Can Joy Be a Legitimate Business Strategy?
Today I had the distinct pleasure to speak to Janifer Wheeler, a former teacher turned entrepreneur. She’s spent over 25 years helping schools and small businesses get their shit together through process design, internal structure, education and workplace culture.
Janifer is an award-winning, international speaker and facilitator who can infuse your organisation, conference, workshop or event with joy and BadAssery. She’s on the BRAINZ CREA Global 2021 list of international entrepreneurs, innovators and influential leaders for her work in the area of sustainability and mental health using JOY as a business strategy.
She started The JOYFull BadAss Business Academy™, to help other BadAss female business owners win the burnout battle. Her work-at-your-own-pace courses are delivered via MicroText making it easier to integrate into your daily routine.
What inspired your business?
I started this business to help other women avoid burnout. I have had my own burnout experiences both as a teacher and as an entrepreneur. I left teaching in 2012 because I was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted to my core. Had I not been training for a ½ marathon that year, I am sure I would have completely collapsed. It was my refuge. I mean, who hopes they will have an accident that will land them in hospital JUST to get a break?
Burnout happened again as an entrepreneur. The stress of trying to create something sustainable and financially feasible based on my own skills and knowledge was terrifying and hard. I spent so much time and money investing in programmes or courses that would help but got stuck in information overload.
Now I have created a solution for burnout that I would have given anything to access previously. JOY as a business strategy has been life-changing and I want to help other women find their JOY without adding ONE more thing to their overwhelming workload. That’s why all of my training modules are MicroLearning Courses - short, actionable, convenient, accessible from anywhere and very engaging. I’ve partnered with ARIST - a secure and private platform that delivers lessons via text right to your phone using text messages or WhatsApp.
How do you hope your work will impact the world?
By facilitating a thriving community of badass women business owners who are living above the joy line and encouraging others to do the same, I am the catalyst for a worldwide JOY revolution!!!
My clients have gotten trapped by their own brilliance and believe the hype that you must hustle and grind or you will never be successful. No one at The JOYFull BadAss Business Academy™ believes that bullshit. If it’s not JOYFull, we aren’t doing it!
As an advocate for JOYFull alignment, I facilitate a process that ensures you are working in your JoyFull Zone of Genius more than you aren’t. And for the rest of the shit that needs to be done, hand it over to staff or an assistant.
It sounds scary - giving other people control, but the JOYFull BadAss has your back. I will help you create the process, structure and workplace culture you need to effectively and efficiently build a team that will help you avoid business owner burnout and realise the goals & dreams you set for yourself.
I believe that when people focus on being JOYFull, they are more empathetic, kind, compassionate and supportive of what other people are dealing with. I’m also a Certified Diversity Professional so I also want to use my work as a way to influence others to be more inclusive and equitable in their lives and businesses. It’s a lot harder to be hateful when you have JOY in your heart.
What does happiness mean to you, and how does your business contribute?
To me, happiness is temporary but JOY is permanent. JOY comes from within and belongs to you; no one can take it. Happiness depends on situations or outside forces. My business teaches people how to focus on JOY and use it as a life and business strategy.
I love connecting people through global networks that include Netwomen.co, Mums at Work, Amazing Women Alliance, The JOYFull Badass Network, Polka Dot Powerhouse, Brainz Magazine, FEM, Entrepreneurs Rocket Fuel and the Austin LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce. There’s no limit to what can be done when we lift each other up.
When I’m not empowering the world with joy and badassery, I love to read, travel, cook, go camping and listen to live music. My long-term goal is to become a digital nomad and live all over the world!
What is your greatest motivation for running your business?
I’ve been burned out and I’ve watched my husband burn out during the pandemic. Burnout creeps up on you and the effects on your physical, mental and emotional health are devastating.
My mission is to disrupt the hustle and grind mentality that plagues us all & contributes to burnout. That’s why I help women business owners create a more aligned business model based on your JOYFull Zone of Genius so that you can dump, delegate or redesign the tasks and activities that cause frustration, overwhelm, anxiety, depression and burnout.
I am a trustworthy and reliable source of information, inspiration and empowerment for BadAss female business owners who are struggling to love their lives & businesses and are on the way to burnout. I want my clients to know what brings them JOY so they can use it as a long-term life and business strategy. I want them to feel supported, encouraged, and confident in their abilities to be successful on their own terms.
What is the magic ingredient to creating the life and business of your dreams?
Finding your JOYFull Zone of Genius and using it to live above the joy line more than you live below.
For many busy, badass business owners, the majority of your time is spent BELOW the joy line - meaning, you are doing a lot of things that are not joyfull nor make you money. These are the tasks that don’t get done, take a long time, cause procrastination, make you tired and eventually, lead you to burnout.
Living above the JOY line means that you are focused on the best use of your time - doing the things that maximise your gifts, skills and talents and make you money. For example, I hate working on my website but I love writing articles. So, I outsource the website stuff to experts and use the freed-up time to write more articles.
Do you have one practical tip from your business to help people empower themselves?
Pro Tip: If it’s not JOYFull, I’m not doing it and neither should you!
There is too much focus on husting, grinding, working 24/7 and blurring the boundary lines between home and work. When I first started my business I thought I should know everything, accept every client and be constantly available. I thought I had to do it all… until I discovered JOY as a business strategy.
Now I delegate tasks that are not in my JOYFull Zone of Genius and work more on the elements of my business that require my gifts, skills and talents - the things I can’t delegate or dump. For example, I am a former teacher so creating courses is my Zone of Genius, but I stink at marketing, SEO, graphic design, so I outsource that.
This has also given me a better understanding of what to say yes or no to. My first question is always: is it JOYFull? If the answer is no, that’s the end of it. If it’s yes, then I ask if I have the bandwidth to take it on and go from there.
Where can people find you?
You can find all the links to my website and resources, including a FREE course on the Signs, Symptoms & Solutions for Burnout, in my linktree: https://linktr.ee/JaniferWheeler.
