Interesting. Well, hello, beautiful, powerful,
everyday women of the world. Welcome to the Startup
Stories podcast, where the ambitious everyday
woman is heard, held, and served in life and
in business. Relatable stories to keep you sane,
grounded, and growing as you expand yourself
and deliver your purpose to the world, and done
so in the easiest way possible. Today on the
show I have the beautiful and accomplished Jensen
Savage, who's a powerhouse in strategic marketing.
She's recognized now for award -winning expertise
and a track record of generating a remarkable
ROI, return on investment, for service -based
businesses. This was really cool, Jensen, when
I was reading about the service -based businesses
that you serve. And we'll bring some of that
out, but like, they're in the healthcare and
in different industries that we, as online coaches,
whatever, don't often talk about. So I love that
different portfolio and bringing in what trends
and habits and things that you see in those industries.
Jensen founded Savage Growth Partners and like,
what an awesome name, by the way, right? Like,
you just wake up and you're like, yeah, Jensen
Savage is on the go. Just wake up feeling savage
every day. So her work's been organically featured
in highly accredited media outlets, you guys,
like Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Wired, Inc. She's
known for her hands -on leadership, strategic
insight and dedication to results. So definitely
a marketing expert. And now you've built up this
agency and there's only three of you that are
running it, is that right? Yes, so we have strategic
partners that we bring in and so They own their
own sort of companies that they do that I also
bring in based on kind of the deals that we have
going on. But I also have a full in -house marketing
team in addition to that too. Yeah, so we have
strategic partners and then we also have in -house
folks as well. Okay, amazing. So that's a pretty
cool structured system to hold the space for
everything that you do. But before we get too
far ahead of ourselves, I want to know about
you. I want to know about Jensen. What did you
dream of as a little girl? And are you living
your dream life now? You know, what was the origin
story to get to this place? Yeah. Yeah. So interesting
origin story. So I kind of always had this desire
to be in the business world and I didn't really
know what it was when I was a kid. I've talked
about this a little bit before in other podcasts
that I've been on, but I always kind of had this
entrepreneurial spirit about me that I didn't
really put a name to until I was older. But like
a funny example is, so when I was a kid, my dad
was a real estate agent and he worked with foreclosed
houses a lot. And I would go with him to these
foreclosed houses and we would like take pictures
and whatnot. And I built a portfolio and I didn't
even remember building this portfolio until I
was back in my childhood house as an adult and
I'm going through all my childhood stuff and
I found this folder, you know, written in my
little kid handwriting is like Jensen's foreclosure
portfolio. I had like a portfolio of foreclosed
houses that I was just like interested in. And
it's just funny because like real estate is like
a kind of like an interest of mine to this day.
And it's just funny because it's like what kind
of kid that's in like fourth or fifth grade cares
about foreclosures, like real estate. But I was
always kind of like that, like interested in
that kind of realm. And so as I grew older and
older, I wanted to be a lawyer. So for many years,
I wanted to be a lawyer. I specifically wanted
to work in corporate law. I went to University
of Minnesota with the intention of becoming a
corporate lawyer. That was the track that I was
going to take. I was dead set on this. I was
just, yeah, that was the direction I was going
to take my life in. And it was funny because
when I was in college, I actually, I had a volunteer
thing that I did. And basically what it was was
different. It was actually through one of my
philosophy classes, different students would
go and work with elderly people in the area,
and really just like, make friends with them,
hang out, do things that maybe like helping with
stuff around the house, but really just the whole
point was kind of bridging the gap between the
younger generation and the older generation in
the area. And so the elderly couple that I was
matched with were both retired lawyers, very
successful lawyers, like went to Harvard Law,
extremely smart, extremely well accomplished
in the Minneapolis area as well. And just talking
about law in general, I kind of realized that
that's not what I wanted to do. You know, it
seemed very structured and rigid and like there
was an old way of doing things and that just
totally does not coincide with the way that I
think or operate. And so I quickly realized I
was like, yeah, I don't want to do law. And so
from there, I kind of put that idea out of my
head and I had already been working in social
media for a few years, kind of just on the side
and kind of social media content creation, that
sort of thing. And I kind of quickly realized
from there, there's so much more to the marketing
world. And so it was kind of just happenstance
that I had some experience and exposure to the
marketing world. And I also was at this point
where I was like, giving up on this other idea
that I had for my whole life. And I was like,
totally sold on this and completely changed direction.
And so yeah, from there, I just kind of fell
into marketing, fell in love with it and realized
that business and marketing and being an entrepreneur
was definitely the path I wanted to take because
it kind of fused the things that I liked about
pursuing corporate law, like being in business
and being in that business world while also having
kind of the freedom and the creativity and, you
know, the different day to day life that being
an entrepreneur and being in business in general
kind of provides. And so, yeah, that's that's
kind of the the high level overview of my path.
Yeah I love that because you know you had an
idea in your head for a long time like you said
about how this was going to go and then when
it was met with some very experienced kind of
on the other side of it right those that elderly
couple you got to really have more data to see
whether or not this was something that was going
to fit. And now you can play in systems and structure
with a lot more creativity to your heart's content,
right? Yeah. And a very organic shift in that.
But was there a bit of an identity crisis for
you when all of a sudden you realized law, social
media marketing? Like, who am I and what does
this mean? Oh, yeah, yeah, 100%. And for a while
there, it was kind of just marketing was the
thing that I was doing at the time because I
didn't know what direction I wanted to take my
life in because that's, you know, that's a big
shift to go from, you know, moving out of state
to go to school for this thing and then deciding
this thing that I've had in my mind for years
that I was going to do, I was committed to this.
And then I just like all of that just falling
away and completely, you know, just just changing
your mind on such a huge thing is is a big thing.
And so it was kind of the process was definitely
rocky in Coming to a point where like where I
am now where I own my own business, you know
Because I had a marketing career before that
as well And so there was kind of this whole evolution
that happened over those years mentally to where
I came to the conclusion that it's like, okay
I love marketing and I love business growth and
I want to own my own business, you know So this
is like a thing that was like years in the making
It wasn't just like I'm not gonna do well, like
I'm just gonna switch to marketing it was it
was something that took kind of years to come
to terms with and really kind of crystallize
in my mind, like, what do I actually want my
future to look like? So like, 30 years down the
line, and looking back, you know, I want to look
back and say, you know, I did exactly what I
wanted to do. And it's like, what do I have to
do today to make it so that I feel that way in
30 years? And so that was, yeah, it was a long
kind of rocky evolution. Yeah, well, that's how
you can really kind of put in the heavy lifting
to find out. Yeah. Put the pieces together. So
did you stay in school, finish school, still
get a degree or? Yeah. Yeah. So I, I left school
at University of Minnesota, um, worked for a
couple of years and I actually went back for
my degree in business administration with a focus
in marketing. So finished up my degree, kind
of more focused on the, the direction that I
took my life. Okay. Awesome. Yeah. Um, and so
then where did Savage Growth come from? Like
what, what led you, you know, I'm going to make
a couple of assumptions that maybe you've got
a few jobs here and there and you were trucking
along, maybe starting to collect some clients
and then decided to go all in on something of
your own. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, a little
bit of backstory kind of in my career. So I've
worked as a marketing director and leader for
various companies, uh, mostly in the service
based realm from, you know, fitness to finance.
And I. loved the process of especially coming
in on smaller companies being, you know, the
first marketer or a member of a very small marketing
team. There's so much change and impact that
you can drive so quickly. And I just thought
that was so fun. I loved that. So that was a
big part of the reason that I designed the Savage
Growth Partners the way that I did. But another
reason that I've developed Savage Growth Partners
the way that I have is I also saw this need in
the marketplace for something like Savage Growth
Partners that's not really being addressed by
any other company out there. So kind of for a
bit of context, at Savage Growth Partners, we
really are partners in growth, you know, it's
in the name, we are, you know, we're in the day
to day, we kind of fuse the best parts of a consultancy
firm and an agency, you know, we give the advice
and the strategy, but we're also in the weeds
executing and really looking to move the needle.
And we also help businesses to, I basically say
it's like the three S's, like sustainable, scalable,
and sellable. Those are kind of like the three
pillars that we base all of our strategies on.
So scalable. you're able to grow and continuously
reinvest in the business. Keep going. Sustainable.
You're not just doing, you know, little gimmicky
growth things or your revenue is one place this
month, another place this month. You know, it's
something that's actually becoming an asset that
kind of ties into being sellable as well. And
when I say sellable, some business owners might
be like, oh, well, I don't want to sell. But
being sellable, is more than just wanting to
sell because you still, regardless of if you
want to sell your business today, you want your
business to be structured in a way that it's
sellable because think about it, when somebody
is looking to buy your business, they want it
to be easy to operate. They want it to not have
key man risks. So if you step out of the business
today, the business isn't just going to go crumbling
down. They want everything to be documented.
They want your finances to be clean, all that
stuff. And it's like, well, even if you don't
sell your business, you benefit from having your
business be sellable so that it's easier to operate.
But also even if you don't want to sell today,
maybe 10 years down the road, you're going to
benefit from it being sellable. If you do say,
yeah, I do want to sell I'm having a life change
or whatever. So we get a lot more. involved than
other options out there, especially for the size
of company that we work with. So we work with
companies that are usually between like two hundred
and fifty thousand to five million dollars in
revenue, sometimes higher. But this kind of area
of the market there. too small for private equity
firms to get involved with normally. But they're
also too big for the founder to try to figure
everything out on their own while also running
every other aspect of the business. And so there's
kind of like this underserved part of the market
that I was like, these people need guidance with
marketing and sales and operations. Because I
saw in my experience as a marketing director,
all of these functions are like extremely intertwined.
You cannot have marketing that's not connected
to sales, that's not connected to operations.
Otherwise you're just, you're literally springing
leaks the whole way. And so I'm like, there has
to be something that kind of like synthesizes
all these business functions for maximum profitability.
And so yeah, that was, I mean, long winded way
to say that was kind of my process of creating
Savage Growth Partners. I wanted to be kind of
more than a marketing agency. And so yeah, I
just wanted to be a full on getting in the weeds
with partners, growth partner. Yeah, well, the
passion is there, but your face lit up as you
spoke about all of that. Yeah. And it is a more
holistic approach to supporting a smaller business
in reaching their next level, because there are
a lot of moving pieces. And if they have to hire
three different companies or consultants to help
them with everything then they have to also coordinate
all of those together or come to a one -stop
shop and really have somebody who who's invested
in them rather than just trying to you know grow
their own business or get a sensational testimonial
or something like that and then it it sounds
like with your process it really elevates that
business's functionality, right, which that's
the golden ticket to take it to the next level.
Those three pillars you talked about are key.
And yes, sellable, you know, often business is
your baby, and you can't ever imagine giving
it up. But even if it's your baby, you have a
routine, you have basic care needs, you have
structure around it, you know. And that's something
that business owners tend to not be as good at
because they have the creativity and then lack
the administration. But then it's not really
a business. If you can't step away from it, it's
got to run on its own. And then that also gives
the business owner and or the staff the ability
to take the foot off the gas. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
And I think especially with the company sizes
that we work with you see that, you know, more
than you would at, you know, a hundred million
dollar company. Um, you see that kind of attachment
to the business and there's nothing wrong with
having attachment to the business. We have to
understand the business is kind of its own entity.
It should be an asset and not, you know, a job
or your baby and treating it more like an asset
that needs to be optimized and systematized is
going to serve you. way more than just, yeah,
basically having a glorified job. Right? Yeah.
Well, and also that I was kind of have a hard
time articulating this. So maybe you can even
go further with that statement because the business
should run on its own. And so like, um, let's
say Home Depot or Target, you know, as a giant
franchise have a a recipe that can be implemented
in any city at any time and as long as it's staffed
well it can function and so we kind of want to
model off of that. to take the pressure off of
ourselves so that it's more spacious and then
that the business, like what I hear you saying
is that it can grow more on its own, right? That
it really takes on a life of its own and gets
going. So I love, love, love that. And, you know,
for especially women who are just starting a
business of any kind and doing it maybe on the
side of their desk. the better that you can structure
it, the more it will serve you in the limited
amount of time that's available for it, right?
So, being organized, I heard this woman say a
quote once and it was just so fabulous. She says,
I'm not stressed because I'm organized. And that's
kind of what we're talking about here is getting
things into a flow that's repeatable and that,
you know, can be handed off and that gives life
and that's where a business can take off into
momentum. So Jensen, how did you, would you say
that you've niched down with Savage Growth Partners?
In a sense, not so much to where it's like we
only work with plumbing businesses. But in the
sense that we only work with service -based businesses
around a specific size. And, you know, we have
criteria that we look at when we're talking to
potential clients where it's like, you know,
what problems are they having? Then we even,
you know, we assess the mindset of the clients
that we work with because it's really important,
you know, we can come in and we can tell you
exactly what you need to do. We can execute,
but we can't do absolutely everything. So it's
absolutely critical that the people we work with
also, you know, have the same long -term vision
for the company that we can all kind of align
on. Because at that point, it's pretty easy for
us to take it to the next level. But, you know,
on the flip side, it's virtually impossible,
even if you're doing all the right things, if
somebody is like, Yeah, I don't know, that's
just too much growth, or I actually do want to
work in the business all the time, you know,
it's like, there's a fundamental misalignment
there. But yeah, so niche down as far as, you
know, size problems that we address overall kind
of business model. Yes. Um, but, and that's kind
of by design too. I've, uh, a huge part of something
I love about my company is that we do work with
so many different types of businesses and it's
fun. It's exciting. We get to address so many
different, uh, like just types of people. And,
you know, there's just so many cool opportunities
you get by working with different types of businesses
that, you know, you don't get if you run a firm
that's just dedicated to helping, you know, gyms.
And so yeah, that's that's kind of by design,
because I really enjoy that kind of varied day
today that I kind of mentioned earlier, I like
not having the just do the same thing every day,
like repeat. the same thing. I like having new
challenges and things like that. So yeah, I think
that kind of answers your question. So the different
service -based businesses, which I'd love for
you to give us some examples of. um, activate
your creative problem solving because they're
in different markets providing different services.
So like you mentioned plumbers, but then you
had, um, like I think health spas or something
like that on the list and other ones. And so
you get to learn about these different industries
too, and see what you can do to elevate any one
of your clients in that field. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
And it's, it's kind of cool because, you know,
we get to work with all these different businesses
and challenges, but at the same time, service
businesses at their core are largely the same.
You know, you've got to get leads. You've got
to close them predictably. You've got to serve
with excellence and then rinse and repeat, you
know, keep those clients that you do have, you
know, start to build the business up from there
and get new leads, all this stuff. But basically
the process and the core principles are the same.
So in that way, you know, there's systems and
tactics that we can implement in businesses,
even that are across different industries that
will still work because the fundamental business
model and the principles are the same. So, so
yeah, that's that's kind of the the interesting
part is I think, you know, when people think
about niches, it's like, well, you've got to
just work with gyms or whatever. But I think
it really kind of depends on what it is that
you're doing. Because ultimately, you know, service
is service. And like I said, we've niche down
to service specifically, you know, we don't do,
you know, products or e commerce or anything
like that, because that actually is a completely
different ballgame. But yeah, so service based
businesses, the other fun to work with, it would
just kind of came naturally to because my experience
as a marketing director, I'd primarily work with
service businesses, too. And so yeah, that's
kind of the evolution of that. Okay. So then
take us into some of those fundamentals. What
do we need to focus on? Yeah. So as I mentioned,
really, if you just think of it like this process
of getting leads, converting them predictably,
and delivering your service with excellence.
Those are kind of the key principles that you
need to understand in order to grow a service
business. Now, kind of peeling back the layers
on all those things. Yes, there's a billion other
kind of sub things under that, right? Like getting
leads, it's like, okay, well, like, how do I
get leads? How much can I afford to pay to acquire
a lead? You know, how do I close leads? And you
know, how do I deliver in a way that makes sense
and all these different things, but kind of at
its core, those are, those are the three big
things that you need to keep in mind. Um, but
yeah, so for all the little details, that's when
you really get into needing to sit down and figure
out your business financials and things like
that. And that's where I get kind of excited
because that's why I created Savage Growth Partners,
because all that stuff's so important to understand
how those different pieces connect to each other,
right? Like you can't have just getting leads.
Like you have to understand, okay, what's our
profit margin? And now it's like you're looking
at... operations. Now you're looking at finance,
you know, and so that's that's kind of the the
fun part is, you know, you talk about marketing
and sales and operations, and all of those are
critical pieces that all kind of lean on each
other. And you implemented those in your own
business. as well. And so what are you doing
in your marketing? And what what have you found
as your magic recipe to make that flow for Savage
Growth Partners? Yeah, so I mean, I'm a huge
proponent of systems. And pretty much every single
thing that we do within the company is documented
and put to a system. And that's another thing
that I am very bullish on implementing in clients
businesses as well. I'm like, you need to have
a repeatable, reliable process for everything
that you're doing because it makes things faster.
It makes things more predictable. And to the
point we were talking about earlier, it makes
things sellable, right? Because if I can just
hand you a rule book or a guidebook and say,
Hey, this is how we get leads. Sorry about that.
Yeah, right. Sorry about that. Um, but yeah,
if, uh, if I can hand you the rule book and say,
this is exactly how we get leads, here's how
we close them. It becomes so easy in comparison
to just doing things fly by night and, you know,
shooting from the hip and hoping that something
hits. And so that is a big, big, big part of
our success and it's something that's become
even more critical as we've gotten bigger and
bigger and bigger because you know your scalability
is going to be limited by how systematized your
business is yes of course yeah if mcdonald's
had to make one order at a time they'd be pretty
limited to how many people they could serve they
wouldn't reach the billions in any in any short
order yeah and and to your point earlier that's
another thing that when you're talking about
expansion, that's another reason why having systems
is critical. I've worked with so many businesses
where, you know, it's been a med spa that's expanded
out to multiple locations. Or I had mentioned
doing work in Vancouver, I have a job training
service company that I work with that we are
based out of Toronto originally, and now we've
expanded to Vancouver as well. And so it's like,
because we identified the overall structure it's
like okay we can put this here and it'll work
and we can make minor tweaks and we can put this
here and it'll work and you know and that's how
you create that scalability is being able to
rely on those systems. Yeah amazing. So Jensen
what's changed in you as a woman? throughout
your entrepreneurial journey? Are you meeting
the vision that you cast for yourself so far?
And what are you noticing about yourself as you
grow more and more into the CEO of this company?
Yeah, that's a deep and great question. I think,
you know, it's always a process. And that's how
I really see, I guess, everything. But I'm kind
of stepping into it every day more and more.
And I think a huge part of that was coming to
terms with who I am and what I wanted for my
future. I think keeping the end goal in mind
is a big part of why I'm able to do the things
that I do on a day -to -day basis and get through
stressful times. And it's just, I don't know,
kind of stepping into my truest self, instead
of trying to kind of fit myself into a box of
what other people wanted, or, you know, what
societally expected of me, or, you know, the
easy way. A part of my journey, too, was I built
a marketing agency, just a standard marketing
agency before, and I grew it pretty large, pretty
quickly, I grew it to $30 ,000 within the first
month. And so I had success out the gate. And
I was like, wow, this is awesome. And I realized
I'm like, because I had identified this problem
of marketing, not being the only function that
was critical to small business success. I was
like, I don't feel like it's genuine to run a
marketing agency kind of knowing this. And so
that was a big part of the evolution into switching
the complete business model, which that's scary
because the business that I run now, like I said,
nobody else is doing this. So now I've entered
from standard business to kind of almost startup
territory of this is a completely different thing
that's ever been done before. And that's terrifying.
Um, and so, yeah, but it is, I would just say,
you know, if I were to boil it down to anything,
it would just be a constant process of small
improvements in my own mindset and behaviors
over the day to day and just keeping that end
goal in mind. You're holding a lot of responsibility
and it sounds like a robust client portfolio
too, right? And so you have to really trust yourself
to lead that and to lead the team and to build
a company that can um serve with that client
excellence that you desire and demand out of
your own company so what what how do you um keep
yourself full and and growing like are you in
masterminds or you know doing any um professional
or personal development type stuff or how do
you keep that growth mindset in an in an expansive
state Yeah, so I'm a part of a couple of different
groups of entrepreneurs and whatnot, like different
communities where we, you know, share wins and
stories and tactics and all that kind of stuff.
So that's definitely helpful. I also just read
a lot of books. I'm just always I'm just a lifelong
learner, to be honest, not even just related
to mindset, but also just everything. And that
stuff just learning gets me very excited. And
so I'm always just kind of looking for ways to
level up, I guess. So those are some of the biggest
ways that I continue to evolve. I'm just always
seeking out new information and perspectives.
And so really kind of wherever I can get that
I'm open to it. Like, I'm always talking to other
business owners, too. And it's like, every time
I talk to a business owner, I swear I take away
at least one helpful piece of information, you
know, whether that's, you know, a tactic that
they tried or a mindset that they've adopted,
I always take away something just by kind of
absorbing it, you know, from other people. So
I think that's a that's a huge part of it is
just getting connected with other people and
and just be willing to learn from them and be
open -minded. I think that's another big thing
instead of being really ego -driven and like,
oh, I know the best way to do this. Like I'm,
you know, I'm so talented, I'm the best, whatever.
It's like there's business owners that have much
smaller businesses than me that have, you know,
way less experience quote unquote than me. But
it's like they have experiences that I'll never
have. They have perspectives that I'd never considered
and so it's like just learn from everybody all
the time and you'll kind of be surprised at the
the evolution that you kind of make in your own
mindset based off of what you absorb from other
people. That right there is so exquisite and
um I just want to lean into it a little bit because
this is a pressureless and like always open and
willing state of being. And it lacks comparison.
It lacks self judgment. And that, I think, is
like the deepest state of embodiment that you
can bring to life in general. Never mind leverage
for business development, business growth, right?
Is like we're all equal in the sense of our value
and our worth. And we all have something to contribute
to each other so that we can all do more. and
be more, right? So there's like, there's no competition.
It's pure, not necessarily collaboration, but
like collective wellbeing that we all participate
in each other's growth and each other's success
and that we're not worried that because somebody
else is doing this or is doing that, that it
means anything, that there's value to be gained
from it. So that was really well articulated
and I think that's such a critical again, state
of being, to work towards on the daily, then
you're not under threat, then you're not hijacking
your nervous system, then you're not constantly
reacting, you know, with scarcity or concern.
You're just like, oh, cool, yeah, oh, cool, yeah,
yeah, cool, cool, this, this, this, in an exchange,
in a mutual exchange everywhere you go. And that's
how you can really, you know, come into confidence
and... great certainty of your capabilities and
then keep adding to it to build your company
bigger and bigger. So I have a couple of other
questions as we kind of start to come into this
and maybe I'll just put them both out and you
can choose which one to answer first is what's
coming next for you now? Like you know you were
a startup, you If you like the terms like an
industry disruptor with the marketing agency
with love it. I love it, right? And that's, you
know, if we're doing something really out there,
I think that's the rabbit hole to go down, because
it means that it's the right one, the more uncomfortable
and uncertain and unconfident it is. True ingenuity
lies, right? Right. Like, oh, okay, I'm going
to be that guy who gets to do that thing. But
somebody's got to go first. Yeah, yeah. So having
done all of that. you know do you foresee Savage
Growth Partners carrying on as it is or do you
have what what's your next 15 year vision even
for it? And then the other question maybe to
wrap up the interview after is who are you outside
of Savage Growth Partners like who is just Jensen
Savage as a day -to -day woman? Yeah, love it.
Okay. Yeah, so first I'll address kind of the
trajectory of Savage Growth Partners. So I think
the trajectory that we're on is great. So really,
the only thing I kind of see changing is just
looping in more strategic partners, like I said,
with the clients that we work with, I'm always
looping in industry leaders that are extremely
good at what they do, that can provide perspective
and experience that I can't provide as, you know,
somebody that's more focused on business growth
and marketing. I have people that I work with
that are incredible when it comes to finances
and numbers. And it's like my understanding of
that is not even near where these people and
their experiences are. So looping in even more
prolific and skilled people, that's one part
of it. Another part of it is just being able
to take the company larger and larger so we can
help more small service businesses. Because like
I said, this isn't a part of the market that
is underserved. Their options are limited. you
know, their options frankly aren't very good
because like I said, marketing agencies, a lot
of the time, you know, they're focused more on
execution, which is fine, but you have to have
strategy behind it. And so if the business owner
is not guiding them on strategy, a lot of the
time they're just shooting from the hip or maybe
they are, they have a marketing strategy, but
it's like, if you don't understand all of the
business behind the curtain, your marketing strategy
is not going to operate with excellence. And
so it's like their options are kind of in most
cases i'm not poo pooing all marketing agencies
but you know in most cases their options with
business growth are kind of lackluster and like
you mentioned earlier they're not. comprehensive
to where it's like okay if I need help with operations
and sales and marketing you're kind of piecemealing
all these different services and vendors and
hoping that they're good and then trying to you
know get them to communicate with your team get
them to communicate with each other and maybe
there's overlapping messages that it just makes
it more confusing um and so and would it be fair
to say I'll just interject quickly too that um
because it's really important to note the underserved
market because generally they don't have the
money that a company will want to get paid in
order to deliver a service, right? So it is really
brilliant to look at who's not getting what they
need and deserve and meet them in their playing
field so that they can grow, which is good for
everybody. Yeah. Yeah. And that's exactly it.
And that's kind of what the word partners comes
back to, you know, we're invested in their growth.
We get a piece of their upside growth. So it's
basically like investing in a company when they're
small and knowing like, we're going to come in,
we're going to, we know that our systems work.
We know that we can take this to the next level
and we're all going to be more successful as
a result, right? Like we're all going to make
more money. We're all going to be more fulfilled.
Um, and so that's, that's kind of the exciting
part is, is like you said, it's under, underserved
um and so you have all these yeah they deserve
it and they want it and if they can't get to
it and then i love that like i just have this
image of of course the saying skin in the game
but you fuse in with them right you really become
invested um so that they feel like you're not
just taking their money and trying to do a thing
like you're very much side by side with them
to elevate them. Because a business owner will
take the company so far and then you plateau
like that's just natural, you need a different
coach or a different somebody with better skills
and somebody who can coordinate a high level
of professionalism and proficiency in those different
areas of expertise that you talked about. Yeah,
yeah, 100%. And that's a huge part of the reason
why I wanted to build Savage Growth Partners
the way that I have is that I didn't want to
be transactional. It was made abundantly clear
to me. I could make a great living just doing
transactional marketing. I didn't want to do
that. I wanted to devote my life. It's like we
spend so much of our life working, especially
me. I work all the time, but it's like I'm excited
to do it. Because I am literally helping people.
I am changing the trajectory of people's lives.
I have worked with businesses that wouldn't have
been able to break through revenue plateaus.
Like you mentioned, they would have been stuck
at a certain size. And it's like, now they're
expanding. They're making more money for their
family. They're bringing on employees who they're
paying well and are giving great work life to.
All these different things that just come as
a catalyst. And it's like, how could I not? want
to work and be excited about that. It's like
that, that transcends money by, you know, so
much. It's like money is great. Whatever. Of
course, you know, everybody's in business and
wants to make money, but it's like being able
to have that impact and have work that you're
like, yeah, if I show up today and I meet a business
owner that didn't have access to anything like
this before, like I can change their life. That's
That's amazing. Like that's what gets me fired
up. So fulfillment, right? That's your heart
and your soul right there in action. Yeah. And
I think it's, it's, it's not something that a
lot of people realize that your soul is going
to crave until you're at a space or until you're
at a place where money, I guess, is no object.
You know, it's like when you're coming from places
like financial scarcity, you're like, Oh God,
if I just made a bunch of money, I just would
never care about anything ever again. I'd be
fine. But it's like, At least for me, I crave
purpose more than anything. You know, it's like,
once your financial needs are met, I mean, it's
like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right? It's
like once your basic needs are met, then you
start to search for fulfillment. Yeah. And I'll
pull out of that just so the listeners really
anchor into this that Jensen, you you led by
true example of you know, starting that first
marketing company that made that 30 grand in
a month, but then realized that it was out of
alignment with your intrinsic values and who
you really are and what you identify with. And
so you were willing to go first and create something
way more. fulfilling, meaningful for you, which
now has become its own entity and is creating
all of these beautiful collateral benefits to
the companies that work with you. And that is
self leadership, but you can do anything to make
money. But if you go higher and do the thing
that's right and in your integrity and aligned
with your values, you're going to go a lot further.
And money will, you know, show up like you're
saying on the side of all of that to continue
to support you. So that's very, very powerful.
Yeah, I like to say money is a side effect. I
think, you know, if you're just chasing money,
it quickly becomes unfulfilling. Yeah. Yeah.
So I could go down a whole rabbit hole with that,
but yeah. Yeah. Ultimately it was just kind of,
I felt it was kind of my duty to build a business
that aligned with my values. And especially when
I knew I had this idea and I spoke to so many
business owners that were like, I told them about
the original idea and they're like, Oh my God,
like that is incredible. Like that reaction from
people was so different from the conversations
I had where I'm like, hey, I have a marketing
agency. And it's like, yeah, of course we did
great work. We got great results, but it's like
something where it's like, we are like business
transformation specialists like that. That's
unique. That gets people excited. That's never
been done before. So that's what, that's what
keeps me going. But, um, and answering your second
question, who is Jensen Savage as a human? Um,
so I, uh, I'm a, I'm a lot of things. So I absolutely
love nature. Um, I am a you can catch me outside
whenever possible. I absolutely love being outside.
I love to hike. I love to kayak. I have four
rescue dogs and a lot of my free time I spend
volunteering with the rescue that I actually
got two dogs of mine from. So I have three Australian
shepherds and a mutt. So my house is always busy
with crazy dogs and I love it so much. They're
like my kids. I'm also a musician. I play guitar
and sing. So those are some of the things I do.
Like I said, I'm also a lifelong learner. I'm
super into really any subject that I can sink
my teeth into. So like psychology, science, history,
you know, true crime, anything that I can just
absorb like nonfiction stuff. I'm always reading
some sort of nonfiction book. People actually
tease me like, I won't read fiction. I'm just
like, Oh, why would I read fiction? I don't know.
I just like to learn. So I'm always, you know,
I'm always, I'm always hyper fixating on some
random subject that I'm learning about it at
any given time. But yeah, other than that, I
love antique shopping and I collect antiques
as well. So so yeah, those are those are some
of the biggest things. Beautiful. I love it.
And is there anything coming up this year for
you in life or business that you're super jazzed
about, like a big event or trip? Yeah, so going
to be going to more events in the upcoming year,
which is exciting. So I've done a couple of events
locally, like going to different summits and
whatnot near me, but it's never been something
that I focused on within Savage Growth Partners.
I've been to a bunch of industry conferences
and stuff, working with other people's businesses,
but now I'm going to be kind of focusing more
on doing events. for Savage Growth Partners,
as Savage Growth Partners. And so a lot of exciting
things like that coming up soon. Wonderful. Right
on. Well, thanks. This was a beautiful conversation.
Gave lots for my brain to chew on and I know
served the listeners. So I'll drop your links
in the episode and we'll find you on Facebook
and LinkedIn. Is that right? Yeah, you can see
me up there. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Brilliant.
Well, thanks so much, Jensen. What a pleasure.
Yeah. Thank you for having me.