please tell us about your vision for broken glass
marketing i have no vision that is the truth
my company truly got started by doing things
i didn't want to do as a human i did not sit
down and go we're gonna do this and we're gonna
have this over here and we're gonna have No.
All I did was just sit in my office and go, I
can't do that task. I just can't do it. I will
sit here and sit in my chair 14 times. I can't
do it. And so then I started making a list of
all the tasks I didn't want to do. Continue to
not do them. And my business was just going down.
And I finally said, OK, I've got to make a change.
And so it was not so much a vision, but a change
one step at a time that has now landed us where
we are with our software as a service. That's
incredible. That's honest. And I love that. Like,
you know, most people would come back with like,
oh, I better make a vision statement here. but
i love that i i'm not i'm not building the plane
as i'm flying it i'm literally figuring out where
the plane's going while we're in it i mean just
these past few months i mean when we built our
software it was supposed to just be for me from
for my business that's it it was supposed to
just be for biz dev then we made it a software
as a service and then we got some what i would
call individual contributors So kind of like
W2 folks who were working at larger companies
used it to help just do their job better. And
I said, OK, that tracks where I really had no
vision. But where our software has exploded is
in the job market. Folks who have sent out hundreds
and thousands of resumes just into the void realize
it's back to basics. It's all in who you know.
So using our tool to connect with the companies
and people that they want to work with are landing
on the job. That wasn't my vision. All I did
was put my product out in the world and the world
decided this is how they were going to use it.
That's kind of cool. That's amazing to have that
happen and to watch that happen. What would you
say is your why behind what you're doing now?
I wanted to be true to myself. Before COVID,
we lived like every... American family. I would
go to work in the morning. My husband went to
work in the morning. Somebody had to chase the
dog down to put him in the kennel. Our daughter
had a nanny who'd pick her up from school. She
changed clothes in the backseat of the car on
the way to tennis. She'd come home at nine o
'clock at night and I'm feeding her peanut butter
and jelly because nobody took the chicken out
to thaw it. And then we're screaming at each
other because the dog ate a battery and no one's
had a bath. I mean, that was every single day
of my life. I thought it was normal. All my girlfriends
shared the same. stories so okay this is normal
then when COVID happened and everything it was
kind of like musical chairs and the music just
stopped I really had to become first of all comfortable
with myself which had never happened I'd never
been alone or quiet with myself to start having
these crazy person conversations with myself
and I started to kind of learn okay I can do
anything I want to do today what do I want to
do I have no idea I'm used to being told what
to do. And I'm used to flying around on my broom
and being 10 minutes late for everything. So
I just started small. I said, we're going to
walk the dog. I see people walking their dogs.
That must be a normal thing people do. I don't
know. I'm training myself as a human at this
point. So I told my daughter, I was like, we're
going to wake up at nine o 'clock because that's
what Dolly Parton would do. So we're going to
wake up at nine o 'clock and we're going to go
walk the dog. And that was my first plan. of
kind of learning what I wanted to do and who
I was. And so as COVID went on, I became more
and more comfortable being myself and only doing
what I wanted to do. So then fast forward to.
Coming back online, all right, let's go to work
now. Let's go back to kind of the life we had
before. I knew I did not want to do work and
life that way. I realized I had to come back
online, but I wanted to do it very purposely,
and I wanted to be true to myself and not get
back to that place. So everything that came across
my radar, I was very mindful. I didn't just say
yes to. I said, do I want to do that? Does it
bring me joy? Is it progressive to any goal I
have? Is it progressive to a friend goal, a business
goal, or am I doing it just because I got invited
to a book club? Like, what is my why behind this?
So I became very comfortable being selective.
And when it came to the work side, I was the
same way. I said I do not, some of the tasks
I realized that we needed to do coming back,
I brought my agency back online after 08. So
I expected this to be the same thing. I was like,
no problem. We've been here before. We know this
monster. Well, you know, we'll get things sorted.
It was not the same as coming back after 08.
And so after working with my business coach and
realizing the tasks I needed to do to bring my
business back online, it was a straight up no.
Not doing it, no way, no how. It was a visceral,
physical feeling I could not do. And so those
tasks were data mining for client contact, scroll,
scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, cut and paste.
Then it was sending out all these engagement
emails, text messages, following up, looking
for them on LinkedIn. Like, I'd be like this,
like looking on LinkedIn, like trying to, and
I said, I can't do it. So I determined that I
was going to be true to myself and not do it.
But I realized I had to get my business back
online because Wells Fargo wants their payments
every month. And so I had to find another way.
And it was just by having my back against the
wall that virtual assistants were my first way.
Then we were able to integrate AI to help assist
and fill in other tasks so that I could do the
work I wanted to do. I love my work. I love connecting
with people. I love doing what I want to do,
but I'm not doing anything I don't want to do.
And so that's what I try to give all of our clients.
I want them to be able to utilize our tool in
their business so that they're only doing what
they want to do in their business. They're not
having to do any other tasks they don't want
to do. That makes a lot of sense. Now, which
part of this like do you end up like what part
of it lights you up? The parts that you do want
to do. What is that? I like I have always been
a connector. Even in real life, I really liked
being the girl that knew someone. And that was
just kind of, I think, started as a child. And
so bringing it into my work life pre -COVID,
when people go, oh, do you know a good piano
repairman? I don't know no piano, but I know
a good piano repairman. And I took pride in knowing
these things and connecting people together and
then seeing their joyful reaction when they got
connected. And so that's really what we do now
with our software. We just do it in a virtual
way online. Oh, that's great. That's awesome.
And then where are you going with this vision?
Because it's I mean, you don't have like a set
vision. I literally every 24 hours, I change
my clothes and I just show up for life and I
go, OK, where are we going today? Because I had
no idea. When I started my company that we were
going to be building a software as a service,
we were a marketing agency for 20 years. That
wasn't my vision. And then I had no idea I'd
be partnering with people using my tool to get
jobs. Yeah. I'm just showing up for the next
step, hoping that what I've built can help people
be happier, live better lives. One of our subscribers
reached out and she said, I went to my daughter's
soccer game today. And I was like, thanks for
sharing pumpkin. But I don't know why this is
newsworthy, but I love the feedback. And she's
like, it's the first time I've ever been. Because
she felt such a guilt that she should be using
that time to scroll on LinkedIn or send another
email or do something to, in her words, earn
the money to pay for the for the sport. And I
get that as a mom. I had that conflict. Do I
do this task to earn the money to pay for the
sport or do I enjoy watching my kid do the sport?
And so anything that we can do to help. Fuel
both sides of that. That's that's that's the
vision I don't have. But what we'll say is that's
the path I'm following. So as as things come
our way, that's kind of how I maybe that maybe
that maybe that answers it. That's how I determine
what our next step is. Our next vision is, is
it true to our founding reason? Are we doing
things we want to do and are we not doing things
we don't want to do? And are we then also empowering
people who use our tool to make those same choices
and not have to do things they don't want to
do? That kind of sounds like a vision to me.
I know. I think you're like a therapist, like
helping me work through it. It really sounds
like a vision. And it sounds like a catchy one
that, I mean, people don't want to do what they
don't want to do. They want to do what they want
to do and what they're great at. And now you're
making that happen. Let's go with it. I think
you got a vision. I find it. Let's roll with
it. That's the way we're rolling. I love that.
Let me see. Oh, I wanted to ask you, what would
be your goal for being on the Vision Pros podcast?
I want to empower people that it's okay to have
a different feeling in any capacity. It's just
like I was not okay with going back to life the
way it was before. I had no plan, no vision.
I had no idea what that was going to look like.
I just knew that that was what I wanted. And
I wanted to be true to that. So I want to just
encourage people in any capacity. You can follow
that and still be successful. Just be open minded
to where you're going. And also, AI is a very
polarizing topic. There's the camp who thinks
it's going to steal our dogs and take our brains
out and dye our hair purple. And then there's
the camp who's like, I can't live without it.
I love it. And there's really no in between.
But what I really try to communicate with AI
is as counterintuitive as it sounds, it allows
us to amplify the human to human experience,
which is what we all want. We all want to be
in groups. We all want to be social with each
other. AI lets us do that. But I don't think
that's what most people's first thought is. And
the way it works like that is it takes away the
essential but repetitive tasks. that are in most
of our jobs or processes that then allow us to
spend time on the human part of things. I'm able
to spend time talking with people like I would
feel guilty talking to you today for 20 minutes
if I was thinking about all the tasks I need
to do. So I probably would decline, you know,
to do things. But knowing that my avatar is doing
all those tasks for me right now, allowing me
to have this human experience, I like sharing
that with folks. That's pretty freaking cool.
That's amazing, really. All right. Let me ask
you this. In your opinion, what defines a great
leader? Someone who brings out the best in their
team. Because as a leader, it's not about you
at all. You've already been through the paces.
You've already gotten the badges. Now it's like,
great, you can do it for you. But can you coach
and help other people do it for themselves? And
a follow up to that is what's the best leadership
experience that you have had? I've had a couple
bosses. And most were horrible, I think, as most
people will say. I love the ones that trusted
me and gave me autonomy and said, OK, you may
not be doing this the conventional way. And I'm
going to be here with the fire extinguisher if
things go sideways. But I'm going to give you
enough rope to at least set something on fire
for us to use the fire extinguisher. And let's
just see what happens. You may come up with a
great idea or we may have a problem. But it's
giving me that space to fail without using it
as like a finger. against me, that's where I've
done my best work. That's pretty great. Let's
see. Now this one, how do leaders lean into funding
their vision? So let me back up with that and
ask you, are you bootstrapping this? Did you
have investors? How is it going for you? And
then we'll go to this one. I had no plan. And
so if I had, I honestly would have said I would
have done it very differently than I did. I would
have sat down and said, OK, I'm going to build
a software as a service. I'm going to need this
much in engineering fees. I'm going to need this
much in the not the plan. I was just winging
it. Eight hundred here. Twelve hundred here.
No idea how much I had spent or where we were
going with it. And so I definitely could have
done it in a much. cleaner, simpler way, but
I just had no idea what I was going to need.
So it was bootstrapped all the way. And so now
I am thinking about just kind of some advancements
that we want to make to the software and just
kind of some next level stuff I want to do. I'm
like, now I really need to figure out how real
people fund their businesses. You know, it's
like I definitely I would fall short of barring
from the mob or my in -laws. But short of that,
I'm really open to the idea because there it's
there's no need to. There are so many groups
out there that want to help businesses that that's
their that that's their love cup. That's how
they enjoy it. Like, I love helping my clients.
So there's companies out there love helping people.
So I need to figure out who those companies are
and how to work with them. It was funded one
credit card swipe at a time with no plan at all.
It was brave. Entrepreneurs are like that. You're
right. They know when to be afraid. It's like
normally you'd be like. Yeah, for sure. My goodness.
So let me ask you this. What tips do you have
for entrepreneurs? don't stop if you have an
idea even if it's not fully baked like mine or
you have an idea that ends up becoming something
else don't stop like it's okay to change because
there were people who I would chat with along
the way we're like no I'm sorry but but no Jillian
focus you're a marketing company why are you
building a software I'm like I don't know My
soul is telling me to do it. And so just listening
to that inner voice, pushing forward, believing
in yourself. Even my husband, when I was building
this, thought it was just a Lego set. Like he
did not think it had any value. It's not supportive.
And I was like, whatever, don't care. It wasn't
until my avatar actually commented on one of
his LinkedIn articles. He comes in the kitchen.
Oh, my God, you read my article. I'm just so
I'm so excited. And I was like. I would never
read your article unless I was on pain meds,
which I'm not right now. So what is happening?
And I was like, Oh my God, it was my, my avatar.
And it's the joy I saw in his eye that, that
his, because as humans, we want that. We want
to have people like what we do. We want to have
people respond to what we do. And so the fact
that I had responded positively to what he had
brought him so much joy. And I was like, well,
it's my avatar. And then he goes, it did that.
Like that little thing you've been building works.
And so then it became a whole new ballgame. What
are you currently exploring in your business?
No idea. Well, I think we're currently kind of
exploring how to best help job seekers. How do
we position our marketing? How do we position
the tool and how do we make it affordable for
people who are maybe unemployed or they're underemployed
and they're wanting to make a job switch? Because
our tool is not it's a monthly subscription and
we do have a partnership with LinkedIn. So a
portion of our of our user fee goes to LinkedIn,
which gives us a lot of really cool, fun benefits.
But it does also kind of back us into a price
point to say nothing of. We bootstrapped it.
So we're trying to pay back, you know, Wells
Fargo and Amex every month for it. So I do want
to get to a place where we have enough subscribers
that we could do like a give back program where
we can let folks apply kind of like how the power
company does. You know, if you need help, like,
you know, I really want to do that because I
don't want a tool that I have seen be so successful.
Stay out of the hands of people who truly need
it just because there's a barrier of cost. Thank
you for being here today. I'm really happy that
you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking
forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes
continue to move forward. This is going to get
more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement
as well. We'll invite people to participate in
the show. And thank you for giving us your time
and attention. Have an excellent time building
out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.