Please tell us more about Redefining Success?
Redefining Success is aimed at the “successful business woman/entrepreneur” – someone like me. I’ve been the primary breadwinner and the sole support of my family. I have enjoyed a lot of conventional success in the eyes of others. I’ve also been rather unconventional in my life.
Like many, I confused external validation in the work place with being successful. However, I think that there’s a time and a place where, as we age, we look at what we really think of our life and “success”. Sometimes it falls short – or we would prefer to expand into our heart – try new things, let go of things as well. We can sometimes get hung up on what others will think or whether society will see us as successful if we live life more on our own terms…
The long and the short of it for me is balance – and bringing a spiritual component into everything that I do. It’s about working from the heart instead of from the business intellect.
I’ve always been a very creative person and have brought that creativity into everything that I do. But it’s easy, especially in the investment business, to get carried away with numbers and performance as the typical markers of success in the corporate world.
Redefining Success is for women who are ready to look at how they can build more satisfaction and more spirituality into their lives. As a woman who’s been there before, and as a successful investment advisor, I can help them not only with their investment assets but to explore resources in the community that will help them explore territory that they may not be as familiar with. I want to really help women “redefine success”.
What inspired you to create this company?
Quite frankly it was simply a process for my business. I have always reflected on where I am in my life and my journey. As a woman that’s moving through my 50s into my 60s, naturally I’m looking back at my life, my family, my children, my career and asking myself “What do I want from my life now that I’ve been successful? Now that I have done all the things that everybody says you’re supposed to do to make you happy, am I really happy?”
Over the course of the last six or seven years I have really focused exclusively and directly on my life and how I wanted to change. Whenever you change you have to let go of things and make some choices that may be difficult. I would have liked the type of assistance that I am now offering.
Life is a transition that’s a process. I want to be there to help other women go through that transition process. I want them to feel that there’s a place that they can not only have their investment assets and retirement planning taken care of, but they also feel, in partnering with me, that they have guide , in me, to resources and services that will help them to explore new areas in their lives .
What common trends do you see with your client’s needs, position, inspiration etc?
I think the common trend is – the aging population. Through the aging process we look back and engage in a new decision-making process about how we want to live the rest of our lives. It’s the natural evolution of moving into one’s middle-age. In doing so, many of us reach a place where we want to want more and recognize that in order to have more we have to change. So that would be the common trend in the clients that I see who also worked very hard and achieved a very high level of success. They are financially well-off but may not feel like they’re well off financially. We’ve all heard about a common fear amongst women of ending up as “bag ladies”. This is all about helping women move to a place where they feel increasingly fulfilled and satisfied with their lives, with their accomplishments and see the choices that they are going to make for their future are the most prudent thing.
What’s the most rewarding thing about what you do?
Well, it’s helping people discover new interests, helping them take first steps in directions that feel very foreign to them, helping them move into increasingly satisfied lives. It’s a real joy to watch the process of blossoming and the happiness in women when they are moving in a direction that is more fulfilling to their experience.
What are your greatest recent accomplishments?
Transitioning out of the corporate brokerage environment at Raymond James into their more entrepreneurial arm and establishing my own offices on Front Street at Church. The new company is Redefining Success, which is really, what is success to you? This is an idea that I’ve had probably since I was born. I’ve always been in a place where I’m interested in reframing things and most of my life has been centered around learning how to do that – moving into something that is expressive of me and isn’t necessarily the same message as the investment community as a whole.
The message I want to give is very organic – very emotional and spiritual. Most people would ask, “How does that mix with the investment practice?” I see a more organic and spiritual direction as the way that the world is moving. Again, it comes back to the fact that as we age us we start to make hard choices about what matter to us in our hearts.
Yes, the creation of a caring investment practice focused on women like me would be my biggest accomplishment. It’s taken courage for me to meet the challenge of doing so, as well as meeting the obstacles and practicing what I preach.
How has working with DemGen been a benefit to your business?
I remembered when I left the corporate branch office, I did consider using virtual assistants because they would give me access to skills and talents that I couldn’t hire myself and because what I was doing was radically different from what would normally be presented by the investment support community. It was important for me to have access to outside resources to create some of the marketing and to create the look and feel of a Redefining Success! It had to “feel and look” different than a typical brokerage firm site. www.redefiningsuccess.ca
DemGen certainly has helped in providing those kinds of resources, as well as utilizing tools like Infusionsoft. They help put together and execute marketing campaigns and have copywriters available. I have access to social media consultants, all of whom have a lot of expertise that I couldn’t ever hope to have and would have a very difficult time assessing and hiring if I had to go out into the community and look for it myself. They are helpful in that regard.
How has going virtual benefited your business?
Again my time is well spent because I have at my fingertips a team of professionals who are well-trained in their specific interests and expertise that I can take my ideas and concepts to, and know that there’s somebody there that is able to pull it all together for me. It’s like having this one person working for you that can do, you know, 10 different things. They are all different people but because of the company it makes it very handy, easy and effective.
Did you have any initial reservations about going virtual and, if so, what made you change your mind?
Sure I had some, but I guess if I had reservations about going virtual it was the same issue I have about anything, which is how do I know who’s the right fit and how much does it cost and this is reasonable – the usual sorts of questions. I also think that because I’m in a very highly regulated environment that there’s some concern about how to manage the huge compliance issues that face financial services and integrate virtual assistants into it. But you know, that’s fairly readily resolved because the virtual assistants are really dealing with the marketing and it’s not the nitty-gritty back-office investment side of my practice that DemGen is responsible for – that’s handled in house. In my offices I have a very capable team that know their stuff on the investment side
Has DemGen exceeded your expectations?
DemGen has some really capable people working for them and it’s always about learning how to work with the tools that you are given. There’s been a learning curve for sure, learning how to use the assets of DemGen and their virtual assistants. We are working through the process of really fitting well together and it’s a rewarding process. We’re starting to hit our stride now. I feel that each month we will build on the success of the month before and work to have a very effective relationship. I’m enjoying the process of doing that. I feel that DemGen is responsive to my needs and my concerns and we are developing an excellent rapport that I expect to stand me in good stead going forward.
Web – www.redefiningsuccess.ca
Facebook – Redefining Success
LinkedIn – Pamela Johnston
