IAM389- Serial Entrepreneur Works With Clients to Build Brand Evangelism and Social Impact

Moni Jefferson is a serial entrepreneur and Active Duty Air Force Spouse. Moni is the owner of Dog Tags and Heels, a PR and social media agency where she works with national and celebrity clients to build brand evangelism and social impact. Most notably with Blue Star Families, Heroes at Home, and The Rosie Network. Also known for her work in the tech space, Moni has created and raised Capital for her three Military lifestyle apps MilCam, MilEmoji, My Ultimate PCS.

Founder of MilSpouse Creative the global networking community for MilSpouse entrepreneurs full of mentorship and resources. Moni's most recent venture, AMSE (Association of Military Spouse Entrepreneurs) connects MilSpouse influencers and freelancers with organizations who want to make an impact with their products and services in the military community.

Moni is married to Roy, best friend for 22 years and has 3 kids that keep her busy and is a daily reminder to be grateful for the little things. She enjoys spin, traveling and snuggling with her kids.

• CEO Hack: Shift CRM
• CEO Nugget: Be more transparent and authentic about your journey
• CEO Defined: Being a good leader and making high impact

Website: https://www.monijeffersonpr.com/

MilSpouse Creative and Entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/themilspousecreative/
MilSpouse Creative: https://www.instagram.com/milspousecreative/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moni-jefferson-9a552755

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Transcription

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INTRO 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

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Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I've Moni Jefferson of Dog Tags and Heels. Moni, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Moni Jefferson 0:38

Hi, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

No problem super excited to have you on and what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about money so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Tony is a serial entrepreneur and Active duty Air Force spouse, Moni is the owner of Dog Tags and Heels a PR and social media agency where she works with national and celebrity clients to build brand evangelism and social impact. Most notably with Blue Star Families heroes at home and the Rosie network.

Also known for her work in the tech space Moni has created and raised capital for her three military lifestyle apps MilCam, MilEmoji, and My Ultimate PCS., founder of male spouse creative the global networking community for MilSpouse entrepreneurs full of mentorship and resources. Moni his most recent venture of AMSE association of military spouse entrepreneurs, connects male spouse influencers and freelancers with organizations who wants to make an impact with their products and services in their military community.

Moni is married to Roy her best friend for 22 years and has three kids that keep her life busy. And as a daily reminder to be grateful for the little things. She enjoys spinning, traveling, and snuggling with their kids. Are you ready to speak to the IAMCEO Community?

Moni Jefferson 1:52

Yeah, why not?

Gresham Harkless 1:54

Let's do it. So you're doing some awesome things. No problem and I wanted to kick everything off, we hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you to get started with all your business and your ventures?

Moni Jefferson 2:04

Yeah, so I am a military kid. I married an Air Force guy. Well, we married and then my husband joined the Air Force with the military who moved every three years. So I dabbled in work here and there a couple of MLMs started groups. And I just it was my season. I had kids and they stayed home for 11 years. And I really enjoyed that season. At that time.

I went to school for PR and communications and I got a degree. But I didn't use it. I just knew it was something that I needed to have for my future. But I didn't know why. Because at the time, I was in the season of just building a family and supporting my spouse as he built his Air Force career.

So I think in 2014, my husband deployed for a year. And I started to dabble a little bit into like, what the entrepreneur's freelance space was I was like, What is this new phenomenon? Like, I just thought it was really cool. Facebook was out and there were all these groups. So I started a blog and the blog was gone, tagged in heels.

It was sharing my military life experience as a spouse raising kids on this journey, right? I quickly realized that it just was not for me. There were other bloggers already doing it. And they were doing it very well. But I just didn't want to write all the time. Because if I write it's always like an exclamation, bold, Asterix, Asterix, Asterix, everything I talk about, I'm really excited.

So I just, felt like it just was not a really good fit for me. So it did well, I worked for a couple of really great agencies or military communities that hired me for their blogs and things. And then we moved to Maryland. And I realized that my youngest Tiberius at the time was going to be going to pre-K. And I was like, Oh, what do I do with all my time?

Like, how can I be a stay-at-home mom, and there's nobody to mom? What am I going to do? So um, I started looking for work. So we moved there, I think it was in 2005. And I started looking for work and was quickly discouraged and deflated. Because everywhere I interviewed, it was a great interviewer.

I was overqualified or qualified and I had the skills that they wanted to bring to the team. But I wasn't getting the jobs. So I was like, man, what's going on? I did start looking at my resume. And I said, Well, it's really gappy. I move every three years. I don't have consistency. It shows you know, like I work at a clothing store, then I worked as an assistant manager somewhere. So there was no there wasn't consistency. And I understand from an organizational aspect when you're hiring somebody want to show commitment and longevity, right?

So I understood that and it was frustrating though, because I had to explain that every time I moved and where I live where I moved, was actually not like the best city ever. So when people ask you why are you here? You couldn't lie and be like, oh, I want it to be close to the beach. or like, I need to be in the city, you knew, like out of military spouse.

So I interviewed for this one company three times, actually. And it was great it was to be the public radio Relations Director of their organization. And they told me, they were just very transparent. And they said, We just can't invest and invest in you right now. Because we know you're going to leave in three years. So that really hit me hard I was, it was really hard for me.

I figured I was never going to get the job that I wanted. I'm never going to be able to practice Public Relations and Communications the way that I want to, and I'm gonna have to start at the bottom every time. So I cried a little bit. So a couple of words got a little angry. And the next day I woke up and started an LLC, just said, you know, what, if other people are not going to add for advocate and invest in me, it is my duty to do it for myself. And if I'm not doing it for myself, I can't expect others to do it. So I quickly started the LLC.

My husband goes, well, what is it that you're going to do? And I said, Well, you know, I don't know, I like social media. So I guess I'll start managing social media. So that's kind of my background and how I got started with my business. And then, of course, I named my LLC dog tags in heels that perfectly fit my lifestyle and quickly started from there just managing social media accounts for local organizations and companies. And I found them through networking, learning how to network online and in person. So long story short.

Gresham Harkless 6:37

No, I definitely appreciate to, you know, for being able to do that. I think that a lot of times, you know, people get frustrated, especially with the job market for whatever reason. And sometimes you feel like you're not finding the particular position that fits you best. And the one you can excel at the most, especially with your expertise, but you've been able to kind of build and create it yourself.

You know, even with, everything you're doing with Mills, valves, creative, you've also been able to build a community where people that are going through those exact same things are able to kind of come collectively together. And I know you were on our CEO chat, podcast as well. So I love kind of everything you've been able to build, not just helping out yourself, but also helping out so many others.

Moni Jefferson 7:14

Yeah, I'm a big believer in bringing people along with you on their journey. I'm not a believer in feast and famine or competition, or not sharing my secrets that have worked for me, because that's just not the type of purpose person that I am. And that's not my moral compass. So for me, I'm always like the biggest giver. Like I'm always trying to bring people along and share and give and connect. Like, that's just the way that I am so yeah, community is really important to me.

Gresham Harkless 7:43

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that. So I wanted to drill a little bit deeper here a little bit more about the different brands that you have about dog tag in heels and mills bass, could you tell us a little bit more about that?

Moni Jefferson 7:52

Okay, so the mill styles creative are dog tags and heels?

Gresham Harkless 7:55

A little bit mix of both, if you can.

Moni Jefferson 7:57

Okay, so actually, they do kind of intertwine with each other. So when I started my business, I realized that there were so when you when you're an entrepreneur, and I know a lot of you can relate to this, you are trying to find as many resources as possible to learn to run and navigate your business in the easiest, most streamlined way. And so I started going online to Facebook groups and about entrepreneurs in different spaces and military spouse groups and different spaces and just trying to find support.

I didn't find one that had both together. And so I said, if I'm struggling, and I'm outgoing, and I know how to network, and I'm doing these things, I know that there are others that are struggling as well. I know that there are others feeling insecure others feeling not enough others feeling impostor syndrome, others feeling unworthy, others feeling confused. And so I created the world's best creative kind of as a maybe like, in a little selfish way for myself so that I could find other people to pick my ideas off of right like, hey, what do you guys using for this to manage this? How are you in taking clients? Do you have advice about bookkeeping? And slowly but surely, that community just has grown.

So we have 1800, global military spouses, entrepreneurs, remote workers, ideal ideation stages, all the way to leveraging I mean, and our hiring spouses. Some spouses have companies that are hiring the spouses that are in the group. So it's it's a melting pot of knowledge, motivation, mentorship, peer to peer-to-peer mentorship, which is the most important because you can be vulnerable with those who are on the same journey or have gone through the same journey as you.

The MilSpouse Creative was created out of my need to find those who were like me and their unique situation. Dog Tags and Heels itself is a virtual PR and social media agency. I work strictly with clients to help them build brand evangelism, which is basically just not paying for ad space, right, like having people believe in your product or service. We're so inundated with ads all the time that it's so important for us to make a deeper income impact, instead of like a wider impact, right? Make sure we're connecting.

So if I have a product or service and you like it, and you're happy with it, and you're happy with my company and my service, you're going to share that with the people in your circle. And then when they need that, then they're going to come to me. So I really focus a lot on on high impact of your product and service with your social media.

That's a little bit about both MilSpouse Creative just evolved into a membership community as well. And that's a place where I can have a high touch impact with the spouses who want to get more one-on-one and who want to co-work with other spouses doing what they're doing. And I bring masterclasses in with experts.

Gresham Harkless 11:01

Nice. Yeah, I definitely appreciate that. And I know we kind of talked, I think the very first time we spoke about like how sometimes you just have to scratch your own itch for something to come out. And then you're just trying to find answers yourself, you start asking people questions, like you were saying pinging other people about different ideas. And all of a sudden, this community kind of evolves from there, I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for you or your organization, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Moni Jefferson 11:26

For me, it is that I narrow down and focus on the people that I serve. When I first started my business, and this is a lesson learned, I did PR for everybody, you know, I was taking any client, just to try to get practice and do all these things. And my secret sauce is just that you need to really figure out and be authentic with who you are and what you're doing. So I was saying my secret sauce is finding exactly who you're supposed to serve, and then serving them, even if they're less than 1% of the population, because they will come.

Gresham Harkless 12:02

I definitely appreciate that. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO. Heck, and this might be an app, a book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Moni Jefferson 12:15

I am addicted to the shift CRM management system, I am in love with it. I have every email. So I have seven, or nine email accounts for different clients and the companies that I own. So it really prevents me from going back and forth on Gmail, it's all there, I see all the alerts all the Facebook pages I manage as well, all the Slack channels, it's all there. So that is my favorite. It is giving me back my time and my sanity.

Gresham Harkless 12:46

Definitely and the most valuable thing is time. So anything that can save you time. And frustration is always a great hack. So I appreciate you for sharing that. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. So you might have already touched on this. But if you could happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Moni Jefferson 13:03

Be more transparent. I think in the beginning, you are looking at what everybody else is doing. And you try to compare yourself. And so you try to put up this facade or this idea image of what you want people to see. And even today, there's still some extent of that. But I feel like I'm more transparent about my journey. My life is not perfect. I'm not perfect. My business is not perfect. We have struggles, I have failed multiple times. And so that's one thing I would say is just to be more transparent, and be authentic.

Gresham Harkless 13:44

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And so now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So what does being a CEO mean to you?

Moni Jefferson 13:55

It means being for me, if you asked me a few years ago, it'd be like just being my own boss. But today, it means just being a good leader, being able to take whatever you're going through or your skills and talent, and making an impact somewhere to help other people and be part of a bigger mission. So a CEO just means being a great leader to me and making a high impact in places that usually wouldn't be recognized.

Gresham Harkless 14:23

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that definition. And I appreciate even the evolution of that definition as well. Because I think a lot of times our businesses, we as people we grow and we evolve, so that's why I always like to ask, you know, they get everybody's perspective and hear exactly what you were thinking. I really appreciate your time and what I wanted to do was pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course how best they can get a hold of you.

Moni Jefferson 14:45

Yeah, so no, I think we've wrapped it all up you've gotten a big dose of my everything, you can find me under monijeffersonpr.com under all social handles, and I think that's it. I'm working on a new project called AMS association of military spouses, and entrepreneurs. And it's an influencer database and network for military brands who want to connect with the military audience in a deeper way.

We're excited, I just launched that one I know like, I don't have enough to do on my plate. I just launched a whole new business, I do have a partner. So that makes it easier. But you know, our community is very much sought after. People want to showcase your products and services because the military community and spouses are tight. If we say trust something, the spouses, you know, we trust it.=

So brands and organizations want to work with us and spouses make a living off of being influencers and doing specific work in that entrepreneur type of remote work. And we just want to be able to provide that place where organizations can come to and hire military spouses for certain things.

Gresham Harkless 16:01

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate you for doing the work. I'm a military brat, as they say. So I appreciate you know, being a part of you know, what you're building and you know, my mom, obviously, as a military spouse, so all of those things that you're building and growing. I truly appreciate you. I appreciate your time today and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Moni Jefferson 16:18

It was great to be here. Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me.

Gresham Harkless 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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