Meet Jane

Firstly, welcome!

My name is Jane Frankland. If you’ want to reach your potential in business, then you’ve come to the right place. Through my training, mentoring and consulting I make this fun, simple and effective. By using my proven frameworks and methodologies, I'll help you to understand what you have to do and in what order. I guarantee you more career satisfaction and revenue. So who am I and what’s the story?

The corporate version…

Jane Frankland is an award-winning entrepreneur, bestselling author and keynote speaker. She’s been named as a top 20 global influencer in cybersecurity, a top 100 UK influencer in tech, a LinkedIn Top Voices, a Global Digital Ambassador, and is a world leader on how to attract and retain women. She's spent over 22-years in cybersecurity, built and sold her own hacking firm, and directed some of the world's most well-known cybersecurity consultancies. Through her career and companies, she's been actively involved in leading industry accreditations, schemes and forums, judging awards, advising boards, and distributing women’s scholarships. Today, she is an influencer for major brands, an activist for women’s rights, and is working to better the world by ensuring women advance their careers and businesses in male dominated industries. She’s driven by her three children, an obsession to deliver outstanding quality and to make a positive difference in the world.

The story…

My greatest achievements are my three children. I’m a mum to two boys and a girl and this is my favourite job. It makes me proud every single day. After this comes my career. By the time I was 29-years old (as a single parent) I’d built a 7-figure cybersecurity business from the ground up, organically. Whilst many may think this a huge achievement it’s not actually the hardest thing in business to do. The hardest thing is turning around a company that’s failing. Ask anyone who’s done it.

So let me start at the beginning and tell you more…

I'm an ambitious, driven and passionate individual – a ‘high achiever' who makes winning a habit.  I'm sure you know the sort. I've a diverse background, from being nominated as a Young British Designer after graduating, to building a leading global hacking firm and working with some of the world's biggest brands. It's a strange combination but you'll understand more in a moment.

My life changed direction when I fell pregnant straight after graduating.

As a child I wanted to be a vet but as I was creative, I pursued art until my mid-twenties as designer. Highlights included being nominated as a Young British Designer and selling work in New York, London, Paris and Tokyo – to art galleries, including Christies, and fashion houses. Whilst it may sound glamorous, my life at that point was not. In reality, I was broke and as a single parent could barely support my son.

So, a change had to be made. I was advised to leave my art behind and get ‘a proper job.' I retrained and entered sales, something I vowed, as an introvert, I’d never do. Working my socks off for Hays, a listed corporate that specialises in recruitment, and keen to serve, I rose through the ranks quickly and could do the job with ease.

Seeking a new challenge, and when an opportunity presented itself by my boyfriend, I decided to enter into a business partnership with him and build a cybersecurity consultancy. The company had enormous successes, winning some of the world’s largest corporations as clients. But it also had spectacular failures, which took every bit of effort to turn around.

After 13 years, my business partner and I called time on our relationship. It was hostile and complex as by now we had children together. But leaving him in sole control of the business, which was in hindsight a huge mistake and ultimately lead to its failure, I joined one of the largest assurance companies in Europe. There, as a director, I was in charge of operations for the south east of England, USA and Australia, and instrumental in re-branding the company's latest acquisitions. Then, after heading up sales for a South African company entering Europe having to compete for business against the company I still owned, I decided enough was enough. It was time to release the knife that was twisting in my heart, take a leap of faith, show some courage, and get back to my roots as an entrepreneur.

So, I resigned from that job and started a new venture. I felt compelled to champion entrepreneurship and to use all my business development skills to mentor others. But life has a funny way of steering you onto the “right” path, just when you think you've got it all worked out.

In November 2015, things changed when I read a report on the low numbers of women in cybersecurity. Shocked, I knew more had to be done. For almost two years I investigated the problem, performed fresh research, interviewed thousands of women and men, and gathered stories from all over the world. Late in 2017 my book, ‘IN Security: How a failure to attract and retain women in cybersecurity is making us all less safe’, was published and became an instant bestseller.

Since then, I’ve continued to do more research and empower women through my trainings, keynotes, blogs and media work. Speaking out about wrong doings, I’ve also set up initiatives, which have made their way to governments all over the world. As a result, I've become a voice for the voiceless, a women’s rights activist, an influencer and role model to many.

By creating my own movement, women’s scholarships and contributing to charities I believe in, I'm able to fill my soul, work with some of the coolest people I know, and affect positive change every single day. And, I love it! Every day, I’m reminded how lucky I am, what blesses me blesses everyone, and as Steve Jobs said in his Stanford Commencement Speech, to “Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Love what you do. Then you'll achieve great results!”

Forever in gratitude and excited about serving you,

Jane

My guiding philosophies and values…

My values are based around entrepreneurship, freedom, and empowerment. They’re central to everything that I do, in all my dealings with my clients, suppliers and business partners alike. I define them like this:

• Defy the norm. 
• Earn the right to be heard. 
• Be like water. 
• Progress not perfection. 
• Success is a team effort.
• Focus on who you serve, and good things will follow.
• Rise by lifting others.
• Trust your instinct.
• Deliver remarkable results.

My why…

My mission is to end male dominated industries. I believe only then will the world be safer, happier and healthier.  I want everyone to reach their full potential in the workplace regardless of gender. If you’re a businesswoman, you’ll know all about the barriers that stand in your way.  Through my trainings, mentoring and consulting, I aim to remove all of the barriers. I want to make working fun, fair, and progressive, without sacrificing the quality every industry deserves.

Finally, just for fun – 20 unknown facts about me…

• Horses are in my soul and I started riding when I was 2 (note my parents are not horsey).
• I’m passionate about animal welfare and conservation, and I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 4.
• I love books and could read long before going to school.
• I also love fashion and designed (and produced) my first dress at 4.
• My first stab at being an entrepreneur was at 6 when my brother and I decided to put on a puppet show. My next was at 19 and it paid for a 2-week holiday abroad with “the boyfriend.”
• I taught myself how to play the piano when I was 6, the clarinet a few years ago, and have been applying the same principle to personal development and learning since.
• By the time I was 11 I’d been to 7 schools, lived in Brazil, Scotland and much of England.
• I represented my riding school for show jumping when I was 13, winning multiple prizes, and had my first horse at 15. I worked every weekend for 5-years to pay for him.
• All of my holidays as a child involved climbing and walking mountains in The Lake District and The Scottish Highlands or surfing in Cornwall.
• I graduated in woven textile design from Loughborough School of Art (now part of the university), was nominated as a Young British Designer shortly after, and sold work in Christie's art gallery.
• I had my first child a year after graduating; had 2 more children nine and ten years later, and have raised them on my own, as a single breadwinner, for much of their lives.
• My brother and I worked together for 7.5 years.
• I’m an empath and deeply drawn to the moon.
• I usually have a variety of animals (cats, chickens, rabbits) but now I only have a dog (Weimaraner).
• I’m an introvert, and although I like the city I prefer to live in the countryside.
• I’m very active and swim, snorkel, surf, ski, snowboard, walk, ride, cycle, dance and do yoga.
• I read every day and only watch films and TV series (The Crown, Billions, Suits, House of Cards…).
• The only thing I say I’m brilliant at is making pancakes; I suck at waiting tables and am pretty sure I wasn’t created for domesticity! 😉
• If I wasn’t doing what I’m doing now I’d be a photographer or an architect.
• If I could be granted one wish it would be to see more love in the world.