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Scale Up Your Business with a Coach with Jess Stewart
12 July 202335 min

Scale Up Your Business

with a Coach with Jess Stewart, Jess Stewart LLC
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Contents:

To scale up your business, consider finding a coach who resonates with you! As Jess Stewart (serial entrepreneur and coach) explains in this episode, there are many different types of coaches out there, and to really get the most out of a coaching experience, it’s important that the person you choose is on board with your mission, understands your business and is willing to meet you where you are at. It is equally important that you truly understand yourself and your goals and you are willing to put in the work!

About Jess Stewart

After moving to a small town with her husband, Murt, a lack of available jobs led Jess to start a medical billing software company from her kitchen table with two young children under her feet. Though she knew nothing about medical billing when she started, those tough times taught her how to assemble a company and leadership team that operated on world-class systems. Fifteen years, two national locations, and one international division later, Jess sold that company at an exceptional price point. Today, Jess is devoted to sharing what she’s learned through her coaching company, Jess Stewart LLC. She brings world-class, proven tools and long-term resources to help leadership teams scale up, run better businesses and live better lives.

How To Scale Up Your Business

Founding a business is one thing; scaling a business is a whole different story! Once you’ve got your business off the ground and know that you have a business model that works, you’ll probably want to start growing it. This isn’t a decision to be taken lightly because it’s at this point that you can either make the best decision of your life or break everything you’ve built so far. Scaling up requires developing a clear brand strategy, scalable infrastructure, an investment into talent acquisition, strong financial planning and management skills, and a business coach to guide you through it all!

Episode highlights:

  • You don’t have to make all the business mistakes yourself. Many people have been in your position before you; learn from them so that you can make your own mistakes and progress faster! (07:40)
  • Whatever stage of your business journey you are in, you can benefit from a business coach. But don’t just work with anyone; it’s very important to find a coach who resonates with you and your mission (and this starts with truly understanding yourself!). (09:11)
  • Business coaching is an investment. To get the most out of the experience, it’s important that you continually show up and do the work. That is how you win in the game of business! (15:12)
  • Having an operating system is essential for scaling up a business because of the structure it provides. There are a variety of systems to choose from, and it’s essential that you choose the one that suits you where you are currently at in your business. To figure out which one is right for you, make sure you understand the leadership team behind the platform and the kind of businesses they are experienced in working with. (19:48)
  • From day one of your coaching experience, you should feel like you are getting value out of it. If day one goes well, Jess recommends committing yourself to the process for a year because it takes time to see real changes take place. (26:15)

Jess’s best advice for entrepreneurs:

“Success leaves clues. Those that landed on top of the mountain didn’t fall there. So, let’s not recreate the world, let’s just understand what they did. ” (08:20)

Connect with Jess:

Follow Beyond 8 Figures:

Special Offer:

Get 25% OFF Jess Stewart’s mastermind class! Use the code SUCCESS and email her at mastery@jess-stewart.com.

Jess’s best advice for entrepreneurs:

“Success leaves clues. Those that landed on top of the mountain didn’t fall there. So, let’s not recreate the world, let’s just understand what they did. ” (08:20)

Episode highlights:

  • You don’t have to make all the business mistakes yourself. Many people have been in your position before you; learn from them so that you can make your own mistakes and progress faster! (07:40)
  • Whatever stage of your business journey you are in, you can benefit from a business coach. But don’t just work with anyone; it’s very important to find a coach who resonates with you and your mission (and this starts with truly understanding yourself!). (09:11)
  • Business coaching is an investment. To get the most out of the experience, it’s important that you continually show up and do the work. That is how you win in the game of business! (15:12)
  • Having an operating system is essential for scaling up a business because of the structure it provides. There are a variety of systems to choose from, and it’s essential that you choose the one that suits you where you are currently at in your business. To figure out which one is right for you, make sure you understand the leadership team behind the platform and the kind of businesses they are experienced in working with. (19:48)
  • From day one of your coaching experience, you should feel like you are getting value out of it. If day one goes well, Jess recommends committing yourself to the process for a year because it takes time to see real changes take place. (26:15)
Connect with Jess:

Transcript

[00:00:37] A.J. Lawrence: Hey everyone, welcome back. I’m really happy everyone is here today. But before we start talking with Jessica Stewart, who’s really amazing, [I] love some of the things she’s gonna share with us, really would love if you guys could check out the Beyond 8 Figures site. Go sign up for our newsletter. We have some great stuff coming up pretty soon and I would love you to be the first person to know when we have wonderful people, like Jessica here, coming on the show.

[00:00:59] Well, Jessica, thank you so much for coming on today. Really appreciate it that you were able to move your schedule from yesterday to today since we had a little bit of fun here.

[00:01:08] Jess Stewart: Honored to be here.

[00:01:09] A.J. Lawrence: Thank you. Well, Jessica, I really think the audience is gonna love it. You have this great background. You were the CEO and founder of Pacific Medical Data Group, and you were able to exit back in 2018-19-ish area, as we were talking about earlier. It was such a cool company.

[00:01:28] But what you did afterwards in sort of creating the strategic business guide and the type of work you do with other entrepreneurs to help them understand and grow and deal with their issues, I think is really, really cool. But before we kind of dance around that, where do you see yourself as an entrepreneur these days?

[00:01:49] Jess Stewart: Whew. A serial entrepreneur who is a 100% self-aware that she is a serial entrepreneur. I think that as leaders that are born entrepreneurs, I don’t think we know that we have that passion and that drive and let’s just admit we get our purpose from what we do until we have an exit or we have something big go on in our life where we can actually be self-aware and admit that.

[00:02:16] And that happened to me when I sold. I was somebody who was grateful to sell. I had an extraordinary exit. I had an extraordinary opportunity and I thought that, being 41 at the time, that I was just gonna ride off in the sunset and life was gonna be good. I had sold enough to do that.

[00:02:34] I soon realized not long after that I had sold that that was absolutely not the case for me. I was not happy. I actually started to have some health issues that I had never realized were a part of my life at the time. And so really A.J., what it boils down to is us getting off that hamster wheel of adrenaline of things that we do as serial entrepreneurs creating, pioneering, doing things that a lot of people don’t wanna do, it’s part of us.

[00:03:04] And so when people say you get your identity, your business is your baby, I’ve let go of the shame and guilt of that because yeah, it is. Right? We worked really hard. We brought that thing from a fledgling to what it was. We watched it graduate, we watched it go through college. We watched it go off and get married, and then we watched it leave. I have no regrets in selling my company. I think that it was great and it had such tailwind that I’m just super honored and proud as to when it sold and what it is still today. I couldn’t be more proud.

[00:03:36] But what did happen to me is that I realized that riding off into the sunset and not having something to do at 40 was something that was almost detrimental to myself, and that I am a serial entrepreneur. And so now I embrace it. I embrace it with what I’m doing today and I help other entrepreneurs do the same thing and just be self-aware and talk about it.

[00:03:58] I also help other entrepreneurs talk about, when you do get to a point of an exit, what are you going to do? Nobody had that. I mean, I had those types of conversations but nobody had those really in depth conversations with me of what I went through after the acquisition. And so I love to help entrepreneurs do that today. So that’s what kind of entrepreneur I am today is. I still am one and I love it and I embrace it. I’ll be one for a very long time.

[00:04:26] A.J. Lawrence: Very cool. Yep. Once we get on that track, some people do go off and whatever fits. But so many of us, it’s just like, it may be crazy, it may be still counter to what almost everyone else thinks around the world but it is such a fulfilling journey.

[00:04:45] You and I were chatting both yesterday before I found out my child was sick, and then today before the thing, we were talking a little bit about how different people look at coaching and working with one and stuff. I think it would be really cool first [to] maybe talk about the type of entrepreneurs you work with and then let’s kind of go into maybe the thought process of how an entrepreneur could better position themselves to work with a coach like you.

[00:05:16] You do some really interesting work and I think helping entrepreneurs think about not just the value of a coach, but the work it takes on their side to be able to really work well with a coach would be worthwhile.

[00:05:30] Jess Stewart: So to your first question as to what kind of entrepreneur I work with, that varies in two levels. The highest level is what I call my full service or my private clients climbing the mountain with an entire leadership team. They’ve reached a certain point in the organization of sophistication where they have a team, they’re typically north of $5M in revenue, and they’re looking to scale or they’re having some pretty significant problems in what I call ticking points, and they reach out because I can parallel all of my past experience with where they’re at and help them scale.

[00:06:08] So on that full service side, that’s the type of entrepreneur I work with. I wanted to be able to work with the smaller, more individual entrepreneur as wel because I have a true passion for that and I wanna be able to help. And so, I designed mastermind classes where I bring 8-10 people from all over the United States in a mastermind with me, and I have it where it’s a couple hours a month on Zoom and it’s content led by me and then we do an open forum. And so that type of entrepreneur, there isn’t necessarily a size or sophistication. I have them all. Ranging from ascending leaders where they’re on high level C-suite teams to entrepreneurs who are just starting, to women in business, we have all different types of masterminds. And so that allows me to touch pretty much any type of entrepreneur out there from just getting started to a 100M, 300M, and all of the in between.

[00:07:04] And so what I do that’s different than most coaches is I wanted to be the person I wish I had had when I was running my company. I wish that somebody had come in and been a guide and a mentor and had been able to say, Hey, I’ve climbed the mountain. I’ve been to the top and here’s how you do it. And everything you’re going through is normal and give me some peace of mind, as well as some really tangible tools on how to scale a company.

[00:07:34] And so I meet my clients where they’re at. I’m system agnostic. Let’s be real. And this is something else that most CEOs and entrepreneurs don’t feel they can admit, is that they don’t have time to go study the art of business, but they have all the pressure of the world on their shoulders that they’re supposed to know everything about business.

[00:07:55] So it’s like this huge tug of war, right? Like we’re supposed to walk into a room and know exactly how to lead teams and how to scale and do everything that we know how to do when really, we’re just these exceptional creators and designers and we need to surround ourselves with people who can help us do it.

[00:08:11] And so I have the time to study the art of business now and that’s what I do. I go out and grab the best business practices that are out there. I truly believe that success leaves clues, right? Those that landed on top of the mountain didn’t fall there. And so, let’s not recreate the wheel. Let’s just go understand what they did.

[00:08:30] And because of my background from founding a company out of my house and growing it by myself, meaning I didn’t have any backing of any kind, to what it was – a nationwide success international team. I had an international team and sold very successfully that I can bring these practices to where the client is right at. And just by having conversation and seeing and talking to the entrepreneur and the leader and saying talk me through where you’re at, I can bring those tools to the table and build a customized approach.

[00:09:03] I think that that’s the biggest difference in how I’ve developed my practice and that’s why I call myself a strategic business guide, is I truly believe that every entrepreneur, CEO, ascending leader, beginning entrepreneur, whatever you are, you need a coach. Right?

[00:09:19] We don’t play sports without a coach. How can we be expected to go to the Super Bowl and be the best of the best if we don’t have that type of coaching guide? And so that’s what I designed and that’s what I developed and that’s what I’ve become. And so I’ve developed a program that is more customized and tailored to each individual client to meet them right where they’re at and help them scale.

[00:09:42] A.J. Lawrence: I definitely see the need for that and sort of the thought process going on in the entrepreneurs. Because even if you don’t have the time, I think I’ve also realized a lot is just the amount of noise on what you should be paying attention to because everyone’s selling something. So, oh, you need to be doing X, Y, Z. No, you need to be doing Y, Z, M.

[00:10:08] And it’s like, oh God, you know, and it’s fun. I mean, to a certain degree it is fun. Now that I’m not 24/7 in my business, similar to you, I get to now spend time learning. But the reality is there’s so much noise. The value of a trusted guide who is spending the time to learn and understand what’s valuable and where so much of this is, is very high.

[00:10:32] What are some of the things that you see entrepreneurs, who are really able to take advantage of working with you or even other coaches, what do they do even before they begin the process? Like what are the questions that they’re asking? What are they looking at? How can an entrepreneur really prepare? Because I know I’ve gotten lucky with a couple of coaches in my background that I’ve worked with, but I’ve also kissed quite a few toads and I felt very scattered shot in that effort. Where would you suggest they begin?

[00:11:06] Jess Stewart: So, that’s a great question. It’s a two-faced question. The first one for me is that we have to be self-aware as an entrepreneur, right? And we have to be able to get naked a little bit. We have to be able to take those walls down and say, Hey, I need help. And being in that position is incredibly vulnerable.

[00:11:24] And so that’s what I’m looking for when people reach out to me, is that we’ve reached a level of vulnerability that allows me to help them. If they haven’t reached, that they aren’t ready for help, and sometimes not a fit.

[00:11:37] And so, just knowing that it’s okay that you’re having problems right now, and even if money’s in the bank and things are good, you’re still looking to go to that next level of scalability. How do you do it? Not knowing that how and feeling that that gap is this big, is normal. And so being able to admit that is first and foremost from the individual entrepreneurs side.

[00:12:03] Questions that you should be asking people that you’re looking for them to come and help is one, what is their background and what is their expertise? I think that’s my biggest piece of advice. There are so many implementers and coaches and guides out there that can go and get this training. That’s great, right?

[00:12:21] That’s great and that’s no criticism to those coaches out there. But if you really want kind of the brass tacks and the roll your sleeves up and crawl the foxhole with you type of person, you’ve gotta find somebody that has the experience so that you can have those conversations. Right? Somebody who’s like in literally two sentences can say, Hey, I know right where you’re at. I’ve been there. Have you considered this? And so I think looking at their background and then having the very intimate conversation and being vulnerable with that person and just seeing how they make you feel.

[00:12:55] Number two is what are their core values? What are their beliefs? They’ve gotta walk the walk. What does their businesses look like? So if they’re gonna come in and tell you what they want you to do, well, I think their business needs to be a reflection of that as well. Asking what their core values are, asking them where they’re wanting to go with their practice, what type of other clients that they work with, referrals or references, are a big piece to that.

[00:13:22] I think that that’s absolutely something that from the interview process, you should be looking at. And then the third and final piece is after we’ve become self-aware as individuals and we realize we need help and then seeking out that ideal place for us. Getting rid of the sense of urgency and the guilt of, oh my God, if I don’t do this, I might not be making the right move, come from your gut. You know?

[00:13:50] It has to feel good. You have to know and choose this guide because it’s an intimate relationship. I talk to my clients very frequently. I talk to them after hours, I talk to them on the weekends. I know their family situations. We talk on the personal level and we have to in order to scale.

[00:14:06] And so just know that and then know where they’re going and how they’re gonna get there, and then go with your gut.

[00:14:14] A.J. Lawrence: Okay. Well once they go with their gut, hopefully they have a very good conversation with you about that. I’ve noticed in my own experience and also talking to others, it’s either we over prepare and kind of start with like 50 million things when reality is you kind of fine tune it, what is really important.

[00:14:34] But then also they kind of like, well I have a coach now. Alright, let me just go. And I had this one very good coach and I was really, really busy in my head with things I was doing, and I went through a couple sessions where I hadn’t prepared. And he wasn’t irritated but I realized he was disappointed. And it was like, ahhh, okay. It made me really review. He had handled it so well.

[00:15:02] But what are some things an entrepreneur can do to really get the most value of working with someone like you?

[00:15:09] Jess Stewart: So I think you hit first and foremost on the most important and that is you have to be willing to put in the effort, right? It’s not a cheap endeavor. It’s an investment into the organization. And so you have to be able to show up and do the work. And if you’re not, it’s a waste of your time and the coach’s time.

[00:15:28] I’m somebody who actually will call you out on it. I mean, I’ll be kind to a point especially if I know personal life and whatnot, but my job is to push you. My job is to call out when things may be dangerous inside your organization. I’m supposed to be the one that that tells you that. So if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing, then let’s just call the ball here and quit wasting each other’s time.

[00:15:50] But let’s really kind of get into the meats and potatoes of it is this is what you’re doing inside your organization. I can probably guess that you’re not happy with the situation inside your organization. I’m the reflection, right? I’m the mirror. And so if you’re not happy with it, well you’re gonna look right at the mirror here and we’re gonna tell you that you’re probably one of the reasons the organization is not scaling.

[00:16:16] And so you gotta show up. You have to be willing to put the work in, and you have to be willing to listen and take those pieces that mean the most to your organization and you aligned with originally right off the bat with the best. Because whatever he or she is saying to you, you have to be able to take and inject into your organization.

[00:16:38] And so if you aren’t aligned from the very beginning, you’re never gonna be aligned. But once you get aligned and you’re getting those big pieces of information and those big tools, you gotta take it back to the organization and implement it.

[00:16:49] I was on a session yesterday with a team that I absolutely love. They listen, they’re here, they’re attentive, they’re not late, they’re on time. They’ve done the homework and they’re putting an effort in and they’re like, Hey, we’re getting results, Jess. This is great. So you have to be able to put it in to get the results and you have to choose the guy that knows how to give you those results needed. That if you just do what is being taught and you’re being guided towards that, you’re going to have effective results. But it takes two.

[00:17:24] A.J. Lawrence: Yeah. And it’s funny when you call it the reflection, that is something that really does resonate. Because in the end of the day, except for some skill sets within Coach, once you start working with a coach and you really are kind of working with someone who knows what they’re doing, has been where you have, there’s also then that like I didn’t do what I really wanted to do. It’s either the grow up, put on the big child pants and you know, okay, I didn’t do it. And then get into the why. Or there is that, yeah, you know, it’s just, this is taking me away from the things I need to be doing.

[00:18:03] It is very hard because it’s very easy to fall into "I’m so busy". The whole thing about meditation, it’s like, well, hey, my life is crazy. I don’t know if I have enough time. Should I only do like really short meditation? You should do more. Same thing with coaching and stuff within the structure and the limits. But sometimes when things aren’t working from your efforts, it’s not that you need to do less, it’s that you probably need to do more.

[00:18:35] So, yeah, I like that you kind of bring people and pushing people to keep their commitment is a really big thing. And then I like that you had mentioned scaling, scaling the mountain or scaling the peak, working with the overall organization. Since I just saw you recently also became a scaling up coach, and that’s interesting because I’ve met some people who run their organizations on scaling up. And I know people, sorry if I bring up a fake religious war, but the Scaling Up, the EOS, and I know there are other ones. That is something that I realize in hindsight, I had dabbled and looked at it but hadn’t gotten serious. And by the time it was, I should’ve, it was already kind of passing the torch, you know?

[00:19:29] And I know when we were talking ahead of the show, maybe quickly just how you articulate the value to your clients around identifying some operating system or some value set these type of programs provide.

[00:19:47] Jess Stewart: So I’m a huge advocate of an operating system or an operating platform. It is a must. It’s what was missing inside of my world, running my company until somebody walked in and said, here’s something to consider. And it changed our lives. It literally changed our lives. It was a system or a platform.

[00:20:12] So whatever system or platform you choose, regardless, just having that structure is a great start. As to what type of platform it is, there’s multiple ones out there and you have to, it’s like choosing the right coach and guide, you have to choose the one that’s best for you.

[00:20:29] I have multiple certifications of different operating systems and I believe in that agnostic approach, like I said, is that I go and grab the best of the best and bring it into meeting the client where they’re at. And so my biggest advice is just that: find an operating system or platform that will meet you where you’re at.

[00:20:50] Scaling up for me is that. And that is why I was attracted to them is because it allowed me to meet my clients that were just having a startup company to mid-level size, small companies to large, you know, north of a $100M companies. I can touch them. All of those clients in all of those different levels with scaling up. And the tools that come with them are proven.

[00:21:16] And so the other thing that I have to say for that advice is look behind the platform. Look at the leadership team inside those platforms and look at their sophistication. What type of clients are they dealing with? Are they dealing with your size clients? Are they dealing with larger clients? Are they dealing with way too small of clients? You can gauge based on that as to what type of system it fits best.

[00:21:41] Scaling up ability to come in and just do that is help clients scale up. The mountain is what it was built for. And it’s just having a skilled guide and scaling up coach where we can go in and go, yep, they’re right here, let’s grab this. This is where they need to go. That’s the true test. So once you choose the platform, it’s choosing the guide that goes with it.

[00:22:06] A.J. Lawrence: I like that, yeah. And what I’ve heard from conversations is just the different value sets. But one of the things that always to me was really the most interesting was sort of the consistency of understanding of where the company was going through multiple parts of the company. As an entrepreneur who never says the same thing exactly once, I have to say it 1000x in 1001 different variations because I always resay things. What are some of the things you see?

[00:22:38] Maybe let’s just walk through that kind of like beginning to medium to long term. Not the actions, because I know there’s different types of structures or things that are done, but just more of what are some of the organizational benefits you see happening as they move into these types of systems?

[00:22:58] Jess Stewart: First of all is structure, right? And I would say that 99.9% of the time my clients don’t have some sort of system or structure inside the organization. Even though they think they do, it’s not working. And so that type of cadence, execution cadence, is missing.

[00:23:17] One of my clients actually yesterday said the battle rhythm. What’s your battle rhythm? Right? What’s your execution cadence? And if that’s missing, that needs to be put in first and foremost. And then from there it’s what type of tools are going to get you to think outside the box and go and grab that vision.

[00:23:38] So I think the second thing that I see is missing is, especially from any leader, and this is no criticism cuz I was one of these and it was missing, was the true vision. Where are you going and how are you going to get there? And why are you doing it?

[00:23:53] Answering those questions but having a guide who can facilitate that conversation. That’s really what I do. I facilitate conversations and get leadership teams and leaders to 1) be thinking differently, but 2) like extracting their brain.

[00:24:08] It’s really hard and it’s normal for CEOs and founders especially, to not be able to articulate themselves in a way that their teams and their vendors and their clients understand. And so coming in and grabbing that and crystallizing that for them is so important. And then from there it’s just backing into how we execute on that strategy.

[00:24:35] And so using the scaling up, the four pillars is how you execute on that is you’ve gotta have people decisions, you’ve gotta have strategic decisions, you have to have execution decisions, and you have to have cash. So if you focus on those four things, once you’ve crystallized that vision and your why you exist and how you’re going to get there, the rest just comes in that cadence of execution.

[00:24:58] A.J. Lawrence: Very cool. And I’m sorry if I’m asking sort of more just general questions based on your experience, because like I said, this is such a fascinating ongoing discussion with other entrepreneurs. Just around the value and both the eye rolling and then what I always call the fervent believers. You know, the people who like will write. You ask someone and you’ll get five pages of like, oh my God, how great it is. And then you have the people like, yeah, whatever.

[00:25:27] What do you usually feel if a company is engaged? And I know every company is gonna be same, every business model brings its own, but a hypothetical general company since there’s so many of those, but that is engaged and is really working in really bringing the team’s effort into a process like this. What do you consider is usually the amount of time it takes to really start getting value out of it? I guess more that [of] a positive return on hypothetical ROI.

[00:25:59] Jess Stewart: So those teams that one, are engaged and are scaling and successful, which is all of my clients, are committed to win, right? They have to be committed to win. If they’re not, we just stop right then and there. But for the rate of return and value, guys, if you aren’t seeing value in day one with your guiding coach, you have an issue.

[00:26:21] So session one should be you walking out going, I made the absolute best decision. This is gonna be amazing. So you should be getting value day one. By the time the language is known, the rhythm is known, it feels good. I had a client say once I feel like finally I know. Like I’m the quarterback and I know who my defensive and offensive team is and I’m ready to go to the Super Bowl.

[00:26:48] You know that takes time, right? You can’t build realm in a day. And so I would say that a year commitment to this is what it takes. And you need to be prepared for that because it’s not the guide’s problem, it’s not your problem, it’s the ability to come in and grab all of these big things from vision to strategy, how we’re gonna execute, meeting the client where they’re at.

[00:27:12] Maybe we have some 911s that we have to get rid of first, or I say Harry squiggly things under the rocks, right? We gotta grab them from under the rock, plop them on the table and talk about them first. Maybe those have to be cleared out. And then you can start your rhythm and start what I call the execution cadence.

[00:27:28] But once that is started, guys, it takes a year. It takes a year to learn the language, it takes a year to get the data of what should we be tracking that really is meaningful. What is gonna move the needle inside the organization? What’s our secret sauce? What’s our secret ratio that if we don’t keep these certain ratios just right, the company gets wibbly wobbly. Like that takes time.

[00:27:53] A.J. Lawrence: Mm-hmm.

[00:27:53] Jess Stewart: That is not something that can be done in 30, 60, 90, 120 days. You’re gonna have many iterations to that. And so I would think that by the time a year has rolled around, you should be feeling very, very secure. Very good. You have your rhythm, you have your language, you have your team, you have your execution cadence, you’ve got your system. Right? Your customized system.

[00:28:18] And the other thing is make sure you’re not just buying one program or one product out there that’s a one size fits all because every organization is different. You’ve gotta have somebody who has a skill that can bring in a customized approach so that at the end of that year you’re like, okay, this feels really good. Right?

[00:28:36] This fits my company, this fits my team. And so you know, a year. But if you’re not getting value day one where it’s changing your life, you walk out of that first session saying, huh, I feel so much better even though we might have 911s and scary stuff still to solve, then you need to go back to the drawing board.

[00:28:56] A.J. Lawrence: Okay. We’ve been talking about sort of success that other companies can get for working, but how do you as an entrepreneur define what success is and where do you see that success going in the future?

[00:29:09] Jess Stewart: Whew, that’s a loaded question. For me personally, defining my success, I’ll go back and give it to you of where I was and where I am today.

[00:29:21] A.J. Lawrence: Okay.

[00:29:21] Jess Stewart: So where I was when I founded my company, I started my company with the intention of helping make a second income. We had two young kids, I started my company out of my house. I never intended for it to get as big as it did. But I got in there and I started realizing how much fun it was to solve problems, and I discovered that I was very, very good at solving problems.

[00:29:44] It felt good. I laid my head down at night. It was fulfilling. I was like, oh my gosh. I was an ideator, I was a creator, I was a visionary. I was a true visionary. That defined me to be successful, but there was no end timeline on it, right? I never really just said, oh, I’m gonna be done at this amount and I’m gonna be done at this time.

[00:30:08] I did have some goals and aspirations to be semi-retired by the time that I was 40 because I started my career early. But defining success for me was solving problems and being successful for my client. That really is what drove me when I ran PMDS.

[00:30:27] Today, now that I’ve sold, the definition of success, it took actually people like Jim Britt and Kevin Harrington reaching out to me and saying, Hey Jess, we want you to write a chapter in our book about your story. And I was like, man, my story is just not that big a deal. Well, it was. And it was because I not only achieved what 1% of the United States tries to achieve, and that is founding a company, running a company, and then very successfully selling it and having an exit, but being a woman at the same time and being a mom was.

[00:31:04] I didn’t realize how successful that was until after the fact. And so now I get to tell my story and I get to inspire everybody out there that it’s doable, right? It’s absolutely doable. So I summarize it with this, A.J., is that I’ve struggled, I succeeded in my mind, and now I wanna be significant.

[00:31:24] And so today’s definition of success for me is me being able to enter the lives of leaders like myself, like I was, like you are, and all of my clients, and being able to be significant in their life and helping them do what I did or whatever their definition of success is and being able to be a part of that.

[00:31:47] It is one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done. I don’t have to do what I do, I get to do what I do. And so, it’s like a whole new level of success and feeling. Go do what you love to do because, huh, man, it means a lot. And so that’s my definition of success today and my definition of success of what it used to be. And I feel that I am continuing to succeed in that and live it every day.

[00:32:17] A.J. Lawrence: Cool. Well, very happy for you. I think that being able to live your success is probably one of the greatest perks of this entrepreneurial journey. So thank you so much for sharing. How best can the audience, if they wanna learn more about you, if they wanna learn more about your program, how best can they go and find out information about you?

[00:32:40] Jess Stewart: So go to our website which is www.jess-stewart.com, and go down to the bottom. Find our LinkedIn and all of our social media and connect to us through there. Send us a private message, say that you were on this podcast and we would love to help you and love to help you, A.J., any way that we can. I think that doing some homework on Beyond 8 Figures podcast was awesome. I think it’s a great, great podcast and any way that we can help you as well.

[00:33:09] A.J. Lawrence: Thank you so much. I really do appreciate it. And everyone, we’ll make sure that Jess’s information will all be on the show notes, will be in the email when this episode comes out, and of course in our socials for this.

[00:33:22] And Jess, I really, really appreciated you coming on the show. This was a lot of fun and really some great things to think about. As an entrepreneur, I’m thinking about my own efforts and knowing a lot of what theAudience goes through, really cool things to think about. So thank you so much.

[00:33:37] Jess Stewart: You bet. Glad to be here.

[00:33:39] A.J. Lawrence: All right everyone. Thank you so much for listening. Please, if you enjoyed the show, go to your favorite podcast listening platform of choice and give us five stars. Give us a review. Let everyone know what you think about the show. Really, anything you say we can learn from and I really appreciate it.

[00:33:56] It helps other entrepreneurs find the show and look, we’re all about finding really cool entrepreneurs, like Jess and the other people we’ve had on, so they can share their stories and we in the audience can just learn more to better, more deliberate entrepreneurs ourselves. So please go leave us a review and be great in the future. All right, everyone, have a wonderful day. I’ll talk with you soon.

[00:34:25] This episode of Beyond 8 Figures is over, but your journey as an entrepreneur continues. So if we can help you with anything, please just let us know. And if you liked this episode, please share it with someone who might learn from it. Until next time, keep growing and find the joy in your journey. This is A.J., and I’ll be talking to you soon. Bye-bye.