We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jess Defeo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jess, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
It’s interesting, this question. I’ve always received feedback that I am resilient and for a long time I saw that as a negative. Resiliency, for me, was cultivated and strengthened because it meant that I had gone through something really tough or traumatic in my life. For years this was the case, and I started to resent the word.
It hasn’t been until the last few years where I wanted to change my own definition of resilient and have it mean something different. I wanted to be resilient because I knew how to make bold choices, take risks, or think outside the box even if it meant that it wouldn’t be accepted or understood. I wanted resilient to be because of the choices that I made; not because of what life had thrown at me.
I understand now that it can mean both for me simultaneously. I can be resilient because of what I have experienced and gone through out of my control. While also holding truth that I took bold steps to change my life and accepted responsibility for it along the way. Resiliency is usually a choice. A decision to keep believing in what you deserve, what you want and who you want to become, despite what happens.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
At JMD Creative Consulting, I step in as the Chief Marketing Officer for entrepreneurs and small businesses who are ready to scale their businesses but need an expert to take marketing off their plate so they can focus on running the business.
I provide high-level marketing strategy, branding expertise, and fulfillment support to help them grow with intention. Whether it’s launching a new offer, improving customer experience, or building a marketing team, I create customized plans that align with their goals and drive measurable results. My approach is professional yet approachable—I’m here to simplify the process and give my clients the confidence to focus on what they do best.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
It’s so interesting to me that my 20+ retail career has been so impactful in my entrepreneurial journey. From understanding the client experience, to hiring and training, to selling; those years literally helped shape my confidence and skill set to set up and run my own business with some core things in place from the beginning.
Don’t be afraid to bring forward the skills and experience you’ve had so far into building a business. Sometimes we can’t see the forest through the trees, especially in the beginning building stages, because everything seems important and a high priority. So we forget that we possess the skills to be able to make informed decisions, take action, etc. because of our previous experiences and careers.
How would you describe your ideal client?
You know those moments as a business owner where you feel like you’re in neutral mode with your marketing? You’re not moving forward or backward, but also you’re not seeing results with your current efforts or current agency/team that you’re working with. You feel like you’re not sure what to change or who to hire, but you know marketing is vital to keeping your business top of mind and build a solid pipeline of potential clients.
My ideal client is the business owner who understands that a change needs to happen when it comes to their marketing, but they are not the one to do it. They are ready to resource out that portion of their business to an expert who can create a custom strategy based on goals, data and client profiles with success KPI’s along the way. They want someone they can trust with their marketing for the business and is ready to delegate. They are open to new ideas, ready to experiment a little bit with what could work, and is prepared to get out of their comfort zone and try new things.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jessicadefeo.com
- Instagram: @jmdcreativeconsulting
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-defeo/
Image Credits
Natalie J. Photography
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
