283: Scaling Your Business Online with the Expertise You Already Have with Jen Howat 

Hi there. You’re listening to the Leading Lady podcast. I’m your host, AliceAnne Loftus, and I’m a certified professional coach specializing in leadership and work-life balance. I work with clients to shift their limiting beliefs, insecurities, and self-doubt. This podcast will be filled with tools and strategies to help high-achieving women like you feel connected, empowered, and in the lead of your life, both personally and professionally. Let’s transform your life starting now. Lead yourself, the rest will follow.

AliceAnne: Hi there, leading ladies, and welcome to today’s episode. I am joined by fellow Leading Lady Ambassador, Jen Howat. Jen is a content strategist, Kajabi specialist, and your go-to expert for online courses and memberships. With a background in ministry spanning over 16 years, serving as builder, associate pastor, discipleship, and leadership coach, Jen brings a unique blend of strategic thinking, communication expertise, and heart-centered leadership to the world of online business.

Today, she helps business owners do far more than just build an online course or membership. Jen partners with her clients to clarify their messaging, develop lead magnets that lead naturally to their paid offers, and map out launch strategies that align with their goals and values. She loves showing her clients what’s possible when the right strategy and systems support their vision.

I can speak with my whole heart that all of this is true about Jen, as Jen is the mastermind behind the Leading Lady Hub and how we rolled that out. So Jen, thank you so much for being my guest today. I can’t wait to dive in with you.

Jen: Thank you so much for having me.

AliceAnne: What a great bio. I love that.

Jen: Thanks.

AliceAnne: You know, I love when I read people’s bios, just seeing the journey and expertise and experiences that they’ve had that have gotten them to where they need to be, right? And we try to sum it up in, like, 150 words or less.

Jen: I know. And we should read our bios to ourself more often, because we realize, like, “Hey, I have been some places and done some things.” And I wanna be friends with her.

AliceAnne: Exactly. Well, thanks for being here. We’re gonna be talking about expertise, transformation versus information, and then just roll in with the mess. I love these key points, and I love that I’m gonna be able to speak firsthand, because I think that this was a process that I had to go through with you as we were building the Leading Lady Hub.

Your Expertise Is Already Enough

So talk to me about why you believe individual expertise is enough.

Jen: Well, as I just said, when we’re reading our bios, we realize that we have been some places and done some things, and so we do have expertise. And a lot of us are already working with people, helping them to get results. We often think we have to always be coming up with something new, but our collective experience and our journey gives us that expertise that we can confidently step into, whether we’re doing something one-on-one with clients, or if we’re looking to take what’s familiar to us and perhaps package it in an unfamiliar way to take it somewhere like online, for instance.

AliceAnne: Yeah. That was a powerful aha moment that I had with you right when we were coming up with what I was going to be putting out there. And I love how you brought me back to reality with, “AliceAnne, you do not need to reinvent the wheel. You do not have to come up with some new process or new tool or new skill. You don’t have to rethink of something.”

And working with you, going through your process, I learned that I had a tool that I was already using, even though I hadn’t put it to paper. Or actually, had I put it to paper yet?

Jen: You did, but only with your individual clients.

AliceAnne: Right. I was only using it one way. And when you were like, “No, AliceAnne, you don’t have to think of anything new. Talk to me about what you’re already using,” my brain went like, “What do you mean? What do you mean that I’m already doing something that can be shared with many?”

Write the Chapter, Not the Whole Book

Jen: Yeah. You know, it’s simple, but it’s not easy, because we do have so much expertise and experience underneath our belt.

I remember, I’ve had the privilege now to be in two out of the three We Lead book volumes, and Laura Di Franco…

AliceAnne: Congratulations. Book three coming out shortly.

Jen: Thank you. Super excited. But what she said when all the authors got together has really stuck with me. She said, “Congratulations for being a part of this project, but also, so sorry, this is going to be really challenging, because you’re not writing an entire book. You’re writing one chapter of a book, which means you don’t have a whole book to tell all of your stories, and you can’t tell your whole life in one chapter.”

And to me, that just really resonated with, I think, the challenge that we face when we think about taking our expertise and doing something different with it. We’re trying to pull everything we have and bring it together, when really we have to think of it more like the chapter. You can’t take everything you’ve ever done with someone and throw it into an online experience in any case. But we try to, and that just is overwhelming, not only for us, but for people.

AliceAnne: Well, it’s like fire hosing your audience, and it can actually confuse them. I have a client that I work with that tries to put everything into all of her offers, and I say, “It’s so overwhelming that what you’re actually trying to share with them is getting lost.”

Jen: Yes. And you actually asked me a question recently as I’ve been thinking about my own online version of what I do. Your question was, “Well, when they get through it, what do you want them to say they achieved? Like, what are the goals? If they wrote you a review, what do you want them to be able to say?” And that’s just another reframing of the same idea.

And sometimes we just have to really sit with that and realize that we’re actually providing more value when we only put in specific content. It’s not less value. And we often overload it just ‘cause we wanna really show up for people, right? We wanna help them.

AliceAnne: Right. We wanna prove our expertise too.

Jen: That’s right. And we don’t wanna seem like we’re holding out, you know? But as you said, it causes confusion. It actually isn’t helpful. It actually is overwhelming for people and makes them make less progress, not more.

Transformation Over Information

AliceAnne: Which takes us to our next point, that our audience doesn’t want just information. You know, we think we’re doing a great job by providing a lot of information, lots of modules, lots of videos, lots and lots and lots of content. But you point out that it’s not the information our clients are after. What are they after? They really want the transformation.

Jen: Because we all have information, right? But we have to learn how to put that into practice. We have to be able to implement it, integrate it into our lives, in order for us to have the results that we really desire. And again, in the name of proving ourselves and showing tons of value, we want to just throw in the kitchen sink.

Statistics have shown since about 2018, and it’s still true today, that the number one reason why people will disengage inside a program or quit a membership is overwhelm, meaning they feel like they’re behind, because there’s so much there, and they don’t even…

AliceAnne: And they’ll never catch up.

Jen: That’s right. And they don’t know where to start. And it’s confusing. You know, “Where should I be? What should I be doing?” And so it’s not, again, about the information. It’s about helping people in transformation. And so it’s just realizing that you can take small pieces, which seems simple to us because we’re the expert.

AliceAnne: Right.

Jen: But it’s not necessarily easy, as we said at the beginning.

AliceAnne: Oh, and small steps can be hugely transformational.

Jen: Absolutely. And creating that space for that implementation and that integration, because we’re all overwhelmed with so much information, you know?

AliceAnne: Oh, information overload. And I find that the collection of information without the space and the time to apply it is really just entertainment, right?

Jen: For sure. I mean, think about how many times you’ve… Well, I’ll say I have registered for so many things, taken so many courses, classes, and things that I think, like, “Oh, I’ll get to that later.” You know? It just sits there, because it’s just more information.

And as you said, there are four dynamics of learning, and one of the four dynamics of learning is learning in experience. You know, we can have information, we can be processing with other people and talk about, “What does this look like?” But it’s where the rubber meets the road when we put our information into real-life experience. So doing it, implementing it, is what actually helps us make progress.

AliceAnne: Yes. Love that. Love that.

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Thank you for listening to the Leading Lady podcast. I’m Erin Harrigan, a Leading Lady Ambassador, and the founder of Erin Harrigan Coaching for Christian women who want to integrate their faith and business without compromising their values or their priorities. Tune into my podcast, Redefining Hustle, or download my free audio devotional at erinharrigan.com/devotional.

Do It Messy

AliceAnne: Okay, so our final point here, and this is probably my hardest pill to swallow, is do it messy. Don’t wait for the perfect product. Tell us more about that.

Jen: Yes, and I can absolutely resonate with you in this, because this is where I find myself, too. I am usually a perfectionist on the Enneagram, and so wanting things to be perfect is something that keeps me from putting it out there.

And there’s a few reasons why this is actually keeping us from the very thing our heart desires. The first thing is that it’s never going to be perfect. It just never will be.

AliceAnne: There’s no such thing as perfect.

Jen: That’s right. And if I make it perfect for you, that same thing is not gonna be perfect for your best friend. It’s never going to be perfect. And if, for some reason, the stars align and you’re able to make it perfect today, just wait till tomorrow. It’s not gonna be perfect tomorrow. Right? Seasons change, things change, people change.

And so just realizing that perfect… I think it’s Seth Godin who says, “Perfect is a trap.” What you need to do is make it good enough, because the very definition of good enough is that it is good enough. And if we try to make it more than good enough, then we’ve wasted our time. And that doesn’t mean that we don’t make it better.

Aim for Excellence, Not Perfection

AliceAnne: Yeah. But, you know, something that I really had to come to grips with is to aim for excellence, not perfection.

Jen: Hmm. I like that.

AliceAnne: And when we start working towards excellence, and what is excellence? Excellence is our best effort. Excellence is open to learning. Excellence is understanding that adaptations might need to happen. So when we shift our focus to “Is this an excellent product?”, meaning did I put my best effort into this, and is there room for improvement, meaning feedback, we have to build in feedback, right?

Jen: That’s right.

AliceAnne: Even with my launch, I loved that we did this. We did a soft launch with a group of trusted people, members who are already part of the community. Then we asked for feedback on that, and with that feedback we were able to say, “Oh, okay. Here’s some areas that maybe weren’t clear, or need refining, or aren’t being used at all.” So when we focus on excellence versus perfection, we understand that it’s living, it’s breathing, changes might need to be made, it evolves. All of those things, and that was a huge shift for me.

Jen: Yes, and it’s the only way, as you said, that we’ll even know if we’ve hit the mark, because, you know, we spend so much time thinking about this.

AliceAnne: Oh, and overthinking about it.

Jen: Overanalyzing. And then when we put it out there, we realize, “Oh, this part that I thought was really helpful, I’m actually confusing people here.” Or, “Oh, there’s a whole step that I’m missing, and I need to go back and add something here.”

Not only does it make it better, but that also makes your people feel so cared for, because you’re asking them, number one, for feedback, and you’re also making this product better. You’re taking it to the next level and elevating that excellence. It makes people feel so valued that you’re not just putting something out there and letting it go. You want to continue to refine it, because your highest value is to serve the people who have come to you to solve the problem that they have.

Signs You’re Ready to Scale

AliceAnne: Yeah. So I’m gonna drop a link to your freebie in the show notes. You’re offering this freebie called 10 Signs You’re Ready to Scale With a Course or a Membership. So how do you help individuals take this to the next level, to scale?

Jen: So if you are finding that you have people that keep asking you… This is one of the 10 signs. If you have people that keep asking to work with you, but you have hit a limit.

AliceAnne: Yeah, because hours for dollars is not sustainable.

Jen: That’s right. And it has been what gets us to where we are, which is fantastic. But that model has a ceiling, because we’ve yet to figure out how to get more than 24 hours out of the day.

AliceAnne: Yeah. I love that saying. Even Beyoncé only has 24 hours in the day.

Jen: That’s right. Absolutely. So it’s learning how to leverage that time better.

And when you see that that’s a possibility, what we do is we sit and we look at, again, not writing the entire book of your life and everything that you’ve done, but what is the chapter that we’re gonna write? What is the problem that we’re gonna solve for people? And really look at who you’re serving, because that will then help us figure out what is the content. What’s the structure going to look like? How does it fit alongside everything else you have in your business? Because you don’t want it to be competing with other things. You want it to be a seamless integration into your overall business ecosystem.

But if you are feeling like you have just kind of hit the ceiling with your energy, you don’t have white space or time to do other things, even in business, but especially in life, you know, because we are more than what we do for our business, then that’s just a real good sign that you have an opportunity to take things to the next level and write a new chapter in your business.

Ways to Work with Jen

AliceAnne: Oh, I love that. I love that. So what are the different ways that people can work with you?

Jen: So there’s a few different ways that people can work with me. What I typically do, and what I’ve done that started my business, is I do a full transformational build of your online program. That’s both the strategic side of figuring out these very things, what is gonna work best for you and for your people, and what should be in your program. And then I can go in on a system called Kajabi and actually build all of it for you. So that’s a real big way in which I work with people.

I’m also going to be launching a new program coming up in just a few months where I’m gonna walk people through a 90-day… It’s the same process I do with clients over a six-month period, but I’m gonna do it in a group setting over 90 days, and this way people have the ability to do it themselves. They might actually already have a team member that could be building this for them, but it’s a way for people who are not quite ready for the full build, but still need the strategy and the support to be able to bring their vision to life. So those are the two main ways right now.

AliceAnne: I love that. I love that, and I love that, you know, teaching people how to do it themselves as well. You know, some people want to learn that so that they can maybe build multiples of that. I, personally, as your client, just wanted you to do the whole thing for me. Kajabi is its own thing, and I am so thankful that I was able to find a Kajabi expert, you, to help me through that. I’m not somebody that wants to learn that. But I do appreciate that you have both of those offerings, for the DIY-er and for the person who’s just like, “Please…”

Jen: “Take this off my plate.”

AliceAnne: “Make it so.” Yes. Make it so. Well, I think that this is just a fantastic offering that you have for people. It certainly helped me to see how to scale my business. And, you know, my word for 2025 was impact.

And when we’re focused on impact, at least I realized that it wasn’t sustainable to work one-to-one with everyone. You have to have a level where people can have access to you and experience that transformation through your tools and products and programs, so that you can have a greater impact out in the community. I loved that I learned that from you. I love that you helped me through that, and I love seeing how other people are following that model and doing the same. So thank you for your impact in our community.

Jen: Oh, it’s my pleasure. Thanks.

Go for It

AliceAnne: So any last parting words for our listeners today?

Jen: I would say, you know, you said your word for 2025 was impact, and I actually had three words put together, but the saying was, “Go for it.” And that’s what I would encourage you to do, is just go for it. Because when we go for it, we can’t overthink ourselves out of action, and action is the only thing that’s going to get you the results that you want and that your people need. So go for it. Take a step. Do something, and you won’t regret it.

AliceAnne: I love that. Thank you so much. And for our listeners, if this resonated with you, if you wanna learn more, grab Jen’s freebie in the show notes. Reach out to me. Reach out to her. Her information’s in there as well. And until next time, take the lead.

Thanks for tuning in for another episode of the Leading Lady podcast. You can find all of the links and information mentioned in this episode at www.leadinglady-coaching.com. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to follow the show so you don’t miss any future episodes. And while you’re there, it would mean the world to me if you would take a few seconds and leave me an honest review. This will allow me to be able to help other high-achieving women find inspiration, connection, and develop strategies to live and lead with purpose and intention. See you here next week.