Throughout the years, many people have asked how it all started for me, and how on earth I came to be doing what I’m doing today. The truth is, I am totally an accidental entrepreneur. I’ve frequently reinvented myself and changed things up almost every decade. But the real catalyst for finding my way to success? Well, hitting rock bottom.
In this episode, I share my journey from the early days of life as a bookish farmer’s daughter in Northern England, how I grew into a confident university student and the corporate career in fashion I worked my way up in. I take you through the days of meeting my now-husband Jason in London to relocating to his native Australia. Navigating the challenges of starting my life in business from scratch in a new country was hard – however, the worst was yet to come.
I take you through the pivotal moment we hit rock bottom: Jason’s loss of his corporate job resulting in us eventually having $50 left in the bank. This came at a time when I was exploring my dreams of starting a business, and I asked myself what right I had to put my family at risk. However, it was Jason’s unwavering belief in me that reignited my vision to leave the corporate world and start out on my own.
Fast forward 12 years, and I’ve built and sold businesses, authored best-selling books, spoken on stages around the world and even received an honorary doctorate. The key to rising from rock bottom came down to this: owning my own brilliance, expertise, imperfections and particular experience of life.
I hope by sharing my journey, you’re given permission to know that you have everything inside you to unleash your own brilliance. Ask yourself these questions: Who are you not to be more brilliant? Who says you can’t be more brilliant? What will change when you embrace your brilliance?
Join me as I inspire you to become your most exceptional self, no matter the challenges life throws your way.
LINKS:
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Transcript
Hello, my lovelies.
Speaker:How are you?
Speaker:Welcome to a new episode
Speaker:of unleashing brilliance.
Speaker:And today, what I thought
Speaker:I'd share with you is a
Speaker:little bit of my backstory.
Speaker:I'm often asked, I've received
Speaker:so many emails over the years
Speaker:from people saying, where
Speaker:did it all start Janine?
Speaker:How on earth did you
Speaker:get to be doing what it
Speaker:is that you're doing?
Speaker:My response to that is I am
Speaker:totally an accidental and if
Speaker:you actually look at my life,
Speaker:I reckon every 10 years, I've
Speaker:pretty much reinvented myself.
Speaker:In fact, my speaker agent,
Speaker:often refer to me as the
Speaker:queen of reinvention, which
Speaker:I remember at the time
Speaker:hearing it, having a little
Speaker:giggle and going, really?
Speaker:And it was only on
Speaker:reflection of my story that
Speaker:I went, actually, yeah.
Speaker:I have changed things up
Speaker:every decade pretty much.
Speaker:So, in response to all
Speaker:of those that have asked,
Speaker:this is what today's
Speaker:episode is all about.
Speaker:And I hope that by sharing
Speaker:my journey to here, it will
Speaker:give you permission to know
Speaker:that you have everything
Speaker:inside of you to become more
Speaker:brilliant tomorrow than you
Speaker:are today and to give you
Speaker:the courage and the bravery
Speaker:to unleash your brilliance
Speaker:even more to the world.
Speaker:So where did it
Speaker:all start for me?
Speaker:Well, I was actually born
Speaker:into a farming community
Speaker:in the north of England.
Speaker:My dad was a farmer
Speaker:and my mom pretty much
Speaker:was a stay at home mom.
Speaker:And I grew up with, lots of
Speaker:words of wisdom from my dad.
Speaker:He used to say where there's
Speaker:muck, there's brass love,
Speaker:which essentially meant,
Speaker:if I work really hard then
Speaker:the results would come.
Speaker:And on those days where
Speaker:I'd come home from school,
Speaker:it'd be like, Oh my God,
Speaker:this is the worst day ever.
Speaker:He'd go, it'll be reet.
Speaker:It'll be reet.
Speaker:Which pretty much went,
Speaker:you know, you know, put
Speaker:on your big girl pants
Speaker:and you'll be fine.
Speaker:school was, pretty
Speaker:average for me.
Speaker:I was a real bookworm.
Speaker:And I was teased quite a
Speaker:lot at school for, know,
Speaker:being probably a little bit
Speaker:quiet, had mousy brown hair,
Speaker:lots and lots of freckles.
Speaker:I was a bit of a slow
Speaker:developer on the puberty side
Speaker:of things and you know, found
Speaker:me with my nose in a book.
Speaker:So I was teased quite a lot
Speaker:until, around the age of 17 or
Speaker:18 when I discovered Madonna's
Speaker:fashion style, Princess
Speaker:Diana's or Lady Diana's
Speaker:electric blue eye shadow and
Speaker:mascara as it was at the time.
Speaker:and of course, hair
Speaker:dye, you know, hair
Speaker:dye changed my world.
Speaker:And through school, I was
Speaker:getting really great results.
Speaker:And I remember a teacher
Speaker:saying to my parents at
Speaker:a parent teacher evening
Speaker:one night, you know,
Speaker:your, your daughter
Speaker:should consider applying
Speaker:to Oxford or Cambridge.
Speaker:Now, as a North of
Speaker:England girl, it didn't
Speaker:even enter into my mind,
Speaker:into my psyche at all.
Speaker:And in fact, what I did
Speaker:is I instantly went into
Speaker:that box of, why would
Speaker:I want to go there?
Speaker:And why on earth would
Speaker:anyone accept me?
Speaker:So from an early age,
Speaker:this lack of self belief,
Speaker:really started to...
Speaker:take root in terms of
Speaker:the decisions that I was
Speaker:actually making for myself.
Speaker:But what it did do is it
Speaker:triggered off a curiosity.
Speaker:And, because nobody
Speaker:in my family had ever
Speaker:been to university.
Speaker:And so we'd never really
Speaker:had those conversations
Speaker:around the dinner table.
Speaker:But this conversation
Speaker:with the teacher triggered
Speaker:off a curiosity for me.
Speaker:And I, so.
Speaker:I started applying and I
Speaker:actually got into, Aston
Speaker:University in Birmingham
Speaker:to do a Bachelor of Science
Speaker:degree and, super excited.
Speaker:I had to achieve certain
Speaker:results at A level, but
Speaker:we faced another challenge
Speaker:then because as a family
Speaker:we couldn't afford to
Speaker:send me to university.
Speaker:So thankfully at that time
Speaker:the UK government, offered out
Speaker:a grant system and I applied
Speaker:and I was fortunate enough
Speaker:to be given a full grant, to
Speaker:be able to attend university.
Speaker:There's no way I would
Speaker:have been able to go if it
Speaker:hadn't have been for that
Speaker:grant system at that time.
Speaker:And I'm forever grateful for
Speaker:that because, that pretty
Speaker:much changed the trajectory
Speaker:of my world prior to that, my
Speaker:dreams had been on a certain
Speaker:level, subsequently to being
Speaker:given the opportunity to go
Speaker:to uni, everything changed.
Speaker:And so at the age of 18,
Speaker:I packed my backpack, and
Speaker:off I went in England.
Speaker:Those of you that are
Speaker:listening that are from the
Speaker:UK know that in England,
Speaker:we tend to leave home and
Speaker:we go and live on campus.
Speaker:And at the age of 18, I left
Speaker:home, and never returned.
Speaker:Uni was brilliant.
Speaker:I graduated, you know,
Speaker:after four years with a
Speaker:bachelor of science degree,
Speaker:a whole heap of memories.
Speaker:Thank God, social media wasn't
Speaker:around then and a hell of a
Speaker:lot of debt at the time, or
Speaker:a big overdraft at the time.
Speaker:And this time I packed my
Speaker:backpack and I headed off to
Speaker:London to start a graduate
Speaker:training scheme at a company
Speaker:called Coats Viyella.
Speaker:So I started my corporate
Speaker:career working in
Speaker:the fashion industry.
Speaker:And in fact, only the other
Speaker:day I received a note from
Speaker:two incredible women that I
Speaker:met on that very first day
Speaker:of that graduate training
Speaker:program saying, Oh my God,
Speaker:it's 30 years since we
Speaker:started day one, it's like.
Speaker:Goodness me.
Speaker:So yes, 30 years ago,
Speaker:I moved to London and
Speaker:I started a graduate
Speaker:traineeship at Coats Viyella.
Speaker:And over the course of
Speaker:the next seven or eight
Speaker:years, I worked my way up.
Speaker:I ended up in the position
Speaker:of group marketing manager.
Speaker:And it was at this time that
Speaker:I'd met my now husband, Jason.
Speaker:So we met on the shop
Speaker:floor, we met at work,
Speaker:we fell in love, he was
Speaker:an Aussie, he was from
Speaker:Perth or he is from Perth.
Speaker:And I.
Speaker:decided to move to Australia.
Speaker:So, in the year 2000, on the
Speaker:1st of December 2000, I packed
Speaker:my backpack again, and this
Speaker:time I arrived in Melbourne.
Speaker:I arrived in Melbourne with
Speaker:the trusted backpack, my
Speaker:permanent residency visa,
Speaker:a resume and my husband.
Speaker:And that was pretty much it.
Speaker:And suddenly I had to rebuild
Speaker:my career in a country where
Speaker:I had zero social proof.
Speaker:I had to rebuild my network
Speaker:in a country where I knew no
Speaker:one and apart from you know,
Speaker:my brother was here and I
Speaker:had to rebuild my life, which
Speaker:let's be honest, my vision
Speaker:of my life in Australia had
Speaker:been created from watching
Speaker:endless episodes of Home and
Speaker:Away and Neighbors at uni.
Speaker:So I had a certain view of
Speaker:what Australia was going to be
Speaker:like, but to say it was scary,
Speaker:is really an understatement.
Speaker:I reckon it's one of the
Speaker:scariest things I've ever
Speaker:done, to be honest, moving
Speaker:to a country where I
Speaker:thought it would be easy.
Speaker:you know, we speak English.
Speaker:My understanding was it was
Speaker:pretty similar to where I was
Speaker:from, but it was one of the
Speaker:hardest things I've had to
Speaker:do in terms of rebuilding my
Speaker:career, rebuilding my network,
Speaker:rebuilding my confidence here
Speaker:and learning to navigate,
Speaker:the different cultural
Speaker:norms that existed here.
Speaker:So, over the next 10 years,
Speaker:those of you that are really
Speaker:smart will be working at
Speaker:my age by now, but over the
Speaker:next 10 years, I rebuilt
Speaker:my corporate career and
Speaker:I ended up becoming the
Speaker:group marketing director
Speaker:at Oroton Group looking
Speaker:after two incredible brands,
Speaker:the Ralph Lauren brand.
Speaker:I was looking after that
Speaker:here in Asia, Asia pac and I
Speaker:helped, relaunched the Oroton
Speaker:brand, its website and worked
Speaker:with the creative director
Speaker:at the time to take the
Speaker:Oroton brand into Hong Kong.
Speaker:But at that time, I still felt
Speaker:there was more, you know, I
Speaker:had three awesome children.
Speaker:At the time they were, I
Speaker:think three, five and seven.
Speaker:I've still got them by
Speaker:the way, but they're a
Speaker:little bit bigger now.
Speaker:You know, had a home,
Speaker:had a career, but I felt
Speaker:like there was more.
Speaker:I was giving a lot to
Speaker:other people, giving
Speaker:a lot to my team.
Speaker:To, the EC, the executive
Speaker:committee, the executive
Speaker:board at Or to Mr.
Speaker:Lauren over in the U S to the
Speaker:media, to key stakeholders.
Speaker:I was coming home and then,
Speaker:you know, giving a lot of
Speaker:my time to the children, to
Speaker:my children, to my husband.
Speaker:And to be honest, in
Speaker:all of this, I felt like
Speaker:I was losing myself.
Speaker:I knew I was great
Speaker:at doing my job.
Speaker:I could do it
Speaker:standing on my head.
Speaker:I loved it.
Speaker:I, I loved playing around
Speaker:the edges and, creating
Speaker:and launching brands
Speaker:and rejuvenating brands.
Speaker:I loved everything about it.
Speaker:I was traveling the world
Speaker:going to Fashion Week in
Speaker:New York twice a year.
Speaker:It was fabulous, but
Speaker:something was missing.
Speaker:I felt like my brain, wasn't
Speaker:being challenged in the way
Speaker:I wanted to challenge it.
Speaker:And so I decided that there
Speaker:was more and that, I had to
Speaker:take ownership of that more.
Speaker:And it's a whole other
Speaker:story, which you'll hear in
Speaker:future episodes, :but I left
Speaker:my corporate career and,
Speaker:guaranteed set out on my own.
Speaker:And I started building
Speaker:my first business,
Speaker:LBD Group, a women's
Speaker:networking organization.
Speaker:It was totally bootstrapped,
Speaker:totally self funded.
Speaker:And about two years into
Speaker:that, the big hit came in
Speaker:that my husband, Jason,
Speaker:lost his corporate job.
Speaker:So the company that he
Speaker:was working for went
Speaker:into receivership.
Speaker:We had zero cash coming in.
Speaker:The company was still
Speaker:bootstrapping and we were
Speaker:racking up credit cards.
Speaker:Quite frankly, it was,
Speaker:you know, everything was
Speaker:going on the credit card.
Speaker:And it got to a point one
Speaker:day where, Jason told me
Speaker:we had 50 left in the bank.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:that evening, it just
Speaker:hit me and it hit me.
Speaker:right do I have to
Speaker:follow my dreams?
Speaker:What right do I have to
Speaker:pursue something different?
Speaker:I can go and get a job.
Speaker:I can turn this around.
Speaker:What right do I have
Speaker:to put my family and
Speaker:my children at risk?
Speaker:And they were at risk
Speaker:because we'd had to move
Speaker:out of our house into the
Speaker:shittiest house in the street.
Speaker:We'd had conversations with
Speaker:the kids about Christmas
Speaker:and birthdays are on pause.
Speaker:Don't ask us for
Speaker:milkshakes at the weekends.
Speaker:We'd even spoken.
Speaker:a little bit in jest, but
Speaker:also a little bit seriously
Speaker:to some friends about we might
Speaker:need to camp in your backyard.
Speaker:Things are getting
Speaker:quite serious.
Speaker:And the reality of the
Speaker:50 left in the bank hit
Speaker:home and I just lost it.
Speaker:I just, burst into tears
Speaker:and Jason found me crying
Speaker:my eyes out at my desk.
Speaker:And I said to him, I'm
Speaker:going to go and find a job.
Speaker:I'm going to go
Speaker:and find a job.
Speaker:What right do I have
Speaker:to put you to put the
Speaker:children under pressure?
Speaker:What right?
Speaker:I can go get a job.
Speaker:I can do marketing
Speaker:standing on my head.
Speaker:And he turned around to me
Speaker:and he said, don't you dare.
Speaker:Don't you dare do that Janine.
Speaker:I believe in you.
Speaker:And those words, I believe in
Speaker:you was all that I needed to
Speaker:relight the fire in my belly
Speaker:because I went, you know what,
Speaker:if he believes in me, if my
Speaker:husband believes in me, then
Speaker:I've got to believe in myself
Speaker:and it relit this fire in me
Speaker:and over the next 10 years
Speaker:since then, 12 years almost
Speaker:now, I've built and I've
Speaker:sold the LBD group, so I've
Speaker:built and sold a business,
Speaker:I've run a non for profit
Speaker:where over five years we,
Speaker:created a gift giving circle
Speaker:and supported an incredible
Speaker:community of women and
Speaker:kids, here in Sydney to help
Speaker:break the cycle of poverty
Speaker:and prostitution and drug
Speaker:dealing being the only jobs.
Speaker:I've written three
Speaker:bestselling books.
Speaker:I've traveled the world,
Speaker:speaking on stages
Speaker:with incredible people.
Speaker:and I now work with
Speaker:individuals to help
Speaker:them unleash their
Speaker:brilliance, to achieve
Speaker:the growth that they want.
Speaker:I also, a couple of years
Speaker:ago, I got invited back to
Speaker:my university to be given an
Speaker:honorary doctorate of science.
Speaker:And to give the speech at
Speaker:that graduating ceremony
Speaker:this year, that is a moment.
Speaker:Honestly, when I got
Speaker:that letter from the
Speaker:UK, another moment where
Speaker:I burst into tears.
Speaker:So that moment where Jason
Speaker:said to me, I believe in
Speaker:you changed everything.
Speaker:And the reason I'm sharing
Speaker:this is not about, Hey,
Speaker:look at what I've achieved.
Speaker:Hey, look at how I've,
Speaker:grown myself and grown
Speaker:this business out of being
Speaker:on the brink of disaster.
Speaker:How I turned, you know,
Speaker:a 50 left in the bank to
Speaker:a seven figure business.
Speaker:It's not about any of that.
Speaker:The reason I want to share
Speaker:this story is because of the
Speaker:personal learning that I had.
Speaker:You see, for so long, I
Speaker:was striving and proving
Speaker:that I was good enough.
Speaker:This relentless quest to
Speaker:prove that I was good enough
Speaker:left me often exhausted on
Speaker:the brink of burnout and
Speaker:constantly battling imposter
Speaker:syndrome because I had
Speaker:this crazy fear failing.
Speaker:And it was only when I
Speaker:stopped, it was only when
Speaker:Jason said to me, I believe in
Speaker:you, it was only that moment
Speaker:where I stopped and I realized
Speaker:that around me, everything
Speaker:is constantly changing.
Speaker:Everything is constantly on
Speaker:the move and we're seeing
Speaker:it right now, aren't we?
Speaker:We're seeing this constant
Speaker:change around us economically.
Speaker:Where we're being challenged,
Speaker:in terms of, our businesses
Speaker:and where the money's
Speaker:coming from, we're being
Speaker:challenged financially in
Speaker:our businesses, but also
Speaker:financially at home, we're
Speaker:being challenged in terms
Speaker:of all of the uncertainty,
Speaker:politically and globally,
Speaker:we're being challenged
Speaker:with what we're reading
Speaker:and seeing in the media.
Speaker:We're being challenged from
Speaker:a health perspective on
Speaker:the back of the pandemic.
Speaker:And now we're being challenged
Speaker:socially, in terms of how all
Speaker:of this is filtering down.
Speaker:So the reality is there's
Speaker:change is constant.
Speaker:It's happening at a macro
Speaker:level and it's happening for
Speaker:all of us at a micro level.
Speaker:And I realised at
Speaker:that moment that Jason
Speaker:said, I believe in you.
Speaker:That despite all of this
Speaker:change, I faced it before,
Speaker:despite all of the change at
Speaker:that time, I faced it before
Speaker:and what I realised is the
Speaker:only thing that is constant
Speaker:amongst the chaos is you.
Speaker:Who I was being, who I
Speaker:wanted to become, and
Speaker:the same is you, right?
Speaker:Since I owned that, since I
Speaker:went, you know what, who am I?
Speaker:Who am I being
Speaker:every single day?
Speaker:And who do I want to
Speaker:become since I owned that?
Speaker:Since I stepped into
Speaker:owning me, into owning my
Speaker:brilliance, into owning my
Speaker:expertise, into owning the
Speaker:fact that I can experience
Speaker:heartache, tough situations,
Speaker:I can pull myself out of it,
Speaker:owning the fact that I have
Speaker:this experience of life.
Speaker:It was only when I started
Speaker:being intentional about owning
Speaker:that, about stepping into
Speaker:my brilliance, about knowing
Speaker:the impact that that makes
Speaker:every single day, only by
Speaker:doing that did things change.
Speaker:And I want you to think
Speaker:about this because the
Speaker:same can happen for you.
Speaker:Everything around you is
Speaker:changing all the time.
Speaker:Businesses are changing,
Speaker:your clients are evolving,
Speaker:the economy is evolving.
Speaker:Everything is changing.
Speaker:But the only thing that
Speaker:is constant is you.
Speaker:Who are you?
Speaker:Who are you being and who is
Speaker:it that you want to become?
Speaker:When I started owning that.
Speaker:When I started stepping into
Speaker:my brilliance, that is when
Speaker:everything around me changed.
Speaker:That is when I
Speaker:started becoming the
Speaker:author, the speaker.
Speaker:When I started owning
Speaker:the clients that I
Speaker:wanted to work with.
Speaker:When I started really
Speaker:committing to the business
Speaker:that I wanted to build, but
Speaker:also building it on my terms.
Speaker:Committing to the life that
Speaker:I want for myself, for Jason
Speaker:and for my three children.
Speaker:I want you to imagine
Speaker:what more you could
Speaker:achieve if you could step
Speaker:into your brilliance.
Speaker:The questions I want to
Speaker:leave you with in this
Speaker:episode are Who are you
Speaker:not to be more brilliant?
Speaker:Who says you can't
Speaker:be more brilliant?
Speaker:And the second question I want
Speaker:you to consider is what will
Speaker:change when you are brilliant?
Speaker:Because here's the thing.
Speaker:Undertaking any meaningful
Speaker:endeavor requires each
Speaker:and every single one of
Speaker:us to be exceptional.
Speaker:It requires you
Speaker:to be exceptional.
Speaker:And when we can accept
Speaker:our own imperfections and
Speaker:stop beating ourselves up
Speaker:for what we don't have.
Speaker:When we can start
Speaker:accepting our limitations
Speaker:and stop making excuses
Speaker:for our mistakes.
Speaker:When we can start owning
Speaker:who we are, who we are being
Speaker:and who it is that we want
Speaker:to become, accepting those
Speaker:imperfections, accepting
Speaker:those limitations, when we
Speaker:can do that for ourselves,
Speaker:we give permission to those
Speaker:around us to do the same.
Speaker:Stepping into this
Speaker:space is a choice.
Speaker:It is a practice and
Speaker:it is a discipline.
Speaker:And I want you to think about
Speaker:because who you are, who you
Speaker:are being, and who you want
Speaker:to become is all your choice.
Speaker:Thank you for listening
Speaker:to this episode,
Speaker:where I've been.
Speaker:I wanted to share
Speaker:with you my story.
Speaker:It hasn't all unicorns
Speaker:and rainbows and
Speaker:champagne popping moments.
Speaker:There has been a lot of
Speaker:challenge, a lot of picking
Speaker:myself off the floor and
Speaker:a lot of really digging
Speaker:deep of deciding and
Speaker:making the choice around
Speaker:who am I in this moment?
Speaker:Who am I working to become?
Speaker:And who am I being to
Speaker:everyone around me?
Speaker:Until next week, enjoy
Speaker:and have an awesome week.