IAM572- Entrepreneur Helps Build Recession-Proof Businesses

Graduate of Winthrop University with a bachelor's in Political Science, Economics, and Social Science. Started out as a bookkeeper for her father's recycle bumper-cover business; which, is now 6 figures with projections of 7 within the next 1-2 years. Learned more about accounting and finance while working at an investment firm run by foreign investors who invested in the federal government through the EB-5 program. Jessica has always had an entrepreneurial spirit and has been in business for herself since 2018! Her goal is to help small business owners and entrepreneurs build a recession-proof business while financially strategizing multiple business endeavors.

• CEO Hack: Reading with peppermint and holding the wrapper in my hand to retain information
• CEO Nugget: (1) Know who you are before going into business (2) Don't go into business just for money
• CEO Defined: Being a woman of influence who stands for her core values or what she believes and is not afraid to implement them

Website: http://www.honestlyjessica.com/

Instagram: @honestlyjessica
FB: Honestly Jessica

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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 I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Jessica Alston of honestlyjessica.com, Jessica, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Jessica Alston 0:38

Thank you for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:40

Yeah, no problem. Super excited to have you on and what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Jessica so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. She's a graduate of Winthrop University with a bachelor's in political science, economics, and social sciences.

She started as a bookkeeper for her father's recycled bumper cover business, which is now a six-figure is now six figures with projections of seven within the next one to two years, she learned more about accounting and finance while working at an investment firm run by foreign investors who invested in the federal government through the EB five program.

She has always had an entrepreneurial spirit and has been in business for herself since 2018. And her goal is to help small business owners and entrepreneurs build a recession-proof business, while financially strategizing multiple business endeavors. Jessica, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Jessica Alston 1:25

I am.

Gresham Harkless 1:26

Let's do it. So I know I touched on a little bit, but I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story, what led you to get started with your business.

Jessica Alston 1:33

So it was kind of a personal story for me. Growing up, I really never knew how my parents struggled financially until they purchased their first home and 2008. And I saw at that one of their like, Oh, check registers, it just kind of remember, you know, you open your bank account, and you get the checkbook and in the check register. And I found an old one. And it had like a whole bunch of negatives in it. And I never knew that my parents ran the household in a negative.

And so that's when I really started becoming alert about finances. We talked about it a lot growing up. But when my dad started, what was his side business now that's a full time business. He was like, Hey, I can't be out here picking up these bumper covers and coming home, I'm too tired to you know, keep up with everything, can you help me out and it was kind of like a chore. So he paid me for it. So that's how I started out literally just to help him when he was too tired to do the app man. And so I continued helping him throughout college. And I actually was going to school.

So that could be an attorney actually took the LSAT and actually got accepted into law school. But then, of course, life has a different, you know, have a different strategy for you. So I ended up landing with the investment firm after working in insurance. And that investing firm was really what got me interested in accounting and finances, just the fact that people had accountants and had portfolios that were worth millions of dollars to just invest into this EB five federal program. And so when I saw that I was like, really, really intrigued.

Gresham Harkless 3:04

Yeah.

Jessica Alston 3:05

Kind of how I got into it.

Gresham Harkless 3:07

Nice one, I definitely, obviously, already, you know, hear how everything started. But I think that I appreciate you for, First of all, telling us you know about that about that experience. But I think that there's so many of us that don't take that next step as far as getting being empowered being, you know, aware of all the things that are going on, so that when those situations present themselves, and we're able to kind of be armed with, you know, the information and knowledge of how to, to, to approach that.

Jessica Alston 3:32

Yeah, yeah, my dad was like, I don't want you to live in like how we live. And he like really drilled financial literacy into us early on. You know, my parents are two totally different people. You know, my dad's from the south and low country and my mom, she was more city in the Midwest. And so I've taken a lot from both of them when it comes to financial literacy and, and just how you can really expand upon it.

Gresham Harkless 3:56

Yeah, absolutely. What definitely, you know, shout out to your father and mother as well, too, as far as drilling that. And so I wanted to hear a little bit more about you know, what you're doing and how you work with clients. Can you take us through? Exactly, you know, some of the services you provide and how exactly that works?

Jessica Alston 4:10

Yeah, so I provide virtual CFO and accounting services. So my typical client looks like a solopreneur, or a small businesses, a small business that has less than five employees. And all they really want to do is their business. They don't want to focus on their business. They don't want to have to deal with the numbers.

They know that it's important, but they just rather hire or outsource that to a trusting agency to have those weekly meetings so that they're making sure that they're staying on top of everything, but at the same time, things that they want to implement new within their business, they want to make sure that first of all, it's not risk heavy, and that secondly is something that can basically pay for itself once it gets launched and going.

And so I typically, you know, have the consultation and I will really try to learn as much as I can about their business. I usually do research before the consultation as well. And once we have the consultation, and I learn more about their business that out, let them know what I do and see if we're a good fit. And typically, they've been watching me on social media or on facebook or however for a lengthy time, but they kind of already know how I work.

And so usually, it's just that I know I need you, let's get started kind of thing. I really haven't had any clients that really had to think about it. It's like, No, I know, I need you. This is what you do. I've seen you doing. I've been watching you on social media, and I love what you do. I love the consistency, let's work together. And so it's really just making sure that entrepreneurs and business owners really maximize everything that they want to do within their business without having taken too many risky financial moves.

Gresham Harkless 5:47

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I appreciate you for touching upon that, because I think so many times, especially in this day and age, we as consumers have so much accessibility to potential businesses and organizations, we want to work with it. A lot of times, by the time you talk to somebody, they've already done a tremendous amount of research and due diligence. And you know exactly what it is.

And I think, you know, when you do work with clients, I think at the heart of the business, it's not, you know, I guess getting rid of all risk because that's nearly impossible to do in business or definitely in life. But it's just reducing it as much as possible. And I think if you have people on your team, and kind of minds, you can kind of, you know, drill into it and learn from you can reduce that likelihood, a risk, and that helps to increase the likelihood of success.

Jessica Alston 6:29

Yes, it does. It does. I think there are a lot of things that our businesses are able to do with the right strategy and the right implementations.

Gresham Harkless 6:37

Absolutely. And I wanted to ask you for what I call now your secret sauce, and it could be for you personally or your business. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Jessica Alston 6:45

I tackle your personal finances, too. So a lot of entrepreneurs or people who want to go into business, see the Glory Five version of everything, but they don't nearly think about how you handle your personal finances transfers over into how you handle your business finances. So if you are bad at handling things at home, then you're probably gonna be bad at handling things for your business as well. So I usually kind of have like a man in the mirror type speech with them, and ask them, you know, How are things at home?

Is there anything that you would like, you know, to change? And usually, of course, it's a touchy subject, and a lot of people are not open to it. But I had that conversation because it would be less of a struggle. And we'll know what path we need to go down and everything is out on the table upfront. You know, if you're getting ready to file bankruptcy personally, then what makes you think that your business will be successful, you know, so, along with that, I also have like, kind of like having some type of met, mentorship, but like closeness, in a sense to where I can be leaned on at any given moment.

It's kind of funny because I feel like I'm a lot older than I really am because of the life experiences that I've had. So there's pretty there's kind of not too many things I haven't experienced already. So if I can be a resource to where I can stop and or prevent you from making a bad decision, then that's what I'm going to be. First and foremost, I believe that I was placed on this earth to serve, and then perform. So I'm going to serve first. And if that means I have to serve you personally, before I serve you professionally, then that is exactly what I'm going to do.

Gresham Harkless 8:26

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I think you definitely probably know this better than anybody when we're talking about things like finances, whether we're talking about business or personal. I think it's a very kind of, I don't know, intimate topic. And a lot of times you need to have that relationship, you need to have that trust. And sometimes it may not be the direct financial Oh, should I, you know, how should I file my 1099 It might be something related to something personal. And but once you're able to kind of build that rapport in that relationship, then it starts to manifest itself. And those you know, this is how you found your 1099 or whatever.

Jessica Alston 8:58

Yeah, yeah, and the thing is, is because it was Jordan, to me growing up is that financial literacy part. A lot of people only think of the creative aspect of the business, but never think about how to really run a business. So I think that literacy is important, because it's no good for me to come to these meetings. And um, you know, we're showing you your statements, and I'm giving you your forecasts, and we're looking at all of these spreadsheets that you understand nothing that's in front of you.

So I want to be able to teach along the way so that if anybody else comes to you and ask, you know, you know how to debt to income ratio when it comes to personal things, you understand exactly what they're saying. So I'm not, I'm not going to be an individual that's going to, I don't want to withhold any knowledge I want everyone to grow and to learn. I think that's how everyone elevates in life in general.

Gresham Harkless 9:50

Definitely appreciate that. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective?

Jessica Alston 9:59

More effective, funny enough, peppermint.

Gresham Harkless 10:04

Okay.

Jessica Alston 10:05

I don't know if you've ever heard of sucking on a peppermint and holding the wrapper in your hand.

Gresham Harkless 10:11

I haven't.

Jessica Alston 10:14

She retained information a lot more. I'm a huge book nerd, I have like a mini library in my office right now. And so typical books that I lean towards are like, you know, motivational spiritual books, but then there are business books. Then I have more of leisure books; that shelf is kind of slimmer than the other ones. But whenever I'm reading, like a business book, or a spiritual book, I always either drink a peppermint tea, or I stick on a peppermint, and I'll have the wrapper in my hand. And as I'm writing the note it helps retain the information a lot more.

Gresham Harkless 10:44

Now, when it asked me for what I call a CEO, that could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice, it could be around financial kind of advice. But what would you tell your younger business self, or maybe even a client or something along those lines?

Jessica Alston 10:56

So, a business nugget that I would say is, don't go into, and that is probably something we've all heard before. But honestly speaking for me in the community that I serve, a lot of people  know who they  are first, before going into business.  Also, do not go into business only for money. I'm a service-driven person, and serving people is what fulfills me rather than money. Money can be made. And it can be spent faster than we can think.

But serving and having that personal relationship and that connection is more important. And knowing who you are, before you start to serve, will help you target your audience a lot faster and better than not knowing. I rather say no to 10 clients before I say yes to that one. And that is because I know who I am. And because of the type of service that I want to provide, I know who I need to serve.

Gresham Harkless 11:58

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I'm really big on, you know, I used to say knowledge of self is probably the best knowledge that you can have. If you have information on yourself, you know, who you work best with. Sometimes, if you need to have peppermint near you, when you learn stuff, this little thing like that, it sounds like it's so small, it doesn't really matter.

But those things start to add up, especially when you're running a business and you're juggling so many different things and being pulled in so many different directions, you have to be able to kind of lean on self and know who self is so that you can you know, not only, make sure that you're in a great place, but you're also able to serve to the best level and best degree that you're able to do.

Jessica Alston 12:35

Yes, and it's so easy to especially if you're a solopreneur you're constantly on the grind. And so sometimes you constantly hit walls, even like oh my goodness, man, like, are the people that I want to reach or the people that I want to serve really out there. But that's when you have to kind of come back to yourself and say, No, I know who I am. I know why I'm here, it's going to come, I just need to stay on the path. And I think people kind of they kind of give up on themselves before they really get started. And I would advise them not to and I know, it is easier said than done. Trust me, I have had two failed businesses before this one.

So I get it. But stick with it. Knowing who you are, and knowing who you want to serve, those three things will take you further than anything else in your business, customer service and proper customer service and service to others in the sense of not seeking anything in return will be the character and will be the trait in which your community would know you by and I would rather my community know me as somebody that will help you first before asking for anything in return than anything else.

Gresham Harkless 13:51

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I think those are things that stand the test of time was talking about being recession-proof and being the person that is providing value and the resource to go to and to be able to have that kind of long-term brand or focus or whatever that might be, I think stands the test of time and allows you to to not just, you know, build and generate revenue today, but helps you to generate revenue to build something established to really make an impact, you know, 10-15-20, however many years down the line as well.

Jessica Alston 14:19

Yes, it does. It makes a huge difference.

Gresham Harkless 14:22

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Jessica, 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 this show. So Jessica, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Jessica Alston 14:33

Being a CEO is being for me, a woman of influence, who not only stands for her true core values and beliefs but also is not afraid to implement them.

Gresham Harkless 14:48

Absolutely.

Jessica Alston 14:49

That to me is what a CEO is.

Gresham Harkless 14:52

I love that and I respect that. And I think that as we kind of touched a little bit of on, you know how fear sometimes can allow us not to take action tonight, take those steps to be so paralyzed that we don't, you know, move forward. I think. I love that definition and that perspective. And definitely that that last part of it as well, too is taking the actions and the steps in order to make that happen, because so many people don't do that. So truly appreciate that, that perspective, and that definition.

Jessica Alston 15:17

Yes, yes.

Gresham Harkless 15:18

Awesome I was right, and I appreciate your time even more. And what I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know. And then of course, how best they can get a hold of you get in contact, and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

Jessica Alston 15:32

Yes, so you can reach out to me My website is honestlyjessica.com which is h o n e s t l y Jessica, je s s ica.com. You can find me on Instagram at honestly Jessica and I also have a business page, honestly, Jessica as well. So I can be reached on any of those platforms. Again, not only am I your virtual CFO and your accountant but I'm also here to be of service. So if that's just with general life things, I am here to help with that as well. But I would love to do it more so with numbers.

Gresham Harkles 16:08

Sounds like a plan and we will definitely have the information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. But thank you for all your words of wisdom, and the value that you provided today, reminding us to do that as well too. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Outro 16:21

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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