Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in career and business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jette Stubbs, Founder of The Happy Career Formula, located in Toronto, ON, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Career & Business Coaching is my business. I help professionals design six-figure-income international or remote work that fits their life. I do this by offering a podcast and coaching, teaching a 7-step to find what you love to do and sell yourself with confidence, whether the dream gig is a job, freelance service, or business. I often work with ex-pats, immigrants, remote workers, or people looking to build more flexible work that aligns with their life goals.
Tell us about yourself
When I graduated from university, I had 90 days to find a job or leave the country with 0 connections and no family in the country as an international student. I realized I had a ton of skills but no idea how to market myself! I went from a 0% response rate to over 100 job applications to a 70% response rate to 10 job applications. Then, I started helping others. People started asking for advice, and very early on, I helped friends and colleagues secure raises of $25,000+, helping them after work or during my lunch hours.
While I was working, I experienced common and uncommon obstacles:
- Discrimination at work.
- Living in a country without any family.
- My mom was stabbed in a robbery (and lived).
- My dad was diagnosed with dementia when I was 25, and I had to move to countries to take care of him.
Eventually, I realized two things:
- Making money cannot stop when life goes wrong. If it does, you'll struggle to survive.
- I didn't want just any job. I want to build a way to make money that aligns with who I am and, more importantly, my situation.
I wrote down my list. Most of us want a job, freelance service, or business that:
- Aligns with who you are (to stop hating Mondays).
- Allows influence over income and benefits (with an understanding of how to market yourself).
- Makes a positive difference in the world (meaningful work you are proud of & excited to share).
- Gives work-life balance (with time and income to spend with loved ones and hobbies).
But you don't know how to get there or how to market yourself - that's where I come in. As a Career Coach, I've helped clients in 40+ industries:
- Interview for roles that pay $25,000 more within 10 days after revising their resume.
- Land contracts with Social Media Giants, Fortune 500 & Big 4 Consulting Firms.
- Apply and get accepted into Grad/MBA Schools.
Eventually, I wanted to leave the 9-to-5 to start a business online. But there was a problemโฆ Information overload. There were a lot of specialists teaching one thing (like building a website or social media), so I felt I was given pieces of the puzzle. So many steps on YouTube, but how do they fit together, and where to start? I ended up chasing shiny objects (exhausting myself, creating content, or building a website) that didn't result in growth or paying clients. I wanted to be my own boss, but I had to learn how to be a good boss for myself.
Until I figured out how to grow a business properlyโฆ I also realized that the same principles apply to finding a job or starting a business. I broke it down into a 7-step process that allows you to create the life you envision is possible when you have a great fit with your work. As a Business Coach, I help new entrepreneurs break away from the 9-to-5 to start and grow a business, even if they don't know where to start. I've helped clients to:
- Start YouTube channels that grow at 5,000+ subscribers per month.
- Organic growth hacking to achieve 500,000 monthly Twitter impressions in under a year.
- Have new clients reach out each week to book and pay without the pushy bro-marketing tactics that scare them away from online marketing.
- And start their own online business to leave the 9-to-5 in less than 12 months.
Now, I help professionals design six-figure-income international or remote work that fits their life. I do this by offering a podcast and coaching, teaching a 7-step process to find what you love to do and sell yourself confidently, whether the dream gig is a job, freelance service, or business. I often work with ex-pats, immigrants, remote workers, or people looking to build more flexible work that aligns with their life goals.
What would happen if you knew how to find what you love to do and sell yourself to create options for your growth?
๐Nikki T. went from $๐ณ๐ฌ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ณ๐๐น ๐ท๐ผ๐ฏ in banking to $๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฌ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ฝ ๐๐ผ $๐ฏ๐ต๐ฌ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ in yr 1, up to $๐ฑ๐ด๐ฌ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐น. ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ by year 3.
๐ Brittany Campbell went from working in ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ (< $๐ฏ๐ฌ /๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฟ) to building a ($๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ+ /hour) ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ-๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ-๐ฎ๐ป๐๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ท๐ผ๐ฏ & ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ in publishing industry, landed ๐ฑ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐น๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ญ๐ด ๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ต๐.
๐Kristin Finkbeiner moved from Toronto to Ireland and went from ๐ฌ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ to jobs to landing a ๐ท๐ผ๐ฏ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ with no network - just an online application.
๐Jolie Williamson ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ท๐ผ๐ฏ & ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐. After being a part of a large group of layoffs in Aug 2020, by Feb 2021, her monthly income was higher than the job she lost.
After you know what you love to do and have the tools to sell yourself, you can choose whether you want a job, freelance service, or business. Because the principles for finding what you love to do and selling yourself are the same whether you want a job, freelance service, or business.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Outside of helping people increase their annual income by over $100,000, my biggest accomplishment is integrating who I am as a person into my business authentically. You cannot separate the personal and professional to become a corporate robot because you won't feel happy and whole. I help my clients do this by bringing their whole selves into their work to live more holistic and integrated lives focused on the things that matter - family, relationships, and creating an impact on the world.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
You have to learn how to be a good boss to yourself - and that's hard to do. We tend to have one relationship that repeats itself in our lives: at work, home, or with friends. One relationship with powerful fears and motivators that recur and affect different areas of our life in the same ways. If you've had unhealthy bosses in the past, you can unintentionally build your business to become your new bad boss. Often clients will come to me after having tried to build a business several times and feeling like their business is their new bad boss who is overworking and underpaying. I help you unpack that relationship while also applying practical tools to design your work to fit the life you envision for yourself.
Starting your business doesn't have to feel like a big dangerous leap. I help clients take manageable steps, including getting better jobs with more flexibility and higher income so they have more money, time, and energy to build a business that meets their needs. When you have more time and energy, business growth moves faster.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- You should design your business to fit your life instead of squeezing your life in with the few hours you have left after trying to run your business. You can avoid your business feeling like your new bad boss. First, you should define the type of life you want to live. So many people assume there is a binary - you're either a starving artist in love with what you do or an unhappy professional making more money than you need. There is a happy medium where you love your business, and it makes money. It starts with defining the type of lifestyle you want to live and setting your own definition of success. Then, you should intentionally design your business to support your life goals. It's easy to get caught up following someone else's definition of success or what you think you should do or are "supposed to do." Then, you find yourself building something that doesn't align with you. You can design your work and business to fit your life goals.
- Sell before you build anything so that you can avoid some of the feelings of rejection. Many people spend time hunkered down, building a product or service before speaking to a potential client. Then, they launch their product or service after spending so much time on it, only to be devastated by no sales. You can avoid this if you test and sell your idea before you build anything so you know it's something people will pay for - because the money is already in your bank account. If it's not going to work, you'll know in advance and avoid chasing a bad idea.
- Iterate, don't perfect it. Done is better than perfect. As you speak to clients, it's easy to get caught up in thinking you need to create the perfect product or service. Always ask yourself, what is the smallest or quickest thing I can offer now that can change their life? Do that thing and use the money from that to improve and grow. If you're not putting yourself out there and asking people to buy, what you are creating is a stressful hobby instead of a business you love.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.jettestubbs.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happycareerformula/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jettestubbs/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
Turn your craft into recurring revenue with Subkit. Start your subscription offering in minutes and supercharge it with growth levers. Get early access here.
