[CLIENT SPOTLIGHT] Overcoming Fear, to Find Success | MDIDS2E41

Welcome, welcome, everyone. This is Paul Finck, this is Mavericks Do a Different Podcast. Thank you so much for being here. Absolutely. This is the place where we talk about how to do things differently, thinking differently, being differently and doing things different to create different results. And isn't that what most of us want? So many people are in this space of the same old, same old and every day is the same as yesterday. And it's not necessarily a life that we love. How do we create the greatness in ourselves, our fullest potential is by creating a different reality. And we do that by creating a different action, different thoughts, different feelings today, to create that new environment tomorrow. And that's what our podcast is all about. So today, we've got a special guest, who personifies so much of that and has been in active journey over the last couple of years in creating a difference in the world. And for not just herself and her family, but also so many so many people around her and expanding all around the country now, watching just amazement that she goes down this journey. She is the founder of entry envy. It's founded in October 2021. So just a short time ago, and in Omaha, Nebraska, and she helps people create welcoming entry into their homes, into their businesses with simplicity and convenience that also identifies their home for their guests and deliveries and, and doing all that and in a great way. And we'll be introducing some of that in just a moment in more detail. These are custom signs with modern address numbers. Last names monograms, featuring a small leaf and planter box there so you can have floral engagement on a monthly basis. And there's a subscription model to this, that I want you all in business to be paying attention to. Her inspiration came from a divorce, yes, a divorce, where she fully remodeled her home. Without dated hard to read house numbers on her house. She wanted to change that into something that was functional and fun, and just in enjoyable to be around. before founding entry MV. She was the executive director of two medium sized law firms in Omaha for over 18 years. Bachelor's degree in business with marketing major has an executive MBA, contributing author of the book wisdom before me. She also has two, two children, two teenage daughters, a dog and a tortoise of all things. Life Purpose, to encourage young women to consider the trades is a noble profession. And she personifies so much of this. Please welcome to our podcast. Jennifer Lea, thank you so much for being here. It's such a pleasure to have you here. We've engaged this whole time you've been part of the maverick universe. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you. Yeah, thank you. It's it's crazy. In the startup world. Time, you know, you talk a lot about time. And there are so many things that I'll say to my assistant, you know, that thing we did a few weeks ago, you know that initially, like you mean, the thing we did two days ago? I'll be like, yeah, that that right. So it's amazing to think about, that our conversations began two and a half years ago, or even perhaps more. And that this journey has been in full swing since then. And so it's a lot of fun. It's great to circle back on all

That feel like it was just yesterday, or is that feel like it was 100 years ago?

Both? Both? I don't know how to describe it any other way. Like I cannot believe it's been two and a half years since I came up with this idea. I can't believe it's been almost four years since I made a decision to that dramatically changed the course of my life and leaving my marriage. And yet, it doesn't seem like it is possible that it's already been this long.

Yeah, I find that I go through the same process of that whole the journey. And I'm so engaged in the journey that I can't believe how much gets done in the process. And yet, it also feels like because I've created so much that the person I used to be was that had to have been I came to go, it couldn't have just been a couple years ago.

Right? Right. Yeah, it's fun. It's fun. I was thinking about you the other night. I, when you work, and so many people say, How have you done all of this in two years? Right? You know, you're only two years old. Have you created this? And, you know, the short answer is, is No, I don't sleep, you know, not a lot. And you and I both share those qualities. And the other night, I was really tired. And I thought one more thing, one more thing. And Paul always say that just do one more thing. And that's how it gets to be three o'clock in the morning, you know, far too often I did one more thing, you know, but it really is that consistency compounds, it is the the action of just doing it one more time doing get it, it's unbelievable how much you can accomplish.

It's, you know, the time component, and people are really quick to say, oh, no, no, you need your sleep. Oh, no, no. And, and yet, every highly successful person I know. They profess not needing the sleep, because and I've talked to a few people that are really in tune with who they are their body and, and they all say the same thing. That your passion for life ends up transcending everything else. And that's key is that you're so passionate about what you're doing. And I know Jennifer, you are with everything that's been created. There, you're so passionate that it doesn't feel like you're sacrificing anything, it doesn't feel like you're you're doing without sleep. And it also the next day just rolls into just more of what you want. And, and with that, it's it's an amazing journey.

It's a lot of fun. So a lot of fun. So let's

go back and just kind of recap some of the things that have happened over the last two years for everybody. So we actually got engaged, got engaged you we engaged in conversation during COVID. And it was on a virtual and we really weren't traveling yet. And we I was doing virtual events, if you will. And you came on one of those events. And I don't even know how you ended up there. And you're on one of the events and we scheduled time to talk. And if you I don't know what was going through your mind during those periods of time, but talk about some of the early days.

Yeah, so I'm gonna take kind of people back to real quick. So you say you mentioned I got divorced, I moved into a fixer upper because it was during the middle of COVID. And trying to buy a house at the peak of the market during a financial situation that was challenging because of the divorce going on. Created not a lot of availability, beggars can't be choosers, and I got a fixer upper. So I moved into this Fixer Upper House August of 2020. And I just I knew it from day one. And I just started you know, room by room tackling it and had a lot of time to think it was it was truly therapy I couldn't buy I didn't realize it at the time. That's what I was doing. But it was a lot of hours at night with just a paintbrush in my hand, you know, having just creative space. And that's where I've learned that I think the best, both in late night hours and just doing that kind of work. I'm not good to just go sit and watch the grass grow. I tried, but it doesn't happen very well for me. And so when I got into some about halfway through the remodel, it was in Iran, January of 2021. I was thinking about the hundreds of 1000s of women that were out of work at that time, because entertainment and Hospitality and Tourism were completely shut down. And I was also thinking about how easy it was that I was doing these things every night how much I enjoyed it. And I was thinking about the 10s of 1000s of people that were remodeling their houses, and every single time you turned around, they were complaining they couldn't get an electrician or a plumber, you know, the contractor wasn't showing up. And you know, we have all of these people who are perfectly capable of working in the trades, but they've never been given permission and they don't know where to start and they don't know how and we have all of these other people in this market that are willing to pay them. How do we put these two together? And I started walking down this path in my head and then I actually started taking action to say can I fix this because I personally was tired of trying Can you running into the same obstacles over and over you go figure out how to do something. Yes, you can do it on YouTube or what Ever you watch 50 different videos that 50 different guys get the 50 different sets of tools and methods of how to fix something, you got to figure out how to cut, there's got to be a better way to all of this. So, but at the end of the day at the end of sort of this cycle, and that was when we actually first connected, I couldn't figure out how to monetize what my sort of altruistic mission was. To get the women in the trades and more younger people in the trades is a huge problem. There's 3 million jobs opening the trades within the next year. And we just don't have enough people because we have done an incredible job for the last 35 years of sending every single high school graduates college regardless of whether they have a plan, regardless of whether they have enough money to go, they don't know what they're gonna do. They just thought I'm gonna go to college, right. And we're creating a really economic infrastructure crisis for our country. And we have to fix that. But the aggressing from that I was managing a law firm, full time by day, I was remodeling my house at night, I was a single mom with two kids and no other outside financial resources. And I couldn't figure out how to monetize this mission, if you will. And so I shelved it, because I wasn't in a position to be able to quit my job and do anything different. So I just put it on the shelf. And I thought, Okay, we'll come back to that someday. But at least I know why I'm here. I knew with clarity. My purpose on this planet is to solve this problem. It just wasn't at that time. And so I kept remodeling the house. And it was in April of 2021, four months later, that I went on this mission, because now I came home and the inside of my house was brand new, beautiful. I was proud of it. But the outside looks old, it looks like a fixer upper. And I'm like, I'm out of time and energy and money. How do I add curb appeal without spending a lot. So I decided to paint the garage door, paint the front door, update the light fixture and figure out how to move the house numbers that were above the garage door you couldn't see them. They were old, they were small, they were crooked to a different spot. So I started Googling modern house number signs. And when I stumbled upon one for inspiration that had this little planter box on the front of it, I thought well, I'm not going to pay anybody to make that I got extra stuff out in the garage. I'll just go do it myself. So I did get excited to paint it had to go to three or four different hardware stores to find the house numbers I wanted. Nobody had them in gold, I want gold. So I spray painted in and I got a now got the sign. And it's really cute. Now I've got this planter box on the front and I'm like, well what the hell am I going to put in this? And so I'm not gonna I'm not planning anything. I don't have time to water flowers twice a day and I live in Nebraska we can only grow something for five months out of the year. I'm like this isn't gonna work. So I take my sign to the local craft store and I spend it's right before Easter. I spent about 45 minutes trying to figure out what kind of fake stuff to put in here. I've got to buy three foam blocks and I only need one because that's how they were sold. I had to buy a whole bag of Spanish moss and I only needed you know, a quarter of an ounce. I had to buy 12 two lips I only needed three but you know so $37 Later, I an hour worth of time I'm now at home. I have to find my wire cutters. I can never find my wire cutters. Don't ask me why but they had find the wire cutters now. And I got it and found this cute little robin's egg and I needed to figure out a way to have him not blow away. So I found something to poke in this egg. And then I had hot glue it So moral of the story I thought, holy crap, I thought watering. This was going to be a lot of work. This was a pain in the rear. But it was the cutest thing ever. I mean cutest thing ever. I made a little brown burlap bunny and a little egg and three two lips in Spanish moss and it just looked adorable. And I thought, Well, I'm not going to do this every month who ships the stuff? You know? So I go back to Google and I start searching for faux floral subscription boxes holiday and seasonal decor artificial decor for your front porch. I mean scouring Google, Pinterest, Etsy, and no one was shipping this stuff. No one. I can't believe that. But it was like that God moment of where I remembered my professor from 1997 in my marketing class who said if you're ever going to create a business, create a reoccurring revenue model and use the example at that time of the of the nurse newspaper. Right? Those were the that was the first subscription. And I thought Uh huh. And if that not everybody needs house numbers. Some people need last names and monograms and what about the people who live in apartments or assisted living maybe they would like something for their door too. But the common denominator that I came up with was everything would have the same size planter box attached to it and my business model was shipping monthly and seasonal faux floral holiday decor. And so I said I did all my models This was like before 48 hours, I built this entire multimillion dollar business in my head. And I went then and sat down and looked at spreadsheet because I knew I had to make the numbers work. So don't get too excited. Jen right. So I started working through the numbers. And I thought, No, this works. And then I thought,

well, is anybody gonna buy it besides me? Right? So I think this is a good idea. But then you got to do some market testing.

And so I went to a little craft show. And I didn't have a company name. I didn't have a website, I was just there with my samples. And I collected 250 email addresses in six hours from women that said, as soon as go live, please let me know. So now I had to figure out I have, you know, lots of formal education. I have an MBA, I've managed $10 million revenue plus businesses for 20 years that had no clue how to start a company, none. And I'm like, wow, okay, I need some help. And you know, I am a big believer in being a lifelong learner continuing education, and working smarter, not harder, find the shortcuts whenever you can maximize, right, those are my Gallup strengths, strategic Maximizer arranger. So strategic, great, I want to start a company. Number two, I need to maximize the the the ROI. And I need to get there as fast as I possibly can. Because this is not going to be an inexpensive or quick journey. And arranger is like what are all of the resources, I need money, people tools, energy to be able to accomplish those goals. And so I started going back, my executive MBA thesis was on executive coaching. And so I had interviewed 78 executive coaches from all around the world, back in 2013. Before I even knew what an executive coach was, and I started looking at that list. And I thought, surely somebody on here knows how to start a business. And so I found a gal and through her, she actually is the one who connected me to you. She was Amy Walker is amazing, and very systems, process oriented sales. I love her. And I just needed systems at that point, one step in front of the other. And you and I had been on you were you had done a very brief podcast. It wasn't a podcast, it was like you jumped on Zoom, I heard you for about 10 or 15 minutes. I don't even know what I heard. But I thought I heard something. And I thought, well, this guy's pretty good. I want to meet him too. And so I jumped on one of your other calls that you had on kind of a Thursday night. And I'm just I'm a lurker at that point and sitting in the back. And I'm kind of thinking that you're really too good to be true. I don't know if you really know what you're talking about. But everything you said, I heard, I listened, I believed. And I've had, I think I want to meet this guy. And so I launched I started the idea of this company in April of 2021. I work, you know, every single night until 234. In the morning, after I managed a law firm all day long after I got my kids taken care of for dinner. And I worked on the back end of entry in the building this company. And I launched it officially October 1 of 2021. And I got 25 subscribers my first month. And it was amazing. And I knew every single one of them. So I still hadn't crossed the threshold yet have we have anybody outside of this buying. But we had 25 and November now we added another 20 or so. And I didn't know those people this wasn't this was now we were starting to get a little bit further outside of that. And you were hosting Maverick success live in Las Vegas. And I had a free hotel room and a free plane ticket with points. And you had a reasonable ticket price. And I thought you know what, I'm going to go spend three days working on myself on the business and get away from my 3am Mornings with my computer and you know, coding and everything else I was doing. And just think about where's this going? What am I doing here? And it was getting tricky at this point to keep managing the law firm all day long, and run this business that was now live now I had people calling me and texting me during the middle of the afternoon asking questions about what signed order and I thought this is getting a little hard. And when you know I went and had that experience with you. It was the best thing that I did for myself and certainly what I needed at that time and made me think so much about where was I going with this. And at the end of the day, you know what, what you talk about to so many people and I have shared and men, man, all of the high achievers we all know this. It's fear. Everyone has fear at every level of success and that's what you have have to push through to get what you want. It's not a you're not going to be scared, but it's be scared and do it anyway. And the you know, the quote of whoever said it, everything you want is on the other side of theorists just, you know, so true. And, you know, so I, I was just terrified, like, Could I quit a six figure corporate income job and chase a dream, because let me tell you, my 3540 subscribers that were paying $29 a month at that point for their artificial stuff was not going to pay the bills.

And I want to pause at that woman, I want to reflect on just a couple things. You said, yeah. What is that? It always amazes me. And yet I know it for the fact is that, in your MBA you you are not taught how to start a business. And that always amazes me because, well, you're being taught all these great components about business, however, the Cornerstone is getting one going. And no, you got to find someone else who already did that. And then you tap in. And and there's so much the rest of that story of what does it take to start a business? What does it take to to dig deep, and decide? And a couple of things that happen? At the event you did a reflection on? Who am I? What do I want? And what do I really want my future to be? And that is so key to then face your fears. Because we know that the fear is the key and that it's you know, digging deep and taking that next step, which you've done. And yet it's it's the understanding of what is my journey? And what do I really want? That'll be the motivating factor, to actually take that leap. Step. And, yeah, so you had the idea, you were ready, and then went title now. Most people go through the same journey, they end up selling their family and friends, they sell them all this and then they go, Hmm, so they bought but who else is going to buy? You went through that process? And well, during this time, I remember we were talking, we were already engaged, we had a console, and we were kind of there was text back and forth, there was some engagement with a few components along the way. And then I was so glad when you came to the event, because I know that becomes a catalyst for so many people in in really spending the time away from their business in their life, and getting clear with what their future is. And that was a catalyst, that's a key moment for you and driving forward.

Yeah. And, you know, when I when I went by myself, and I wouldn't have gone any other way, you know, it's it's I not, I'm not an advocate for divorce, but I am an advocate for really, really, really supportive spouses. And if you don't have one, it's probably why you're unhappy. And, you know, I could not do everything that I have done. In I think, quite frankly, in any relationship. And, you know, the last two years, and I think that event for me, you know, the question that you raise is the hardest one to answer. And I go through this every day, I'm going through it again, right now. What do you want? You can have anything you want, what do you want? And that comes up at different places for different reasons at different times. And and I'm, I'm there again, on a on another, another issue related to the next level of the business, right? What do you want? And, you know, to not be influenced by anybody else for those three days and really be focused on me, what do I want? You know, when I hired you, I didn't tell anybody what I was what I was doing. You know, there are most people

For that. Thank you. Yeah, don't, don't everyone here, don't tell anyone that you hired me. I keep me a secret. It's absolutely imperative, thank you!

You know, I've told the world many times since but I think that like, you know, I've invested 10s of 1000s of dollars in coaches since I graduated from my MBA in and I would say that that money first of all, just starting a company is an education. You can't buy Holy moly. I mean, it's there's just not a prize taking and put on that. But every coach has a different purpose. I think for me, I mean, I they time, place, purpose, whatever I needed. Uh, but I guess it goes back to not being afraid to ask for help, you know, and so much of business and you talk about this and taught me this. Wow, it's all in your head. That is that is where everything happens is its mindset. And it's hard to believe until you get there. And then you're like, yeah,

Yeah, most people go no, no, no, no, just tell me, what's the tool I need? What's the system? I need? Yeah, let's start here. And part of the reason why, like, I know that so profoundly is that, that that was me. I was the young kid had my first business really young in life. And I was man, who do I turn to? I'm supposed to know all the answers, and I shunned help, at literally, like, chased it away over over the first couple of decades of being in business. And I learned, that doesn't work. And you really want to step up, you really want to create the magic that's within you. Grab hold of the resources, ask for help. There's so many people around you that will will help you in so many different degrees in ways that, but you've got to start asking.

Yeah, huge. So, yeah.

So here we were, we were in and now we're in December of 2021. And that's when the real conversation of oh, I've got I've got a pretty good position, a pretty good salary. Do I leave it?

Yeah. And, you know, the the question that somebody had actually asked on it, zoom call with you, in one of the group formats prior to that was they said, When do you quit your day job? And, you know, I've had that question asked so many times of me by by women. And everybody's scared, right? And it's terrifying until you do it. It's terrifying while you do it, still scary, right? But you know, you said, Don't quit your job, when you've replaced your income, quit your job, when you know how to replace your income. And you reference the line of 99% a bitch, 100 percents a breeze. And you have to go all in, you have to go all in. And that resonates with my mindset so much, because of the Maximizer mentality that I have in my gallop strengths. I mean, I am not the person who's like, you know, something's better than nothing. Today, at least you walk for 20 minutes? Oh, hell, no, if I'm going to the gym, we're going for an hour, and we're going to lift 3000 pounds, and we're going to sweat our asses off, and we're not going at all right. Not a half way anything kind of person. And you know that about me. So it was, you know, that that was for me, like, the gedit of like, you gotta go all in on this. And, you know, when it goes back to people say, How have you done what you've done in the last two years? I say, okay, you know, there's a lot of things. Number one is not sleeping and working really hard. But number into going along with that is is going all in. But number two was, there was no plan B, there's no spouse whose income is going to subsidize this. There's no trust fund. There's no life savings, like this is it? And that creates a fire. That is just can't put it out. Right. And it might well not go out until I feel like I've made it. And that's that's, you know, and

No Plan B, no, Plan B, and so many people, that's if I get a fight along the distance, and along the way, that's the fight I get. What do you mean, there's no plan? No, no. Well, if this doesn't work, I was like, What do you mean if what what's going on? Because as soon as you put it out there, it's going to happen. And that's a that's a big challenge. And we breezed over it and you made it sound so yeah, well, I was afraid. You were deathly afraid. terrified to quit your job. And we had multiple conversations almost weekly on Are you sure talking about that face? Because I think that is so relevant to so many people because they they get oh yeah, it's nice. You had a great idea. I've had a great idea you you thought it might be something a and then you got a little bit of concern, but you did it because that's who you are. I could never do that.

Yeah, it's a it's, if it's a tough one. You know, I journaled a lot through that process too, and I still don't trust myself as much as I wish that I would sometimes and every time I don't I regret it. I think Not trusting myself on this would have been my biggest regret in my life. But the only reason I trusted myself you would say, and and the only reason I ended up trusting myself was because of you. Because you saw what I couldn't you believed in me and the company that I was building more than I did myself. And I struggle again, right now, two years later, doing huge next moves in this company. It's the same thing. Like when you're in the weeds, you're so far down. And even me being number one strategic, like, I'm like, just show me where the light that it can be 10 years away, and I'll see it. And I'll figure out how to get there. When you're in your own company in your own head. It's hard to get above the clouds and see the possibility. And for me to go into somebody else's world, I'm like, it's a no brainer, like, you've got this, like, just quit your job and go do this. That's you, right? Like, you can do that you're like, no big deal. And it's not that you're going to tell it to everybody. You know, it's it's a selective of like, No, you do, you do, and I did, but I don't I in a million years had I not had you sort of holding my hand through the process. And it's, it's walking through. And Keith and I talked about this not too long ago, like that, walking through that fire. Walking through that fear is part of the process. It's a huge piece of it, that you don't realize at the time, you don't realize anything that you're doing at the time is that next stepping stone and wherever you're going. And it's I always go back to it. And I know that I'm not getting a tattoo on my wrist that says it but it's as close as I could be, which is just trust the process. But it's trust myself, trust God, trust the universe, trust my team. It just trust and I work that was my second word of the year, couple years ago, and it's a whole that one close and it's hard, it's really hard. And there's not an easy answer you have to go through you have to you have to walk the walk, I right now tend to attract a lot of women that want to be happy. They want to be where I'm at in life, they want to start a company, they want to pursue their company full time, like whatever it is. And, you know, they're like, I just can't do it. That's the answer. I Oh, it's always here. I can't do that. I just don't see how I can do this, you know? And you can't, you just have to do it. And once you go, that's it. There's no I mean, I'm I'm on there gets to be a point of no return. Right. And that's part of that really hard point that I'm at right now I gotta choose two highways. I'm going down the interstate right now 120 miles an hour. And I had two exits. Neither one are really exits there. They're just like, they level right? We're not, there's not an off ramp here. And that's actually right. Like, you get you get so far down the road that you're you know, I mean, don't drive don't drive the tank off the cliff, that's not going to happen. But you know, you have two storylines. And do you go do you go left? Or do you go right, and once you pick those, that whichever way that is, it's going to be really difficult down the road to decide that you're going to change lanes later. And so it's the trust the process moment right now,

it's, it's possible to switch the lanes. The key component, though, is that you definitely take that leap. And there's a certain component of a fear in that leap, and you took it. But then there's also people don't recognize there's leap after leave after leap after leaf that you end up doing your process. And that's where the trust the process comes in. Is that you? You gotta keep taking those leaps. There's no just, oh, yeah, you know what, I'm gonna stay on this cliff for a while. I'm just gonna sit here and build my house right here on this cliff. No, you got to keep moving. And, and that's where, you know, the, the difficult and the greatness of our journey comes in. And the difficult and greatness of entrepreneur comes in entrepreneurship, is that you take that leap of faith and you keep doing it anyway. And then you do it again and again and again, knowing that every time you take it that it could go left or could go right could go up could go down only there's gonna be another leap later on. So whatever happens, trust the process.

Well, there's gonna be a net or water, right like that's what I that's what I kind of have have learned from you that you know, there's always a solution. It's not a problem. It's a challenge. and try, and it is leap F relief after leap. And the first one, there's different points that are really, really hard. Those are those milestones. Right? So quitting, quitting the day job is a really big leap. You know, I absolutely love in fact, Keith is the one who told me to read this book. So I'm sure you have as well. 10x is easier than 2x by Dan Sullivan. And Benjamin Hardy. And what was profound to me, and by the way, anybody's listening, if you haven't read it, I would highly recommend the audible version, not the book, because Dan and Benjamin do a little podcast at the end of each chapter. And so if you're short on time, skip the chapter and just listen to podcasts. But the, you know, what he says, what Dan talks about is that 10x moves are those that you are abandoning 80% of what you know, what you've done, who you've spent time with whatever it may be 80% of it to go a different direction to think differently, right. And he also talks about this was a big one for me, that people who are very goal oriented and the movers and the shakers, are, goalposts are always moving. So you have to actually measure your progress backwards rather than forwards. And that makes sense. But I'm extremely futuristic. So I'm like, oh, yeah, somebody will come up to me. And they'll be like, Oh, my gosh, congratulations. I'll be like, on what, you know, like I, you know, and it was, you know, I don't know, whatever, you know, an article or an award or something, you know, in the last few weeks that happened. And for me, I'm just like, oh, that's old news. You know, I mean, I don't say that, of course. He said, Thank you, you know, but I've moved on. Like, I'm conquering the next, you know, event or war or whatever, like, I'm already on to it. And so, you know, but moving but looking back where we're and he does this in the book, he says, Where were your 10x moves? What have you done? And and then that helps you understand you can do it again. And you will do it again, you have to do it again. Right. So what are those places, and every one of those 10x moves are terrifying. They are always scary in whatever that is. Now, I think people have who have led very boring lives. And I think that people who are not happy, haven't done those ever done as often as they should, if they've ever done a middle, and some of them were done, not by their choice, right, there was something that happened to them that changed the course of their life. And I never want to be that right? I want to be in charge. But I am but I'm very aware of it. You know, you talk about you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, you know, being being conscientious about your space and where you are and taking the next steps. And just a few weeks ago, that came popped into my head again, I became extremely immersed in the ecosystem sort of in Nebraska of startups, and it's amazing, amazing. But it's so easy to get comfortable with a new location and stay there. And I don't mean like that can be anything right? The first time you walk into, you know, a new country club, I don't care what you're going to join, you know, you don't know anybody, right? You walk into a dinner party, you don't know anybody. And now you get comfortable and you stay there you walk into a new business networking group, do you start to meet people, and now it's easy to go to lunch every single week with those people because, you know, what I caught myself on was that I have gotten really comfortable with this group that I have met in the ecosystem show up every week I do my stuff. I know everybody, everybody knows me. And I walked into a room for the first time a few weeks ago, of of group people that I didn't know, it was next level, people in the space of founders and startups and it was an end the moment I walked in, I thought I haven't felt this for a while. And I better go back. Right? Like I recognized immediately that I'd been here for too long.

That's huge. That's huge. And is the doing a different, it's, it's stretching yourself, and you look back, you've done anything for long enough. You're gonna get into a complacency mode, you're gonna get into a comfort zone that doesn't serve you. And the good and the bad of everything that happened to this world during COVID Was that it reshuffled the deck for everybody. And for me, as somebody who observes and trains on this stuff, man, I look at that and reflect on it's like, oh, man, at all the networks got disheveled. You know that none of them were what they were in. So you had an opportunity to step into all new networks of people as a as a newbie, and they welcomed you with open arms because everyone had shuffled the deck. And recognizing that it doesn't have to be Hey, hey, we're Old empowering fate of the universe that causes you to do that, that you can just decide. Step into new networks, step into new opportunities, decide to change, change gears a little bit, every step of the way. And when you do, watch the magic that happens.

Yeah. Crazy. So yeah. So it's leap after leap. It's keep going I and push through the fear every time rushman suzani founded Girls Who Code and mom's first US and she's incredible. And she was on a, I caught a reel a few weeks ago that she was on and somebody asked her if if she was ever afraid, because she's got, you know, a half a million followers and as a powerhouse, and you know, always in really tough spaces. And she's like, Oh, my God, are you kidding me all day, every day and twice on Sundays. I was like, yes. Right. And I took my 14 year old daughter to pink. And she was talking about she took a moment during her concert. And she talked about her own daughter. And they were talking about social media and being kind and how bullied she is. And her mom's like her and their daughters like you, you're bullied on social media, she's like, You have no idea, right? This was pink. And so you know, I think that it's recognizing that whenever you're going against the grain, you're doing things different, you're in the wrong lane, you're making bold moves, the entire process is never going to be comfortable, you know, you're never you're never always going to be the most popular person in the room. And you have to be okay with that. And try it. And then it goes back to the trust yourself. I mean, time and time again, I'm not your typical founder. Now I have recently learned the average age of founder that's that has a high success rate is 43. Which is ironic that that's exactly when I started this company. I'm 45 now, but um, you know, I don't feel like a typical startup founder, I don't look at myself as a as a 25 year old, you know, in tech who just graduated. And what I've had to learn is that there's there's not a textbook for how you start a startup. And it's, you have to start making some decisions, like, Are you a small business or a startup goes back to that question of like, what do you want? Right? When and in, there's a learning process to that. And then you get to the place of like, tapping into like, Okay, this is the way that everybody says to do this. And then, okay, what I bring to the table is 25 years of business networks and experience and connections relationship is my number one. And when you go back to Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy, it's who not how, right, and really tapping into the who of how to make this happen. And that's been a piece that I've come back to time and time again, it's hard to remember. And it's not that you're not doing the work you sure as heck are. But it's doing it different. Right.

So at least now, and I want to fast forward, and we haven't actually mentioned what success you've had over the last two years. So why don't you give us the the current status of where you're at, at this stage in your process now, or adjust over? Or just about two years?

And yeah, stage. So we talked about October 2021. I launch I get 25 people who I know who have bought our product, we end 2021 with 40 subscribers and me turning in notice to leave my day job believing this is going to work. I left in March,

Which is when you engage with me fully working and locking arms together. Yep.

Yep. And and I would say just for reference, like I did, I did the work with you really hard for a solid 12 months during this process. And so if you look at as is you took a course you invested in education that was you know, different. Different coaches have different timelines. And, you know, your program, you know, certainly goes on and on and on for years, and you get what you need when you need it. But I need to do for 12 months really intensely, and that's what served me the best. And so in June of so I leave my full time job now in March of 2022. Entry Nb is getting really busy at this point. In June of 2022. We won the best new subscription of the Year Award from the subscription trade association. And we started doing a lot more collaborations by the fall a year late so you're later last fall. Again this goes back to the very beginning of this like time is so Weird in the startup world and how much we work, but I was ready for that next level, I was started to look again, I was like, Okay, I gotta learn, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta, I know what I've got. Now, we had a couple 100 subscribers at this point. So we'd had a tremendous amount of growth in a short amount of time. And I knew that I needed to get more resources. And so that was when I made the decision of sort of what path Am I going down at that point, I started to get very well connected in the startup world, every big city has an ecosystem of startups, but they're kind of hard to get into to be honest with you, because it's a really small subset of the population that has a product that has a billion dollar plus potential addressable market. And there's a fewer subset that has the guts to take the risks and do the work that it's going to be required to, to get on that highway. And so in October, I had on a trajectory changing conversation with one of the coaches through an accelerator program through generator is based out of Milwaukee, they focus on the flyover states and cities, if you will, for talent that is outside of Silicon Valley, and sort of the big cities. And so they have a program in Nebraska, that's called N motion. And I had a coke conversation with one of those coaches, and it was the first time since talking to you, the prior year that I felt heard that I was like, okay, somebody gets where I'm at, I'm not crazy, right? Because you have lots and lots loved conversations, and people are just looking at you, they may or may not, but it's like, you could just feel it's four eyes, were not on the same planet here, you know, move on next. And you just kind of kept keep having those. And so I finally connected with us in a mason Cook, right guy, and I'm like, Okay, I think I found my next spot, and so highly competitive to get into, you know, they talk to 2500 founders, there's 500 applications, you go through this process, and I was chosen as one of six Nebraska companies to participate in this accelerator program, that was an intense program, 14 weeks, they invested $100,000 into our company, to and then paid us to go through this training program, you know, which was incredible. The point of that program is to I mean, they only put you in the program, if you are a venture, bankable company, you know, from the capital perspective. And then, you know, have the founder ability can do the work, you know, all of these pieces up there. But the ideas are teaching you how to, you know, perfect your pitch and your executive summary and go raise money, go go go raise money, because that's how everybody makes money at the end of the game on on venture capital companies. And so it was an incredible experience grew so much, and then kind of got pushed out of the nest at the beginning August and said, Okay, go fly, you know, go do this. I should mention that in June so that program so I the conversation and and I think this is important to like, everything takes time. And I don't have a lot of patience for it. But that conversation that really sort of has completely changed where I am 12 months later started 12 months ago, that conversation starts I get accepted into the program. I apply in January of 2023. I got accepted into the program in April of 2023. It started in May, in I graduated at the beginning of August, and in that time period, I also won a pitch competition for $50,000 through the subscription trade association competed again highly competitive, you know, hundreds of applicants in front of 2000 plus people and four really badass judges, chief strategist of Google, Neil Coyne and Jessie poo Gu and a nine figure exit from his first company in his building another one, the founder of the second largest, second largest VC in the world. Brian Mack, Mahone expert dojo, Nicole Silverstein with Retail TouchPoints. Like just amazing people, this was the real deal. This was not any kind of a vanity award. And there were three other companies that competed against and I would say that that was a really validating moment for me that it was like, Okay, I have got this and you have to have these wins to keep going. Because this is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. hardest thing I've ever done. And that was huge. So and I would not, in my opinion have won that had I not been in the in motion program that was literally training me to create the perfect pitch and the perfect executive summary. So you know, I got up there and I was like, bam, five minutes. Let's hear you go five minutes for questions and answers. I've answered questions from really hard people for, you know, lawyers for 18 years. So nothing scares me. Right. And it was, it was really, really fun. It's super cool, my daughter's got to be there to watch me win that award. And, you know, I've given up a lot of time with my kids and sacrificed a ton totally disrupted their lives four years ago, when I love their father. And, you know, it's hard to explain to your children, why you work as hard as you do, why you miss some things that you do, you know, and I think for them, like to see that, oh, mom's actually really doing something here. This is pretty cool. Was was huge. And they got to also hold the giant check, which also helps in the world of, you know, 12 and 14 year old girls that they're like, Oh, this is awesome. We actually the all the money was it was sponsored by a company out of Chicago called Crayola, and they're a Shopify dev shop, each agency specializes, they're redoing our entire website, it's gonna it's gonna launch at the beginning of January, it's gonna be phenomenal. It's such an honor to work with them, they've worked with huge brands. And so it's, it's another 10x move from for, you know, us in our company to be able to kind of level up and play at that game. And so, you know, it's all of these. So yeah, I mean, so we're, we're raising a half a million right now. For capital,

How much was the company evaluated? So as you went through this first year, and you got in front of them? How much was the company evaluated? And why were they giving you the 100,000 in the accelerator program, what they say the company was worth?

Well, I'm gonna go, I have to go back to the story here real quick for you. Because what happened was, in we're going to go back to October a year ago, I will be

verta tell you the punch line, and she wants to tell the beginning backstory of the joke.

I already I know you want to fix the deal. So you and I have this conversation when in December of 2021, of how much revenue I wanted to make the next year, and this is the power of the mind. And my god, Paul, I'm working on on perfecting this manifesting thing. But I'll tell you still aren't getting there screwed it up again. But I'll tell you that that's another story for another day.

We that that's our our next journey, if you will over the neck, we're gonna get that dialed in. Because it's such a powerful place manifestation. A will we'll touch on that. In other

It works, every has it just don't quite have it perfected yet. So I'm in for that class for sure. So I will just say for simple, simplistic purposes, you and I bantered and I finally wrote down that I was going to, you know, generate $750,000 in revenue my first year. And I didn't believe it, right. But you always say it doesn't matter if you believe it, just write it down, right? And like, Okay, fine. And I was, you know, being grumpy about it. And so a year later, I was feeling really down, I had my head hurt, and I knew I wasn't going to hit that number, I was not going to hit 750,000 in revenue, and I did it. And this is where I, this whole thing ends manifesting. But I was feeling I was feeling down and sad. And a couple of weeks later, I had a meeting with a guy who is a finance guru in the startup world. And it was the first time I'd really kind of shared my numbers, and he's a high D, and he's like, you know, just by or in a way, you know, what do you want? And I'm just, you know, I've given him back the, you know, the numbers that he wants. And I, this was a tough, I mean, I this was a tough conversation. I think this design, I don't know how this is going, but I don't think it's going well, you know, and so he gave me, you know, I give him all the numbers, and he's kind of sitting here and I gotta say, things like, well, you know, I don't know, I'd say your company is probably around 1.31 point 5 million. And I'm like, what? This, this is a very different number from my bank account balance, right. But what I had done in that year was created a company that was worth over a million dollars and, you know, exceeded almost doubled what my number that I wrote down with you was, so that's where we get more specific about, okay, we need access to that being in cash. And you know, how does that work, but you invest the money back into the business over and over and over again. So

what I want everyone to get this is a little over just about one year, from when you started the company when you had a conversation with someone who was really good at annual lysing these numbers and they're like, yeah, it's 1.3 million. 1.4 million is the valuation of your company, and your feeling. And this is really key for most people that are out there, because they're the they all have those chit chat in their head and the quiet moments at home when they're beating themselves up. And you are in the process of having those conversations with yourself when this guy comes, in your mind out of the blue with a number that's totally insane. And it's the first time that you reflected on a well, I really have created something here. That is worthy of the time and energy I put into it.

Yeah, and I think it's it's a it's hard because as an entrepreneur, I mean, I, you know, haven't taken a paycheck in two years, right? Nobody's giving me money. And you know, I have ran into one of my friend's moms the other day at the grocery store, bless her heart. She's like, Oh, my gosh, you're doing this full time now? I said, Yes. And she's like, Oh, that's so good for you and your daughters. That must be so nice to have work life balance. So literally started laughing. I couldn't help myself, Oh, my God, no, there's no such thing right now. It is one life, and I work all the time, I work harder than I ever have. And I love every single minute of it. But it did help validate, Paul, you know, when when I consistently am working, you know, every night, 1819 2021 hour days, right over and over and over again and have done this for well over three years now, from the time that I started remodeling this house. And then I actually started another company while I was remodeling the house, related to the women in the trades piece that I've caused, and then I started this one. And so I mean, no, it's been perpetual. And so to have somebody validate like, oh, oh, apparently the lack of sleep that I've had, and the no paychecks is resulting in something is pretty cool. I said to one of my other good friends, mom's was on phone with her about a month ago. And I said, you know, Jeanne, I've always been a little bit humble about, you know, being well paid for positions that I've had, I've always been an executive level, you know, leadership positions, and they've done very well. And I said, you know, when I sell this company, someday, whatever the amount is, I earned every penny of it. We know that, that it is.

And you're also building and, and it's, you know, our focus creates our intent and, and creates our, our perception. And so focusing in on Oh, I've worked so hard, I've done so much. And yet, that the magnitude that it has in your purpose, and getting back to what I read in your bio, when and what I know to be true for you, as with all our conversations, that showing young women, what life could be, is what you've done, not just you know, in a general sense, but for your daughters to know and for, if if you could pick a life for them. Are you saying that you wouldn't want them to go down the journey that you just went on last two years?

Oh, my gosh, no. I mean, I want them to do whatever they want to do. I mean, I'm not anti higher education, I'm just about choices. I'm just about providing a you know, be happy. It goes back to like, and I'm just looking at so many women, it's unbelievable the number of women to me between the ages of 35 and 50 that I know that are unhappy, where

I want you to pause the what creates happiness, what has created the happiness for you,

living life for you, and not everybody else. Like it goes back to like you have to put your own oxygen mask on first. The analogy that I give moms is I'm like listen, when you are in your house and you get sick your kids are little and you get sick for three days. The house it goes frickin goes hell in a handbasket. Like I mean, you know everybody lived but laundry definitely getting didn't get them the house looks like hell, right? I mean, he you don't even want to go down that path. Every mom knows what I'm talking about. Right? And we go through life and this is what you're pulling it all together. You're the glue. You're the mom, the daughter, the wife's the grandma be the friend of the employee, the everything and women lose themselves through that process. They just do. And they've all of a sudden live their life for everyone else except for them and there's just never On the statement are true that you have to put your own oxygen mask on first. And if you are sick on the couch for three days, which is essentially what ends up happening, you're entitled, or like sick on the couch, but you're not recognizing it. Right? No one else is going to be happy around you. And when you're happy, and you're thriving, everyone else that you want in your life wants to be around you. And Ian wants to emulate that. They love the energy I draw people out all the time, like, Oh my God, you're just you're just so amazing. Your energy so great.

The energy comes from a purposeful intent. Yeah. And that's what people people hear the first line of the message is, oh will do for yourself. And then they just create themselves to be selfish and, and focused in on Oh, I'm gonna go lay on the beach all day because or lay by the pool. And that's what I do. It's the purposeful intent and working hard to create a purpose and living a purpose every day. Yeah, creates and has created that momentum for you. That is a shining star for your daughters and every other woman out there.

Yeah, it's the reason I get up every day. It's the reason it's not about me write it's about. So it is about me having my own oxygen mask on and taking care of myself and being happy. But I'm doing it for everyone else. I'm doing it for hundreds of 1000s of women and young people in general right now who we've got some some societal expectations of misalignment about, you know, what purpose looks like, and my family was a way in to go to college to grow up really well. If you're not living with your parents, when you're 18. And you're paying your own bills, I promise you're gonna grow up, you know, it's, it's so a lot of things. So that's, that's a different podcast for a different day. But that's, that's the goal. That's what I'm looking for. And when I know that it's enough, because this question has been asked to me, and I've had to do a lot of self reflection, like, when is it enough? It's when I know I have positively impacted hundreds of 1000s of women to be able to do what they want to do, happily, that they're happy.

You're here. You're here. Yeah, I had someone asked me recently, when when are you going to slow down? And you know, my answer, that's not happening anytime soon? Because I don't know how to live a life that is less than. Yeah. And for me, the slowing down is that less than is that the purposeful intent, and it's not about, you know, it's about affecting the millions that I can and every day that I'm alive, I can impact the world. And not to play at that level is, is is to me sacrilegious.

So here's my question for you today. How do you so Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan talk about doing less to get more? Right? There's a lot of conversations, there's a lot of books about right. So how do you not live less, not live a lesser life, right? And balance that doing less to get more because that's the concept right now that I can't quite get through my head.

And and so now that it goes down to defining what, what you mean by less, actually less creation? Or is it just less like, I'm not digging ditches anymore,

right? Like,

I don't need to write like, you know, my own copy. I've got a team of people to do that. I don't have to. So there's things I do a lot less I, I joke, you know, I have forgotten more than some people will ever know. Because I don't do it every day anymore. So that's less to get more to know how to delegate know how to build a team know how to empower other people know how to how to create collaboration, and to focus in on the highest and best use of your talents. But doesn't mean actually slowing down. And so that's, you know, for me, and I'll tell you and for this question, I was just had a trip planned. I'm hanging out with my wife with my daughter, and it was four or five days where we were just going to do nothing. And we had no plans. And then right before we left, there was a call for me to spend two days in another city to create magic for 400 people. Do I do that? Do I Do I step away. Now my wife was excited because I was actually leaving her for two days and then she got to play with my daughter an extra two days we just had extended our time and then everybody was happy. And my team the most amazing thing, my team first reaction to when I said, Well, should I take this opportunity? Should I do this? But like, we know you, of course, you're going to do this. Right? And and that is what I mean by the slowing down. No, I'm just going to do, you know, have the five days of doing that. Like, we just extended our trip an extra couple of days, my daughter, my wife and daughter got the play for next couple days why? Flew another town over and said, All right, let me go and play somewhere else for two days and then come back and it just took a plane ride over, came back. It was no big deal. And we create a magic we create a whole nother. And it was a place that I hadn't played before. It was one of the stretches for me. Because I got to play in an arena of all Spanish speaking people there. I was one of the few people that spoke English in the room. And that was fine. And, and what what a great, what a great room what a great experience. And, and that's what I mean, you know, over the last month I've created and we're launching a whole nother story, a couple of new companies.

This is just what we do right now. I love it.

For most people, they go ooh, you know, that's that's a lot. Only once you're moving, and you recognize that there is so much more within you. I can't imagine not sharing it with the world before I go.

Well, thank you for that. Because I've learned so much, Paul, thank you truly, it's been, it's been a really fun journey. And I have said it over and over and over again, I never would have taken the leap, I never would have started it I never would have gone down this path without your support and belief in me from day one. And it means the world and I cannot wait to see where the rest of the story unfolds, right? Get up, dress up, show up. This is only the beginning.

This is only the beginning and what a great close for our podcast and everything that we're doing together. But it's certainly not a goodbye. This is only the beginning for entry envy and for everything. And I do believe there's more ventures within you that are and I know we've talked about some of the things that are the next level for you. And so excited to see. And for everyone that listens to this podcast that watches this watch for Jennifer, and the shining star that you are and where you're gonna go. It's it's a glorious journey. And this is truly only the beginning. You've barely scratched the surface of getting past the camp at the bottom of the mountain, the mountain still in front of you, even though you've already created such success. Thank you. God bless. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing the just the pieces of your story. And there's so much more for everybody here that wants to take a look at her amazing creations. Go to entry envy.com just amazing, amazing. Not only an amazing product, and we didn't touch on it, but man oh man, your ability to create an experience. If anyone's ever you know, opened the box from you know, so many of the top level companies in the world will entry envy will give you that experience as well and receiving it every month and the experience that you give people is well worth the price of admission. And so thank you for doing all that you do every day.

Thanks, Paul. Great stuff.