Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the incredibly smart and talented
Jesse Lee Gray. I had the pleasure of meeting Jesse Lee at an
Alexandra Franzen workshop and I was immediately struck by this cool, interesting chick. So, I had to interview her.
Take it away, Jesse Lee!
1.
What is the name of your business
and what do you tell other people you do? (such as author, teacher, designer)
I’m
currently using my name: Jesse Lee Gray.
I’m kicking around some ideas for a business name, but
haven’t settled on anything yet. To keep it simple in a social context, I say “freelance writer.” However if I’m
networking, I say I’m an “organizational consultant with a writing focus.” I help
businesses get organized for scale, without losing the authentic something
special that made them successful in the first place.
2.
How long have you been
self-employed? What convinced you to become an entrepreneur?
I’ve
been self-employed exclusively as a freelance writer for a little over a
year. Before that I owned a
triple-bottom-line, residential cleaning company for 8 and a half years.
Entrepreneurship provides me
the freedom to decide how I do things and talk to people. I also get bored with
a lot of repetition so the ever-changing challenges of self-employment keep my
attention focused and my imagination firing at full tilt.
3.
Entrepreneurs rarely stay in one
place. How many careers have you had?
Hmmm. Student, teacher (briefly), house cleaner,
cleaning service owner, freelance writer.
That’s 5. If you
count wife (which should totally count), it’s 6 :)
4.
What are some of the aspects of
your current job that people don’t see? For example, most people don’t understand how much
marketing is done by the authors themselves instead of a publisher.
Lots of flexibility and
emotional intelligence are required. My
process can’t be exactly the same with every person or business: I
have to adjust my communication style/ mode to fit each client’s needs. I have to *get* them quickly so I can
understand them and get to work! When you’re good
at adjusting nimbly, people don’t necessarily notice because
the process seems organic.
5.
Who and what inspires you on those
inevitable rough days?
Ash Ambirge of The MiddleFinger Project. She highlights and provides sage advice about
the challenges of business ownership and never fails to make me smile with her
irreverent and humorous anecdotes.
6.
Name a few of your current
projects. For example, conferences, publicity, design process, what you have
for sale.
•
Online
classes. In April I took a class through
the Freelance Writers Den
on writing White Papers and am currently working through the Six AppealProcess in order to revamp my website
to have more emotional appeal.
•
The Garden: a
neighborhood farmhouse. This
organization is going through a rebranding and restructuring process as they
switch from a for-profit restaurant to a non-profit, food-centered neighborhood
resource, education and event center. I
helped them organize New Member information into a 2-part Welcome Guide and
will likely continue to help them streamline their communications.
•
TheUnreasonable Institute: I have a
long-term, part-time gig as their Scale Systems Maverick. To achieve their mission to tackle the world’s biggest problems through entrepreneurship, they need
a lot more locations than they currently have. To set new locations up for
success, they needed a training package that encapsulates who they are and how
they do their thing for each their programs.
A big piece has been codifying the curriculum that each location teaches
to entrepreneurs.
•
Final edits and
finishing touches on two collections of my poetry.
•
Go Should
Yourself (hat tip to Ms. Mercury for pushing me to do this one)
•
Sand in My Teeth
7.
What are your recommendations for
women who are interested in pursuing self-employment?
It’s a big jump, especially if it’s your first time, but don’t overthink it.
Listen to your gut, your heart, or whatever body part (that’s not your head) talks to you. If it says “Do
it,” then start making serious strides toward the big
jump. No matter how much research you
do, you’ll never be ready for everything a freelance life will
throw you. But if you’re brave enough to take the plunge, trust that you’ll also be smart enough to figure things out as you go
and nimble enough to adjust what’s not
working.
