How One Thriving Veteran Supports Women Business Owners
When you have a global team of 9,000 and two successful businesses, people will ask about your secret sauce. Two big factors in this female entrepreneur’s story: incredible leadership and a heart of service. We sat down with Jen Griswold, an Air Force veteran and founder of Team G.i.v.e. and Mission Entrepreneur. She shared with us her success story and how she has always been about empowering women business owners.
From Officer to Military Spouse to Entrepreneur
Jen and her husband met at the Air Force Academy. When she had kids, Jen had to shift and joined the reserves. “It was a tough change being an officer and shifting to a mom of kids in diapers. Moving every few years and keeping a career path was tough,” Jen recalls.
She realized military spouses face a high rate of unemployment.
Despite not having any mentors, Jen pressed on to become an entrepreneur like her parents before her. However, she made a mental note that whenever she finally reached success, she would be a mentor for someone else.
Two Businesses and Beyond
Rodan + Fields
In 2011, Jen became a consultant for Rodan and Fields, a leading company known for its innovative skincare products. In time, her business grew, generating revenue of seven figures and a global team of 9000 consultants. Jen mentioned that the big motivator behind this business was to help women find jobs. After accomplishing this, she added on a new way to help women business owners.
Mission Entrepreneur
In 2016, Jen founded a new business with the same mission to help women entrepreneurs.
“When I had success [with Rodan and Fields], I was able to fund my real dream called Mission Entrepreneur.”
Mission Entrepreneur is a marketing agency that helps female founders grow in marketing, start businesses, branding, websites and more.
“Locking arms with new entrepreneurs, we make sure they get the job done. We help them with our experience and make them feel like they have a virtual team.”
Those who come to Mission Entrepreneur are women who are unsure. The basic process for helping their businesses includes:
- Participation in a marketing clarity session about what you will do
- Meeting with a graphic designer for your logo
- Working with a website designer
- Getting copywriting assistance
A New Product
Mission Entrepreneur offers several services to help women business owners, and recently they launched an additional product. Meet BossLady Bio, a mobile-friendly mini-website that your social media can link to. “Some women aren’t tech-savvy enough to keep a website, and women are always on the go,” Jen commented.
When creating the web app, their team handpicked all our favorite features like:
- Badging features
- Stories
- Video element for introducing yourself
- Links
- Three places to highlight products
- Virtual business card
- Spotlight connection (a trail of who invited you)
BossLady Bio has a free version, pro version and custom version.
5 Tips for Women Business Owners
- Invest in yourself – This advice is unique to women. Women will spend money on everything but themselves. The more we get women to put their content out and ideas out, the more business they will get.
- Talk about what you do – What is your brand statement? You need to convey quickly what you do without going all over the place. Most women are multi-faceted.
- Serve others – Jen shared that many people get to the end of their life only to realize that life is all about serving others.
“The military was a big gift to me. I was given that knowledge right away. It was all about serving others.”
If you’re serving people, you’ll always be successful.
- Outsource: Only do what you are good at – We all need to stay in our lane of expertise. Sometimes that means forking out money for a service. You have talents you should spend 99% of your time sharing. Other people have talents to assist you.
- Leap of faith – Women business owners are the new frontier. Believe in yourself. If you have an idea that’s been on the shelf, dust it off and lock arms with a friend. You’ll get help with the first steps. The world will be a better place with more women entrepreneurs in it.
You can watch or listen to Jen Griswold‘s interview below.