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KHARISMA MAGAZINE { PREMIER ISSUE 2018 }
Yes , they have the business building skills , but they don ’ t have the ability to really work with the clients and have those transformations that , obviously , the clients need if they ’ re going to come back to them or they ’ re going to refer people to them . That ’ s the work that I ’ m doing today , along with my not for profit , and it ’ s exciting . I think it ’ s always exciting to look back and see , “ Okay , well , this is where I started off , and –,”
Kharisma : Yeah , the journey , the evolution .
Jessica : Exactly , and exactly . I think for everyone who ’ s listening who ’ s like , “ Oh , my gosh , I don ’ t even know where I ’ m going to be in three months ’ time ,” I really didn ’ t know either when I first started out . I think it ’ s important that you just really be where you ’ re at , and you take the first step , and then you take the next step that you know to do after that , and you will really be guided in the right direction .
Kharisma : Now , going back , you said you – and I know this is important , but I want to hear your perspective on why you decided to get the support of a coach .
Jessica : Well , I think , ultimately , you don ’ t know what you don ’ t know , and , like I shared before , I didn ’ t grow up with parents who were entrepreneurs . I didn ’ t know anyone growing up who was an entrepreneur . It wasn ’ t around me at all . I had no other friends who were trying to be entrepreneurs who were in that circle . I hired a coach because I really needed support and guidance about my next steps and what I was going to do to get support and to be able to go to the next level .
I hear this a lot , and I ’ m sure you do as well , that people will say , “ Well , I don ’ t have that much money ,” or , “ Shouldn ’ t I be putting the money towards actually starting a business ?” For me , having a coach – I know , without a doubt , if I hadn ’ t had gone down that path , I would have gotten stuck in so many ways that I probably wouldn ’ t have even progressed . I wouldn ’ t have been able to fulfill this dream of mine . I think it ’ s so important that we don ’ t try and do things by ourselves and that we get support if we need to .
Kharisma : Yes , and it is important . The thing is that , as entrepreneurs , as people in general , we ’ re always — or should always — be really trying to live our best lives and evolve and do unto things to take us to the next level because you never arrive .
Jessica : No .
Kharisma : You never arrive at a place and say , “ You know what , I ’ m good . I don ’ t need any more support . I don ’ t need any more knowledge .” We ’ re always evolving as an individual , as a woman , as a woman entrepreneur . For those men out there who are listening to this as well and reading this in our magazine , you never arrive at a place that you don ’ t need help , you don ’ t need support , you don ’ t need guidance . Really working with a mentor and a coach is really important , especially when you want to build a successful and thriving business .
Jessica : Totally , totally . Ever since I started my business – I actually have two coaches at the moment coaching me at two different things , and I think if you need help in a certain area , then why wouldn ’ t you get a coach ? I ’ ve also seen first – hand people who have stopped learning and growing . It ’ s like they took a program or they were working with coach , and then they ’ re like , “ Oh , yeah , I ’ m just going to take a break for a while .”
Sure , you shouldn ’ t just work with a coach for the sake of it , but if you stop learning and growing , what does that do for your personal life ? What does it do for your business ? You ’ re either learning or growing , or – what ’ s the saying ? – you ’ re dying . You need to constantly be learning and growing and challenging yourself . Otherwise , I don ’ t know , life ’ s a bit boring .
Kharisma : Exactly . Talk a little bit about how right now – what I want to do is also the comparison or the contrast between back then , before you were really doing the blog coaching and you started to attract these clients online versus what you ’ re doing today to really promote yourself , market your business , market who you are . Start with what you were doing back then to let people know about you and how you can help them .
Jessica : Back then , I was blogging a lot . I was probably blogging five days – when I had my blog , I was blogging five days a week . When I started coaching , I probably wasn ’ t blogging as much . It was probably a handful of times a week . How I was getting clients , it was all very organically . It was through using my blog , posting on social media . I wasn ’ t doing any paid for of advertising . I brought my list up to around about 2,000 people , organically using social media , blogging , joint ventures , partnering with other people . It totally worked . If you ’ re consistent , then you can definitely get clients that way . It was all very organic the way I was getting clients in the beginning .
Kharisma : Today , what are you doing that ’ s different that ’ s bringing clients into your business and also marketing who you are and letting people know about you and how you can help them ?
Jessica : I ’ m still blogging . I still blog about once a week on my website , and I really look to create long posts that are full of valuable content . I do a lot more interviews than I was doing back then . I also run Facebook ads , which is a great way to put your marketing on autopilot . Joint ventures , so looking at who has a complementary market to myself . Okay , I ’ m going to promote their product offering in May , and then Sally ’ s going to promote my launch in July — strategic partnerships