Earning Your MASTER'S On IMPACT and INCOME with Jenn Kennedy [Bullpen Sessions Episode 33]

All right, Jen Kennedy, welcome to Bullpen Sessions. How the heck are you?

I am so good. I love being on podcasts where someone's energy can, like, match mine. I'm like, yes, Andy. Like, yeah, it's like, three in the afternoon. No, we did not drink coffee. We're just excited to be here.

Yes. And I have to admit, knowing you were coming on, I knew I was gonna have to ramp up my energy. So it's all about influence.

I noticed under pressure.

So, Jen, for the audience that's listening in that has no idea who you are.

Yeah.

Tell us a little bit about you. Where are you from? What are you up to? What are you doing? What makes Jen tick?

Yeah, I love it. All right, so, hi, guys. Jen Kennedy here. If you really knew me, you'd know my name's Jenna. And the reason why I went with Jen Kennedy with 2ns When I became an entrepreneur is because I actually was interviewing to become a principal. And the same time, I started my first business, which was a nutrition coaching business. And in the interviewing process, I was like, gosh, if they Google me, they're going to find me, like, on Instagram and posting testimonials. And so I decided to cut the A off and just go with Jen. And then I stuck with it because it kind of, you know, it kind of goes well. So if you knew me, you'd know that. But, no, I'm a. An entrepreneur. I always say, no matter where my business is at, I'm an entrepreneur first. I strongly believe that entrepreneurs see a problem and they try to solve it no matter what. And so I'm an entrepreneur first. Right now. I'm a business mentor. Previously, I was a nutrition coach. I am, let's say I live in Michigan, live in the Midwest, and we, my husband and I, secrets out, once I say this, we're looking to leave the Midwest. We are both born and raised here in Michigan. But, you know, I'm going to be honest, I'm getting a little sick of the winters, and I'm just. I just need a little bit more sunshine in my life. We have a dog child named Roxy, and if I could, what makes me tick would probably be rescuing hundreds of more dogs. But I know that that's not possible in my life right now. And, yeah, I just. I strongly believe that when we like what really makes me tick, I love that you asked that question. I don't know if I've ever been asked that question as an adult. But what really makes me tick, I think, is just helping people in Any way that I can. I mean, every business that I've done, every. Actually everything that I've done in my life to make income, to make money, has been always driven by impact. And I just strongly believe that we're all put on this planet for a specific reason. And I really think that's mine. And I love every second of it.

Well, and we're gonna get into early part of your career where you were absolutely teaching people. You and I know each other. Cause we were in the same mastermind. We've met and talked. I consider you a friend, but we don't know each other that well. What you just said now makes us that much closer. Why? Because Amy and I, from Wisconsin, we spent the first 37, 38 years of our lives there, got absolutely sick of the winters there, and so we moved to Colorado six years ago. And people are like, but you moved to Colorado. I'm like, you don't get it. Like, you don't know what it's like to have two straight weeks of gray weather. Gray skies, Seriously.

And like, maybe, maybe snowy one day and then like, maybe like 75 degrees the next. And yeah, the Midwest is weird.

Yes. So any. Any insight as to where you guys might go?

We're. I mean, okay. My husband keeps saying, jen, you're all over the map. And it's so true. Like, I'll just pull up the map. And I'm like, oh, my God. Austin, Texas. And he's like, we've never been. I'm like, but I've heard great things. Or I'll be like, seriously? Colorado Springs. He's like, you still never been? I'm like, no, you're right. And then recently I've been looking at North Carolina. I mean, California is always on the list. I'm literally all over the map. So if anyone has suggestions, sleep, slide into my DMs and give them to me.

My quick suggestion, since you're going to want to leave the Midwest sun. Absolutely. Number one, you can avoid the humidity as well.

I know, the humidity. Yeah.

One thing we don't miss ourselves so well. Awesome. Let's go to your early part of your career, Jen.

Yeah.

Today you're an entrepreneur, very successful business owner. But that wasn't always the case. You started your career, your adult business career, going down a different path. Tell us a little bit about that.

Yeah, completely. So from the time that I was a child, I always knew I was gonna be a teacher. It was just I loved helping people. So what was the really the two options growing up? Was a nurse or a teacher was kind of just the two options that people presented to me. And I don't like blood or taking care of people in the hospital. So I was like, oh, a teacher would be great. So went to school, became a teacher, got hired an amazing district. It's like one of those districts that everybody wants to be in, and started my career there. I was a kindergarten teacher. I was special ed research from teacher, an interventionist, a first grade teacher. But really my. The second that I got hired as a teacher, I was like, oh, nope, this isn't it. This is not it. I know it's not it. Because I wanted to help more people. And I looked at the little kiddos in my classroom and I was like, these kids, there's 21, there's 21 of them, right? There's 21. I want to be able to help more. And so in my mind, the only way to help more people was to go back and get two degrees that I'll chat about in a second and to become a principal. And so I went back to school. I got a master's and an ed specialist degree, which is a doctoral level degree in leadership and administration. And I was learning organizational leadership, you know, admin, how to run a school. And I was actually running the school. My principal was gone. I was running every professional development that we had in our school for about six years. And that was just my path. I was like, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to climb up the ladder, I'm going to make more impact and I'm going to make more money because, well, you're a principal, you're running a school, you're making six figures. And that was my path. And so for eight years, that was it. I was grinding, I was teaching, I was tutoring, and I was working my tail off in grad school becoming, you know, trying to climb up the ladder and become a principal. And I was listening to Bedros Kulian, and this was years ago, probably two, three years ago. I was listening to Bedroom and I stopped dead in my tracks. My husband and I were at the gym and I listened to podcasts at the gym, and I stopped and I, like, put the weights down and my jaw just dropped. And he's like, what is it? And I'm like, he just said, stop wasting your life trying to climb up someone else's ladder and build your own. And I was like, oh. And it was in that moment that I realized I was just trying to climb up someone else's Ladder. Like, that's all I was doing. And I was like, this is not okay for me. And around the same time, I stumbled into entrepreneurship. And it was in that moment that I was like, I actually realized what's actually possible as an entrepreneur. And I realized I can still help people and I can have the income and live the life of freedom and all of the things really, when I started to pivot into entrepreneurship. But every single second of every. Everyone always asks Andy, they're like, you know, how. How happy were you to leave teaching and, like, not do it anymore? I'm like, I loved every second of it. Like, I was a really good teacher. I loved being a part of the community. Every day, kids were running up like, Mrs. Kennedy. Like, I miss the hugs of it. Like little kids giving you hugs. But I just found this path that I was. I was meant to be on, and that's way more fulfilling, way more fun. And I mean, honestly, let's. Let's be honest here. We're entrepreneurs. We want to make more money, and so it's. It's a lot better for that as well.

Well, and it's interesting because there's so much to unpack in that statement or those comments you made about teaching. Right. Because on one hand, we talk about freedom. That's one reason people become entrepreneurs. Right. Is they want a little freedom. But then you could argue, well, as a teacher, you get summers off, right? It's. You get. Not. You work nine months out of the year. And what you just said, though, was so it can't be missed because the same applies to the business world. Why did you go back to school to get your master's degree, your additional ed degree to become a principal? Could. Could we not say that's the same thing as kind. Climbing the corporate ladder in a way?

Oh, same exact thing.

Oh, yeah. Yep. Where somebody in the business world, in the corporate world is trying to climb up the ladder. So they spend so much time and so much effort getting the letters behind their name, getting the additional educational credits to make that happen. But in the end, you still found out. This isn't what I wanted to do. At the end of the day.

Yeah.

So many people, Jen, are stuck going, but I spent all that time on education.

I was just gonna say that. I was just going there. And you took it. Yeah.

What's your advice? What's your advice to that person sitting here right now, whether they're a teacher, principal, or in the business world? And they're going, man, I know there's something else out there for me, but I spent all this time on educating myself to become better at what I do today. What's your advice?

So funny that you say that. My husband. I were just having this conversation. So honestly. Okay, so the four and a half year degree of like under my undergrad degree, I was finally. I mean, let's be honest, none of us use that degree anyway, right? Like, I was fine leaving that, but the thing that I actually had a hard time with was that right there. So I put myself through grad school. I grew up. We did not have money growing up. My parents could not send me to college. I was undergrad loans, and I worked really hard to pay those off. And so the concept of getting into more loans in grad school, I could, I couldn't do it. I was like, no, I'm not doing that. So not only did I get those two postgraduate degrees, which were masters in a doctoral level degree, but I paid for them out of my pocket. I tutored 15 to 20 hours a week in a addition to teaching so that I could pay for those. So I even had like an additional layer of like, my, my job didn't pay for those degrees. Like, I had like my, my, my money tied to those degrees. So I had a hard time at first, and then I stopped and I was like, wait a second. Those two degrees, the leader, they were leadership, Leadership and administration, organizational leadership and administration. The first degree, the master's, it opened my eyes up to professional development or into personal development. Because what it did was it primed me as who am I? As a leader and as an entrepreneur. What are you? You're a leader. Whether you choose to lead men, women, in business and like in nutrition, whatever it is, you are a leader. And a leader's job is to unlock the greatness in the people that follow them or that buy their services. And I was like, whoa, wait a second. That's exactly what I'm doing as an entrepreneur. But then the other side of things is I looked at it in my. I said, what are my goals for my business like? My goals for my business are to scale it, to grow it, to add in multiple things. All of that is leadership. And when I realized that my degrees weren't, this is a hard one, because this is what we do as humans. My degrees weren't these things that I collected. Those degrees made me the woman that I am today. When I realized that I was. I was like, oh, I'm so glad to leave that job. Then, like, I'm okay leaving that job. Because those degrees made me who I am. And guess what? I use them every single day. And I actually use them in my business daily. And I teach the entrepreneurs that I work with all about it as well. So when I realized that they were just. They just became a part of who I was, and I was like, oh, this is great. This is. This is perfect. But the other side of that is that you can't. You have to be so unapologetic about your journey and the path that you take. I had people every day. I had teachers every day asking the same thing. You're really going to give up your summers off? Like, seriously, do you know how hard you've worked? Like, I can't believe you're actually doing this. I had friends, I had family. Family. People the closest to me say, you're making the biggest mistake of your life, Jen. And I had to be so unapologetic with, thanks, but no thanks, because this is the path that I'm going to take. So it's really twofold. Realizing that your degrees are a part of who you are, and they've taught you something, and they will serve you if you don't know how it will serve you. But then also being so unapologetic about your path because you. It's your path. It's no one else's.

Well, and there's two routes. Somebody can go there. The one side is you spent all that money on a master's degree and you're not using it now, so you wasted money. The other side, what I would call the abundant side.

Yeah.

Says, you know what? But it was within getting your master's degree, you learned what personal development was.

Oh, yeah.

Which is now what you use and you teach constantly. So that investment in that master's degree, no matter how much it was, the fact you don't use it anymore, you. It was worth it because it was a building block to where you are right now. Now, I want to ask you a question, because again, another tie between us, I think.

Could you say going back five, 10 years ago, that Jen we knew back then feared money more than she does now?

Oh, God. Yeah. It ran my life.

Same here. Okay.

When you made that decision in the gym, honey, like, I know what I want to do.

Yeah.

Was there a little when you realized that when you start your own business, become the entrepreneur.

It'S all on you now. No one's cutting you a paycheck? How did that feel?

Well, I had to do a lot of money mindset work and a lot of. I Don't think a lot of people are talking about there's money mindset, which is like all the rage right now. But really what we're not talking about is our relationship with money, because it's not necessary. It's a mindset, and it's a relationship just like with a spouse. And so I had to do work on both before I could even consider leaving my job. Like, before I even could consider it. Like, it was money mindset. And this is thanks to the masters. Money mindset, self development. If you're an entrepreneur and you're not doing those things, then you're not going to make it as an entrepreneur. Like, I'm going to call a spade a spade. I just, I have to. People think, oh, I'm going to get into business, I'm going to do all this stuff. And it's like, you know that the foundation, the root of that is you. And if you're not growing your money mindset and your relationship with money and you are not completely working on developing yourself and growing with your business, you're only going to have temporary success. And so I realized that very early on, because what I did is I found myself terrified to charge a certain amount of money. Terrified that a client was gonna leave or I would still, you know. You know what, Andy? This is my favorite story ever to share, is that when I had my first five figure month, I was like, I was elate. I was so happy. So I did a lot of work. And then I was like, oh, I'm good. Ready. Like, I checked the box. I'm fine. I'm good. I had my first five figure month over a year ago, and I called my husband up to the office and I was like, Pat. I had my like, look it, it says $10,000 this month. It was in my stripe account. You know, he's like, jen, that's amazing. Where's the money? And I looked at him and I was like.

Savings, Andy. I had no idea where the money was. I had no idea. So many people think when I make more money, all my financial problems are solved. And the reality is, is, trust me, don't do it yourself. Please don't do it yourself. You guys, don't take it from me. Trust me, it's not the case. We have to do that money mindset work and that money relationship work first and during our journey in order to really be successful. Successful.

Are you sure we're not related?

I mean, listening to you right now, I'm going, yep, that's me. Yep, that's me because I started my coaching business about a year ago, almost a year ago, June 1st and two years ago. I would never have been able to start that business because if you ask me why did you do it or what allowed you to start the business? It was 100% based on money, mindset, improving that, going to work on myself. Had I not put literally in my four or five years into self development, there's no way I would have been able to start the business. Absolutely not.

No. And I think a lot of people that. I think it's very obvious that, Andy, you work with a ton of entrepreneurs and you're involved in a lot of masterminds. I would be willing to bet you guys I'm making this statistic up, so do not quote me on this one, but I would be willing to bet that 98% of entrepreneurs go into entrepreneurship actually coming from a place of scarcity and fear of I have to do it. I'm going to prove myself like, you know, and it actually that the reason why is rooted in fear and scarcity. And when it is, we're like, it's going to. Whatever your definition of failure is going to be, it's going to happen. We have to shift that relationship to one of abundance so that you can live out your purpose and have the money in which you want to have, in which honestly you deserve to have.

Well, and that's just it. I would again call a spade a spade. I'm going to be direct. If you are building a business out of fear and that lack of loss, you're done. Like you, you're not going to really make much of it and you're going to give up well before you should. And honestly, a rule to be on this podcast, you got to have an abundant mindset. So, Jen, that's why you're here.

Okay. So the other thing too, that's so interesting with entrepreneurship and it is a cliche word today, let's be honest. Yeah, it's cool now, right?

Oh, it's so cool.

But people hear you at a five, five figure month, six figure months with which we're about to talk about.

Yeah.

They think that all of a sudden you have $50,000 going in your savings account.

Yeah.

It's called top line revenue. You still have a business to run.

Yeah.

There's still expenses. So it's not all the glory that some people I think make it out to be. But at the end of the day, a five figure, six figure a month is absolutely huge. So you go into the entrepreneurial world. You start your business and you start as a nutritionist, Right?

Yeah.

Which has morphed now over what, three, four years?

No, a year and a half.

Year and a half. Wow.

Yeah.

Into what we see today. So let's talk about your business today, Jen. Who do you serve? What are you doing?

Yeah, so, Yep. So I was a nutrition coach for about a year and a half and then I just recently completely pivoted. So I saw truly, it was when COVID 19 hit and when the economy, you know, the recession, whatever you want to call it, started to really begin. And I realized that there was a huge need, there was a huge problem. The problem was that there were all these entrepreneurs who were coaches or mentors, people who wanted to help people and they wanted to grow their impact, but they, they didn't quite know how they wanted to scale. They're like, I want to grow my impact. I want to scale my income six figures beyond. But they were stuck. They were like, I'm doing all the things but it's not working. And I was, I realized how many entrepreneurs were struggling, especially during this time. And so I made a hard, a hard right hand turn, as I call it in my business. And I saw the need, saw the problem, and I was, and I truly wrote it all down. I was like, all right, how can I solve these problems for these people? Like, how can I really help them and solve these problems, recession proof their business, grow their impact and scale their income? So I can't. I came to the Impact to Income Academy, which is where I teach entrepreneurs and coaches, mentors, people who are really driven by impact and service. I teach them how to do just that, how to grow their impact, scale their income, live the life that they want, build their business to six figures and beyond. So my academy, it's a 12 week academy. And what it is is there's three pillars, I believe, of a successful online business. The first pillar is leadership. Yep. Did you guys hear that? Leadership. Thank you for those degrees. I realized how much leadership is missing in entrepreneurship. That's really what we're all doing, is being leaders. We have build that leadership first, monetize our strengths, work in our zone of genius. The second pillar is money, like all things money and finances. And the third pillar is all things strategy, but not strategy in a way of just do these things and it'll work. It's doing strategy in a way of what works best for you and for your business and for your ideal clients. And so that's what I'm currently doing business Mentoring and helping people really grow their impact. Because I strongly believe I coined the. Again, guys, I make up a lot of things, but it fits. Okay, I made this up. The universal law of entrepreneurship is the more people that you impact, the more money that you make. That's it. If you impact a small amount of people, you're going to make a small amount of money. If you impact a large amount of people, you're going to make a large amount of money. And so I saw that correlation and I realized that that's what people really want. And now I get to help people do just that.

So important to understand that. One of my favorite mentors I've never met, Jim Rohn, said that famously, you want to get paid more, bring more value, which means you have to impact more people.

Yep.

And so what's exciting, Jen, about your story is here you are, you've got impact income. University, academy, but same thing. What did you say?

I said it's an academy, but same thing.

Oh, academy, university. I apologize. But you, you adapted to the situation. You created the program and just last month you had a six figure month. Yeah.

Anybody can do anything right now. And I don't say that as a cut on you, Jen. I say that we don't have excuses anymore. You literally pivoted, adapted to the moment, created a program that helps people right now, and you had a six figure month. How does that feel?

Yeah, unreal. It still feels amazing. I'm sitting. I truly, it's, it's, it's funny. Chris Harder asked me that, we were talking. How does that feel? I go, I don't know how this feels. Like so, so many emotions. It feels amazing, honestly. It just, it really solidifies the belief that I have as an entrepreneur, which is just that, that if you, if you can solve people's problems, like they're real problems, not they're like, I just want to lose 5 pounds or make more money. No, no, no. If you can solve their real problems, if you can guide them, if you can truly impact them, people, you can make any amount of money that you want to make. Like, that's just the reality of it. And so it makes me happy to be able to live out that message because it's such a strong belief in me. And it makes me so incredibly happy and excited to just continue to show people that moving forward. Right. Like, I am all about full transparency. That's why I'm like, yeah, share, share anything. Tell them about the six figure month. Hell yeah. Because I want people to see like, whoa, she's not that much different than me or he's not that much different than me. If she can do it, I can do it. And Andy, that was the first realization, I think, as an entrepreneur, when I realized I was going to be massively successful. I was sitting next to Kat golden, who, you know, and we are at our first ever profession or personal development. It was Angie Lee's PSV Brave event. And I'm sitting next to her. It's our first time I've ever been to an event like that. And I looked at her and I just kind of had this look on my face like, what? What's the deal here? And she's like, what? What's wrong? I'm like, I'm not impressed. She's like, what? And not that Angie Lee's a very impressive human. I adore her. But I looked at her, I'm like, they're just like us. But they've been doing it longer and they've never given up, despite the fear.

You can do it.

I can do it too. Yeah. It's like that's. That's like what I really love to bring is like, last year at this time one year ago, I was wrapping up a classroom. That's it. One year ago. You can do anything if you do it for the right reason. If you grow and develop yourself and if you crush that money mindset, like, you can do anything.

Yep. And if you want to make more money, solve bigger problems.

God, yes.

And so who's your. Who would be an ideal candidate for the Academy?

Yeah, any entrepreneur who. They've been. They've been in entrepreneurship for a little bit. Like, you know, they've got some clients, they've got some stuff under their belt. They're like, yeah, yeah, I got this. But they're like, but how do I scale? How do I grow? How do I scale? How do I impact more people? Also, the ideal client is somebody who. A major block that I hit in my life, not like about nine, 10 months ago, was, wait a second, Am I. Am I building my life around my business, or am I building my business around my life? We do as entrepreneurs is we get addicted to the fact that we can just work more and make more money. It's really wild. But are you living the life in which you want to live? Because if not, then just go back to climbing up someone's ladder.

Yeah, it's always. I always find it funny. Entrepreneurs who talk about being addicted to the grind, it's like, what did you trade off? You left the corporate World where you complained about the grind, to have the grind in the entrepreneurial world, was that worth it? Right?

And you, like, you don't. You're not connected with your family, you haven't seen your friends so long. Like, like, why do we do what we do? I think our why has to be. So what I do in the academy is I have them set their goals, like, for their business of. Number one, first things first is your lifestyle goal. What do you want your life to look like? And then number two is your impact goal. Who do you want to impact and how? And then number three is your revenue goal. We all start with, I want to make $100,000 this year. No, no, no, no, no. You're doing it backwards. Like, you're doing it way backwards. Always start with your lifestyle goal and then go to your impact goal and then your revenue goal.

Awesome. A couple of questions to wrap up right now. I got a lot of readers who listen in. What's your favorite book? What's the number one book you recommend right now?

Ooh, Ooh. Top book that changed my entire life in the beginning of my business and throughout my business was the Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker.

It's done it for a lot of us, especially if you've got a money mindset issue, you know, you need to improve your relationship with money. Please do yourself a favor and read that book. You will not be disappointed, which we.

All need it because it's a new level, new devil too. Right? Like, you hit your first four figure months. New level, new level, new, new level, new devil. You hit your first four figure month like, oh, no, no, I got it. No, you don't, because you're going to hit your next. You're going to hit the five figure month, and you better have the tools and the strategy and the mindset to take that on. So that book is incredible. I read it. I read it all the time. I read it. I think I've read it like five times.

I was just going to say it's one I try to read once a year.

Yep.

If not, maybe twice. Yeah. All right, Jen. So how can. If somebody wanted to reach out, they're going, yep, you just described me. I think I need, you know, the impact to Income Academy. How can they reach out to you?

Yeah, Instagram. I'm always there. The Jen Kennedy on Instagram is where I'm always at. You could email me, but I'm not even gonna give it to you because I check my Instagram. My email I love Instagram, you guys. I'm a human. You too, Andy. I'm a human. Connection, human. I love connecting with people and Instagram is the best because it's the way in which we are able to connect with more people. So always.

And it just. So everybody listening in. Instagram doesn't have to be your platform.

No.

But at the end of the day, whatever it is your platform, whether it is Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, use it.

Yeah.

It's the way humans are connecting with humans. And oh, by the way, it's free.

Yeah, it's free.

Alright, last piece of advice. Someone's sitting out there and they're in that job right now. They might like it, they may not. They know there's something bigger out there for them. What is your last piece of advice for them?

Mm. Mm. Listen to your gut. Your gut always knows. If your gut is telling you there's something else, don't be afraid of it and take the leap. Like, that's it. Like, don't be afraid. Listen to your gut. Don't be afraid of it and take the leap. You will never, ever, ever regret it.

So, Jen, there's a reason I wanted to have you on. One, because you're cool as hell. Number two, I want. I hope the audience soaked in what you said a freaking year ago. You were a teacher and you had been a teacher for eight years. Eight years trying to aspire to be a principal because you wanted to make more impact. You just realized, you know, education, I love education. I just don't love it in this setting.

Yep.

But now I've got this thing out there called entrepreneurship. And the thing I want to stress is entrepreneurship is not the destination. It is the journey, the vehicle that gets you to whatever your destination is.

Yeah.

And because you found a way to impact more lives via entrepreneurship.

Yeah.

You are crushing a business a year, year and a half later. Just had a six figure month. My point is this. You don't have any excuses. No one has excuses right now. Even if you're a teacher and you want to stay teaching, guess what Covid just taught us. Holy crap. I can educate more people online at one time.

Yeah. 100%.

Have more impact, bring more value. You will make more money. I can't make it that easier. So, Jen, one last time, I just want to say thank you. This was awesome.

Thank you. I loved it. It's been amazing. I could talk to you all day.

Likewise. Likewise. And if you're out there listening in, I hope you took a bunch of notes, please. If you enjoy this podcast, go subscribe, give it a five star rating. And if you know anybody who could use this type of information, this type of content, I hope you share with them. And last but certainly not least, you know what happens when clarity and confidence collide. Action happens. Go make it happen today.