Latest / Daily Influence / 824. How to Build Visibility, Confidence & Strategic Relationships with Jennifer Anderson

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824. How to Build Visibility, Confidence & Strategic Relationships with Jennifer Anderson · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Each day we share stories and insights to help you find be and build your influence in a positive and responsible way.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm Greg Clino, partner at IA Business Advisors, and co-host of Daily Influence.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Be sure to follow, subscribe, and share Daily Influence with someone who could use a little extra positivity today.
• 0:39
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• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Welcome to Daily Influence, I'm Greg Clino.
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Today, I'm joined by Jennifer Anderson, founder of Jen Anderson Fit Life, and a self-described professional wing woman who helps entrepreneurs and professionals strengthen their visibility, expand their reach, and create more capacity in their business.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Jennifer's work includes strategic collaboration, messaging, business development, securing podcasts and speaking opportunities, supporting launches and making purposeful introductions.
• 1:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Her path into this work grew from a career that included both corporate experience and more than two decades in the fitness industry.
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Two environments
• 1:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: relationships, confidence, and the importance of doing work that reflects who you genuinely are.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Jennifer does not define support as simply agreeing with her idea.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: She describes her role as helping clients identify friction, close gaps, remain true to themselves, and determine which opportunities genuinely deserve a yes.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Jennifer, welcome to daily influence.
• 2:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're welcoming, you know, Jennifer, your career has taken you through corporate work more than two decades of fitness and now a business where you help other people grow, gain visibility and create opportunities.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: What experiences, along that journey helped you recognize your greatest strength was not simply doing the work yourself, but helping other people become more confident, capable and visible.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: as you mentioned, I spent a lot of time in fitness and the leadership in fitness.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the business end of it as well as the actual doing.
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: And one of the things that I learned in fitness was to be a very good reader of people in a very good, have a good eye to read the room and to
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: help people figure out what's going to make them successful.
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because that's really what fitness is about.
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not about being the strongest person in the room.
• 2:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a figuring out how you're going to get from your point 80, your point B, which is different from the person next to you.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I've always been a collaborator and I've always really been a wingwoman, even in my that corporate life, even with my kids, all of that.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I did know that one of my strengths is
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: the way that they don't necessarily see themselves.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I get that bird's eye view and that to me, that's really fun is to just observe somebody with what they're doing and I can see what makes them unique and what makes them what their strength is and then help them to play on that.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and that is so important because, you know, identity, really many people know they're capable of more, but a difficulty recognizing the value that they naturally bring to others, you do have shared that a fitness junior owner once told you we want more gent, because you are technically strong, but holding back part of your personality and energy.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: What did that feedback reveal to you and how can leaders determine whether they're adapting appropriately to an audience or dismissing themselves to fit what they think others expect?
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that was one of my favorite pieces of feedback I ever got and he could not have been more right that I was holding back and leaning into my technical strengths, but not bringing enough of my personality.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the message that he said was, we know what you can do technically.
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: We hired you for what we can't the spot that we can't fill, which is your uniqueness.
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so now
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, you have to bring your whole self to each interaction because you might meet someone that you on the surface, you might be really different, but there might be that one thing underneath that you're like, oh, look at we have that in common and now you've just created a different type of relationship, you're going to be memorable and you're going to be somebody that they might build a different kind of a trust with.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not for any reason, not for anything that isn't true, you were already good at the business that you were doing, but now you're you're bringing that extra like an example that I have is I saw a woman speak once on stage and she said I think she was like a corporate banker or something and she's like I'm super buttoned up.
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And she was also an off work singer on the side like off Broadway never told anybody that she worked with because she's like those should be separate and went to a show a person she was trying to make a huge deal with.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: went to that show and was like, oh, how exciting we have this in common.
• 5:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's like, well, what do you think happened?
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: That deal started to move forward quicker because we had that other thing and it was like a light bulb for her.
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I've taken that from that, you know, that presentation that I saw was like, she's right, you need to bring your whole self.
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't mean that you need to spill your guts every single day at work.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's probably not the best idea.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you know,
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: But don't hide those other things that make you unique and that are part of your personality, that gets you to where you're trying to go.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's really important.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: and showing up authentically matters, but authenticity alone does not guarantee that our influence will be useful or responsible.
• 6:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: You have made it clear that being a wingwoman does not mean agreeing with every idea.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: When a client is enthusiastic about an opportunity that you believe is poorly timed, misaligned, or unlikely to work, how do you challenge them honestly while still protecting that relationship?
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, I remind them of that for one thing when I am going to, you know, deliver that to them.
• 6:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: You didn't, you didn't hire me.
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You didn't bring me on here to say yes to everything.
• 6:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I want to talk about why do we really want to do that.
• 6:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I want to get down to, you know, the nuts and bolts of it and figure out, is that the right audience?
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: You really want to be in front of.
• 7:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do you really want to trade that time for that money?
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, is that the working relationship you want to have with that client?
• 7:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I kind of help them like,
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: read the label from inside the jar.
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes it's really tempting, especially when it might be a client, you know, client work or project and somebody saying here, I'm going to pay you all this money might be tempting for them to go, yeah, I want to do that.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I remind them of the opportunity cost.
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you do that, you cannot do this.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: So which one is it going to be?
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And some of it, again, it's like a passion project too, which I love.
• 7:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: But again, if you spend all of your time doing that, now you're not going to be making your money.
• 7:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you have to kind of like figure out where those two things can kind of like walk together.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And ideally, if you can find that one thing that's passion and brings you money, let's do that.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: But for sure, I definitely look at things with a little bit of a critical eye.
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: and make sure that they really are acting in their best interest and not on that sort of whim.
• 8:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I remind them that it's okay to say no.
• 8:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's okay to say no to a project or a client work that doesn't align with what you wanna do or where you wanna be.
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's okay to say no to that stage where you look at it and you're like, you know what logistically that's just not gonna work out for me, like those things are all fine and you don't have to explain it or justify it.
• 8:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: kind of just helping them get a little bit stronger with their own voice, too.
• 8:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, those conversations are often where responsible influence becomes most visible.
• 8:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: When telling someone the truth is more valuable, then simply make them feel supported.
• 8:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 8:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes I also like, I will read, I can read the room pretty well, like I said, so sometimes they'll tell me something and they'll say, hey, done, um, I got this project I really want to do it and I'm like, you need to tell your face that because your face just told me you don't want to do that.
• 9:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: So what I'm seeing and what you're saying are two different things, so then we get to have that conversation like, oh, really like, that looked painful.
• 9:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is this what we want to do?
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: So there's that using that skill too, like that intuitive, are you sure question?
• 9:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's a good one.
• 9:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: Many business owners feel pressure to accept every introduction, event, partnership, podcast, or speaking opportunity that comes their way.
• 9:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: What framework do you use to evaluate whether an opportunity supports someone's goals,
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I kind of look at all of those things together and then really in collaboration with the business on our so if it is something that they're really excited about and maybe it is going to be something where they travel and they speak on stage and you know it's it's a it's a free stage, but if it's an audience that fits what their message is going to resonate with then maybe let's do it so.
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a whole, you know, a whole bunch of different things that we put into that bucket to figure out what we really want to do.
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And obviously, you know, I help with me generation and we follow up and helping them follow up on the those loose ends that they that they were excited about.
• 10:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: but then the day-to-day work comes in.
• 10:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's like, hey, if you follow it up with those three people or three potential clients or somebody has been waiting for you.
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: So let's make sure we don't forget about that.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, that's right.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I get to kind of help them, you know, like, nudge them along a little bit.
• 10:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're like, let's, let's not forget about these because they could be impactful.
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so just kind of looking at all the the various ways that that opportunity will not only serve them, but also serve the audience and the the booker or whoever like that's important to.
• 10:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: If it's not the right alignment for that person, we can also decline.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and maybe I look someone else that fits.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sure, and too's in the right opportunity is only part of the challenge.
• 11:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: The next step is making sure people understand and remember why you matter.
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: You help clients secure stages and podcast appearances.
• 11:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: They launch books and courses, strength in their messaging, and connect with people who should know them.
• 11:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: What practical process should a business owner follow to turn visible
• 11:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: into credible relationships and measurable business growth rather than simply accumulating attention.
• 11:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Again, I think a lot of it has to do with the follow-up.
• 11:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: um, and creating the relationships.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: So whether it's with a podcast host, whether it's with an event planner, if you're, you know, speaking on a stage, you keep that relationship going and that conversation.
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because ideally, you've now had some sort of good interaction with this person.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you want to keep those relationships healthy and moving forward and it's not one sided.
• 11:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's also, hey, what do you need that I can help you with.
• 11:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Great.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I spoke on your stage.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do you need somebody else, let me introduce you to one of my other colleagues or something that so people really understand like where you're coming from and and all of the connection and support that you can provide and it's the same thing with, you know, lead generation.
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes I think we forget that it's like you initially get discouraged at that know, but it's like, well, it might just be a not right now.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I personally have had clients that I started working with who I've been just kind of talking to and in part of their world and they've been part of my world for like a year or more.
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then staying up finally, they say, one day, hey, you know what, I think I need a win woman.
• 12:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, well, here I am.
• 12:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: So let's talk about that.
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 12:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, just keeping the people in your world, you know, thought about cared for, and served with whatever you can serve them with until it's time to take a different direction.
• 13:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 13:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 13:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: That makes sense.
• 13:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you draw a strong connection between physical discipline and business discipline.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: What daily or weekly habits help you maintain the energy confidence and consistency required to advocate for your clients and continue building your own business.
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's really important to me and I am, I mentioned to you, I'm writing book about, you know, the fitness of your business because I really believe that the, that your physical self and your business self can both pull each other forward when you take a challenge that is, when you take on a challenge that is physically difficult and you conquer it.
• 13:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: you come back to the business work that you have to do and you feel unstoppable.
• 13:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because you've already done something hard, maybe before people have even gotten out of bed, you've already challenged that.
• 14:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: You thought maybe you went in there thinking, I don't know if I can even do this.
• 14:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, you did it.
• 14:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now you're coming back.
• 14:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: So sometimes I'm like, I'll get on my computer for the day and be like, all right, who's going to tell me, no, this is going to be fine.
• 14:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's go, like,
• 14:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, your your business self gets so much more confident when your physical self gets more confident.
• 14:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like those those two building blocks that keep just stacking on top of each other the whole time.
• 14:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think that finding that whatever that is for yourself and it doesn't have to be a super hard workout.
• 14:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: It has to be something where you move your body in some way.
• 14:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: You are thoughtful about nutrition and what you're taking in your thoughtful about your sleep and your actual rest.
• 14:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And whatever your joy is, if it's, you know, reading a book, I've been way into reading books lately, and I think, you know, if one more book delivery comes to my door, my family might leave, but as you can see, I have many, many book shelves still filled, but, you know, taking those times for yourself, that's how you regenerate all of those, you know, neurons in your brain.
• 15:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And build that creativity.
• 15:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then when you come back to your work, you feel fresh and you feel excited about it again, because I know like for myself when I'm exercising and working out, that's sometimes is where I can, you can only single focus.
• 15:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can't really multitask when you're trying to pick up something, have you put it back down?
• 15:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: You've got to be paying attention to it or you're gonna put it down somewhere that's gonna hurt you.
• 15:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you're single focused and then you have some room in there to let your imagination go a little bit.
• 15:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: And what about for our listeners who feel overwhelmed or inconsistent?
• 15:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Is there a one realistic routine that they can begin using this week that you can recommend?
• 15:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
• 15:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think the most important thing is to set aside, even if it's five minutes, that five minutes belongs to you, even if it's ten minutes that ten minutes belongs to you and you spend that doing whatever it is that you want to do.
• 15:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Taking a walk sitting outside with your cup of coffee in nature instead of in front of a screen or scrolling.
• 16:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Getting some fresh air, some sunshine, whatever that five or ten minutes is that you devote to yourself.
• 16:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is your time and you will never regret taking time for yourself, you will regret if you don't, because that's when you'll start to feel that burnout, the exhaustion, you're just ripping and running and it was hard because I have two boys and they were in two different travel sports hockey and baseball their whole life growing up two different teams and so I was fully right there.
• 16:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was fully right there and my boys also knew.
• 16:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is it a much better mood when she gets a few minutes to yourself and it doesn't always have to be a one hour workout it really sometimes it would be me just walking around the block coming back in the house so whatever those little moments are that you can carve out and then you can start building on those when the people around you, whether it's in your family or your business contacts when those people start to understand that that is a that is a non negotiable for you, they will start to honor that and it becomes normal for them too.
• 17:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: So like my kids, they would be like, oh, this is mom's workout time.
• 17:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're not, that's what she's doing now.
• 17:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's normal for them too, you know?
• 17:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's great advice.
• 17:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I do like how you add in the piece about having your cup of coffee outside.
• 17:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: That just habits stacking.
• 17:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: If it's your habit to have a cup of coffee each morning sit outside and nature, get some of that light into your eyes and it's a perfect way just to make it easy for yourself.
• 17:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, exactly, and I also try to one other thing is I try to plan as much as I can the night before so that whatever I want to do in the morning or if it's mid morning or mid day, whatever I want to do the next day is super easy because I've already planned for at the night before so gives me a second to get excited about it, whether it's pre making my breakfast or make a big salad for lunch or whatever it is it's like there's one thing off my plate for tomorrow that's already done for me.
• 18:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: because I was thinking about myself, my future self.
• 18:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's a great way to look at it.
• 18:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Jennifer, when you look back at your younger version of yourself, working environments where you may not have fully recognized your own value, what advice would you give to yourself back then?
• 18:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hmm, that's such a great question.
• 18:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think I would tell her to never stop believing in yourself and never stop building on your own confidence.
• 18:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was really fortunate for a lot of my career, particularly in fitness, I was really fortunate to have some outstanding leadership that let me make mistakes and help to me to figure out what kind of a leader I wanted to be.
• 18:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that's what I was, a young woman, you have a tendency to want to please people or squash your own verbalism, your own voice and my advice to that young, when women would be just sneak up and speak with confidence, because you know a lot more than you give yourself credit for.
• 19:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that makes so much sense.
• 19:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And Jennifer, enclosing for the person listening, who knows they could open a door, make an introduction, share someone's work or advocate for another person, but has not yet acted.
• 19:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: What is one intentional step you would encourage them to take in the next 24 hours?
• 19:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think just really reaching out to someone that you think, even if it's something,
• 19:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: they necessarily want.
• 19:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what I mean by that is if I think of someone that, let's say I'm thinking of you, right?
• 20:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And let's say I'm thinking of you and I come across a LinkedIn post and something to things in my brain.
• 20:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I might just grab that post and send it to you in an email, hey, it's out of you.
• 20:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Isn't this interesting?
• 20:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Look at that.
• 20:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And whether you might be like, I don't necessarily want to read that post, but you're going to be like, oh, that's cool, John was thinking of me.
• 20:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what, that's what that connection pieces, that's how you get those stronger relationships, because we all do it.
• 20:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've all been doing it, nobody works in a vacuum, something makes you think, oh, that person I was on that call with, you know what, and it's like, but actually take the action.
• 20:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think they might be, you might surprise yourself and you might surprise them.
• 20:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that the positivity and the goodwill that you pass forward when you do that stuff that can't be ignored, because it's 100% going to come back to you.
• 20:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's great advice, Jen.
• 20:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for reminding us that meaningful support.
• 20:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's not passive.
• 20:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: It requires attention, honesty, follow through, and the willingness to use our relationships and abilities to help someone else move forward.
• 21:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Probably on LinkedIn, so I would be on LinkedIn.
• 21:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I met Jen Anderson, and you'll see picture me wearing black and it's a little, and it says Wing Woman on there, or my email, which is J. Anderson, 5969 at gmail.com.
• 21:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: Great, Jen.
• 21:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: We'll put that information in the show notes.
• 21:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for joining us and sharing your stories and advice.
• 21:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm so grateful for you, Jen.
• 21:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: My pleasure, it was so nice chat.
• 21:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much.
• 21:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Everyone listening, think about one person whose work, message, or leadership deserves greater visibility, to not simply think positively about them, take one specific action, making introduction, share the opportunity, offer useful feedback or say their name and a room that they are not yet in, influence becomes meaningful when intention turns into action.
• 22:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: Every day through what you choose to support and how you choose to show up, you are the influence.
• 22:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for joining us for another episode of Daily Influence.
• 22:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: To help us for the positivity, please subscribe and share this episode and our show with others.
• 22:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Remember small actions, create big impact.
• 22:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: Keep showing up, leading and growing one day to time.
• 22:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: Until next time, stay inspired and keep having a positive, responsible influence.
• 22:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Bye bye.