You Conferences started with entrepreneurs in mind. As much as we would love to transform your business in a one-day conference, we know that is not possible, but the itch to create something to help our community of entrepreneurs level up in a more significant way has been begging to be scratched. After more than a year of development, You Conferences is proud to present this opportunity in a full scale, next level academy.
Introducing...
Have you attended a business boot camp, accelerator, or institute and found the content to be helpful, but felt as though it was still missing something? Does it still feel like your business is running you instead of you running your business?
We feel that in our souls, friend.
Is the You Academy for me?
There has been something missing from every business webinar, seminar, and presentation; it's YOU.
It’s no a secret that You Conferences wants to provide you with information, tools and a community so you can thrive in your life, not just your business. This, my friends, is the next evolution for the You Community.
Before you apply, we want to be clear. This isn't for everyone, right now. We've created the You Academy for the small business owner that's established, but not yet running like a well-oiled machine.
- Your ideas, products, and services are in place.
- You have customers and some revenue.
- You're a solopreneur, direct seller, or have less than 6 employees.
- You are local to the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Corridor
The You Academy is about the traditional aspects of business like marketing, sales, budgeting, and management, with a spin that will help you turn those lessons into action that will put you in the driver's seat of your career. All marketing lessons are great, but if you have hang-ups about putting yourself out there, you are not going to implement. If you have a poor relationship with money, your budgeting execution will be straight garbage. You may know the ins and outs of managing your business, but if prioritizing and delegating are a struggle, the business will manage you directly into the ground.
We don't mean for it to sound that harsh (well, maybe we do... this is serious), but if you're this far into your business, it's likely you've experienced these feelings already. You're not alone, friend. In fact, half of businesses fail in the first year, according to Google, because of poor leadership, bad cash flow, sales funnel issues, or lack of planning.
If we are our business, and our business fails... then doesn’t that mean we haven’t planned well or we aren’t working our sales funnel? Should we keep going? Is it time to throw in the towel and get a (gasp) regular job? Or is it just time to get serious? If giving up isn't an option, and it's time to get serious, keep reading. Sounds like The You Academy is for YOU.
Why do I need to Apply?
We want to be certain it's a good fit for you in your business right now. Our core values require that we are authentically creating resources and community that you need and we are committed to that promise. For that reason, we are giving you exclusive access, significant discounted pricing, and an intimate group of women to connect with.
The problem we have all found in the business boot camps of the past is that the business takes precedence over the person. We understand the importance of incorporating our whole selves into every aspect of our lives. We cannot run our future empires without embracing our gifts and filling the gaps where our gifts fall short, right?
If you feel this in your soul, it's time to apply for The You Academy; designed to take your business to the next level.
How is the You Academy different?
As business owners ourselves, and having taught and attended several of the webinars, boot camps, seminars, and presentations of the past, the women of You Conferences simply realized that we can do this and do it better. Get in the van, friend... it's time to apply.
What You Can Expect
Business Development
You do what you do because you love it. You are good at it. You want to help change the world and share your gifts. Making money doing what you love is the ultimate dream, right?
Making your passion, purpose, and vision a company takes more than just loving what you do. It takes planning, marketing, budgeting, customer discovery, and pulling it together digitally so people can find you. Together, we’ll navigate the development of your company and communicating your offer effectively. Finally.
Mental Fitness
Owning and operating a business is not all rainbows and unicorns. It’s often tears in the fetal position. It’s sometimes soul-crushing defeat. It can rip your insides out and show them to you.
Owning a business is not for the faint of heart, and you know that. We know the ups and downs of the emotional roller coaster ride and we want to give you the tools, the people, and the resources to reduce the stress and improve your overall level of happy.
Foundational Process
Floundering around like a fish out of water is no way to live, but creating process can feel daunting. Status quo doesn't create growth.
You may already have established routines - great! - we’ll further develop those and take the guess work out of creating new systems that actually work. You’ll be able to pick the brains of successful business women, learn their techniques, and apply process to your business that actually works for YOU.
The Team
The You Academy is a program developed by Rina Jensen, Mental Fitness & Resilience Coach, in Collaboration with Kendra Aarhus and the entire Executive Planning Committee of You Conferences.
Rina Jensen
Rina Jensen is dedicated to helping you build the mental fortitude and resiliency that being a business owner takes. She has committed her entire career to helping women recognize and embrace the emotional rollercoaster of business, instead of avoiding it. It's not about the setback with Rina, it's about the comeback.
Rina's certifications, experience, her continuous learning and her unique approach to leadership is the cornerstone to the You Academy.
Kendra Aahrus
Kendra Aarhus has been a business owner and in community based leadership for over a decade with a strong background in social media influence, marketing, and branding. She is committed to helping women work smarter, with the tools and resources they need to wear all the hats without losing themselves.
Kendra's commitment is to empowering women to take the driver's seat in their business.
The You Crew
The You Academy is backed by the entire You Crew; our Executive Planning Committee full of women leaders and business owners that are a stand for growing and empowering the women owned business community. Their strengths include leadership, marketing, finance, delegation, organization, execution, balance, and artistic direction. You can be assured that we have left no stone unturned with the You Academy content.
Click here to learn more about the You Crew and the broad expertise they each bring to the table.
What You'll Learn
Hobby to multi-million dollar corporation. Isn't that what happens in business practically overnight? If you build it, they will come... right? The unrealistic expectations business owners place upon themselves are the perfect start to the spin-out style of storytelling that will happen a million times over as a business owner. We understand. The You Crew has a history of helping women develop plans, procedures, and processes to change the way businesses are built from the inside out. More importantly, we’re well connected in the community and we know when to bring in other experts to fill in the gaps of knowledge.
The You Academy will provide you the connections and content to develop a resilient mind along with:
- Positive Intelligence to give you the tools to increase performance, reduce stress and improve happiness.
- Create vision/mission statements to stay aligned with your goals when life shows up with its curve balls.
- Understand who to have in your corner and why (or why not).
- The skills of self-promotion that feels good.
- Process and Operations to develop the routine most beneficial to you and your business.
- Understand how being a woman gives you superpowers you probably didn’t know existed.
What's my Commitment?
The You Academy will meet once per month, on the third Thursday of the month from April through December for four hours each month in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The in-person time commitment is required; however, we will make virtual accommodations for unforeseen circumstances like illness, travel, life, etc. Because this cohort is in in-person, we ask that you check to see how committed you can be prior to applying.
Additional commitments will include two additional workshops to take advantage of group-think, homework (or business-work) and optional coaching hours with Rina and Kendra to help answer questions and assist you with your training.
What's the Price?
We'd prefer to ask you, what's the price if you don't attend? What's the cost to continue your entrepreneurial journey the way you have been? Ahhh, marketing lingo.
The cost to attend the entire 9-month cohort is $3,750. You can break this payment up into quarterly payments of $1,250 or monthly installments of $500. Once you commit to taking a seat in the cohort and your initial deposit is made, your seat is not refundable and installment payments must be made regardless of your attendance.
10 Reasons to Attend the You Academy
| You’re doing this alone: It’s your passion and vision, but you feel the struggle is real on those certain days, and wouldn’t it be nice to have a group of women who know exactly how you feel? | Growth is hard: Doing what you love is great, but doing what you love and making money is the goal, right? So it’s time to grow and we have tools to help you do this. |
| Fresh ideas are as beautiful as fresh flowers: We know what we know and until we step out of the echo chamber of our friends and family we will only know so much. What got you here will not get you there. | Radical Responsibility: You. You are in control of your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. You. It’s time to take a good long look at yourself and shift the ideas and beliefs that are holding you back from the success you know you can achieve. |
| Community is Key to Resilience: You may have been taught to be independent and that you shouldn’t have to ask for help. Nope. Connections and relationships are what get us to the next stage of success. The best compliment is a referral. | Skill development: It may be the 21st century, but women are still undervaluing themselves and not negotiating at a rate of around 60%. Tough conversations are the things to avoid. The ability to self-promote and set boundaries will likely be a defining factor in your business. |
| Status Quo is so 19th century: "It’s business, it’s not personal," they said. Time to stand up to that challenge. Your business is your livelihood and we stopped believing in the "sticks and stones" analogy years ago. We’re done with the "good ol' boys club" idea of what the business basics are. It is personal and we are here for it. | You keep falling in and out of love with your business: Remember that soul-crushing comment above? It’s no joke. It's normal to question your decision to start a business, sometimes daily. You’re probably going to debate giving it all up and getting a job (or keeping the one you’re trying to leave). We won’t be able to make that stop completely (spoiler alert), but we can equip you for those tough days. |
| Leaving a Legacy: It's not all about you, but we believe that life is an opportunity to pave the way for the next generation or to set an example for those you love. Let's learn to show up for your legacy in ways you may not have thought possible. | You’re ready: Ready to stop making excuses. Ready to put your money where your mouth is. Ready to level up. Ready to take control. Ready to create the life you truly want to live. Ready to accept the right help. Ready to get guidance and not make avoidable mistakes. Ready to invest in yourself. Ready. For. Anything. |
