IAM2318 – Industry Leader Helps Overwhelmed Clients Take Control of Their Productivity

Jennifer Stewart has been empowering clients with technology since 2011, focusing on reducing frustration with computers, organizing digital systems, and teaching Microsoft programs.

She is also the immediate past president of the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals.

After coaching and refining her approach, she pivoted to business productivity and technology organization, leading to the founding of Gateway Organizers in 2016.

Jennifer emphasizes her unique ability to help clients who are overwhelmed by technology, providing patient guidance to make their digital systems more manageable and efficient.

Jennifer recommends using Slack to reduce internal emails and organize communication, along with time blocking and using a timer to prioritize tasks.

Jennifer shares her experience of managing all aspects of the business and making strategic decisions with her business partner, highlighting values like family and freedom.

Website: Gateway Productivity

LinkedIn: Jennifer C. Stewart

Previous Episode: iam208-industry-leader-helps-overwhelmed-clients-take-control-of-their-productivity

Check out our CEO Hack Buzz Newsletter–our premium newsletter with hacks and nuggets to level up your organization. Sign up HERE. 

I AM CEO Handbook Volume 3 is HERE and it's FREE. Get your copy here: http://cbnation.co/iamceo3. Get the 100+ things that you can learn from 1600 business podcasts we recorded. Hear Gresh's story, learn the 16 business pillars from the podcast, find out about CBNation Architects and why you might be one and so much more. Did we mention it was FREE? Download it today!

Transcription:

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Jennifer Stewart Teaser 00:00

I shifted to business productivity in that realm, really focused on technology, organizing and training and started to realize that working with my clients really made me excited.

I felt like I was making a difference, they were happier, life was easier for them, and that really felt like my purpose. And it really was the right things.

Intro 00:22

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 00:47

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 Jennifer Stewart of Gateway Productivity. Jennifer, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Jennifer Stewart 00:57

Thank you. I'm glad to be here.

Gresham Harkless 00:59

Super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Jennifer so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Jennifer Stewart has been patiently empowering her clients to understand their computers and technology tools since 2011.

She teaches her clients to reduce computer frustration and disorganization, eliminate email overwhelm, and understand Microsoft programs.

Jennifer is a recognized industry leader and is the immediate past president of the St. Louis Chapter of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals. Jennifer, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Jennifer Stewart 01:32

I sure am. Thanks for having me.

[restrict paid=”true”]

Gresham Harkless 01:34

Awesome. Thanks for coming on. And what I want to do is kick everything off to hear about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Jennifer Stewart 01:41

Yes. So I think like a lot of entrepreneurs, I was in the corporate world and I was in a financial management firm and it was becoming more and more corporate and coming home overwhelmed, overworked, and dealing with traffic. I'm not a traffic person.

And so I really felt like I wasn't making a difference to anybody in the world. And I wanted to have the freedom to make my own schedule and also have the time to volunteer and feel like I was making a little more difference in people's lives, not only in work, but in the world.

And so that's when I decided to start a professional organizing company. Yes, professional organizing exists. A lot of people ask me that. It is a thing.

And so my first company was organizing by Jennifer, and I figured out pretty quickly that organizing was not my thing as far as organizing homes.

So I worked with a business coach and figured out that organizing people's computers and helping them and training them on computers and their software and their computers was really my thing.

So I shifted to business productivity in that realm, really focused on technology, organizing and training, and started to realize that working with my clients really made me excited.

I felt like I was making a difference, they were happier, life was easier for them. And that really felt like my purpose, and it really was the right thing.

So moving forward, in 2016, I actually closed that company and created a new one called Gateway Organizers. And I had two business partners at the time.

Since then, one has left and the other one. And I, the other business partner and I have shifted focus, really laser focused into productivity, business productivity, specifically small business productivity, even.

And we've changed to Gateway productivity because that made a lot more sense for us. We've moved away from any kind of organizing in home or business.

We can help a little bit with that, but we really like to focus on helping with processes and getting things done in the company. And so that's what we're doing. And we love it.

Gresham Harkless 03:43

Yeah, absolutely. And it's great to hear. Like, it kind of seems like you had a natural talent or a gift and you made one small little pivot from moving and doing homes and to actually helping out businesses.

And all of a sudden, it kind of opens up all these opportunities. So sometimes it reminds me of, sometimes you're closer than you think, and sometimes you think you need to make a wholesale change.

But it's the one little small shift, and all of a sudden, everything changes.

Jennifer Stewart 04:05

Exactly. I had opened an organizing company and I was like, oh, no, but I don't want to do home organizing. Well, you just shift it. And now it's technology organizing.

And then, now, since then, I've been able to move away from the word organizing in the company so people don't get confused.

Gresham Harkless 04:20

Right, right. And definitely helps these small businesses to definitely move the needle. Because being efficient, being organized is definitely of extreme importance to be able to, like you said, get things done, which is what we are all trying to do. Absolutely.

And I know you touched on it a little bit. Could you drill down a little bit deeper on how you're helping out these small businesses and some of the things that you're doing?

Jennifer Stewart 04:37

Yeah, definitely. So our company provides services exclusively, and we focus on. In the broad sense, it would be productivity consulting is the way I usually explain it.

And then obviously I have to go deeper than that. So my business partner focuses on ADHD and productivity coaching, so she helps people one on one.

Usually over the phone and helps them. It's usually small business owners, entrepreneurs who have a place they want to get to and they just can't figure out how to get there.

Either their ideas are too big and they can't drill down or they have too much going on, they're overwhelmed. They just can't be productive because of everything going on.

So she helps with that piece. We both go into team situations or larger companies, and if you've got a team that's not working well together, the processes aren't in place, or a smaller company that has no processes at all, which is really something we see a lot.

That's where we both would go in and figure out out, is it productivity based where she would need to coach some people or some teams or is it technology based where we need to add some new technology or change technology so we do that for teams.

And then I specifically work usually with small business owners and entrepreneurs on they don't understand their computer. It's confusing, that type of thing.

And I'll talk a little bit more about that when we talk about the uniqueness of what we do.

Gresham Harkless 05:59

Yeah, yeah. And that is definitely great to hear. And kind of, I was visualizing you kind of as like a doctor where it is not that there's one specific that you have to do. You have to download this app and then everything will be fine.

Sometimes it can be the people that are on your team. Sometimes it could be the fact that you're afraid and don't want to touch anything related to technology.

Or maybe it does. It is that app that you need to install. But it could be a number of things that could actually help you to move the needle.

Jennifer Stewart 06:22

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 06:23

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And I know you touched on a little bit, but I wanted to hear about what I call your secret sauce and what you feel kind of distinguishes you and your organization apart.

Jennifer Stewart 06:31

Yes. So the company itself is unique because there's very few of us doing this, this type of thing where we help small businesses improve their productivity and processes.

Another thing that makes us unique as a company is that we're 100% client centric. And what I mean by that is we customize specifically to what the client needs.

We don't come in with any preconceived notions of what the company needs. We are going to figure out with you, do an assessment, what do you need?

And then customize those needs. Whether, as you said, it's an app that we need to add or it's something that we need to eliminate from your process, whatever that might be.

And then we always work with the client. We don't come in and dictate anything. If it's something that the client's comfortable with, great, we'll move ahead. If they say, oh, that's just. I'm not comfortable with that, then we'll figure out a different solution.

And of course, what I do is even more specifically unique because I bring an extremely patient helping hand to small companies who have trouble understanding how to best use their technology.

That's usually where we start. Or they're overwhelmed by their email type of thing, help them get their digital files organized.

All those things that seem so boring to most people I actually think is really exciting and I love it. So that's something that I very rarely hear that people do in their businesses.

Gresham Harkless 07:48

Yeah, absolutely. And that patience and that helping hand is definitely something that's extremely needed, especially related to technology.

Because like most, I wouldn't say most, but some small business owners are definitely overwhelmed with the amount of things that are coming at them.

And trying to understand a new technology or this new update that X, Y and Z and all these things, it just becomes a lot.

So sometimes you do need that patient ear just to understand exactly what you're going through and be able to help you kind of bridge that gap.

Jennifer Stewart 08:13

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 08:13

All right, now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. 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.

Jennifer Stewart 08:22

Great. Yes. I actually am going to cheat. I have two. So the first thing I wanted to talk about is an app, and it's called Slack. A lot of people think this is just a chat within a company, and it is that.

But a huge thing that my business partner and I use that for is eliminating email. Because having the emails going back and forth with a conversation that we're having, then you can no longer keep track of the emails that are coming from people outside the organization.

So Slack really eliminates that need for emailing back and forth internally. And what I really like about it is it helps us organize.

Of course, we're organizers, we love that, and being productive with that. So you can also create what's called channels.

And so that helps you organize your thoughts and talk about specific things in specific places. For example, we have a marketing channel where we just talk about marketing ideas, maybe blog post ideas, things like that.

And then we have one that's called review requests, and you can really call that Whatever you want.

We use that as you need to look at this right now, pick up your phone, look at it. And so that's a huge thing for us.

And then what I use it for also personally is putting reminders in there. You can have. They have what's called a Slack bot, and you tell it to remind you about something at a certain time on a certain day. It'll plug it in and it'll remind you at that time.

And it's huge for helping me remember things that I need to remind my business partner or things I need to do or something to pick up from the store, anything.

So I use that as well. And then my favorite habit that I wanted to talk about is time blocking. And I know a lot of people on the podcast have talked about that, but I think it's so important I want to say it again.

And what time blocking is, is taking things that are important to you for the day that you need to get done and putting them on your calendar or maybe for the week.

What I love about that is if you don't get it done at the time you put it on your calendar, you can move it to another day.

And what's really important there is you're not losing track of those priorities. Instead of them just being on a list, now they're in your calendar.

And now, this is a priority. I need to get it done. And if I need to move it to a different day, that's fine, but it stays a priority for the week.

And then on top of that, I use a timer during those time blocks. And that really, it takes away from you worrying about how long you've been working on something or how much longer you have to work on it, and it makes you more productive during that time frame.

Gresham Harkless 10:52

Yeah, I absolutely, obviously love both of those hacks, just because a lot of times, as a CEO, entrepreneur, and business owner, we have so many things that are going on in our head.

And sometimes if we could just move that out to understanding that this has a delegated time on our calendar or even we can, go through Slack channels.

We have to go through a million emails to kind of get an answer to something. It helps take a lot off our plates and helps us to be more productive and efficient, which is always of the utmost importance.

Jennifer Stewart 11:17

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 11:18

Awesome, awesome, awesome. 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, or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell Your younger business self.

Jennifer Stewart 11:27

Well, the funny thing is I actually had someone I'm mentoring ask me this the other day. So I know exactly what I would say.

And hands down, I would say, be yourself in business and don't try to be something or someone else because you're not going to get the right clients and you're not going to have the right business going on.

You might fill your pockets and fill your bank account, but you won't fill your heart and it won't feel right.

So that's a huge thing that I kind of knew at the beginning. But you have to hear it from someone who's been in business and know that, yes, it's true.

You need to be yourself. Your marketing needs to reflect you and your personality or else the wrong people are going to come to you and you're never going to feel comfortable with your business.

Gresham Harkless 12:11

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And that's why I love the fact that you guys do customized solutions because a lot of times, you hear that somebody does A, B, C, D, E, F, G to be successful, and you're like, okay, I'm going to do the exact same thing.

And yes, you definitely want to have some strategies or things that people have done to be successful, but you have to be true to yourself so that you're attracting the clients that you want, the things that you want.

You're running the business the way that you want, and to be able to be in alignment with that is absolutely huge. So I appreciate that CEO nugget.

Jennifer Stewart 12:39

Yes. Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 12:40

You're welcome. You're welcome. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is a definition of what it means to be a CEO.

And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So, Jennifer, I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Jennifer Stewart 12:51

So when I first saw that you were going to ask that, I was like, well, I don't know. I don't see myself as a CEO.

But then I thought back to when I've heard that mentioned for entrepreneurs in the past, and I've heard somebody say that CEOs should stand for the Chief Everything Officer.

And so that is how I see CEO. I would never use the letter CEO for myself. I don't put that anywhere because it just doesn't feel comfortable. It feels too corporate.

And I left corporate and I didn't want to be in corporate. But the Chief Everything Officer makes a lot more sense. I think for an entrepreneur. I completely agree with that.

For me, being the Chief Everything Officer obviously means being on top of everything, needing to know the finances, the marketing, the sales funnel, how client interactions are happening, all that kind of stuff.

Even having a business partner, I feel like we're both the CEO of the company. We both need to know all of those things.

So it seems overwhelming for someone coming into being an entrepreneur. It seems overwhelming, but it's actually exciting because you control then the direction of the company and all of the moves that the company makes.

And as an example, my business partner and I had a retreat in September of last year and we actually made the decision to make small decisions and make slow growth for a while because of personal circumstances and then also our values, which are really family and freedom and things like that.

So having those things, we decided some small growth and for a while was fine. And what's cool is being the CEO, you can actually make decisions like that. So that's what I love about it.

Gresham Harkless 14:30

Yeah, absolutely. And I love that definition, the Chief Everything Officer, because you do have control of charting the path as you want it to go and making sure, like we talked about earlier, you're attracting the right clients.

You're building an according to your values and things that you want to do from your business. So Chief Everything Officer rings well with me, and I love that definition.

Jennifer Stewart 14:46

Me too.

Gresham Harkless 14:48

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Jennifer, I truly appreciate your time and what I wanted to do was pass you the mic just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and then of course, how best they can get a hold of you.

Jennifer Stewart 14:58

Sure. So the main thing that I haven't touched on that I really would like to say to other entrepreneurs, small business owners, be open.

I've learned this in the last eight years. Be open to big changes for your company. The little changes too, but the big changes is for sure.

Don't just shut it down right away. I was really hesitant to start a partnership, but honestly, I wouldn't be in business anymore if I hadn't done that.

So that's the biggest and best decision I've ever made for my company. So definitely leave the door open for big decisions like that.

And as far as contacting me, you can always go to the website, which is gatewayproductivity.com and then we're also on Facebook. I'm on LinkedIn, Jennifer Stewart.

And you're always welcome to call me with any questions. I always love mentoring people. Whatever people need 636-410-9212 is the business number.

Gresham Harkless 15:47

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And we'll make sure to have those links in the show notes. And I know that you can work with anybody across the country as well too.

So we'll make sure to have those links so that they can contact you no matter where they are and what type of business they might be in. So I truly appreciate your time and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Jennifer Stewart 16:02

Great. Thank you. You too.

Outro 16:04

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by CBNation and Blue16 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 Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

[/restrict]