We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jenny Bitner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jenny below.
Jenny, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
After a decade as a top-performing corporate General Manager for a multi-million dollar fitness club, I reluctantly gave up my career due to executive burnout. I held out hope that mental freedom would be found in entrepreneurship.
8 years and building 3 other business models to six-figures later, I noticed her tendency to push myself into exhaustion and fatigue was a deeply ingrained habit, not a job requirement.
Everything changed after I had a light-bulb moment that my burnout was in fact an insatiable desire to “chase” recognition, rewards, over-achievement and external validation. It was the chase that led to the breakdown every single time
After two years of unwinding, unraveling and re-programming the pathway to success, Profit Meets Play™ was born. I went deep into the exact sweet spot that had afforded me all the success, no matter what business model I was in, and pinpointed the common denominator. This became the X that marked the spot, the “gap” that separated the teams I trained from the rest!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I have been a top performer my whole life. From winning science fair projects, running for valedictorian and being an honour roll student in my younger years, to being nominated for awards, speaking on stages and being recognized for my success in my corporate years.
My secret sauce was that I married my passion for results with my passion for Play. I was the camp counsellor, miss congeniality winner and team spirit award nominee many times over, and I brought that same energy into all my work environments.
As a fresh out-of-university graduate, I landed my first big corporate job and scaled to top sales in the company within 4 months. At the age of 23, I was one of the youngest General Managers for the largest chain of fitness clubs in Canada, responsible for overseeing a multi-million dollar bottom line, which I managed to do without barely ever opening a KPI statement. Always asked, “How do you turn these failing clubs into such a success?” It was simple… I made sure everyone who worked with me, loved coming to work.
I trained a team that hit record-high sales, had a winning team culture no matter where I travelled to, and was the one who got sent off to learn new systems and would come back and teach my peers because my process of turning data into engaging and exciting ways to learn was unmatched. My boss named me the “Director of Fun”, a title that stuck with me until this day. I have always had a sheer desire to make work about profit and play.
After 11 years as a corporate manager, in 2015 I tried my hand at entrepreneurship when my battle with chronic anxiety got the best of me.
I lacked the tools and resources and the company lacked the model that supported the need to regulate my nervous system in such a fast-paced, goal-oriented and high-performance environment. There came a point when my push for profit overruled my play.
I thought maybe freedom from corporate was the answer, but sure enough, the anxiety and burnout followed me into my own business too. Here was the curse of the CHASE.
What I have learned in the last 8 years of self-made success, is it’s not just the environment that plays a role in our passion for work, it’s our MIND and thought systems we filter through. I discovered Freedom isn’t necessarily about doing the work you love less, it’s about embracing being driven by purpose without all the stress.
I have been an enthusiast for extraordinary and class-act experiences that start in-house (teams that care about their work) and are amplified to the customers who stay brand loyal and keep the profits rolling in for the company.
When people are WOW’d, have fun and feel love in the little details, they (teams) stay at their jobs and (clients) keep exchanging their money for your memorable moments.
I have created a methodology that will teach high-performance-driven women, how to be guided by their inspiration for success while simultaneously supporting their vitality, joy and well-being.
And for companies- happy, healthy, engaged and retained high-performers means happy healthy profits for the company!
My number one tool and favorite product to use for fostering a high-vibe is my frequency technology device called Healy. I have partnered with a company and been part of helping to launch this product into Mexico, Canada and around the world. This little biohacking & psyche-hacking tool uses individualized micro-current frequencies to assess what in our mental, spiritual and emotional field and physical body is coming up as out of harmony, then applies specific frequencies to our body to bring it back into balance. Its the best of science and spirituality and allows us to influence our own thoughts, behaviors and health for more vitality and coming into resonance with our original vibrational blueprint.
Any advice for managing a team?
When it comes to building successful teams whether for a large corporate company, a small business, or an entrepreneur who is outsourcing to different very part time team members, the foundation for building loyal and highly retained teams is the same. Teams are the lifeblood and the heartbeat of the company. The people who hold and move forward the vision and mission of the CEO can make or break a companies profit and client experience. It’s imperative that teams feel they have the skills as well as an environment that is motivating in order for them to do their job in a way that energize is the most. I always say the best trained team wins and this is why I got in to motivational training and company team culture consulting. My claim to fame throughout my entire corporate career was being able to take locations that were struggling in sales, lacked team camaraderie, had low vibe culture and completely turn these locations around. I always did this through the frequency of fun and having my staff always feel that their work environment was a place where profit meets play. If people love coming to work they’ll love doing their work and they will share and embody the vision and mission of the company. It’s also imperative to me that we address quickly anyone on a team that is what I call a bad seed. Because a bad apple can spoil the bunch. We want to keep an environment that is pure, in integrity, and healthy for all. I do this through training teams on skills that are not just practical for their role, but also life skills that bring them inwards and allow them to truly discover their greatest strengths and talents and do their work in such a way that shines the skills that energizes them most and avoid doing their work from an energy and place that is draining. This is easy identified through taking a strengths test and I interpret the results and help each core team member discover who they truly are and rock that.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
One of the greatest lessons that I had to unlearn was that success came from what others identified me as. For a very long time I was driven through ego, validation, recognition, accolades and anything else that somebody outside of myself would award me with. For most of my life I chased external validation. It was a marathon I would never win. The only way I would know whether or not I was successful is if somebody else told me I was. I felt that how much money I made, what car I drove, the clothes I wore, the awards on my wall, would bring to me the feeling of wholeness as if I made it now I must be worthy. As I began to do a lot of spiritual work, inner work, the really hard stuff that makes you want to quit kind of work, is when I started to fall in love with myself. When the validation I was seeking started to become my own, I gained an irreversible sense of confidence connection and clarity to the work that I was here to do.
It was at this time my consulting business was born. It’s a gift that I’ve had for the last 18 years and in every team environment I’ve been in my whole life. I was born with the strength and talent to activate groups of people into seeing a greater vision and moving forward in FUN and harmony. When the release of pressure that I put on myself to be somebody others would be proud of finally washed away, my true purpose was shining through brighter than ever.
Contact Info:
- Website: jennybitnerconsulting.com
- Instagram: @iamjennybitner
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamjennybitner
- Linkedin: @jennybitner
Image Credits
The Social Society