Beyond the Comfort Zone: Journey to Growth in 2025

In this episode of Girls Make Bank, host Jac shares why discomfort is essential for business growth and why she chose "uncomfortable" as her word for 2025. She shares her personal journey of launching the podcast after two years of hesitation, challenging the popular notion that business success requires perfect alignment and comfort.

Topics Discussed in the Episode:

• The distinction between alignment and comfort in business
• How avoiding discomfort can limit business growth and opportunities
• Three practical steps to embrace discomfort in your business
• Why sales activities often trigger discomfort and avoidance
• A special announcement about an upcoming free sales mindset workshop

Jac offers actionable insights for entrepreneurs struggling with sales anxiety and business growth plateaus, demonstrating why stepping out of your comfort zone is crucial for success. This episode sets the tone for a year focused on embracing challenges and transforming sales mindset blocks into opportunities for growth.

Listen to Stephanie Cartin’s episode on Apple | Spotify | YouTube

Sign up for the Sales Mindset Workshop! 

Visit https://www.honeybeesgroup.co/salescircle to learn more about Sales Circle and join the waitlist!

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Transcript

 Hello, and welcome to the first episode of Girls Make Bank for 2025. I cannot believe that we are already entering a new year. And, um, I also can't believe that we're on episode 13  of Girls Make Bank, because it feels like  it has been no time at all since we launched the podcast, but it also feels like I've been doing this forever.

 Probably because this has been an idea in my head for a long time.  But even though it hasn't been that long, Um, the feedback and the support that I've received from you over the past few months has been absolutely amazing and humbling. I feel like I have made so many new connections. I have built such meaningful relationships in a really small amount of time and it's been incredible. 

This is going to be the first solo episode, the official first solo episode that I'm doing. Um, and I'm really excited to do more solo episodes this year. Um, I'm still going to bring pranking on guest speakers because it's. It's really a lot of fun for me to hear from people I respect and admire, um, you guys have told me how much you're getting out of the interviews and so I'm going to still be interviewing people, but I will be mixing it up with some solo episodes, um, I really want to start diving into some of the sales frameworks and the strategies, uh, what's really working and what is really not working when it comes to selling now. 

Um, and so for this episode, I want to let you into my own business a little bit. What I'm working on personally, um, this year to set myself up for success long term, where I'm focusing my energy, how it relates to you and your business.  Launching this podcast has been one of the  best things I think I've ever done.

Certainly for my business, it's been one of the best things, but also personally for myself, it has been one of the best things I've ever done. I have wanted to start some form of content marketing.  as part of my top of funnel sales efforts for a really long time. I built my consulting business over the last seven years almost, based on referrals and word of mouth, which is a fantastic way to, um, grow your business, especially if you were doing what I was doing, which is bespoke long term client work.

Um, you know, having few clients, but getting really deep with them.  But at the end of last year, I shifted focus on who I was serving in my business and how I was working with my clients. And my sales strategy had to shift with it, right? Because each type of business, sales is sales, but the strategy and the tactics shift.

So, since forever, I have been Very hesitant to put myself out there in the public domain. I don't create a share a lot on social media. I am not one to share much about my family or personal details. I just haven't  before recently been able to figure out how to create content of value without talking about the things that I hold very private and personal in my life. 

But I wanted to create a podcast for a really long time. Maybe. I don't know, at least one or two years. Um, but I was afraid to do it. And  what I realized is if I really wanted to go all in on this business that I'm building, which I do want to go all in, I am going all in. If I want to make the huge impact on women, on their business, on their money that I know I can make, I had to be willing to do the thing that I was afraid of.

The thing that I was avoiding, the thing that made me deeply, deeply, deeply uncomfortable, and that is to put myself out there  and  something amazing happened when, even before I launched the podcast, being able to identify the emotion that was holding me back in my business. I immediately understood what was holding so many of us back in our businesses.

it, it. is simple, but was a moment of clarity for me. And that's that we don't want to do the things that make us uncomfortable.  Um, in our business as business owners, we can find a lot of non emergencies to take up our time, or there's always so much going on that we are able to justify avoiding the things that we don't want to do by saying we're too busy, or we have this other thing that's important. 

And for some women, a lot of women, I would say most women, selling is that thing that makes them uncomfortable. Selling our services, selling our products, talking about how much money it costs, Coming across as salesy or, you know, trying to figure out how to turn a new connection into a possible client, it feels deeply uncomfortable.

And it's something that we don't want to lean into. And I realized at that moment, That I had to practice what I preach. I had to do the thing that was uncomfortable for me in order to build the business that I wanted to build. But I also talk to people all the time about doing things that are uncomfortable and I had to sort of eat my own dog food.

 So how did I get to the point where I was able to do something that felt deeply uncomfortable? Well,  the first thing I did is I made a decision to do it, and not only did I make a decision to do it, I realized that I might not be great at it at the very beginning, right? Because podcasting is a skill.

Creating content and putting it out there is a skill.  you can do it and just do it, but to do it well takes skill and it takes practice.  And so I had to realize that I had to be okay.  Not being the best at something right off the bat,  and you have to get comfortable with that idea.  The second thing I did was I found a partner to help lead me.

down the path. And I found an amazing podcast producer because doing hard things with somebody else makes it a little bit easier. So my podcast producer, Jess, I highly recommend if anybody is thinking of starting a podcast, just as a side note, Smart Podcast Solutions, she's the best. She really, she's the best. 

It's just, I can't speak highly enough about how helpful she has been throughout this process, but I committed to myself that I would do the thing that I was afraid of, um, and actually launch a podcast.  Stephanie Carton, who is the co founder of Entreprenista. She was actually the first guest on Girls Make Bank, uh, episode one.

So if you haven't listened, Go back and, um, take a listen. She's fantastic.  She asked everyone in the community and the entrepreneur needs to league. What our word of the year is. And this isn't something I'm not really one for word of the year or.  I, I haven't, I think they're great. It's not something I've done in the past,  but I am just feeling like I want to do new things now.

And so I put a lot of thought into what I wanted my word of the year to be. And I had a long list of really beautiful, really positive,  flowery, emotional words that I was considering. And I. You know, came up with a long list, and then I shortened it down, and before I totally committed to a word,  I was doing some strategic planning and goal setting for Honeybee's group for the year,  and I was listing out and kind of mapping out all of the things that I wanted to build and do this year.

I realized that many of them were hard things, new things, things that I was going to be doing that are. outside of my comfort zone. Some a little bit outside of my comfort zone, but some a lot out of my comfort zone. And that I was going to go deep on my business, deep into the products and the services that I'm offering from the ground up.

So I am essentially rebuilding my business this year and laying the foundation. And that is hard, hard work. Um, I'm pretty much doing it alone. Um, which is, You know, something that is also really hard. I'm doing all of the things in the business. A lot of the things that I don't like to do, and I would in a previous world have outsourced to other people I have to do,  and I realized that. 

My word of the year is uncomfortable.  This year, I am going to be getting very, very uncomfortable in the best way possible.   What does that mean?  Um, I, okay, I'm gonna end up going on a little rant here, so stick with me. Um, one of the things that I am really, really,  really,  sick of hearing about is this idea that you have to be, it's not that I'm sick of hearing about this, it's that you have to be perfectly aligned with your work. 

Um, I, I agree that you have to be aligned with your work. I'm not, , saying that you shouldn't be aligned with what you're doing because being aligned is incredibly important. If you're not aligned with your work, you're going to burn out. You're going to be totally dissatisfied. I think when you're not happy in one area of your life, it.

translates into all other like Parts of your life and not good ways. What I see us doing is confusing alignment with comfortable  as if the only way to be Truly aligned is for everything to feel easy to feel natural to feel Effortless  and I just want to sit on that for a moment because I want you to understand you That, that is not how alignment works. 

Alignment, let me say that again. So,  alignment doesn't mean easy or comfortable or cozy. Um, alignment and comfort are two totally different things.  And you can be very aligned  but uncomfortable.  You can be very comfortable and totally not aligned.  And the way we're talking about it, and it's not, It's not your fault if you're, you know, sensing this or feeling like you're not aligned because you're not comfortable or you're doing something wrong because there's all these messages being  shoved in our face about, Oh, you know, find alignment and make seven figures in your sleep and just do this and this is how you do it.

And I just want you to know that, you know, you can disconnect comfort and alignment and be doing the right thing. So I'm going to use myself. As an example here,  I am so passionate about helping women make money, understand money, own their financial destinies for themselves and for their families. That is my mission. 

It is just inside of me. I want to help. I help women make more money. That's what I do.  Now, my zone of genius  The skills that I've built over the course of my entire career, allow me to help you make more money by teaching you how to sell, right? So my mission and my skill set merged together. My mission of helping women make more money and my skill set of being able how to teach you to sell merged together and they become this powerful opportunity for me.

 And I want to teach. Every single woman, how to sell. Every woman on earth, I think, should be able to learn how to sell. Now, in order to do that, I have to get my message out to as many women as possible, through as many channels as I can.  And that is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.  Because creating and sharing content has always been uncomfortable for me.

That's just the way it is.  And so,  this is like a new thing for me.  But I must say, even though it sounds so cliche,  going through the process of building Girls Make Bank,  creating the assets, figuring out the format, what topic did I want to cover? How did I want to cover it? What type of guests was I looking for?

Um, it sounds really cliche. There was so much anxiety and angst and self doubt that went into doing this. Once that first episode was released,  once I did the hard part and I opened up the floodgates and I You know, hit publish on that first episode.  There was a huge, before even anybody listened, before anything, you know, happened, there was a huge amount of satisfaction and pride that I felt  knowing that I put that out.

I did the hard work. I did something that was hard. And I did something that I said I was going to do that I was uncomfortable with, but that I felt proud of, and I put it out there. Now, am I the best podcaster in the world? Certainly not, but we talked about how it doesn't have to be perfect. Not being perfect and doing it anyways is a part of the learning journey.

Okay. So I will get better at being a podcaster. As I do it more in three years after I have, you know, however many 100, 200 episodes behind me, I'm going to look back at this and be, Oh, this is so cringy. What am I doing?  But the thing is, that's a part of the journey, right? So that's a part of all of our journey is doing something that's uncomfortable, knowing that we're not going to be perfect at it right away and continuing to do it. 

I'm already learning and feeling confident enough to come on and do a solo episode and share my feelings of vulnerability, which is another thing that's completely uncomfortable for me.  And what I've learned is that the path to alignment, for me, Isn't going to be paved with ease. This is not going to be easy, right?

So my path to alignment is helping women make more money by teaching them how to sell. But in order for me to do that, I have a path that's full of effort and hard work and discomfort  in order for me to reach alignment in my business. I have to get uncomfortable,  and I'm okay with that. I am okay with that. 

Because when you're playing it safe,  when you are only doing the things that are comfortable for you, you are missing out on so many opportunities. For two years, I wanted to launch this podcast and didn't.  For two years, because it made me uncomfortable.  And so this is where it comes back to you, dear friend, dear listener, dear future sales superstar. 

The big wins and the real growth that you are waiting for in your business are not going to happen when you are sitting there feeling aligned and cozy.  That's not where it is.  They happen when you're standing on the edge of your comfort zone, when you are shaking in your high heels, wondering. Is this something that I can really do? 

That is where the transformation lives. That is where the magic is. And so think about it. Every breakthrough that you've had in your life, in your business, has probably involved some level of discomfort.  Maybe it was launching your business. That is crazy uncomfortable for a lot of things, for a lot of people.

Pitching your first client. Hiring your first team member. That's  Each of those moments required courage, risk, the willingness to embrace uncertainty.  And so discomfort, being uncomfortable, forces us to evolve. It forces us to discover strengths that we didn't know we had. And most importantly, it prepares us for the next big challenge with more confidence and resilience.

And that's what we're building here within our business and within ourselves is resilience. Because entrepreneurship and small business ownership is really hard. You have to be resilient. You have to be able to perform and do the things that make you uncomfortable.  So, how can you start getting uncomfortable in your own business?

Here are three steps, right, this week that I want you to start thinking about and focusing on.  The first one is  identify these zones within our business that we're avoiding. So what areas in your business are you avoiding?  Um, is it networking? Is it diving into your numbers and really understanding the financial fundamentals of your business?

Is it pitching? You  don't have to share this. We're not testing here, right? So get really honest with yourself. Spend a few minutes in the morning. Find a quiet time. Identify the zones because that is where you need to grow. That's the area I want you focusing on the areas that are uncomfortable. The areas that you are avoiding.

That's what I'm going to be doing, right? So let's do that together. Okay.  Number two, once we've identified these zones, right, of discomfort, the zones that we're avoiding, we are going to set small, scary goals, okay?  Our expectation is that we have to be at level 100  with everything we do,  the best, or else it's not worth doing.

And I really want to Change how we approach doing scary things, right? A part of what makes it scary, a part of what makes it uncomfortable, is that we don't know how to do it and we don't want to fail.  I want you to think about Not having to leap into the deep end. Don't think that you have to go all in or become a whole different person or create a whole complex, big sales funnel in order to get started.

Start with small steps that stretch you. Okay?  So think about how every time you do something, you're going to do a little more. You're going to do it a little bit better. So for example,  if networking. is terrifying for you. If you do not like to go out and meet new people, you can't stand chitchat. Um, that is something that for your business, you know, you need to be doing, but you can't stand doing it.

I want you to set a goal to attend one event a month this year.  Just because you don't like networking doesn't mean you have to do it every single day, every single week. Set a goal of doing it one time per month. And if you haven't listened to Steph's episode, go back and listen to it.

Because she has some great tips about how to think about networking, um, when you're uncomfortable doing it. And, and I'll actually link her episode in the show notes. Because she had some great tips on how to get comfortable in networking.  situations. so the first step is identify those areas that you're avoiding that make you uncomfortable.

The second step is to set small scary goals. The third step is to reframe your mindset. mindset is so important when you're doing things that are uncomfortable.  I am not one of these people that think you can manifest and, and mindset shift your way to success. That is a huge part of it, but you have to actually do the work, but you need to be comfortable.

doing the work. And so discomfort doesn't mean that you're failing at something. If, if you go out to a networking event and it's uncomfortable, that doesn't mean you're failing at that networking event. It means you're making progress, right? Getting uncomfortable, doing uncomfortable things means you're stretching.

It means you're growing. It means you're making progress doing something. So, when you get that feeling, when you hit that emotional resistance, remind yourself that really what you're doing is building resilience.  Right. You're preparing for bigger opportunities. also remember that it's okay to fail.

You aren't going to be perfect every time, all the time. It's about getting better. Each time you  do something, it's a chance to learn and get better at it.  So every step closer, every uncomfortable movement that you make gets you closer to the next breakthrough.  So how does all of this relate to sales and to sales training and to what we do here on Girls Make Bank? 

I want you to know that if you are feeling uncomfortable in sales,  If you find 1, 000 different things to do every day instead of selling, instead of doing sales activities, instead of booking calls, instead of sending those emails and reaching out to those prospects, I want you to know that I understand where you are. 

I understand how you're feeling and that I got you. Okay,  this year is going to be the year that we work through that together.  You are going to come here every week, and you are going to get the tools, the framework, the support  that you need To keep doing the things that you're now uncomfortable with, by there, what you need to do to get to where you want to go.

 And I am kicking this year off  by hosting a free 90 minute sales workshop, where we are going to debunk. The top five things that are holding you back from selling your business. Now I did this workshop last month and it booked out so fast. I was floored, that I've decided to do it again. And so visit honeybeesgroup. 

co slash mindset to sign up. It's totally free. When you come, , I'm going to share baby steps that you can take to get started selling every single day, some skills that you can start to build on. And I will share a little bit about a new program, a new community that I'm launching for women who are ready to level up their skills with other amazing entrepreneurs and founders.

So sign up. It's at  honeybeesgroup. co slash mindset. I'll put it in the show notes also.  And so I want to ask you, what is your next move? What is one thing that you can do this week to move your business forward?  I challenge you to think about What makes you uncomfortable?  What is a small, scary goal that you can set for yourself? 

And I want you to go and do it.  I want you to go and do it.  And don't forget, I am here sharing my journey of getting uncomfortable all year long.  If you're stepping out of your comfort zone, I want to know about it. tag me in your post, send me an email, find me on LinkedIn and shoot me a note.  I am so excited to be on this journey with you.

I am so excited to bring you more guests this year, to be creating more content, to be stepping out of my own comfort zone, and helping you step out of your comfort zone, and to get excited about selling in our businesses this year. Because girls, I talk about it all the time. We are in this together, okay?

I am on your team. We are the same team. Together, we are going to make bank.