Episode 6: Networking with Rina Jensen

Transcription: – [Announcer] Welcome to Sarah Squared, the podcast for all things marketing, business growth, branding, and social media. Sara Leisinger is the owner of Who’s Lance Digital Media, serving start-ups and solopreneurs. And Sarah Banowetz owns Banowetz Marketing, a full-service agency located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Together, they make up Sarah Squared, dedicated to the inspiration, motivation, and education of growing companies. Sara Leisinger: Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to Sara(h) Sqaured. Sarah Banowetz: Welcome, welcome. Sara Leisinger: Thank you for joining us today. Do you got your coffee in hand? I’m going to assume you said yes, because I can’t see you. Sarah Banowetz: I do not, I need to get mine. Sara, yours is over there. Sara Leisinger: I know, Keurig.  Sarah Banowetz: She’s just staring at it right now. Sara Leisinger: I mean, it might be smarter than me. Every time I hit that button, it doesn’t do anything.  Sarah Banowetz: That’s because you have to open the little door.  Sara Leisinger: I think we’re getting distracted. Sarah Banowetz: We are. Rina Jensen: You guys are entertaining. Sarah Banowetz: Okay, we need to introduce … who was that? Sara Leisinger: That was the voice in our heads. Well, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind being. This is Rina Jensen, she is joining us today. Sarah Banowetz: Hi Rina. Rina Jensen: Hi. Sara Leisinger: So, this is Cedar Rapids’ own resiliency coach. I keep thinking that she coined that term, so I’m just going to keep … Sarah Banowetz: Did you coin that term? Rina Jensen: I think I did, yeah. Sarah Banowetz: Cool. Sara Leisinger: Yes, and we’re going to talk about some cool, fun marketing things. But first, Rina, tell us a little bit about you, and what you have going on. Rina Jensen: Oh my gosh, where do I start? I was born in Cedar Rapids- Sara Leisinger: Was born 1978. Rina Jensen: -in 1974, no, I’m just kidding. I actually have lived here my entire life, except for one year when I lived in Kansas City, but we don’t really talk about that. Sara Leisinger: No place like home. Rina Jensen: There’s no place like home. Sarah Banowetz: Okay, now that makes me want to talk about that, but we won’t. We’ll move on. Rina Jensen: We can do that another time. This is not The View. This is not The View. Sarah Banowetz: Hey, Sara(h) Squared, number two. Sara(h) Squared, The View.  Sara Leisinger: Oh my gosh. Sarah Banowetz: We need another podcast.  Rina Jensen: We need a camera right here, so you can just videotape [crosstalk 00:01:57]. Sara Leisinger: Can we watch one podcast first, please? Sarah Banowetz: Okay, Rina. Rina Jensen: Yes? Okay, so about me. How did I get started in business resiliency coaching, is that really the thing you want to know? Sara Leisinger: Yes. Rina Jensen: Okay so I- Sarah Banowetz: Before we get onto that, tell us a little bit about who you are as a person, too. So what school did you go to? Rina Jensen: I went to Kennedy, because that matters here, right?  Sara Leisinger: Local hero. Sarah Banowetz: It does matter. Rina Jensen: It does matter. Sara Leisinger: Yeah, I’m rolling my eyes because my alma mater is orange and black, Prairie Hawks. Let’s go. Rina Jensen: I love Halloween, does that count? See, I’m from Solen, so Sara, you and I are big. Sara Leisinger: Yeah, yeah. Meanwhile, we got the luck of the Irish over here, going on. Sarah Banowetz: That’s me. Rina Jensen: That is also the only part of my heritage that I am fully aware of, and fully embrace, my Irish heritage. Sara Leisinger: Nice. Sarah Banowetz: So Rina, do you have any kids? Rina Jensen: I have two pitbulls. Sarah Banowetz: Okay, what are their names? Rina Jensen: Winston and Zoe.  Sara Leisinger: Very cool. Sarah Banowetz: Nice. Rina Jensen: They are amazing, and funny, and such personalities, and they bring me happiness and joy every single day, even when they are trampling around in my house, making all kinds of noise, and I just want to relax. They’re awesome. Sara Leisinger: Sounds like my children in general. Rina Jensen: Yes, yeah.  Sarah Banowetz: Should I answer honestly? I have kids and dogs, and I will tell you the dogs are a lot of work.  Rina Jensen: Yes, they are. They are. Sarah Banowetz: Especially as the kids get older. Sara Leisinger: Yeah, because when your kids get older, you don’t have to run around after them and clean up their poo. Sarah Banowetz: With the dogs, it’s constant. Sara Leisinger: You still have to. Who owns them? Come on. Sarah Banowetz: They follow me around. They never stop following me around. Rina Jensen: They don’t. I don’t have any privacy, no. I’ve heard that parents say that, moms say that, when they’re in the bathroom. Sarah Banowetz: With the toddlers. Rina Jensen: Yeah. Sarah Banowetz: But then the toddlers grow up, and the teens don’t follow you into the bathroom. Rina Jensen: Correct, but your dogs still- Sarah Banowetz: Your dogs always do. Rina Jensen: And they’re constantly knocking at the door if I don’t let them in. Sarah Banowetz: Yes, scratch, scratch, scratch. Rina Jensen: Yes.  Sarah Banowetz: Okay, Rina, how did you get to be a resiliency coach? Rina Jensen: I was a business owner. I spent about 20 years in credit and collections, and in 2012 I was like, “This is just not my thing any more,” and I knew that I needed to do something that was bigger and better than me, and I needed to help other people, I just didn’t know what exactly that looked like. So I took a hiatus, nine month sabbatical from work, and during that time, New York Life recruited me pretty heavily. I went, because I decided that no matter what I do, it’s either going to be one of two things. Teach me something, or make me incredibly happy; preferably both, but definitely one or the other. Sarah Banowetz: That’s a great outlook.  Rina Jensen: Thank you, and it’s not anything I had ever done previously. I just accepted what life was handing me for the longest time. I learned all kinds of stuff at New York Life; all kinds. Networking, I sucked at it. So when I say that I sucked at it, I mean had the stench of desperation all over my body. “Please give me your business, so I can earn some money,” because every New York Life agent is 100% commission, and it was really about building relationships with people, and connecting them, and how can I help them succeed in order for them to trust me? I was successful, so in that world, if you last longer than 90 days, you’re considered a success. I lasted two years. Sarah Banowetz: Oh, wow. Sara Leisinger: Wow, very cool. Rina Jensen: Yeah, so at the end of two years, I was like, “I don’t really want to do this.” My hair started turning purple. Sarah Banowetz: Wait. Your hair’s purple right now. Sara Leisinger: For everybody in podcast land, the reason that was funny is because she’s got purple hair. Rina Jensen: Yes, that is a fact, yes. In the financial world, they don’t really like purple hair, at least the people in my office didn’t, and so when I started putting purple in my hair, I started getting a lot of grief. It didn’t bother me. I knew that I was just being me, so I was like, “It is what it is.” So anyway, I left there, and I had the opportunity to buy a retail store, and I loved it. I absolutely loved it. I had built wonderful relationships with interior designers, local artists, it was phenomenal, and then I got divorced. I either had to consider living in the back of my store, which I did, I considered, didn’t actually live there.  I just considered it for like 10 minutes. I was like, “I could totally do that.”  Sarah Banowetz: I would’ve considered the same thing. Rina Jensen: Right, because I would’ve loved it.  Sarah Banowetz: [crosstalk 00:06:48]. Sara Leisinger: It would’ve been awesome. Rina Jensen: Right. But it wasn’t fair to my dogs. It wasn’t fair to Winston and Zoe, and it wasn’t really realistic.  Sara Leisinger: Where’s the sink? Rina Jensen: There was a sink. There was a sink that I could’ve stuck a shower thing to. I could’ve showered back there, I had a microwave. Sara Leisinger: I thought you said you only considered this for 10 minutes. This sounds like more than 10 minutes. Rina Jensen: I did. All of this was fast. I do think fast, like, really fast. Yes, I had all of those thoughts in 10 minutes, and then I realized that it was just not going to work. So during that time that I owned that store, I was there by myself. I didn’t have employees, it was just me. I didn’t have anybody that I could rely on, and I had felt that way at New York Life too, even though I had an entire support system of upper management. They weren’t talking to me about the conversations I was having in my head, and they weren’t saying, “I know you probably don’t believe you can do this, but here are all the reasons why you can.” Or, “Let’s talk about your fear.” Name anything that is personal and private, and they don’t talk about it, and that’s across the board. I realized that in order to overcome our fear, we have to find our own little piece of resiliency within ourselves, and so now I help other business owners figure that out. Sara Leisinger: Yeah, very cool. Rina Jensen: Thanks.  Sara Leisinger: Since you have had the opportunity to work with so many different types of business owners, I actually just had to sit on my hands, because I’m not allowed to bang on the table, and I tend to do that.  Sarah Banowetz: Sara’s a bad table banger. Sara Leisinger: Yeah, I bang the table, and then the mic picks it up, and the other Sarah gets mad at me. So super cool, like I was saying, with all of the business owners that you have had the opportunity to work with because of the field that you’re in, and being able to coach them personally and professionally.  I was thinking, one of the top questions that I get is how do you reach people when you’re just starting out, when time is more of your bigger commodity than money? What’s the best way to reach them? Since you are our resident networker in the area, who better to ask than Rina? Rina Jensen: Thank you. Network. That is the best way. To get out there, and meet people, and talk to people, so they can see your passion, and experience you. That’s a huge thing that people don’t think about, or they over think about that, actually.  The whole idea of networking is this overwhelming, social anxiety causing thing that nobody wants to do, but they don’t realize that they’ve been doing it their entire lives. Everybody in our world, that is not immediate family, we have met through networking. We just didn’t call it that when we were in elementary school or college. Sara Leisinger: We made friends. Rina Jensen: We made friends. Sara Leisinger: Yeah. Sarah Banowetz: What about those people that have a hard time with that? Even in elementary school, college years, had a hard time with, essentially, networking? Rina Jensen: What would I suggest for them? Sarah Banowetz: Yeah. What would you suggest for them? Rina Jensen: I would suggest that they take a deep breath, and realize the people in the room are not thinking about them. Sara Leisinger: Amen.  Rina Jensen: That’s one of the things that we as humans do, especially those of us that have anxiety about going to places like that, is that we think we’re going to walk in, and people are going to judge us, and they’re going to judge our clothing, or the way that we carry ourselves, or whatever. It’s not about us. Just like you say, it’s not about you, it’s never about you, especially when you walk into that place, and if you’re one of those people that judges people, then we should probably have a different kind of conversation.  Sara Leisinger: Basically what I’m hearing is, just go and do it. Don’t be so self-conscious, just go and do it. Go show people your passion about your craft, and you know what? Things will pick up from there. When I first started doing some networking in the community, I actually didn’t realize how rich of a networking community that Cedar Rapids has. It’s massive. Some of the bigger ones, to kind of finish this off, I’ll give one of the bigger ones, which is 1MillionCups. Rina Jensen: Oh, yes. Sara Leisinger: Yes. Rina, you know a little bit about 1MillionCups, don’t you? Rina Jensen: I do. I do know a little bit about 1MillionCups. I am part of the organizing team for 1MillionCups, and we are completely revamping the format for 2019. Sara Leisinger: So when is it, and what is it? Rina Jensen: It is every Wednesday, starting January 9th. It will be at 8:15 in the morning, which is different, because currently it’s at 9:00, so we’re going to have to get up a little bit earlier. Sara Leisinger: Fair enough. Rina, really quick, before we let you go for the day, I do appreciate you coming in. Rina Jensen: Thank you. Sara Leisinger: Thank you so much.  Sarah Banowetz: Would you be willing to come back again? Because I’ve got more questions for you. I would love to know how you got from the retail store to what you’re currently doing. Rina Jensen: I would love to come back. Sarah Banowetz: That would be awesome. Sara Leisinger: So we’ll do further adventures with Rina. Sarah Banowetz: And where can people find you? Rina Jensen: People can find me on Facebook, at Rina L. Jensen, Instagram, Rina L. Jensen, which is currently- Sarah Banowetz: Is it S-E-N, or S-O-N? Rina Jensen: S-E-N. Sarah Banowetz: S-E-N. Rina Jensen: And then my website is rinajensen.com. Sarah Banowetz: Awesome. Sara Leisinger: Awesome, and then we’ve got something really quick. You’ve got something kicking off in January, right? Rina Jensen: I do. I totally forgot about that. It’s so good she’s here. It’s a master class that I’ve created, called Focus You, and we need to just be more aware of what we’re doing for ourselves, and this class is designed to understand fear, the four basics of fear, how we can look at them from a logical perspective, and then overcome them, because our thoughts dictate our feelings and our emotions, which is another week of the class. And boundaries. Boundaries are a big deal. Sarah Banowetz: Boundaries are a big deal, they are. Rina Jensen: Yes, yes, and so we talk about that. Sara Leisinger: I love Rina’s definition of boundaries. Sarah Banowetz: What’s your definition of boundaries? Rina Jensen: First, you tell me what your definition is. Sarah Banowetz: I don’t know if I’ve formulated a definition. I use them all the time. I guess it’s like my thing, your thing, and we don’t cross. If you come over into my thing, then I’m going to ask you to back off? Sara Leisinger: I always think of a property line when I think of boundaries.  Sarah Banowetz: My responsibility, your responsibility. Sara Leisinger: This is as far as you can go, this is as far as I will go for something, kind of deal? Sarah Banowetz: Exactly. Exactly. Rina Jensen: Those are actually … well, they’re really, really close to what I teach people boundaries are. Sarah Banowetz: Well that’s good. High five, Sara. Rina Jensen: Right? Good job. A lot of what I hear is that boundaries are designed to teach people how to treat us. Sarah Banowetz: Yeah. Sara Leisinger: Sure. I would agree with that. Sarah Banowetz: Okay, yes. Rina Jensen: And it’s not.  Sara Leisinger: [inaudible 00:13:56]. Rina Jensen: I’m torn right now. Do I explain myself, or do I have you guys come to the class? Sara Leisinger: Oh my gosh. Hey, maybe we should do that. Reach out to Rina on the given channels, so … I was about to say YouTube. You should be on YouTube.  Rina Jensen: I’m working on that. Sara Leisinger: Instagram, Facebook, and then rinajensen.com. Rina Jensen: Oh, and LinkedIn, I’m also on LinkedIn. Sara Leisinger: She’s also on LinkedIn, so go ahead and touch base with her if these things sound interesting. Sarah Banowetz: And in the meantime, thanks for listening to Sara(h) Squared. You can find Sara Leisinger at … Sara Leisinger: Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, as well as LinkedIn, and it is usually @whoslance, or @seesarahsocial. Sarah Banowetz: And you can find me, Sarah Banowetz at banowetzmarketing.com, and we will see you guys later. Rina Jensen: Thank you so much, you guys. Sarah Banowetz: Thanks for coming on, Rina. Rina Jensen: You guys are fun. Sarah Banowetz: Oh yay, we’re going to have to have you back.  Sara Leisinger: It’s all the coffee. Sarah Banowetz: Because I have so many more questions. Rina Jensen: I have so many more answers.  Sarah Banowetz: We’ll see you guys later. Rina Jensen: Bye. Sarah Banowetz: Bye. Sara Leisinger: Bye.  Sara Leisinger of Who’s Lance Digital Media can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.  Sarah Banowetz of Banowetz Marketing can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. Our guest today was Rina Jensen. She can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. Her website is RinaJensen.com