J’Anmetra Waddell is a strong advocate for victims and survivors of domestic violence, as a former preachers wife, and a survivor of domestic violence, J’Anmetra takes her clients from crazy and chaos to calm and clear. J’Anmetra help’s them develop their own Live Past Crazy Blueprint so they can begin to Live Past Crazy.
By educating and bringing awareness to the community, J’Anmetra truly believes that survivors are the real teachers who can carry the message of education, awareness, and empowerment to their families and communities.
Welcome J’Anmetra, thank you for coming on board with us, can you introduce yourself to us?
Hello, I am J’Anmetra “Jojo” Waddell the ONLY LIVE PAST CRAZY SPECIALIST-so what better place to be than here with me? I am a survivor of domestic violence at the hands of my pastor, who just happened to be my husband. I call myself the ONLY LIVE PAST CRAZY SPECIALIST, because I know crazy. During those years, I was allowed eat once day, drink once a day, I was not allowed to interact with my oldest daughter and I was not allowed to hold my youngest daughter; who happened to be a preemie- and spent 30 days in hospital before she was able to come home. I am a strong advocate and speak candidly for victims and survivors of domestic violence with emphasis on empowering those individuals. I believe by educating one person who can change their family, who will impact their community, we will change the world.
As a result of working with only Live Past Crazy Specialist individuals are able to identify the crazy in their lives and develop their blueprint beginning by first identifying what is crazy for them and following the steps that come after. For this process to work individuals my decide if they are interested or committed to Living Past Crazy, from there the real work of the process can begin. Allow me to offer an explanation of the difference between being interested or committed; If we are interested in something – any obstacles that we face will stop us from continuing on our journey (i.e. its hard, assignment at work, frustration). However, if we are committed there are no obstacles that we will face that will stop us from Living Past Crazy. *This idea concept belongs to Grant Cardone.
Can you talk us through the path you have pathed to where you are now?
I began the journey to Live Past Crazy after I decided that I was no longer going to allow my past to tell the story of my life. In the beginning I had no idea that the steps that I was creating would eventually changed my life and I would use it as a blueprint for others. My mental health was horrible! I never looked in the mirror because I only heard my abuser words.
I begin to celebrate every small thing that I accomplished-from brushing my teeth for the day, to taking the children to school. As I began to celebrate the small things they began to make a bigger impact. I started to place motivational quotes all over my home, I read ever self help book that I could put my hands on. One of those books was the ‘Battlefield of the Mind’ by Joyce Myers.
I became determined to not allow my abuser to continue to tell my story! On days that I had no food, and the lights may have been off, or I had no gas to get to work, I would only think about the fact that no matter what I am re-writing my story and it will never look like what my abuser said. During this time, I was able to complete my MBA, begin my PhD, start a business and for a minute everything seemed ok. Until the 2010 when I was laid off from my job, and I was faced with another opportunity to go on another journey. I packed up my two girls and our essentials into my car and our other items were placed into storage and I hit the road with the money from my 401k, no job, no place to live and two girls. My family, of course thought I had lost my mind! A friend allowed me and the girls too stay for a year until we were able to find or own place. I am determined to show my girls and other women that there is LIFE PAST CRAZY. There are 5 steps that I started to do everyday that allowed me to continue to LIVE PAST CRAZY and these are the 5 Steps to Live Past Crazy that I always share with my community.
How are you working with your audience to help encourage them to develop their own blueprint?
I work the audience to help them develop their own blueprint by first, have them acknowledge ‘what is the crazy in their lives?’ kids, career, relationships, friendships , etc. I remind them that crazy can be defined anyway they want to define it. Once that is completed. Then we can begin the journey of Living Past Crazy. This step is essential because until we are willing to acknowledge, confront and redirect that ‘crazy’ in our lives then crazy will continue and it will multiply and it will take over your life. From this step we go into the others parts of developing their blueprint :
- Developing foundations
- Create a mantra
- Journaling
- New Rules to the New You
Can you give us 3 tips to help us define our own daily mantra?
Three steps to developing your own mantra are first to choose three (3) words that individuals most relate too. These words should speak to where the individual would like to be-or words that give them comfort or confidence; for me the words are: peace, love and freedom. If they are having difficulty finding words-I also provide a list of words to help them begin the thought process. Step 2- individuals need to add an action statement of what they are committed too accomplishing. There is a difference between being interested in change and being committed to change. Step 3-place this statement some place visible to read everyday. My mantra is on my bathroom mirror, my office, my desk and my purse. Your mantra is essential for those days when crazy is at its highest and you feel as if you are going to drown in all of it! That is the perfect time to grab that mantra and repeat it to yourself-until you feel it in your soul.
Can you share with us a particular career highlight so far?
Career Highlight: My career highlight so far has been to publish two books and have the ability to share my story with others to help them begin their journey along with taking part of a movie The Last Time featuring Tommy Ford about a survivor of domestic violence. I am a firm believer that I am my sisters keeper and that thought is what drives me to keep going and speaking and sharing my story. In my professional life- I have been in healthcare for 20 years now- and the highlight of that career has been being invited and to take part of President Obama’s committee in NC on healthcare.
How are you working towards your own personal development?
My personal development is essential to my journey and for me to continue to Live Past Crazy. Part of my personal development is valuing and being extremely protective of my personal space and my mental health, I make sure I reserve at least one day a week for this- even when things get busy I never go 2 weeks without a mental health day.
I journal daily, meditate and I am aware of what I am listening too and reading. This is important to me because as a survivor of domestic violence who was often locked in a room with my abuser for often 8 hours a day – of him telling me I was a horrible person, I was ugly, I was fat, I was nothing, unloveable. So for this reason I am protective of my words and the words that I allow others to speak to me!
Number one rule in business you stick by?
My number one rule in business, is actually my personal quote which is “Somebody is waiting to hear my voice and they will not move until I move.” For my business to move forward, for me to be my sisters keeper, to teach others how to Live Past Crazy. I have to move forward. If an idea, or an opportunity is not moving me forward, if it is not speaking to what is true to my soul-I cannot accept it.
What are your preferred marketing methods for your services at Live Past Crazy?
My preferred marketing method for my services are through FB live weekdays at 7:15 am and posts on IG; additionally – 1:1 coaching, webinars and ebooks.
What does #BEYOUROWN beauty mean to you?
#BEYOUROWN means I am free to be me, the freedom of all accepting all things-Jojo. I was listening to Grant Cardone and he said something – that was so amazing-He said when we try not to live great, when force ourselves into a smaller version of ourselves we are doing more damage than good. It made me think about my life- and the perspective I have is that-by not living great-I am damaging my children, my family, business opportunities and everything that I come in contact with because I am not living to the best version of myself. This allowed me to ask myself a serious question-is this what I want to teach my daughters? To live small? To always accept less than, to never be great because you may hurt someones feelings. So for me #BEYOUROWN means that I accept ALL of me and I accept the freedom to be me.
Where are you looking to expand to next throughout 2019?
I am looking to expand the Live Past Crazy by hosting a Live Past Crazy Girlfriends Retreat, August 23-25th in Clearwater FL (bit.ly/girlfriendsretreat2019), with a kick off book signing on July 27 in Tampa, FL (bit.ly/booktour2019). I will be in Vegas at the HerStory Conference July 23th- 24th, 2019. For the remainder of 2019 I want to focus on offering the Live Past Crazy platform to smaller groups of women who are interested in true transformation and who are committed to their journey.
Twitter: @janmetra
Instagram: @JanWaddell
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jojojanmetra.waddell
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/fearlesswomanus
Website: https://linktr.ee/janwaddell www.livepastcrazy.com
Freebies: bit.ly/dailymantra2019 bit.ly/readinglist2019 bit.ly/5keystolive
Attend the retreat: August 23rd- 25th- Clearwater Florida bit.ly/girlfriendsretreat2019
Image taken by Alicia Moss with MossGirls Photography
