IAM143- Founder and Author Empowering Moms to Build Better Businesses Through Natural and Fun Ways

Jill Salzman is currently growing her third entrepreneurial venture, The Founding Moms, where she helps mom entrepreneurs around the world build better businesses. She’s the author of The Best Business Book In The World, newly released, she's a co-host of Inc. Magazine’s top-rated entertaining business podcast, Breaking Down Your Business, she gave her own TED talk on 11/11/11, and Forbes’ named The Founding Moms one of the Top 10 Websites For Entrepreneurs. She’s shared the speaker stage with Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg, Daymond John, Marilu Henner, and in her spare time, Jill enjoys kloofing, baking, and erasing her daughters’ crayon artwork from the kitchen walls.

• CEO Hack: Systematizing to make things easy
• CEO Nugget: (1) Have more patience (2) Just do it
• CEO Defined: Freedom and control 

Website: https://foundingmoms.com/books/

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/foundingmom
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/foundingmom
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/foundingmoms

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Transcription:

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Gresham Harkless 0:12

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Jill Salzman of The Founding Moms Show. It's awesome to have you on the show.

Jill Salzman 0:21

Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:23

Happy to have you. What I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Jill so you can hear about all the awesome things that she has done and is doing. So Jill Salzman is currently growing her third entrepreneurial venture, The Founding Moms, where she helps mom entrepreneurs around the world build better businesses.

She's the author of The Best Business Book In The World, newly released she's a co-host of Inc. Magazine’s top-rated entertaining business podcast, Breaking Down Your Business, she gave her own TED talk on 11/11/11, and Forbes’ named The Founding Moms one of the Top 10 Websites For Entrepreneurs. She’s shared the speaker stage with Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg, Daymond John, and Marilu Henner, and in her spare time, Jill enjoys kloofing, baking, and erasing her daughters’ crayon artwork from the kitchen walls. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Jill Salzman 1:17

I sure am

Gresham Harkless 1:19

And the first question I had is just I don't know what clue thing is that what might be my first question?

Jill Salzman 1:25

There's my first hot tip always include something nobody knows what it is all about it. I was told that in high school, and I use it on my resume throughout college. It just means cliff jumping in offer cons because I lived in South Africa for a little while. And they do this crazy activity there that I do not recommend.

Gresham Harkless 1:47

Okay, okay. Well, now I know, I don't know if I want to know, because I definitely don't think I'll be doing that anytime soon. But more power to you for doing it. So I wanted to start everything out was hearing about your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Jill Salzman 2:00

Yeah, I am on my third business. And I mean, I could give you the boring old it started with a great idea. But that's not true. My latest business, The Founding Moms was started totally by accident because I was running two completely unrelated businesses. And I was pregnant with baby number two. And I was very, very panicked. How do you run a business in a baby's life? Who does that? Who's crazy? I need crazy people to meet with me and tell me how they're doing it. So I just started a little meetup. And I said, Hey if you live in the Chicago area, come and meet with me. Let's talk about this because I'm gonna go bananas. And, a lot of people also feel like they are going to go bananas.

So we got together in a coffee shop. And after a couple of meetings, we decided to meet up monthly. One woman said, Could you open up another chapter close to me? And when she did that I went business idea. So it kind of just started feeling like the biggest thing I've ever done, and it is today, the biggest thing I've ever done. It's phenomenal. It's been eight years, and we're in almost 60 cities around the world, in 12 countries. We have 12,000 members. I'm two books in it's just it's been an amazing ride. I love it. I love entrepreneurship altogether. Learned a lot over the years.

Gresham Harkless 3:26

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, that definitely sounds like a great entrepreneurial story. Because a lot of times you have an idea. But you actually it doesn't actually become an idea because you start to scratch your own itch, so to speak. So it sounds like you had like an issue that you just wanted to solve yourself. And then next thing, one other person says, Oh, can you do that? And then you say, Okay, this might be a business.

Jill Salzman 3:48

Yeah, every single company, I started before that all two of them. I thought the same thing. Oh, if I start these people are gonna. And it's hilarious that I kept hearing no, you got to be self-serving, you have to be solving a problem that's closest to home. And I would laugh and go, no, I gotta figure it out. And then lo and behold, I hit it. And it's just so fascinating that I really, truly can't express to you enough how much I thought I was the only one. I was sure that also because nothing existed beforehand, specifically for moms.

But it's just crazy to me how I was 1,000% Confident. And I've learned in eight years, there are probably millions of us around the world. I'm sure there's a whole segment of dad entrepreneurs as well. But it's just funny that I thought is just me and it's not. And so solving my own problem has been the biggest boon to my business, and helped out so many other women that it just excites me to talk about it.

Gresham Harkless 4:47

Yeah, that's awesome, that's awesome. And so I want to hear a little bit more to excite you and even more to find out how you're serving these clients. So what are you doing with the women what do the Founding Moms do?

Jill Salzman 4:57

We began as just those meetups like that When I told you about where I went for coffee, we met up once a month. And we invited speakers eventually to come and teach us how to do things. A couple of years ago, we decided to launch an online portal arm complement to the offline world.

So we launched the founding mom's community where for 35 bucks a month, you get access to video courses we release every month, you get a forum, we have business coaching programs, and we're constantly adding and coming up with new things. Because as our members show up, and say, Well, I'm looking for this, we will create it and we will serve her so we do monthly webinars, weekly, Facebook Lives daily email, I mean, there's so much going on. Because so much help is needed, I could cry. So it's a lot of work. And it's a lot of serving a lot of different people with different needs.

Gresham Harkless 5:52

Yeah, that makes sense. But I imagine probably incorporating that online arm probably helps out a ton because you're able to kind of serve probably more people than may be able to show up at the meetup and everything.

Jill Salzman 6:01

You would think. And I'm ready to say yes, you're absolutely right because that's the theory behind the whole thing. But so far, our online platform is so new that more people are still showing up offline. And we're you know, we're sort of, it's not fully combined yet. We're in the middle of working on that. But until then, yes, that's the theory. And that's what I think is gonna happen in the future. But it's not happened yet.

Gresham Harkless 6:26

Okay, but it's in the works. That all sounds good. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you or your organization. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart or set your organization apart?

Jill Salzman 6:38

I can't tell you what's the secret.

Gresham Harkless 6:40

Okay. Well, this is me and you.

Jill Salzman 6:47

I for sure have taken a stance on the fact that business does not have to be boring. So every single webinar I do, almost every Facebook Live, I do I get dressed up, I wear bows and mustaches and weird sunglasses and hats, and I am pretty much the clown, the face of the company, because I like to impress upon people business doesn't have to be boring, we have a ton of fun doing what we're doing.

So I end up often looking like the crazy person who's leading this company. But I kind of don't mind because we attract the best members who get it who don't need stuffy who don't want to go through all of those business practices, they write about somewhere and use all those business terms and jargon that I can't stand. So we are very transparent, authentic humans, and very hilarious. And a lot of what we do.

Gresham Harkless 7:38

Yeah, that's awesome.

Jill Salzman 7:40

Yeah.

Gresham Harkless 7:41

Yeah. And it seems like a lot of time, I always find humor and being able to kind of break the ice, so to speak, helps people to kind of digest information or kind of drop their guard, so to speak. So sometimes when you're talking about all this business jargon, nobody knows what the heck you're talking about anyways, so when you're able to put like a mustache or whatever on like you said, that kind of drops.

Jill Salzman 7:59

I don't know what the transgender community thinks of it, I'm not trans. But beyond that, I just love that people see it and go away. I'm allowed to laugh like I can have a good time. It's, it's relieving for them. And I think you probably know this too, as the podcast host. The number one thing you constantly hear from entrepreneurs is fear is the thing blocking them. Everybody has fear about moving forward or doing the next thing. And it kind of cuts away at the fear of you laughing. Like, he can't really be that scared. If you're, if you're rolling in it, you know?

Gresham Harkless 8:33

Yeah, yeah, I've never been too scared when I was laughing. So I think that makes perfect sense. And I'm laughing too much sometimes. But that's really different. So now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or a book or a habit that you have, or maybe a little bit more about your community that you can tell us but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient as an entrepreneur in business.

Jill Salzman 9:00

There are so many things I've learned over the years. And I hate to use a word that we like and that we hate that we like to hate in the business jargon world. But systematizing has made things so easy for me and I didn't use to understand what that was.

But for me, at least, every time I figure out something it's really tedious for me to do, I figure out how to make it so much easier or get it off my plate and give it to a virtual assistant. Actress life is that much easier and running a business is that much more enjoyable. And I need a lot of things systematized because we got a lot of content that we're constantly producing.

So yeah, just making sure it all runs really smoothly is tough, but if you systematize it's way easier. Can we think of a different word for that? I don't even like the word but no. These happen routinely. And regularly and consistently.

Gresham Harkless 9:53

Yeah, that's almost as fine. They just put a Yeah, but ing in the back of everything. Sometimes that helps to monetize Sounds a little bit better than systematizing. Right?

Jill Salzman 10:02

Okay.

Gresham Harkless 10:03

A better word to buy? All right? No, I think that makes perfect sense. It's funny because a lot of times when you're running a business or you're looking at a business, you forget that they're made up of systems. So a lot of times those businesses that are most successful when you break down and distill everything down, you realize the systems and their steps by which everything's done to be successful.

Jill Salzman 10:21

And the way you just said, it reminds me that the easiest way I've learned to do it is just go grab a pad of sticky notes, and just start writing each thing that you do each step and just put it on your wall, and just walk yourself through it. And you'll just don't do that for a week. And you'll realize the entire system or the way that the system should run.

Gresham Harkless 10:40

There you go, there you go. As you see on my wall, I have a bunch of stuff up there. Right on time. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this might be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice that you might have. Or if you can happen to a time machine. What would you tell your younger business?

Jill Salzman 10:59

Oh, well, I feel like I got two different answers for you. If I happen to be that machine and met myself 10 years ago, I would say, I would just yell at myself to have a lot more patience. I had no patience for years. And nobody worked fast enough. For me, nothing was done on time, nothing was done quickly enough. And I have learned that it really does pay. I mean, patients really is a virtue, why fight it?

So I would tell myself to slow down. Not actually that's not true. I wouldn't say slow down. I would just say if I'm doing everything at lightning speed. Just know that it will, it will happen. It will come we will do anything you ask because. I have a different answer for it. Oh, but I would tell just like the thing or the phrase or that piece of advice I would offer most people I just like to plagiarize Nike. Just do it. Don't think about just do it. No, not doing it.

Gresham Harkless 11:56

There you go, especially in business you have to do, there are no entrepreneurs as real entrepreneurs are out there and entrepreneurs take action.

Jill Salzman 12:03

Yeah. 1,000%?

Gresham Harkless 12:05

Absolutely. Well, let me ask you this. So what made you What made you do you feel made you be more patient? Was there something that kind of forced that or just kind of manifested itself over time? You just look back and say, Maybe I should have just, cut myself some slack.

Jill Salzman 12:20

I mean, I probably said that to myself every day for a long time. No, I don't think it was a big event. I think it was over time, being able to have enough time working in entrepreneurship that I started being able to look back in hindsight and see oh, man, well, that didn't happen until this date. Oh, wait, that next thing I was waiting for didn't happen for two years.

The best example I can think of on the fly right now is that. I did a TED talk as you could set at the beginning on 11/11/11. So a long time ago, in 2011. And I thought at the time, I was obsessed with TED talks, and I just thought, Oh, I did one, forget it. I'm done. I can retire, I'm gonna be so famous. I thought all of the positive things about it. And then it was sort of like crickets, nothing happened. After year one, nothing. Six years later, the COO of Facebook and the founder of the lean-in organization, Sheryl Sandberg. I don't know how she found it. Somehow she found my TED Talk. And six years later, she put a giant photo of me and her newsletter to millions of her members. Just talking about it was Mother's Day.

So just talking about the title of my TED talk is why moms make the best entrepreneurs. And I just remember, at that moment, even thinking six years, who if you had told me in your two that something was coming out of this, I would never have thought you were right. So I've learned the hard way and the long way that patients really do pay off. But all of this stuff takes time.

Gresham Harkless 13:51

Yeah,

Jill Salzman 13:51

I hate it. But it's true.

Gresham Harkless 13:54

Yes, the law of the universe sometimes, but it's like your overnight success. Right and secure overnight success. It sounds like. Absolutely.

Jill Salzman 14:02

An overnight success. That's gonna be my next book title.

Gresham Harkless 14:05

There you go. Awesome, awesome, awesome. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question. And it's the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show to kind of look at see what it means to be a CEO, what it means to be an entrepreneur, what it means to be a business owner, but I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Jill Salzman 14:23

CEO, to me, means freedom. It's just the freedom to do stuff when I want to do it, how I want to do it. I guess the negative answer to that is the flip side controls. It's freedom and controls all at the same time. And I love it all because you just get to do your thing when you want to do it when you need to do it at your speed. And, I've worked in corporate America, I've worked in other places. I would never trade this for the world. And I used to joke well if you paid me five mils, maybe I'd give this up. I don't think I would. It's just so much freedom. It's amazing. I love it.

Gresham Harkless 15:02

Yeah, absolutely. That makes sense. And a lot of people are driven by that freedom when they decide to start something because it lets you create whatever you desire to create, not what somebody else is telling you to create. So an incredible definition.

Jill Salzman 15:13

Yeah. No, I'd rather be a prisoner of my own ideas than somebody else's.

Gresham Harkless 15:18

I love it. That's a T-shirt. that's a T-shirt I did. Well, I appreciate you Jill what I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and our listeners know. And also like how they can find out about your book that just went live and all the awesome things that you're doing, including your podcasts and of course finding out more about the community.

Jill Salzman 15:40

Yes, thank you for asking. I would love it all. If you guys go to foundingmoms.com you'll pretty much find everything there. The podcast is called Breaking Down Your Business that has its own URL, breakingdownyourbusiness.com, but foundingmoms.com you can find my books, you can find all of our offline exchanges, you can find our online FMC portal everything ever known to womankind or mom kind is there.

Gresham Harkless 16:06

Awesome, awesome.

Jill Salzman 16:07

And I got Founding Mom all over the socials come to find me.

Gresham Harkless 16:11

Okay, absolutely. And what we'll do is we'll have those links in the show notes just so that anybody can follow up with you. But Jill, I truly appreciate you. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Jill Salzman 16:21

All right.

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