The Power of Truly Listening

Have you ever considered how intimately connected your personal experiences and emotions are to your business? I certainly was reminded when I took an unplanned detour on September 11th, sharing some deeply personal reflections and the lessons they brought. Let me take you through a poignant tale of losing a childhood friend in the Twin Towers, and how she helped to shape who I am in business and life. This unexpected episode, will strike a chord in your heart and will serve as a potent reminder of the value of every moment we are blessed with. 

Buckle up, as we navigate the profound impact of emotional intelligence in business, and how the art of truly listening can transform your connections. We'll explore how these essential skills can enhance your business, making it more human and more impactful. I’ll share insights on why I believe everyone, including you, is capable of achieving their dreams if they dare to pursue them without hesitation. It's a heartfelt and empowering discussion that will inspire you to seize the day and live life to its fullest. Prepare for a journey that will leave you moved, motivated, and ready to conquer your world.

If this episode helped you I would be so grateful if you would leave a 5 star review. If you do leave a review please send me a message at Jen@jengaines.com and we will send you a special thank you gift.

Make sure to connect with me on IG: @fiercemomboss

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:13

Welcome to the she's On Fire podcast. I'm your host, jen Gaines. I'm a mom, wife and serial entrepreneur with a serious passion for helping women up-level their lives. I went from having barely any confidence and broke to bringing out a fierce fire inside of me and crushing my goals. If you're a woman who's motivated to follow your dreams, find that fire inside of you, stand up, stand out and be freaking fierce in your life and business, then tune in because I'm going to bring you all things marketing and mindset with a no BS approach proven to help you crush your goals and up-level your life.

Speaker 1: 0:58

All right, welcome back to the she's On Fire podcast. Today is a little bit different because I had not planned to record this episode. All right, I had taken some time off. Long story short, my brother came home and so we've been kind of trying to settle in with everything that's going on. So I took a little bit of time off from podcasting.

Speaker 1: 1:22

But it's September 11th and something really struck a chord in me, so I felt that it was important to talk about this. I was at the gym this morning and as I was leaving I was outside my car and I watched one of the town workers putting a crisp new flag, like he had taken the flag maybe from the previous week down. It was kind of grungy and stuff, but he had a crisp new flag that he was putting up to half staff. It's September 11th, so I sat there and I watched it and most likely, like me, you probably remember exactly where you were on that faithful day. I'm not going to go into all that, but it's probably burned into your memory. And I remember I was working in City Place in Hartford, connecticut. We were evacuated as a precaution because it was this huge tall building right, I think it was at the time it was the tallest one in Hartford not anything like the trade center, but our trade center, but we were evacuated as a precaution. But anyways, something I'm never going to forget, right? But also on that day I lost a friend in the Twin Towers. She was working in the Twin Towers.

Speaker 1: 2:46

She was somebody that I grew up with down at my grandparents cottage along the Connecticut shore and we spent summers as kids. Her grandparents had a cottage on there. She would go down there. We spent summers walking the beach and picking up shells and swimming in the ocean, being stung by jellyfish. But the thing that I remember most is and I'm going to get to what this has to do with your business, because I think it's really important but the thing that I remember most was she was like a beacon of light and inspiration and she really strived to be that we were kids. It was so evident she loved life and she had like the best smile and she was just so warm and the way she listened was just amazing to me. So we were about five years apart.

Speaker 1: 3:46

She was five years older than me and I remember the last summer we spent together before she left for college and which, basically, you know, changed everything. You know I was a lot younger than her, but I remembered how intently she listened to me and all the dreams I had for when I grew up. She never made me feel like I was just a kid or she didn't want to hang out because I was so much younger than her. She listened to everything I said, like I was the only person in the world talking at the time, and I remember her saying to me remember clears day? She said to me, jenny, because everybody called me Jenny at the time growing up. That was my nickname, jenny, or Jenny bug, and she said Jenny, you can be anything you set your mind to and follow those dreams without letting anyone tell you otherwise. She said I believe in you even when you don't believe in yourself. It's going to make me tear up a little bit because I just I remember that so clearly and those of you that are in my world, whether you're on my email list or you're in one of my programs, my membership, whatever it is you know I always say those words. I always say that, I always remind you that I believe in you because that's the truth and I want you to feel like I felt, when she said that to me, that I felt like I was the only person there, like she didn't have. She wasn't thinking about 10,000 other things. And the lesson that I want you to realize is that people want to be heard. They want you to really listen and they want you to hear them. You need to make them feel like they're the only ones there when you're speaking to them and when they're talking to you.

Speaker 1: 5:52

I strive to do this in my business. I really do, and I think that, for the most part, my clients feel that when I'm on the phone with them, when I'm on a zoom with them, you know we're all going to make mistakes, we're all going to trip up, we're all going to do things wrong. Right, that's just the name of the game. It really is. But when you try to do that as much as possible, your customers and your clients are going to feel that. All right, it's so crucial to be human with them and let them be human with you too. Right, there's so much in the way of robots and AI or whatever, but the one thing that AI cannot do is bring your emotional intelligence into your business. All right, and that's the most important thing right now it really really is. I feel like at the time, like my friend was so far ahead of her time and I am truly, truly blessed for what she taught me. I'm truly blessed that I had that time with her, because it really has become a part of who I am and my business.

Speaker 1: 7:10

So don't waste debt today, all right, don't waste it. It's not a week. Literally, this life is a miracle. Not everybody gets to live it, not everybody gets to keep going, and you truly can do anything that you set your mind to. You really can, and I believe in you. There is not one person I've ever met through my business that literally cannot create the life and dreams that they want to. So don't waste it. Go after it now. All right, I'll talk to you later. Bye, bye, bye.