Janina Taylor
Jess Glazer is a former physical education teacher and celebrity trainer turned business mentor who now runs a million dollar coaching business helping others create high-ticket online courses and group programs. She somehow turned her “cute side hustle” into a million-dollar business in just under two years and now she teaches other passionate, heart-centered, serviced based humans exactly how.
She specializes in helping clients extract their expertise, build a recognizable brand, market organically through social media, and create a sustainable business online. Her mission is to cause a ripple effect and inspire change for generations to come; making a massive impact and leaving a lasting legacy beyond her singular actions. She has spent decades honing her craft, making mistakes, and learning lessons so that now she can help others succeed.
StarCentral Magazine recently caught up with Jess to discuss her journey to entrepreneurship and here’s what went down:
Could you please tell our readers a brief background about yourself and how you started your business?
I got started as a business coach by accident. I had been running an online health/fitness business for a few years as a side hustle alongside my day job as a teacher and after some visible success; others started asking me how I built what I did. So naturally, as a teacher; I began showing peers in the fitness industry exactly how I built my business. One friend quickly turned into three and before I knew it, I was teaching a group of friends the same processes over and over. In November 2018 I decided to toss them into a group and began coaching digital course creation.
What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your business?
I’m currently doing a few different things to maintain/grow my business.
1. I’m running 3 different programs, as well as working with 1:1 clients and this work allows me an insider peep to exactly what my clients want and need. I have my hands in and on their businesses, allowing me to see the leaks, understand their challenges, and come up with solutions. Their feedback helps drive all of my business decisions.
2. I’m also working with 3 different coaches myself. I am a huge advocate for coaches having coaches and I’ve been investing in coaches, masterminds, and courses since 2015. My coaches are my sounding board. They act as birds of view reflection to my business, as well as a great place to brainstorm, problem solve and discuss challenges I’m having with people who have already been in my shoes.
3. I’m also always reading, listening to podcasts, and signing up for classes so that I can continue to grow my expertise and be introduced to new concepts.
4. Lastly, we’re in the process of bringing on more team members and scaling our business by automating more and opening up space so that I can go work on our newer projects.
What social media platforms do you usually use to increase your brand’s awareness?
I predominately use Instagram for brand awareness, marketing, and sales. However, I use Facebook for market research and community building. As my company expands, we have a goal of becoming more omnipresent on platforms like Linkedin and Pinterest as well.
What is your experience with paid advertising, like PPC or sponsored content campaigns? Does it work?
I have never used or tried paid advertising. My personal belief is that it works very well for click and buy products, like apparel, accessories, and decor. But, when it comes to selling a personal brand or coaching service (like myself and the majority of my clients), I believe that it takes time to build “know, like, and trust” with your audience. So, being pushed an ad for a person I’ve never seen before may take a longer amount of time to convert. There is nothing wrong with it, we just haven’t seen the need to use paid ads yet. Maybe we will in the future for a physical product or event.
What is your main tactic when it comes to making more people aware of your brand and engaging your customers? How did your business stand out?
Our main tactic is really based on our core values: Integrity always, education for all, heart-centered give back, radical responsibility, continual growth, compassionate leadership, family-centric connection, ripple effect results, and purposeful play.
We stand out by staying in our own lane, keeping our blinders on, and practicing what we preach. I show up every day as my authentic self. I constantly peel the curtains back and show the real behind the scenes of building a 7-figure business and I believe this helps the company stand out. We all are the “secrete sauce” everyone is trying to find. People buy from people, so the more real we can be, the easier it’ll be.
When it comes to tactical awareness, I do a lot of podcast interviews, guest coaching, speaking gigs, free education, and press/media coverage.
What form of marketing has worked well for your business throughout the years?
The best marketing has been through social media and word of mouth. Even when I was running my health/fitness business with monthly events and retreats, the majority of our tickets would sell out through friends bringing friends or telling friends to come. Not much has changed. When a client goes through one of our programs and has a life-changing experience, they often tell their own social media platform, friends, and/or family. So, referral-based marketing has been the biggest driver!
What is the toughest decision you had to make in the last few months?
As an entrepreneur I make tough decisions every day; that’s literally what I do. I problem-solve. So, I try not to think of these decisions are tough or easy, but rather neutral choices to move forward in my business. However, I did have to let someone from my team go and that was extremely difficult for me. While it was a mutual decision to benefit both of us; it didn’t make it any easier.
What money mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from (or something you’d do differently)?
I’m not sure that I would consider any of my choices with money mistakes. Everything I’ve done (or not done) has taught me something and gotten me to be exactly where I am today. I was recently asked about any “bad investments” I made when it came to coaches/programs and I truly believe that all of my investments have given me exactly what I needed at the time (a lesson, connection, great friendship, new strategy, perspective, etc).
That said, the only money mistake I wish I had worked on sooner is simply my relationship with money and money mindset. I didn’t really start working on that relationship until my late 20’s. I’m not sure I was ready when I was younger, but I guess it could have been helpful!
What new business would you love to start?
I may already have been working on some of this behind the scenes (hint hint), but I’m really excited about the idea of creating an actual online school. Fully equipped with departments, teachers, global students, and higher levels of education for the creative, impact-driven, entrepreneur. I not only want to be the place for education, but for future generations to see education in a different light. Additionally, I’m really excited to start working on physical products that can support education and business.
If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were just getting started, what would you do differently?
As many entrepreneurs say, I would have just started sooner. I would have worried less about being perfect and what other people may think and I would have just started. I believe that I stayed in my 9-5 job as an elementary school teacher for 2 years too long and looking back, I guess I would have permitted myself to leave sooner despite my fears of disappointing those around me. But again, I wasn’t ready.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
The best advice I was ever given was a few years back from my personal mentor Chris Harder. He said, “Ego is your biggest overhead” and that just hit me like a ton of bricks. If I’m too proud to ask for help or too scared to admit I’m wrong…what could I be missing? As an eating disorder survivor who after a decade finally asked for help and it saved my life; I can fully understand how important “Ego work” is.
What advice would you give to a newbie Entrepreneur setting up their first business?
Focus on one thing at a time. Put your blinders on. Stay away from shiny objects. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. Make sure you’re taking care of yourself FIRST. At the end of the day, the only thing you really need to focus on is service and impact. If you have solutions to people’s problems, then you have a business. The rest will fall into place. Lead with impact!
Jason Harris
rhoda
