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There’s a version of business that looks like: learn the strategy, do the work, get the results. And then there’s the reality, which usually involves a lot more sitting alone in your office wondering if this is all normal, Googling things you’re too embarrassed to ask your clients, and pretending your launch went fine when it… kind of didn’t.
What nobody tells you clearly enough is that who you’re around makes an enormous difference.
I sat down with my biz bestie Hazal Ozturk, a marketing and business coach and someone who has been in my corner for years to talk honestly about the rooms and relationships that have shaped our businesses.
What emotionally safe business friendships actually feel like
It starts with genuinely wanting the best for the other person. That sounds simple, but when you’re in an industry where people might be pitching to you, comparing themselves to you, or measuring their success against yours, it’s less common than it should be.
Hazal described a truly safe business friendship as one where someone believes in you as a person, not just your business. Where they’re willing to be honest with you, not just supportive. Where they’re one of your biggest cheerleaders and they mean it.
For me, a huge part of that has been having someone to just… be there. The co-working calls where we sit on FaceTime with the phone propped against a water bottle, just working. The ability to message at a moment’s notice and say “this is really hard” or “can I run this by you?” without it costing anyone anything. It’s that kind of low-friction, no-judgement support that makes a real difference when business gets hard.
Being in rooms that raise your ceiling
Both Hazal and I have been in masterminds that changed what we thought was possible for their businesses. I joined a programme called Six Figure Circle before I was at six figures myself, and it changed my perception of what was achievable.
That’s what the right room does. It doesn’t make you feel behind. It makes what seemed far away suddenly feel like the next logical step.
Hazal put it clearly: when you’re in a room led by someone who holds a bigger vision for you than you’re currently holding for yourself, the dream you thought was your ceiling starts to look more like the floor.
Our honest conversations around comparison and jealousy
One thing that stops people from joining masterminds or surrounding themselves with more advanced business owners is the fear of comparison. What if I feel behind? What if I see someone doing it better and it just makes me feel terrible?
Hazal shared that she’s muted people on Instagram before, not out of ill will, just to protect her own headspace. I don’t follow many people in my own niche deliberately, partly to avoid unconsciously borrowing their ideas, partly because comparison is most corrosive when it’s constant.
But we also talked about what to do with jealousy when it does show up: use it as information. If someone’s success triggers something in you, that’s just evidence you want that thing too.
And the fact they’ve achieved it? That’s proof it’s possible.
There’s also a version of comparison that’s genuinely useful. Knowing what’s working in your industry, noticing trends, understanding what strategies are landing… that’s not copying, that’s being professionally aware. The line is between tracking the landscape and trying to replicate someone else’s specific approach without understanding the strategy behind it.
What actually surprises people about group programmes
Both of us agreed that the thing nobody thinks about when joining a group programme is how much they’ll learn from everyone else in the room, not just the coach.
The questions other people ask, challenges they share and behind-the-scenes of how other businesses actually work, including the launches that didn’t go as well as they looked, and the mindset wobbles that never made it onto Instagram.
It’s that access to real, unfiltered business experience that makes group containers so valuable in a way that one-on-one coaching can’t quite replicate.
Why it all comes back to not being alone
The thread running through our whole conversation is that business, especially when you’re a solopreneur working from home, can be genuinely isolating. And isolation has a way of making normal business challenges feel much bigger than they are.
Having people around you who can say “this is normal”, who can remind you of what you’ve already achieved when you’ve temporarily forgotten, makes the hard parts survivable. And the good parts, a lot more fun to share.
About Hazal:
Hazal is a marketing genius turned powerhouse coach for brilliant women who feel like they’re blending in when they were born to stand out.
With over a decade of experience in corporate marketing, including supporting multi-billion-dollar businesses, Hazal founded Hey Hazal and created The Self-Makers Mastermind, the home for talented entrepreneurs who want to own their brilliance, carve out their unique edge, and build a sales system that positions them as the leader they were meant to be.
Inside her mastermind, Hazal’s clients aren’t just growing their businesses, they’re booking out offers months in advance, creating offers that sell themselves, 13x’ing their revenue, and building businesses that feel FUN to run.
She’s also the host of the top-charting Self-Makers Podcast, where she reminds you: You don’t need to change who you are to be seen as the absolute best at what you do.
CONNECT WITH HAZAL:
https://www.instagram.com/hey.hazal
WORK WITH JACQUI:
// DIY Design My Biz: The best course for business owners DIYing their own brand and graphics in Canva. Learn more: https://whitedeer.com.au/diy-dmb
// The Co+Creation Design Club: Design WITH the help of a professional designer in this high-touch coaching space: https://whitedeer.com.au/designclub
// Design Studio: If you’re after fully done-for-you design services my studio team can help! https://whitedeer.com.au/designstudio
