We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marilyn Jones a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Marilyn, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
My generosity stems from having and running a Christian based business. It seals the foundation of who I am. This is part of how we were raised. My Mother passed away when I was young and the siblings pretty much raised each other. Those traits were all I saw growing up. Christ is the foundation of my business. Jesus gave His life so we could live. That’s the biggest form of generosity there is and it can’t be matched. The foundation of who I am comes from WHOSE I am.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I lost my Mother at five years old. At five years old, you don’t really remember a lot. You really don’t remember a person. I didn’t remember anything about her but her smell. At the time, I didn’t know that this would be the blueprint of my business. I’ve always loved fragrances and perfumes. As an adult, I realized that I was chasing her smell. I worked in Corporate America for years and wasn’t satisfied. I was creating huge portfolios for companies and realized I can do this for myself. I googled what to do to start a fragrance business. I found a chemist and everything I needed. I was resilient. I funded my own business the very first year and kept going. I had no celebrity backing and no capital like other small businesses, but I had passion, faith, resilience and tenacity. I worked and worked even to the point of mixing fragrances at my kitchen table. You have to have faith and believe in yourself to be successful. I had to boot strap my way to where I am today.
B Fragranced is innovative and inspiring. We will continue to change the world in which we live one fragrance bottle at a time!
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?
Resilience – You must keep going to be successful.
Faith – It’s the substance of things hoped for and the evidence things unseen.
Passion – When you have passion for and do what you love, you’ll do it for free.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
I credit my family and close friends for giving me a shoulder to cry on when I needed it most.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bfragranced.com
- Instagram: @Bfragranced
- Facebook: @Bfragranced
