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Previous Episode: https://iamceo.co/2020/02/08/iam544-business-coach-helps-women-have-a-positive-impact/
Transcription:
Jaclyn DiGregorio Teaser 00:00
So if you are an entrepreneur and you're like afraid of failure or you're like, I might fail, I get that. No. Like, be so freaking 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 and was more open to failure and had. Really winning mindset to just pick myself back up a little bit faster.
Intro 00:27
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 00:54 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 is awesome to have you on the show.
Jaclyn DiGregorio 01:03
Thank you so much for having me here.
Gresham Harkless 01:05
No problem. Super excited to have you on, and what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Jaclyn so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.
And Jaclyn is a business coach, speaker, and bestselling 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.
And Jaclyn has been featured by Forbes Elite Daily Bustle, and 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?
Jaclyn DiGregorio 01:39
I have never been more ready.
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Gresham Harkless 01:40
Awesome. Let's do it. So I wanted to kick everything off and hear a little bit more about what I call your C EO story and what led you to start.
Jaclyn DiGregorio 00:01:47 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 like a lot of young people, dream about that corporate ladder that they've always heard about is the dream and couple weeks into it, I quickly realized that I was feeling unfulfilled.
My opinions and ideas really didn't matter and I wanted more. And at the time, all I could really think about was working a business and just replacing my salary. That was, I thought if I could just make the same amount of money I could at a job, I'd be happier working for myself.
So that was my first step. And then as I went through my business journey, my fulfillment and my why has shifted as I've grown. And I realized different passions. So my first passion was health and wellness and body image after going through my own personal struggles and it shifted more to entrepreneurship when I really 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. And 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 really cool about my why? Instead, I get to do the same thing for other women. So they then build this wealth in their own life, and 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 really wonderful circle, but it all started just from, ‘Hey, I don't like this.' I just wanna replace this job. And then it kind of unfolded as I began to develop and grow as a CEO.
Gresham Harkless 03:26 Yeah, I definitely appreciate that. And I think there's so much power and a lot of times, you know, people are not happy and they're frustrated at, you know, 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. And that change doesn't necessarily happen overnight. Sometimes it's just progressions 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 03:52
Thank you.
Gresham Harkless 03:53
You're very, very welcome. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper. I know you touched on it a little bit. Can you take us through exactly how you work with clients and some of the things that you do?
Jaclyn DiGregorio 04:00
Yeah, so I work with female entrepreneurs, primarily women who have been in business for less than two years and who are self-funded, who have a passion and really a purpose-driven idea.
Oftentimes, they're personal brands, so whether they have a product or a service doesn't really matter. But my clients often kind of are at the forefront of their brands with a story. And I take them through everything from strategy to mindset. I believe that building a business is really. 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, and that has been transformational because prior to that, I had no idea what to do and was 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 own 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 and 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 04:59
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 it out and say, Hey, you're not living to your full potential.
Jaclyn DiGregorio 05:11
It's so hard, and oftentimes our brain actually tricks us. Mm-hmm. , I was just listening to a podcast this morning where the simple question was posed, what do you want? And it sounds like you would know, right? Like, of course, you know what you want. Right. And the host, it was James Webmore, and he said, normally, people often go to, I don't know, because they're actually afraid of what they want.
And I always, there's a couple of things in my business where I think, Hmm, I'm not sure. And when I took just five minutes to just journal about what I actually wanted. It was clear. It was there the whole time, but I was scared. They were really big dreams that scare me, and so I self-sabotaged without even consciously and rationally realizing it, which is really scary.
And 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 05:55
Yeah, absolutely. And I think sometimes I think I've, 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, their things are going good.
And I think sometimes when you have and live in that environment, which a lot of us do, cuz that's usually like the default, is that you don't really create that opportunity as you did to, to journal, to look and to really ask like, how am I doing? You know, how's the business going? What do I really want outta 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 06:25 Absolutely.
Gresham Harkless 06:26 Awesome. Awesome, awesome. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And it could be for you personally or your organization, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?
Jaclyn DiGregorio 06:35 Yeah, so over time, the past couple of years, I found one word that everyone tells me I have. And 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 heard people saying it about me, and it became this word that kind of defines who I am.
And the word is energy. And my whole brand is focused around light and spark. So my coaching program is called Spark Your Light. My podcast is called Spark Your Light. And I really feel that there. Some sort of energy that every person omits and mine is just this special energy that some people can connect with and the way that I say something resonates with them and they could hear it from someone else, and it just doesn't click.
And 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. And I would say that's my secret sauce, that I'm, that I'm really proud of.
Gresham Harkless 07:33 Yeah, you should definitely be. And I, I definitely was gonna say that too. When I, we were talking about how, you know, you went through the progression yourself of, 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. Cuz 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, and you're speaking engagements and, and all the awesome things you are working on.
Jaclyn DiGregorio 07:54 Thank you. I appreciate that you noticed it.
Gresham Harkless 07:56
Yeah, absolutely.
So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a C E O hack. So this could be like an App a book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
Jaclyn DiGregorio 08:08
Ooh, 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 it, like, how can it be even better and even more optimized for me?
And 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. You try different things, and most importantly, you 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, works the seven-figure business first needs to be the seven-figure CEO and then do the things that the seven figure CEO does, and only then I have it.
And so every day I get into that person, I literally take the time to tap into what does 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 start 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. Like I. Thought that as I grew it would just get easier. But now I have employees to support, right? So it never ends. And 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 09:43
Yeah, I love that. And a lot of times when you, or the energy by which you create and start your day, it's how your day manifests itself. And that day becomes a week, that week becomes a month, that month becomes a year, and so on and so forth.
So you have to be very cognizant of that and how you're starting your day. And 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.
And. But in reality, you have to have that mentality. You have to be that person first, and then it starts to manifest itself in tangible things.
Jaclyn DiGregorio 10:17
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.
Yeah. Or once things slow down, I'll clean up my office. Like no. Mm-hmm. , there's never. That it'll never come. So how can you actually do the things you wanna do and be the person you wanna do today?
Gresham Harkless 10:41
Yeah, exactly. And then it's funny cuz 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 to actually seeing those results. So I definitely appreciate that hack. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a C E O 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 11:02
I would tell my younger business self to go after failure with so much poise and excitement. And 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 like, you might fail. And 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 are an entrepreneur and you're like afraid of failure or you're like, I might fail, I get that. No. Like be so freaking 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 and was more open to failure and had that really 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 really cultivate that muscle of like being so open and thankful for failure.
Gresham Harkless 12:05
Yeah, absolutely. I, I love that and, and I love how you, 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'll do the same thing over and over again, but often we'll also I don't know if I wanna use the word coward, but we won't try anything again because we failed, not realizing that if we did learn something, then really success is right around that.
So we just have to go and do it again, maybe in a different way and we can reach our goals.
Jaclyn DiGregorio 12:32
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 12:38
Yeah, absolutely. And I remember I was reading or I was listening to a video with Sarah Blakely and she talked about how her father used to tell her that he used to celebrate failure.
So every day he would ask her what did she do every day to fail? And when she did something that wasn't successful, he'd celebrate her, he'd congratulate her, get her high five. And it created that different mindset as you kind of talked about, that we should all have, when we thinking about failure.
Jaclyn DiGregorio 13:01 I love that.
Gresham Harkless 13:02
Absolutely. So now I wanna 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, Jaclyn, what does being a CEO mean to you?
Jaclyn DiGregorio 13:13
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 wanna have a big team. Maybe you're a sole entrepreneur, or maybe you have one VA, but it's the version of yourself. It's actually how you act, 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 13:51
Absolutely I love that definition because it provides so much power within us to be, as we said, the be, do, have. You start to be that person and then you start to manifest 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 focus on that first, and then the domino start to fall from there. Exactly. Awesome. Awesome, awesome. Well, Jaclyn, I truly appreciate that definition, appreciate your time even more. 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.
Then of course, how best they can get ahold of you. Find out about all the awesome things you're working on.
Jaclyn DiGregorio 14:24
Awesome. Of course. So, one thing I always like to say when I'm interviewed on podcasts is I don't think it's a 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 chose 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 wanna pursue, there's something that you wanna 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's 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 really, really tiny baby step, it doesn't matter. I would love to connect with all of you.
You can find me on the Spark Your Light Podcast as well as at Jaclyn DiGregorio on all forms of social media. And my new book, Stop Getting In Your Own Way, is available on Amazon.
Gresham Harkless 15:24
Awesome. Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much again, Jaclyn I truly appreciate you for, reminding us of that and, and giving us that reminder that we are listening to a sign right now and are seeing a sign if we're watching 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, and subscribe to the podcast. But again, 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 15:45
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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