Conscious Success Co (02:28)
Hello, Jordana. Welcome to the Conscious Success Podcast. I'm so excited to have you here today.
Jordanna Sharp (02:32)
Hi, I'm so excited to be here. It's nice to see you again.
Conscious Success Co (02:35)
You as well. So we first crossed paths when I was launching conscious success and I was doing a brand photo shoot and I was Looking for a stylist because I had no idea how to pull all these looks together myself and a friend shared your Instagram I saw it. I was like, yep. This is the vibe reached out You immediately understood the assignment you sent over the most amazing looks and still wearing and loving well actually not currently wearing since I'm seven months pregnant, but will be soon returning to
wearing a lot of those looks soon. I'm
Jordanna Sharp (03:06)
Yeah, did a lot of like high-waisted pants so probably not for right now.
Conscious Success Co (03:10)
I'm in basically spandex only at this point in the pregnancy, but I look forward to wearing all of those again soon. But I have followed in your world and your orbit ever since and just the business that you run, the way that you run it, all the different
revenue streams, the way you've been able to monetize it, your passion, your genius, all brought together. I've been super inspired by it. So I've known for a long time I wanted to have you on the podcast. And then a few months ago, you devastatingly shared about your pregnancy loss after a really long, arduous IVF process and the grief that you were experiencing with so much vulnerability and so much openness. And so that just struck me as like, okay, this is not only a woman who's built an amazing business, but someone
who is able to show up in such vulnerability and integrity and is a conversation that I think we need to have more. So I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today to not only talk about the business you've built and how you've built it, but also how you've navigated things and working towards dreams and goals, whether that's for your family or for your business without having complete control over the outcome and with navigating grief and uncertainty and loss and all the things that happen.
in life. So thank you for being here and thank you for being willing to have these conversations.
Jordanna Sharp (04:23)
Absolutely, thank you so much for having me.
Conscious Success Co (04:26)
Okay, so I always like to start at the very beginning. Tell us a little bit about your childhood growing up in London. What were you like as a little girl? Tell us a little bit about how you saw the world.
Jordanna Sharp (04:30)
Yes.
Thanks.
Well, yeah, so I grew up in North London, which is kind of the equivalent of the suburbs basically. I refer to it now as the equivalent of like Long Island. So it's a really close knit small, well, I thought it was big at the time, but it's a pretty small community I'm from. Everyone knows everyone. My parents knew everyone. Like it's a real community feel. So I feel like I've always grown up with that and it's nice to feel connected to something. And I've actually lived in New York for 12 years now.
And I still feel very connected to that to home and not just because I lived there But because I still feel this sense of community every time I go back What was I like as a kid well? This will probably come as no surprise, but I was always extremely girly extremely into clothes extremely into fashion you name it and it's funny I now have two daughters and my eldest is exactly like me as a kid like she puts her outfits together herself She's just very into the whole thing and
That's what I was like growing up My mom I guess is also like that like she has Impeccable taste and a beautiful closet and so I guess growing up I would always see her getting ready doing her makeup going out and just always looking beautiful and I guess I mimicked it a little bit, I I felt like I've always known what I like and what I don't like why wasn't a super outgoing Kid or even girl
for that matter. I feel like all of that came much later. I was actually not very confident. I wouldn't say shy. I just wasn't very confident as a kid, I don't think.
Conscious Success Co (06:07)
So you saw your mother getting ready, putting herself together beautifully, looking glamorous, and that felt inspiring to you. Did you dream of doing something as a career in that realm from early on, or when did that start to take shape?
Jordanna Sharp (06:15)
Yeah.
I wasn't a kid doing like, actually I did do this a little bit, like sketches that much of clothing or anything like that. It was just always a thing that I just loved. I just loved fashion. I loved all of it. and I had the magazines growing up and stuff like that. So I guess, I'm sure I threw out other ideas there at certain points. I mean, when I went to uni, I studied psychology. So I didn't study fashion or anything like that at all.
Outside of uni, when I got my first internship, it was at a very big fashion house in London. And then from that internship, I got a job at Condé Nast. So yes, I guess it has always been a theme. And if you ask any of my childhood best friends, I was honestly the girl who could put an outfit together and would, and would take a photograph in it, even long before photographs were a thing on social media.
Conscious Success Co (07:14)
just, the reason I love asking this question is almost every time I find someone who's in a consciously successful career, they have these seeds of what they've been doing their whole life that have come naturally And so it's so fun to see. It might take a long journey to get there and to make that, you know, a business of your own, but it sounds like you've kind of been doing that from the get go.
Jordanna Sharp (07:33)
Yeah, I've definitely always been in the fashion space. Every job I had has always been in fashion. And as I said before that, it was always a thing. But yeah, sometimes it takes a minute to figure out how to do it professionally.
Conscious Success Co (07:48)
So when you're out of uni, you
study psychology, then you had an internship and then went to work at Conde Nast. when you started there, what were you working to achieve? What was the goal? What was the vision for your career?
Jordanna Sharp (07:57)
So I worked in the advertising department at Condé Nast, which I will be honest with you was not the vision for my career or my life in general. The internship I had prior to that was at a company called Browns, which is a very famous fashion house in London. And as an intern, you basically just get to sit in the fashion closet and play dress up the whole time. And I even modeled for them a little bit when they needed help and stuff.
And so I was basically just propelled into this world where I was around beautiful beautiful expensive designer clothes and then I got this opportunity at Condé Nast and it wasn't really in the division I wanted but Condé Nast is Condé Nast and I was like great that will be a stepping stone to being in a fashion closet again one day but being paid this time for it. that's kind of how it went and honestly I wasn't actually at Condé Nast particularly
long. I was there a year and a half maybe. I was very young, it was straight from uni and I made a ton of friends there actually who are still my friends but then I met my husband and things with my husband progressed pretty quickly and then we moved to New York so my London career kind of halted earlier than I probably had anticipated for that reason.
Conscious Success Co (09:15)
Okay, so you were 23 when you married your husband, is that right? and you guys decide to pick up. you decide to leave London behind, move to the States. What was driving that move and what were you hoping for on the other side?
Jordanna Sharp (09:30)
Honestly, he was driving that move. We got married once we moved here, So he was my boyfriend, maybe my fiance. He drove that move. Honestly, the decision to move here was not career-defined from my perspective. For him, that's the reason that we moved. But I really... And it's kind of crazy I did this,
kind of put everything that I envisioned for myself from a career standpoint just on hold. And he got this opportunity and I loved him this much. And I was like, let's go and we'll figure it out. And so we did. I mean, we'd only been together a year when we moved. Not a long time. gosh. It was interesting. I...
Conscious Success Co (10:10)
What was your family's reaction or perspective at the time?
Jordanna Sharp (10:17)
You know, I had this conversation with my dad and I'm very, close to my dad, but he's a very stern, like kind of black and white kind of guy. And I sat him down. I was like, look, Nicky's, my husband's Nick, my husband has presented this package to me and he's got this incredible opportunity. I, he's kind of worked me into it. So I would be going with him. And in order to, for us to live in America, we would have to get married.
And he just looked at me and he was like, absolutely not. No way.
just come out of university. You're literally 23. You've known him five minutes. As much as they, yeah, they loved him, but you know, they were like, this is insane. Like it's like 300 steps all at once. Like you've gone from no extreme to like, my God, you're diving head first into another country, no job. I would have to depend on him for a little while and stuff. It was a lot. I think it's a lot for parents to digest. And I remember, honestly, I just looked at him and I said,
Well, I'm gonna do this and the worst possible thing that could happen is that it doesn't work out and I'll come home and I'll be 25, let's say, and divorced, still be hot and still be able to meet someone else and I'll figure it out. And yeah, I think I kind of scared the shit out of him a little bit. Excuse my French.
Conscious Success Co (11:35)
But the fact that you
already made peace with the worst possible outcome and are like, that's something I'm able to live with, allowed you to pursue it. And that's actually such an important lesson. Like I often speak about how to start my business or to leave tech and to do this, I had to be like, hey, if it doesn't work, I will be able to pick myself up and go back and figure it out. similarly, you're like, okay, I'm right now all in on this relationship. And if it doesn't work, I'm going to be okay.
Jordanna Sharp (11:40)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (12:01)
So I think that's actually like, while the maybe daunting for a parent, it's actually quite wise and empowered of you at that time to be able to see it like that.
Jordanna Sharp (12:01)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, think, you know, I think some of it, I think age actually played into my decision in a positive way. I often find, and I have found this, that as we get older, we actually get a little more scared of certain outcomes and thinking that the worst will be the very worst and you won't be able to survive it and stuff like this. And I think when you're younger, have obviously, you know, you have more of a free spirit and the world hasn't hardened you as much. And you kind of just dive into things head first and you're like, I'll deal with
the
consequences as and when they come as opposed to worrying about them first. Like I did not leave home and all my friends of a hundred years to even and I didn't even think about okay what would it look like if I then had to come back. I didn't honestly I didn't even really think about it I was just like he feels like my person and let's figure it out when we get there. It was yeah it's wild.
Conscious Success Co (13:02)
Mm-hmm. And it took a,
yeah, it took a large degree of self-trust and to be like, feels like my person and I'm gonna trust that inner knowing even if it doesn't feel rational or logical to other people.
Jordanna Sharp (13:08)
Yeah.
Yeah, it definitely wasn't
rational. It wasn't rational because I had to quit my job. couldn't work. When we moved here, I couldn't work for about eight months he could work straight away, but I had to wait for like a work authorization permit. And those take, they say between three to six months to come. And mine took like a good eight months. So I knew that I was coming here with no real plan, no real financial means on my own outside.
Conscious Success Co (13:17)
Yeah
Jordanna Sharp (13:39)
of what he was able to provide and that's very scary and intimidating and I did it anyway.
Conscious Success Co (13:45)
So what did
that look like in, you you land in a totally new country, in a new city, you don't have a job? what was that like for you?
Jordanna Sharp (13:55)
I mean, honestly, it was a really, really hard transition for me. It was a slightly easier transition for my husband. And this was very unique to our situation. But my husband has the majority of his childhood best friends living in New York with us. So the guys that he has
grown up with all live here. So now these are my closest friends and this is our circle of friends but the transition for him looked very different to the transition for me because he knew he was landing somewhere and not only did he have this incredible work opportunity he also had the guys he has literally been best friends with since he was five years old and I didn't have any of that and yeah you know we didn't have family at all I actually do have some family that live here
but he had all these people and suddenly I was being introduced to like the girlfriends of those guys or the wives or whatever. And so it was kind of daunting because you're kind of thrown into it then you're expected to be friends with all these people because these are my husband's closest friends. So he had a much easier, and he will admit this, time transitioning than I did. And I, you know, for part of it felt very isolated and very alone.
Conscious Success Co (15:08)
Mm-hmm. And were you doubting the decision or being like, I jumped too soon. I should have been more thoughtful. Or did you trust that it would just be a process?
Jordanna Sharp (15:15)
Look,
you know what?
It's funny, no, not back then. I think actually some of that doubt and almost doubt can sometimes lead to resentment. I feel like that kind of actually happened a little later on in life. back then I was still, because we were so young and we didn't have kids and stuff, as hard as it was, there was still, my husband is very successful and was doing very well even back then. So we were able to really enjoy New York for the beauty of it when you're in your early 20s. And so we were going out a lot.
with his friends and clubbing was still a thing back then. So we were going to clubs and we were going for dinners and stuff. So you kind of lose yourself in it a little bit as well. as much as the days were really hard, because honestly I was on my own a lot trying to figure it out, there was always these big weekends and these big evening experiences. so it was this weird balance of like, I kind of love it here and this is so fun and exciting for us. And then also I'd be like, Monday morning would come around and I'd be like, okay, what am I doing?
what's there to do here. So it was kind of weird but I wouldn't say I felt like regret instantly at all, no.
Conscious Success Co (16:15)
Right.
So when your work authorization came through after those first eight months, like what did those early years career-wise in New York
Jordanna Sharp (16:28)
worked for a fashion management firm. I worked for a company called Trunk Archive, which later got overtaken by a company called Great Bowery. Trunk Archive specializes in fashion photography. So it basically represents a ton of very famous fashion photographers and it manages their work. So it was a little different. I couldn't get my job
but Condé Nast, it didn't exist and it didn't transfer. So I wasn't directly around clothes anymore or really like fashion, but you still get a sense for it. You're obviously dealing with all of the magazines. So I would now have this different relationship with Condé Nast and Hurst and some of the big titles. And I did that for five years I was there.
So was a long time. It was a really great company. There great people that worked there. And I kind of found like my footing. I started as a really junior nobody, I guess. And I kind of worked my way up as I was there and I became one of the agents at the company. And it was a really, really fun job and it was a great company to work for. And that, yeah, I was there like a while.
Conscious Success Co (17:10)
Hmm.
And did you always have any entrepreneurial ambitions or did you look or think that far ahead?
Jordanna Sharp (17:40)
Honestly, I don't think I did back then because I was still young I was still just in my mid 20s at this point and I feel like your 20s you really are kind of all over the place from a lot of different standpoints and I feel like I had made such big changes early on that I just wanted to almost feel settled so I was like in this career where I was earning my own money and I felt settled I knew what I was doing every day I was pretty good at it and then by this point I was making friends and like some of
my husband's friends' wives are now my best friends. And so I was kind of finding my way in this new place that felt very different to home. And so I wasn't like, okay, what's next, what's next, what's next? Because I was just like, let me just focus on right now.
Conscious Success Co (18:25)
Mm-hmm. So you also, did you become a mom while at that company or around this time?
Jordanna Sharp (18:32)
I became pregnant while at that company. So I started trying for my first baby whilst I was there. And that journey has taken a lot longer than we had anticipated and it always did. So we were trying for like the last year I was there basically. And then I fell pregnant while I was there and I stayed there for a few months into the pregnancy. But honestly, because my fertility journey has been so...
once I was actually pregnant, I, for whatever reason, I kind of just wanted to like live in that. I suddenly was like, okay, it worked. I can breathe and I'm gonna have a baby. So now I want my focus to just be that. So I actually left the company and had my first daughter and then she,
was about six months and then there was a global pandemic. So that obviously then changed everything for a while.
Conscious Success Co (19:29)
Right, okay, so was it, it sounds like a conscious choice, like, hey, I'm gonna focus on this, it was really hard for me to get pregnant, I wanna make this my focus. Were you anticipating and expecting I'll be a stay at home mom? Was that the goal? Did you grow up with that as your own role model?
Jordanna Sharp (19:38)
Absolutely.
I did, my mom is a stay at home mom and she is very, very good at it. And so yes, I grown up in a dynamic where just my dad worked and
I don't necessarily plan that far ahead and I guess I still don't. I definitely wanted a career and I worked for it and then I was in it and then I knew that I obviously wanted kids. And I'm not sure if had it not been so challenging to get pregnant and then have these kids, I would have then been like, I actually just want this. But because it consumed me for so long, it's suddenly then all I wanted to focus on. So by the time I had
my eldest, during the pandemic, we actually moved to Miami. So we were there and no one was working. And so I was like, do you know what? I feel like I'm okay with this then because she's here and she's perfect. And I worked really hard for her. And I knew I was gonna have at least two kids. So I kind of just enjoyed it. And I enjoyed her for the whole first year of her. I just really soaked it in. I took her to every single baby club.
I still am but I was super super like hands-on. I did not have a nanny at the time. Like I really had no help. I was just like, I really really want to do this. And I'm not sure when I look back now, I'm not sure if it was something I felt like I had to prove to myself because of how hard it really had been to like make her. There was a, there's a lot of guilt that comes with going through fertility and I'm not sure if because of that, I suddenly felt this need to just be super present.
Conscious Success Co (21:13)
Hmm.
Jordanna Sharp (21:19)
and
and just the best mom on the planet. And so I was like for that period of time. And honestly, the pandemic made it a little bit easier Cause there wasn't this pressure to go out and find a job. what's the point? There's a pandemic. people aren't hiring in that space and stuff. So it all made it a little easier. And then we knew we didn't want a big age gap between our first two kids. So by the time she was
Conscious Success Co (21:34)
Hmm.
Jordanna Sharp (21:42)
15 months knew we had to do it again. So we went back to New York, because that's where my fertility doctor is, and we started the whole thing up again.
Conscious Success Co (21:51)
And so when
did Styled by Jordana come into this? Because you launched it about five years ago, is that right? Okay.
Jordanna Sharp (21:56)
Yeah, after my second child.
So I got pregnant again and actually that was actually pretty easy by comparison. We still did IVF, but it was like one transfer done. Aria happened. Had Aria and then pretty much straight from giving birth to her, had, guess what you would define as some type of nervous breakdown. And I found myself with extreme postpartum depression.
I was in a really really dark place and
I kind of stayed in that place for a good few months and I kind of realized that I needed some help because I wasn't doing very well on my own. And so I went to see a therapist and one of the themes that came up a lot was the reason I was struggling so much now is because I had really, really lost a sense of identity. I really didn't know who I was outside of this role of like mom and
wife and that's a really hard place to be when you're basically in your very early 30s.
And that's how I founded Style by Drodana. we went back and forth for a while and she kept saying, you know, what makes you happy? What brings you joy? What did you do before kids? What have you always loved to do? And this obviously concept of fashion and specifically styling kept coming up and she said, so why don't you do it? Like, how can we make this a reality? And my sister lives in London and she owns a marketing agency and her team
build people's websites and she does all their branding and their marketing and stuff so I formed this idea which was the easiest idea I've ever had I was just like this is what I want to do and how I want to do it and I presented it to her and she put a logo together she put my website together in literally a two-week turnaround
We had it all mapped out, we had it all laid out. I had a really very clear business plan and structure. And I think for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was really doing something that I really knew how to do. And she did it all. And then we were basically just like, okay, let's post it on Instagram and see what happens.
Conscious Success Co (23:56)
Hmm.
Okay, there's so much I would want to dive into there. But before going into the business of it, I mean, I think what you're
speaking to of like a loss of identity or a sense of self and having that breakdown that leads to the breakthrough that now is your business. mean, I think that that's something that so many women who've redesigned their careers have had to go through. And, you know, the the reasons that get us to that point are many. But you know, it sounds like in your
Jordanna Sharp (24:29)
you
Conscious Success Co (24:31)
experience and frame of the world. had this mother who is an amazing stay at home mom and very often times when I hear that it's like very giving and putting other people first. Was that your experience of her as a mother growing up?
Jordanna Sharp (24:44)
She was the most present mom ever and she did and she still does I mean she does everything for us and now she does everything for my kids and that's really who she is and I think that she is very very happy doing that and I guess I thought that that looked the same for me as well and I think the more I dove into it with my therapist the more I kind of realized you know it doesn't look the same for everyone just because my mom's already happy
Being a stay-at-home doesn't mean that I would be and I obviously discovered that it really wasn't making me happy at all and I felt like I needed more for myself
and I needed things that were outside of my kids. And I remember I had this conversation with my husband and I said, like, you you come home and you have these big days and people depend on you outside of our home environment and you have things to say and things to talk about. And I don't have any of that. Like the only thing I'm talking about every day is like my kids pooping schedule and stuff. And I was like, I can't live like this. it's really sending me into a
downward spiral of chaos. And it was, it affected my marriage in a really big way. Like it was bad. And it was then just this turning point that I then took that and I actually did something with it. And instantly, even before I hit launch on Instagram, I was like, I really, really believe in this. And I really, really feel like this is going to be something. And I was always very adamant that I was going to work as hard as I possibly could.
could
to make this for myself and I did and I say this all the time like this business saved my life like it really and that makes me so emotional but it did because I I was in a really really bad place and I think had I not have had the tools presented to me to find an alternative solution I I would have it would have been really bad
Conscious Success Co (26:40)
Yeah, well, thank you for sharing that and saying that so, you know, vulnerably. And I feel so much the same in what you're talking about of like, of course, we adore our children, but I needed something for myself that existed outside of their pooping schedule. And just like the demands of being a mother, like I would have gone crazy. And I have so much respect for women like your mother who truly want and desire to do that. And the whole, you know,
philosophy around conscious success is not what the success looks like, but that it's true and aligned with your values and what you truly want for your own life. And that was not what I wanted for my life. But likewise, I didn't want to be working 80 hours a week in corporate and not, you know, seeing them. And very often I find with clients or women that I know, like they might have the big career or it feels like the escape from that is to be the stay at home mom.
But then if they do that, they're like, but this isn't actually totally fulfilling me either. And that can be really difficult. so it sounds like through that experience, you were able to turn that into something and be like, who am I? What do I want? What do I, what lights me up? What would actually provide me joy and energy outside of parenting? And then it sounds like you had a lot of clarity quite quickly about what that vision was.
Jordanna Sharp (27:53)
Very.
Very.
very very quickly. feel like it really is something that comes very naturally to me and that's not just because I think I you know I like what I wear and I can put an outfit together it's because I really feel like I have an understanding of what works for other women and other men and I really believe in that and I feel like I really did have this moment of clarity where I was just like I know I can do this and because I feel that way I also feel
feel
like it's going to be a success. And it's funny because I had this conversation with my father-in-law, and my father-in-law is a DJ, and it is his... I know, so back in the day, he was a very famous DJ.
Conscious Success Co (28:35)
Really? How interesting for like the generation before you don't hear that as much.
Jordanna Sharp (28:44)
in the 80s and 90s. He was very famous in the UK and he had a very, very famous TV show. And that's still what he does for a living. It's obviously changed a little bit how he does it, but that is still what he does. And he always, always says he wakes up every day and he does what he loves. So he never works, because he wakes up and he has done what he's loved for the past 40 years. And now...
I feel like I'm like in the same spot where I wake up every day and I just think what a blessing to be able to wake up and yeah, you can be stressed by running a business and you know, the all the admin and all of that that comes with it and I'm not saying that I'm not stressed, but I genuinely wake up every day and I'm like, I could not imagine doing anything else in the world. This is the only thing that feels exactly aligned with me and who I am. And honestly, it just feels like
such a blessing.
Conscious Success Co (29:39)
It is, and I think when you find that, there's that quote, when you do what you love, you never work a day in your life. And yes, there's gonna be 20 % of taking out the trash type of things in your business
Jordanna Sharp (29:51)
It's not easy. I'm not trying to sugar coat it. Of course, it's hard.
Conscious Success Co (29:54)
Totally, but it's hard work, but you're
actually doing something that you feel energized by that feels aligned with your talents and...
Jordanna Sharp (30:03)
It balances out in an easier way than just doing something to earn a living or because you've always done it and stuff. And so as stressful and as hard as days can be and annoying even sometimes, you're like, okay, well, I still love it. So it's what it is.
Conscious Success Co (30:20)
Where do you think the confidence came from that you were able to just so believe in yourself that you were able to turn this vision into reality? Did you struggle with any type of fears or self-doubt or it really was as soon as you thought and gave yourself permission to pursue it that it was going to be a reality?
Jordanna Sharp (30:35)
You know what's so funny? In this one area of my life, I feel like...
I just knew that I could do it. really, and I don't know where that maybe in therapy I think helps the confidence, but honestly, I feel like this is the one area of my life where I'm like, I know that I excel at this. So I'm gonna run with it because I know. And I think it's actually really helped run my business. I am very conscious for the last five years of what I'm doing and what I'm putting out into the world. And I really, I always say this to my kids,
I really stay in my lane. When my kids are naughty, I tell them to stay in their lane, so mind your business. And I really practice that. I am focused just on me. I don't let competition or what anyone else is doing or the Instagram world and stuff, none of it bothers me. I'm always just like, I'm in my lane, I'm doing this, I'm putting this out there, I have this to say, I have that to say.
I just feel like I know what I'm talking about in this one area of my life.
Conscious Success Co (31:35)
Hmm. I mean,
I think oftentimes I see people who have this like, I would call that in your zone of genius struggle to see that as valuable or worthy because it comes so easily. But for you, it's like, no, I actually have such confidence that because this is the one thing that I truly know how to do that you don't let all the noise get in the way.
Jordanna Sharp (31:54)
Yeah, I really don't and I guess you know,
I was trying to find myself and it was like this whole You know me moment of really having an identity You know part of it is also to make money to call a spade a spade like I obviously wanted this to be very financially successful So going into something where you're putting yourself out there and your names on it and your faces attached to it And I'm like, god, like what if I get no clients?
or what if no one buys a style guide or what if online people don't like what they see so you know by nature I'm not my god I'm the shit and what I say goes so of course like when I first started as much as you believe in the product or the service you're selling people still have to pay for it to for it to technically be a success right so people could be like this is such a cool concept great idea love this it
was made for you. Okay, great. Are you booking a service? Are we paying? And like sometimes I still feel like that. I could walk into a year and be what's this year gonna look like So I have that doubt.
Conscious Success Co (32:52)
Can you talk to us about what that first year in business building, the foundation and what your products or offers looked like? Building an audience or finding clients? Talk to us about all of that.
Jordanna Sharp (33:04)
The finding client side was actually very interesting because I kind of obviously, as I said, I launched on Instagram. I did not have the following that I have now. I had like, I think 1500 followers or something like that. But I had obviously people in New York follow me. So I remember as soon as I posted, I got some interest from women that I had been a mom group with or whatever in certain pockets of the city. And they were like, this sounds so cool. I would love to
to
book you for this, tell me more, And initially, my entire business grew through word of mouth in New York City. And a lot of it came from women and mums my age, and I would work with them and they would then, you know, at school pickups, suggest me to someone else or a music class or be like, I just worked with Jordana, she was great, she did this, you should reach out to her. And I would find that, I suddenly was working with a lot of women in, Tribeca and then, the Upper East.
And like it kind of you notice people chit chat, especially in New York It's actually a much smaller place than people think And that's really how the client side of it grew in that first year Because I didn't have the Instagram side of it back then I was building it and I obviously was taking content every day and posting and posting and posting and back then it watched it was much easier to grow I think even just five years on to what it is like now on Instagram, but
back then it was a lot of word of mouth I also I did not say no to anything I
knew that if I was gonna do this and it was gonna be a success and I was gonna do it well, then yes is the word of the day. So I would, as much as I could take on, I would say yes. Like I didn't map out my calendar like I do now where I say to people, know, I'm booked like a month in advance or whatever. So this is the next available. I would just be like, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. And part of that was because I knew the minute I get in front of someone, that's the opportunity for them to become
client and for them to tell me about the next person and the next person. And it worked and that first year I would be up at all hours of the night putting edits together I would say yes to in-persons multiple times a day. Now I do not do that. I would be on Zooms even if it was bath time and bedtime for me doesn't matter.
this client so we're taking a zoom and so it was a real hustle I would call it.
Conscious Success Co (35:23)
Was that hard for you
to put this like so front and center after you had so centered your children before that to make that switch and what came up for you in that period?
Jordanna Sharp (35:32)
That was hard. It was also like this interesting.
It was this interesting thing of like, my God, it's actually working. I actually am getting these inquiries and people are booking and sending payment And I was like, my God, we need to just like roll with this. my husband and I really made it work pretty quickly. And we hired a nanny who's still our nanny actually for our kids quickly, just because he was like, I really, really, really want you to do this. And I can already see that it's lighting you up. So let's just make the home environment easy.
And we did and hiring someone full-time to help definitely made it easier and you know, maybe that took away from me being with my kids that first year, but you know, the alternative was much worse. So we invested in this woman in the goal that she would help there so I could do this.
much as possible.
Conscious Success Co (36:22)
And it sounds like
because you had hit that kind of rock bottom period and your husband had obviously experienced that alongside you and then seen that this is lighting you up. So this is something that you need and the health of our family also needs for you to be happy, right? And to be able to invest in getting and bringing on support, maybe even in advance of the revenue to replace that or whatever being there, but just saying this matters.
Jordanna Sharp (36:47)
Yep, absolutely. he was really wonderful to do that and even be like, let's just get you help. it doesn't matter how much it costs or whatever. let's do it so you can really focus. So yeah, and that really helped and I still do work that hard, but obviously now I can manage my schedule a little cleaner than I was doing back then.
Conscious Success Co (37:07)
And so your business has different ways that you can work with clients. Can you talk about how those different types of offers or ways of working came to be and how those maybe shifted over time?
Jordanna Sharp (37:16)
So the funny thing is, is actually nothing has shifted.
Conscious Success Co (37:20)
Really? You just got it
totally right out the gate. That's amazing.
Jordanna Sharp (37:23)
Not
even that. There are actually some services I've taken away out of me not enjoying them as much, But everything I offered back then is exactly what is offered now. if you are New York based, there is the option to have an in-person session with me. And that in-person session is basically me coming to your closet and curating and styling your own closet for you.
That's considered part of my wardrobe consulting. I also offer that virtually for obviously anyone that is not in the city. And I don't even like Long Island would be virtual for me. don't travel anywhere.
Conscious Success Co (37:58)
You're like, I'm not leaving Manhattan, thank you.
Jordanna Sharp (38:01)
So again, the focus is not, it's not a clean out, it's not an organizing service, it's curating what you have. That's the consulting. Outside of consulting, I offer client edits, which is something that you and I have done together, where I will stall you for basically near enough anything. So I offer what we call a personal shopping edit, which is basically a day-to-day
styling
so that focuses on your basic day-to-day needs so whether it's work, weekend, date night, dinners, whatever your regular normal everyday closet looks like I help find items for you for that closet so that involves a client and I jumping on a call similar to what we did chit chatting about everything you need, budgets, price points, what you like, what you don't like, style inspo, the consults are pretty in-depth and then I go away and I work on this PDF document
and I send it over, you buy the clothes, and then we go through it together and it's like a try on between the two of us. I basically do that for every type of life event or anything that you would need styling help for. So it's day to day, it's vacation, it's photo shoot, it's occasion if you have some type of event, work event, wedding guest or whatever it is, I do these edits for you. And that's the services that were offered back then and that's...
services are offered now.
Conscious Success Co (39:18)
And you also have style guides though, right? Because I've purchased those from you as well. So talk to us about that.
Jordanna Sharp (39:20)
I do. I do.
So that grew, I've had those for a few years, I think since like 2023 or 22, that basically grew out of a desire to be able to cater for everyone in some type of way. So what I charge for private styling, you know, it's considered a luxury service and I definitely don't charge in the thousands by any means. However, it is a luxury service that comes with a luxury price tag and my service fees are the
same
for everyone. So it doesn't matter what your budget is, what you spend on clothes, you pay me X and this is what we do together for that. And not everyone wants to spend that on a service, which is totally fine. It's like, you you have people come and organize your home and not everyone does that. You know, people are willing to commit to certain things and not others. So it kind of grew out of this desire to be able to still provide
inspiration or help throughout different seasons to the majority of people. I kind of actually worked with my sister on this concept where I was like, what can I put together that people can buy on my site? There's no commitment. Like you don't have to subscribe to a certain amount. You can buy one, you can continue to buy them. It's seasonal. So you can buy for spring, you can buy for summer. Again, there's no commitment on either of our parts. And I charge a fraction for this guide of why
for the actual private service.
It's basically a curated PDF document of eight looks for the season and nothing in there is over $300. So that was really the sweet spot because obviously when you work with someone privately, everyone has different budgets and different price points and I cater to those when we work one-on-one. However, if I was going to make this a service that was a more affordable option, let's say, there's no point me then including items that are thousands of dollars.
because it almost becomes redundant, right? You don't want to pay 50 bucks for something and then everything in there, it's like, this is a liar and this is Loewe and so it's pointless. So we kind of honed in on this, like, let's make it this affordable seasonal option for people. And it really, really took off. It really took off.
Conscious Success Co (41:15)
Yeah.
Wow. I mean, you
clearly so knew what the consumer that you were creating it for wanted, right? And were able to so meet that. And I love that nothing in there is more than $300. Because that's definitely a reservation for me. Like, I love beautiful things and fashion to an extent. But I'm also a mom. My kids are wiping their messy little hands on me all the time. I'm not in the season of life where
I wanna spend $1,000 on something that's just gonna, yeah, get dirty. And so you were able to be like, okay, I'm going to launch these guides every season. It's going to be at an accessible price point and everything in it is going to be accessible. And I imagine you are also at this point had kind of built more of your Instagram following as well. So it was a way to like have a product for more of those followers than your one-on-one service could allow.
Jordanna Sharp (42:00)
Yeah, totally.
Yeah, exactly. The two definitely started to go hand in hand. And obviously, you know, the bigger the following gets, the more input you can take from that, right? Because people DM you all day, every day, and they're like, do you have a more affordable option for the pant that you're wearing or the pant you posted your client wearing or whatever? And I was suddenly like, you know what? There is a real need for this. And there's a need for it for all different walks of women and life, right? Like I feel like a lot of my clients
typically either my age or above, but there's a lot of people that follow me that are just starting their careers and want a ton of new clothes, but don't actually want my help. And also some people don't want the one-on-one. They really just want a little bit of input of these pieces are really cool for the next three months of the season. I don't really need to interact with her much further than that. And that's totally fine as well. So it definitely catered for more of the Instagram community.
than trying to make all those people private clients.
Conscious Success Co (43:22)
Mm-hmm. And was your strategy on Instagram, because you started very word of mouth, then I imagine people are sharing your profile so you're getting followers. I think you now also identify, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you're also a content creator, meaning that you make money from your Instagram. Can you talk to us about how that became an additional revenue stream?
Jordanna Sharp (43:45)
Honestly, people ask me this a lot, I really don't know what initially grew my following.
I think I have just always been very consistent in what I am posting. obviously I post my work. So I'm posting like other people's cool outfits and what I'm doing with clients and stuff. But I have always posted myself and what I'm wearing and how I put an outfit together. And I think maybe my very simple classic style just drew a bit more attention because people are kind of looking to relate to
a woman in her mid thirties who's a mom who can also dress, you know, cool and modern and that type of thing. and I was just consistent. I post every day consistently. My style hasn't dramatically changed, right? Like, okay, maybe it's gone a little more refined or, you know, as you get older, I'm like, you know, I probably shouldn't wear that anymore or whatever, but it hasn't dramatically changed. And I think that level of consistency and like she really
really knows what she wears and she does that in a really put together tailored way and I don't follow trends, I'm not posting things for the sake of posting them.
I'm not pushy with things on Instagram. I'm not like you should buy this, this and this. I didn't go into it being this is going to be my revenue stream. So I need to be posting links 24 seven to make money. I was just genuinely this is what I'm wearing today and this is how I'm wearing it. And this is a brand that I really love and stuff like that. So I think it's always felt very genuine. And I guess that's just part of who I am. And I think that also transpires into the
styling business as well. I'm a very genuine, you get what you get, this is me, like it or not. And people relate to that. And I think, you know, it kind of travels through a photo and online and stuff like that. And people can be like, yeah, I like her style so I'm gonna follow her. And then at some point people do buy the links
Conscious Success Co (45:41)
And so in terms of that like content creator revenue stream or things that come from having a following, is it mostly like a shop my type of links where you're getting, you know, a percentage on a sale? Is it mostly brand sponsorships or what does that actually look like when you break it down?
Jordanna Sharp (45:57)
I would say now I get a very big revenue base from LTK posts. Actually I'm not really on Shopify, but LTK is a really big platform for me and I have like 20,000 followers on there. And that's a lot in terms of like generating revenue. and I post and people buy and that's how I, you know, that's part of how I make money every month. And then the brand.
Conscious Success Co (46:02)
Mm-hmm.
Jordanna Sharp (46:22)
Brand partnerships, I absolutely love them and I'm very fortunate to have worked with some really incredible brands but I am very, very particular about what I say yes to and what I say no to and the dollar sign at the end of it actually means less to me in that sense because as much as I can refer to myself as a content creator, I also love following other people online and there are certain accounts
that
I'm gravitate towards and I love and I follow them for certain reasons. And one of the things that I can't bear with a lot of influencers and I get, I how it works. And I get it is this constant ad, ad, ad,
Like I'm just not for any of it. So I would say that I probably say no to 80 % of brand opportunities that are presented to me out of choice because I really only want to be...
promoting something that I genuinely either wear or believe in or like the product or like the person behind the product or have some type of relationship or know that I use that brand for all of my clients. And maybe that doesn't, know, sometimes I'll, maybe I'll partner and someone's like, I didn't know she liked that. But for me, there is always a deeper connection to the brand
Conscious Success Co (47:42)
And it makes so much more sense longer term because you actually have the trust of the people that follow you. And when you promote something, they believe that that's actually a great product or something they should buy versus then just opting out and being like, okay, I'm just, dollar signs to her.
Jordanna Sharp (48:00)
I do not come across like I am full of shit because My styling business is my main priority It's literally my third child and if I come across on Instagram like I am full of shit Then my clients may also think that I'm full of shit and I'm not so the two really now go hand in hand so everything has to be as Authentic as the next thing
Conscious Success Co (48:24)
you
have this one-on-one relationship with the personal styling, which you love, but that isn't a scalable business, quote unquote. But then you have these style guides, which people can purchase. You have the LTK links. You've got some brand partnerships. And then all of those different revenue streams together make for a successful business. And that's a lot of different things going on. Does it feel...
hard to deliver on all of those things. And by the way, daily posting. this is, a lot of work going on behind the scenes while also having, you know, two children and going through IVF and all of that. Like, how do you balance it? Do you have team? Does this feel like a grind or does it genuinely feed you so it feels like fun?
Jordanna Sharp (49:11)
I mean there are some things that actually do not feel particularly stressful. To be honest, I do not find posting on Instagram stressful at all. I do not put pressure on myself. If I have not got dressed that day, then there's no outfit on Instagram and that is what it is. I will find something else to post. It doesn't have to be like what I'm wearing today. The Instagram side of it, I actually find particularly easy for whatever reason. I think maybe just because I've never put pressure on it. And again, I'm not trying to constantly sell you.
So it's easy, right? some days I'm like, I have time to be able to do a Q and A today. Like let's interact in that way. I went out for dinner last night. So I asked my client to take a photo of me and then I posted it online. takes two seconds. I'm also not taking unless it's for a brand, I'm not taking professional photos. So I don't need a whole song and dance of content and stuff. It's literally nine times out of 10, my husband taking a photo of me or a friend or someone or me taking
taking
a photo of myself. it's super quick, it's super easy, in my opinion, doesn't take any time.
And I guess that applies for some revenue streams, right? Cause the LTK revenue comes as a result of that. So that isn't stressful. The brand partnerships, I also don't find stressful. You come up with a concept, you find a time to shoot it. You send it to the brand, it's done. The actual like business side of it, like, yeah, that's obviously stressful. I take on a lot. It is just me doing all of it. I used to have an assistant and I guess I kind of discovered that I probably just do better on my own.
and I don't actually need someone to help because no one is ever client facing apart from me. So I don't need anyone to help with invoicing or anything like that. Cause again, maybe I'm just very good at time management, but none of these things alone take that much time. So I'm able to send a client like, hey, you owe this amount of money, please pay today. none of it takes very long. The things that take the most time are obviously like putting the edits together, I was on like two Zooms this morning,
being on Zooms, I have an in-person tomorrow. all of that obviously takes the most amount of time, but I definitely have become better and being able to say no, so I don't over, you know, stack myself every day. And as I mentioned earlier, I work with my sister and that is probably the greatest blessing to my business because she will handle all of the marketing, branding, backend stuff. I'm not very tech savvy.
and so she does everything. So like my newsletters that I do every month, I send her the bulk of the content to put in it with the photos and the text and she makes it look how you then see it in your inbox every month. I would not in a million years be able to do that. Same with like if I'm creating a reel for a partnership, I'll make the content, I send it to her and someone then does whatever they do and it's magic and it all comes together. So yes, she helps me with a lot of that stuff but
else I guess I just somehow manage.
Conscious Success Co (52:03)
You've talked about styling as an act of self-knowledge, not self-improvement. And do you think it's possible to have true personal style without first knowing ourselves and knowing who we are?
Jordanna Sharp (52:16)
No, I do not. And I think that, I think the two go hand in hand actually, and I think that...
As women, I feel like we evolve a lot, from our early 20s to our 30s, and then every decade, I feel like we are evolving. And I think as we evolve and our lives change, our style changes.
I am at a point of my life where I feel pretty content. I've done a lot of work on myself and I don't particularly care what other people think. if I am defined by knowing who I am, then my style probably isn't going to shift that much now from this point onwards. However, the 20 year old me was, I mean, when I met my husband, I was wearing a tiny mini dress and like hookah heels. so we're not doing that now.
And so I feel like, you know, you naturally evolve and your life changes and so therefore your style changes. So I think until you are fully content with who you are, you can't really define the other factors, right?
Conscious Success Co (53:13)
I feel like sometimes
fashion and styling can get a bad rap as being vapid or shallow or just fueling like mindless consumerism. What do you say to that critique and how do you, you know, make peace with that tension in your own work?
Jordanna Sharp (53:27)
I mean, it definitely does, and I think...
you know, that has got worse more recently because of the power of social media, right? I feel like now we are very consumed by what other people are wearing and it's also very easy now to then swipe up and buy what someone else is wearing. And I think that in itself becomes this, you know, problem of overconsumption where you find yourself in a closet full of things that you've bought as a result of a late night swiping up session because you saw it look really beautiful on someone else and you're like, wait,
what am I doing with this frilly Chloe top that I've got no business wearing? I think by definition, it's definitely a problem because it takes away from you really understanding your own closet, right? Or even like evaluating your own closet every now and then. And one of the things I say to my clients before I come in let's really go through what you have, what works for you.
questions I ask them is what does your lifestyle look like? what are you getting dressed for every day? Not what we're looking at on Instagram, but what are you getting dressed for every day? If you're staying at home, what does that look like? If you're going to an office, what does that look like? And then let's put things together that make you feel confident based around your lifestyle. And as a result of that, and then being able to come up with these formulas and outfits that really work for my clients, only then can you be okay, do you know what? Actually in my closet, there's really a need for new shoes or new jeans.
or new jackets and then by all means go ahead and buy it's hard though because as women there's so much presented to us and there's a lot of information and there's a lot of by comparison and you buy buy and buy without much thought to it and then you end up not knowing what to do with any of that
Conscious Success Co (55:08)
Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. think it can actually be very similar with, you know, career, for example, whereas like, are you doing this because this is an inside out desire? Or are you doing it because it's an outside in pressure, right? Like, are you getting dressed because that is what you find beautiful and it's an expression of self and how you want to, show up in the world? Or are you doing it because it's on trend and you're just like feeling
a need to prove your worth, right? sometimes in working with clients when we're doing values work and deep inner work, there can sometimes be this quiet shame that can come up about their love of beauty and beautiful things or experiences. that is not unspiritual or make you less serious, but it's just knowing like, okay, this is who I am and this is what I value and this is an expression of that.
That is yes, all day, we love it, but when it's coming from a need to fill the void is when we get into trouble.
Jordanna Sharp (56:05)
it's exactly the same.
Conscious Success Co (56:07)
Okay, I wanna change gears a little bit because
as we discussed in the intro, you recently opened up about losing a pregnancy and it's something that so many women experience and have trouble on their fertility journeys and carry a lot of shame around or suffer in silence. Can you kind of talk to us about...
what that journey has been like for you and what led you to share it publicly.
Jordanna Sharp (56:32)
Yeah, so I feel... I feel like...
fertility has been such a huge part of my life for so long. I mean, I am really not able to conceive naturally on my own. happened one time and I also had a miscarriage then. And so I have found myself in this realm of IVF for so long that I almost feel like an expert at it. I wish I friggin' wasn't,
the more I started to connect with like this online platform that I was creating back to the point about being authentic and stuff, I was like, this is such a huge part of my life and it's such a struggle. It felt very inauthentic to hide something that I was obviously going through that was so incredibly traumatic. I just couldn't do it. I knew that I couldn't show up every day and be Hey guys, this is what I'm wearing today. Whilst in the depth of freaking
in hell. part of it almost in a selfish way was I feel like I will feel better if I actually share as opposed to keeping it to myself. So part of it was for my own healing, as well as hoping that it then resonates with someone else, which obviously it does, because unfortunately, you know, we all know someone or have experienced loss in some way, and it's a really awful burden to carry around.
it's almost been, it's been amazing to be able to connect and like talk to someone else as they're going through it. It's also kind of been incredibly sad to know that there are so many people going through what you're going through at the exact same moment. I remember when I, posted a very long reel a few days after my miscarriage. And I say in my reel, if there's one person who's going through a miscarriage,
this week, then I hope that this helps. And a friend of mine sent me a profile of one of her friends and she was like, she's going through a miscarriage now. it just was this very overwhelming feeling of my God, I can't believe how many of us are in the same pain at the exact same moment. And it's almost, I then felt this responsibility to obviously like talk to everyone in such great depth about it. So it,
you know, it's incredible to be able to connect, but it is also like, it's really sad.
Conscious Success Co (58:43)
And it's one thing to just suffer and go through any grief or painful experience. But as humans, we're meant to be in community and to be supported and to connect. And yet, is, for whatever reason, this shame or stigma, or people feel that they don't talk about going through IVF or miscarriage so often publicly, which just can make it so much harder. And
I often talk to clients about the root words of compassion is con, which is like with, and passion, suffering, like the suffering of the Christ. So compassion is to be with suffering, and self-compassion is to be with our own suffering and be able to sit in it and to be compassionate to others, is to be able to sit alongside their suffering and see it and name it and allow it to exist, right? Not necessarily to fix it. And I think that that's
what you have done first and foremost clearly with yourself, but also that permission slip for others and not that it takes the pain away, but just allowing it to exist is so important.
Jordanna Sharp (59:47)
Yeah and I think it it just helps get
almost like an inner understanding or clarity around, you know, why certain things happen. And you're like, obviously this horrendous thing happened, but if I can use it in any way to help someone else, then maybe it, takes some of the pain away and, it's a really naturally isolating experience. And some of that, you
can't actually control it, whether people talk about it or not. I could be sitting with someone who's talking about a miscarriage at the same time I'm having one, and as helpful as it can be, I'm not sure it would make me feel less isolated about my own experience. I will still walk away and be like, okay, so it did happen to her, but why did it happen to me? Why did this thing happen to me? I've been through enough.
It's really hard when you go through that type of loss to actually really be able to relate or connect to someone else's as much as I'm trying to do that and one of the reasons I want to talk about it so much, it is actually a really private, very personal thing. Cause like even like my husband doesn't get it. Like as much as it was his loss and his baby and we went through this together and stuff, there have definitely been aspects of this past few months.
that I felt incredibly disconnected to him because he just can't possibly understand it the way that I have experienced it. And that's not his fault. It's just cause it didn't happen to him. So I think everyone's experience is just so personal because it's literally just defined by this thing that happened to your body and no amount of other people's experience is gonna make you feel less guilty or you know, all of it, that it kind of brings up.
Conscious Success Co (1:01:11)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And you wrote in your sub stack that two very big feelings can exist at the same time. And I mean, I think that you were talking about allowing yourself to feel both like the anger for
your journey for that loss, as well as also still being able to feel the gratitude for your two daughters who you love and are perfect and all of the things, but not making one of those feelings wrong, not making yourself wrong for feeling angry because you're also grateful for your daughters. And I think so often two feelings or many feelings can coexist at the same time that oftentimes feel like they're at odds with one another. And can you talk to us about like how this experience
Helped you to learn that lesson and and how you've been able to give yourself permission to navigate multiple emotions at the same time
Jordanna Sharp (1:02:19)
Yeah, I think...
Honestly, I think when it happened, I was in such a state of shock that it was actually happening. And then as you move past that and you allow yourself a little bit of time, then this feeling of anger really sets in of like, why me? And I think I have been through a lot and I have constantly kind of put that in a box each time and been like, okay, this didn't work or we lost this or this didn't happen. Let me move that here.
and let me move on to the next step and we'll go again and we'll go again and we'll go again and this
losing that baby, I think it finally, like how my therapist described it, she's like, the walls just came crashing in. She's like, there's only a point where you can keep putting the same emotion in a box and pretending that it doesn't exist. And she said, and you have been putting that anger in a box and you do that because you think that you should just show up and be grateful because you have two beautiful kids. And she said, it doesn't work like that. She says, you have to remind yourself that you have these two beautiful kids because you
you've been through hell. And she said, you are allowed to be angry at the hell part. It doesn't take away from you having those kids.
this experience, it really did. Like it just caused everything to just come completely crashing down on me. And honestly, these past four months, and she actually said this this week in therapy, it has been hell. Like I was on antidepressants, and it's funny because I show up every day online and no one would really have any idea apart from the small snippets that I share.
think that I have I finally
allowed myself to be really angry with the cards that I was dealt. There is nothing wrong with being angry that you've had to spend all this money or it doesn't work or you've experienced these losses or whatever. I'm allowed to be angry. I am also allowed to be grateful. And I feel like it kind of takes it back to that point of sometimes why it's such this like taboo subject that women don't talk about. Because I feel like sometimes we take the experience and
And
if it works, it's like, well, you should just be grateful. It worked. So we don't need to talk about all the bad because we should just be really grateful. And I lived in that kind of mindset for a while And my therapist would say to me, you always describe each experience as like, it wasn't the end of the world. I literally am down and ovary. And she was like, you literally had an organ removed and you were like, it's fine. Cause it means I can do a transfer on this.
She was like, it's not a healthy mindset. you have to grieve or process each stage before it becomes healthy to move on. And if you don't do that, then you end up crashing and burning, which is obviously what I experienced. But it has obviously shined a light on being able to understand that big feelings can coexist and one shouldn't outshine the other. And also one should not make you feel shame in any type of way.
hating the experience and wanting to literally burn down my freaking fertility office at times, I shouldn't just shut up and be like, I'm grateful because they also provided my kids. everything can coexist at once. And it's that understanding of okay, today I feel really angry, tomorrow maybe I feel less. And I do feel grateful, but I can't keep not acknowledging one over the other.
if there's advice I can offer to a person just starting out it's just allow yourself to feel the bad as much as you feel good because there's no shame in being like I freaking hate this I hate doing this it's not fair you don't have to keep telling everyone that the science is amazing and I'm so grateful I can afford it and la la la great yeah okay you can afford
it
because you work hard. one doesn't outdo the other and I think that you really have to experience all of your feelings and not put them in a box because you're trying so desperately to get to the next stage.
Conscious Success Co (1:06:16)
But I think also culturally, like women aren't side. Like men are allowed to experience anger, women are not. But similarly, men aren't really allowed to experience sadness or fear. They still feel those things, but that's not culturally acceptable, right?
And so I love what you're talking about because it's like this reclamation of being fully human and feeling the you know, human emotions. And just because we're women does not mean we're not going to feel angry. And when we actually just allow ourselves to feel the breadth and depth of those emotions and let them come in waves, that's the only way we can get back into integrity and alignment and ultimately heal, not overnight, but just by moving through that.
Jordanna Sharp (1:06:55)
It really is and it's definitely showing me that that actually is the only way to heal and actually I had this therapy session last week and she said to me and this is pretty major she was like do you know what as you're talking in this session this is the first time in the past four months that I feel like you're not pretending to be happy she's like it doesn't feel like there's any pre
You're not telling yourself that you're okay so you can try again or not try again or whatever. She said this is the first time where I feel like you are genuinely in a better place because you've allowed yourself to accept some of those feelings that you haven't wanted to accept. And she said it feels actually genuine now that you talk and you say that you're okay about something or you want to do this, I want to do that. And she was like, I can tell that you feel like you
you do want to do that
Conscious Success Co (1:07:50)
Absolutely, and you know from the outside we can look at you and you're thriving and successful in so many ways but you're also human and you're also going through these really hard things and that doesn't discount the parts of your life or business that are working but it is also something very real that you are contending with and continue to and I think sometimes we think it's all gonna be perfect and rosy and whatever for someone and they won't experience any of that but that's not
the truth,
Jordanna Sharp (1:08:16)
Yeah. And that's what makes us human. And that's why I feel like I've been recently more open and I should really share this actual part of my life because we look at people every day and we're like, Oh my God, she has it all put together or things are great. I to my husband, I'm like, so funny because the last four months I've probably had the best four months work wise at the
start of a year that I've actually ever had at the start of any year like financially where I've been these past four months but then I'm like I'm also taking an antidepressant and crumbling in you know my bathroom floor every other day so it's so crazy how these things can exist at once for one person and you look at it and you're like she's great
Conscious Success Co (1:09:01)
Yeah, and that that is unfortunately the nature of being human. Life is gonna life at certain points. None of us make it through without that happening, no matter how conscious or intentional or successful in many ways we are. And I think just like not making that a problem or a personal failing, but just an experience that is part of the human journey that we might wish we could avoid, but can't.
Jordanna Sharp (1:09:26)
I know and it's kind of just accepting that you're dealt different cards and actually you know I say to my husband as bad as it's been for us and everything we've experienced I hope that this is the worst thing that we go through because if this is the worst thing we go through together then we're pretty lucky.
Conscious Success Co (1:09:47)
Last question I'll let you go for the women listening right now who maybe they deeply want something, whether it's a family or a business and they're not sure if it's gonna happen, they hope and maybe they're taking action towards that, but there's no guarantee. what do you wanna say to her? What do you want her to know?
Jordanna Sharp (1:10:03)
I think that we can, you know, find ourselves burn out with worry most of the time for things that haven't happened yet or will never happen. And I think that if you really, really know that you want something, whether it's a family or a different career, or you're looking to start a business just know that if you put as much thought into making it happen, then you have thought about
all the doubts, the reasons not to do it, it will happen. Like you just have to keep going and work really hard it's not magic. It doesn't happen overnight and it does not happen without hard work and there's no easy way. There's no shortcuts in life with anything. And I think if you want something hard enough, the only person that can make that happen is you. So you either work for it or you didn't want it that much in the first place.
and it's all about action. I know people talk a lot about manifesting and stuff like that, but it's really all about you knowing that you want something that badly, that you refuse to not have it. It's not an option to not have it. And as long as it takes or as windy as it seems to get there, your refusal in not letting it happen means that it will happen, because you work hard for it.
Conscious Success Co (1:11:16)
Yeah, I couldn't agree
more. Well, thank you. This has been such a powerful conversation. If people want to work with you or follow you, I'm going to put your Instagram, your website in the show notes.
Thank you for making the time.
Jordanna Sharp (1:11:26)
thank you so much for having me.
