#092 - How To Turn Your Knowledge Into A Consulting Business

Show Notes

Whether you’re looking to diversify your career or income, or are ready to make a change, starting a consulting or advisor business is a great way to use your skills and create income. 
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So how can you design a lucrative business by sharing your expertise with others? To find out, co-hosts Lori Vajda and Nola Boea interviewed Jessica Rodriguez and Jessica Munday, co-founders of Cloud Nine Nonprofit Advisors.

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In This Episode You’ll Learn 

• Tips for running a profitable consulting or advising business. 
• How to identify your niche and narrow your focus to be more profitable.
• The pros and cons of going into business with a friend.
• Why the name of your company matters.

Key points Lori and Nola are sharing in this episode:

(04:33:40) What is the key difference between creating a consulting business and advisor business? 

(06:32.63) Big risks. Bigger rewards. Why it’s so important to create a business that reflects your real world experiences, values, purpose and passion. 

(18:01:18) Knowing who you serve is just as important as what services you offer. How to get clear on your ideal customer, client, partnership.

(22:49:54) Why being able to say no and being able to say yes are equally powerful when it comes to who you're going to serve.

(28:59:80) Thinking about going into business with a friend? Here’s what you need to know before you do.

Resources 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Lori: If there's one thing a pandemic, recession, or merger has taught us, it's that you can't count on a person or company for job security. So how can you ensure that you have the income you need? Consider diversifying your career portfolio. And one way to do that is by turning your knowledge, experience and expertise into a business. Stay tuned friends, because we're excited to introduce you to two such professionals. And like many multi-talented multi hyphenated women, perhaps even you, their diversified career paths have led them to start a business. One that has them so excited, you could say they're on Cloud. 9

[00:00:40] Announcer: You're listening to the Sticky Brand Lab podcast, where time strapped professionals like you learn how to create a business you love in as little as three hours a week.

[00:00:51] Nola: about the work you do, the hobby you love, or the breadth and depth of experience you've gained over the years. How can you capitalize on what you know and use it to create a side or small business, that's both personally and financially rewarding? Well, friends, our guests today know a thing or two about that. Meet Jessica Rodriguez and Jessica Munday, co-founders of Cloud 9 Nonprofit Advisors. Based in Fort Lauderdale with the satellite office in Charleston, South Carolina, cloud 9 is a company dedicated to inspiring and cultivating growth for their clients.
[00:01:26] Lori: Prior to starting Cloud 9, Jessica Rodriguez worked as a nonprofit executive with PBS South Florida, ARC Broward, and United Way of Broward County, where she enthusiastically and effectively oversaw fundraising, marketing, and communications. Today, she uses those strengths and abilities to amplify and strengthen teams, as well as connect change makers to help nonprofits thrive. Jessica has been honored as the 211 Broward Executive Development Leader of the Year, and was recently appointed to the Broward College Foundation board of directors. She is married to her true companion, Mario, and is a great mom to her two amazing kids, Emma and Mario Junior. Welcome Jessica!

[00:02:12] Jessica: Thank you, Lori and Nola. I'm so happy to be here and share Cloud 9.

[00:02:17] Nola: Jessica Munday, who we will be referring to as Jess from here on out, is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for work that helps the greater good. Prior to opening Cloud 9, Jess led Trio Solutions Incorporated, a marketing communications agency based in Charleston, South Carolina. As an entrepreneur and seasoned professional in the nonprofit sector, she enjoys developing brands, plans, and relationships to help businesses and nonprofits accomplish their goals and cultivate their brand presence in the markets they serve. She is the president of the Charleston Chapter of the Global Entrepreneurs Organization and a national board member of CreateAthon. Jess and her husband, Captain Jamie Holcomb are co-owners of Full Circle Fishing Charters, a sport fishing and boat concierge business. The couple, along with their three beautiful children, David, Hannah, and Hudson live on John's island. Welcome, Jess!

[00:03:11] Jess: Thank you both. We are excited to be with you today and to share a little bit more about our story.

[00:03:16] Lori: And we're excited that you've joined us.

[00:03:19] Jess: Thank you for the opportunity.

[00:03:21] Nola: Absolutely. Really looking forward to this conversation. But before we get into the details of your business and your backgrounds, can you give us a big picture understanding of your company? Like, what exactly is Cloud 9?

[00:03:35] Jessica: Yes, absolutely happy to do that. Cloud 9 is an advising agency specific for nonprofits to really help them transcend challenges that they're facing. We determined that if nonprofits are thriving, the community overall is rising. It is a better place to live for all. So our goal, when Cloud 9 partners with one of our nonprofit clients, is to first and foremost triage the situation. Really come in and help them uncover what some of these challenges are that might be holding them back from their full potential. We then go in and put recommendations in place. And we are side by side with them as we work through the recommendations that we've brought to the table, connecting them with change makers, strengthening their teams and overall amplifying their fundraising and their giving to help them meet their strategic goals.

[00:04:33] Lori: Jess, I personally am not as familiar with advisors for nonprofits. Was this something that you and Jessica both had in the back of your mind or were you really creating a new business model?

[00:04:49] Jess: One thing about Jessica and I is that we have always had a passion for working with nonprofits. And so when we had an opportunity to create this company, we knew that the relationships we've developed over the years and what we've experienced by working in the nonprofit sector, that there was a great need for our skillset. We had a number of nonprofits that through our own relationships had already reached out to us and said, Hey, we we've got some challenges. We trust you, will you come in and literally be in the trenches with us and help us figure out what we need to do so that we can, be in a better place? One of the things that we've heard time and time again from our clients that really sets us apart, I think from their traditional consulting, if you will, is that we are truly right there with them physically. We're actually gonna do the work with you until you're at a place where you can be self-sufficient and you feel good about being able to be independent and on your own.

[00:06:01] Nola: That makes sense.

[00:06:02] Lori: Wow. That is, yeah, that's awesome.  So I wanna step back for just a minute. You know, starting a business, whether it's a consultant or as an advisor, it's a great way to take a person's depth of knowledge and years of experience and turn that into a business model. So how did your previous careers, professional experience, personal experience, all of that? How did all of those experiences lead the two of you to collaborate on a business venture?

[00:06:32] Jessica: Well, I think for me, it was the years of being inside nonprofits and really, truly feeling these challenges that they are facing day in and day out. So as we started to conceptualize what Cloud 9 would be and what we would offer, a lot of what I wanted to do was to help someone not feel what I had felt at times, and to really be able to come in and have what is one of our values, empathy. But true empathy from a lived experience standpoint. And that's the one thing that for me, I felt in the years of having worked sometimes with, whether it was a consultant, a partner, an outside agency, that I was so appreciative of their skillset and their knowledge that they brought in. But there was this feeling of, did they really understand? Did they really know how hard it is to fundraise when you're down a team member or how hard it is to rally the troops when you've just had a, a moments and moments of burnout over and over again, so a lot of what, from an experience standpoint, in what we wanted Cloud 9 to be, is the empathy in terms of the challenges they're facing. From where Jess sits, her experience of being a business owner and being able to relate to where the CEO and the board of directors and the leadership standpoint of the business, really comes into play. And, and I know Jess that's definitely something that you feel passionate about.

[00:08:05] Jess: Yes. I, have had a, a passion for entrepreneurship for many years. I started a business 20 years ago, and to be honest, I didn't start that business thinking, oh, I'm setting out to be an entrepreneur. There was a need that needed to be met by, an organization that I had a relationship with and I needed to have a business license in order to do that. And that was the launching pad. And here I am over 20 years later and talk about lived experiences, I've had a lot of lived experiences over the years. And starting the business has allowed me and has inspired me to want to start other businesses. And I've always been a lifelong learner and Jessica is as well. Like we, we thrive on learning new, exciting things and new experiences. And, we're both a little bit of a risk taker because we know that when you take risk, you get big rewards sometimes. And so all of that really created this synergy when Jessica and I started talking about, creating Cloud 9 and it's just been a very authentic and natural fit.

I'd love to share something that our CPA, that we've been working with just recently shared with us. She had to write a letter because we were applying for something and she wrote this and I just thought, wow, that is so incredible. But she said, "in our years of experience, we have seen many startup companies fail within their first two years. But Jessica Rodriguez has the tenacity and perseverance to navigate a COVID environment to be able to build her business. Jessica Munday's influence and experience has served as a platform from which Jessica Rodriguez has catapulted." And I was just like, oh my gosh, like

[00:10:07] Nola: Oh,

[00:10:08] Lori: have chills. Just listening to that.

[00:10:10] Nola: What confirmation.

[00:10:14] Lori: Yeah,

[00:10:15] Jess: so, um,

[00:10:15] Lori: that's awesome.

[00:10:17] Jess: it, it's just been a wonderful journey and I know we'll probably touch on this more, but Jessica was my first employee with the company that I had created, Trio, over 20 years ago. And so that's how we first met. And so you hired her when she was 12?

[00:10:37] Jessica: Don't let the labor laws know what happened here. No, I wish

[00:10:44] Jess: um,

[00:10:44] Nola: I will say that I really appreciate what you had said earlier about one of your core values being empathy. And it sounds like when you approach clients, contrary to what you had experienced, they will be able to say, okay, she has been in my shoes. So because of that, I give her a lot more credibility when she's about to tell me what her opinion is about the situation.

[00:11:10] Jessica: I think absolutely that, whether it's said or just felt, that trust is there. I also credit the years that I was working in nonprofits, surrounding myself with what I think were, and are, the most talented nonprofit leaders. Learning from them has also been able to allow me to come to the table with things that I witnessed in terms of hard decisions that had to be made, or, you know, where you go with your budget when you just can't get it right. And how do you squeeze a little bit more money and to be able to say, well, this is how we did it. And it was hard, but this is how we did it, has been for me, what I hoped for when we started the company. Well, I hope this works. And now, almost a year later, and, and 12 clients later, we know it works. And we know how valuable that experience is to our relationship with our clients.

[00:12:08] Lori: You know, what you're talking about, I think is being a lifelong learner. Isn't just about going and taking courses or reading. It's about doing and that stuff kind of infiltrates into your being. There's a lot to be said for experience, life experience, and that adds to the richness of the knowledge base that you've gotten from your education or your training or whatever. And so it sounds like that's what people are really resonating with. That authenticity that the two of you bring when you are working with the clients and the organizations that you are wanting to serve.

[00:12:50] Jess: I would agree. And there's a reason why my husband and I's company, is called Full Circle. Because as we all know in life, there's so many things that happen that come full circle. And Jessica and I are a testament to that. Because when she worked for me at Trio, she excelled very quickly. Numerous promotions, because she did show up every day giving 100% of herself, if not more. And I was just really proud of her when she came to me and said, I love working for you and with Trio, but my heart is in nonprofits. I've been able to find that by working with you, because at Trio, we specialize in working with nonprofits as well. And I said, you can stay here as long as you need to, until you find your ideal nonprofit job. And then she went out into the nonprofit sector and then 12, 13 years later, we reconnect. I've now got, 18, 19 years of experience running multiple businesses. She's now got the experience working within nonprofit sector in leadership capacity. And so when we started talking about, we should do something together, it was just such a natural conversation and everything came full circle.

[00:14:18] Lori: That's

[00:14:20] Nola: I love that.

[00:14:20] Lori: Well, I'm gonna switch gears a little bit and get into the business aspect of starting your own business. So from a branding and marketing standpoint, one of the most challenging aspects of starting any business is coming up with the name. So how did you two come up with Cloud 9?

[00:14:39] Jess: Trio was where we originally began, and that trio represents the number three, we were trying to be creative. Like, how can we create something that's a nod back to where our original roots are? And I had the idea that three squared equals 9. As I thought of that, I was like, oh, it's like Cloud 9. And then we started looking in, the definition of Cloud 9 is one feeling of wellbeing and happiness. So then we were like, cloud 9. Okay. You know, what does that look like? What does that mean to our clients? How does that relate to the values? And so we spent a day in a strategic planning session coming up with our mission and our vision and our values. And naturally, one of our values is joy. And it just all connected with the feeling of wellbeing and happiness and joy and wanting to help communities rise. So it was very natural. And Jessica, if you wanna give a shout out to Sarah, I know she was instrumental in helping us bring it all together.

[00:15:52] Jessica: So Jess had this awesome name, which we loved, and then you think, but what, really is your brand visually and how do you bring it to life? And for me, it was really important that our company from the start was known as Cloud 9. And in a community where I had been fundraising for many years, my fear was that the thought would be, oh, Jessica Rodriguez is available. She can come in and help us now. And I didn't want that. I wanted them to think, there's a company called Cloud 9. We'd like to speak with them. Even though we're small and mighty, we do have our one team member. We hired an employee in year one, Lanae, which was a huge milestone for us and made a, made a big difference. But back to the brand. There is a very talented company here called The MRKT Co, her name's Sarah Shake, and she took the name and then created the visual identity for us, which has now become stickers and hats, and I would tattoo it on my body at some point I'm sure, because I love our logo so much.

[00:16:55] Nola: That's great. Well, I love that you have not only now a core value of empathy, but also of joy. That is just, that's, that's joyful. So you had mentioned that you guys went and sequestered yourself and went through your mission and vision and your strategic planning. One of the things that we see when someone starts a business is that they initially try to be all things to all people. And as we all know, when you try to serve everyone, you serve no one. So, when you came out of that planning process, what did you decide is the mission of your company and who you serve? In other words, who did you decide is your ideal client?

[00:17:44] Jessica: Well, the mission of Cloud 9 is to help nonprofits transcend the challenges they face. And when we were sequestered in a lovely home on the water, so it was a really nice way to be sequestered for two, three days to come up with all this, we were very thoughtful in what services we would offer and what services we knew wouldn't live within Cloud 9, but that we would work to find the best of the best to be able to refer our clients. That kind of comes into the "connecting change makers" bucket that we look at because you're exactly right. We can't be all things to everyone. However, we can be, as problem solvers, all things in terms of, let us try to figure this out for you.

In terms of our ideal, partner. A hundred percent open to the process and open to having this partnership with Cloud 9 come in and want to take these recommendations and ultimately strengthen their organization. So an example of what wouldn't be a fit is perhaps a board member comes to the CEO and says, Hey, we want you to talk to Cloud 9 and you need to work with them. But the CEO, the Executive Director, you know, is doing it really just to go through the motions with the board, but really doesn't feel the pain point. So If they don't recognize the opportunity for growth or the challenges that they're facing, it would be a waste of resources to bring Cloud 9 in. It's definitely not a lack of there being a need for our services, or nonprofits out there who could benefit from what we do. Of course, it's always do they have the financial resources to bring us to the table? And what does that look like? And then also defining what Jess does so well, which is what is going to be our scope of work? And that value from day one that she brought to Cloud 9, in terms of proposals, contracts, scope of work, time tracking, how we would price this model of this business, things that, for me, having to try to figure out on my own, I, 1000% would not be here today. So it really does go back to what our CPA focused on in terms of where we're kind of the ying and yang to Cloud 9 right now. And, even just, determining our mission and our vision and our values for the company, stemmed from her experience and her leadership in that.

[00:20:19] Jess: I would add that it really is so true. People say it starts at the top, and that's really both from leadership and a clear mission, vision and values within an organization. And we had a lot of appreciation for that. And we knew that there was a process that we had to go through in order to establish our mission, our vision, and our values before we could even really be incorporated for that matter. Like, if you can't figure that out of why you even exist, then it's not gonna be as effective. And we preach that to our clients and we believe that we have to walk that walk too. Like we can't go into a nonprofit and say, okay, what's your mission? Are you living out your mission? Is your brand experience, connect with what you do every day and how you work within your community? And are you living out your values when you're helping those you serve? We do that and hold ourselves accountable to that as well.

 I have someone on my team at trio, her name's Jenny, and she's really passionate about helping define mission, vision, and values for organizations and businesses. And so we actually had her come in to help us, and it was refreshing. I know Jessica loves going through that process as well, but it was refreshing for me to not be leading the process and to actually be the one who gets to gain everything that we got out of it. And yes, we were in a, very relaxing and inspiring setting. But at the end of the day, we had myself, Jessica, two other advisors who we have a lot of respect for. And Jenny leading us through this process. And at the end, I think Jenny's words verbatim were, "this was the best session that I have ever done. And I'm secretly jealous of y'all mission, vision values."

[00:22:19] Nola: Wow.

[00:22:20] Jess: So it, yeah, it was just another like, check. This is what we're supposed to be doing in life.

[00:22:27] Lori: That's awesome. You know, everything that you just said about working with your ideal partner and how your mission flows into that selection of who you work with. Is there an organization that comes to mind that you could walk us through how they connected with you, how you evaluated them and said yes to them? Cuz. Can you walk us through that?

[00:22:51] Jessica: Every client that we work with right now is doing such great things in the world and to be a small part in helping them do that work is truly an honor. There is just such an emotional connection when you work with nonprofits that cannot be overlooked. It never is just business. It's not because in so many cases, it is hearing stories where they have saved someone from homelessness. Or they have supported someone, who, who really has no one in life. And, isn't even in the foster care system. Is couch surfing from, friend to friend and how they have taken that person, and. You know, help them go to college. I mean, it it's, it's incredible.

I do think that looking back now, almost a year later, I would share the story, which is working with an organization here in south Florida, known as Handy. And they came to us truly as our first client. When one of their board members and the CEO, Kirk, heard that I was starting this business, they immediately reached out and said, well, this is great timing because we are about to go through a merger with another nonprofit here. And it would help us a lot to have someone come in and evaluate the fundraising teams and help us really look at how can we bring both entities together, set a structure in place and long term, sustainability and ultimately growth in terms of fundraising in particular. But once we got in there and really started working with them, we certainly uncovered other challenges they were facing and other parts, both related to nonprofits coming together, but also just overall in where they are in the life of the organization. They're also a really nice example of how well we work with other outside businesses that are supporting the nonprofit as well, too. So in this case, it's a phenomenal, a local marketing and PR firm here, Kip Hunter Marketing, who has been serving them for many years. So now they've got Cloud 9, they've got their marketing team and how are we all going to come together and really help lift them up? And to see them at a point where they're starting to receive some really large gifts and making tremendous impact specifically in the crisis of affordable housing that we face down here, has been great.
[00:25:21] Lori: What you just said, Jessica, there's no way, at least in my mind, that you could have anticipated all of the requests that Handy had for you. So some of what you're saying yes to and helping them with are things perhaps that you haven't done before. But you have the knowledge, you have the experience that you're drawing from, that informs what you're guiding them to do. Is that accurate in putting it that way?

[00:25:47] Jess: Yes, I would agree. And I think, going back to what we feel like sets us apart and what we've heard from our clients tell us what sets us apart, is that when we walk through their door, we're not walking through their door to get a payment on an invoice. We are truly walking through. And I mean, physically walking through the doors, sitting down in their meeting rooms with them, pulling up chairs, beside team members, as they sit at their desk, showing them how to do things, because we know that just being able to do that is helping them help those children, the senior citizens, the homeless individuals, and that's also a beauty of our client base is it really does span across all areas within the nonprofit field. And that's, very, very rewarding as well.

[00:26:44] Nola: So it sounds like you're not just taking on a client. It sounds like you're truly personally adopting their cause as well.

[00:26:51] Jessica: You can't not. We're rounding out sharing all of our values. So I will unveil number three, which is, success. The only way to be successful is to be authentic, genuine, and to care. Because it is so tied to myself and Jessica, so for example, she is very passionate about history. The woman could walk into museums, read, learn about history day in and day out. Her passion there lends itself to being a phenomenal fit for what is, again, one of our clients that we love, History Fort Lauderdale. Love bringing to life the history that exists, especially within the families and the storytelling here in Fort Lauderdale. But the goal is to grow a team of advisors in the years to come. And so my hope would be that through their passion and the extension of our work through them, that we continue to diversify and bring on even more causes that, I could partner up, you know, knowing that this specific advisor on our team really has such a passion for the environment and conservation. And so how great, you know, the local wildlife conservation league needs our support. Perfect fit. So that would be the dream overall. Today. It's also bandwidth. We talk about that a lot. What's our strategy in terms of bringing on new clients? How do we continue to love and service the nonprofits that we have while still wanting to bring on more? And what does that look like? And when is the timing, when you grow your team and you add more team members? And Jess has that experience. She knows that when the business is there, hire. Scale up. We're ready. If not for her, I don't know if, if I would have said, okay, I'm confident that I can support someone else's livelihood right now and hire a full-time employee. I don't think I would've gotten there without her partnership in this and her saying, oh, no, we can't not hire our first team member.

[00:28:57] Lori: This brings up a really important question because you've highlighted both of you, the similarities that you share might be in, in values and, and your purpose, but you also highlighted the differences between you. So I have a question related to that. Many people think it would be fun to work with a friend and a business venture. This is like a two-part question. What would you say to them? And the second part of that is, what has been the biggest reward and the biggest challenge of working with a friend?

[00:29:31] Jess: I think you have to have very clear expectations. You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable and having those difficult conversations and know that I'm coming at this from a place of respect and for the respect for the business that we have together and just be really open and honest. And for the listeners that are wondering what our fourth value is, that is integrity. And Jessica and I truly believe that that is so incredibly important, both personally and professionally. And we have a lot of respect for one another, and it doesn't mean that we're not gonna have challenges that are gonna be difficult and maybe feelings will be hurt. And, you know, maybe we might say the wrong thing, but at the end of the day, we have so much respect for one another that we are gonna be able to overcome any challenges. And we show up that way with our clients as well.

[00:30:39] Jessica: Yeah,

[00:30:40] Lori: awesome.

[00:30:40] Jessica: I think friendship aside, what I would highlight is the strength of the partnership, I'm pretty much the working, I mean I'm a hundred percent Cloud 9. Jessica, as you heard, has two other business. So her time working in the business looks different than my time, So when this started, people would say, but why, this is your area of expertise. You're probably gonna be the one working with the clients. Why do you need a partner? And I would say, if not for Jessica and the partnership, this wouldn't even be here today. And I certainly would not have been able to grow it as quickly as we have because of our background, our experiences coming together to create this. So I think there is huge value in a partnership. And I've seen a couple of friends over the last year go out on their own to start businesses. And any of them that have said, wow, you, you guys already have an office space, you've hired an employee, how did you do it? I say, remember, I have a partner. All the time I say, remember, I have a partner in this.

The other thing I love about it is that it allows you a safe space to, kinda have that moment of pulling your hair out frustration. And that person brings you back. Whether that's through laughter which Jess and I have, we can make each other laugh just by like looking at each other at times. And so that is so fun in working together is the laughter part, even when one of us might be having a breakdown. And from a challenge perspective, I don't think it's any different than anyone faces in challenges day to day in owning a business. To go back to what Jessica said, it's just being able to be comfortable with each other, to have those conversations. We did. Thanks to one of your former Sticky Brand Lab interviews, Tanya Bower, an amazing attorney here, we were able to think through a lot of these challenges in establishing the partnership and what that would look like. We know what we're gonna do, and it really set us up to be a strong partnership in launching from day one.

[00:32:47] Lori: As I was listening to the two of you, it reminded me of a relationship like a marriage, there's an intimacy to a business relationship. It's different, but.

[00:32:59] Jess: I would just add to that too, for anyone out there who might be thinking about, starting a business, a partnership, whether it's with a business colleague or a friend, that it has been very instrumental in having a third-party coach leadership person that both of us could go to at any point, because there's gonna be times where I might drive Jessica crazy. Maybe she's wanting to go a different direction and I'm saying, no, we should do this. And she needs to have that objective person to be able to vet that with. And that has been a very useful sounding board. And I would suggest that anyone have that other third-party person that could help be a sounding board when challenges arise.

[00:33:53] Nola: You had likened, or at least you did, Lori, likened this whole arrangement to a marriage. And you had also mentioned a previous guest, attorney Tanya Bower. And I will tell you that our podcast with her on how to create a business partnership prenup is our top downloaded podcast to date. She has a gold mine of nuggets in that episode.

[00:34:19] Jessica: Well now everyone can see. that it works. If you do the prenup, right. It works.

[00:34:23] Nola: Exactly. Exactly. And you can attest to that.
And speaking of when you're just starting out and Jess, you may have some insights to this since you have owned a marketing company, but when you start a business, initially, naturally the first people you turn to are going to be your friends, your family, your colleagues, and the people that we would normally think of as, you know, low hanging fruit. But at some point as a business owner, you just have to get out there and market yourself and your business and your services. What strategies did you first use to market your business outside of your inner circle? And which of those strategies have been the most and least successful?

[00:35:11] Jess: I will say, for both Trio and Cloud 9, we don't market. Like almost all of our business has come from word of mouth and referrals. And I know that sounds crazy because I own a marketing company, but.

[00:35:28] Nola: Do you do anything to initiate a referral or do you have a process for soliciting referrals?

[00:35:35] Jessica: Well, I love sales. I have no problem, trying to get onto LinkedIn and writing that little note of, Hey, so great to see you here would love to talk to you about what you're doing with. You know, your new role at this nonprofit. So that strategy is there. And we did set up a small minimal website to begin, but we are going to be launching a new website coming in August, ThriveWithCloud9.com, the number nine. We are on all the social media handles. So the basic marketing principles exist because we know that that's important to running a business. But in terms of growth, we are fortunate that both of us have lived in the communities here in Fort Lauderdale and in Charleston for as long as we have, have created relationships have established our personal brand, which lends itself to opening up doors fairly quickly. And then the rest of it is, if it's a fit, it's a fit. If it's not, it's not.

[00:36:36] Lori: In wrapping up, what would you say to anyone listening who's thinking about using their knowledge, experience or expertise to design their own consulting or advising business?

[00:36:48] Jess: They have to be willing to have the tenacity and drive to dedicate a lot of time. I mean, it takes a lot of time to really run and operate and build a successful business. And the thought of, oh, I'm gonna do this cuz I can be my own boss. Yes, we're all technically our own bosses, but your clients replace that boss. They become who you report to. It's a different shift of dynamics and you have to be really, really passionate about what you wanna set out to build and grow. Because if you're not 110% vested in whatever it is you're wanting to start, it's probably not gonna work out. So I would just say, make sure that you are very passionate about it, that you have the resources you need to build and grow it, and that you are dedicated to spending a lot of time on that passion.

[00:37:58] Jessica: What I think you have to do is take what the business is going to be out of the equation and look more at, do I want to own a business? Because the widget that you sell, the service that you provide, any of that will come. And of course, if it's something that you've been doing for many years, naturally, it's gonna be an easy thing for you to do. What's not going to be easy is the business ownership part of it. And what that looks like from all levels of it, from the insurance you need, to the business license, to establishing your partnership in our case, all of the things that are truly the entrepreneurial side of it, the business owner side of it. You need to take a deep look at what that looks like and are you wired to do that? If you are wired to do that, naturally taking something that you're good at, that you've excelled at for many years and turning it into a business, that's the easy part of it.

[00:38:55] Nola: Very good advice. Mm-hmm

[00:38:59] Jess: I would add, if you enjoy being able to have a start and stop time to do work during a workday, then entrepreneurship is probably not for you. And that's okay, but you need to recognize that. Because when you own a business, you're on 24 7. I mean, yes, you wanna have a balance and you have to be able to give time to yourself, to your family, to the community, to your hobbies, those type of things. But when you run a business, if something goes down on a Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM, you can't say, well, I'll just deal with that Monday at 9. You just have to understand that that comes, with the role.

[00:39:44] Nola: it's great that you're not glamorizing it. I think a lot of people do glamorize entrepreneurship. So it's great to hear people who are really in the trenches and can point out the glamorous parts and the nitty gritty.

[00:39:56] Jess: And really just trying to be realistic about the reality of what goes into running a business, but the rewards are limitless. Like you can truly live on Cloud 9 because of the hard work and dedication that you put into whatever it is you're passionate about.

[00:40:17] Lori: That's very well said. With that, we'd like to say, thank you, Jessica and Jess for being our guest. If someone wants to learn more about you, cloud 9, your other businesses, where should listeners go and how can they connect with you?

[00:40:31] Jessica: Well, you can follow us on social media. Our handle is @ThriveWithCloud9. So, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn. We would love for everyone listening to be our friend and follow us in our journey because you will also see so much of the amazing work that the nonprofit clients Cloud 9 gets to work with are doing day in and day out.

Then, as I mentioned, we'll be launching a new website soon where you can easily come and subscribe to our newsletter to learn more. And I would personally welcome connecting with anyone here I am. MrsRodriguez0509 on on Instagram. Come find me, be my friend, and would just to be happy to provide insight, mentor, whatever we can do for anyone interested or wanting to go on this journey that we have found so rewarding in life. We'd love to be part of that with them.
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[00:41:26] Jess: I would agree. anyone that's interested, whether it's a phone call or an email or meeting up for a cup of coffee, like, we love sharing and wanna help the communities that we live in thrive and are always available.

[00:41:41] Lori: Friends, thank you so much for listening to this episode. We hope it makes all the difference in you getting started on your business so you can create your best and most exciting life. If you found the information helpful, let us know by posting where you're listening or on our Facebook page.

[00:41:59] Nola: Not sure how to turn your idea into a profitable side business? Contact us at stickybrandlab.com forward slash contact. We'd be happy to help you.

[00:42:07] Lori: Be sure to come back next Tuesday and every Tuesday for another informative, inspiring and motivating episode. And remember actions create results. So tap into your desire to create a business and brand you love by taking 1% action every day, small steps, big effects.

[OUT-TAKE]
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You could say they're on Cloud 9.
[00:42:32] Nola: Call. You've never heard that one before.
[00:42:37] Lori: I I love your face
[00:42:44] Jess: love that