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[00:00:02.20] – Intro

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.

[00:00:29.80] – Gresham Harkless

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 Jessica Alexander of Operation Evolve. Jessica, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:38.70] – Jessica Alexander

Thank you so much for having me.

[00:00:41.70] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. Before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Jessa Jessica so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Jessica is a brand strategist, author, speaker, and the founder of Operation Evolve and Boss Babes Brunch Tour. This Montgomery, Alabama native was motivated to start her business after struggling to connect with her dream career and purpose after graduating from college. She eventually found her lane in branding and marketing, leading several companies, and international brands such as Verizon, Nissan, Windows, and Diageo. At twenty-sixteen, she founded Operation Evolve and has empowered thousands across the country to gain clarity, discover their passions, and walk in their purpose. Jessica, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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[00:01:23.79] – Jessica Alexander

I am ready.

[00:01:25.09] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Let's do it. So to, kick everything off, I wanted to kind of rewind the clock and say it takes us back to twenty-sixteen or even further, back. Tell us a little bit more about your CEO story so that you get started with the business.

[00:01:36.70] – Jessica Alexander

Okay. We're not gonna go to twenty-sixteen. We're gonna go all the way back to twenty-twelve. Okay. I just wanna go to twenty-eleven. So you've read in my bio that I didn't get my dream job, so I was set for graduation in two thousand eleven. And in my time at college, I went to Auburn University, and I worked in the recruiting department for the football team. So I spent a lot of time in athletics. I interned with the marketing department. So after college, I knew I wanted to work in sports because I loved it. And I actually, had a job opportunity well, an interview opportunity with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and I was so excited. Went down, and had my interview. I thought I killed it. And did not kill it as much as I thought because I was not offered the position. But I was one of those stubborn old millennials who was like, no.

I'll wait around and get my dream job, and I'll just you know, I was working at Olive Garden during college. I was like, I'll just work here until, and, until never came. So I found myself just like, okay. Well, let me just work at this car dealership. Now the logic for all of this is completely off. So it's like, let me work at this car dealership, and I'll just pass this. And it was horrible. I was a terrible car salesperson because going back and forth with you over, like, you know, throwing in an extra thousand dollars, I wasn't trying to do all that. Like, you either want the car, or you don't. So I, actually, at that moment while I was working at the car dealership was when I was in my cubicle, and I was like, you know what? I have so much more to bring to the table in my life as far as, you know, being productive and being a professional is concerned.

So I had the vision for Operation Evolve in the cubicle at the time. My goal was to create programming for college, high school, and middle schoolers, just so that they could have a lot more clarity and focus when it came to their personal and professional lives. And, I got so excited about it. I quit the car dealership and just started sharing this vision with people, and that's when all the questions started coming in. Like, well, how are you gonna do it? You know, who's gonna support it? And I had a lot of a lot of doubt, a lot of fear moving forward. So I actually put Operation Evolve on the back burner for years.

A year later, I started working in, brand branding and event marketing and leading these different campaigns with the companies you listed, like Verizon and Nissan. But, you know, I still had that vision for operation evolve in the back of my head. But two thousand sixteen was, like, my breakout year, and where I just decided to put all that fear behind me and move forward, and that's when I started, going full force with Operation Evolve and Boss Bays Brunch. Awesome. Well, definitely since.

[00:04:20.50] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That's awesome because it's so funny because, I always saw myself working in sports, and I got my master's in sports industry management and things like that. And I always thought that I would be working in sports, but I think sometimes those, I guess those closed doors present other open doors that sometimes we don't even see. And if you just, stop being I I won't say it's just you. It's definitely me being those stubborn millennials where we can kinda see those open doors and we can kinda walk through it and step through our gifts and our passions.

[00:04:47.80] – Jessica Alexander

Exactly. Like, it's so important to like, perspective is everything. So even when you think something bad has happened to you, you have to see that there's you know, there are other open doors that are gonna be there for you. It's gonna help you push you further along your purpose journey.

[00:05:02.39] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper. Can you take us through a little bit more about what you're doing with Operation Evolve and Boss Babe's, brunch tour as well?

[00:05:11.60] – Jessica Alexander

Yes. So Operation Evolve has done exactly what the name says, and it has evolved. I started out doing a lot of community-focused events. It was, it's a for-profit, company, and, like, we're filed as an LLC. But I did a lot a lot of community-focused events. But what I found was that my experience in leading these different campaigns for these, you know, these companies with these huge budgets really gave me a lot of industry insight for entrepreneurs that most smaller businesses didn't have. So what I started doing was taking all of that, all that information and all of the different tools and knowledge that these brands use to grow their business and get themselves positioned in front of their target audience.

I now teach that to, newer entrepreneurs who are, you know, five or fewer years of business. And I do that through one-on-one coaching. I do digital resources, and then also I do it through live events, which is where the Boss Faves brunch tour comes into play. And, so basically Boss Baves brunch tour is the premier networking and empowerment branch for women entrepreneurs, creatives, and leaders. In two thousand and sixteen, I started the event mainly because in my hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, there just weren't really too many opportunities for women who would like me to get tools and resources to grow their brand.

And with the being the city being like a small big city, a lot of times trying to grow your business and network and connect comes down to who is in your current network, so it made it difficult to get through a few doors. But even with knowing that I knew that there were a lot of people who needed the they needed the information. They needed the network. They needed that safe space where they could grow and develop their brand. So that's why I started the event, in twenty sixteen, and, it's it grew from twenty sixteen to twenty seventeen. In twenty eighteen, I had a crazy idea of just driving across the country and hosting the event in several cities. So, I had two events in Alabama, and in May, I just packed up all of my stuff into my Altima and started driving across the country, and I hosted it in twenty-four different cities.

[00:07:20.39] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. No. I absolutely love that. It is so funny when you just, start out with kind of, like, an idea of what you wanna create, and then you start to create it. And sometimes, I always say the best things are kinda created for ourselves. And then once you create it for yourself, you find out so many other people need it and then flock to it and you get to be in forty Right. Or twenty-four other cities in one year as well too.

[00:07:41.60] – Jessica Alexander

Yeah. And the crazy thing is, like, as I was driving, that was, like, the one thing I realized. Like, it didn't even matter if I was in the south or in the Midwest or out west or wherever. Like, there are people, especially when it comes to entrepreneurship and especially when it comes to black women entrepreneurs, you know, with that being the fastest growing demographic is that you know, even with that, statistic, you know, there's also another stat out there saying that a lot of the black women-owned businesses are the number one, businesses that are shutting down. So, you know, if you don't have those tools and you don't have the resources and you don't have the network and you're you feel alone and you feel like you have to do everything by yourself, then, you know, a lot of times it's easier just to, you know, call it quits and go back to, you know, your old job or go back to something that's a little more comfortable and a lot less stressful because the entrepreneur can be it can be a lot sometimes.

[00:08:37.50] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. It very often is, and it's definitely like a roller coaster ride, to say the least. And I think that, as you said, I mean, having those resources or not even knowing about the resources that are available to us, I think is, you know, huge. But that kind of networking relationship piece that you talked about as well too is huge because I think anytime you go through any difficulty, but especially, you know, when you're running a business and doing those things, you feel like you're by yourself. You feel like you're the only one who made that mistake or did, you know, so and so or don't know how to price yours. All these different things. Right. But to be able to lean on a community and say, I'm not the only one. And this maybe even hearing from somebody how they figured it out is definitely a huge thing.

[00:09:16.00] – Jessica Alexander

Exactly. And that's why, like, when it comes to the events, you know, a lot of grievances that I hear with women saying that they go to these events, and they just hear people talking about their success story and just, you know, now I'm a millionaire, and it's just like, I want to hear the tools. Like, give me the step-by-step. So, you know, at every single event, I always say that it's more than mimosas at Boss Babes brunch tour. We make sure that we have speakers and workshops and, you know, even vendors who have tools and resources and experience to share that's gonna be applicable, like, the very next day. Like, you should be able to go home from the Boss Bapes branch tour event and be able to implement at least three things to help you grow your brand.

[00:09:57.00] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. It's absolutely huge. It's being able to, of course, hear the success, but being able to get kind of, like, the road map, of that success too because you can't always guarantee success, but you can get yourself as close as possible to being successful and knowing about those tools, having that network. Right. Being able to lean on experts like yourself is definitely a great way to do that. So

[00:10:14.39] – Jessica Alexander

Absolutely. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

[00:10:15.29] – Gresham Harkless

So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you personally or your brands, but what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:10:25.10] – Jessica Alexander

I think that what makes me unique is that I've always my mom always called me a jack of all trades, master of all. Even though it says master of none, she will always say master of all. And I'll say, like, from growing up, I've always had my hands in different things. I like the fact that I'm an entrepreneur. Like, I wouldn't have even guessed it as a child. I grew up as a musician. Like, I play piano and clarinet. I sing just enough to get me by. But that was, like, what I did growing up. And even in college and even up until now, I spend a lot of my time on stage, whether it be performing, whether it be in pageants.

And then even when I started working on these different brand campaigns, I focused on so many different demographics. So when it comes to engaging with clients and when it comes to me working with people, I feel like the thing that sets me apart is the fact that I've had experience in so many different industries. And one of the things that I appreciate most about myself is just the ability to communicate with anyone. You know, regardless if you're five or ninety-five, I feel like there's a common thread that ties everyone together.

One of my main focuses throughout this life has always been to find the missing piece or the piece that connects me to another person because I just think that we all have so many different parallels. And, you know, as different as we might think we are, there's always one common thread that ties us together. That's why I like working with so many different people, but just bringing that in addition to my industry experience is what sets me apart from my clients.

[00:11:56.20] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I absolutely love that. And I think, yeah, a lot of times when you sit down and you talk with somebody, you drill down and have a conversation, you realize how, similar and alike we are rather than highlight the differences that we often will sometimes hear or see. But, I think that's huge. And I and I don't know if you feel this, but I always felt like some of the best entrepreneurs are people that are able to or have experience in so many different ways because I think when you're able to look at, you know, a problem or solve that problem, you're not just looking kinda like a from a one-way vantage point. You're looking at all those different experiences, and it only helps you be able to kinda be more creative.

[00:12:30.10] – Jessica Alexander

Right. Right.

[00:12:31.79] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have. Might be some of those tools of the trade you mentioned before, but what do you feel kinda helps make you more effective and efficient?

[00:12:46.60] – Jessica Alexander

Well, I like I shared with you because I do like to do a lot of things, I'm one of the people who constantly have several projects going on, and, you know, can find myself, like, having an idea and having a million ideas in a weekend feeling like I need to execute all of them at once. So what I've learned is to just kinda draw things back and be realistic about my time bonds, but also to dedicate some focused time throughout the day. Now I have not gotten my system one thousand percent perfect because I am a work in progress. But one thing I have learned that has helped me be extremely efficient was just assigning my minutes of the day to certain tasks.

[00:13:31.29] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client, maybe around brand strategy, or it might even be something, if you hopped into a time machine, you tell your younger business self.

[00:13:46.29] – Jessica Alexander

Alright. Now this is actually my quote, and it is, you don't have to know every step. You just have to take one.

[00:13:54.10] – Gresham Harkless

Well, now I wanted 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, Jessica, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:14:05.10] – Jessica Alexander

Being a CEO to me, means stepping out and doing something out of the norm, being a leader in your industry, being a risk taker, and being someone who wants to lead an organization, lead people in a way that that better impacts their community and better impacts their industry.

[00:14:26.70] – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. And I think a lot of times it takes that courage and that boldness, for lack of a better word, to be able to see those changes. And I think as you said and spoke to that leadership aspect is sometimes you're not gonna see the path and see the steps that you said, you know, so eloquently in your quote. A lot of times, you just gotta take the action, and and then you'll start to see and blaze those trails that other people will follow you.

[00:14:47.60] – Jessica Alexander

Right.

[00:14:48.70] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Jessica, truly appreciate that definition. I 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, and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all awesome things you're working on.

[00:15:03.39] – Jessica Alexander

Alright. Well, I'll start with the last part. You can just get in touch with me, on Instagram, Jessica c Alexander. Also, you can visit operation evolve dot com just to get some information about upcoming courses, and upcoming events, probably more virtual because of COVID. You know?

[00:15:24.60] – Gresham Harkless

Yes.

[00:15:25.00] – Jessica Alexander

But just, again, go and find out all the information about events, classes, and also how to schedule a consultation with me, and just see about all operations involved going on. We're doing a lot.

[00:15:36.89] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And we'll definitely have the links and information in the show notes. And I truly appreciate you and all the awesome things you're doing. I hope you have a phenomenal rest

[00:15:44.70] – Outro

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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