Ep. 42: Human Design for Female Entrepreneurs with Jacques Anderson

The good analogy to think about it is, are you upstream swimming where you're like fighting with the current, or are you downstream swimming, which is, I know what I'm good at, I know my lane, let me catch the wave to just make this much more easeful.

Welcome to the Prosperous Woman Podcast. I'm Claire Sellers, a business mentor and coach who is absolutely obsessed with helping you create the business of your dreams and your most prosperous life. Tune in for inspiring inspiring conversations with extraordinary women that will propel you towards becoming the Prosperous Woman. Welcome to the Prosperous Woman Show. I am so beyond thrilled to have my amazing friend and the human design expert for female entrepreneurs, Jacquees Anderson. Welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Yay!

Hi.

So Jacquees and I met in Mexico City. We were like instant connection, instant friends. Her energy is just like amazing. And she also is, I think, the leading expert in Human Design. She is a Harvard graduate, Harvard Law School graduate, a former M&A attorney, and she is now a full-time Human Design pro. She's speaking at Netflix, at all types of companies, which I don't even know if I'm supposed to be naming.

It's fine.

And she's also been on the founding team of several startups. So she has really bridged the gap from the corporate world into the entrepreneurial world and continues to straddle both, supporting people in corporate environments and individuals to step into their human design and step into their highest level of leadership. So Jacquees, I'm so excited that you are here. Human Design is very interesting for people listening. Most of the people in my world know what Human Design is, but they might not really know what it is. So just kind of give us like the high level because you're going to be coming to the Simple AF Biz Summit where you're going to be speaking about all of this and taking everyone through a deep dive into their unique design. Today we're just going to kind of give the overview because we want you guys to come to the summit and like experience the full thing. But this is just the overview. So for people listening that are curious about Human Design or don't totally get what it is, what is it?

So Human Design, the best way to think about it is that it's a tool very much like meditation or astrology or something else that helps you just better understand yourself and how you show up in the world as well as others. At its core, Human Design is an amalgamation or a combination of ancient sciences, specifically Western astrology, the traditional chakra system, the I Ching, which is an ancient Chinese practice, and the Kabbalah, which is an ancient Judaism practice. And what it does, it takes a lot of the best components of each of these ancient sciences, kind of merges that with quantum physics, and essentially is based on your birthday, birth time, and location. So if you are working with a Human Design guy, or if you simply just kind of Google like Human Design body graph or results. I know you're also going to link it in the show notes.

Yes.

You will put into some sort of website your birthday, time, and location. Human Design then plots two points, your actual birthday time and location, and then 3 months before, to come up with this very sometimes confusing chart the first time you see it. But that chart just throws off a wealth of information around how you were specifically designed. You can think of it as like your personal iOS system to show how is Claire, how is Jacquees like naturally designed. And it's a great starting point for any entrepreneur, any business person to get clear on like how do they show up, what are their natural gifts, but also what are some possible points of conditioning, because we all kind of have the propensity to be conditioned in certain ways.

So it's just so interesting to me. And I actually realized, can you tell us, it's very interesting that you went from Harvard Law to now, you know, speaking all over the world about human design. How did your human design impact your career journey? That's an excellent question.

So I actually found Human Design or the first idea of Human Design on a podcast. So that's like a great tidbit. And like many people who might be listening to this, I heard it on the podcast. I had never heard about it. And the two people speaking, I could tell, knew a ton about it. And I was super curious. I look up my chart and I am floored because it's so accurate. It kind of reads you to filth, like to just use like the common term.

It's so true.

It reads you to filth. And then I was— I'm always someone who's been like very curious about how people show up, about the the way the world works. And I had never seen or read anything that kind of described how my energy works and some of my natural gifts in such a clear and concise way, but also in a way that deeply resonated.

Mm.

And so I started getting readings from people, which is how people often start. And something about it, it was like a little nudge, which I realize in hindsight, I have splenic authority, which is I receive like intuitive pings, and that's how I know what is right for me. I start getting these intuitive nudges to just learn more. First, it was to just read more about it. Then it was to get readings so I can, like, understand from experts. Then it was to just take, you know, classes and courses to get certified to do Human Design readings. And once I did that and I started, like, working with people and sharing this with my friends and my community, I realized there was a there there. And honestly, up until Human Design and coaching, I was just good at making money. I was a good employee. I'm like, you want me to do X, Y, and Z to get paid? I can do that. But it wasn't until I learned about my human design. And as a projector, I am a guide, that this is my highest and best use, guiding people, showing them this information. This was my thing. This was my dharma. And so it didn't— it wasn't immediately. But as you learn about your human design, you start experimenting with your human design. It will start showing you where are you in alignment and where is there misalignment. Yeah. The more I learned, the more I experimented, it became clear that even with these corporate spaces, I love them. I love the company I'd started. It had become a little bit misaligned. And what I was really called to do was to sit 100% in the seat of the guy and the advisor and to pursue coaching full time. And so that's how I started listening to my human design of how can I be a guy? How can I be an advisor? Something core to a projector is waiting for the invitation. And I realized as soon as I started talking about it, people like yourself and others just started inviting me to share, inviting me to do to do stuff. And it was the first time where business and just, you know, entrepreneurship felt easy. And I just follow the breadcrumbs. I think Human Design is great for just like these little breadcrumbs that show you this is a possible destination. It's not predictive, but it is informative. And it comes with these actionable strategies that you can take. And I started off really small, like, you know, trying to get where it felt easy and then escalating more and more to just like live my Human Design, experiment with my Human Design. And as I did that, my, call it, job entrepreneurship journey just became illuminated.

It's so interesting, like, what you're saying about following the breadcrumbs, because I think that's one of the things that Human Design unlocks for people, is it gives you that permission to follow the breadcrumbs, because it won't make sense, you know, like, I mean, and your case is far more extreme than mine, like, you went to Harvard Law and now, like, you've uncovered this spiritual technology and you're supposed to go do that. Like, it just doesn't make sense, you know? Like, you're in, you're in billion-dollar companies and you're telling me I'm supposed to go do this. But when you understand your design, it gives you that permission. And like, I get chills when I talk about it because I think it honestly can be life-changing.

1 million percent. And to your point about the breadcrumbs, so many people, especially women, especially high-functioning women, We don't need a map, but we just need a breadcrumb to just point us in a direction and we're off to the races. And so that's why I love combining human design with coaching is because often people may have a sense of where they want to go or what they want to do. They just need like a little breadcrumb to point them in the right direction or to at least create a mirror so they can have a discourse, discourse with themselves or others on what feels right. Like, what does alignment feel like? Like, what does it even look like for me to move and flow?

Totally. And I think that that's one of the things that we're really hoping to help women unlock in this summit, because so many women, they're banging their heads against the wall in various aspects of business, whether it's sales, you know, like they hate doing sales calls and they don't know why, but they just hate doing sales calls, or they avoid their DMs. They ghost people in the DMs. They lead people on red in the DMs, or Maybe it's you love creating like beautiful carousels, but you hate writing content. You just hate it. Or I don't know, what are the other ways that you see kind of people going against their design show up in business?

Everywhere. I think business or just like working as an employee. Yeah. Because we are all like being collectively conditioned in one way or another. And so often, like we talk about the energy types. A lot of the different types are trying to be the other type. So I'll give you an example. You are a generator who's someone who's like here to create and build and you have like sustainable energy. If you're doing what you love, you wake up every day with a full tank of gas. 37% of the population. So the majority in terms of the types of the people on this planet are generators. I am not a generator. I'm a projector. I'm more to be like the guy and like the advisor. But because a majority of the people are generators who are here to create and build and do and do like have this sustainable energy, someone who does not have that, we see that majority of people around us are behaving a certain way. So then what often happens, and to your point about, I call it upstream swimming, as a projector, rather than thinking about like, where can I share insights? Because that's my highest and best use. Where can I be a guide? I'm now looking at everybody else being like, okay, how can I go and create, create, create? How can I build, build, build? Or how can I like initiate and force things?

Mm-hmm.

And not to say that's not part of business, because it is, but it's an understanding where is my highest and best use and how can I lean into that and then figure out ways, whether it's hiring or— I always say either delegate, minimize, or eliminate these other tasks. To your point, that cause you to like run your head into a wall. The good analogy to think about it is, are you upstream swimming where you're like fighting with the current, or are you downstream swimming, which is, I know what I'm good at, I know my lane, let me catch the wave to just make the is much more easeful.

I'm so glad you said that because that's, I feel like one of my missions in life is to show people how easy business can be when you're in the stream. Like when you're in that downstream, it's like the clients come, the content come, the people say, yes, I wanna work with you. Like business truly is so easy and simple, but I, I honestly think one of the reasons that so many women struggle is because they're going upstream.

Always, always. People of all types, honestly, I see it in corporate settings, I see it in entrepreneurship. And a lot of what we're doing is based on what other people are doing, what works for them.

Yeah.

It's getting super clear on what works for you and like leaning really heavily into that. Like I share your mission of to minimize the upstream swimming and like figure out ways to really lean into the downstream swimming.

We could literally do like a 5-hour thing here, but what are the 5 design types? And everyone's going to download their chart before the session. And if you're— I don't know why you wouldn't be coming to the summit, but if you're not, it's linked in the show notes so you can push pause, go download, and then come back. But will you just kind of give us a super high level of the different design types? Yeah. And how those people within those design types tend to show up?

Yep, for sure. So 37% of the population, so most of the population are generators. Generators are your creators and your builders and your doers. Their energy, if they're doing what they love, they start off, if like, if you think about a battery pack, like 80% capacity.

Yeah.

The more you do things you love, the more energy you get versus the more you do things you don't love or honestly, the things are just okay, your energy kind of declines. Yeah. And so in business, what this looks like is that these are the people who are like doing the content, doing the creation, building the teams, like building the brand, the doing of it all. They're in flow. They can do this all day.

Yeah.

Assuming they're working on stuff that deeply resonates. So that's how they show up in business. And their kind of thing to keep in mind is that because they can do so many things, it's focusing on doing the right things Mm-hmm. Versus trying to do all of the things, which I think all the types can kind of probably, uh, resonate with. The second, and this is in no particular—

Oh wait, hold on. I just wanna interject that I'm like a textbook generator. Hey gorgeous. I hit a point last year where I just couldn't do it anymore. The endless funnels, the fancy branding, the overcomplicated strategies, it all started to feel like a performance that I did not want to be in. And I knew that I wasn't the only one. That's why I created the Simple AF Biz Summit, a 2-day virtual experience for badass women where we strip back all the noise and bring business back to what actually works. Because real business, the kind that feels good and makes a lot of money, is simple and it's purposeful. Mm-hmm. And it's wildly prosperous when you stop trying to do it like everyone else. If you're ready to do less but make more and help more people and rise into 2026 with clarity and confidence about where you are headed with your mission and your movement, this is your invitation. Join us inside the Simple AF Biz Summit. It's free, it's powerful, and it's going to change the way you do forever. When you meet me, it's like Leo generator.

Oh, for sure.

Like 3 Enneagram.

Well, how does it show up for you in your business? Like, do you feel driven to create and build and do these different things?

You know, it's so interesting cuz everyone has kind of a different way of defining generator, but what you just said resonates because I think the reason, or I know the reason that my business has been successful pretty much, I don't want to say like from day one, because I, I definitely had the 2 years of I was struggling a little bit. But the reason I was struggling in the beginning is because I was trying to do it everyone else's way.

Yep.

And I, you know, similar to you, like I was in New York City, I was running multimillion-dollar startups, I was running teams of 200 people. And I knew business, I knew what I was doing, but I was making it so complicated by trying to do what this coach was doing or trying to copy what that person was doing. And so business in the beginning felt way harder than it needed to. And I swear it was kind of like the seas parted when I just said to myself, wait a second, I'm the product. Mm-hmm. And all I need to do is be me, talk about things that people are resonating with, solve a specific problem that they're facing, and have a very specific product that solves that problem. And that's it. That's the business.

That's really it. You know, that's, that's the main thing for generators is you got clear on what's your sacred yes.

Yes.

And then the things that were no. And honestly, for generators, the more insidious problem is the things that are just okay. So I'm sure those first few years of business, there were things where you're like, I hate maybe taxes.

Yes.

You might have been spending 80% of your time doing things that were like fine, like because you said it or—

Because you can still do it. I can power through anything.

Because you have that sustainable energy.

Yeah.

And something like if it's a thing that needs to be executed, I'm your girl. Generators are like, get shit done. And like, we're rolling up our sleeves and we're doing the thing.

Yeah.

So yes, it's good that you got clear. And once you got clear, you were like, you probably have more energy.

Yeah.

And became much more easeful.

Yeah. And, and I think to that point, and hopefully this is helpful for everyone listening, there were things I was talking in my mastermind today. I used to do so many little things that I hated doing. I, for whatever reason, would download client sessions and then I would email them the sessions. But in the beginning of my business, you know, I would have 12, 15 one-on-one clients. That's a lot of calls to track and label and email and send. You know, it was just like, why was I doing that? And, and I remember when I just, again, it was like the seas parted. I made a list of all the things I was doing that I didn't like doing, and I was literally like, I'm just gonna stop doing that. They can record their own call.

Yes, correct.

I just cut things that were just not enjoyable.

Exactly. And for all generators, especially business owners, if they feel like they're upstream swimming, it's more important to get clear on what are you saying no to.

Yeah.

Tracee Ellis Ross was on a podcast recently and she was like, a small no is a big yes. That's the key thing for generators is identifying where are things where that's either a hard no or it's a soft no. It's like, I just don't love it because then it opens you up to all these other things that could be fantastic.

Yeah, it's so true. And, and, you know, fortunately, like my first ever business coach, she's also a generator, sacral authority. I got my numbers mixed up. I'm a 1/3, right?

1/3.

Okay, 1/3. And she introduced me to it and she was like, you got to read this. And it was such a game changer for me. So this was one of the many reasons I wanted to bring Human Design into the summit, because I just think it's such an unlock for people.

Yeah. And definitely, especially with like the different resources, the information is out there publicly. Yeah, you can get it. You can go as deep as you want to.

Yeah. Let's talk about your design type.

So I am a projector. Projectors are about 20% of the population. Projectors are the seers. They're the guides. They are the advisors. Projectors often can see into systems. So like, think businesses, processes, and make them more efficient. We're like the efficiency masters. We're also kind of like the CEO 2.0.

Mm-hmm.

Because if you think about where we are now as a society, projectors are trying to figure out how can we go from just surviving to thriving using the resources we already have. That means that projectors are naturally strategic. They can really see how to get from point A to point B very quickly. And the thing about projectors is that they hear this, but most projectors are very strong executors. So your point of earlier about showing up as someone else, many projectors are moonlighting as generators. So they're trying to—

Interesting.

Show up like a generator or a manifestor, who are people who are like their highest and best use is like ideas and initiation, innovation. So projectors kind of see what needs to be happening. So many of us are really out of our energy and in deep misalignment. As a business owner, especially as a, like a coach and like doing wellness stuff, how this shows up for me in business is I started my career as a lawyer, which is like the number one advisor we kind of think about since like, you know, centuries ago. And then I started doing like startups and doing like this chief of staff work, which is again, in a company, your best chief of staff is going to see like like, how do we go from A to B? Then I was in VP of Growth, and I'm like, you have to see what needs to happen to kind of like land the sale. And now I'm a coach. So I've been kind of like living my design. I just wasn't always conscious of it.

Aware of it.

Yeah.

And you said you were like, we're— most of us are living our design whether we're conscious of it or not. And it's so interesting, like, to think of the lawyer as kind of like the historical foundation of advisor Yep.

If you think about it, it's like the ultimate advisor. A lot of coaches, a lot of therapists, a lot of people in the wellness space in general are projectors. I mean, you don't have to be, but it's, it's a, it's a common occurrence, I should say.

And I think, you know, that's also interesting because I, when I look at myself as a coach, I think I attract a lot of some of my clients. I'd say like half of my clients are kind of generator vibe, like more Type A, maybe Type B. But I attract a lot of women who are probably more like reflector types who really need a masculine executor, doer to help them like get it together and stay on the rails. And those are some of my favorite clients to work with because it's like, they're so brilliant, but they need guardrails. And it's so fun for me to work with people like that. And I'm sure you as a coach present very differently. Mm-hmm. You love working with a different type of person as well. How does that show up with the type of person you're working with?

That's such a good call out. So very similarly, I do really well with people. So if you think about a generator, even like a manifesting generator's energy, it's kind of like a fire hydrant nozzle has been kicked off and the energy is just like the waters are shooting out. So they're like waking up and they're like, I got this energy. Somebody's going to get— Yeah.

Sometimes when I'm on calls, sometimes that's how it feels for sure.

It's like, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that, and I'm gonna do this idea. And so for me, I kind of come in very similarly and I'm like, okay, like, what's the big picture? And it's almost like I bring that strategic focus for them to kind of go out and execute and do what they're really good at. Very similar, like, working style. But then I also attract a good number of projectors who I love them for different reasons because we kind of nerd out. Like, projectors love an open-ended question. They love thinking deeply. They love learning. They love learning about people and how the world works. And so those are often some of the clients where I actually grow my business the most because they're pushing me to be like, why is it like this? And how do I show up like that?

Yeah.

And so it's less about getting clear because there are too many options and more about them having a copilot for them to explore all the different, like, ways in which they want to show up. And to your point about helping the guardrails, you've just describe the person I'm looking to hire on my team. I'm like, I got the big picture. Yeah, I mean, is like a very clear, like, generator or manifesting generator that has like Virgo tendencies.

Yeah, yeah. It's— but isn't it amazing that you know that?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I talk to people about, as they think about team— I know that's something we will cover. Yes, once you know your type and your energy, the second step is thinking about who's around you and what energies are missing. Like when I go into startups, very often it's like 17 manifesting generators and like no projectors, no manifestors. So the work's getting done. But like there's no one thinking about 3 years from now, no one thinking about what's strategic. It's just execution.

Execution.

Yeah. And so when they build out their teams, I'm like, obviously you may not be able to screen for this one-to-one, but you can think about what kind of energies are naturally missing. On these teams to just like make sure that all the different energies you need for a scalable operation are present.

And that, you know, a lot of the people listening, they're solopreneurs. And I think like that's a really helpful— we'll talk about how to hire the right people for your design type, but I think that alone is like a game changer.

For sure. And there are certain types of— I mean, there isn't like a— people ask me this because, you know, in astrology is sometimes like Virgos pair well with whatever.

Yeah.

There isn't like a specific like tie-up, but there are ways in which you can intentionally try to call in energies once you know your own energy type for sure.

Yeah. So, okay, let's go through the other types and then you guys just need to come to the summit and hear the full story.

I'll go quickly. Um, so we said generator, we said projector. Another type is manifestor. They're like 8 to 9% of the population. They're the individuals who are very forward-thinking. They have the most innovative of ideas. Um, and so they're thinking of stuff that doesn't even really exist yet. And these are people who almost always need a team, which we can talk about more why that's the case. Then there is a hybrid type called manifesting generator, and they are at their core a generator. So all the stuff we said about generators being creators and builders and doers apply, and they kind of have this layering of like a manifestor. So they can initiate and create in a very quick succession. They can have an idea today and then like execute it in the evening, and then like 2 days later they have like a fully— fledged business and process. And so they have the biggest engines of all the types. And they often have a much more unorthodox path to either business or even just their living style. Um, one key distinction between pure generators or like regular generators and manifesting generators is that generators often care about mastery. So doing something very well, like what you were saying earlier.

Yeah.

And manifesting generators often kind of like will do something very well for some period of time, and they just kind of lose interest, and they move on to the next thing and the next thing.

Yeah.

So that's like a key differentiator there. And then the last type, the most rare, are called reflectors. They're only like 1%, maybe a little bit more, maybe a little bit less of the population. And they are just these cosmic beings. They are completely open to all the energies around them. And for them, environment is very important. So if they're business owner, like who they're around and like the trappings of what's around is core because when they're in healthy environments, they can feel like healthy and surprised, like all this yummy goodness. When they're around unhealthy environments or people who are trying to force them to conform, that can be hard. So I actually— all the reflectors I know are business owners and it's sometimes hard for them because they show up different day by day.

Mm-hmm.

One day they may feel like a generator, the next day they may feel like a projector, the next day they may feel like something totally different. And in business it's thought to be consistent, you know, to wake up and do a 9 to 5 and to like have a very rigid process. But for reflectors, there is no rigid process. Like they, they may try to like fit themselves into one, but often they really need the most variability based on how they feel that day.

Yeah. For someone who's a reflector, it's probably, I don't wanna say hard, but it probably can feel frustrating to build a business when you don't have this information.

100%. And because they feel the most pressure to conform. So like most of the downstream swimming, because imagine just going through the world where you feel different in some ways than like 99% of everybody else.

Yeah.

You know, and then depending on how your family treated you and like all these different things. And so it can be a lot more difficult without this information to build a business. But once they have this information, they really feel an unlock because so much starts making sense. About their lived experience.

Are there— do you know off the top of your head any famous reflectors?

The most famous one is Sandra Bullock. The really first? Yeah.

Oh, interesting.

Mm-hmm.

Huh. Isn't Oprah a generator?

She is.

Yeah, I— when I found— I— so I told Jacquees before we started recording, I'm actually a cusp manifesting generator generator. Like, if I— I thought I was born at like 8:10. And actually it might have been 6:10. I was off by like, let's call it a couple hours or minutes, whatever. So I'm a cusp manifesting generator generator. And when I found out, I was so excited when I found out I was a manifesting generator. I was like, oh my God, this is so special. And then I checked my birth certificate when my mom sent it to me and I had the right time and I was like, oh, and I immediately— this is so like 3 Enneagram generator Leo. I Google famous generators and Oprah comes and I'm like, I'm like, all right, that's good. I'm happy.

Everyone does that. So a lot of projectors are upset when they're not a manifesting generator or a manifestor. They're like, uh, Yeah.

It's, it's so funny. So I'm just so excited for people to dive in. Like, it's so fun to talk about this and I just, I'm so excited for people to experience you because I think like you have such a gift of translating this in a way that is real. I know people probably tell you that all the time, but it's a very complex—

Yes.

It's so deep and so complex. When you guys see your charts and all the numbers and lines, like, you're gonna be like, what is this? We're gonna break it— well, I'm not, but Jacquees is gonna break it all down for you. Don't listen to me. And it's just such a gift to have you walk us through this because I think it's just going to be such an amazing unlock for everyone at the summit. So thank you so much for being a part of this and thank you for doing this little promo teaser to just clue people in on what is Human Design and why do you need it now.

Perfect. I'm excited too. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for tuning in to the Prosperous Woman Podcast. I'm so grateful for your presence and for being a part of this community. Feel free to DM me @itsclairesellers on Instagram. I would love to connect with you and hear what resonated with you in this episode. Forget to subscribe to the show, and if you enjoyed what you heard today, leave a 5-star review. Your feedback means the world to me and helps me reach more incredible women just like you. And because I love to spoil you, just DM me a screenshot of your review on Instagram, and I'll send you my free Prosperity Activation Course as a thank you. It's my way of investing in you and your dreams.

Thank you.