Navigating Financial Pitfalls: A Guide to Entrepreneurial Clarity with Michelle Jacobik
Have you ever wished for guidance and effectively growing your business and managing your finances? Or wonder what it takes to succeed as a female entrepreneur in finance? Then this is the podcast for you. Welcome to Women of Law, where generational wisdom meets ambition. I'm Ali Romo, your millennial host.
Hawley:And I'm Hawley Woods Grey, your gen x host.
Allie:Using our combined backgrounds in insurance and financial services, we will share what we've learned to give you the tools you need to grow your business.
Hawley:Join us, and together, we will help you discover practical strategies for financial leverage, business growth, and securing your future.
Hawley:Hey, wealth warriors. Are you ready to redefine wealth and master your money mindset? Welcome to Women of Wealth. I'm your Gen X host, Hawley Woods Gray. And I'm your millennial host, Ali Ramos.
Hawley:Today, Michelle Jakobick, seasoned business adviser, will be sharing some insight from her journey.
Allie:She has a fascinating story, and I'm looking forward to hearing more about it. Michelle went from a young adult with $15,000 in debt to helping ambitious entrepreneurs run successful businesses. She won 2 CV Awards for, from her book, the path to profits, an entrepreneur's guide to having it all, and still having a life. And and that was in 2023. Now that didn't happen overnight, Michelle.
Allie:Can you tell us a little bit more about your journey?
Michelle Jacobik:Yeah. Absolutely. Ladies, thanks so much for having me on today. Yeah. The truth is it didn't happen overnight like with most entrepreneurs.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? We kinda leap into things, and I was one of the people that made that mistake in the beginning. I had a really modest upbringing. Both of my parents worked for a municipality. My mom worked for the financial part of, like, the the city.
Michelle Jacobik:My dad worked in the public works department, the blue collar side of things. And, at 10, I remember my mom handing me the family checkbook and being like, you're gonna learn how to balance a checkbook, and it's gonna be one of your chores. And I just remember thinking like, really? Like, we don't have enough math in school. And I just thought it was a really odd, like, chore to have.
Michelle Jacobik:And she started teaching me really young how to balance and and handle money, which in retrospect makes a lot of sense. Right? Like, when I look at what I wanted to teach my kids and then put things that weren't being taught in school, but, like, basic math was being taught in school. So I did think it was strange. I remember thinking, you know, after watching her and my grandmother plan, like, every dollar, couponing, breaking things up, layaways for Christmas, my mom had a vacation club that she put, like, $5 a week in at the bank, and then we'd have, like, some seed money to go, you know, for a week at a cottage or something in Rhode Island.
Michelle Jacobik:I grew up in Connecticut. I just thought, honestly, that we couldn't afford things. Like, the story that I told myself, the narrative was, wow. We can't afford things that other people can afford, and we're penny pinching. That was the narrative that I was telling myself.
Michelle Jacobik:And so fast forward, at 19, I actually, graduated with my associate's degree in business administration, and I was hired by a financial services firm as an admin. And I was like, hell, yeah. I am leaping out of the house, 19 years old. I'm ready to adult. I had a lot of adult confidence.
Michelle Jacobik:I had a vision board at 19, you guys. And I just remember thinking, like, at the same time that this happened, my freedom bug kicked in. I remember saying there's no way I'm gonna pinch pennies. I'm gonna go work for a financial services firm. I'm gonna hit it out of the park.
Michelle Jacobik:I'm gonna make 6 figures. And at the same exact time that that happened, Visa and Mastercard literally showed up in my mailbox. And I thought, okay. Great. My angel investors are here.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? They know that I'm on the path to building wealth, and I'm going to take a leap with them. And I was able to take those credit cards and move out and buy all the betting that I wanted, get all the new clothes for my new job, do all the things, and, basically went into using credit cards. As at the same time that I was learning about investing compound interest in all of these things, I sort of, like, turned the channel off in my personal life and literally was spending. Like, I was making $75 an hour, but really making 11.
Michelle Jacobik:Okay? And so what I found myself 3 years later was in the place of multiple credit cards and then payday loans, you know, the checks that come in the mail with your name on them and you can just go to the bank and put them in your bank account. I had started using payday loans. I had run up $15,000 of credit card debt. That was not a normal problem to have in the eighties.
Michelle Jacobik:It was not. And you can imagine that my first step at adulting came with a whole lot of guilt and shame. And, I got to the point where everything halted. There was no more credit. There was no more APR swap games.
Michelle Jacobik:There was nothing left to do other than figure the crap out. Right? So, I had to step back with more mature eyes, and I realized some pretty foundational lessons that my mother and grandmother were actually teaching me. I actually needed to apply in my life to figure things out. So I learned that, one, financial consistency is actually what leads to financial stability.
Michelle Jacobik:I learned, to replace my desire for certainty with a desire for clarity. Like, if I just got clear about a plan and had a plan, I can act actually take bigger leaps. And I also learned that having a plan and not just the dream and the vision board was actually a big part of the formula to actually have success and to get where I wanted to go. So I learned also that working on the scarcity mindset, right, because you're hearing me tell the narrative that I had, was also gonna be a really big part of figuring out what were my prosperity blocks, what was gonna get in my way as I really move towards this new path that I really wanted to create, the financial freedom path. And, they those things, those scarcity mindset issues and those prosperity blocks were attached when I left, and I hadn't even realized that they were there, those financial DNA and those imprints.
Michelle Jacobik:So, I began to master my vision. I began to work on my mindset. I worked two and a half jobs to get myself out of debt. Luckily for me, I was in financial services, so I had gone to school for 18 months to learn how to do taxes. I had my life insurance license, my series 7, and I started really working with a great mentor that I was under to develop really good financial habits, but also had the ability to earn a great income because I was with different streams of revenue.
Michelle Jacobik:And I got myself from that drowning in debt stage at 23 to getting out of debt and then swore I'd never go back. And I think that applying those lessons, I well, you know, what happens is when you actually create financial stability and you take back your control and you put some pause in between your buying decisions and some mindfulness there, you can actually figure out a plan for what do you want your life to look like. And I knew that I didn't wanna feel those things that I was feeling again. And so I got out of the debt, but also took the lessons and continued to work on, the things that I needed to learn. And in that, I was able to I went into property and casualty insurance from financial services, and I bought the insurance agency that I worked for.
Michelle Jacobik:And, with a business partner, we grew that from 1100 customers to over 76 100, and we grew it from 600,000 in annual sales to over 12,000,000. And I took an exit 10 years ago, to step into a new chapter, and, the chapter that I'm in today is talking about money and empowering other people, to to look at things a little bit differently, especially now when people are not taught these things in school in in any level, except alternative schools many times. Right? They're teaching personal finance. But for most, it's an elective and most don't choose.
Hawley:Yeah. I mean, I bet so many people can just really relate to that story. I mean, I remember getting my first credit card whenever I was in college in the late '80s, early '90s. And luckily, I also had a scholarship, and I was able to work still. So luckily, I didn't get into that kind of debt while I was in college.
Hawley:But doesn't mean that I had good habits or any learning because even even as a business major, I mean, I took economics, but we never really talked about personal economics. We only talked talked about, like, government and world and, you know, what happens in the marketplace. We didn't really talk about how do you personally handle economics in your own home. And that's something that should be required for every not just high school student, but also every college student as well because we certainly don't have it right there. Well, let's jump into it.
Hawley:So, you shared about some of the common financials mistakes, but what are some of the common financial mistakes you see entrepreneurs make, and how can they avoid them?
Michelle Jacobik:Yeah. I love this question because there are there's probably 5 to 7 mistakes that I see over and over when entrepreneurs come to me. You know? Right? And they're the the goal is that they wanna be on that winning side of the failed business statistic.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? Like, 66% fail in the 1st 5 years, and I actually think that number would be higher if they didn't have access to credit cards. But I would say, looking at, you know, maybe my top five, I would say, 1, most entrepreneurs leap with passion and purpose. They have no lack of passion or purpose, but they don't necessarily have a plan. They expect immediate results.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? They they leave their job. They leap out, and they think that they're gonna make money by, like, next Tuesday. Right? They're gonna be profitable.
Michelle Jacobik:But the truth is that you don't make money immediately. You have to have a road map, and you also have to have a financial runway. And the truth is that that generally, most times, takes anywhere from 18 months to 2 years. But they're planning it to be 6 months, or they're planning it to be 3 months that they're gonna come out and be profitable. And so that is one of the biggest mistakes that I see is that they don't they don't really attune with the fact that they're gonna need a a longer financial runway.
Michelle Jacobik:I mean, even for me, you guys, like, I, you know, I took a 7 figure exit when I left my insurance agency and then took a year off and then said, okay. What am I gonna do now that I've grown up? And even coming into this business, like, it it took me 3 to 5 years of figuring the first three years was like, what do I wanna do? How do I wanna do it? Who do I wanna do it with?
Michelle Jacobik:And then I've had 3 iterations of that over the last 8 years in this consulting practice and where it has led me. And so even a seasoned entrepreneur with 35 years of experience and success still goes through that same iteration with a new business. So I would say the first thing is not leap out with your passion and your purpose, but make sure that you have a plan. The other piece that I see, that really gets people into trouble is not knowing what their lifestyle really cost. They truly don't have a clear view of what's required to keep the house afloat and their share of that number.
Michelle Jacobik:Now if you're single, it's the whole number. Right? You've got a you're responsible for the whole thing. But if you are in a relationship, it is a really important piece to go under the hood of the business go under the hood of the lifestyle and say, okay. What is it gonna take?
Michelle Jacobik:If it's gonna take 18 months to 2 years, what part of the lifestyle am I responsible for? And that's really the flow chapter of the path to profits goes into the formula of how do you do that. Really getting people to not just look at the bills with due dates, the what I call yellow pad budgeting, where you put down your rent or your mortgage, your car insurance, your Verizon. But what about the fact that I wear contacts? You wear glasses?
Michelle Jacobik:Kids might have camp this summer. We have auto repairs. So instead of looking at half of the formula, most times when I go under the hood with a business owner and I say, okay. What what what's your overhead? It they're giving me 30%.
Michelle Jacobik:They're not giving me the other 70%, which is their spending, their groceries, their eating out, their vacations, all the things. And I think that the biggest piece is really understanding what the lifestyle number is because we've got to make sure that you're getting the business to to create that paycheck for you. Right? We don't need creating a job per se, but we've gotta make sure that the business is profitable enough or that you have the long enough runway, and you're working with a real number. Because most people might start to insulate by taking, you know, 12 months and jumping out when they have 12 months, but they're not even looking at the real number.
Michelle Jacobik:And then that number only lasts them 6 months, and they end up going to credit cards or leveraging credit and then ending up in trouble when they get to the 2 or 3 year mark. The other thing that I would say is not even having a personal emergency fund or cash reserves for the business itself. Right? It's one thing to to need the the cash reserves to get yourself to the point that the business is profitable and making money, but then not even having a personal emergency fund and then having to refer to credit cards as well. Taxes is a big one.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? People will lay out the business, the business structure and not plan for taxes, And that definitely gets people in trouble. I've worked with a lot of people that get in trouble, not only with the IRS and the state, but sales tax. Right? They're in a business where they have to collect sales tax, contractors, service providers, retail.
Michelle Jacobik:And now all of a sudden, there's a crunch And the sales tax, which is not their money and should be reported or, you know, sent in either monthly or quarterly, depending on the state, all of a sudden, they're they've been using it to cushion the pad of the business, and they get themselves into trouble. And now they owe sales tax and they come in and take the money when when you're not paying. Right? So taxes is a big one. Using their personal credit and not establishing business credit is a big one.
Michelle Jacobik:Even long term established businesses tend to get into the pattern of using their personal credit to grow the business and never take the first moves to actually start establishing business credit. And then the other thing, the last thing that I see over and over is they're not focused on revenue generation activities. Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel. We're gonna do this. We're gonna do that.
Michelle Jacobik:We're doing all the things that all the people out there and the gurus say to do, and what they aren't doing is the consistent revenue generation that actually would bring in income and create profitability in their business.
Allie:I really like all of those points you can you've made because I can relate them as being a newer agent. When I was a new agent, I was going and I was transitioning from being Holly's assistant to an agent. I didn't take a look at my expenses and what I needed on a monthly basis. I luckily, I was also getting married, and my husband is the breadwinner. And so I had him as a cushion.
Allie:But having that mindset now going into our business, I always ask my new agents, what is your overhead on a monthly basis? And, like, that's what we're gonna aim for because I don't wanna overwhelm you and you don't get enough money in. And then you quit the next month because you're not making enough. I wanna set realistic expectations, in the forefront. And I think that goes for any business that I mean, there's going to be a drop in income because you're used to whatever income stream you're going from and then starting a new project.
Allie:And with that comes a lot of mindset shifts. You're no longer getting a paycheck from a job. You're becoming a business owner or an entrepreneur. And so what kind of mindset shifts are do you believe that are crucial for aspiring entrepreneurs or business owners to adopt in order to succeed?
Michelle Jacobik:I love this question because I think that the mindset piece is the number 1. Like, it's first and foremost that whatever we're doing. I think there's actually, like I love I actually think about 4 mindsets. I think, 1, a beginner's mindset. No matter how long you've been in business, having a beginner's mindset keeps you, 1, humble, right, that you show up, with this sense of no one is better than anybody else.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? Like, we all we should always be learning. And no matter where you are in business, the world is evolving. I mean, you look at just this last year with technology and and the implementation of AI and people that are using it in their business. If you just have this closed mindset, when things come along, you're going to miss out.
Michelle Jacobik:You're gonna be way behind the ball. You're gonna miss opportunities to continue to learn and also teach and mentor other people that, as you just mentioned, Ali, like, you're, you know, you're leading a team, and you've got people that you need to develop. And so if you have this thought as a leader that you always have it all figured out, then and you don't have a beginner's mindset, then you're gonna be left in the dust eventually. Right? So I think the first thing for me is always holding on to the fact that there's always more for me to learn and putting the time into that.
Michelle Jacobik:The second thing is an abundance mindset. Right? Like, I we have to, even when we're not in the place where we want to be, having a clear idea of, like, what it is you wanna create, like, what potential are you chasing? Right? I'm always chasing my greatest potential.
Michelle Jacobik:And so for me, it's it's never using words like we can't afford that ever. Like, it's been gone from my vocabulary forever. Now I'm not saying be willy nilly with your budget. I just told you, like, I'm somebody that teaches about, you know, being structured in your finances. But when you speak the words, we can't afford that, you're cementing yourself right now and in the future.
Michelle Jacobik:And so changing your mindset too and your language, right, because what we think and what we say are the most important things when it comes to our actual mindset. Like, do we really believe what we wanna create? So for me, it's moving to a place of how can we create that? What opportunities am I not seeing? Right?
Michelle Jacobik:And then I think the other piece is we get stuck, like imposter syndrome, the places where we're not worthy, we're not good enough, all of those things to fall into that abundance mindset, and we've gotta be able to have the tools to keep moving towards our purpose and our dream and our destiny and shut fear down. Right? Because fear and destiny, they live on the same playground, and they are and which one is gonna scream louder? Your fear. And so for me, you know, it's interesting.
Michelle Jacobik:I'll share this because I think it would help listeners. Every Friday at 4:10, okay, today, I will have an appointment that will go off on my calendar, and it's with my voice of doubt. Now why do I do that? I do that because on Monday Tuesday and maybe even before this podcast, right, maybe I had some sense of, oh, gosh. You know?
Michelle Jacobik:Am I gonna say the right things or do the right things? Like, we can get stuck in analysis by paralysis, and we can get stuck in our own crap. So for me, having an appointment with my voice of doubt on Friday at 4:10 allows me, when the voice comes up that's you know, that pulls me out of an abundance mindset, I can say, wait a minute. No. No.
Michelle Jacobik:You don't belong here now. Come back Friday at 4:10. And I give it space. Right? By the time I get to Friday at 4:10, I most times don't even remember what the lack mindset was.
Michelle Jacobik:However, if it is something that needs to be addressed, I give myself from 4:10 to 4:30 to journal about it, to work through it, and then move myself. If if it keeps showing up and wearing its ugly head, I get support. Right? How do I work on this thing, this limiting belief, or whatever might be coming up? So abundance mindset is huge.
Michelle Jacobik:The third thing is community mindset. You can't go it alone as an entrepreneur. Right? I think we tend to think that we are alone. I think that we need to be around other people normalizing conversations about money, normalizing these conversations about mindset, normalizing strategic partnerships, and how it's easier to grow your business and take bigger leaps when you are building strategic partnerships.
Michelle Jacobik:So I think community mindset is huge. Don't go it alone. And then lastly, we have to have a winning mindset. Like, we don't go into business to lose. None of us come into business to lose.
Michelle Jacobik:We come in to win. But if we are if we think that winning is bad, right, like, I mean, not for nothing, but, like, I'm not here to practice. I'm here to win. And so having a winning mindset and cheering for other people that are trying to win is just as important, and that's a piece of abundance mindset. But the winning mindset allows you to, 1, not quit.
Michelle Jacobik:And, it's like people will say, oh, don't have a plan b. Well, I think that sometimes you're working plan b as you're laying out plan a, and that's perfectly fine. That kinda goes to the money piece, but we're doing it to win. We're doing it to be on the winning side of that failed business statistic. But those would be my top four mindsets.
Hawley:Wow. So that's that's so much to impact. I love that. You know, as an athlete for a good majority of my life, especially my younger years through college, and then I was a coach. And some of the lessons I learned on the court so benefit me in sales and being a business owner and now being a coach of a of a fairly large team.
Hawley:So I love that because I can always see when that, that scarcity mindset is creeping in for my agents. So I love that you give yourself doubt talk a space for 4 I'm gonna start doing that 4:10 on Fridays because I hardly ever well, I don't really recognize mine as much, but I do I do you know, I've done a lot of work on it, but I'm of course, I'm not full safe. So just giving it a place to, like, rest if I'm like, I can't do that. I don't wanna do that right now. You know?
Hawley:So I think that's a really great tip. And I just love the fact that, you know, as a as a team player and as a person who does have many people on my team, it's really important to know that we're not here alone and that you can always reach out to someone. Someone always has more information than you. So Yeah. I love it.
Hawley:Okay. Well, let's talk about how you mentioned in your book, Having It All Wise While Still Managing Your Life. What are some of the practical tips you can provide entrepreneurs trying to achieve work life balance?
Allie:I love it.
Michelle Jacobik:So I think first is understanding that becoming our own boss actually means more than just sacrifice. Right? It means having clarity around who we are, what we want, where we're going, and then actually creating it. So I would say, you know, for me, it's 3 things. I talk about this in the book.
Michelle Jacobik:It's about designing a business design your business around a life, not the other way around. Right? So So what do I mean by that? I mean, get crystal clear about your vision. How do you wanna live?
Michelle Jacobik:What are the things that truly matter to you? What are your values? Right? You can't say that you value, fun and adventure and then find yourself 2 years in business, and you've done nothing fun or adventurous. Right?
Michelle Jacobik:So I think that one of the things that the path to profits does, the opening section is all about vision. And, and even, like, my goal setting workshops, it's around really going under 8 pillars and not just looking at the money and what you want the business to do, but really, like, where are you now around your social and fun and where do you wanna be? And then setting goals around that. Where are you now around your money and where do you wanna be? Where are you now around your personal relationships, your spirituality?
Michelle Jacobik:So it's not just one thing. And I think by going into the different pillars, it allows you to actually structure a life and have a really great vision board. Right? Because it's not just material. It's like, what are the things that you wanna feel?
Michelle Jacobik:How do you wanna show up? What are the things that are important to you? And, when you do that, I think so many entrepreneurs, including me. Right? Like, when I started, they build businesses that consume their lives.
Michelle Jacobik:They leave little room for joy. They leave little room for family. They the family gets crumbs. They have little room for their health, and that needs to flip. And I truly believe today that if we reverse engineer what we what our business should do for us in support of our life, that we can have it all.
Michelle Jacobik:I really do believe that. So, you know, today, full transparency, like, I built the monster. My insurance agency, we had 22 employees, 76 100 clients, like, tons of renewals. And I just it's it literally consumed me. Right?
Michelle Jacobik:And so every area of my life was getting crumbs. And so I made a decision, like, where am I why am I here today doing this? Because I literally was like, okay, I'm going to reset. And I felt like it was easier for me to reset and redesign knowing that if I had the runway to do it, that I could re redesign what I really wanted to create. And so today, I could decide, you know, I have a lap laptop style business.
Michelle Jacobik:I can do events around the country. I can speak around the country. I don't see clients till 9:30 in the morning, so I'm taking care of my wellness. And I block off time for self care and vacations and family dinners. You know?
Michelle Jacobik:The other thing is, I think, setting your revenue and your profit goals that work for the vision. Once you have your vision lined out, then you can actually figure out why do you if somebody says to me, why well, I wanna make 6 figures. Okay. Why? You wanna make 250,000 this year.
Michelle Jacobik:Where is it going? We decide in advance where the money is going. When I work with clients, I have them set 5 revenue goals, not just 1, and they know in advance where the money's going, completely aligned with what their goals are. You know, the number one quote in the book that's been highlighted by e readers, because as an author, I can see the highlights, is be it's the quote in the book is being profitable in support of your life, not at the expense of it. And so that's really what we're trying to do.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? We're trying to create a work life balance where we have an understanding of what we really wanna create, and it doesn't have to be 7 figures to get there. It's like, first define what you want your life to look like and then align. And sometimes you might find that you don't have the business that's going to align, and you have to have the brave face to be able to be like, okay. What would it look like?
Michelle Jacobik:Sometimes you've created a hobby that you thought was a business. Right? And sometimes people come to the conclusion that the business isn't gonna do what they want to do, and they end up going and finding a job, taking those same skills that they thought would create a business and going back and and using those skills and actually creating more structure and stability. And then the last thing is delegate and simplify. Like, you can't do it all.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? So if you're trying to balance work and life, you've got to once you're profitable, you've got to identify tasks that are training your energy, distracting you for making more money and from your zone of genius, and you've got to delegate. And so streamlining offerings, looking at, you know, what looking at your to do list. Look at your to do list and look at what should be the stop doing list. Right?
Michelle Jacobik:And at the same time that you're going through it, like, identifying what you should do, what somebody else should do, you delegate, and then what you should dump. Like, you have no business. Nobody has any business doing it. Right? Somebody told you you should do it, but it doesn't need to be done by anybody.
Michelle Jacobik:So those would be my three things.
Hawley:I like that a lot. I mean, some of the things that we've set up because my husband and I work together. So, like, we do our best not to talk about business 247. So we give our we give our 11 year old permission to say no more business, like, at dinner or wherever we might still be talking about it, on vacation, on an airplane, like, okay. We're going on this airplane.
Hawley:I know you have an event, you know, tomorrow night. We're doing it tomorrow night. However, between now and, you know, 4 o'clock, we're not talking about Appreciation Financial or Women of Wealth or any of that. Right? So, I mean, just knowing yourself, I think part of the challenge of being an entrepreneur is people go into business and they really don't know these things about themselves.
Hawley:Like, I know I'm a workaholic. Everyone around me knows that I can be a workaholic if I if I if I felt like it or if I wanted to. Right? I mean, that's just something that I know about myself. So knowing that about myself, I have to put those boundaries in place so I don't do that to my family, to my husband, to my son, to my friends, you know, to even my agents, you know, even though it's business, I have a lot of I have a lot of close relationships that are in business with me.
Hawley:So I think what you you hit it on the nail with, like, knowing knowing what's important and backing into it is so, so crucial. And another thing is to know what your distractions are and what you're willing to tolerate. Like, one thing on my business plan is always, like, what are the things that are gonna stop you from getting these goals? What are you gonna allow to stop you, and what are you going to fight up against and and figure out to push through or break through? Right?
Hawley:So, you know, I always look at, there's this great, exercise I've done in some personal development surroundings called goals and obstacles. And the obstacles sometimes are louder than the goals. So you really need to know what those obstacles are before you take that goal on. Go ahead, Allie.
Michelle Jacobik:I love it.
Allie:Yeah. Michelle, so I had another question to you know, you can have it all and managing the different pillars of your life. Do you ever feel like you go through seasons where you're really, like, really focused on your relationships or you're really focused on your business for a couple months? And then how do you when you become aware of, wow, I'm dropping the ball in this area, if you ever feel that way, what kind of tools do you use to to kind of get into center again?
Michelle Jacobik:I love this question because yes. Hell, yes. I also am a recovering workaholic, and very easily when I'm, you know, working on a project or, you know, coming into event season, I very, very much will. I mean and I just give myself permission. Right?
Michelle Jacobik:So here's the thing. I love what Holly said about borders and bumpers. Right? I have the same thing. I have people in my life that are willing to hold me accountable.
Michelle Jacobik:But I think for me, I also I know that because I have my core values. Like, I am operating this business from a place of what are my core values. Right? If one of my core values is impact, which it is, if I know that I'm going all in for 10 or 12 weeks as I'm working towards an event or opening up a ThriveHive and, you know, there's travel involved and speaking involved, whatever, then I'm going to as long as I'm aligned with the core value, I'm gonna give myself permission. But I also have people reminding me.
Michelle Jacobik:Like, for you know, I have a lot of tools. Like, you'll see I don't know if you could see these behind me, but they're like bells. Right? So when I am done the end of my day, I've learned especially because so many people work from home. Today in today's culture, so many people have home offices, so there is this constant office.
Michelle Jacobik:It's right there. Right? So I'm now learning to ring the bells, turn to my desk, say thank you, rest now, and close the office door. Right? So but there are always for me, I don't think that there will ever be seasons where I won't come in and out of hustle.
Michelle Jacobik:But I also know, like, for example, when I host an event, I will come out 2 days before the event, I now give myself self care, and then 2 days after the event, more self care. So I've learned to be much kinder to myself, and I think I don't know if it's, you know, this element of what I need to. I just don't have the capacity anymore to operate at that level constantly. And I think that, you know, having the time to go inward and a lot of people working from home, like, when your laptop business like, you've gotta turn it off. Right?
Michelle Jacobik:But I also I'm committed to quality, but know that I'm passionate about my business, and I'm not gonna stop. I'm here to make an to make an impact in the world and to help people win. And so sometimes could the consumer's gonna win and my customers are gonna win. And other times, like, I'll have to be reminded. You know?
Michelle Jacobik:I also think I do 12 week planning. Right? I literally sit down before a quarter begins. Actually, Ali, I'm I'm gonna share something because this is really important, and I do this in the path of profits. I literally just sat down last weekend, and the worksheets are in the book.
Michelle Jacobik:And I map out my entire 12 months, and I reverse engineer my time off first. Okay? So I sit, and I look at every single quarter, and I basically say, okay. When am I going to take vacations? Right?
Michelle Jacobik:So I've already laid out 6 weeks of vacations. I have a grandson now, so there's no way I'll ever miss a birthday. Right? So I lay out my entire year, and I put in my vacation time. I put in my personal time.
Michelle Jacobik:I put in where where the my son was my one of my stepsons was getting married in September last year. So I look at the whole picture, and I layer in first the personal pieces. And I'll tell you how important that is because when I was in my insurance business, full blown, I didn't think that far ahead. I was like, you know, you're putting out fires. You're living day to day.
Michelle Jacobik:You're just the next metric. How do I grow this year? And I will tell you, you know, when I started using this method, the path of profits method that I wrote about, I would have missed my son's my son went to, Norwich University up in Vermont, and he was playing collegiate soccer. And had I not sat down to do the work, I would have missed family parent weekend. I may have missed his 1st collegiate soccer game.
Michelle Jacobik:Like, it was no you know, it was a big deal, the fact that he put all this time in, all those years of sacrifice that we all made for him to play 3 sports. And imagine that had I not mapped out and instead I had committed to a speaking engagement in San Diego, and now I have to tell my son, who has this major milestone, that I was gonna miss it. And would he have forgiven me? Probably. Would I have forgiven myself?
Michelle Jacobik:Probably not. So the reverse engineering piece has worked huge for me. I literally sat down last weekend and laid out the entire 2025 year, the things that I know I don't wanna miss. I reached out to my kids. What's going on?
Michelle Jacobik:Is there anything that you wanna make sure that I'm at? And that gets placed first. And then I have a quarterly 12 week map of, like, where I'm gonna put my time, what projects I'm gonna work on, what am I trying to do in the business, and I make sure that all the days that were scratched that I'm not working are there. So reverse engineering definitely helps me, but I don't think it's possible to be all zen in entrepreneurship.
Hawley:No. And I also think it's important to talk to your family about what's important to them because I got so from one of my mentors, Sandra Yancey, you know, I was having, like, some mommy guilt over something I was missing being at one of her events. And, you know, I interviewed her my in my book as well, and we just talked about, like, you know, your kids are never gonna know if you're the president of the PTA, most likely. But if you miss their soccer games or football games in my son's case, they're gonna remember that because you're not up there cheering or or with them. You know?
Hawley:So when you are looking at laying out your year, it is really great to be able to put that stuff in there first, but make sure your kids think it's important too because why waste your time at a PTA meeting if they really could care less if you're on the PTA? You know? Or why be the, book fair mom? You know? You know, find out what they want.
Hawley:You know, my son, he has a 20 minute chapel at his school every Friday. And whenever I'm in town, he said, every time you're in town, I want you to go. It's not going to be a big deal if you're out of town and miss it. You know what I mean? So I do that.
Michelle Jacobik:That's beautiful. I love that. Yeah. So that's a beautiful suggestion. Yep.
Hawley:You're right. So let's talk about some of the ways that people can see you because you've been featured on a variety in various media outlets. How important do you think it is, for media to play a presence in your business? And what tips do you have for entrepreneur entrepreneurs looking to enhance their visibility?
Michelle Jacobik:Yeah. So, you know, I how how important is media? Well, it depends on what type of media you're talking about. Right? So obviously, we all have access to social media, which gives us access in my mind to media.
Michelle Jacobik:And so, yes, I've had, you know, the ability to go and do things, segments on Pixel 11 and KGLA and different things to bring, you know, mindset tips and different things around business. But over and over again, what I would say is I have witnessed leaders of companies, both large and small, literally bust their butts to get their products and their services ready to share with their communities, but then they play it really small in this visibility game. Right? They assume that the colorful new window sign or posting something on social media or shout out by the local chamber, that it's enough, that it's enough to magnetize people to their business. But honestly, it's not enough.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? Those pieces can be important, but public relations and relationship marketing is ongoing. And relationship marketing has to do with your current client base and how they can be out there talking for you and become from clients to raving fans. But I think that so many people leave out this piece of how do you really have long term growth and continuous sales and increased cash flow without using some form of media. Profitability is because you had people come to you and they bought from you.
Michelle Jacobik:And so the aim of any business in making a profit is actually having people not know about your business. So for me, you know, it took me, I would say, Holly, like, 25 years before I ended up in main you know, on Main Street Media. What did I do in the between? I built strategic partnerships. I went and did workshops in the in the at the chamber in my networking groups.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? Got up. I took a place of leadership and started to educate people in the things that I did. Now whether that's educating on your product or educating on your service, it wasn't selling. It was just becoming more visible by investing in small aligned efforts that I knew would drive more positive impact to my business than negative impact.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? I think too many people do the cookie cutter thing. They just say they've gotta post on social media 3 times a week, this, that. And the thing is, they're not even loving doing it. It doesn't even bring them joy.
Michelle Jacobik:So the good news is that you can take a lot of time to increase visibility, but first start, like, what does it take for you to be consistent, willing, and brave? And most times, it's looking at the things in your marketing that you actually enjoy doing. And if it's, you know, going out and networking and meeting new women because you want to be around positive energy, then go do more of that. And don't worry about turning on the Facebook live. Like, I think too many people are not doing enough things in terms of, like, media the the media that works for them.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? And I'm not saying, like, don't try things that you haven't done before, like, move through your fear. But I think that there's multiple ways to do it, including, for example, like, right now, I just started writing a blog post in a monthly the Boston Business Association. They had put out an RFP for people to write blog posts. And next thing you know, I've written 3 months in a row, and she emailed me today and said, do you wanna do another another 3 months?
Michelle Jacobik:Well, of course, I do. Like, that's great SEO. Right? And so it could be something as simple as going to your alumni, your high school, your college. Too many people miss the free PR that's available.
Michelle Jacobik:It could be simply just letting them know that you just got an award, and you send you know, you go to your class notes on your high school website or your college website, and you consistently go to the same places so that you're always creating PR around your business.
Allie:I feel like from a millennial point of view, I feel like we have always had I mean, Facebook came out, I think, when I was either in middle school or high school. And so we've always just seen everything on social media. And so I know my brain when I think about marketing yourself, I go to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, whatever. And I took a little hiatus this year because I'm like, why? Why do I have to why am I feeling like I have to be on here every day?
Allie:Sometimes I love it. And and I've gotten feedback of they can tell when you love to be on there and when you're doing it just to do it. So I think there's something to be said about going and seeking the thing that makes that brings joy to you and also gives you visibility, no matter no matter what it is. One type of media is not better than the other. If you're getting a, good feedback from it and people can see that you've got heart and passion in what you do, then that's gonna be more profitable than you doing something that you feel like you have to do.
Michelle Jacobik:Right. Because that we're not consistent. Absolutely.
Allie:Yeah. Was there a moment in your career time, that you were like, I need to be more visible. And what did you seek first?
Michelle Jacobik:Yeah. So I knew you know, I I read Jill Lubin's book. I think it was called Guerrilla Marketing, and she's an e women. And it was a fabulous book because you see I have 2 books here. Right?
Michelle Jacobik:So prosperity after prosperity after divorce, take charge of your finances was my first book in 2018, and it sat in the top 100 for the last 4 years on Amazon in divorce categories. It's a phenomenal, again, going into the, you know, into this 8 pillars and but all through the lens of budgeting and finance. When the path to profits came when I was writing the path to profits, I had read Jill's book and she said, you need an 18 month runway. You need an 18 month runway for press. And so I thought, okay.
Michelle Jacobik:If I'm going to be a thought leader and somebody who's really out there like a Mel Robbins and, you know, people on a bigger stage, like, not for nothing, but, like, Dave Ramsey and Susie Orman, like, they're gonna retire at some point. Right? And I feel a calling on my life to take this work into a bigger place, right, and to be having bigger conversations around this. And so was I wanting to be on national television? No.
Michelle Jacobik:But here's what happened, Ali. I felt a call when COVID happened and everything went on Zoom. I thought this is the perfect time for me because producers were bringing people into their Skype room and bringing them into the there was no me having to fly to New York and get in front of live cameras. I still was live. Right?
Michelle Jacobik:But I thought, I've been on Zoom for 8 years. If I can't nail an interview on in Zoom, right, then and I'm not willing to take this first step, then how will I ever step on front of a live TV camera? So I I basically challenged myself that year, and I started, pitching the press different stories that would be aligned with their audiences and the the you know, what was happening in the moment. And I did it again consistently. I took 2 hours every Monday.
Michelle Jacobik:1st, I did an entire list of, like, 400 different producers that I went and created, and then I did all of my own sourcing. I sent every Monday for 2 hours. I would send out an email with a story pitch. And then 2 weeks later, I would send a follow-up because I heard from nobody. It took literally 68 hours of me pitching from January until April before I had my first reply.
Michelle Jacobik:Not even a reply. Okay? So, yeah, there was a time where I thought if I don't try this now, I'm never gonna do it. And, honestly, one of the things that I learned is that even when you go and pitch TV media, they're not just gonna put you on TV. If you don't have a social media, if you're not doing videos on social or you don't have any lives, you don't have anything on YouTube, like, they're just, most times, not gonna pull you in unless, like, you're a hometown story.
Michelle Jacobik:I mean, it's really hard to get a producer's attention. And I also had to build relationships. Right? So for me, it was the decision that I knew I wanted the path to profits to have a real impact in the world and that I needed to do the work and have the runway on the media side to actually make it happen. So that would be my number one.
Michelle Jacobik:Like, what made me Was there a time where I felt like I had to do it? And I feel like I did. You know? It was it was not easy. I could've quit by hour 40, an hour 50, an hour 60.
Michelle Jacobik:And then once I got one, it all started to lay itself out. And I started then, you know, sharing the the segments with other producers, and then it was an easy come to Good Morning Chicago, come to Good Morning, Washington, Good Morning, Connecticut and whatnot. And it and I had a really nice run. And that helped with the visibility of the book. The book ended up in the Grammy gift bags, which was great.
Michelle Jacobik:You know, like, who knew? I would have never chosen to put the book in the Grammy gift bags.
Hawley:Yeah. That's great. That's such a great story. I love that.
Michelle Jacobik:Thank you.
Hawley:You have said don't quit a couple of times, and I think that's really important for especially women to hear. So when you're talking about not necessarily coaching because you do way more than coaching with people, but what kind of entrepreneur needs your services, and how can they find you? Is it just you have so much to give them. I want I want you to tell us what your avatar looks like.
Michelle Jacobik:Yeah. So, you know, I think I can be of service to both the aspiring and the emerging entrepreneur, and I can be of service to the advancing entrepreneur. Right? How would an aspiring entrepreneur how could I be of service? Well, they could read or listen because it's on Audible as well, the path to profits and get the knowledge that they need.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? Moving into that this combination of personal and business development. It's the book that is a bridge between both. This helps them to start to understand the basic vision flow and grow pillars that are needed to grow their business. Beyond the book, I support them with done with you services, like creating their business plans.
Michelle Jacobik:Right? One of the things that most people do is they leap out without a business plan or a performer to see if the business actually is gonna work. So I I can help them with done with you services and help them with the business plans, the financial forecast, and then helping them build out their budget and planning tools because many people will read the book and the theory is great, but they're like they still feel like they need support. And so I can create the tools with them, show them, and walk with them for a while to incorporate these tools into their life and business so that they have a budget and a plan and a strategy tool to make decisions. And then for the advancing entrepreneur, I offer consultancy and advisory support.
Michelle Jacobik:I host, VIP weekends. Sometimes clients will just fly in on a Thursday, stay with me, and we work on their business, and they leave on Sunday. Or I'll work with them for 6 months, or longer on a consultancy basis and advise them on their business and the things that they are trying to get to to kinda help them shorten the timeline with all of this wisdom, as you said. The other thing that I do, to create community is I host, for advancing entrepreneurs, I host 3 different 2 day drop in masterminds each year. They're called the Thrive Hives, and it's a place to connect them with other growth focused entrepreneurs where they can network, and they keep we keep them small to 20 people so they really get to know everybody in the room.
Michelle Jacobik:And, we focus on helping them solve their most immediate kink in the host so that they can actually have their best year. They're making new connections. They're sharing resources. They're many times collaborating. We don't sell in the room.
Michelle Jacobik:We don't need to. Like, it's get in there and let's mastermind. And so, I feel like, you know, I could serve both sides, both the aspiring and the emerging and the advancing entrepreneur. And the way that people can find me is michellejakovic.com. My website lays out the different programs and the things that I do to support entrepreneurs.
Allie:Awesome. And then so we'll have the link to your website also in the description of the podcast. We appreciate you so much for coming on, and we are have a lightning round that we love to do with all of our guests. So are you ready?
Michelle Jacobik:Sure. I love lightning rounds. It's a little nerve racking, but go ahead.
Allie:Alright. Cash or credit?
Michelle Jacobik:Both. Cash cash for stability, credit for leverage.
Allie:Real estate or stocks?
Michelle Jacobik:Both. I definitely believe in diversification and see value in both.
Allie:Okay. If you had to choose between 1 or the other. Stocks. Okay. If you won a $1,000,000 today, what would be the first thing you do with the money?
Michelle Jacobik:I would pay off my remaining mortgage. That's the only debt that I have.
Allie:What is a fun impulse buy you've had recently?
Michelle Jacobik:My daughter turned 30 in June, and we didn't have an opportunity to do anything special in June. And, we love Leanne Rhymes. We send, Instagram, like, you know, songs back and forth for I don't know how long. And one night, she sent me one of Leanne's new songs, and she wrote bucket list on the DM. And I thought, oh my gosh.
Michelle Jacobik:I this could be something special. And I went to Leanne's website and looked up her tours, and I found that she was doing a private show in Utah. And, with only 250 people at the show, it was, like, at this really beautiful high end resort. And I bought us tickets, And we just went and, had that experience 3 weeks ago. It was absolutely amazing.
Michelle Jacobik:It was one of the best impulse buys I've ever had.
Allie:Oh, that's a that's that's special. Yeah. That's a good one. Alright. What is a money saving tip you swear by?
Allie:I know you gave us a few, but what's just one?
Michelle Jacobik:Pay yourself first. Right. Pay yourself first.
Allie:Yep. What's your biggest financial fear?
Michelle Jacobik:Cyber attacks on the banks. Oof. Yeah.
Allie:Dark. And then what's the what's your biggest financial goal for the next year?
Michelle Jacobik:For the next year, it's to get this company to 2,000,000, and then moving into franchising the path to profits, which we've been on that path for a year. So this year is getting to the 2,000,000 and then taking the work that we've done in the franchising certification piece to be able to, certify coaches, CPAs, and, bookkeepers in the methodology.
Allie:Wow. That's awesome.
Hawley:Yeah. That's awesome. Well, thank you so much, Michelle. I know this has been a long time coming. We've been talking about having you on the show for a while, so I'm so glad it worked out, and I really appreciate you.
Hawley:Thank you again for all the knowledge and wisdom you just imparted on our audience and us as well. And I look forward to, you know, seeing you in the year, hopefully, somewhere
Michelle Jacobik:soon. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for the robust conversation, ladies.
Hawley:Thank you for joining us on
Allie:this week's episode. We'd love
Hawley:to hear from you, so make sure to follow and tag us on Facebook and Instagram at women of wealth podcast.
Allie:Your support means the world to us. Until next time. Remember, your financial future is in your hands.
Hawley:Stay informed, stay inspired, and embrace your wealth. See you on the next episode.
