Life Outside Of Your Comfort Zone: Jenny Hale

Welcome back to the Life Outside of Your Comfort Zone Series!

This week I have Jenny Hale on the blog.  

Jenny is a social media and marketing consultant for veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs with military-focused businesses.  Her mission is to help the military community find success in their business passions.

Wow, what an interesting niche you have Jenny, I would love to know more about how you got here! Have you always known you wanted to be an entrepreneur or did it take some soul searching to get there? What did you do before you became an entrepreneur?

I started my first venture at 19.  I started out as a local photographer and was able to use my freelancing to support my college education.  It was the perfect career for me and I began to teach other businesses how to re-create their marketing strategies to find success.  I used the marketing skills I learned as an entrepreneur to eventually work in the military non-profit, government, and corporate sector, where I found my dream career. Now I balance both a career and life as a consultant to continue to support the military community I love.

My mission on meganseamans.com is to help women reconnect with their authentic self to start living their dream lifestyle, even though taking that initial step outside of their comfort zone might be pretty tricky. Would you say you had to “find yourself” before you dove into your new plan? Did you find yourself starting on this brand new journey and having to learn about yourself along the way?

I had to decide what really made me happy. For me, that was helping the military community.  Along the way, I got to discover another community and their traditions, culture, and acronyms!

When did your comfort zone show up for you?

I am a civilian.  I was not medically qualified to serve in the military (my dream!), but decided to dedicate my life to helping the community in another way instead. However, I had a lot to learn about the military culture and community.  To better understand marketing and the military lifestyle, I took a job with the military as a photojournalist intern after college.  I spent the time living in barracks on a military installation, rappelling down towers, participating in gas chamber training, on the grenade and rifle ranges, and on long land-navigation trainings. The experience solidified that this was the career and community I wanted to work with.  It may have been a bit out of my element, but it was the best experience of my life.

Once you landed on your dream business plan did the unknown feel a bit scary? Did you find yourself asking a lot of what if’s or looking into the future a lot more than you should have?

Once I found my dream career, I was anything but scared. It felt like I should have been doing consulting forever with the military community (I had been consulting for other business communities for years!). Now that I found my passion, every day is a new adventure. I love how my life has completed changed just from working with an incredible group of people.

When you did hit road blocks, face challenges or have failures, what was the worst that happened? What did it take to keep you going?

I re-evaluated how the civilian community markets after working with military-focused companies and was able to find ways to bridge the gap between the way each markets.  The military is very traditional in their marketing tactics, while the civilian community tends to take more risks, market online, and network with other companies.  I help bridge this gap for those within the communities and teach them how to utilize strategies that attract both community members.

What is one big, amazing piece of advice you would give to our readers about stepping outside of their comfort zone and really going for the lifestyle that they have always dreamed of?

Despite the odds, for me, I had always felt like I would be “on the outside looking in” to the community I loved.  By taking a chance, educating myself on the community, living in it, and dedicating my entire world to making others’ dreams come true, I have not only found myself, but empowered others find success in their own marketing strategies.

Boundaries will be there, always. But if it is your passion then you will let the excitement fuel you instead of any fear your comfort zone brings on?

If you loved hearing Jenny’s story and want to see more about what she does within the military community, find her here:

Website: www.jennyhale.com

Access her free guide to social media for military community entrepreneurs here.

Join her Facebook group of veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs:  www.facebook.com/groups/militarysocialmediaguru

Twitter: www.twitter.com/JenMilMarketing

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/themilitarysocialmediaguru