kind of importance, you know, in the grand scheme. I think I think a lot of us too, even just with clients and even outside of like what you do, which is very personal, like we take on some of what our clients are feeling because we are trying to help them with whatever the service is, but you have a stronger connection just with what you do.
How do you manage to Not taking that on, like not ingesting it, or how have you changed between when you first started to now so that you aren’t maybe feeling as drained? Yes, I had to make sure that I was doing a lot of my own energy work, a lot of just protecting myself, making sure that I’m just very grounded before any, any contact with anyone.
I have a very non negotiable start before I speak with someone or see someone so that I start out very grounded. And so that was really important and key there. Thank you. And the other part, too, is just simply, you know, just seeing a person in their highest light. Is probably the, the, the way to move beyond like I’m not fixing anybody and that person’s absolutely not broken.
And then there’s, you know, it’s, there’s nothing wrong with those people. And so it was just making sure that no matter what I’m always come, I just see you in your highest potential. I see you in your highest light. And therefore I, I see you as, everything is, is, It is positive, right? It’s all very positive.
It’s all you’re doing exactly what it is that you want to be doing and then that helped them to not come in going, she’s going to see all my flaws and my issues and it’s like, I don’t see that in you and I, and I ask you to not see that in you, so then neither of us have to take on any You know, strange.
It just becomes a better energy exchange more than anything. And so, and the people that you work with, what, what are some of the things that they might be feeling or, and they might not have me even known it at the time, maybe you can articulate it for them as they came to you, that they came to you and what, let me rephrase that.
What were they feeling that they realized they needed your services? I think a lot is just a lack of trust, not trusting, not trusting in themselves, not trusting the choices and decisions they’re making not trusting that they are able to be in a higher space for themselves.
They, they come in just focused tunnel vision on on maybe a sense of lack or scarcity they’re not comfortable or certain about what it is that they’re doing maybe in their business or in their life and And are unfamiliar with being vulnerable with someone and that can be very uncomfortable.
And so again, it’s that part of helping someone, putting them at ease immediately so that way they don’t stay stuck in that. headspace that they’re in. Because my whole first thing is, let’s talk about what it is that you’re going to be doing, you know, what is now and what are, what are you working towards?
And I just believe that when we’re too focused on ourselves or the thing that we’re, that we’ve got that keeps us in maybe paralysis, we’re so afraid someone else is totally seeing that and they’re exposing themselves and they’re like open target. And it’s just so not. It’s just I’m not the case. It’s, it’s the exact opposite.
It’s just your vulnerability is your strength. It is, you know, it’s your empowerment. And so, you know, working a lot of times with people with their inner child things that they have. You know, they still haven’t had resolved inner child wounding and still keep with stories that have become really stagnant for them.
And, and again, it’s that, it’s that repeated pattern. And it’s just repeating things over and over and over and over again. And there’s a lot of guilt and shame and blame going on. And you just need to, you know, it’s important for me to go, let’s zero in on all the positive things, all the things that you can do, all the ways that you’re of value, all the ways that you’re of worth.
And when we open up that, that really shifts. And do you feel like there’s a more common myth that we have about ourselves that we don’t see? I think it’s between we’re not enough, we’ll never be enough. You know, we see that a lot everywhere, social media, society, you’ve always got a, you’re, you’re never, you don’t look just right.
You’re never the right something. So either it’s not enough or we’re just really here in encapsulated in fear of being our true self. Because we’ve not spent enough time as our true selves. We’ve spent a lot of time confused and running after an identity that will hopefully help us feel a little bit better until we realize that doesn’t fit.
I need to put on another identity and then that one doesn’t really fit. And, and we also don’t let ourselves grow. Like we don’t have permission to grow. If we’re not giving ourselves permission to grow, we, we do kind of shrink. And we’re all here to take up space. We’ve got all kinds of space to take up.
So I have a question. I think I know what it means for me, but I would love to hear from you what it means so that I can better understand it. Every time I hear take up space or I’m making space for somebody, I am so confused. Can you shed some light on that and explain that to me? We all spend a lot of time, you know, wearing all these masks and cloaks.
So we’re really, really almost kind of caving in on ourselves. We are hiding. We are not exposing, especially our heart. We’re keeping it really tucked in and we’re getting as small as possible. Don’t want to have anybody see that I’m not perfect. I don’t want anybody to see that I don’t look perfect.
I’m not the perfect age. I’m not all that. So we just really close ourselves in and we really yeah, we just kind of, we’re putting this, this cloak around ourselves and. And at the same time, inside we’re craving being seen, being heard, being valued for what it is that we’re here to bring and share with others.
And so when we recognize taking up space is simply saying, I am open, I am free, my heart is open. We hold ourselves differently. We hold ourselves in our light. We hold ourselves in our strength and our confidence rather than that shriveled up space. That we feel like I can’t move too far this way. I can’t move too far this way.
I can only say so much. I can only do so much. I’m afraid someone’s going to judge me. I’m afraid someone’s going to say that I said the wrong thing or I don’t trust myself to speak my truth. And. And I think we all have kind of shriveled up a little bit more in these last four years. So, you know, it’s all of us are needing to kind of remember we, we, we are, we have infinite love in this world, which means we, we need all the space in the world to be able to share that.
Energy needs space. Energy needs intention. Energy needs to move, and we have so much energy within us, we need to move. Mm-Hmm. . So it’s taking up space. It’s just saying is that I’m here, I’m this strong being, you know, our auras are like 60 feet on either side of us. We need, we need to be able to maneuver around and navigate our world as full whole beings.
Mm-Hmm. and not you know, all, all shriveled up in, in ourselves. Yeah, I can relate to that because I think with the work that I’ve done and going into the way that I was I guess raised or something and I’m not quite sure exactly I can’t remember a lot of stuff but what I’m learning is that I definitely don’t speak up a lot as much as like in groups Or even in family groups with people I know very well or even in groups that I don’t know, it doesn’t matter what kind of group, but I, I tend not to speak up as much because I was, I don’t know, I don’t know that I felt like I was afraid to speak up, but there was always something in the back of my head that just said, well, don’t do that.
I mean, why are you going to do that? So like, that’s, that’s that’s interesting how you were talking about that. And then the other part I was going to mention when you said take up space, like there’s a, there was a tangible feeling that I got the other day. When I was exploring this, trying to figure out like what that really meant.
And it was even just as simple as like, I was doing yoga and they have you do this big old stand thing where your legs are apart, like you’re doing jumping jacks and you put your arms out. And even that is so uncomfortable taking up that physical space. It’s like, ah, yes, absolutely. Absolutely. It is. And again, we’re just so used to really closing ourselves into, into ourselves and the taking up space is that.
I get to move, I get to have my arms wide open, my legs open, I get to twirl around, you know, it’s just the way that we were here as children. You know, that whole, all this energy, all this boundless, infinite energy that we had. And unless someone said, you know, we have to stop and go to bed, it’s like, oh, I can just do this all day.
You know, but it’s, it’s that, again, it’s that giving ourselves permission. To just be ourselves and, and express ourselves in the way that we really want to, without worrying about the judgment of others, what’s someone going to say. And if we grew up with parents that they probably grew up based on their generation, kids aren’t meant to be seen and heard, you know, except maybe the viewing you know, at night or something, it was never this, you know, it’s like, be quiet and, you know, keep your voice down and, and then, you know, you got to school and everything is, don’t speak up.
You have to speak unless called on, you have to raise your hand before you can utter a single word, you got in trouble, and so, you know, these are the, this, this is the way that we grew up, so we’ve spent far more time being quiet most of us, you know, than, than being able to just express ourselves authentically and, and without concern that someone’s going to judge or say something or make us feel bad You know, which would be like the really worst thing that, you know, you can do is just finally find your voice and then everyone’s telling you, could you be quiet again?
Right. Very interesting. Do people come to you more for the personal side of their lives or for business? It’s actually just a really good balance of both. And a lot of times it’s those that are looking to go into business. And so I work a lot with, with helping them with their purpose. Helping them stay motivated to go after what it is that they want.
To be able to leave that job that they dislike. To be able to even just, you know, work from full time into part time and then spend that part time on, on what is it that you want to be, you know, doing here? What are your, you know, what’s calling to you? What’s drawing you in? So it’s, it’s, I would say, More often than not, it is a person that wants to be doing their own business and they’re just wanting a little bit more focused on, can I actually share what I know that I’m here to do?
And and then I do work with a few that it is just about, they just want to be happier in their life and it’s not, you know, business. Business doesn’t take any part of it. They just wanna maybe start on a spiritual journey and start awakening to that side of them. But I would say it’s a pretty good, it’s a pretty good balance between.
Okay. If somebody were thinking about exploring this topic with you, is there some feeling or something that they that they they may be triggered in their head or maybe a habit that they’re doing that they’re not aware of that could be a sort of indicator. That they could be like, Oh, that just happened in my head.
I need to talk to Nancy. Like is there something that they maybe don’t know about consciously that we could enlighten them right now and tell them, okay, if you’re feeling this or thinking this, you might want to consider talking to me. Absolutely. If you’re, if you are here knowing that there is more, you know, that there is just, just each day you just feel, you’re feeling very unfulfilled, very unfulfilled in your life.
And you, you could be having a great life, it’s just that what you’re doing, especially your work, if you’re feeling unfulfilled, it’s, it is truly that it’s, there is something more for you to be doing. And. We often will tell ourselves, I’m sure at some point, you know, I’ll do that. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll look into that.
But then all of a sudden, a year has gone by and another year has gone by and what hasn’t gone away is I don’t feel very fulfilled doing everything for everybody else, putting yourself last. Is right there to me a big indicator that you are absolutely here to be doing something more and something bigger.
You know that you are here to help others, but you’re bringing it into a very small container and that’s going to just maybe be family. Or your neighbors or maybe community too, but it’s a smaller container and you just it’s like, I know there’s something more in me. There’s something that calls to me. I do, I keep up, I’m kept up at night.
I have lots of thoughts and feelings and things going through me and I have a true desire to, to share something with people of some capacity, right? We all have a unique medicine that we’re bringing here. We all have certain skills, gifts, talents. So that’s going to be very unique to the individual, but it’s just that I need to be doing more.
So that I actually can feel fulfilled. Okay. That was great. I think that was very helpful for anybody who’s listening and they’re thinking about that. So thank you for explaining that. Absolutely. And so I want to transition over to the sweet spot a little bit and ask you, because you’re a member in there and you’ve been in there for a few months.
And I’m so grateful that you came in and helping with digital marketing and just talking through things. My sweet spot to, to help business owners and the side of the somewhat more techie, more strategic side, less of the the touchy feely stuff. That is not as much me, but what drew you to the sweet spot?
What was it about the marketing or like, what did you see that you thought you needed help with on the business side of things? I am really very resistant to a lot of tech stuff, the digital stuff, and when I try to learn something and I look at something, whether it’s, you know, SEO or it’s It’s just the digital side of things, even just something as simple as, you know, blogging.
If I start to read up something, to me, all of a sudden, this information that I’m reading and everything just feels very heavy for me. I, I just, and my mind just absolutely, wants to say it’s gobbledygook and you’re just never going to figure it out. And then I really truly believe that pretty, pretty quickly on.
I mean, there are things that I can figure out over time and I have to be in a very, very focused space to do that. But when, for myself, I, I do a lot of channeling. I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m very kind of, well, creativity is huge for me. That’s the biggest part of my business. And the first thing that I realized goes as my ability to tap into my creativity, when I’m getting stressed out about digital things, things on the website, for me, it’s like, I don’t understand these things.
And I don’t understand the obviously the importance of them to a certain degree and I guess part of me wants them to go away because I have to do them. So for me, it’s like, you know, there are people here. Just like I have my things. There’s people here to make sure that those of us that are not into that stuff can feel good about doing the whole bit of the business.
And especially with you, I just immediately felt so very comfortable. You’re, you just have a way of helping people feel very calm about everything. And so digital stuff for me is like, not my calming factor. So the fact that you were able to Move through. That was huge for me, but it’s, it’s just that I just look at it.
It becomes this foreign language to me get stressed out. And then all of a sudden I’m not able to actually get done anything else that I want it to do. And, and then I have a stubborn side. That’s like, you’re going to figure this out. If you have to sit here all day long. And then I, that’s, you know, that’s a day for me.
I’m very unfulfilled because it’s like, I just spent all this time. And I, and I still don’t get it. So so I definitely in, in looking around I really trust who I’m drawn to. I believe very much. And there’s certain people that we’re meant to connect with. And so for me, that was. That was you.
That’s the sweet spot. Plus I love the name. So right. It’s such a fun name. Because, you know, you have a sweet spot in your business or you have a sweet spot for who you help or you have a, you know, that sweet spot, that one thing that.
The, the, the light moment, like that is a great spot to be in. So kind of like, like a groove almost. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. It had a wonderful, wonderful energy to it. So yeah. And I love your energy. So I am so grateful that you’re in the group and that we’ve had the chance to work together and grateful for you sharing who you help and everything around that today.
If somebody is interested in working with you and opening up their potential, how can they find you? Oh, absolutely. And go to find me on Instagram. I that’s going to be at authentic aligned my website, www. authenticandaligned. com. Those are my, those are the two spaces that you can find me pretty easily.
And then, you know, my newsletter I send out weekly. I like to stay in contact with everyone as much as possible. And yeah, so that’s. Those are probably the two easiest ways to get it. All right. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Nancy. I really appreciate it. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Barb.
This was wonderful. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you. And I hope you enjoyed this episode with Nancy and learning about how to open up your potential. Stay tuned for more episodes on how to help your business thrive online. We’ll see you in the next sweet spot. Cheers.
Thank you for sticking around. I hope you enjoyed the episode. If you’re looking for SEO and content marketing help, consider joining the small business sweet spot. It’s a group coaching program where you can get answers to your questions about your business directly and clarity around the marketing strategies that you would like to implement in your business.
You can find all kinds of information at compassdigitalstrategies. com. And if you liked the episode, please tell a friend. Cheers.
