How to Thrive as a Multi-Passionate Entrepreneur
When you’re a multi-passionate entrepreneur (like me!), you may come across as flighty to some. That was one of my struggles when I first dipped my toes into entrepreneurship as an adult. I hated hearing the question “so, what are you doing NOW?” Ugh! Today’s guest shares 5 ways that you can thrive as a multi-passionate entrepreneur!
About Janet Van Wyck
Janet Van Wyck is a certified Master Life Coach and Business Strategist with a strong focus on branding and content creation.
Prior to becoming a business coach and during her 30-year corporate career, she gained extensive training and experience developing programs and training manuals. During this time Janet started a dozen or more small businesses on her own discovering the ins and outs of creating a business identity firsthand.
As a sought-after brand and business coach, Janet uses her “Becoming a Brand Signature System” which she designed in an “a la carte” style to help female entrepreneurs design their brand and content to create impact, influence, credibility, and expert status. She’s particularly passionate about helping multi- focused female entrepreneurs and especially those 50+ to be seen as influential brands and businesswomen.
Being a Multi-Passionate soul herself she ensures that all posts and training have a special twist just for her Multi-Passionate Sisters.
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Transcript
Deanna Hinsz 0:02
I am so excited to have Janet Van Wyck here with me today. As you guys heard, she has made this transition from corporate to multi-level to now business coach. And Janet, thank you so much for joining me today. This is so exciting. Thank you for inviting me. Absolutely. So I cannot wait to hear everything that you’re going to share about tips to thrive as a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I can tell you personally, I am that multi-passionate entrepreneur, I am that person that has so many different passions. And sometimes it gets a little bit foggy, I don’t know what to focus on. And people will tell you to cut back and only do one thing, but there are so many things that I really like. So I am eager and excited to talk to you to find out how to take all that energy and create something really good and thrive as an entrepreneur. So before we get into that, I have to ask you, what even got you interested in figuring this out, I’m taking it you are a lot like me that you also had a lot of multi passions that you are trying to juggle. I had a lot of things that I started and did not finish. And that didn’t sit well with everybody else. So yeah, a multi-passionate individual is a collector of information. And as they’re collecting information, they get really excited with it and they throw themselves into it 150% We kind of get our dopamine hit every time we enter a new area that excites us. And it’s really hard to have somebody constantly saying to you that you have to focus on only one thing or putting you a soft put down like calling you Squirrel Girl Are you suffer from shiny object syndrome or? Well, in the appearance of it might be that in true fact, we are a collector of information. And we’re needed in society because we are the people who break it down into simple form and shovel it out to everybody else. I love hearing that because it’s like, oh my gosh, finally somebody is speaking my language. I will tell you when I am a serial entrepreneur, and I went through as a single mom in survival mode. Actually, probably even as a teenager, I have always tried different businesses and launched something new. And the one question I absolutely it wasn’t even a question. The one comment I absolutely hated was so what are you doing now? I absolutely. And I was like, what, like,
Janet Van Wyck 2:47
they weren’t trying to be rude. But I interpreted it. And I’m not saying that they were rude by asking that right. I gave them every reason to probably ask that question. But internally, it felt like you’re failing, like, like, you’re joking around too much. You’re flighty. And you know, you need to be more stable. And it just stung every time I heard that. So my answer to them was always. And so you’re still doing the same thing.
Deanna Hinsz 3:16
I never thought of that. That would have been perfect. I wish I did. That is great. That’s great. So so how did you realize that it’s okay to have all these passions? I mean, what was that aha moment for you?
Janet Van Wyck 3:37
Well, I think for me, first of all, I got tired of people telling me that I couldn’t do things my way. I see myself as more of an innovator. Because I do have this multi-passionate tendency, I jumped forward to see what’s coming up. And I didn’t understand why other people couldn’t see things the way I did. And then I began to understand the different personality types. And when I jumped into branding and was constantly hearing coaches saying you really have to niche down, you have to have one thing, you have to talk to one thing, and you talk to the problem-solution offer. And that’s what your content is about. It seemed very too deep to me very two-dimensional. And what I focus on as a branding coach is making sure that you’re 4d, that you have such an amazing personality that people are drawn to you. And the only way to do that is to be revealing other parts of your personality. And so I use those other passions, and we group them and we see which ones kind of fit together to create a really enriched brand that relates to your problem solution offer. That way it keeps four or five of the other things that seem to pull multi-passionate off track because she’s tired of doing one thing and it gives her the ability to address it on a consistent basis included in her branding personality and voice and keep herself satisfied her own personal traits satisfied, but use it to attract people to get to engage with her so that then they’re available to listen to her problem solution offer.
Deanna Hinsz 5:24
Okay, so if I’m understanding you correctly, it’s not so much that the, for example, I’m all Thai passionate person, there’s and I know who I’m speaking to, I can still speak to that particular audience but I don’t have to dim my light I’m it’s okay for me to be authentically who I am and talk about all my passions, and the ideal client will still come for me.
Janet Van Wyck 7:37
Okay, for example, I’m on Tik Tok. And we know that I am a branding coach and a content strategist for multi-passionate female entrepreneurs over 50 That’s what my business is. But on TikTok, I bring a full load of what my passions are. I have a very strong, ageless, and amazing following. Which means anybody over 50 looking how their health, their fitness their makeup, what do I eat? What what is my mindset towards living vibrantly over 50, that type of thing. I’m very creative. So a little bit of art, health, and fitness. So all of that in I throw in small business that over 50, the reality is, you’re probably going to have to continue working in retirement income isn’t going to be enough. And whether you are going to work for somebody else, or you’re going to work for yourself, there are some really important things to consider. And I get into the mindset of work and that everybody can have a business. So I’m beginning to extend my business knowledge to them and get them curious enough to go into my bio and jump over to my website. But the full of TikTok, a lot of it is a mindset about aging makeup, and just how to live healthy, because that brings in four areas of my passions. And that develops a full presence, right?
Deanna Hinsz 9:00
Yes. And I just gotta give you props, right, because I’m over 50 as well. And I have dabbled in TikTok with every intention to go full force. But you’re doing it and I am like totally props to you. Awesome.
Janet Van Wyck 9:17
I’ve got 1000 videos there. Yeah.
Deanna Hinsz 9:20
Oh my gosh. That’s so cool. I love it. I absolutely love it. And when I was creeping on your website, I saw that you did actually break down to four different passions that you have. And an over 50 was one of those passions and I like love it. I absolutely love it like now you’re I mean not that you weren’t speaking to me before with everything because I love mindset and obviously I love business. But the over 50 I was like, yes, go girl. I love it. That is
Janet Van Wyck 9:53
huge. Now we are on our second and what I feel is our true career path when you reach 50 Because before that you are meeting your obligations, you are working because you have to you you develop strengths and skills based on the jobs that you were slight slotted into, which has helped you to become who you are now. But now you get the opportunity to take a look at what really are my interests? How does that couple with my strengths and my passions? And what can I do with them?
Deanna Hinsz 10:26
Yes, that yes, I love it. That’s so true. And I even said earlier in this conversation that in the beginning, I was in survival mode. You know, I was doing what I needed to do. And now I’m not in survival mode. Now I’m an empty nester. And I get to be picky. And I love what I do right now. I absolutely love it. And I’m grateful I get to do that. And you’re right, I do see more women over 50 that have that opportunity. So how did you figure out what your four passions are? Because it sounds easy to do? Isn’t? But it’s really not. So how do you do that?
Janet Van Wyck 11:07
Well, first, you have to realize that there are three different types of passions. And people have a tendency, at least I categorize it that way people have a tendency to say, Oh, I’m really passionate about this thing, you should do a business with it. And the danger with that is if you’re picking the thing that you use to reduce your stress as your business model, then you have nothing to relieve the stress of being in business. So I say three passions are, you have your pastime, passion, the thing that you do, to be with everybody and enjoy, you know, joke around and have fun, you have your pleasure past time, which is the thing that really Stokes you the thing you look forward to getting out once a week and really working on. And that’s the thing that people make the mistake of using as their business. This is the thing where you truly distress where you can go and just know that the day was really tough. But when I do this, it’s just going to make me feel better, and relax me. And then you have the passion that is connected to your purpose in life. And that is the passion that you use for your business. Once you identify those, you can take a look at okay, what are all the things that I’m interested in. And that’s part of my coaching model is in developing your branding, personality, we go through a process of let’s list everything that you can think of that you’re passionate about. Now, a multi-passionate woman might come up with 1015, possibly 20 things that she feels I could get up and talk to you for an hour, no problem, and be really excited about it and be really knowledgeable. But as you look at those things, we’re able to then group them into four or five Main Categories. When we get those categories, and we identify which one relates closely to what you feel your purposes, we are then able to bring them together to develop that full brand online influencer personality and keep you’re firing all of your you’re trying to relate it to a car, and it’s still satisfying, but it still leaves you things that when all is said and done, and you have to step away from business, you have something to do that still feeds that fire to distress you. So we kind of approach it that way.
Deanna Hinsz 13:46
I have never thought about that before. And you’re giving me an aha moment right now. Because I’ve always thought of like, what are you passionate about? And it’s all those things that I love. Like you initially said, when you start working with someone. I never categorized it or thought that if you put your passion in your business, things that help you relax your pastime, I think is what you call your pastime passion as your business passion, then you never have that outlet. You never have never done I consider that. But there’s
Janet Van Wyck 14:20
another thing that you look at when you’re you’re trying to decide which business is perfect for you. And that’s what I call your default mode. There is something that everybody has that they do. And it usually annoys other people. Because they do it nonstop, whether they’re sick or tired, whether they’re happy, whether it’s wanted or not. And for me, it’s problem-solving. Because I see things from so many different perspectives that I would hear the conversation in line at the grocery store three or four people behind and I’d wake up in the middle of the night problem solving, not ever being able to provide any kind of input to that person, but it’s just Just what I do because I have the ability to be separate and apart and view things from so many different points of view, which is kind of what led me into coaching. Yeah, so that’s my default mode.
Deanna Hinsz 15:14
I love it. Yes. And I do the same thing. Have you ever taken your strength test,
Janet Van Wyck 15:19
I have taken different ones. And they’ve been different input. But the the one that I found most related to finding my influence was what’s called the fascination assessment. Okay, and it’s by Sally Hogshead. And it evaluates the voice that you speak with, that attracts people. And for me, it was passionate innovation. And it explains how you use them how it is your strength and how to marry it into your conversations with people. That one meant the most to me because the rest of them would tell me more what my skills strengths were, which were organization and communication and all of these different things that I had developed over the course of my needed career. But it never really assessed who I was, what I was, who I was coming across as how people were receiving me. And this strengths test did provide that information. And it meant the world to me, it kind of set me off on the path that I took.
Yeah, I bet I like tests that evaluate. Nowadays, I mean, my degrees in psychology. So I love all that. If you do ever get a chance to take the strength test though it’s through the Gallup poll. Yes. Clifton strength. Yes, yes, it is really interesting as well. But yeah, I love it. I love
Unknown Speaker 16:55
the high five. And I’ve done.
Janet Van Wyck 16:57
There are so many. We all want to know who we are right? Are we normal? Or are we not? And that’s why all these different tests personality tests exist.
Unknown Speaker 17:09
And it’s interesting that we look extremely to find out who we are, which is why I have people look internally to find out who they are.
Deanna Hinsz 17:16
Yes, yeah. So when you started working with your clients, and you’re helping them really uncover where their passions fall, and how they can use that to thrive in their business, what’s the biggest obstacle that you see, or that you hear from them?
Janet Van Wyck 17:35
The willingness to trust and change.
Deanna Hinsz 17:39
Elaborate on that a little bit?
Janet Van Wyck 17:43
Well, they invest in themselves in time and money. And we go through the process of how to create your online presence and influence. And they understand and they agree, but when they leave, they’re hesitant to jump into it and actually do it because they are so used to doing things the way that they’ve always done it. And there are so many other people telling them to do it differently. Because they don’t clue in to, you’re not the same person as what everybody else is coaching, you’re a very different personality. And it’s that very thing, that very multi-passionate tendency that everybody else uses to tamp you down so that you’re not your full self. That’s going to get lost by doing it the way everybody else is doing it, or you’re going to be so fractured. Like up until discovering how to pull it all together. I was the makeup lady, I was the oil lady. I was the skincare lady. I was the business coach, lady, I was you know, and it just went on and on and on. And we were all separate identities. My personality was still there. But I had to find the underlying thing, the underlying passion, which wasn’t in my everyday life, and that was the realization that at 50, I’m 65. So at over 50, you’re barely halfway through your life if you begin to take care of yourself. And because of that very real fact. You can’t really afford to retire at 65. At least you can’t retire your mind. Because you have another 40 years that you have to feed this amazing brain of yours. And if you sit down and retire, you’re going to invite your early permanent retirement, right. So you need to discover what is it that keeps me passionate. What is it that I want to do now? How do you know how can I use it to potentially get another stream of income and be totally thrilled with what’s going on in your life? Yeah, and that was the thing That kind of tied it all together for me.
Deanna Hinsz 20:02
So when you first started doing this or when your clients are doing this, mm-hmm, it is it’s how do you keep that focus? Right? You are all those things. And I will tell you that your website really kept you on point and focused. That’s not easy to do. Because you’re, you know, you’ve got these different buckets, as you explained it. So how do you package it and make it look so pretty like you did?
Unknown Speaker 20:34
So take a look at, um, I migrated my branding, I chopped it up into elecard. So each one of those cards actually identifies a little specific area of passion for me, because I have a passion for teaching people how to get their online social media identity to be consistent throughout what do you do and what do you put. So that is one bucket. One is your content strategy, which is exploring all about you. And figuring that out. One is just going through Discovering your passions, these, these hit different interest buckets for me, so it keeps me in the same thing. The brand identity is in my creativity, wheelhouse, right? The brand expression, which is what we’re talking about what the interest hits me in the living 50 Plus, women in business, when we’re also going identity, we talk a little bit about your colors. Because I’m not a logo Brander I’m not you know that type, we still take a look at who you are not trying to fit into somebody else’s model, and how that’s going to come across. So there’s a little bit of that built into it. So I kind of touch I touch it. Yeah, you do every aspect. But then if I get into a coaching situation that isn’t feeding that I always have my TikTok that I can return to and address those things there.
Janet Van Wyck 22:12
So that TikTok is more of your fun,
TikTok is you have to have a social media platform that draws people in. Right? I mean, your main, your main, whether it’s a podcast, or a blog, or YouTube, or whatever it is of social media. But then you have to go to social media to draw people in, you need one. And that’s where your full brand personality shines. You it’s like the top of the funnel where you pull a lot of people in, and you keep them interested for specific things, and you narrow them down to the people at the bottom. As they come through my TikTok, they get curious about me, they go into the bio, and it’s the link and they say, Oh, she’s got a freebie. Oh, she’s got a website. Let’s go over to the website and see what she’s about. And then the people who are interested in that will reach out a little bit further. And we get a conversation going.
Deanna Hinsz 23:12
Awesome. So you mentioned your freebie free. So let’s talk about that your freebie is an ebook, right? It’s Yes, it is. Okay, and it’s tips to thrive as a multi-passionate entrepreneur.
Unknown Speaker 23:24
Five tips to thrive is not a multi-passionate entrepreneur. Yes. Awesome.
Deanna Hinsz 23:29
So who should download that ebook, or go over there and grab their free copy? You know,
Janet Van Wyck 23:34
I specialize in the multi-passionate, but it really applies to anybody. Because it gives you permission to be yourself. It gives you some direction. My coaching applies to women over 50 in business. What I like to do when I’m talking is always give a twist for the multi-passionate. So there’s the rule of thumb, and then because you’re multi-passionate, this is how it works for you. Okay, yeah, that is kind of like my underlying secret sauce.
Deanna Hinsz 24:10
Right? What sounds good and I like I said, I could totally relate to what that’s like. So if anybody is listening, you’ve got to head over to Janet Van wicks website and get your copy of five tips to thrive as a multi-passionate entrepreneur. And her website links all her social media links are in the show notes. So absolutely. Check her out. Talk to her consult with her if you are multi-passionate and you’re feeling confused and overwhelmed because you have all these passionate passions and people are just trying to really dim your light. And you feel that frustration or you feel flighty the way that I felt flighty or that you had to pick one area. I encourage you to reach out to Janet and talk to her and let her coach you through how to really uncover those passions and thrive as an entrepreneur. But, Janet, before we go, I’ve got one question for you. So what is one piece of advice that you’ve received, that has made a difference in your business?
Janet Van Wyck 25:21
Trust yourself, because you know, what you are able to do better than anybody else? Oh, that’s good advice. And that’s because people look at what you are doing through their filters, through their experience through their fears. So trust yourself and believe in yourself.
Deanna Hinsz 25:39
That’s really, really good advice. And that’s so hard to do, but really is so important to do. Janet, thank you so much for joining me today. I so appreciate you taking the time out of your day to talk to me and to share your knowledge with my audience. And just thank you I look forward to checking out that book too.
Janet Van Wyck 26:00
Thank you very much for having me.
Deanna Hinsz 26:02
You’re welcome. All right, guys. We will catch you next week. It will see ya
