15 minutes with member Jayne Tancred

Describe your “aha” moment; when did your business idea first come to you?

My business started of its own volition, driven by customer demand. I’d been working in my industry for a long time when I was made redundant. Within a week of the news that I would be moving on starting to make its way out into the industry, competitors of my employer were phoning me to ask if they could hire me to do project work for them.

Initially, I planned to just do those projects for a few week but as the weeks turned into months, two things became undeniably obvious: firstly, there was demand for my skills, and secondly, I had an enormous amount of mental clarity and creativity that I’d never realised I’d been missing in the corporate world. I’ve never looked back.

Describe for me the “why” of your business

I’m deeply passionate about all aspects of health – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, and I know that empowering people to make the decisions and take the actions that empower them to live their best lives is good for them individually, and good for the universe as a whole.

In my marketing consultancy I help businesses large and small in the same sphere to communicate what they have to offer in ways that make it easy for people to find the information, products or services they need to help them reach their own individual version of optimal health and wellbeing.

And in my other business, Tribe of the Tree, we make flower essences, which are energetic or vibrational herbal remedies that help people bring the mental, emotional and energetic aspects of themselves into alignment.

List your biggest business goals; which of them scare you the most and why.

At Tribe of the Tree we’re on a mission to help spread a wave of happiness around the world by making our wonderful flower essences available far and wide. That’s going to require a lot of bottles, focus and guts – including me being prepared to put myself in the spotlight more and more. Thankfully I’ve been able to use some of our very own products to help me step up regardless of my personal trepidation, blockages and limiting beliefs.

I’m in my 10^th year of running my marketing consultancy now and have been in my industry for more than 20 years. I’ve recently started the process of synthesising all my experience, insights and IP into products and services that scale more readily than consulting does.  It’s a time-consuming and sometimes nerve-wracking goal. I would hate to put all this energy in and not reap the rewards at the end of it, so there’s that! Part of my trepidation is standing under a bigger spotlight. I think I see a theme emerging!

Has anything surprised you about working for yourself?

Since I never planned to start a full-time business, the business itself has been a surprise. But until experiencing it for myself, I would never have guessed what a journey in personal development and discovery it would be – I know myself better than I ever did before, and I am proud of both who I am and what I’m achieving.

Once you became a soloist, what about your life changed  immediately; and what changes have been slower to come?

The shift from a steady salary to an uncertain cash flow was the biggest change for me. I should have had a handle on how to manage that earlier and  actually planned my business and structure from the outset, rather than just letting it kind of happen.

The unstructured work hours and reduced social contact also made things interesting at the start – I had so much freedom that I didn’t always use my time wisely.

The change I’m most excited about is implementing structures and processes that will enable me to be as focused and productive as possible. If you’d told me at the start of my business that I needed structure, or would someday get dance-around-the-room excited about implementing better structure, I’d have thought you were stark raving mad. But these are some of the most important changes I ever make for both my businesses and my personal life.

I don’t think I could have made these changes at the start – I simply didn’t know then what I know now. It’s all unfolding at the perfect time.

What’s the best part of the life you’re living now you’re a soloist?

I love being able to balance time at my desk, time with my clients, and time elsewhere. I’m lucky enough to live near a national park, and every time I head there for a walk in the middle of a week day, I give thanks that my life has turned out this way. All those years spent in a cubicle in a corporate office, and I could have been outdoors talking to the trees and finding inspiration for my work in nature!

Got a tip you’d like to share with our community about soloism?

Being your own boss means being in charge of your business. If something’s not working for you on any level, it’s up to you to change it, and the sooner you do the sooner you can move onwards upwards.