Episode Summary

In this episode of the Make Space for More podcast, Melissa Swink chats with a special guest, Jenni Schubring. They discuss the transformative power of understanding and leveraging your personal strengths in both business and life. 

Melissa and Jenni talk about the CliftonStrengths assessment, the importance of coaching, and how recognizing one's strengths can lead to greater self-awareness and fulfillment. The conversation also touches on the significance of setting boundaries, embracing one's role in teams, and shifting the focus from weaknesses to strengths.

Tune in to learn how authenticity can lead to success, the value of collaboration, and the significance of building a culture of strengths awareness within your entire team!

Key Highlights:

• Cultivating self-awareness is vital for personal growth. Understanding your strengths can transform your life and improve collaboration within teams.
• Coaching can deepen your understanding of personal and team strengths and expedite growth, helping you align your work with your passions.
• Setting boundaries and saying “no” when necessary are powerful acts of self-care that maintain harmony and alignment with your personal passions.
• Embracing individual roles, collaborating effectively, and building trust are essential practices for utilizing team strengths.
• Effective communication and regular check-ins foster a culture of strengths awareness and improves personal relationships.

About Our Guest: 

Jenni Schubring is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker, and owner of Embrace Your Story Coaching. Along with her 1:1 coaching, she works with teams, speaks at conferences, and utilizes CliftonStrengths in staff trainings. Jenni lives in Green Bay with her husband of 25 years and is still getting used to having only one of her four children living under her roof.

Offer link: https://embraceyourstory.as.me/virtualstrengths

CODE: MSwink25 for $25 off

About Melissa:

Melissa Swink, Founder & CEO of Melissa Swink & Co., has a team of virtual assistants who provide administrative and marketing support for small businesses and non-profits.

Since 2012, Melissa and her team have helped more than 100 businesses grow through the services they offer, and she is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs create profitable, scalable businesses they love.

Her work is all about doing what works (and eliminating what doesn’t) and driving real, measurable results. Visit www.melissaswink.com to learn more! 

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Hi everyone, welcome to the Make Space for More podcast where we talk strategies for growing and scaling your business in a way that's authentic and aligned for you. I'm your host, Melissa Swink, and I am hardly containing my excitement for today's episode. It is something that is very near and dear to my heart. It's something that I've been exploring for almost two years now, and we're gonna talk about today.

leveraging, really understanding and leveraging your strengths, not only in business, but also your life because we are whole people and everything is connected, whether you believe so or not. But before I dive in and introduce our guest for today's episode, we have Jenni Schubring of Embrace Your Story coaching joining us today. I want to share a little bit about how I started going down the road of strengths work.

And then as we start chatting and having a fantastic conversation for today, I can already feel it. We were already chatting before we started recording. Wanted to share how this can transform your life and really kind of help you understand how you navigate the world. And also, I would say, lessen the resistance. Of course, you know, life, right? We can't control everything in life and we can't control other people, what happens to us, but we can certainly control.

how we navigate it and I think that understanding your strengths is extremely valuable in the good times and also the not so good times. But all of that being said, for the strengths work, I got into this, I was reading the book, We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rogers and if I just told you that title and you're already like, that sounds really superficial, I promise you it's not. The title is definitely catching but what she's really talking about is understanding your value.

and understanding your time, what you bring to the world, and really building wealth in a sense that it's meant to really be a light in this world and propel your work and your values forward. So it's a great book, but one of the things she talks about in chapter seven is knowing your value. And specifically, she mentions the CliftonStrengths assessment. And she was talking about how valuable it was for her.

and how she highly recommends that people do this assessment or there are plenty of others out there, but she specifically named this one. I was like, that sounds really neat. That sounds great. Then I went, wait a second. I remember seeing a woman speak at a conference and I think she is a CliftonStrengths facilitator, coach, facilitator. I'm probably not using the exact terminology you use, Jenny, but I reached out right away and I did a

You are, yep.

consultation, I think I was sold within like the first 10 minutes of, know, not that, not that you were selling, not that you were selling me, but when you were describing how you could help and how learning about your strengths is so valuable, I was like, yep, I'm done. need to do this work. And so that is, that is how we got here and I'm excited to share more. But before I do, I want to formally introduce Jenny. Jenny Schubring is a Gallup certified strengths coach, speaker and owner of Embrace Your Story Coaching.

Along with her one-on-one coaching, she works with teams, speaks at conferences, and utilizes clipped-in strengths and staff trainings. Jenny lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin with her husband of 25 years and is still getting used to having only one of her four children living under her roof. Talk about life changes, but welcome to the show, Jenny. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me and share with our audience today. Before we get in on...

I will make.

all the details and all the good stuff behind strengths work. Can you share a little bit? I don't think I've even asked you this myself. How did you get into this line of work?

good question. First of all, thanks for having me. You know, I could talk about this all day, every day. having an opportunity to do with you. Part two, part three. The way I got through it, got introduced to it was actually through a process that we have at our church. They got a grant to do some servant leadership. Myself and my husband were one of 15 people that went through it. And

Be prepared for a three hour episode, everybody. Right.

It's an 18 month process. So it was a commitment. And one of the modules was all about your strengths. And that was the first time that I had heard of CliftonStrengths. I took the assessment and what I learned about myself and not just myself, but then my husband and how, why we do what we do was super enlightening for our marriage. And then it totally had, it gave me momentum.

to start my own business and do the things and change how I parented. Like it had influence on so many different parts of my life. In fact, probably all of them if I were really to think about it.

I was going to say it really touches everything. And actually when we were talking about doing this episode, I've been trying to think about like, how has this impacted my life? there are so many things and yet there's so many things I feel like I don't even know yet. And you're like, that's totally normal. like, I recognize things and I think it's kind of guiding me. And then there's times that I'm like, I'm still learning how to...

Mm-hmm.

really leverage all of this information that I have about myself and the way that I interact with the world.

Yes. I mean, it is an ongoing thing and, and our circumstances change all the time too. So how we leverage our strengths is going to change. So there's always, I don't, I'd be really concerned if you were like, yep, got it down. We're good to go. I'm, you know, I'm fully engaged. I have been, I started this process in 2011 and I'm still learning and having conversations and aha moments over and over again. So, which is what's fun about it too.

Thank you.

Yes, absolutely. So I don't have to be an expert in this subject, is fantastic. So for those who are tuning in, what we started with is I did my CliftonStrengths assessment and you do that online and then it automatically gave me my top five strengths. Now I did go ahead and pay extra after the fact to get my full 34 strengths report, but I have to tell you that when I got the results for my top five, I was like, this doesn't sound like me at all.

Like maybe a little bit, but if you would have printed off the 34 strengths and had me circle what I thought my strengths were, they would not have been my top five. So why is that? I know the answer, but I'll let you share the answer because I know this is something that you hear a lot.

It is true when people get their results, they don't, there's two things that happen. One, they don't recognize it or two, they don't value it as a strength. And the reason why is that we are so close to them. It is so innate and how we are wired and how we do things that oftentimes we don't recognize it at all. We also assume that this is just what everybody must do.

because it's so normal to us. And then as you recognize or learn about your own strengths, you're like, no, other people don't have this strength. And so, so yes, we are so close to them that oftentimes it does not show up as something that is extraordinary, which it actually really is.

Yes.

Sure. Yeah. The way that I think of it and the way to describe it to other people is that we're so close to it. It's not even almost in our level of consciousness because it's just so deeply ingrained that we don't even realize. Yes. I think one of the benefits, I remember the book, Now Discover Your Strengths. I think I borrowed it from the library and I don't remember if I took an assessment or not, but it was one of those things where I'm like, oh, that's pretty neat.

It's so true.

and then return the book and one on my way. So working with a coach or having somebody really help you understand your strengths is huge. So if you think I've done some strengths work or I've read about strengths before, this is something that goes way deeper than that, right?

Absolutely. think that's where, and Gallup will encourage you to get a coach, but there are so many people that in their workplace or whatever will say, Hey, we're going to do this. And then they read it. And then that's kind of where it ends. And, and while there's benefit to that, there's so much more that we can, you can dig into. and there's so much more like self-awareness that comes with it.

I think it's Tasha Yurik who says that that self-awareness is the meta skill, the 20 of the 21st century. Like this is a huge piece of that. And so, yes, you can read it. but one of the things that I do even as a coach, one of, and you'll recall this is that I actually read your strengths out loud to you because even though you've read through it and stuff, do you remember when I read it to you? Do you remember your response afterwards?

Yes.

Yes, it made so much more sense.

Isn't that something like I actually struggle as a coach to think like, you know, one of the things that as a speaker, they're like, never just read things off. Right. But there is something about hearing about yourself. because one, we don't, we rarely hear these wonderful things about ourselves. And then to just take it in, cause I ask you, don't follow along. Don't take notes, just listen. And there is something that lands differently.

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Yeah, I think you provided some good insight and explanation when I had questions on, what does that mean? Or is it like this? And I give a scenario and you're like, yes, or not quite. And so I think it just kind of solidified my understanding at a bare minimum. then of course, after that first session, I continued and I've been rebooking. So we've just continued to.

So I think that's.

navigate everything together through strengths. One of the interesting things too that talking about some of the basics of this work was you have strengths one through 34. Some people think or I even was inclined to think, the ones toward the bottom of the list are my weaknesses. Here are my top strengths and then I'm not as good as all these things and I'm just maybe full on bad at some of these, which actually isn't correct.

Really weaknesses stem from almost like, I don't want to say the dark side of your strengths, or I think you call them shadows.

I like to call them shadows. Gallup calls them hinders. They talk helps and hinders. I think the best explanation about the 34 is your top ones are the intensity in which you use them. So the more that you, it just comes naturally for you to use them. And so, yeah, when we talk about things that get in the way of you wanting to succeed, of you wanting to move forward, our

Okay.

most often your top strengths without boundaries, they get in the way. And we see that all the time. I think of like my number one strength is adaptability, which I never saw as a strength when I first did it. I was like, how is this a strength? And if you were to look at my desk outside of the screen that you see right here,

Okay. Okay.

Thank you.

you would understand why I would think that's not a strength because it looks like I'm disorganized. It looks like I'm that I, don't know where anything is. but the, power of that strength is that it allows me to adjust on the dime. Like when I coach you, I don't have to, whatever you're going to come in with talking about, we can talk about, I don't have to have it all set up in the first place, but adaptability without boundaries.

What happens is, and this shows up in so many little areas of my life, what happens is that all of sudden I lose what I need or want. I don't even consider it because I'm constantly adapting to what other people want. So that is a huge issue. And then it also challenges me to think ahead because I'm so much in the moment. I adapt to the moment that I miss out.

Sure.

on planning and things like that. So I have to be really intentional about my calendar. I have to be really intentional about anything outside of today to make sure it takes a lot more work to put the boundaries around the adaptability. Yes, this is great for right now, but that doesn't mean that you miss out on things in the future type thing.

Sure.

For sure. And I know my number one strength is harmony. And so I don't remember, you know, the exact conversation. We've had so many over the years, but I think a recurring theme in my life at that point was like, I'm feeling frustrated. I'm feeling burned out. I'm feeling overwhelmed. And basically we boiled it down to that's because you're prioritizing harmony with others over harmony with yourself. So you're just making it work and saying yes and you know, kind of

Mm, mhm.

gritting your teeth and going through it anyway and then yeah, that's why things are out of alignment.

Right. And so what do you, can I, I'm going to ask a coaching question. What do you, what are the things that you have now been intentional with so that you put boundaries around your harmony?

Yep, go ahead.

goodness, that's a great question. And again, it's something that I feel like I'm always putting into practice and learning how to do. I think that if I know it's something that is going to bother me, it's just something that's not going to sit well with me, I'm going to say no to it or try a different approach. Here's something that came up actually yesterday. I was in a consultation with a potential client.

And they said, yeah, your proposal looks great, but can you do it for this amount of money instead? And it was a small difference, but I'm like, but our rates are our rates. Like if I say yes to this, yes, in the grand scheme of things, it's a small dollar amount, but it's going to bother me. And why would I discount this for this one person when everyone else is paying the rate quoted?

And so I need to rework that proposal today and ultimately I'm going to just recommend that maybe we take a few things off in order to fit that price point. And so we're changing the scope a little bit, but it was something that I did wrestle with for a minute because I'm like the harmony and people pleaser in me is like, oh sure, it's fine. We'll just make it work on the back end. But I'm like, no. I'm like holding firm to this is what I need to be in integrity with myself and our other clients. And really,

Uh-huh.

our cash flow and budget for our company. Our prices are set at this way for a reason. And I'll tell you guys, we try to keep things as affordable as we possibly can. So my markup is not near what it technically should be that a business coach would recommend. So this was something that I really wrestled with. I'm like, no, I can't say yes to that because I'm going to feel resentful about it.

How was that for an example of boundaries around harmony? Yep.

Right? And it's so easy to see how quickly that, that it still hits, right? Like you've done the work and yet you, you still get the initial like, I want to people please. And then you were able to make the, because you've been practicing for the last couple of years, you've been able to be able to hold your boundary. That's amazing.

Yes, for sure. So I think it's being more aware of what I'm saying yes to. And if it's something that I know is going to bother me or I truly don't wanna do, I'm getting better about saying no. How simple is that? Like the word no. Saying no, my gosh. So one of the things that I wanted to ask you about, and again, kinda talking about high level strengths before we dive into like,

Hmm.

I know, it's such a big deal. It's such a big deal.

how this can improve your work with your team and also your loved ones. But we also talked about embracing your limits and then also being unapologetic about it. So you had shared with me a story about a committee that you were on and at first you were feeling kind of out of place. But then you were reminded like, this is my role, this is why I'm here.

Right, so yeah, I was part of a steering committee, actually still am part of the steering committee, but we had our annual strategic planning meeting, which by that name, it's in and of itself makes me a little nauseous. When I look at my strengths, because they have, so Gallup puts your strengths in different categories, and one of the categories is strategic thinking. And when I look at my,

Top five or my top 10 strengths. I have one in strategic thinking so Strategy is not in my wheelhouse by any stretch of the means And even the the one is number seven. So it's not even like in my top five. So and so strategy meetings are not my favorite thing because it is outside of my wheelhouse So we were supposed to come up with like some ideas of what we wanted this

program to look like in five years and 10 years. And it was going around the circle and I was literally getting nauseous about, I don't have anything to contribute. I can't even think about this. Like, how do I even? And about two people before me, it just occurred to me. And I actually went into my strengths to see where futuristic was in my strengths. And it's number 32 out of

And so when I recognized that it made me, I just took a deep breath and realized that is not my role in the steering committee. And so when it came around to my turn, I was able to say, you guys, and we are very strength based organizations. So everybody knows each other's strengths and, and we talk about them regularly. So was part of our, our verbiage and part of our culture.

And so I was able to say, guys futuristic is really low for me. And so I honestly don't have anything to contribute. And it, to this part and, which was so fun because Ben who was right next to me was like, it's my turn. And like, he got up there because futuristic is in his top five. like, was like giddy to get up there. I would have just slowed him down by trying to come up with something. Right.

Thank

I got this Jenny let me do it

There was a place for me to be. Yes. And as he's putting his stuff up there, I'm like, yes, this is amazing. And let me help you support this and let me, let me come, like, let's, you know, problem solve and move forward. Like I do not have that futuristic ideation type thing. And so I could just sit back, watch him work along with the other people and then.

I could recognize where I fit in this, which is to support and find the, maybe some of the challenges of it or whatever. But I was the one, I'm one that can help move it forward. I do not have to come up with what it might look like in five years. And that was super relieving for me. And it gave, I gave myself permission and nobody even made any qualms about it. Nobody was like, my gosh, I can't believe Jenny didn't come up with any ideas. Like.

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Hahaha.

It gave me the permission to just be like, this is not my wheelhouse. And that's okay, because there's other people in the room that will rock this. And they did.

Yes. You know, I was thinking about too, is in way back in the day in my corporate world, which, you know, grateful for the experience, but glad I have moved on from that chapter in my life. When we had our annual reviews, they would bring up the areas that we scored low in according to our manager. And they would talk about, you know, working on your weaknesses and, you know, getting over, you know, those hurdles that you have, you know, in terms of the way that you work.

And so that I think has changed over the years where now the emphasis is let's how to really maximize your strengths versus working on your weaknesses. Have you seen that as well?

Yeah, it'd be interesting to, I would agree with you that I see that as well. However, that's the world I'm in too. Like, and so I'm, I would imagine there's probably still a ton of corporate that has not gone that direction. And, and it just makes more, it makes sense to me. Like one of the first things I have people do when we're talking about strengths is say, Hey, right.

write your top four strengths down, and then write your fifth strength with your non-dominant hand. And so then the corporate world would say, you know, you're not really great if you're right-handed. Boy, you really do things really well with your right hand, but your left hand isn't so hot. So let's time.

spend our time, energy and resources and getting your left hand to work as well as your right, which sounds ludicrous, but that is really what a ton and I won't even just put it in corporate. Like we do this in almost any place where like, here are your areas of improvement, you know? and, the cool thing about strengths is that it's not necessarily what you do. It's how you do it. So that's not to say that, you know, if I, if I don't have a

Yep.

high relationship or even like let's go with strategic because I have high relationship. like if we're looking at the strategic, like I do still have to plan things like in my business, I have to still plan things, but I have to go through the filter of what of my top strings. So belief is one of my top strings. I am not like if you look at my bottom, those are all things that people say you need to run a business like futuristic.

Okay.

consistency achievers 34 out of 34 for me, like, which is unheard of. Consistency, discipline, those are in my bottom. And so it would be easy to say, she shouldn't be running a business. But it's not about what I do, it's how I do it. I believe in what I do it, in what I do. And so I do have to make it through the filter of belief in order to do the things that I need to do to run my

my business because I love what I do. think what I, the work I do is really important. And so I, when I run it through that filter, now I'm willing to be consistent and have discipline and all the things that aren't high up on my list.

Okay, so there's two things jumping out at me that what you just said is circling back to the overall purpose of this podcast. It's for people who are growing their businesses in a way that's authentic and aligned for them. And so that involves your strengths wherever they might be. So to your point, that makes perfect sense where you might have that stereotypical idea of this is what a business owner

Yes.

Yes.

needs to be good at in order to be successful, but there are many different paths to success. And it's really about finding the one that makes sense for you. But the other thing that I was thinking about too, and this is a good segue, because I want to talk about how this work is important for teams. So the committee was a great example. And then certainly, there are other people who have strengths that are different than yours. And so even collaborating or working with a coach or

Yes.

hiring another professional in a particular area that you're not so great at can be a game changer.

Absolutely. Like it never occurred to me that there are actually people who love spreadsheets. I can't stand them. I would never have thought to even ask somebody about doing that because I just assume if I hate it, everybody else does too. Right. And so I wouldn't want to ask anybody because if it's hard for me, it must be hard for everybody, which is again, ludicrous. But then to see, it's not even just that people are willing to do spreadsheets. There are people who are actually giddy about

Mm-hmm.

everyone does too. Yes, it's true.

doing spreadsheets and love all the data stuff. And if I can bring those people within my circle, things that would take, can I do a spreadsheet? Yes. Does it take me like four hours? Also, yes. Whereas I can say, go to my friend Carrie and say, Hey, I need a spreadsheet for this. And in five minutes, it's in my inbox, right? Like that's being able to record. And not only did I release that, but

RUN!

And I gave her an opportunity to use her strengths, which is super invigorating. If you think of the things that you've done in the last, I don't know, last month that were invigorating or like couldn't wait to do it again. It's places where you have used your strengths and so giving space for other people to show up and show off their things. mean, how, how empowering is that for people? It's super important.

Sure.

And it's the path of least resistance for you. Like, yes, you could spend a Saturday morning making that spreadsheet and gritting your teeth and doing the work, was a lot, which plenty of us are still there in certain areas. But certainly the way I started my business, I was responsible for all the things. So that's what it was. And you have to be willing to push through. But then you also can be aware

And then as you continue to grow and expand your level awareness and also just the overall success of your business, you can start hiring those things out.

Yes, absolutely.

Yes, and then that's where you can not worry about spending your time making that spreadsheet. And that's just when things get so much easier. So with having teams, that's huge. Can you share a little bit more about how you work with teams so that they can maximize their strengths or really understand how they can best work together? This is something that I'm super curious about as my own team continues to grow as well.

Yeah. So there's the first part about working about yourself, recognizing yourself. And then when other people are on your team, I just worked with a smaller team of four and met in my office and we were able to, we go through their strengths. They had met with me one-on-one, so they had a better understanding of their own strengths when they came together.

I was just gonna ask you about that. If you did your one-on-one where you read to them, each of them individually, their strengths, so they understood going into this conversation where they, I don't wanna say like their place in the conversation, but how it all fit together. Okay.

Yes.

Yep, absolutely. And then what was super fun is that, when they get together, then there's a teaching moment of them teaching what they have to offer to the rest of the group, which is super important because you know, in teaching world, you know it better once you've taught it, right? Like, so for somebody to be able to say, Hey, these are my, we focused on the top five. We have four hours.

Yes.

Um, I have, I have done eight hour sessions where we go into all 34 and you know, what's, well, we talk about all 34. We really focus on the top 10 then, and then mentioned the bottom a little bit, just again for awareness, right? Like to know, like, this is not necessarily my, my jam. Um, but then there's the space of being able to say, Hey, this is how I work really well. This is what I need from you.

wow, okay.

And those two conversations, so like there's a process I work through where it talks about, this is what I need to, yeah, like you to, you get the best of me when, you get the worst of me when, and what I need from you. And that conversation of like, what I need, that's where trust building happens.

there's a vulnerability in that, like, hey, I really need to feel heard, or I need to be able to have an opinion, or I need to, whatever it might be. When we start saying what we need is super and vulnerable, but that trust building and being able to say, hey, in order to get the best from me, these are the things I need, and you can contribute to that. Like how powerful is a team when we can start giving to each other what they, what we need.

to be better. And that's the collaboration happens. That's when the, the movement truly happens on a, on a faster scale. That's my husband will say that all the time. He'll say, well, I would get there eventually, but having a coach to ask the hard questions, to, open up, create space for people that is that hap like just expedites the

Mm-hmm.

the process so much quicker. And so having those conversations in a small group is really powerful. I have also done very large groups and looks different, but again, they're sharing their strengths with each other and being able to have an understanding of what other people need. And that is really a huge part of team building.

Mm-hmm.

Right. Yes, absolutely. So then I was just thinking about this as you were describing what a session like this can look like. You have that individual strength assessment so people understand going in what their strengths are and what they need and how they interact and respond to things. And then you're facilitating a conversation where they can describe that and share that with other people on their team.

So then I'm thinking to myself, this is also something that needs to be put into practice on a regular basis. So then do you have teams that you meet with regularly or like how, you know, it's kind of the same concept of, you know, we go to the conference and we're all jazzed and then we settle back into our routine and, you know, 90 % of it falls by the wayside, not because we're lazy or we don't care. It's just because it hasn't been fully integrated and ingrained into our day-to-day life.

Yes.

So I could see where something like this, it's going to also take work outside of that initial sessions with you, individual and then team. So what does that look like? How do you apply that long-term?

So I do have some teams that I meet with quarterly. And just to kind of do a refresher, I am part of people's onboarding. So when they get a new employee, they will have them come and do the strengths. And every time that that happens then, we then will meet together as a group. And that usually is a good refresher. And then I do, like I'm also a resource and

Okay.

you know, for better or worse, like I'm like, love giving out this stuff because it gives me, it gets me giddy. So, there are things that, especially managers, can do in team meetings and stuff, just, just to keep it the fresher mind, part of the verbiage. think that's a huge part of it becomes a culture of it. So, even like having a check-in like, Hey, we're

what strengths have you used recently or here's, here's a project. What strengths do we need and who can contribute? Like those are the types of things that if you keep that kind of, culture of, of, of the words you use and how you speak to it, it can be a constant part of it. I get to work in an organization that that is just a regular thing. when we, do a check-in or whatever that we get to.

Okay. Yes.

mention a strength that was used or whatever it might be. Like there's just some questions as a manager that can be asked to keep that culture going.

I love that example of this is the project, what strengths do we need for this project? Because when I think about it, even in our own team and the way that we work with our clients, with being virtual assistants and doing the execution work on here's my to-do list, here's all the things that need to get done, you're right, depending on the type of project that it is, you may need to apply not skills, but different strengths. When you are say,

Uh-huh.

writing a thoughtful email to someone recognizing them for their hard work, that's a different strength than the, need to build a spreadsheet in order to figure out if this project is, if this offering is going to be profitable or not. You know, these are two different things, not so much just the doing, it's here's the way we need to approach this.

Yeah, I love that because one of the things that one of my top strengths is also communication. And that's one of those strengths that I just assumed everybody had. so like, and when my husband now whenever he's going to send out an email, he has me look at it first because he showed me an email once I'm like, you're sending that like, why wouldn't I? I'm like,

Sure.

I'm sorry.

Well, it might come off wrong, you know, like, and so he has now, whenever he has to send out email to one of his clients or whatever, he's like, can you just look over this and make it sure it sounds like how I want it to sound? And, and that was one of those like, that is something that I actually, that I'm good at and that I can put words to paper and be able to make it have the voice that I want it to have. And that was not.

Good.

That really was something that I just assumed people, well, why would you say that in an email? that is, I just assumed everybody could do that and that is just not true. So.

you

I'm just chuckling to myself because we all know that person who needs someone to preview every email they send because it's a disaster.

Yes. Yes. And they have no idea. They have it in their head and they just can't get it out in a kind way or, you know, doesn't seem like a jerk or whatever.

Yep. 100 % yes. Like there's always that guy. No, just kidding, but it's not always a guy. I'm just saying that. But you know that just made me chuckle a little bit because you're absolutely right where you know that's your strength and and they have entirely that person has entirely different strengths. They're trying to communicate something and they're struggling with it. And I bet you you know I would even venture to say that that person might take.

Yeah.

20 minutes to write a simple email and it's still bad.

Right. Yes. Yes. And I think that's another part of strengths we didn't talk about and we don't have to talk long about, but another part of the awareness, you have the shadows, but there's also the misunderstanding. Like how could you be misunderstood by somebody who doesn't have the strength? And even when your intent is in the best possible way, that, you know, somebody who is very strategic may not have the, you know,

Yeah.

Hmm.

the skill set to write, you know, something to explain their strategy. So it sounds like they, they don't know what they're talking about or, or even like one of the misunderstandings that happens, like I have maximizer. So maximizer is taking something and making it to the next level. Well, that could, if I don't communicate that well, it absolutely could sound like nothing is good enough. I could always, you know, and if somebody's experiencing my maximizer all the time,

Mm-hmm.

Sure. Yes.

Like that can get exhausting for them because you're like, my gosh, nothing makes Jenny happy. know, like, so there's that, that it works great for coaching. But when somebody has to work with me on a regular basis and, you know, even my kids, honestly, if they're, know, if I'm in that maximizer mode all the time, they'll be like, my gosh, mom, just chill out for a minute. You know? So those are the types of things where we can be misunderstood because somebody doesn't understand what our intent is. So communicating that.

Yes.

sure.

Yes.

also is a huge piece of it.

Yeah. Well, Jenny, I think we might have to have you come back on the podcast because we didn't even have time to talk about how this touches our relationship with our loved ones. know Ava has done a strengths assessment. My daughter's 10, for those of you who are not familiar with her, but she did basically a kid's age appropriate version of this. And then Jenny was kind enough to have her come in and we talked about our strengths together. That was super fun and changes some of the ways that I parent her.

Mmm.

So that's been super impactful. Another thing we didn't have time to go into was also taking this a step further and exploring your values. And when I thought of values work, I thought, know, here are the values that everybody's supposed to have, know, faith, family, health, you know, I don't want to say the cliche because those are all great things and those are all great values. But when I did the actual work on values, a lot of those words I found weren't quite strong enough. They didn't quite capture.

Mm, mhm.

everything. So that was something that was interesting. We touched on boundaries because boundaries is a huge part of this as well. There's so many things. So we might have to do a part two, Jenny. So that's what I'm saying.

Okay, well, you know, I love hanging out with you, so I'd be happy to.

I love it. Yes, absolutely. So before we wrap things up here, you also have an offer for our audience if they are listening to this and thinking, I would love to dive deeper into my strengths and really understand when am I in the flow? When I'm in resistance, how do I interact with people better? How do I make life less resistant and stressful for me? All the things, maybe they have a team that they're interested in figuring out ways that they can

you know, the strengths of each individual and, you know, continue to advance the work of the greater good. You know, tell us a little bit about that.

So I have a couple of offerings with this because, because everybody's different and that's where my adaptability is, can be very powerful for, because I can meet people where they're at. But I do offer, which is probably the most popular to get started is a 90 minute session. And then included in that is the top five. And yes, you can pay for the extra, but I'm always a little leery to, I always encourage people to hang out with your top.

five first before you hang out with all of them. Because the example I use, if I would have gotten all 34 and I would have looked at that bottom of my list that we were talking about earlier, it would have been really hard for me to think, I could run a business. Because I just wasn't familiar enough with my top ones to say, yes, I can run a business with this. Right. So, having that 90 minute where we go do a deep dive into your personal strengths is

Sure. Yep.

Yes.

is probably the most popular right now. And then I have a deal. If you're listening to this podcast, I think it's going to be written like the code you can use to get like $25 off or something like that.

Yes, absolutely. We will include that in the show notes. I have it down here. It's embraceyourstory.as.me slash virtualstrengths, code MSWINK25. So M-S-W-I-N-K 25, and that's $25 off. So that is very generous of you. I highly recommend that those listening, if this is resonating with you, take advantage of that because you're only going to learn things that'll make your life just a little bit easier and understand.

how you interact with those around you.

And if you want to go, like, if you want to have more of a conversation, like a bigger picture, if you want to see what else is available, you can just do a, you can go to my website and book a call. It's a 30 minute complimentary, hey, how, what are the things that you need and how can I help you through that? So that's a free way to get started. So.

Awesome. Well, Jenny, it was so great to have you on the podcast. Really appreciate your time and sharing with us today.

It was super fun, Melissa, you I love this stuff.

Awesome. Yes, absolutely. And thank you so much to everyone listening. If you know an entrepreneur or a leader, you know, who wants to live their life in a way that's authentic and aligned for them, this would be a great conversation to share with them so they can learn a little bit more about strengths work and how that would help them better adapt and move through their world. So we'd love to have you share this information with them and we will be back.

with next week with another episode of Make Space for More. Take care everyone. Bye bye.