Escaping Corporate Despite the Fear | with Jaclyn DeJesus

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Hey, you guys! Welcome back to the pod with me, Jillian Parekh. I am your host for the From Imposter To Empowered Podcast. And today we actually have my very first guest interview that I ever did for the pod. Back in September of 2019, I decided to do some interviews, and I got really on my horse about, “yeah, I'm going to have people on the podcast.”

 

And then I went to a couple of events. I just had all this stuff going on. I was revamping my business. There were so many things going on that I actually didn't have the time to work on these interviews. But my beautiful podcast guests have been so patient with me. The very first one that I did was with Jaclyn DeJesus and she is a marketing maven who runs a creative project management company for branding, web design and digital marketing projects. She's passionate about social media and that is how we met when I was first starting out. Jaclyn was one of the first people I followed and interacted with. 

 

She's a total badass and is leading the way for female entrepreneurs in the social media space. I hope you guys love this interview all about disregarding your inner imposter and your fear, running a team, and all that good stuff. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did. Jaclyn’s amazing.

 

JILL

Welcome back to From Imposter To Empowered Podcast. We have Jaclyn here. She's a project manager and social media maven. So thank you so much for being on the show.

JACLYN

Thanks, Jill. I'm excited to be here with you. I have been following your journey as a coach for quite some time. So this is really exciting for me.

JILL

Yes. I feel like when I first started out you were one of the first people who I connected with and we had conversations with. So tell me about your story. Who are you? What do you do, how you got into entrepreneurship?

JACLYN

Sure. So now I would call myself an agency owner. I have been running a team with three other girls for about two years now, but I started off by myself. The reason that I went into anything digital in the first place was because the startup that I worked for sold out the company, they went into a merger with someone else and I essentially lost my job.

JILL

Oh, wow. 

JACLYN

Yeah. Now, I'm in New York City, so at that point I was scrambling applying to jobs, going on interviews, working with recruiters. And I really couldn't find anything that gave me the freedom that I had working with that specific startup. So I thought to myself, “Okay, how am I going to navigate this huge city where there's tons of jobs, but also tons of competition.” 

Long story short, left the city after working there for like five or six years, moved to upstate and found that small business owners and smaller businesses needed the same help that people in New York City did. They needed the same exposure. They wanted access to the same tools and they really had no resources to do it where I was, where I'm living. It's actually called the Hudson Valley. I don't know if you're familiar with New York, but there's a ton of small business owners in my area. So to capitalize on that, I immediately started up my own thing. I was freelancing. I was working on project-based stuff and I was like, “You know what? I can't do this alone forever. How can I scale this thing?” 

So having a background in tech, I immediately turned to software. It was great for the first two years, but then I became burnt out. I became exhausted of doing the client work. And now I have a team of people who are kind of helping me get to the next level so I can focus on what I'm good at and what I love and kind of delegate the other things that you must do in business be you don't want to do out to them.

JILL

Nice. Yeah, I really think that entrepreneurs feel like they need to do it all and there's something wrong with them if they can't. So I really love that you were able to identify where your weak spots were and how you could fill that with other people, rather than trying to do it all yourself.

JACLYN

It was so hard, and talking to friends and family, and even some mentors and advisors in the business world, they would tell me you're crazy or going to work 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM. You're not going to have a personal life. Why wouldn't you just go find another corporate company and punch a clock and get benefits and kind of, you know, rejoin the hustle.

I didn't want to do that. I was totally against it. I have a bit of like an outlaw complex. I like to be a rebel. I like to do things differently. I just jumped like feet first. I had been traveling a little bit when I first started. So the whole remote workforce thing was something that made me really passionate about doing this work and working in social media and working in branding and, you know, reaching out to clients globally, as well as having something great to offer, you know, the smaller guys, the mom and pop shops that still need the same services as any other company would need.

JILL

Absolutely. So how have you experienced this imposter syndrome when it comes to owning your own social media business?

JACLYN

So like I said, everyone told me I was nuts. They didn't really understand the need for this. They felt like I was maybe a graphic designer that didn't have a job. So I guess like my inner imposter came to me and said, you're better in corporate, it's safer in corporate, you don't have to work weekends. 

You know, I'm being a business owner. Not only do we work weekends, but we work 24/7. Everything that we do is surrounded by our work because we love it. So, I mean, bootstrapping a business financially and trying to make money is something that everybody told me I was never going to be able to do it. How are you going to find clients when you're new? Nobody's going to believe in you. You have no credibility. You’re just a freelancer.

I mean, this is now completely respected and acceptable to do this as a career. But when I started, this was, you know, a couple of years ago, this is like five years ago we’re talking, I left the city. And it wasn't as widely appreciated, I think. Or maybe I wasn't surrounding myself with the right people. But yeah, it was really scary. And when you start hearing the same things over and over from people, it's only natural to believe it. 

JILL

Yeah. And it’s really hard to not go with what everybody around you is saying. Cause you're questioning yourself at the same time, right? 

JACLYN

Yeah. And you're seeing your friends who have graduated school and got the job and work their way up and now they're management level and they're going to go to the C suite. And is that something that I want? Am I craving the stability of a classic 9 to 5?

In New York City, it’s not 9 to 5. It's 8 to 7. So you're trading one thing for the other. And it's like, yeah, I'm going to be putting in just as many hours as this person, but I'm doing it for me and I don't want to punch out, so I don't need to punch out, you know? 

JILL

Yup. I love that. So you were talking a little bit about your inner imposter. So if you had to give her a name, what would you name her and what kinds of things would she specifically say to you? 

JACLYN

This is a good question. Let's call her Jackie. My name is Jaclyn, but my parents call me Jackie. So they were actually very supportive from day one, but also, you know, wanted me to be safe.

So I would say a lot of the imposter voice that was in my head sounded like my parents. It sounded like them telling me, you know, you're better in corporate. You need to clock out, you need to take a break. You know, how are you going to sign these clients when they're barely making it? How are they going to pay you to do things when they're barely making it? 

And I had a lot of fear from that voice inside my head that my market, it wasn't gonna work. I was so scared that it wasn't going to be worth my time. So, you know, replaying those kinds of thoughts over and over into your head is crazy. And then being able to kind of stop it in its tracks and get past it is something that I don't even know if I figured it out.

JILL

Now, I can definitely relate to your family specifically being like, they just want to keep you secure and safe. They want to make sure that you're okay financially, but that can also be extremely limiting because you feel like they don't believe in you and that they don't think that you can do it.   

JACLYN

Totally.

JILL

Really difficult. So how do you practice self care as a business owner? 

JACLYN

Great question. Something that's really trendy right now is self care. I think that what I like to do is work hard, play hard. So I'll work a 12 hour day any day of the week because I know a month from now, I'll be going on vacation and totally be able to punch out. 

But I'm a big, like work from home person. In freelancing you find a lot of, you know, onsite opportunities or opportunities that require you to be in an office environment. And I just pass on them because my version of self care is working on things that I can do remotely. So I don't have to necessarily punch out. I can be on my couch watching Netflix and, you know, put my work timer on and get to work for a few hours and not leave the couch. 

I think it's really important to do what you're good at so you don't feel super stressed out and like, “Oh my gosh, I have no time for yoga. I have no time for the gym.” If you're working from home, it's up to you to make those, those choices and make that time. So that's been something that I spent the last like year really focusing on. I just turned 30 this year. So there’s been a lot of talk about self care and how to make time for mindfulness and all that stuff is stuff that I'm really interested in. Um, but I do think that work hard, play hard is the best example of how it works for me.

JILL

I think so too. And especially when you are a freelancer, the whole reason you're doing it is because of the freedom. So sometimes when I feel like I'm booking out my schedule, I feel really overwhelmed. Cause I always have stuff I have to do on my off days for my full-time job. I have to recall that I'm creating the schedule for myself and I can choose if there's too much stuff that I have to do. I have to be like, this is because you scheduled it for yourself.

So what's the one thing you wish you knew before you started a business?

JACLYN

Oh wow. The one thing I wish I knew before I started a business has to be that I will at some point need a team. 

Back when I first started on my own, there was this really sparkly, glittery effect that was happening to me, looking at other freelancers and watching these solopreneurs, these creative females who were, what looked like doing it on their own. They had the beautiful Instagram feed. They had, you know, all of the clients, they had great social media presence and there I am with no photos to post and nothing really sparkly and glittery about my business at all, because one of my first clients was a yoga studio that I was really moonlighting for. They weren't technically my client, I was just freelancing for them.

So I had this picture of what I thought it should be. And that wasn't true at all. I realized really, really quickly and with hard lessons that having a team and having people that you can rely on is going to be the only way to get to the next level.

JILL

A hundred percent. For the first year and a half, I was like, “I'm going to do everything my own.” And then obviously that didn't work out and I got super, super exhausted and burnt out. And then I hired my first social media manager and it was amazing. It really helped me and really helped me get that time back. 

So if you had to name your highest self, what would you call her and what makes her feel confident? 

JACLYN

Cool. This is a great question. 

So let's call her Jacqueline because that is my French alter ego who is sitting in a coffee shop in Paris or Amsterdam with, you know, the math book and the latte. And she's making $20,000 or $25,000 a month with her team of freelancers who are also sitting in coffee shops with lattes. 

So I mean, what makes me feel confident is helping my team get to the next level. You know, when I started, I had a budget of, let's say $250 a month to invest into my business and that wasn't really going to get me far.

So what makes my highest self feel confident is being able to share the wealth, being able to pay people as they're deserving of it. And that's really hard to do when you're on your own and you're trying to figure out ways to just make money in general, not to mention paying somebody what they're worth. That is, that is like the best thing as a business owner. I'm sure you can relate when you're able to invest in your team. It feels so good. 

So my business page is Our Favorite Flowers. My personal Instagram is Jaclyn Rae Hope. And I have a few other businesses and brands that I'm part of that I would love for you to share with your community. One of those brands is a cannabis brand out of California and the other business is actually a networking organization based here in New York. And we give back to charity with every single event that we host. 

JILL

Oh, wow. 

JACLYN

Yeah. So if you're ever coming to New York or if you want to come to New York, we have really awesome events. It's actually all women that got together and we're talking like, powerhouse women. So I’d love to tell you more about that some time. And of course you can find me on LinkedIn, Jaclyn DeJesus. I would love to connect with you and anybody in your community on there as well.

JILL

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. It was really great. And I'll talk to you later. 

JACLYN

Sounds good, Jill. Thanks a lot.

Thanks so much for listening to the, from imposter to empowered podcast with me, Jillian Parekh. If you loved this episode, take a screenshot and share it on your Instagram story. And don't forget to tag me at @yourcoachjill. Of course, I'd love for you to rate the podcast five stars and leave a review. And if you screenshot your review and send it to me at your coach show on Instagram, I'll send you a free gift at the very least. Make sure you follow me on Instagram again at @yourcoachjill for tons of free content strategies and inspo. See you next time.

 

 

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