IAM544- Business Coach Helps Women Have a Positive Impact

Jaclyn DiGregorio is a business coach, speaker and best-selling author. As the founder of Clarity and Action Consulting, Jaclyn helps women build successful businesses so they can positively impact their family, their community and the world.

At age 21, Jaclyn started her first business from her dorm room at Georgetown University. Jaclyn has been featured by Forbes, Elite Daily, Bustle and Washington Business Journal, and her book has been featured on Good Morning Washington.

• CEO Hack: My morning routine that keeps changing
• CEO Nugget: Go after failure with excitement and learn from it
• CEO Defined: Being a leader and having structures in place

Website: http://www.jaclyndigregorio.com/

IG: www.instagram.com/jaclyndigregorio
Book on Amazon: Stop Getting In Your Own Way
Podcast: Spark Your Light

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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.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

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 Jaclyn DiGregorio of clarity and action consulting.

Jaclyn, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Jaclyn DiGregorio 0:40

Thank you so much for having me here.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

No problem. Super excited to have you on it. What I want to do is just read a little bit more about Jaclyn so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Jaclyn is a business coach, speaker, and best-selling author. As the founder of Clarity and Action Consulting, Jaclyn helps women build successful businesses so they can positively impact their families, their community, and the world.

At age 21, Jaclyn started her first business from her dorm room at Georgetown University, Hoya Saxa and Jaclyn has been featured by Forbes, Elite Daily, Bustle in Washington Business Journal and her book has been featured on Good Morning, Washington.

Jaclyn, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Jaclyn DiGregorio 1:16

I have never been more ready.

Gresham Harkless 1:18

Awesome. Let's do it. So I wanted to kick everything off and hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Jaclyn DiGregorio 1:25

Yeah, so my CEO story takes me back to a summer internship, my junior year of college in corporate America, what I thought was my dream job. I thought that I wanted to work in marketing for a big company as a lot of young people dream about that corporate ladder that they've always heard about is the dream. A couple of weeks into it, I quickly realized that I was feeling unfulfilled like my opinions and ideas didn't matter and I wanted more. At the time, all I could think about was working a business and just replacing my salary. That was what I thought if I could just make the same amount of money, I could get a job, and I'd be happier working for myself.

So that was the first step. Then as I went through my business journey, my fulfillment and my WHY have shifted as I've grown. I realized different passions. So my first passion was health and wellness and body image after going through my struggles and it shifted more to entrepreneurship when I fell in love with running a business and my why became a lot bigger. So it expanded beyond just myself when I realized that being a business owner, you have the potential to generate wealth and income that can have such an impact. So my WHY has expanded from just myself to wanting to impact my family, my community, and more importantly, the world as a whole.

I have a lot of passions and what's cool about my WHY is that I get to do the same thing for other women. So they then build this wealth in their own life then they can change their family's life, they can change their community, and they can give generously to causes they're passionate about just like I can. So it's this wonderful circle, but it all started just from Hey, I don't like this, I just want to replace this job. Then it kind of unfolded as I began to develop and grow as a CEO.

Gresham Harkless 3:06

Yeah, I definitely appreciate that. I think there's there's so much power in a lot of times, you know, people are not happy, and they're frustrated at whatever position or job or path in life. And a lot of times we forget that we do have the power, a lot of times to make that change, that change doesn't necessarily happen overnight.

Sometimes it's just progressions, you know, day over day time over time, but you know, to be able to do that yourself, but also to be able to empower so many other people to do that. I truly appreciate that.

Jaclyn DiGregorio 3:32

Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 3:33

You're very, very welcome. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper. I know you touched on a little bit, can you take us through exactly how you work with clients and some of the things that you do?

Jaclyn DiGregorio 3:41

Yeah, so I work with female entrepreneurs, primarily women who have been in business for less than two years, who are self-funded, who have a passion and a purpose-driven idea, oftentimes, their brand, so whether they have a product or service doesn't matter. But my clients often kind of are at the forefront of their brands with this story. I take them through everything, from strategy to mindset. I believe that building a business is really holistic and it's a personal growth journey and you need both sometimes.

I've had coaches that have taught me, Hey, these are the steps that really work. That has been transformational because before that I had no idea what to do and felt stuck. But I also really believe that my business success is rooted in mentors and coaches telling me, hey, Jaclyn, you're standing in your way, which is why my new book that just came out is called Stop Getting in Your Own Way because I did that for so long.

My passion is really to help other people do that to move past the blocks and the limiting beliefs that are really holding them back from their full potential.

Gresham Harkless 4:40

Yeah, absolutely. And definitely, I don't know if you can correct me if I'm wrong, but a lot of times it's hard to kind of recognize or see those blocks because we've been living in and we're so close to it that a lot of times we need some people to point out and say, Hey, you're not living to your full potential.

Jaclyn DiGregorio 4:52

It's so hard and oftentimes our brain actually tricks us. I was just listening to a podcast this morning, where the simple question was what do you want? And it sounds like you had no right. Like, of course, you know what you want. The host was James Wedmore. And he said, normally people often go to I don't know because they're actually afraid of what they want. There are a couple things in my business where I think, I'm not sure and when I took just five minutes to just journal about what I wanted, it was clear it was there the whole time.

But I was scared. They were really big dreams that scared me. And so I self-sabotage without even consciously and rationally realizing it, which is scary. So I find that in my clients too, and having a third party to just ask the right questions makes all the difference.

Gresham Harkless 5:37

Yeah, absolutely. I think I've heard something where a lot of times the default, you know, is like, I don't know, or things are going good. If you ask somebody how they're doing, they're going, things are going good. I think sometimes when you have and live in that environment, which a lot of us do because that's usually like the default is that you don't create that opportunity, as you did to journal to look and to ask like, how am I doing? You know, how's the business going?

What do I really want out of life? Am I where I want to be? But if you don't create that time and have somebody to point that out, then it's really difficult to do that.

Jaclyn DiGregorio 6:07

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 6:08

Awesome. Now, I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. It can be for you personally or your organization. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Jaclyn DiGregorio 6:17

Yeah. So over time, over the past couple of years, I have found one word that everyone tells me I have. I thought maybe you know, it's just something I'm picking up on and then my integrator who's sort of like my Director of Operations, she heard people saying it about me, and my fiance, or people saying it about me. It became this word that kind of defines who I am. And the word is “energy.” My whole brand is focused on light and spark. So my coaching program is called Spark Your Light, and my podcast is called Spark Your Light.

I really feel that there's just some sort of energy that every person omits and mine is just this special energy that some people can connect with. The way that I say something resonates with them, and they could hear it from someone else, and it just doesn't click. So I truly believe it's innate, and it's a gift from God from the universe, from whatever you believe in, for the way that I connect and communicate.

I would say, that's my secret sauce that I'm that I'm proud of.

Gresham Harkless 7:17

Yeah, you should definitely be. I was gonna say that, too, when we're talking about how, you know, you went through the progression yourself of figuring out that you weren't happy and how to make those changes and then you started to do that for others it's like that is energy.

Because once you start doing it for yourself, people can start to feel that and it starts to manifest itself in so many different ways and your clients and your speaking engagements and all the awesome things you're working on.

Jaclyn DiGregorio 7:38

Thank you. I appreciate that. You noticed it.

Gresham Harkless 7:40

Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, book or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Jaclyn DiGregorio 7:52

Oh, the morning routine is huge for me. I would say this is the number one thing and I'll tell you that my morning routine changes all the time because I'm always hacking, how can it be even better and even more optimized for me? So I do have a podcast episode on my morning routine. But my morning routine isn't necessarily the same as your morning routine. But what I do recommend is you find what works for you and try different things and most importantly, take time for yourself.

It's really important for me to read and focus on personal development in the morning so that I start my day feeling really good. There's a principle called be do have where essentially, most people think that you need to have the thing, and then you'll do the things and then you'll be that person. But in reality, it works the opposite way. So if I want to have a seven-figure business, I first need to be the seven-figure CEO and then do the things the seven-figure CEO does. Only then will I have it and so every day I get into that person, I take the time to tap into what a seven-figure Jaclyn do.

How does she think how does she act under pressure under stress with hard decisions? And so if I can tap into that abundance, first thing when I started my day, then even though hard stuff comes up, because with every level of success in your business, it's still hard, there's still more challenges, you're still stressed, even about money. I always thought that as I grew, it would just get easier. But now I have employees to support right, so it never ends.

So setting my day up for success by starting with that morning routine. And for me again, it's just a lot of personal development and quiet time really, and taking time to wake up, enjoy my breakfast, and slow down. That is my hack.

Gresham Harkless 9:29

Yeah, I love that. A lot of times when you are the energy by which you create and start your day is how your day manifests itself. That day becomes a week that week becomes a month and month becomes a year and so on. So you have to be very cognizant of that and how you're starting your day. I love how you talked about, you know, becoming who you want to be first and foremost before it manifests itself.

So I think so many times and that might be a block that we have where a lot of times we'll say Oh, once I get x, y, and z then I'll do a b and c but in reality, you have to have that mentality. You have to be that person first. And then it starts to manifest itself in the tangible things.

Jaclyn DiGregorio 10:04

Yes. And it's so easy to say that and just think to yourself every time you hear yourself saying that, like, how can I do that now even as little things as like, once January starts, I'll start exercising, or once you know, things slow down, I'll clean up my office like, no, there's never that it will never come.

So how can you do the things you want to do and be the person you want to be today?

Gresham Harkless 10:27

Yeah, exactly. And it's funny, because once you start to get in that zone, it starts to manifest itself, you start to feel a certain type of way, and then you start doing the actions, and then it starts actually seeing those results. So I definitely, you know, appreciate that that hack.

Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if it can happen to a time machine. What would you tell your younger business self?

Jaclyn DiGregorio 10:49

I would tell my younger business self to go after failure was so much poise and excitement. When you fail, appreciate it, be thankful for it, and learn those lessons. I think that when I first started my business, people told me that I might fail. I was like, Yeah, I'm good. Like, I'm open to that, but I didn't get it, like failure is the only reason you will succeed. I couldn't be more passionate about that. So if you're an entrepreneur, and you're like, afraid of failure, or you're like, I might fail, I get that no, like, be so freakin open to it.

Journal as much as you can about all the lessons you learn and apply them. Because if you don't learn them, you're gonna keep hitting the same failures, the universe is gonna keep sending you those lessons, until you learn them. So I wish that I learned them quicker was more open to failure, and had that winning mindset to just pick myself back up a little bit faster. And I know it takes time to develop. But if I could go back in time, I would cultivate that muscle. I'd like to be open and thankful for failure.

Gresham Harkless 11:51

Yeah, absolutely. I love that. I love how you talked about it as a muscle because I think so many times that when we do have a failure, sometimes we'll ignore the lessons and we will do the same thing over and over again, but often will also kind of, I don't know if I want to use the word cower.

But we won't try anything again, because we failed, not realizing that if we did learn something, then we really succeed right around that. So we just have to go and do it again, maybe in a different way. And we can kind of reach our goals.

Jaclyn DiGregorio 12:18

Right. And it might be like a slight change in your breakthroughs right there. And most people give up right before their big breakthrough.

Gresham Harkless 12:24

Yeah, absolutely. I remember I was listening to a video with Sara Blakely. She talked about how her father used to tell her that he used to celebrate failure. So every day he would ask her like what did she do every day to fail? And when she did something that wasn't successful, he'd celebrate her, congratulate her get her high five.

It created that different mindset that she kind of talked about that we should all have when we think about failure.

Jaclyn DiGregorio 12:48

I love that.

Gresham Harkless 12:49

Absolutely. Now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different, quote and quote, CEOs on this show.

So Jaclyn, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Jaclyn DiGregorio 12:59

I think being a CEO, is being the version of yourself, that has the business that you dream of having. So it doesn't have to mean that you have, you know, 10 employees yet, right? If that's your dream, you want to have a big team, maybe you're a sole entrepreneur, maybe you have one VA, but it's the version of yourself.

That's actually how you act and how you lead. I don't care if you're only leading your customers, it's being a leader. It's knowing what your values are, and having that structure in place because you're being that person for your company to grow into the business that you really want.

Gresham Harkless 13:40

Absolutely. I love that definition because it provides so much power within us to be as we said to be, you start to be that person. And then you start to manifest, you know, whatever vision you have for yourself and for your team and your organization and the impact that we're having.

But you first must be able to be that and you must focus on that first and then the dominoes start to fall from there.

Jaclyn DiGregorio 13:58

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 13:59

Awesome. Well, Jaclyn, I truly appreciate that definition. Appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and listeners know, then of course, how best they can get a hold of you find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

Jaclyn DiGregorio 14:13

Awesome, of course. So one thing that I always like to say when I'm interviewed on podcasts is I don't think it's a quick coincidence that you're listening to this specific episode. You know, in the world of today's media, there's so much you can consume, but you choose to consume this.

And I truly believe that the universe brought you here for a reason. So if you're listening and there's something on your heart, there's something that you want to pursue, there's something that you want to get started on, or you know, a new passion or a new idea within your current business.

I'm here to tell you that this is your sign, do it, go for it. If the desire is in your heart, it's there for a reason. I wholeheartedly believe that it's going to teach you something it's going to take you somewhere that you are meant to be.

So I challenge you to go after whatever it is today that's on your heart. Take the first step even if it's a teeny baby except it doesn't matter. I would love to connect with all of you. Um, you can find me on the Sparker Light podcast, as well as at Jaclyn DeGregorio on all forms of social media and my new book Stop Getting in Your Own Way is available on Amazon.

Gresham Harkless 15:13

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Again, Jaclyn. I truly appreciate you for reminding us of that and giving us a reminder that we are listening to a sign right now and are seeing and signing up to watch the video but we will have the links and information in the show notes as well so that everybody can follow up with you get a copy of the book, subscribe to the podcast, but I appreciate you for all the energy and the work that you're doing and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Outro 15:36

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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