Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Transforming Small Businesses: Expert Advice from Fractional COO Jennifer Hocutt | Fractional Series

Transcript

Transforming Small Businesses: Expert Advice from Fractional COO Jennifer Hocutt | Fractional Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories, where leaders
0:07
share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
0:10
how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
0:13
they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
0:18
the Inspired Stories podcast, where leaders share their
0:21
experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired
0:24
by how they've overcome adversity.
0:26
My name is Anthony Kotaspodi, and today's guest is Jennifer
0:29
Hokut, CEO of Jay Hokut Group. She's a consultant, a fractional
0:35
COO, and a motivational butt kicker.
0:38
She has an MBA in organizational leadership and leverages her
0:43
frontline corporate experience to propel struggling businesses
0:47
into thriving entities within 6 to 12 months.
0:50
She understands the complexities of business and believes that
0:53
finances should never be a barrier to executive support.
0:56
She's a Midwestern girl at heart and was raised on the principles
1:00
of hard work and loyalty. Before we get into all that good
1:04
stuff, today's episode is brought to you by my company,
1:07
Add Back Benefits Agency, where we offer very specific and
1:10
unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and
1:14
fiscally optimized for your bottom line.
1:16
One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee per
1:19
year in extra cash flow by implementing one of our
1:22
proprietary programs. Results vary for each company
1:25
and some organizations may not be eligible.
1:27
To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at
1:30
AD back benefitsagency.com. Now back to our guest today, the
1:34
CEO, Jho Cut Group. Jennifer, I appreciate you
1:37
making the time to Share your story today.
1:40
Thank you for having me. So Jennifer, tell us in your own
1:44
words, how did you get started with Jho Cut Group and then
1:47
transition into what it is that you do there?
1:51
I got started with my group because toxic work environment.
1:57
So I started in private practice in healthcare back when doctors
2:02
used to own their own practices and when the landscape of
2:06
healthcare transitioned over to the corporate environment.
2:10
I was not a corporate girl, but I just had to go along with it
2:14
because that's where the medical field was headed.
2:17
So I was in administration. I did management leadership
2:21
there and so I transferred over to the corporate environment and
2:25
I didn't love it, but I spent a lot of time there because that's
2:28
what I knew. And that was kind of my career
2:30
home. Several things happened and I
2:34
just started looking for opportunities for me to fulfill
2:38
my purpose and really what that was.
2:40
So I started exploring helping people write their resumes,
2:44
navigate their careers. And I just start just decided to
2:48
do my own consulting. I had been consulting for
2:51
several years, but not charging, just being a bleeding heart,
2:56
wanting to help people. And one day somebody said to me,
2:59
you should really charge for this.
3:01
And I was like, wow, that's crazy.
3:04
But it stuck at the back of my mind.
3:06
And when things got really rough in my corporate environment, it
3:10
started to come to the forefront and I started to build up the
3:13
confidence to believe in myself. And J Ho Cut Group was born.
3:17
And at what point along the path that you get your MBA, was that
3:21
why you before you entered the corporate world, while you were
3:24
there, after you left there, before you started J Ho cut?
3:27
It's after, it's while I was in my corporate environment.
3:30
So I started out as a manager and I had a bachelor's.
3:33
But if you ever wanted to move up to director or anything
3:36
beyond, you had to have your master's degree.
3:39
So I reluctantly went back to school with two kids and husband
3:44
in a house and full time job and pursued my MBA.
3:48
And I'm not a marathon runner. I always say I'm a sprinter.
3:52
I like to get to things quicker. So I finished my MBA with all of
3:56
that on my plate within a year and a half because I just knew
3:59
if I dragged it out to two to 3-4 years, I'd never finish.
4:03
So I got it done. I overloaded my coursework and
4:08
got to the finish line really quickly.
4:10
I took classes year round. I went in the summers and we
4:14
were at the beach and I'm writing papers and it was a
4:17
really painful process. But I always tell people if I
4:20
can do it, you can do it. And my best advice is to
4:23
laminate any notes you take so that when you're crying, the
4:26
tears just roll off very easily. I was going to ask what what
4:31
kind of support system did you have in place?
4:33
Like what kind of helped you get through that crazy time?
4:38
Just my friends and family. I can never ever do anything in
4:41
my life without my community. I, I am so lucky and blessed to
4:44
have amazing people behind me. My parents are always strong
4:48
beliefs people. They're my ultimate cheerleaders
4:52
and my family, my, my husband and my kids, especially my kids.
4:57
I just sat them down and had a conversation and said, look,
5:00
this is what mom's doing and how can I support you guys better?
5:04
But how can you support me? Which means we're not going to
5:06
be running the roads on the weekends because mom has to
5:09
write papers and where can dad step up And just my friends
5:13
encourage me all along the way. I, I would go on vacations with
5:17
friends, girlfriends and they would know that I had to go back
5:20
to the hotel to do the paper and they'd come with me and we'd
5:23
make it a pajama party for the evening.
5:25
So just those little things that are very supportive.
5:30
I have my MBA, but my whole community has an honorary MBA
5:34
right along with me. That's terrific.
5:36
I love that story. OK, so now let's get into a
5:39
little bit about what J Holcutt Group is about and what's what
5:42
are the services that you provide?
5:44
So we are a private consultant agency and we offer fractional
5:49
COO services to small and medium sized businesses.
5:54
We do work with larger corporations, but we only have a
5:57
handful of those clients because my passion really is the small
6:00
to medium sized businesses who traditionally cannot afford and
6:05
don't really need a full time COO behind them, but can really
6:10
benefit from the high level support that comes along with
6:12
that. You would be really surprised
6:14
about the solopreneurs or the small businesses that just
6:18
having a COO in their pocket just to be able to tell people,
6:22
Hey, let me go consult my COO makes them feel so empowered and
6:26
like, like they're a really big deal, right?
6:28
And so it, it really motivates them and inspires them.
6:32
And I'm kind of like their business advisor in their back
6:34
pocket. They can come to me about
6:36
anything. We develop strategies.
6:38
I love a good strategy, I love goals, so we set their teams up
6:42
for success and you don't need us long term.
6:45
Our magic is we get the results within six months to a year.
6:49
I've never hung on to a client beyond a year.
6:52
Wow, so you're setting yourself up to be fired?
6:55
That's a best case scenario for yourself.
6:59
My team, it's hard to let go of our clients and they I normally
7:02
have to be the one to initiate the conversation to say you
7:05
don't need me anymore. And I feel like it's a breakup
7:08
every single time. It's more of a it's not you and
7:11
it's not me, it's just the thing between us.
7:14
They don't always take it so easily.
7:16
They want to hire me full time. They find things ways to hang on
7:20
to me, but they can always bring me back in.
7:23
I keep in touch with all of my clients in some way, shape or
7:27
form, whether it's just wishing them happy holidays or checking
7:30
in around goal time. They can always bring me back in
7:33
if they have a gap in their leadership team or they're
7:36
wanting to grow or scale or launch a new service or product.
7:39
I now know their business. So it's super easy from us to
7:42
pop back in and work on those special projects or solve those
7:46
issues really quickly because we know them and we know their
7:49
team. But yes, I my job is to work
7:53
ourselves out of a job. I'm curious.
7:55
I want to, I want to hear you say more about that because you
7:59
know, if you're being helpful to them, you're providing a good
8:02
service, they want you to stay. Why are you so steadfast about
8:06
keeping this to a six to 12 month term?
8:10
Well, for one thing, I want them to know that they can always
8:13
deploy us when they need us. But I'm not somebody to sit back
8:16
and just collect money off my clients.
8:19
If they don't need me, it's not fair.
8:22
If they certainly need me, I will stay on for as long as they
8:25
need. But the, the great thing is if
8:28
they need me for long term, I'm not doing my job effectively.
8:32
So it is to get them to a place where they're confident they can
8:35
stand on their own. And a lot of times it's a, you
8:39
know, it's a, it's a wind down when by the time we're ending
8:42
services, we literally are just meeting once a week.
8:45
And it feels almost like therapy.
8:47
They're coming to me and talking to me about, you know, I get to
8:50
know them and just their team and, and their family and all
8:54
these personal things. And when when we start talking
8:56
more about personal things for the hour more than business, I
9:00
know it's time for us to just part ways on that contractual
9:04
agreement. But they could bring me back
9:07
quarterly some some clients will bring me back quarterly for for
9:12
a goal session where we'll do half a day goal follow up with
9:15
their team. I come back in for leadership
9:18
development. So they may deploy me in a
9:21
different way that isn't just weekly or monthly, but just
9:25
wherever they need those high level operational support
9:29
services. So let's sometimes being more
9:32
specific can help the audience kind of wrap their heads around
9:36
what it is that you do. Can you think of maybe one or
9:38
two clients stories that you can share where you came in here was
9:44
the situation. Here's what you were able to
9:46
help them accomplish before you left.
9:49
Sure. So one of my recent clients is
9:52
in the financial industry. She's in the banking industry.
9:55
She's a service provider. She has a community and she
9:58
specializes in community development and certification.
10:03
So she brought me in because the banking industry was releasing
10:08
this, these new rules and regulations and she was wanting
10:12
to set her team up to get them prepared.
10:14
She needed a business manager and she felt like she needed
10:18
extra leadership on her team so that when the regulation dropped
10:21
and they they had no idea when it was going to drop, but when
10:25
it dropped, she would be ready. She'd be set up for successful
10:28
for this big influx of new clients and team members on her
10:33
team. So she brought me in to lay the
10:36
foundational groundwork. She didn't have a lot of
10:39
protocols and process in place to really accomplish that with
10:43
her team, to leverage them internally to move them to the
10:47
next level as her business was inevitably going to scale.
10:51
So we came in, we did an operational deep dive.
10:54
We looked at the structure of her current business and her
10:56
team and the goals that she wanted to accomplish, ways that
11:00
she could improve. Like she didn't have an HR
11:03
process, so bringing new team members on, but she really
11:06
didn't have an outlined structure to bringing them on
11:09
and giving them a good experience.
11:12
Just setting up her meetings, how she conducted her meetings.
11:15
There was really no strategy or structure to it.
11:19
So we set up more of a collaborative type of meeting
11:23
and and a round table environment where everybody
11:25
shared what they were doing at different points during the week
11:29
because this was a fully remote team.
11:31
So just leveling up her current team and highlighting
11:35
communication and putting different structures in place to
11:38
help her scale. When the regulation dropped, it
11:42
was very messy and it ended up changing and shifting.
11:46
We hired a business manager for personal reasons.
11:49
It didn't work out. We needed to hire another
11:51
business manager, so we did talent acquisition for her.
11:55
Long story short, how it all was going to vet out with the
11:59
regulation didn't work that way, so they put a pause on it and
12:02
now they're restructuring the regulation.
12:05
And so her business didn't scale in the way that she thought it
12:08
was going to scale. And she is still moving forward
12:12
in preparation and education of the regulation dropping again
12:17
with new updates. But it put a pause in what she
12:20
was trying to accomplish. So luckily she had us on her
12:24
team and we were able to help her navigate that because it was
12:28
very stressful for her. She didn't see it going the way
12:32
she thought it would when she initially brought us on and we
12:36
didn't either. But when things changed, it was
12:39
so good that we were there to be supportive for her and she
12:42
wasn't nervous and upset and feeling like she didn't have the
12:47
answers to move forward because she did have that high level
12:49
support. So when I went to her a month
12:52
ago and said you don't need me anymore, she understood.
12:57
But she was very honest and saying I could have never made
13:01
it through this past year without you.
13:03
So and she visits here where I live outside DC, she has family.
13:09
So we get to meet in person and we'll be meeting for dinner
13:12
soon. And so it's, it's really great
13:14
to establish those connections and it feels so good to know
13:18
that I helped her through a time that looked really different and
13:23
the reasoning for bringing us on ended up being totally different
13:26
than how our engagement ended. But she felt that we did our job
13:30
really well. That's a terrific story and I
13:33
think it highlights, you know, one of the things that small
13:37
business owners in particular really experience a lot of.
13:40
And that's sort of this feeling of isolation, right?
13:43
And, and, you know, like she was telling you like I could, I
13:46
never could have gotten through that period.
13:48
She had one idea in mind. She was going to ramp up for all
13:51
this new business that was coming through from this new
13:53
legislation and then got thrown a series of curveballs and
13:57
having you there, as, you know, cool, calm, collected, you know,
14:01
level headed and OK, this is the new situation.
14:05
Let's look at it and let's let's see how we can pivot.
14:08
What, what support do you need now?
14:10
I have to imagine all of that would have been, you know,
14:13
incredibly reassuring and helpful to her during that
14:16
stressful time. Absolutely.
14:19
And I didn't need to know the insurance and outs of the
14:22
legislation because and it was great because I wasn't caught up
14:26
in all of that. So it I wasn't emotionally
14:29
invested in that aspect of it. I was emotionally invested in
14:33
her success. And so I could have a clear mind
14:36
and a different aspect and approach and vision than what
14:39
she had because she was sitting in a different seat and very
14:42
close to the to that aspect of her business to which I was
14:47
coming from just strictly operations.
14:50
Jennifer, how would you describe your either typical or ideal
14:54
client in terms of, I don't know, maybe industry revenue,
14:59
size, number of employees, geography, like what do you find
15:03
is typically a a good fit for your skill set?
15:07
So I love healthcare and but Healthcare is being bought out
15:11
by private equity groups and corporations and it's really
15:15
hard for privately owned medical groups to really take the lead
15:20
on that. So I love to help them try to
15:22
transition into, you know, either developing an exit
15:26
strategy to a private equity group to make it more amenable
15:30
and digestible or to help them stand on their own 2 feet so
15:33
they don't have to go that route to really inject a new energy
15:38
into their business so that they can survive on their own and
15:42
create an exit strategy that doesn't lead them to private
15:45
equity. So Healthcare is my home.
15:47
I understand all of the insurance and outs and the
15:50
terminology and of healthcare because that's where my career
15:54
has has mainly been. But most of my clients are just
15:59
small to medium sized business owners, A lot of service
16:02
providers, so a lot of remote teams, but small to medium sized
16:07
businesses that they don't need ACEO full time, but they really
16:13
need a higher level of support. Sometimes they have business
16:16
managers in place or team leads that have grown up through the
16:20
ranks and only know what they know.
16:22
It's good to bring an outsider in.
16:25
I'm an outsider with an insider's perspective, I like to
16:28
say. So I'm from the outside.
16:31
I have a corporate background, so I know all the insurance and
16:33
outs and strategies and mindset and, and, and goals of the
16:38
corporate environment, which a lot of small businesses can can
16:42
really benefit from. But I love the operations of a
16:46
small business that really family feel you lead from the
16:52
heart and you are really there to provide a service to your
16:57
clients. And so I love that smaller feel
17:01
and I can see and through the experience with my clients how
17:05
they can benefit from having a corporate experience, but yet
17:11
somebody with a small business heart.
17:13
And so would you describe your clients as maybe like a small
17:17
dental practice with less than 10 employees or like a maybe a
17:21
nursing home with 50 employees or what help, help to paint a
17:25
little bit of a picture there. Yeah.
17:26
So for healthcare, the the clients that I have are medical
17:30
groups that are owned by physicians.
17:32
They have multiple, multiple practices, some across multiple
17:36
States and regions. They primary care, cardiology,
17:41
gastroenterology. So any specialty in the
17:44
healthcare place, healthcare providers are struggling because
17:48
of reimbursement rates from insurance companies and
17:51
negotiating contracts, things of that nature.
17:53
And I can come in and help them do that, but for the majority of
17:57
my small to medium sized business clients, they're
18:00
service based in the banking industry, financial industry,
18:04
interior design, architects, you name it.
18:07
Just small businesses that are sometimes brick and mortar, but
18:11
most of the time online service based businesses who they are
18:16
the CEO wearing many, many hats. And they have small teams,
18:22
probably anywhere from, you know, 5 to 50 team members and
18:28
that are sometimes United States based, but also international
18:32
based as well. And they just have a lot of
18:35
moving parts. They either have a new service
18:37
line they want to expand upon, a new product they want to launch,
18:41
or they've just kind of hit this place where they just can't grow
18:45
in scale. They've tried everything and
18:48
they just don't know what to do going forward.
18:52
And so I mean the the kinds of services that you're describing
18:58
that these clients need, they're kind of a wide range of things.
19:04
Do you have folks on your team that you can sort of go to to
19:09
help provide a specialized support in some of these areas?
19:13
Absolutely. So we definitely focus on
19:15
operations. That's our specialty.
19:17
And I have a talent acquisition specialist that is a new service
19:22
that we've added within the past year and a half.
19:25
A lot of times we've come in and the common thread has been a
19:29
lack of team alignment. We don't always have the right
19:33
people in the right places. We don't always have the right,
19:35
right roles on the team. And what we found is when we
19:39
told our clients and advised them to add new team members or
19:43
expand their team, they're like, really seriously now I have to
19:47
go recruit. That's like the worst thing I
19:48
hate doing. And so we started to see that
19:54
they just wouldn't make movement and take action on that type of
19:57
advice. And they were still stuck with
19:59
trying to leverage a team that wasn't working for them.
20:02
So I started to implement talent acquisition.
20:05
We are not recruiters, so I only do talent acquisition for our
20:09
clients. So we will hire team members.
20:12
We will do the entire interview process.
20:15
Sourcing and then we will pass on the top candidates, three to
20:22
five candidates to our client to interview them and then we help
20:28
with the onboarding process. If they don't have an onboarding
20:32
process in place, we will develop one for them, giving
20:35
them all of the documents that they need, helping them create
20:39
an A stellar onboarding experience for the new
20:43
candidates and new team members. Because what we're finding is a
20:46
lot of small businesses will, they'll say, well, I'm just a
20:49
small business, I don't have a process.
20:52
And that's you're just joining my team and we'll figure it out.
20:55
And while some candidates are OK, we're finding that
20:59
regardless of your size of business, they want a good
21:02
experience because it speaks to your culture and it also speaks
21:06
to your investment in them as a new team member.
21:09
So it's important for small businesses to really start
21:13
honing in on that in order to secure top talent.
21:17
I think you touched on something that this hones around a
21:20
question that I always like to ask in my interviews because
21:23
there is such an acute labor shortage, it's hard to find good
21:27
folks. It's hard to hold on to good
21:30
folks. And so, you know, I always like
21:33
to get advice from our guests on what are some creative things
21:37
that you've tried and you've seen have worked to help with
21:40
recruiting and retaining? And you mentioned a, a new one
21:43
there, which is just sort of this, they want a good
21:46
onboarding experience as they're coming into a new unfamiliar
21:49
place. They want to, they want it to be
21:53
smooth and frictionless and, you know, make it seem like they're
21:56
working with an organization who has their, their stuff together.
21:59
I'm curious if you've got any other tidbits like that that you
22:03
found have been helpful for your clients along the way.
22:06
So one thing that I'm adamant about is that we are highly
22:10
invested in both the candidates and our clients.
22:14
It's not that we are just invested in our clients.
22:17
These are all human beings and their time is the most valuable
22:22
asset that they have. We will not waste your time if
22:25
you are not the right candidate. We are very highly commutative
22:29
and we will let you know right away.
22:31
We keep every candidate in our pipeline fully informed.
22:36
We reach out on a regular basis. If we are interviewing
22:40
candidates, if the recruitment process has taken longer, we let
22:44
them know and we let them know what the recruitment process
22:46
looks like. So that's one thing we nail down
22:49
with our clients really early on is what are the stages of the
22:53
recruitment process? What are the steps that the
22:55
candidates can expect to go through?
22:57
And we outline that so that we can communicate that to every
23:01
candidate. So high communication over
23:05
communicating you. I don't think you can ever over
23:07
communicate, but that's what we strive for.
23:10
We send emails and we have conversations.
23:13
We don't have these behavioral questions.
23:16
Tell me about a time when you know, if you know these kind of
23:22
different questions to kind of throw people off guard to see.
23:26
We just really want to get to know the heart of the person
23:28
because we already know the heart of our client and we can
23:31
easily align whether or not it's a good fit during those
23:35
conversations. So we don't always call them
23:37
interview, we call them conversations and connections to
23:41
kind of lower that expectation that you're there to give us the
23:45
right answers and try to impress us.
23:47
We want to get to know you as an individual because your
23:51
personality and attributes can't be taught, but we can teach you
23:55
everything else. So it's really about culture fit
23:59
and definitely their experience and their talents that they
24:02
bring to the table. But if they lack something, an
24:05
experience that we can teach them, but they have these
24:09
attributes that are so meaningful and and add value to
24:12
the culture, then we hire on that.
24:15
The other thing I would say is just the onboarding process and
24:18
experience. We keep in touch with all of our
24:21
candidates. So even after they start with
24:23
our clients, I reach out to them every single week for the first
24:26
month to check in, see how things are going.
24:29
And it's not inclusive of our clients, it's outside of our
24:32
clients. Any feedback that I get, I am
24:35
able to be honest with our client and say, listen, you're
24:38
putting too much on their plate too soon.
24:41
They're very overwhelmed. And so I get to be that buffer
24:44
to which the candidate would normally not tell their new
24:47
boss. I feel overwhelmed already.
24:49
You're so geared up into creating a good impression that
24:53
you just go along with whatever. You're just happy to have the
24:57
job because it's such a competitive market.
24:59
I can be the advocate for both my client and the candidate and
25:03
it totally sets them all up for success.
25:06
I love that and I don't, I'm not familiar with the talent
25:10
acquisition space, but I would guess that that's sort of an
25:13
unusual step to take. But it makes so much sense,
25:17
right? Because if something isn't going
25:19
to work out, a lot of times it happens pretty quickly and it
25:23
and it's not good for either party, right?
25:25
It's not good for the employer because now they're they're
25:27
behind schedule even more and they've invested time and trying
25:30
to train this person. And it's not good for the
25:31
employee who's leaving because now they've got to find a new
25:34
job. And if you can sort of, you
25:36
know, you're almost like a counselor there for the two of
25:38
them, you know, for a few weeks, if you can help them sort of
25:41
bridge that communication gap, smooth over some of the rough
25:44
edges, right? You you set them up for success
25:47
a lot better. I feel like I'm a matchmaker
25:50
sometimes, my talent acquisition specialist and I Christine, she,
25:55
she just it, it feels like a love match when it goes right.
25:58
It's like this is so exciting and it's exciting that we've
26:01
changed lives. So we've changed the lives of
26:04
the candidate by giving them this opportunity, but we've also
26:07
changed the life of our client because they now have support in
26:10
their business that they need and they can now serve their
26:13
clients better, which also impacts the lives of their
26:16
clients in a positive way. One of the biggest negative
26:20
issues to revenue impacts to revenue for a business is
26:25
turnover. So attrition rates, when you
26:28
have a high attrition rate, it negatively impacts your bottom
26:31
line. So it's really important to
26:33
create a really good positive experience for your new
26:37
candidates. And you can't use the excuse
26:39
that you're a small business and you just don't need to have it
26:42
together because I'm telling you, candidates are not buying
26:46
that narrative anymore. They've got options.
26:50
I'm curious, Jennifer, what's your favorite interview question
26:52
to ask? My favorite interview question
26:55
to ask. So I like to always just say
26:59
this is a conversation for us to get to know each other and tell
27:03
me a little bit about yourself. Now a lot everybody hates that
27:06
question because they're like, do you mean professionally or
27:08
personally? I'm like, whatever you want to
27:10
share. And so I start with that to kind
27:13
of lessen the, we're going to head into these normal types of
27:18
questions to ask, but I always ask them what they want in their
27:24
career. What are you looking for in your
27:26
next professional home? It gives me a lot of insight as
27:30
to what's important to them. Is it compensation?
27:33
Is it time off? Is it financial freedom?
27:36
Is it, you know, being able to work autonomously, what is
27:41
important and what really matters to them?
27:43
Because then we can make sure that we are providing that to
27:47
them. If it's leadership development,
27:49
if a lot of people say professional development, I just
27:51
didn't get a lot poured into me from my last employer.
27:55
I can then go to my client and say, listen, they are really
28:00
interested in professional development.
28:02
Let's see how we can make that happen.
28:06
You mentioned talent acquisition as a service that you offer only
28:11
to your clients and you've got a skilled professional that you
28:15
can bring in to assist with that.
28:17
Are there other services categories like that where
28:20
you've got some other, I'll call them tools in your tool belt,
28:23
but other experts that you can bring in as needed?
28:27
Absolutely. I feel wildly selfish that I
28:31
have. I feel like I have all the good
28:33
people in my circle. Sometimes I feel greedy that I
28:35
know so many amazing people, but I'm not going to trade.
28:39
I'm not a single one, so nobody else can have them.
28:41
They're all mine. I don't feel that bad.
28:44
But I have amazingly talented, good people in my circle.
28:50
So I have an excellent DEI specialist.
28:53
When a client needs DEI services.
28:55
I have an amazing human resource partner that I can bring in.
28:59
So when you need an employee handbook or there's an issue
29:03
coming up with employment laws in a specific state, because
29:07
these are remote teams, but you still have to adhere to the
29:09
state in which you're employing them in, we can deploy that
29:12
individual. I even have a phenomenal life
29:16
coach that if your team is having some personal challenges
29:21
and you want to support them, but you kind of want to keep
29:23
that a little separate outside your business, I can easily make
29:27
that referral. So I've got all the bases
29:30
covered and I certainly am an operational expert in my field
29:35
for sure. But I can't cover all, all of
29:38
that. I can't serve all the people
29:40
myself. So I make sure that I have a
29:44
highly supportive team behind me that can serve my clients.
29:48
And every single one of them is so invested in my clients just
29:53
as much as I am. And, and, and, and we're part of
29:56
the group. That's why it's J Ho Cut Group,
29:59
because it takes all of us for our clients to be successful.
30:02
So whatever my clients need, if I cannot personally provide
30:07
that, I will definitely find someone who can.
30:11
And if they're on my team, great.
30:12
And if they're not on my team, I'm not going to hold that
30:15
information back. I will definitely refer them
30:17
out. That's terrific.
30:20
You know, as whether it's a fractional CFO or a fractional
30:23
COO, you know, you're some of those roles are a little bit
30:26
intertwined. You get to help operationally.
30:28
You're, you know, ultimately trying to drive a healthier
30:32
bottom line for your clients. And you know that PNL, that
30:35
number can shift. I'm going to put them in sort of
30:38
two big lever buckets if you will, like you can increase
30:42
sales or you can decrease expenses.
30:46
And I'm curious some of the creative strategies that you and
30:50
your clients have tried and pulling either one of those
30:53
levers to help impact that bottom line?
30:57
A lot of times we'll have teams that are overloaded.
31:01
So we have a lot of people on the teams that the CEO gets to
31:05
know because it's a small business and they just can't let
31:07
them go. And they know that they've
31:10
outgrown them or business has shifted and they just don't need
31:17
that type of talent on their team right now.
31:19
And so they'll hang on to them because they're so personally
31:22
invested and they're too close to it.
31:25
I come in and I either find a different way to leverage their
31:29
talent, whether they become part time or 1099 contractor or
31:33
deploy them for a special project or we just have to end
31:39
the relationship. And so I help the CEO navigate
31:44
that and be a part of that process and I will have the
31:48
conversations with them or that I will help coach and advise the
31:53
CEO and in having those conversations.
31:56
But the great thing is, is that combined with talent
31:59
acquisition, I try to find the person another fit for either
32:02
another client or I reach out to my network and let them know
32:06
that I've got this great person. And so we always try to help
32:10
people land well. Business needs change and it's
32:14
really hard when there's human beings involved that feel the
32:18
impact that we can't control that and they are not always on
32:23
the positive end of business changing.
32:27
So we always try to be respectful.
32:31
Well, we don't always try. We are always respectful and we
32:35
always do whatever we can to help them land in a good spot.
32:39
I used to write resumes for clients and I used to advise
32:44
them in their career. And I will do that for people
32:48
going forward that we have to let go.
32:50
I'll, I'll look at the resumes, I'll give them free advice.
32:53
I'll help set them up for success.
32:55
I will spend time with them interviewing and and kind of
32:59
coaching them through how to navigate the job market.
33:02
So we go above and beyond to help people.
33:07
The other thing is sometimes we have to let a service go that
33:11
ACEO is really, really tied to and they really love, but it's,
33:16
it's not revenue producing. And so they, a lot of times what
33:20
they need is just permission, ironically, they just need
33:25
permission that it's OK to let this person go, it's the right
33:28
move that it's OK to let the service go.
33:31
It's OK to put a pause on this goal.
33:34
And they know in their heart that it's probably the right
33:37
thing to do. But for some reason, they just
33:39
need permission from somebody else.
33:42
And when they get that, they feel relieved in a lot of ways.
33:46
It's probably something that they've been thinking in the
33:48
back of their minds or feeling in their gut for a while.
33:51
But there's an emotional attachment to it, you know, and.
33:54
And that can make it hard. And so, yeah, when you've got a
33:56
very qualified seasoned veteran who's coming in and saying,
34:00
yeah, this has got to go, it's like, OK, thank you.
34:05
I. Get to blame it on me, right?
34:07
It's like, well, Jennifer has made this decision as our COO
34:10
and so they they can sleep better at night knowing that
34:15
they weren't in it alone it and that sometimes I am the one that
34:20
they can kind of shuffle it off to and that's OK.
34:23
It's it's totally OK. You know, and the other thing
34:26
that you said that I really loved, because this is something
34:29
that I've always done in the past with my businesses is yes,
34:33
if there is a time where an employee needs to go and it and
34:36
it particularly if it's not for, you know, something egregious,
34:40
you know, like a really poor performance issue or, or
34:42
something like that. I've always gone out of my way
34:46
to help them land on their feet. And, you know, you mentioned one
34:49
of those scenarios in which maybe we're no longer offering
34:52
that service or, you know, that that little department or that
34:55
little thing that you were doing, it is no longer abuse to
34:58
us. I've also had it in the past
35:00
where I've, you know, sold a business.
35:02
And so I've got, you know, a whole collection of team members
35:06
that are now looking for jobs. And I will spend, you know, days
35:09
and weeks working with them and working with my connections to
35:12
help them land on their feet, find positions, often times
35:16
making more money than what they were making before.
35:18
And so, you know, they come into it all scared and nervous, But,
35:21
you know, I assure them this is going to be OK.
35:24
And, and I've seen how transformative that is for those
35:28
people and just what a wonderful thing that you're able to do for
35:33
them, you know, because that's one of the most challenging life
35:37
events that can happen, right, is, you know, being transitioned
35:40
out of a job and not knowing where you're going to get your
35:42
next paycheck. So a lot of kudos to you and
35:44
your team for taking those extra steps.
35:47
I think that's terrific. Yeah.
35:49
And there's so many creative ways that you can do that.
35:53
You know, you can do a slow wind down, maybe they're a full time
35:56
working, you know, 40 hours and you drop them down
35:59
incrementally. There's just so many things that
36:02
you can really do to help people transition.
36:04
It does not have to be a hard cut.
36:06
That's a good reminder. Yeah, I'm curious, Jennifer.
36:10
I'd like to explore maybe a big, either personal or professional
36:14
challenge that you've overcome and some of the lessons that
36:17
you've learned coming through the other side of it.
36:21
So one of the reasons I started my own business was really out
36:25
of a health issue. I was in corporate for a long
36:30
time and I was, like I said, I was not a corporate girl.
36:34
I knew that right away. So I was just trying to Band-Aid
36:39
a bullet hole, I guess. I didn't love it there, but I
36:41
was trying my best to find my way and learn to love it.
36:45
And a lot of times we are caught in to the golden handcuffs of a
36:50
corporate job. You make a lot of money, but you
36:53
just hate going there every single day.
36:55
And I did all the things. I bought a really great car to
36:58
drive to a job I really hated. That would be an answer.
37:03
I still have that really great car, but I don't have to drive
37:06
it anywhere to the job that I now love.
37:10
But what happened was after trying to not really address the
37:15
real issue that this is just not where I belong.
37:18
This is not the environment I belong in.
37:20
Instead, I took the route of maybe this isn't the specialty.
37:24
OK, primary care, maybe that's not for me.
37:26
I'll go over to cardiology. OK, maybe, maybe inpatient.
37:29
Maybe I need to try inpatient work in hospitals.
37:32
So I went inpatient and then that wasn't the right fit.
37:35
So then I went back outpatient. Oh, maybe dermatology, maybe
37:38
that's the way to go. And I kept just trying to make
37:43
it work when it clearly was not. And what that ended up leading
37:48
to was a highly, highly stressful environment which
37:52
started to affect my health. And in 2017, I was faced with my
38:02
organ was shutting down and I was on a work trip and I had to,
38:06
I ended up in the emergency room.
38:08
And when I got back home, I immediately flew in and I went
38:12
to the doctor and the doctor's like, you're not supposed to be
38:16
experiencing this. This is this is they ran a lot
38:19
of tests and discovered that it was stressed, totally stressed,
38:24
induced that my organ was in such stress and my health was in
38:28
such deterioration that it was really scary.
38:32
And you would think that that would be the end all when my
38:36
doctor looked at me and said you need to make serious changes.
38:40
And I said, yeah, yeah, I'm going to I'm I'm definitely
38:42
going to make some serious, I'm going to talk to my boss on
38:45
Monday. He said, I think you there
38:48
should be a resignation in that conversation.
38:50
Yeah, I'm definitely going to think about that.
38:53
And what happened was I had the conversation and I left, but I
38:58
went to another job and two months into that job, I just
39:03
knew. I just knew it's just more of
39:05
the, this is never going to get any better and it's just more of
39:09
the same. So I started to look at
39:14
businesses that might align with my beliefs and my purpose.
39:19
And I figured out that I've been trying to do that all along and
39:22
that just doesn't exist in this corporate environment.
39:25
So I started my own consulting. I that little voice in the back
39:30
of my head that I had pocketed years ago from someone telling
39:33
me I should actually charge for these services and support that
39:36
I'm providing. I started to actually charge and
39:39
I did it in the career space. I could not go immediately into
39:45
offering business consulting services because I needed to
39:49
heal from that environment. I just could not go back into
39:53
operations. It was too painful and there was
39:57
just too much to face. So I left opera.
40:01
I gave myself one year. I started J Hook Hut Group in
40:04
2018 and I worked it every day. Every day I did something,
40:09
whether it was something really big or something really small, I
40:13
did something Every day either make a new connection.
40:17
Post something on social media, do my logo, talk to a website
40:21
designer, research, listen to a podcast, read a book, whatever.
40:25
It was one thing every single day.
40:27
And I gave myself a year. And at that year mark, if I
40:32
could not sustain and I didn't think that I could make a go of
40:37
my consulting business, then I would at least know I gave it a
40:40
try. But if I could in any capacity
40:43
make a go of it, I would leave my corporate career behind.
40:47
I was getting ready to leave on August 12th of 2019.
40:52
And on July 17th I received a call that they were making cuts
40:59
within our organization and they were going to shut one of my
41:03
practices down in the middle of the night, let the doctor go,
41:07
let the entire team go. And they were strategically
41:11
getting rid of individuals. And I was on that list.
41:15
So when my, when the HR team came, I, they asked me for a
41:23
meeting and I came in on July 17th for a meeting.
41:27
And before I walked into that meeting, I went into the
41:29
restroom and I just said a quick prayer.
41:33
And I said, if this is where you want me, if you want me to go
41:36
into my business full time, I on the other side of that door has
41:40
to be a severance package. If there is anything less than
41:43
three months severance package, I will know that this is not
41:46
what you want from me. But if there is, I will never
41:50
question what I'm supposed to be doing in my life ever again. 7
41:55
minutes later I was given a three months severance package
41:58
and I've never looked back. That was the sign from above.
42:02
It's a sign from above. And let me tell you, I would
42:05
love to sit and say that I've never questioned since then.
42:09
But you know how it is running a business, It is so tough.
42:12
And there's not one entrepreneur who doesn't look at the job
42:16
boards and say, shouldn't I really go back?
42:18
Is this really shoot for me? But I am reminded of that, you
42:24
know, that conversation that I had and I was given exactly what
42:29
I needed. And it ended up working even
42:32
better because I had saved for a whole year to leave my corporate
42:35
job. And I was prepared to live off
42:37
of this a very, you know, a nice little savings nest egg that I
42:42
had. But it was only going to take me
42:44
to the end of the year. And I really had to make some
42:46
power moves between August and December of that year.
42:50
With the severance, it bought me so much more time.
42:54
And the great thing is, as I said, it was in July 2019.
42:58
Nobody saw 2020 coming. So all during COVID here, I'm
43:03
building a new business. But the great thing is, is that
43:06
I decided to go into the career area of IT and the career
43:11
consulting aspect, which businesses were just closing
43:14
down at that time. So if I would have went into
43:16
operations, it would have been more of a struggle.
43:19
But here I was going through helping people navigate their
43:22
career and what it was going to look for them after COVID and
43:25
the whole great Resignation. So it all ended up working for
43:29
good, even though I could have never predicted that or saw that
43:33
coming. Stars just seem to align for you
43:35
there. It they did, they did.
43:38
Although at the time when I was going through it, it didn't.
43:40
It felt terrible. And so how did you get that
43:43
first client? So my very first client, I
43:47
actually hired a business coach because even though I have an
43:51
MBA, I didn't know how to navigate the online space of a
43:54
business. So I met a lot of people at
43:58
networking events and conferences and in one of the
44:00
people that I met had a great business coach.
44:03
And so while I had my corporate job, I invested in a business
44:06
coach to help me navigate the online space.
44:11
I had never set up a website and did networking, specifically
44:17
honing into my business. I was always advertising and
44:21
networking on behalf of another company.
44:23
It's different when you talk about yourself and your services
44:27
opposed to other companies. And I had marketing departments,
44:31
so I was never in those spaces. So while I had the business
44:35
sense, I knew how to grow a business and navigate that.
44:38
I needed other support. So my business coach helped me.
44:42
I had her for six months and she introduced me to my first
44:45
client. And then it just just networking
44:48
events, getting to know people and immersing myself into the
44:52
entrepreneurial community to which I had no exposure to
44:56
before. I was just always in the patient
44:58
space and just making a name for myself.
45:02
I started in my own backyard, so I did in person networking
45:05
events. I started doing speaking
45:07
engagements and I started in my area and then I started to
45:12
expand online. And so I think it's always good
45:15
to kind of start in your backyard and make a name for
45:17
yourself in your own community and then expand your reach,
45:22
because it's hard when you try to do all the things all at once
45:25
when you're first starting out. Yeah.
45:27
And I'm curious, you've mentioned that, you know,
45:29
there's certainly been times that you've questioned whether
45:31
this is the right move because it, you know, it's stressful,
45:34
you know, it's hard finding clients.
45:36
Maybe you get a challenging client that you, you know,
45:38
you've got to work with. Was there a point in your
45:41
trajectory where you felt very comfortable that, OK, we've got
45:46
this process down, this is working, we've got a good thing
45:50
going here. This this has got some longevity
45:52
to it. So yes and no, I think it's
45:57
always changing, right? When you think you have
45:59
something nailed down, the market shifts and you just had,
46:03
it's an ever changing environment and you just need to
46:05
get used to that. You always need to be learning.
46:08
And so learning about what is new and working, but really
46:13
identifying what works for you, what works for everybody else.
46:17
You can get really caught up in the and what everybody else is
46:20
doing and go down rabbit holes, but you really need to figure
46:24
out what works for you, what's your personality, what really
46:27
speaks to people. And for me, I don't have any
46:30
problem closing people on a call once they, I get in front of
46:35
them, it's, it's easy. We talk about what they need and
46:39
how I can solve their problems it and I'm really invested in
46:42
that for them. So, and that's where the
46:44
motivational butt kicker comes in because when we talk, people
46:47
take action. They're just excited to take
46:49
action because I'm really excited about it.
46:51
I love a new challenge. So I get them excited, but it's
46:55
getting in front of them that can be the challenge.
46:57
Because e-mail inboxes are flooded.
46:59
Nobody loves that. You know, how many LinkedIn
47:02
messages do you get a day? And don't open them because
47:05
they're not somebody you know. So it's hard to stand out from
47:09
the noise, and finding what works for you is what's
47:14
important. The market will shift and the
47:16
strategies will shift, but understand what your special
47:20
magic is, what your secret sauce is, and try to incorporate that
47:23
into your structure. How are you sort of filling the
47:28
front end of that funnel? What are you finding to be the
47:30
most effective way to get that first conversation with
47:33
somebody? Referrals, So just really
47:37
putting yourself out there and listen, I do not love public
47:41
speaking. I do not love videos.
47:43
I do not love any of those things and people are always
47:46
shocked at it because. You're very comfortable.
47:50
You're a natural. They say that I show up
47:52
confidently in in my mind. I like put on extra deodorant
47:56
and I put powder on my hand so I don't sweat like I'm dying
48:00
inside sometimes, but I don't love it.
48:04
But I do it because I always think that it's not about me.
48:09
It's about the impact that I can make on somebody else.
48:12
And if I don't show up, I can't make an impact for anybody.
48:16
So I remove myself from the scenario on what I like to do
48:21
and what I don't like to do, and I just do it.
48:23
And because like you said, I, I seem natural on video, I don't
48:28
love it, but I've gotten so much feedback from everybody else
48:32
that I think everybody can't be lying to me.
48:34
So this is the way to go. And so that's what I do.
48:38
Public speaking, don't love it, but I do it.
48:41
And because that is where I can, I just have the ability to
48:45
connect with people that way. I don't fully understand it
48:48
about myself to be quite honest, but I've gotten enough feedback
48:52
and enough reassurance and I've gotten enough positive results
48:56
that I just do it. And I always come with the
48:59
intention that my goal is to reach one person and and impact
49:03
them in a positive way and get them to take action that they
49:06
wouldn't have taken if they if I wouldn't have gotten in front of
49:09
them. And that is a win.
49:12
And you hit on something important there and I because I
49:14
what little I know about you, Jennifer, I think this is
49:17
probably quarter your character about, you know, how important
49:20
it is for you to inspire and motivate people in their current
49:26
situation. Can you say more about that?
49:28
So I am, I am definitely a, a quote junkie.
49:34
I'm just a positive. I'm just a positive person all
49:38
the time. And I hate that we've come up
49:40
with this new term toxic positivity because it's, it like
49:45
breaks my heart. Why does positivity have to be
49:47
toxic? This is the first time hearing
49:49
about this. Yeah, I don't know.
49:52
Yeah, so I am typically a positive person.
49:55
Now, that's not to say I don't have imposter syndrome and the
49:58
little head, the little voice in my head can be very negative and
50:01
very harsh. But for other people, I can
50:04
just, I just get so excited for them.
50:07
And so for me, I just find ways for people to take action.
50:12
I every conversation I have, I don't, I'm not the typical
50:18
person where it's like, oh, I could tell you what to do there,
50:21
but I'm not you have to hire me to get that information.
50:24
I want to help, period. Whether you hire me or not, I
50:28
want to help because not everything I get from the work
50:31
that I do is monetary compensation.
50:34
I am in this work. I want to do good work with good
50:38
people. That's it.
50:40
That's all I want to do. The money will come.
50:42
I truly believe that if you show up with pure intentions of just
50:48
a service heart and helping others, that that needs to be
50:51
your driving factor. So when people ask me what is
50:55
your ideal revenue of a company, I don't care.
50:59
I want to help you. And your revenue doesn't always
51:02
speak to success because I know multi million dollar companies
51:07
that don't treat people right, that don't have that don't
51:10
believe in a culture fit, that are just totally miserable human
51:14
beings because all the rest of their life is just very chaotic.
51:18
And so revenue doesn't really speak to success.
51:23
For me. It's not about the money.
51:25
Of course you have to make money to be in business.
51:28
So it I'm not saying it's not important.
51:30
If you're not making money, you have a hobby, it's not a
51:33
business. You got to make money to keep
51:35
going. And I don't care what industry
51:37
that is, but it should not always be the driving factor.
51:42
So for me, it's just all about showing up and doing good work
51:46
with good people. Jennifer, what's something you
51:49
wish you could teach a younger version of yourself?
51:54
Bet on you every single time. Every single time.
51:59
There's never been one time in my life that I bet on myself
52:04
that I regret. I regret all the times that I
52:06
didn't. I am undefeatable, but so are
52:10
you. You have totally made it through
52:13
every single bad situation in your life.
52:16
You're totally undefeatable. By the way, she's sorry, sorry
52:19
to interrupt. She's talking to everybody who's
52:21
listening, right? Now.
52:22
Not just to me. Please continue with this great
52:24
message, Jennifer. Everybody, you are undefeated.
52:30
You have made it through every terrible situation.
52:33
Dark space. You have made it through because
52:36
you're still standing. And if you are not a sure bet,
52:42
you need to look at why that is. Because you should always be a
52:46
sure bet on yourself and do the work that is needed to rectify
52:53
why that is for yourself. And then define whatever success
52:58
means to you. Not society, not social media,
53:02
not the influencers, not the title or the corner office or
53:07
the compensation, or the car that you drive or the purse that
53:10
you carry or the number of kids you're supposed to have.
53:13
Your success. Success is defined by you and
53:17
you should always be the sure bet to get there.
53:21
I loved all of that. I'm curious, Jennifer, if there
53:25
are any specific mentors or books that have been helpful to
53:28
you on your path. Oh my gosh, so many, The very
53:34
first thing. Well, my mom is my biggest
53:39
cheerleader and she's also my hero.
53:41
So my mom definitely is my ride or die.
53:45
She's honest with me. She's been through it thick and
53:48
thin my whole life, right? And so my mom is my greatest
53:53
inspiration and mentor in my life.
53:55
She set the bar high on just being a good human being and so
53:59
living up to that is always something that I try to go
54:03
forward with. But I have three books that I
54:06
highly recommend. The first one is Grit by Angela
54:10
Duckworth. It talks about the power of
54:13
passion and perseverance. A lot of times our inner voice
54:18
says that we don't have the talent and she actually dispels
54:22
this. And if you don't love to read or
54:25
you want some just really short snippet, you can look her up.
54:29
She did a Ted talk on perseverance and she talks about
54:34
how perseverance Trump's talent any day of the week.
54:37
So I love that and that is great for imposter syndrome.
54:41
The other thing, the other book that I love is Super Fans by Pat
54:46
Flynn. It is a great book.
54:49
It talks about how to create raving fans that are sustained.
54:54
And it's, it's interesting. He talks about boy bands and how
55:00
boy bands are so, so successful. His wife was in her 40s and she
55:03
was, she was still wanting to go to this concert, New Kids on the
55:07
Block. She just loved them.
55:09
And all these years later, she was still a raving fan of this
55:13
group who had not toured or, you know, been out, But because they
55:17
spoke to her during a time in her life through music, through
55:22
storytelling, it related to her and it brought her back to that
55:26
space. And she it helped her through a
55:28
certain time in her life. I think it was a breakup with a
55:31
boyfriend in high school. And she stayed a raving fan
55:35
because they helped her in that way.
55:37
She never met them. She never got to know them, but
55:40
she was a fan, much like Taylor Swift speaks in her lyrics.
55:45
And music does that for for us. But creating super fans by being
55:49
yourself, being authentic and speaking to the heart of people,
55:53
it's a really great book. Was there a third one?
55:57
And the third one, if you have a team and you're looking to
56:01
implement a book club, which all my teams love to do, I highly
56:07
recommend The Energy Bus by John Gordon.
56:11
It's a very easy read and even if you have team members who
56:15
hate to read, it speaks to 10 rules to fuel your life, work
56:20
and team with positive energy. And that is a really easy read
56:24
and it's something that you can do with your whole team and
56:27
they'll really get, everybody will get something out of it
56:31
different and it's really great. Jennifer, I've just got one more
56:35
question for you. But before I ask it, I want to
56:37
do 2 things. First of all, if you're
56:39
listening today and you like today's content, please hit the
56:41
like, share or Subscribe button on your favorite podcast.
56:46
Excuse me? I also want to let people know
56:49
the best way to get in touch with you.
56:51
What would that be? Through my website.
56:55
Which is J ho cutgroup.com Ho cut is spelled HOCUTT.
57:01
It'll be in the show notes, but for those of you who are
57:03
listening, maybe driving JHOCUTT group.com.
57:08
So last question for you, Jennifer, I'm curious how you
57:12
see the fractional CEO space your, your industry kind of
57:15
evolving in the next five years. What do you think the big
57:18
changes are that are coming? Well, I absolutely love what's
57:22
on the horizon. I love that people are finding
57:25
new innovative ways to work and I love that they're really
57:29
honing in to having their work support the life that they want
57:34
instead of their life needing to support the work that they do.
57:38
So I am really excited about the way people are starting to work.
57:44
And a lot of negative things came out of COVID, but there's
57:47
been a positive shift with people redefining what matters
57:51
to them in their life and how they want to work.
57:54
And the days of just being employed by somebody else and
57:57
being paid for 40 but working for 60 hours, those days are
58:01
gone. People are fed up.
58:02
And there's more people than there are employers that they
58:07
get to call the shots. You're a bigger army.
58:09
You have a bigger voice. And so I love that people are
58:12
taking on freelance 1099 contracts, side hustles, you
58:17
know, Shopify shops selling on Amazon, becoming influencers.
58:22
There are so many ways to do business and I am really
58:27
excited. And in the fractional space, I
58:30
love that really highly talented executives are able to serve in
58:36
different ways and help those individuals who are starting out
58:40
or have small to medium sized businesses.
58:43
I love that they these resources are now available where they
58:47
weren't always before. Jennifer, I want to be the first
58:51
to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us
58:54
today. I really appreciate it.
58:56
Oh my goodness, it was such an honor.
58:58
Thank you so much for having me. Folks, that's a wrap on another
59:02
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
59:04
Thanks for learning with us today.