721 Jessica Walker:

When I think of what is really going on with most entrepreneurs most of the time, I envision a duck seemingly gliding on the water …so peaceful and serene up top and paddling like crazy down below. Entrepreneurs tend to make it look much easier than it actually is, and the best know intuitively and in practice that the success we manifest externally starts first with an inner belief and knowing. My guest today – Jessica Walker, who became an entrepreneur at the tender age of 19 – talks about what it takes to fake until we make it.

MELINDA

Hi, I’m Melinda Wittstock and welcome to Wings of Inspired Business, where we share the inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, epiphanies, and practical advice from successful female founders … so you have everything you need at your fingertips to build the business and life of your dreams. I’m a 5-time serial entrepreneur who has lived and breathed the ups and downs of starting and growing businesses, currently the game changing social podcast app Podopolo. Wherever you are listening to this, take a moment and join the Wings community over on Podopolo, where we can take the conversation further with your questions, perspectives, experiences, and advice for other female founders at whatever stage of the journey you’re at! Because together we’re stronger, and we soar higher when we fly together.

Today we meet an inspiring entrepreneur and beauty and wellness expert who got her start as a business owner at just 19. Jessica Walker owns the J Walker Salon Group in New Jersey, growing from one small salon to four locations with upscale beauty and wellness services, as well as a bridal and event business. She’s got her sights on national expansion, and today she shares her journey and what she’s learned along the way.  First:

There is a lot about the entrepreneur journey that’s about faking it till you make it. But what’s the line between deciding to “be” the person that’s running the 7, 8 or 9 figure business before the millions are in the bank, truly visualizing and living into the feeling of success in your own mind… and the inauthenticity of pretending to be someone you’re not and think you “should” be? There is a fine line between posing with a Lamborghini you’ve rented for the day to falsely claim success on one of those “get rich like me” sales funnels … and summoning the inner confidence and knowing in your mindset that will attract the success of your dreams.

To Jessica Walker, fake till you make is an attitude, a mindset, the way you walk into a room, having the confidence to ask for and attract what you want. Jessica grew up with entrepreneurial parents and the DNA rubbed off, when she started her fast-growing multimillion dollar salon business at age 19. Owner of the J Walker Salon Group in New Jersey and employing 70 people across her four salons with dreams of expanding nationally, Jessica was recently named one of the “Best Fifty Women in Business” for 2021 by NJ BIZ for her impact on the business and community at large. Recently, Jessica launched her own skincare brand which is available in-store and online.

One of the ways she grown her business is by “giving forward” as a committed and involved community activist, donating her personal time and business resources to a wide variety of charitable organizations for more than two decades. While beauty and wellness are her professions, Jessica’s true passion is helping people and bringing joy to those around her. She serves on the board of Heartworks, an organization dedicated to supporting local residents experiencing grief, illness or trauma, as well as Diva for a Day—which offers quiet days of beauty, relaxation and support for women and children battling cancer. She also supports St. Baldrick’s Foundation, Dress for Success, Susan G. Komen, Beauty Changes Lives, Communities in Crisis, and countless others by donating gift baskets, certificates for events, and much more.

Having steered her business through the ups and downs of 911, the 2008 economic meltdown, Hurricane Sandy and most recently the Pandemic, her lobbying efforts succeeded in persuading New Jersey’s Governor Murphy to allow salons and other small businesses to reopen.

Today we talk about how to summon the inner confidence to succeed as an entrepreneur, her philosophy of “every day innovation”, why philanthropy, mentorship and giving forward right from the start of your business will ensure it grows faster, plus what lies behind her company tagline – “When your outer looks good, your inner feels better.”

Let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Jessica Walker and be sure to download the podcast app Podopolo so we can keep the conversation going after the episode.

Melinda Wittstock :

Jessica, welcome to Wings.

Jessica Walker :

Thank you so much for having me.

Melinda Wittstock :

I’m going to start with your tagline, “when your outer looks good, your inner feels better.” Now, some people would say it’s the other way around, but you’re in the beauty space. Elaborate on what that means for you personally and for your customers.

Jessica Walker :

What I’ve learned over the years, I’ve been doing this 25 years, is that when we take our clients into our space, we have a very intimate conversation, and we look to bring out their most confident self. If you’re going into a boardroom and you’re in sweatpants and a sweatshirt and your hair’s in a ponytail, I believe in my heart that you’re going to act a different way and you show up differently when your outer looks good I think naturally and instinctively, intuitively when we are prepared. Our confidence level is much, much higher when hair is done, makeup is done, when we have the right shoes on, the right suit to go along with it. I think this also pertains to both male and females.

Melinda Wittstock:

I think it’s true. I’ve found myself on days where I feel a little bit tired wanting to kind of suit up. I’m just going to really do my makeup well, and I’m going to dress in something. It does energize me. It does do something psychologically. Perhaps it’s around confidence. It just gives us a little bit more confidence. Does it come down to that?

Jessica Walker:

Absolutely. It’s confidence. It’s your inner security when it comes to… Just when you look in the mirror and you’re having one of those days when you feel tired, which it happens to all of us, life is a grind, getting up and getting dressed and showing up sometimes is half the battle. But when you do it and you do it with a little bit of extra attention to those details on what ensemble you’re putting together for your dress, everything comes together so much more impactful. When you walk into those rooms and into those meetings… I mean, I’m a mom. Even if I’m going to the school to have a meeting at the school, when I look better on the outside, it does help my inner. Now, we can talk about the inner and go there, which is probably a whole other conversation.

Melinda Wittstock :

I love that conversation because there’s so much about who we’re being as entrepreneurs that does come from how we’re feeling on the inside, I’ve been in business a long time, I’ve learned over time that really it’s who I’m being that manifests the outer success. What I’m thinking on the inside manifests externally to me. It is kind of conundrum. It goes both ways. How does that manifest for you in terms of your own kind of inner being and how that impacts your business?

Jessica Walker :

I feel when you show up, how you are intuitively and what’s going on inside your brain and inside your gut, I feel as though we show up with our head, our hands, our hearts, and our gut, we make decisions based on all of these internal emotions that are happening. We all have them, male or female. I believe that when you are prepped and prepared on the outside, when you look in that mirror and you’re ready to go into that meeting, or whatever that conversation is going to be, whether you’re pitching your business or your brand, you have a different level of confidence. You have a different level of understanding that, “I got this.” A lot of times with entrepreneurs, I believe a lot of us have faked it until we make it. That whole saying, fake it until you make it, I think it rings true in how we show up and sometimes that’s half the battle.

Melinda Wittstock :

It is true because the fake until you make can get out of whack pretty fast, if you think of startups like Theranos, for instance, right? She took that a little too far, right? But the fake until you make, it’s kind of like who you’re being is going to attract into your life what you already believe about yourself. However you arrive there, whether it’s by looking good, feeling fit, feeling confident, knowing you look your best is going to help you get into that mindset, great. If you’re an entrepreneur, any entrepreneurs listening to this podcast, which there are many, we need all the help we can get. It’s hard being an entrepreneur.

Jessica Walker :

It is. There’s a lot of pressure. It’s overwhelming and trusting our inner gut is also another big factor in making decisions that are going to impact not only ourselves as the entrepreneur, but all the people that are around us, our community and who we’re trying to serve and grow to our team. I just think confidence is such a huge piece of it. What I found over the last couple of years is the beauty industry’s value has tremendously gone up because people recognize what it means to sit in front of a computer and look at themself and see their skin as we age, see their hair as it grays. I think that they’ve really got in tune with the professionals that we’re taking care of them. It’s really, I believe, made a difference in overall the impact on the beauty industry as a whole.

Melinda Wittstock :

I know that feeling of showing up on a Zoom meeting through the pandemic, Jessica, and like realizing the lighting was bad or like I just wasn’t looking my best. Because like many people around the world, you’re not going anywhere, so you get used to just sort of living in your yoga pants. Do you find coming out of the pandemic that people have a renewed interest in their appearance? Did it ever lag for you in terms of your clients during the pandemic? Have you noticed a change coming out of it?

Jessica Walker :

Well, we noticed that people were really much more connected and they wanted to communicate as much as they could face-to-face. There was a pause on the industry for a time. I think people reevaluated themselves as people and what their priorities were and what they are. I think it’s still evolving. I believe that it’s an evolution, because you’ll see some women that are of the age where gray hair was there. A lot of people, there’s a whole community now of people that let their hair go gray and they want to age gracefully, at the same time of buying really healthy and organic makeup and skincare products that can enhance their beauty where it’s at. Right now, we are seeing an influx of people coming in to get balayage and get their highlights done and make sure that they are looking good and feeling great, but there was a pause for a while.

I do believe all things work together for good. What we’re finding now is that people really want to be connected. There’s almost this talk about social media where yes, we know social media is so important in getting the word out there and being able to attract new talent and clients. But at the same time, there is that portion of a lot of people that I’m seeing that are almost putting the phones down and they want to have interaction. If you’re within six feet of someone, you’re smiling and you’re saying hello. Almost like after 9/11, when you would just see someone then and your eyes would fill up with water. Now there’s this connectiveness that I’m seeing in our area with people that they’re really happy to see each other and just communicate to have that connection with humans.

Melinda Wittstock :

100%. Well, I think it’s so interesting your background, because in growing your salons, you launched them originally when you were 19. Is that right?

Jessica Walker :

That is. Yep.

Melinda Wittstock :

Okay, I’m going to get to that in a minute. First though, I want to talk about all the things you’ve been through, because you mentioned 9/11. You’re in New Jersey. The recession in 2008. You had hurricane Sandy, and then you the pandemic. You’ve lived the ups and downs of that. What has that taught you about how you run and plan your business, having weathered all these storms that knocked so many people out of the game entirely and never recovered?

Jessica Walker :

It’s a really good question. You said the word, how did I plan for this for any of it? I didn’t. But what I was, was I was prepared. I’m innately a fighter. I come from a family of entrepreneurs, and I’ve watched some of my family members’ businesses like the Ultimate Man in the hole, go up and then sink, and go up and then sink. And that was a big fear of mine. What I really looked for in my business from 1997 as it’s grown through now is consistency, really trying to build trusted relationships where people know like, and trust me. I have that same with my team. We are going to come up against things. Who would’ve thought throughout the last 25 years we would’ve seen the type of issues and circumstances that we’ve had? But one way that I’ve gotten through that is to know that I’m committed.

I am committed, I’m dedicated, and I was prepared as best as I could be. I could have failed multiple times when it comes to losing a lease that I had on a technicality. I lost my space. Just multiple different situations and scenarios of being closed down, even during Hurricane Sandy. We were shut down for a couple of weeks with no electric. It’s like hurry up and get a generator that you couldn’t even get your hands on and they were price gouging. I think tenacity, being determined, really understanding what my goal is. Of course, we need to make money, but money is a byproduct of being able to help and inspire and mentor the people that are around me on my team. I think that that has a lot to do with how I’m still here and how I was able to get through those really traumatic and hard times, if you will.

Melinda Wittstock :

Oh gosh, 100%. I mean, the one thing you can plan for, I guess, as an entrepreneur is the unplanned. No matter what plans you laid down, there’s going to be something, many things at a left field, beyond your control. You mentioned something I want to dig into really, which is the relationships. Because if you really invest in those, that gets you through the hard times, because people pull together. It’s vital. You mentioned that with your team. Let’s talk about how you have built the team and the relationship and that glue there to get you through the hard times, and then we’ll pivot to talking about how you’ve done that with your customers, but team first.

Jessica Walker :

With the team and the people that I’ve attracted to come join me over the years, I’m very authentic. I do my best to show up. My secret is just really care. Really care. When you’re there and you’re with your team, be there, be present and really care, as hard as it can be, as up and downs with finances, with operations, with sales and marketing. Us as the entrepreneurs, we have a lot of this burden and we can feel alone. In sharing some of that with the team and working together to develop leaders and bringing in new people and always having education, a part of what my business and my brand is about, I think that that’s been a little bit of a secret to some of the success that I’ve had and the longevity of the team that I have staying and working with me.

Meeting people that you know, like, and trust, that takes time to cultivate those relationships and being able to hold one-on-ones and having conversations with people so you can get to know what their goals are and their values. It makes me feel so fulfilled when I sit with a team member and they tell me that they want to go see their grandparents before they pass in another country. When they can get that done in that year, or when they buy their first house or their first car, having those conversations and then see everything come to fruition, that’s magic for me, and that’s really why I do what I do, which goes back to then the money comes when you do what you love and you have a passion for who you’re working with and what you do. That’s the difference maker for me.

Melinda Wittstock :

Oh gosh, so true. On this podcast, it’s come up a lot that women tend to be, more than men, prone to perfectionism and how that sometimes manifests is we have our heads down proving our competency, like working hard, doing everything and not cultivating the relationships. We’re good at that. We’re natural at relationships, and yet men spend most of their time in business kind of naturally cultivating relationships and delegating to other people. As your journey as a female founder and entrepreneur and business owner, where does the relationship fit in your trajectory? Did you always know that innately, or was there something, a light bulb moment or a moment where you’re like, “Wait a minute, it’s not just about my competence or what I’m doing, it’s about the relationship?”

Jessica Walker :

I think it stems from inside your gut, in your intuition, your EQ. So many people are so much smarter than I am and they have degrees out the wazoo. When it comes to relationships and when it comes to connection, I do believe I have a gift and I think it’s a muscle that you can work. When it comes to business, whether it’s male or female, we’ve all gotten to this point doing what we’re doing. But in order to get to the next level, we can’t continue to do what we’re doing. I believe in constant, never ending improvement, growth, both personally and professionally. It doesn’t mean I have it all figured out. I have so much to learn. I’m embedding myself all the time in new books and new conferences and workshops. But when it comes to people in relationships, I think going back to that really caring about the person that’s in front of you.

It’s more than just saying it out loud. It’s really a feeling. When you’re looking in someone’s eyes and you say to them in the morning, “How are you today,” it’s not just like, “I’m good. Great, thanks.” Put your bag down, or put your briefcase down, or pick up your phone and you’re looking at your phone. It’s a difference. I think we’re seeing it change, both corporately in the professional world and even small business. People are looking and longing for more connection, especially with the younger generation that’s coming up. They want to feel that they’re a part of something bigger and they want to be seen and they want to be heard and feel valued.

Melinda Wittstock :

Oh, 100%. It’s no longer a command and control coercive style of leadership. Invariably, the only thing that works is, honestly, I’m going to say a more archetypal feminine type of leadership, which is by its definition more inclusive.

Jessica Walker :

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock :

More relationship focused. I see men kind of emulating that, but I think it’s really like women’s time in business has really come so long as we really leverage those archetypal strengths, which used to be seen as weaknesses, but are actually profound strengths.

Jessica Walker :

And you’re seeing it in so many of the trainings online and TED Talks and books that are being written now. They’re bringing it into the workspace because it’s not going anywhere. And especially now with the pandemic, people want to feel like they’re a part of something and they want to be valued and feel valued. That wasn’t the way when I started. I feel when I started originally, it was more of a place of we’re working together for the greater good, but it was almost delegatory and it’s like, “Here’s your responsibilities. You work Tuesday through Saturday. Here’s your schedule.” And now we’re seeing much more fluidity in scheduling and responsibilities and accountability for that matter. I think it’s like we’re on a seesaw a little bit of, okay, here’s systems, structure, and consistency.

And then when are we going to hold these people accountable? And what does that conversation look like? Because right now we’re at the mercy of employment being really, really difficult. I like to think of myself as a leader with love, but I can be really tough as well. I have a very high expectation on the customer experience, and I’m really striving for it to be consistent. You talked about perfection before. I suffer from that. I’ve suffered from that. I’ve really just am practicing letting go and being present. What I found is that a lot of the times things organically and naturally fall into place. Getting back to the workplace and how to communicate with the staff that we have now and choosing who’s going to join our team. I even believe the interview process is so different in the questions that we ask and the answers that we’re looking for.

I want to know what the staff members that I’m interviewing, what they value, what’s really important to them. Because if I can align with that and I know that that’s going to be something that I can support and that they can support me, then we can have a really good work marriage.

Melinda Wittstock :

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Oh gosh. I love what you said about being present and just learning to kind of let things go. I mean, that’s been my lesson as well. Because I think as entrepreneurs, we want to kind of control everything to a certain degree. We have this vision of what is perfect or what we want to see, and we invariably have high standards. I mean, this is part of the entrepreneurial DNA. And yet as you build a team, there’s going to be people who arrive maybe at the same place differently. I’ve learned to obsess less about the how and really more about the results and let people find a little bit more their way to get there.

There’s got to be accountability. Everybody needs to be aligned and knowing kind of what the standards are. Of course, in your selection of who you’re hiring and their character and all these sorts of things, it’s a very delicate balance to know how much to push or how much to hold accountable and how much to let go. It can be quite a tight rope.

Jessica Walker :

Yeah, I totally agree with you. I think one of the areas of opportunity for entrepreneurs is we have all these ideas. We come up with these ideas and we want to run with them. They can be successful, most of the time they are successful. I think where we can lack, and this is from my experience, is in the consistency. I think that there’s a really big opportunity there to manage our time and manage being consistent with the initiatives that we’ve put in place going into diversifying different streams of income, if you will. We want to have these different outlets to be able to impact people and do more and achieve more. That all sounds great, but sometimes we can see that shiny squirrel and then we’re not consistent in the initial initiatives that we put in place for our businesses. Have you seen that happen at all?

Melinda Wittstock :

Oh my goodness, all the time, because entrepreneurs by definition are starters, are really good at starting things. Especially the visionary entrepreneur, right, who has this idea, sees a problem that isn’t being addressed, has a solution to address it, innovates, does something completely new, the thrill of the new, starting something, but isn’t necessarily hardwired to be the continuity person. This is where as a team grows and scales, you need your kind of operational support if you are that type of founder.

Jessica Walker :

100%. 100% said. It’s all about that whatever product it is that we’re selling, if you will. Now, I’m selling a service right now. I have a product line, but basically I’m selling a service in my industry. That’s my product, and then it’s the people, and then the profit. I mean, those are the three main things that make the business go and thrive. It all comes back to structure, consistency, and setting up systems in place that we can be able to follow and show up and then have conversations with people where there’s trust. Because I’ve been in situations where that we’ve had to have some really hard, uncomfortable conversations. But again, if you have that trust, fear, that door of fear, that wall of fear, if you will, it is so much less. Because I think, at least for myself and my company, everyone knows my intention and I know the intentions of others around.

I think that that is a very good foundation to look at if you’re thinking about starting a business, or if you have a business and you’re looking at how to grow it or scale it, understanding that trust factor and where everyone’s intention is, that we all want the best for each other. Ego is also the enemy. I study this and I look into this all the time. Because when it gets defensive or you start feeling those emotions, it can only lead to an unwanted outcome. Stepping away from the situation and taking a minute to rethink what do you want the outcome to be, you enter that conversation with a completely different tone typically. Have you found that?

Melinda Wittstock :

Well, yeah. It’s tricky, especially if you have an employee who’s underperforming. And it may be because they don’t have the resources they need, or they don’t fully understand the why, or they could just be in the wrong seat or the wrong job, or they’re just the wrong person, right? Figuring out how to give them a chance to get to where they need to be and when to call it. It’s complicated, but making sure at least that expectations are clear know from the outset is vital. But yeah, you’re right. As soon as people get defensive, it’s over.

Jessica Walker :

Yeah. It’s almost like the five love languages of relationships. I think we should come up with them for business, because there are different types of personalities within our business across the board. If there’s someone that is perhaps underperforming, if you look at what the root cause may be, all the reasons why you said are perfectly… They’re great options. It may be that they’re just in this space where they haven’t been recognized or acknowledged, where they get that that fuel inside that gives them their passion. I’ve found that over the years with certain people that when you can lock into what makes them tick and how we can acknowledge them, catching them doing something right.

I read this book Well Done, and it was so good. It was all about catching people doing something right. I lived in a time where I would literally, “Oh, we can’t do it that way. We can’t do it this way. Make sure you do it this way. Make sure you say this. Start with this,” da, da, da.

Melinda Wittstock :

Yeah, the control thing, right?

Jessica Walker :

Ugh, terrible. Embarrassing.

Melinda Wittstock :

We have to prescribe the how, but we don’t.

Jessica Walker :

Yes, exactly.

Melinda Wittstock :

Something you said though about being in the service business reminded me, I don’t know if you heard it, but Amy Errett was on the show a few weeks back. She’s the CEO and founder of Madison Reed, which is growing like crazy. The natural hair color company opened up hundreds of locations actually during the pandemic. She was saying that her 100% focus where she wants to be in control is on customer success, because all the front facing people and the consistency of that is absolutely critical for her business. But like the rest of it, she doesn’t really have to be involved in, but she still remains involved in hiring decisions in those front facing people.

Jessica Walker :

I respect that so much. You know what it is? Because right now more than anything, what’s important, in my opinion, is perceived value. That’s what people are willing to pay for. It’s what’s that perceived value. If you’re calling into a company, what does that customer service look like and what’s their reputation? That perceived value really determines so much of what your profit margin is going to be, because that’s what people are willing to pay for the service that you’re providing. I respect that she’s involved in that customer service end of things, because right now we’re going back to that connective state of being interactive with the guests and with the clients. It’s not just behind the scenes, behind the computer anymore. It’s people really want to be connected. That’s a great takeaway for me. I appreciate you sharing that with me.

Melinda Wittstock :

It’s worth going back and listening to it. She’s really, really brilliant, and it’s amazing how fast that company has grown. Jessica, I want to go back to you starting your business at 19. Now, you did mention that you come from a family of entrepreneurs, so that explains part of it. But what was the spark? Like at 19, you were like, “Okay, I’m going to start a salon.” How did that all happen?

Jessica Walker :

Right before I graduated cosmetology school, there was a vacant space in a small strip mall in Bernardsville, New Jersey, where that was my first location there. Given the fact that I came from entrepreneurs, I worked with my parents in their businesses since I was like 10 or 11 years old. I loved being with my parents and what I loved more was when I was helping them and I did something good at their business, whether it was set up pillows at their Southwestern furniture store in SoHo, Manhattan, or tried to help a customer carry their bags at their car, they would praise me for it. And that brought a spark in me of wanting to help people and to be able to provide something to people that made them feel good. This whole hair thing I think is a front.

I stepped in this, I had a daughter when I was young and I knew I needed to do something technical with my hands because I really wasn’t going to be able to go away and manage a four year college with a little girl. I came home from one of my classes and my dad said, “I found a space for you. You’re going to open up a salon.” I was like, “Dad, I don’t even know how to cut hair.” He’s like, “You’re going to figure that part out.” Basically he saw something in there that I didn’t see in myself.” And then here I am. When I was in business for five years, getting ready to celebrate my five year anniversary, one of my biggest failures that turned into a blessing was that on a technicality, I lost my lease.

That’s why I’m so big into having the right mentors and support to make sure that you have everything legally set up, because you can’t say that you want to renew your option on a phone call. You have to have it in writing and follow your lease and follow the protocol. Anyway, the blessing turned into I found another location across the street from where I was located. And then in 2011, I was able to buy the real estate. I would never have had the opportunity to purchase the real estate being in the shopping center, because that’s not how that brand and company was designed to scale. That’s basically how I got started.

Melinda Wittstock :

There are two stories within here, right? Where you’re showing that something that’s an obstacle or an adversity or a challenge is in fact an opportunity. We don’t necessarily recognize them at the time because they’re painful. First of all, you had your daughter really young, so you couldn’t do the four year degree or whatever. But it led you to a place where you are now. And of course, your dad doing you a great favor by seeing something in you that you might not of yourself. But then with the lease story as well, like you lose your lease and it’s like, “Oh my God! Ah!” But that was actually done for you.

Jessica Walker :

And looking back, you put the pieces together and it was very unfortunate at the time. It was traumatic. Again, it all worked together for good. It’s letting go of the outcome, if you will, and trusting the process, which I know is easier said than done. It’s a practice. It’s a muscle that you have to work, like your intuition. It’s just been a real blessing. The same with this beauty industry. It wasn’t my intention to go into the beauty industry, but I loved making people feel good. It didn’t matter whether I was setting them up with a boyfriend. I mean, I have this whole other leg of what I do is relationship building. I have a couple of marriages under my belt. I’m considering starting that as a side hustle, but I love connecting people and helping them feel good.

Part of how I stayed in business over the years was really immersing myself in my community and getting involved with some of the local nonprofits. I didn’t even know that I was doing this. It was just my heart. I would bring someone in that was suffering from a situation. We would do cut-a-thons. I was involved in St. Baldrick’s. Now I’m on the board of two amazing nonprofits, one that’s a national nonprofit, Diva For A Day, and another one that’s a grassroots nonprofit that started right after 9/11. I don’t bring that up to brag. I bring it up to share because I believe it’s a tool. It’s a tangible tool. That if you’re a business owner and an entrepreneur or whatever company you’re involved in, giving back and getting to a place where you can give of yourself, if you have the capacity and the means, it internally is a giver’s gain because you get back so much from doing those types of acts of kindness.

Melinda Wittstock :

I think it’s giving forward. A lot of people in the entrepreneurial world talk about giving back. In that phrase, it presupposes we’ve taken something. We haven’t. We’ve created jobs. We’ve innovated. We’ve solved problems for customers. We’ve done all this sort of stuff. I like to think of it as giving forward. You’re right. The more generous we are and the more you mentioned being driven by our heart, the more we do that, the more comes to us. I’m not saying do it for selfish reasons, but it is true.

Jessica Walker :

That’s how the universe is. You get what you give. I just think it’s like a law of gravity, if you will. It’s helped me with relationship building. It’s helped me with gaining trust and people really understanding my heart. I always look at myself like I’m a servant leader and I try to lead with my heart and lead with love. That’s not very customary in business, but it’s afforded me some big gains, and keeping people on my team and even in saving the relationship if they didn’t stay on my team. There’s been times where I may not have had the right choice of words. I mean, I’m doing this for 25 years. I’ve failed a lot.

I’ve tripped on my face many, many times. Leaving off at the best place that we can so that we all have the best intentions, it helps you to sleep better at night. I think looking inward and looking inward at who we are and what we’re about, what motivates us and why we’re doing all the things that we do every day, it helps us to give outward and to be more vulnerable, more authentic, and to just have a better life experience with our family and our homes, with our friends, with our businesses and our companies. I just think it’s a full circle.

Melinda Wittstock :

I think it is really the new way that businesses will operate. I think we’re in the midst of just such a massive transition that it will soon be like, this is the only way and it’s obvious. I want to talk to you a little bit about your concept of everyday innovation. Because we all know the kind of entrepreneur that, I don’t know, like Steve Jobs who invents the computer or the iPhone or whatever, or all these folks building rocket ships or inventing artificial intelligence or whatever, that kind of innovation, but business owners are innovating almost every day, because we were talking about all the different things that come at you every which way. Talk to me about this concept of everyday innovation. That even if we’re not building rockets, we’re still innovating.

Jessica Walker :

We have to be and we always are, because we’re making these decisions on the fly. When it comes to being able to look at a situation and assess it and respond, whether it’s inventory and issues right now with what’s happening with supply chain and being able to get products and the inflation and the costs, some things are double, quadruple, we have to shift as business owners and entrepreneurs. I can’t imagine the food industry right now. It looks like people are spending a lot of money. But if we can’t get our hands on the supplies and the tools that we need, we have to be innovative and we have to look at ways to make an adjustment so that we can do the business that we have to do. I think that it’s a lot of pressure for entrepreneurs, but at the same time, we organically do it.

When you can start to define what it is that you’re doing when it comes to say inventory or payroll issues or customers that are in your business that come in and go out, even training your customer service team to be able to maximize the opportunity when it comes to being able to provide a service that clients want but they might not know that they want it or they might not know how to articulate it, so it’s almost asking the right questions, that’s a whole other business within itself. I just feel that there’s so many layers within the entrepreneurial world and within business itself that when you start to really cut through all the noise, you really can see amazing opportunities.

If you can hone in on a few of those, even if it’s for a quarter or for six months or even if it’s just for that day, if it’s as simple as somebody’s interested in having a Diet Coke, and you might think that this is a silly thing, but I’ll send my team next door to the CVS and I’ll say, “Please go get them a Diet Coke if that’s what they’re looking for.” We want to be the difference makers, and I’m always looking in life for moments that matter. That’s where that term comes from, because we make these little differences in people’s lives that become big differences in what we’re doing as a whole. This everyday innovation comes from being able to see a situation, assess it, make a decision, and move forward and know that you have your best intention while doing it.

Melinda Wittstock :

What wonderful advice. What’s coming next for you? I know that you recently launched a product line as well. How’s that going? We can touch on, I guess, some of the inflation and packaging and all the things going on with the sourcing of materials. How’s it going for you?

Jessica Walker :

I’d love to see it grow. I’d love to see that leg of the business take off. It’s a wonderful skincare line. People that use it love it. Right now it’s small to my community. I haven’t branched out as of yet. Because I do feel like as an entrepreneur, I’m changing a tire at 60 miles an hour. One foot in front of the other. I always look at things like, what’s the next thing that I have to get done to get to my end game? The skincare line is doing well. I’m such a person of growth and growing and making an impact that on the horizon could be a hair care product line, potentially open up more locations with partners that think like me that want to work underneath this umbrella and do this with me.

Those are a couple of the things that I have up my sleeve, as well as the relationship part of… I’ve been putting a lot of people together organically. Now that I’m looking at it and I start to define it, it’s really been pretty amazing and pretty magical. I started writing down all these people that I put together. Some of them are married. Some of them are dating. It’s just a really beautiful thing to be able to have connections that you can just make this introduction and then magic happens. Those are my three pillars right now that I’m working on.

Melinda Wittstock (38:53):

That is amazing. Well, I want to make sure people know how to find you. I mean, obviously you have local salons in the New Jersey area. Do you have plans to expand nationally?

Jessica Walker :

I would love to have that happen. Absolutely. I’d love to have J.Walker be a global brand. This is putting my aspirations and affirmations out there to you. I’ve never said that out loud either.

Melinda Wittstock :

Oh, fantastic! Well, this is a good place. We have a news exclusive here on this podcast. Jessica, with your products and whatnot, what’s the best way? What’s your website? How can people find those?

Jessica Walker:

We are at jwalkersalonggroup.com. You can reach out to me on social media as well, @j.walkersalon and @j.walkerwellness. I’d love to hear from anybody that is interested and asking any questions. I’m always happy to connect.

Melinda Wittstock :

Well, thank you so much for sharing your journey, your insights, your wisdom. Congratulations on all your success. Thanks for putting on your wings with us today.

Jessica Walker :

Thank you for having me. I really appreciate your time.

 

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Review on iTunes and win the chance for a VIP Day with Melinda