Navigating Career Transitions with Confidence: Empowering Women to Thrive | Jacqueline Potter
Jen Porter (00:00)
Hey, Lioness, welcome to the show, Lioness Conversations, where we help women be brave to lead with confidence and joy and to find your path to the most meaningful work of your life. I'm your host, Jen Porter, leadership and empowerment coach for ambitious and heart-centered women. Today, we have the pleasure of meeting Jacqueline Potter. Jacqueline is the co-founder of Collectively, a game-changing platform.
helping women be brave in their career transitions, collectively takes the guesswork out of career advancement with a powerful combination of assessments, personalized roadmaps, and connections to trusted coaches and resources. Alongside her co-founder, Sarah Miles, Jacqueline is empowering women to step boldly into careers that truly fulfill them. Jacqueline, welcome to the show.
Jacqueline Potter (00:52)
Thanks, Jen, it's so nice to be here.
Jen Porter (00:55)
I'm thrilled to have this conversation. You and I have been working together for a little over a year and I love your model. I love what you and Sarah are doing. So I really wanted to feature that and let people know about it. Tell us what's happening inside collectively right now.
Jacqueline Potter (01:00)
We have
Yeah, well, we appreciate your support. We're really excited about sort of where we started and where we've come. Really collectively was born out of the understanding that women, especially women who reach a certain level in their career, at times need support and are either bogged down by day-to-day needs in their job or have sort of a moment of crisis where something, support is needed.
immediately and they're sort of in a swirl of not knowing where to find that. And so we created a sort of a destination for these women to go to be understood as an individual first and foremost. And then secondly, to be paired with a variety of vetted coaching resources that we ourselves have found, vetted and worked with. And so as we've evolved, we are really focusing on what we call our sort of our black
book product, which is designed to support directors, VPs in the C-suite in moments, just like I described. we are one phone call. We have a quick 30 minute meeting. they fill out a very specific form and then we actually build a bio for them and then sort of build a whole presentation of, of a handful of coaches that can solve their exact problems that are read in on who they are.
what their needs are and then they sort of see how that coach would support them, price point, timing, et cetera. So it takes the guesswork out of finding an executive coach, a career coach, life coach, a business coach, depending on what your needs are. We do all that legwork for you so you can hit the ground running and it really does save time and money and a lot of stress for these
Jen Porter (03:00)
Yeah.
So it sounds like matchmaking or sort of the dating service, right?
Jacqueline Potter (03:04)
It is, yes, it very
much is. And it's interesting because when I talk to others about collectively, there's a variety of resources out there, know, aggregated lists of coaches, et cetera. And I think what really sets us apart is Sarah and I make it our job to know every single coach we work with personally. We know exactly who they work with. We know their nuances. We know exactly where they shine.
And we're very clear with our clients about that. So no more of the, I just hired this coach because it was free through my work or I hired this coach because my friend had used them. That does not mean that they are going to solve your problems. And so we were really proud of what we're able to deliver for our clients.
Jen Porter (03:43)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Well, I can attest to the process because that, know, you and I connected and there was a thorough conversation and I'm part of your network as a coach. And so you got to know me, you and Sarah. And, you know, even as I evolve, you, you know, we stay in touch to make sure that we know how I could best serve the people that you're working with. So what are, what are some of the challenges that these women are coming to you and Sarah about now? What kind of trends or patterns are you seeing?
Jacqueline Potter (04:09)
That's right.
Yeah, well, in their own day to day, we're seeing, you know, one major theme is up leveling. If you're a new director or you've gone from director to VP or VP to C-suite, there is a lot of uncertainty in sort of changing the way you approach your day to day. How do you level up to this new position? That's been a big one. Restoring confidence after layoffs, that's been another.
Big one, that's one that I know you can relate to and we're very close on that. I think understanding leadership challenges just in a day, understanding that you have, know, executive coaches are massively helpful in this. Having someone in your corner when you have to send the email that you know your CEO is not going to like, have someone in your corner to draft it for you or help you draft it, read through it, understand your.
macro and micro goals for that email and your existence at the company as a whole. It's really a, it's challenging at the top. It's lonely. And we can sort of help them through that. think the other element of this whole discussion is that the coaching world is highly unregulated. And so these resources, when correct, are game changing. When they are not, they can be a real
And so Sarah and I want to make sure that we understand to your point the coaches that we bring to the table. We know exactly who they are, how they work with others. We're very proud to recommend them and we see such success. So we eliminate a lot of the unknown there, which has been helpful.
Jen Porter (06:00)
Yeah,
there's a couple of things that come to mind that I see in my work and that is helping women show up powerfully in the boardroom, in these conversations, in leadership, in leaning into these C-suite conversations where if they have up level, they're not accustomed to using their voice in that way. And so a lot of women were used to working at a certain level, you know, with a certain...
Jacqueline Potter (06:09)
Yeah.
Jen Porter (06:27)
And then once we get to higher levels, it's a different way of operating. We have to delegate a lot more. We have to advocate a ton and we have to do things that are really uncomfortable until we get used to it. The other trend that I see is what you said is confidence. There have seen it in the last few years, especially during and after COVID. There are highly successful, badass women who have had an experience.
Jacqueline Potter (06:43)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Jen Porter (06:57)
And usually you can point to the experience that has, it's like a dagger to their ego and their confidence has just taken a hit and they don't, they no longer see themselves clearly as, know, with the brilliance that they have, with the strength, with the leadership. And so part of the work, and I'm sure you see this too, is rebuilding. Rebuilding that confidence and the identity so that they can show up.
Jacqueline Potter (07:02)
yeah.
Absolutely.
Jen Porter (07:26)
as powerfully as they truly are again.
Jacqueline Potter (07:29)
Yeah, I can completely relate to that, both professionally with our clients and personally. had someone, somebody was asking me, you know, if I could go back and live my career all over again, what would I do differently? And it wasn't that I would do anything differently. What I would have loved is to have the confidence that I had in my early 20s entering the workforce. I thought I was great.
Jen Porter (07:57)
Hehehehehe
Jacqueline Potter (07:58)
And then the wisdom
that I have in my early 40s, that since I have lived through those moments that you speak of when maybe you're reminded that you aren't the best. And that's okay.
Jen Porter (08:12)
But navigating those challenges is so key and doing that in community. our network or the communities that we surround ourselves with are so important when we hit hard times, don't you think?
Jacqueline Potter (08:17)
Yes.
So important and that is actually another element that we really drive home with the value of a good coach because Sarah felt this in her professional journey. I felt it in my own you might have a massive network, but that network is specific to your industry and you Whereas you bring a coach into the fold all of a sudden your network has doubled perhaps tripled and it's outside of your world and that is so key, especially in the landscape today that we're seeing
Jen Porter (08:55)
Yeah, yeah. So what made you and Sarah start collectively?
Jacqueline Potter (09:00)
well, our own sort of professional what now moment for both of us, it was motherhood. We realized that the way we were approaching our careers prior to motherhood was not necessarily sustainable when we became mothers. Sarah, being a pediatric nurse practitioner, highly accomplished, worked at Stanford, taught at NYU. She's a brilliant mind. I myself had a 20 year.
a career in the ad industry, selling, advertising. It was wonderful. I loved it. And then we realized that, you know, from a bandwidth perspective, from a personal want perspective, things just shifted. And we weren't really sure what to do with that knowledge. So we, happened to be COVID. My husband being a first responder was on the front lines. So I decided to take some time off just to wait. had an 18 month old at the time and
We just felt like that was the best decision for our family. And it truly was. I treasure that time. But Sarah, at the same time, was home. And we had a lot of conversations about the careers that we had built and where they went and what was the next step for us. We weren't really sure. And we kept noodling on the fact that we had both been approached by a lot of different women asking for advice or support in various ways. And what I realized is we are all feeling these feelings at certain
points in our career. doesn't have to be motherhood. It doesn't have to be any particular thing. we women specifically do come up against seasons in their career and moments of redefinement. And as we noodled on that, we looked around and we started diving into the world of coaching and realizing that this is a massive benefit specifically to women who we understand work better to your point, Jen, in community. And we like working together. And so
Jen Porter (10:52)
Mm-hmm.
Jacqueline Potter (10:53)
We wanted to take it a step further and make it accessible because if you Google career coach, mean, good God, where does that get you? Not far. And even when you're given a list of resources, I would compare it to therapy. I mean, you could be given a list of therapists by your insurance provider. Pick one of these. Okay. Okay. Whereas if you have someone to sit down and know you and truly know you,
and then know who their coaches are and be able to connect you, that to us was really meaningful and we realized could provide some real impact. And our success rate is very high. We have very satisfied customers and coaches because everybody is partnered in the right capacity.
Jen Porter (11:43)
That's awesome. So what are some of the results that you're seeing in your clients?
Jacqueline Potter (11:48)
We have one that I'm particularly proud of. She was in management and her boss left and there was an expectation that she would go for that role. However, she realized that she didn't want that role. And then she felt that she was really vulnerable at the company because if she's not going for the role, does she not look motivated? Will they pass over her? Who would she report to? How does this look?
Does she even want to be in this industry? So she was in a real moment of career crisis. So she came to us and we gave her a variety of options. And as we were reviewing the options together, she realized that she was really drawn to this coach that sort of straddled the line between career coach and life coach. And she really liked a lot of the elements that that coach had put on the table in our presentation.
And so we connected them and they ended up working together. And what she realized is she didn't necessarily need so much help professionally, she needed more help personally. And bringing those two worlds together caused her to realize that she wanted to leave that industry, take a step back. She's now working for a smaller company, but she has a little more freedom in her day to day. And this is not her forever job, but she's really excited for the next step. And she wasn't able to build the next step until she took this step.
And she would have never made this choice on her own. She would have never even saw that need. But looking at the different ways that she could be supported, she was naturally gravitating towards the right fit for her. And that's the goal. I was speaking with a client on the phone the other day, and she is very accomplished. And she has all of the tools that one needs to forge ahead in her career journey. And her quote to me was,
Jen Porter (13:15)
Yeah.
Jacqueline Potter (13:39)
Jacqueline if I'm given 20 choices, I will choose none but if you give me three I will choose one of those and that really summed up her mental state and she needs someone to help her drill down what are those three directions she could go and not only that who are the three people that could potentially get her to narrow those 20 down to three and and that's where we come in it if you are not in a moment like our clients are
Jen Porter (13:54)
Yeah.
Jacqueline Potter (14:07)
It might not make total sense what we do, but if you are in a moment in your career and you hear about us, I can't tell you how many women have told me, where were you three years ago, five years ago, when I was going through this, I could have used you. And that's why we built this.
Jen Porter (14:22)
Yeah.
So when women come to you, I'm guessing that in some cases they're clear on what they need and in other cases they're just not clear yet.
Jacqueline Potter (14:35)
Most women are clear on the fact that they are unhappy. They aren't necessarily clear on where they are going to go and what they are going to do about it. Listen, it's not just like, you know, if your heart does not sing every time you go to the office, like there's not a lot you can do about that. However, you can really drill down what are your financial needs? What is your education? What is your background? What lights you up? And we unpack all of that. Okay, now that we understand this.
let's get you talking to this coach, this coach, or this coach. And this is actually what they just said back to us, how they will help you. Does any of this resonate with you? And it really helps guide the process. And the idea is we want to keep these women excelling. We want to keep them moving either up the corporate ladder or thriving in their current role. But we want to be sure that they feel supported in their career journey.
because we do have a lot pushing on us internally, externally. And I think that leads to a lot of women saying, you know what, I'm out. I'm just gonna figure this out. can't do this anymore. And we want, I mean, if that is their choice and that's their truth, my goodness, that's amazing. God bless. But there's other women who are slogging through a work day, maybe they're underpaid, maybe they're doing it better than their company and they should be consulting.
Jen Porter (15:42)
lot of women are leaving the workplace.
Yeah.
Jacqueline Potter (16:01)
Maybe it's just a bad manager or maybe it's them. Maybe they just need to change this and that in their day and it's gonna be smooth sailing. I mean, there's so many ways to solve a problem and it doesn't have to be, I'm gonna grind until I burn out and then maybe I can quit or retire or whatever. I mean, we get one life and we spend the majority of it working. We should at least try to make the best of it.
Jen Porter (16:26)
Right?
let's find what we're really meant to do, where we can thrive and shine. It sounds like what you're doing is you're saving these women time because they don't have all the time in the world to search for the support that they really need, but you're also empowering them and giving them some control in the process by letting them choose who they're working with. You're just narrowing down those choices to make it efficient.
Jacqueline Potter (16:31)
Yeah
Correct. We want to make sure that the choices they are making are reputable, that these coaches are going to deliver on what they say they will, because we have seen money squandered, and it is not a good thing. Not with our coaches, clearly, but we have heard horror stories of clients coming to us saying, it is worth you finding this coach for me. It's interesting, as we were building the company, I had had an experience with childcare.
And I hired someone and I didn't use the service that everyone in my town was using. I was like, I can interview. This is fine. I work from home. I'm keeping an eye on things. The woman didn't show up. Day two. And I had meetings and a job and all of the things. And that's when I realized like, wow, maybe it does matter to go to the nanny service that everyone else uses because I pay a little bit more. And then all of a sudden I know that
That person is vetted, showing up on time, and she was a godsend to our family. And it's the same with a coach. You might as well, if you're going to invest money in this, just make sure it's the right investment. And we want to make sure that that is seamless for our clients. What do you do? Google somebody and hope they do what they say they're going to do?
Jen Porter (18:11)
Right, right. So it's really important to you and Sarah to protect your clients and make sure that they're getting the right resources and coaches.
Jacqueline Potter (18:19)
And not only that, we also protect our coaches. We work with our clients and they are already showing, yes, I'm willing to do the work on myself. I'm willing to invest in myself because these coaches that really do want to make a difference in the world, they're showing up too and spending their time having discovery calls and working with clients. But if you're not ready to be coached, then you also shouldn't be working with a coach.
You need to come in with an open mind. Similar, again, to a therapist. Like, do you want help? Correct. Yeah.
Jen Porter (18:51)
You have to be ready for the work. Definitely. Definitely. Oh, you and I have
talked a lot about investing in ourselves and how it's, I believe it's one of the things that holds women back more than anything else is when, when we won't invest in ourselves and we will invest in everybody else around us, our kids, we will, you know, without skipping a beat, we will spend a ton of money on whatever the needs are that come our way. But when it comes to
Jacqueline Potter (19:10)
Totally.
Jen Porter (19:19)
our own needs, we hesitate or even just flat out say if it's going to cost money, And it's such a disservice because we stay stunted. What do you see?
Jacqueline Potter (19:27)
Yeah?
And
I totally agree with you. And I also think time. I don't have any more time to spend to work with a coach or to. But if that time and if that money made your day different, A, you will make that money back in spades. That goes without saying. And then B, what if you were more efficient with your day? What if you don't have time because you're not managing your time correctly?
Jen Porter (19:41)
Right?
Yes.
Jacqueline Potter (19:59)
What I have found, and I think that's a really interesting topic that you bring up, because what I have found is I'm not in the business of selling women coaches. I won't do it. If you need a coach, you should come to us, because we will make sure that you have the right one. But if you don't know you need a coach, that is a personal journey that I support, but I can't convince you to show up and spend time and money on something that you're not totally bought into. And that's what we have realized over the past four years.
Jen Porter (20:29)
Hmm. So how do how do women know what they what what's possible?
Jacqueline Potter (20:35)
We do a lot of, I mean, we have a lot of information. look, my goal is to be the authority in the coaching space because we know how to find coaches. We know how to look for the good ones. We know how to understand a good coach. And I will say a good coach knows their ideal client. If you have a coach that says, I work with everyone, they're not a good coach. So coaches that truly understand exactly who they support and how that's a good coach.
There's elements of that that we bring to the table, but we also are identifying the difference between a career coach and executive coach. A lot of people do not know the difference. A lot of people are almost getting exhausted on the term coach. Like it's just everybody's a coach now. And what does that mean? And how do they help me? And what do you mean they charge me thousands of dollars? Well, Sarah and I do a lot of education, speaking engagements, we have literature that we've built.
we post frequently on LinkedIn with, you know, thought leadership on sort of the world of coaching, but it's our goal to educate further and truly. There's a lot of education in our process at collectively with our clients. A client will come and say, this is my problem. And I'll say, great, you know, let's talk about your problem more. Let's identify your problem more. And then we call our coaches partners because there's a variety of partners we work with. Some are.
business coaches, some are marketing coaches, some are financial coaches, some are executive or career or life coaches. All of these resources are necessary to support these women in whatever journey they're on. But it really gets down to a woman who's willing to invest in themselves and raising their hand saying, help me. We then identify exactly what they're needing. And then we know who can help them achieve these goals.
And some of those goals are, still don't know what I want. And we have some amazing resources that will help them get clear. But Sarah and I, in our process, build out, for those that are still unclear, we have another sort of step to our program that we build out a roadmap of, these are all the directions you can take. Are you naturally drawn to one of these? And I think you noticed earlier, we do not tell our clients what to do.
Jen Porter (22:36)
Yeah.
Jacqueline Potter (22:57)
We bring the options to the table because this is such a personal decision and it's not ours to make. But we don't have skin in the game. We are not swirling in a state of personal stress. So we have a bit of the ability to stand back like a friend and say, listen, this is what I'm seeing. This is what I'm hearing. This is potentially where you could go. And these are the different resources you would need for each path. And then from there, we sort of then bring in our
exact coaching resources in into the discussion.
Jen Porter (23:30)
Do your clients ever interact with one another? Is there a community piece?
Jacqueline Potter (23:34)
Not yet. That we look forward to down the road. We are really bullish about bringing women together. I'm actually working with a coach who's doing sort of a road show. It's a bunch of speaking engagements in different cities and it's bringing women together, but collectively has not formally done that yet because of bandwidth. Sarah and I are really involved with our clients and it's very high touch. And so
When we create a community, which we will, we want to be able to dedicate time and resources to that, and we just don't have.
Jen Porter (24:06)
Yeah.
What would be the experience for somebody if someone's listening and they say, gosh, I could really use a coach. I could really use some direction. What could they expect by way of what their experience and what that journey would be?
Jacqueline Potter (24:20)
With us? Yeah.
So I would just say go visit our website, vcollectivelyco.com and book a discovery call. You can also find me personally on LinkedIn and book a discovery call and we'll chat for 30 minutes. We can talk about what you're needing, where you are in your career journey. And we love to connect with women that are looking for support.
It does, you by all means do not have to work with us. We're always willing to chat. It's interesting. I've also been speaking at a few different colleges recently. They are not our audience. They have not built their career yet, but Sarah and I are bullish about supporting women in all parts of their career journey. And I think supporting these women before they even enter the workforce is massively important. So that's something, something.
Jen Porter (25:06)
Yeah. And are you
partnering with companies or others?
Jacqueline Potter (25:12)
We are, we're in discussions with a few different companies to support them and their sort of female workforce, which is really exciting. And that is sort of on the horizon as we grow collectively, that is something we're really focused on. So still supporting our clients day to day, but also supporting companies as a whole to maintain female participation in their company and leadership. That's been huge. Yeah. We're really excited about that.
Jen Porter (25:37)
Yeah, yeah.
So what has this experience been like for you as a business owner and a business builder?
Jacqueline Potter (25:47)
It's interesting. I am thriving. I don't know that I can imagine not having collectively in my life. It fills my cup. It presents challenges day to day that I love tackling. I was a salesperson for so long. think as a seller, you kind of run your own business within a larger organization. And so what I don't think I saw was I had a lot of entrepreneurial spirit.
long before I became an entrepreneur. And now I kind of love putting myself out there. And I think Sarah feels the same way. We take risks with our own time, money, little, you know, this is the baby that we built. So we're very protective of it. But it really, it fills our cup for sure.
Jen Porter (26:34)
Yeah.
And when have you had to be brave across this entrepreneurship journey?
Jacqueline Potter (26:47)
Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. I'm sure you can understand that. You know, I've had so many conversations over the years. I remember early on, I was having a conversation with a founder who had started a company, built it, sold it, the whole thing. And I was like, this is going to be great. She used to do what I did and now I'm doing what she did and this is going to be great. And I had one phone call with her and she goes, you sure this is your business?
I don't know if this is your business and I was like, I just watched my own sales go BOO!
But it was great, I appreciated the feedback. And you just, you have to understand that like, there are people that are not gonna understand it, or there are people that are gonna say, I tried it your way, you gotta pivot, and this is how, and this is what I learned. And you you take it all in, and then you execute according to your own needs, but it is a risk. mean, you are, like I said, investing your time and money and emotions into.
growing something because you believe that you can make a difference. And so I think that moment in 2020 when Sarah and I, and there was another woman at the time who we just adore was with us and we were like, let's do this, let's start this. Sarah literally delivered her son the day we launched the collection.
Jen Porter (28:06)
wow.
Jacqueline Potter (28:08)
I mean, we were in it. I think that it's so funny. I'm like, how old is our business? yeah, there's Wyatt there. Yeah, all right. But it takes a lot. It takes a lot to put yourself out there. You build something and then you sort of roll it out and you hope you're accepted by clients, by friends and family, by the world, if you will. And it's a vulnerable time.
Jen Porter (28:15)
Wow.
Jacqueline Potter (28:35)
But then you live it and you live the good, the bad and the ugly. And my husband says this a lot, he's allowed to because he runs into fires, but he's like, man, just makes you feel so alive. Like that's how I feel. was like, this is totally, he's like, you know, you're in it and there's fire all around you and you feel alive. And I'm like, you're crazy. Yeah, you're a nut, but this is as far as alive as I want to feel. But man, you do some days you're like, oh, we're doing this, okay.
Jen Porter (28:48)
That's what he says about his work as a firefighter.
He's made for it.
Yeah, yeah, I feel so alive in my work. I can totally relate to that, yeah.
Jacqueline Potter (29:08)
Right?
And that feeling when you know you made a difference in someone's life and they tell you that. I mean, it doesn't get any better.
Jen Porter (29:13)
Yes.
It doesn't get any better. Yeah.
Jacqueline Potter (29:19)
And
these, sorry, I meant to circle back when I was having conversation with this woman when my sales were deflated. We were talking about the why. Why did Sarah and I, why do Sarah and I do this every day? Because we want to help these professional women thrive. And as long as you have your why, it's gonna get you through the frustrating days.
Jen Porter (29:35)
Yeah.
Absolutely, yeah. So what does your lioness energy look like when it's on display?
Jacqueline Potter (29:50)
Well, I'm very extroverted. kind of this, I guess. I think that I have a real, I am very open to meeting new people. I love to meet new people. I love to connect. I love to support. And I think that I can almost feel it, whether someone can visibly see that or not.
Jen Porter (29:58)
Yeah?
Jacqueline Potter (30:18)
when I meet a new client or I go speak on a college campus or I go speak in an event and someone who was in my shoes 10 years ago comes up to me and says, am so glad you are doing what you're doing. There is like a spark that you just feel like, wow, that was really validating. Like sometimes I have to sort of give myself that spark on days, but when you really can see who you're helping, it's an energy that is.
Undeniable.
Jen Porter (30:48)
It's like what you do for your clients when you help them understand what lights them up. This is what lights you up.
Jacqueline Potter (30:55)
Yes, absolutely. Also, when I see such a capable, smart, accomplished woman come across my desk, if you will, and I'm fangirling over them and they're like, yeah, well, I'm really struggling. I'm like, you are? Why?
Jen Porter (31:12)
And what is that about?
Jacqueline Potter (31:14)
so many things. I mean, we have had major executives come in and sit down and say, I don't like the company I work for. Like, I'm making great money. I'm the breadwinner, but I do not believe in this company. What do I do? I mean, major moments in their careers. Or I know that I have built this and my family has lived in certain places because of my job.
And I don't even know that I like this job. Do I stay out of obligation? Do we pack up and move? What do I do? mean, major decisions need to be made.
Jen Porter (31:51)
big decisions. There's such a shift
that's happened in our workforce over the last, I'm going to say decade, where women are, I mean, a lot of the clients I work with, the women are the breadwinners in their families. It's really shifted. And so the weight of responsibility that these women feel for their livelihood, for their families, for providing, it's real.
Jacqueline Potter (32:00)
Yeah.
yes,
And not only
that, they also sort of have a lot of different pressures on them. We were working with a VP at a major tech company and she was really candid. She said, listen, I'm in a 6 p.m. meeting that I have to be in and I'm sitting like a good soldier in my chair and all the men around me have stay at home moms who are making dinner for their kids, doing homework and I'm not home. And I feel like garbage because I'm missing it.
To them, it's a day at the office. And it's interesting because not to vilify those men, mean, God bless them, you know, that they have their own pressures pushing on them. And I'm not saying that men have it easy and women have it hard. That's not what I'm saying at all. But I know that I could relate to that feeling because I wouldn't feel good about sitting in that boardroom and missing dinner with my family. And so it's interesting how a lot of us women are built, like, but I want that too.
But I'm good at this, and I'm now making the money, and I'm at the table, and I wanted this, but now this part is really hard. What do I do with that information?
Jen Porter (33:18)
Yeah.
You know what, this came up earlier when you were giving an example of one of your clients who I think it was the one that shifted, like she thought it was about work, but actually there was some life coaching that she needed. I find that we think we're chasing one thing. We think that we want something and it's a particular goal or if I had this then, but actually what we're chasing is a feeling. We actually want to feel something as a result of getting that thing.
Jacqueline Potter (33:49)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jen Porter (33:57)
And so for this woman who's in that 6 p.m. she wants freedom. She wants to be able to get, not be the soldier at 6 p.m. and have choices to be able to, am I gonna be with my family or am I gonna work this hour? I'd like to be able to own that. And there's all kinds of feelings that we're always chasing, but that's the thing that drives us. And that's the stuff underneath the surface that we have to get to in order to understand what am I actually moving toward and why.
Jacqueline Potter (34:02)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Right. Right?
Well, what's interesting is this same woman did end up leaving that company, took time off, and now she's with an even bigger tech company and she's like, what am I doing? Why do I keep chasing this? said, I don't know. You should get it. It is a better situation. She has a great coach, but I was like, I think you need another.
Jen Porter (34:41)
but hopefully it's a better situation because.
But we have to, it's important for us to have choices. You know, one of the worst feelings in the world is to feel powerless. Like we can't affect change. And so to be empowered in making those decisions and hopefully when we're making a change, it's one that's rooted in what we truly do want. And so what a lot of the work that I do is helping women name, what do you really want in this next opportunity or as you build this business?
Jacqueline Potter (34:57)
Absolutely.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Jen Porter (35:15)
and helping them not only name it, but then go after it because once we understand ourselves more, we show up with more confidence.
Jacqueline Potter (35:25)
I agree. And another element that I think you're touching on is what are we allowing ourselves to admit? Because I think also we as women, it's really inconvenient to admit that the job that pays all the bills and the mortgage and gets you on the nice vacation every year is driving you crazy and you don't want to do it anymore because that's inconvenient at best. Yeah.
Jen Porter (35:49)
It's brave to be honest about that, you're right.
What do you do with that?
Jacqueline Potter (35:53)
And I don't know
that women are as honest as they could be in moments like that.
Jen Porter (36:00)
And that's, I think it goes back to feeling like we don't have choices. One of the things I believe is that I know this, we are way more powerful than we realize. And so we will sit in circumstances that are less than what we really want or deserve or can access because we don't understand the choices we have. And that's to your point about how a coach can like open our minds to possibilities we never even considered. And it's like following these threads.
Jacqueline Potter (36:10)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Jen Porter (36:30)
of,
why is that important to you? what is your dream? Like, let's talk about it. Let's open that up and see how we can access that for you. Otherwise, dare to dream, exactly. Otherwise, we will stay stuck. You know, I say the work that I do is helping women in the corporate shackles step away and find their path to the most meaningful work of their life.
Jacqueline Potter (36:36)
Mm-hmm.
quite literally dare to dream. Yeah.
Mmm.
Jen Porter (36:58)
Because if we feel trapped, I can you imagine staying trapped in a job we hate or is killing us for decades, for years, and how that impacts us?
Jacqueline Potter (37:08)
Yeah.
And you do have to think of
the physical and emotional impact of that.
Jen Porter (37:16)
Yes, yes. What do you see in your clients, your own network of women? What is the impact that you see?
Jacqueline Potter (37:26)
You know, it's interesting. We have a coach, a life coach, who's fantastic. And she comes from the entertainment world. And she herself saw. And she lists it. She wrote a book. And she has it on her website. But she lists the chronic ailments she experienced physically, emotionally, because of the crushing nature of her job. And she was so good at it. And she made so much money. And she finally, she.
She left the industry once and then got back into it and then she left it again for good and she is focused on helping people specifically in that industry and beyond find balance because it will affect you mentally, physically, emotionally. She actually had one client and she spoke to me about this. She had a client that was struggling in dealing with a difficult boss.
and they were remote and she was having trouble connecting with the boss. And so this coach was working with her on that. And what really actually netted out was, also this woman had gained some weight and was dealing with self-confidence issues. She wasn't feeling good in her own body. And this coach also does nutrition work. And so they ended up actually making a hard pivot, did a bunch of nutrition work. She lost the weight that she had gained and her confidence to your point, Jen,
re-grew, if you will, and then the problem with the boss was really not that big of a problem at all. It was actually deeper stuff that was going on. And I think that that, it's all tied together. Sarah and I always say it collectively, we support women in anything that touches their livelihood, but we do work with some nutritionists because it has been brought in by request of our clients. Like also, by the way, I'm not thriving personally.
And that will affect our overall well-being. And sometimes it's a vicious cycle. I'm in this terrible job. I work long hours. I don't exercise. I don't eat right. You know, total.
Jen Porter (39:21)
totally connected.
Yeah. Wow. And it's amazing how we can, the physical manifestation of what we're experiencing. Cause we're not talking about, you know, getting sick like a cold. We're talking about like disease.
Jacqueline Potter (39:29)
Mm-hmm.
Right. No, diabetes. Like
diabetes was put on the table. What was it? There were a few other ailments that this woman and her client had both battled simply because of just chronic stress.
Jen Porter (39:50)
Wow, it is a vicious cycle, isn't it? What do you find is the thing that makes a woman willing to even just explore breaking the cycle?
Jacqueline Potter (40:05)
I that once a woman reaches a certain level professionally, she has fought for that position and worked very hard and earned money for herself to be empowered to make further decisions for herself. So I do see more challenge with women who have stepped away from work for a certain amount of time getting the inertia to start again.
And I'm not saying they won't, and I'm not saying they don't want to. I'm just saying, to your point, to justify the time, energy, and money into refining their skill set, their brand, and getting them back into the workforce, it's a heavier lift for them. It's actually quite simple. And these women are so capable. But they don't.
have that tangible success readily available to feed off of.
Jen Porter (41:08)
I have seen that. I've never heard it described as inertia, but I can definitely see that, that it's harder. And there's so much self doubt. There's so many limiting beliefs that a woman in that position who has taken some time away from her career for very good reasons to move back into a place of true leadership. And so it's a rebranding that must happen because she's showing up newly. And I think a lot of women, two things,
Jacqueline Potter (41:25)
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Jen Porter (41:38)
I think there's a lot of fear that shows up because one is the fear of stepping away out of the rat race because they're so used to that pace that it's like, who am I and what's going to happen to me? Okay, say more about that.
Jacqueline Potter (41:43)
Mm-hmm. Yes.
I had that fair. I had that fair.
I read Sheryl Sandberg's book and she's like, don't ever quit, you'll never go back. And I was like, and after I'm gonna say something about my mind, is you give me a rule? And I'm like, it's gospel. And so when COVID hit and it was just not going to work for our family for me to go back, I didn't wanna go back. I didn't wanna leave my child alone. Robbie was on the front lines getting exposed all the time to COVID. We didn't know what this was.
We couldn't have support because we couldn't go near our parents and and I didn't want to leave my child And so it was 100 % the right choice to not be working both of us agreed to that and But there was this voice in the back of my head of but how long am I gonna stay away? How long how long do I give this until I have to go back? I didn't feel like I had options. I felt like I had to be on red alert and
understanding my options and what I want to do. And what was interesting is starting collectively, I loved it to the point where I had bosses calling, old bosses were calling me later that year to come back to work. And I said, I, you know, I don't think I want to. I'm very happy with my business.
Jen Porter (43:05)
No, thank you.
This is good.
Yeah. And I've seen the other thing where women who have taken some time off and a lot of them during COVID, you cause they had to, afraid to go back, wanted to go back, but afraid to go back because they knew what it did to them. I mean, the burnout was so severe. And so a part of it is a retraining of how do you step back into something in an empowered way so that it doesn't overtake you again.
Jacqueline Potter (43:22)
Hmm.
Yes.
Agreed. We're working with a client right now. She has worked for multiple major tech corporations and she left one and then she and her husband wanted to buy a house and she's like, all right. So she went to another, made the money. They bought the house, you know, a partnership. They bought the house together and then she got burned out again. And so she's taking some time away and she's like, you know, Jacqueline, I feel like I'm just going to sign up for the same thing again and hate it. Where do I go from here?
And I think that was really, she's very self-aware. I I loved that she's already having this dialogue with herself of, cannot sign up for this again. This does not work for me personally. I now just don't know where to go and what to do. And she loves her career. It's not that she's like, I have to do this. I have to make the money. She's like, my career lights me up. It's great. But then I'm signing up for these environments that are brutal because she's so good. So she gets these amazing jobs.
Jen Porter (44:31)
Yeah.
You have,
Jacqueline Potter (44:39)
And it's
so brutal because that's not what she wants to be doing in particular, but she's like, but where do I go? Where do I take these skills? Where do I go where I will thrive? And you need to unpack that further. that's...
Jen Porter (44:50)
find that
exactly unpacking that really discerning where you are going to thrive and setting up an entire system around you so that when you step into it, you have what you need to stay strong in your boundaries. And I find that having coaching throughout that transition, not just like I got the job, but how do you on, you know, those, the first six months, how do you really establish yourself in your new brand?
Jacqueline Potter (45:11)
yeah.
Jen Porter (45:19)
in your new rhythms and your new ways of working and so that people respect it. But you have to be able to find the right opportunity and the right people who will support you as you step into those things that are now important in that season of your life. Because people are not just going to give it away. We actually have to fight for what we want.
Jacqueline Potter (45:36)
That's so important.
Absolutely, and it is hard to hold a boundary. And also sometimes it's hard to understand what boundaries are appropriate and then hold the boundary confidently.
Jen Porter (45:54)
It is about confidence, isn't it? I think holding
boundaries takes confidence. And if we don't understand who we are, we will not have the confidence to hold the boundary.
Jacqueline Potter (46:03)
I totally agree with you. I totally agree with you. I also think that to your point, this isn't about getting a job. That's not what this entire discussion we're having is about. This is about thriving in a career. A lot of that is finding the right job, sure. And again, in today's environment, I know that finding a job is top of mind and I respect that and we are here for it and we support that. But we are not recruiters. We offer coaches for that very reason.
Jen Porter (46:16)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Jacqueline Potter (46:32)
It's identifying the right industry, the right job within that industry, and then helping you get the job, helping you brand yourself, helping you get the job, and then helping you thrive at that job. It's a whole journey.
Jen Porter (46:42)
Yeah,
yeah. It's the destiny is about career satisfaction. Isn't it for you for what y'all do? Well, before we wrap up, want to shift gears and hear about the fires. So you're in California. You have been through it. Your husband has been through it. Your community has has been through something really traumatic. How how is your community doing now?
Jacqueline Potter (46:47)
Mm-hmm. Correct. 100%.
Yes.
It's a lot, I will say. mean, so my town has been able to welcome many families who have been displaced. And so I've met many of them. Our schools have some new kiddos. We're meeting a lot of the families through school. And I think the hardest part is, you know, they lost everything, everything. And the fires did not discriminate.
There are so many communities that are trying to rebuild, but what does that really mean? mean, it means that you're, mean, the Palisades, Aldadena, they're still trying to get it, like, the ability to rebuild, like, not just rebuild, the ability for the water to be potable, for electricity to work. I mean, there are elements that they still have to basically develop the infrastructure.
Not only that, these people are not, the insurance is a whole other mess. And here they are trying to just put on a brave face for their kids and get their kids in school. And I think what's happening now is, okay, the dust has settled and they're looking around and they're like, wow, this is forever. For now, they sort of have to embrace that this is forever. And I'm having a lot of conversations with these people who are saying, well, my rental's up in June and thank God I've had a rental up till June.
But now the rental market is impacted. Do we stay? Now my kid's happy in school. Do we go? Do we need to move out of state? Like what are my finances looking like? What's my job looking like? I know people that are commuting all over LA because they want to keep the preschool that their kid was in because they're comfortable there. But then they're dropping their toddler off over here and then they've got to go to work over there. So everyone is still surviving.
Jen Porter (48:52)
Yeah.
Jacqueline Potter (49:01)
in a sense, and it's heartbreaking, it truly is.
Jen Porter (49:05)
I want to mention a resource. just interviewed a woman who is doing some phenomenal work and her name is Rachel Tenpenny McGonigal. She calls herself the grief gal and she does grief work, all kinds of losses. She has a really powerful story that will actually come out next week but she just told me last week that she offers a grief counseling coaching
for people in California who've gone through the fires. Like specifically. Yeah, yeah, I will. I think it's Monday nights and she just offers it as a free service to people that are going through all of this. She's freaking phenomenal in her craft. Unbelievable.
Jacqueline Potter (49:38)
Oh, that would be, if you wouldn't mind sharing that, I won't keep it long.
That is amazing. You do see.
that makes me so happy. And you do see people showing up in their best capacity. So, OK, here's what I can bring to the table. Take it. And I hear stories. I mean, there was a story we heard the other day where this one man ran in. This one man who had lost everything in the fires. He was just standing on the Hermosa Beach Pier. And he just asked another man, hey, do you know where I could find a good cup of coffee?
around here, I just need a cup of coffee. I don't know the area. And the guy said, I have the best cup of coffee in town, come over, brought him home, made him a cup of coffee, opened his closet and said, if you don't take at least five things, I will be offended. Like, and just, that's what he could do right then to make a change. And there have been donations, but people are also donating their time and their skillset to your point. Like, well, I'm a grief counselor. So here, let me offer my services to you.
I mean, the schools just opened their doors and these kids came in and it makes me really proud to see our community rally around these people and these families. I know that Altadena is a bit further from us and that community was hit so hard. So I do really wanna shine a light on Altadena and if anyone has the ability to support those people, however it may be, they really could use it.
Yeah, it's just, I think main takeaway here is the fires are out, the stuff, mean, it's hard to say suffering, but truly there's hardship. It's gonna be five to 10 years before these people experience a normal like they had before their house burned down.
Jen Porter (51:36)
I'm gonna name her again here, The Grief Gal. I think it's the griefgal.com. I will send it to you specifically. In fact, if you want an intro, I'll give that to you. Yeah, Rachel 10 Penny McGonigal is, she's amazing. And it's such a relevant need right now that she's offering. So I'll share it in the notes as well. So how do people find you and Sarah? also what would you want?
Jacqueline Potter (51:39)
brief.
I would love that. just wrote it down too. Thank you.
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.
Jen Porter (52:04)
How would I say this? Who is the person who should come to you? And maybe if we're thinking about our own networks, who should we recommend come to you?
Jacqueline Potter (52:14)
Yes, absolutely.
would say, you know, I mentioned earlier, director, VP and C-suite, that is what one particular product was built for. But we do support all women who are struggling in their career. But if you know specifically a woman, a high performer who is just stretched or swirling or hitting a roadblock or laid off, we can really help them quickly and efficiently.
Jen Porter (52:40)
Mm-hmm.
Jacqueline Potter (52:44)
And they can either go to our website, VCollectivelyCo.com, or find me, Jacqueline Potter, on LinkedIn. And there's a button that can book a call with me straight from LinkedIn.
Jen Porter (52:53)
Great.
Awesome. Awesome. I love it. I love what you and Sarah are doing.
Jacqueline Potter (52:58)
Jen, we love what you're doing too and thank you for having me. This was really special.
Jen Porter (53:02)
Yeah, yeah, it has been really cool. I know a lot of women are gonna get a lot out of the conversation. Well, until the next episode, the lioness in me sees the lioness in you.
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