We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Janette Wong a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Janette, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

People often say that the biggest risk for business owners or entrepreneurs is to leave a corporate job and start their business. But having gone through that journey, I found that relatively easy. Instead, the biggest risk I’ve ever taken was choosing to do things MY way. To go against everything I’d learned. To strip away all the parts of myself I’d picked up to survive — and actually figure out who I was underneath it all, and to do things in MY time, on MY schedule, and creating my personal brand around the true, authentic me.

There is SO much noise out there. So many strategies, templates, trends — and in the coaching world it’s especially easy to fall into the trap of believing you have to be “more polished,” “more niche,” “more high-value” before anyone will take you seriously.
And for quite a while, I bought into that. Even after leaving the traditional path, even after training in coaching and Reiki, I still felt like I had to follow someone else’s roadmap to be successful. I was doing “all the right things” but I felt disconnected. Like I was constantly pushing, proving, performing.

The real risk for me was stopping all of that and working through “Who Am I, REALLY?”.

It was hard to stop the performance, the pretence, and to let go of what I thought I should be — because it meant that there wasn’t any blueprint I could follow. There wasn’t any manual or guidebook that said “Do this and you’ll be successful, do that and you’ll earn money, do xyz and you’ll achieve ___”. And it meant that I was opening myself up for judgement, for attacks, and for the potential for everything to be a complete failure…

The process was honestly so messy. There was no step-by-step formula. No overnight breakthrough. No clarity. No one came to save me.
So I had to continuously create. Continuously rebuild. Continuously believe…in myself, in my worth, and in the Universe.

I rebuilt everything from that place. My messaging, my offers, my energy, my pace.
I stopped trying to “fix” women and started holding space for them to see themselves clearly.
I stopped trying to be impressive and chose to be real.
I stopped building what looked good and started building what felt good.

And little by little, the right people started finding me. The work started flowing in a way that felt grounded, not forced. And I finally feel like I am leading from integrity, not fear.

So despite that being the biggest risk I’ve ever taken to date, I think it’s safe to say that I’d take that risk again in a heartbeat.

Janette, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Janette Wong — a Clarity & Transformation Coach, a mentor, a community leader, and space-holder for high-achieving women who are struggling with overwhelm, stress, having to hold it all together — whilst holding a beautiful vision for their dream life that they can’t ever seem to reach.

My work is built around helping women come back to themselves. To pause. To reset. And to make decisions that are rooted in clarity and alignment — rather than guilt, pressure, or perfectionism.

This work came from my own lived experience of depression, burnout, identity loss, and the constant pressure to perform. I tried all the typical “fixes” — productivity hacks, mindset shifts, endless self-help books, mini courses — but all of these led to eventual anxiety attacks until I learned how to create REAL space – To regulate my nervous system; to rebuild from the inside out; to be truly authentic to myself. That’s what I now guide others through.

What sets me apart isn’t a formula. It’s the way I hold space and guide women into clarity and alignment — one conversation at a time. I’m not here to give you another to-do list. I’m here to help you come back to yourself and create a new version of life that feels like home, piece by piece — with compassion, clarity, and depth.

Whether it’s through coaching, Reiki, group experiences, or practical tools, I help women stop overthinking and start living again — on their own terms.

What I’m most proud of is the way my work makes people feel — seen, safe, grounded, and finally realising they don’t need to do more work to thrive. They just need to choose themselves again. And I guide them through their journey to do that.

If there’s one thing I want people to know about me and my work, it’s this:
You don’t need to wait until you feel ready.
You don’t need to be more perfect, more polished, or more “together”.
You just need to choose yourself — every single time — no matter how loudly the world tries to define you.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the hardest — and most important — lessons I’ve ever had to unlearn is that my worth is not defined by my success.

Since I was a child, I’d been taught that until I was successful — the MOST successful — I wasn’t worthy.
Not worthy of praise, celebration, recognition…or even to take up space.

My parents and relatives constantly compared me to my cousin:
“She got an A on her exam”
“She passed Grade 5 violin with distinction”
“She’s already accomplished XYZ — why can’t you do the same?”

I still remember failing two exams in my first year at university and having to resit. My mum didn’t speak to me for three days.
That silence didn’t just hurt — it reinforced the belief that unless I was successful, I wasn’t even worthy of being spoken to.
Not worthy of being heard. Not worthy of care.

And those moments, repeated in different forms over the years, shaped how I saw myself.

Even as an adult in the corporate world, I was looked down on, bullied, or pushed out — because I wasn’t the one who could build other people’s reputations. I wasn’t “the best”. I wasn’t “useful” enough.

So I internalised the belief that being “worthy” meant being productive, impressive, and high-performing.
And I pushed myself relentlessly to be just that.

I strived to be the best. I worked myself into the ground.
I prioritised everyone else’s needs before my own — and I burned out.
Not once, but multiple times.

And the worst part?
It didn’t matter how many qualifications I had or how much I’d accomplished — if I wasn’t doing, fixing, helping, or striving…
I didn’t feel worthy of money.
Or friends.
Or love.
Or even of being alive.

Even when I moved into coaching and healing work, I carried that belief with me.
I measured my “success” by how many clients I had, how full my calendar looked, how “well” I performed against other people’s metrics.
Resting felt irresponsible.
Slowing down felt like failure.

Eventually, that belief system broke me.

And unlearning it?
It was a long process. A painful, emotional, uncomfortable unravelling of everything I had believed for decades.

I had to learn how to sit with myself — not as a reward for doing enough, but as a practice of coming home.

I had to learn how to regulate my nervous system.
How to stop performing.
How to rebuild from the inside out.
How to reconnect to my values.
And how to create my life in a way that actually felt like mine.

The truth is, your worth is not something you earn.
It’s something you remember.

And now, this truth sits at the heart of everything I do.

Whether I’m coaching one-on-one, holding group spaces, or guiding women through moments of doubt and transition — I always come back to that reminder:

You are worthy, even when you’re resting.
You are worthy, even when you’re not producing.
You are worthy, even when you haven’t got it all “together”.

That’s the lesson I had to unlearn — and the one I now help other women remember.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

One of the hardest moments in my journey came from being deeply misunderstood and harshly judged.

I’d had a heartfelt conversation with someone who was struggling — lost in her identity and unsure of what she needed next. When she asked about my coaching, I shared openly how I could support her. She said “OK, I’ll think about it”.

The next morning, I woke up excited. Overnight I’d thought of a new way I could support her, so I messaged her and said:

“Hi xxx, I’ve been thinking about our conversation. Based on what you shared about xyz, I think this is what’s happening and I can help you in this way…”

Her response?

“You have no compassion. No empathy. I can’t believe you just judged me like that after one hour of conversation. This is the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. I never want to see you or hear from you again.”

Her words hit me like punches in the stomach.

In that moment, every story I had buried about selling, worth, and being “too much” came flooding back.

I felt ashamed.
Like I had done the worst thing imaginable.
Like helping people — and wanting to be paid for it — was inhumane.
I felt like I’d betrayed everyone I’d ever worked with.
I told myself I should never run a business again, because if this was the impact I had… how could I live with that?

That day, I quit my business.
I cried for five days straight.
And I emailed my coach to say: “I’m sorry. I have to stop work with you. I’m closing my business.”

Even after my coach, my Reiki master, and others reassured me that I hadn’t done anything wrong — that she simply wasn’t ready for the work — the shame stayed. I saw the red flags in hindsight, but in the moment, I was just eager to help. Eager to connect. Eager to serve.

And yet for months after, I couldn’t be fully myself.
I hesitated every time I thought about inviting someone into my work.
I questioned everything — my tone, my intentions, my presence.
I stopped showing up.
I shrank.
It made me doubt whether I was even allowed to make a living doing something that comes from my heart.
Worse of all – it made me doubt me.

But over time, I realised the truth:
Her reaction wasn’t about me. It was about her own wound. And I couldn’t let someone else’s pain silence mine.

So I started again — slowly, gently, intentionally.
I rebuilt my relationship with selling from the ground up.

I made a new decision:
I don’t sell to people. I invite them.
Because what I offer isn’t a product — it’s a path back to themselves.

Now, every time I show up with an offer, I do so with clarity, grounded-ness, and respect.
Not from fear.
Not from proving.
Just from the confident knowing that I can help — and that I’m allowed to say so.

That moment taught me that resilience isn’t just about overcoming hardship. It’s not about pushing, proving, or forcing your way through a challenge.
Sometimes, resilience is about reclaiming your voice when someone tries to take it away.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.empoweringleap.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empowerwithjanette/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janette-wong-coach/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@empowerwithjanette