The goal of Hardly Hustle is to provide inspiration, drive and motivation in a 10 minute read or less. What you see is what you get. This is hot off the press without an editing team.
Jacquie Court is up.
Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Jacquie Court. I’m a content creator and marketer with a real passion for women’s health. I used to be laser focused on creating content for brands and products that I realized, I had no real emotional alignment with. After the birth of my daughter I went into early menopause and it turned my world upside – as it can often do for women. When I sought treatment, advice and help I soon realized there was literally nothing out there. It was causing stress in my marriage, my career and most importantly, in my world as a new mother. I felt abandoned and alone and I felt angry that women were treated like this once their child-bearing years came to a close. I’m not the kind of person who can sit back and tolerate injustice or inequity.
What did it take / how did you get started?
Once I started to do my own research, I realized there really was information available, if women just had hours of time and the know how to find it. There were other solutions instead of ‘just get through it’ and I was hell-bent on bringing this information to women. So along with my former colleague, a breast-cancer survivor, we developed a podcast to deliver this critical information to women to help them through their own journey and to make them realize that they are not alone.
What does the future look like for you and your hustle?
The future is already looking amazing. I never thought I’d see myself so focused on such a taboo topic but the feedback from my audience is incredible. I’m working with more and more brands who are targeting women in menopause and helping them to reach them in an authentic and helpful way. At this stage in our lives, women are savvy consumers and they know when brands are just trying to get into their pockets. We help brands connect with women and deliver real solutions that turn into sales and loyal customers for our clients.
What drives / motivates you?
Feedback fuels me. When I hear someone tell me that a certain podcast episode really helped them, or advice was critical in their decision making, I see that I’m making a difference and it makes me want to do more and more to help and change the way we view women, our critical role in the world and the importance of our health.
What advice would you give someone interested in doing what you do?
Business plans and process are critical to keeping your business organized but growing a start up isn’t a straight line. Things will fall off that don’t work and things will arise you never thought would work. You have to be a flexible thinker and you have to have a belly full of passion because some days can be so hard you want to throw in the towel. But if you want to succeed, giving up is not an option. That’s where passion and a firm belief in what you’re doing is critical. Listen to the feedback – it is one of the most valuable business tools and will provide inspiration.
What has been the hardest part of the hustle?
It can be a struggle to manage my time between my family and my work life. Add in a global pandemic and those challenges are amplified beyond belief. However, open dialogue and patience got me through. Like so many others, I also struggle with focus and I have to have my tasks set out in advance so I can really stay on course and not get distracted.
What are a few resources that you'd recommend?
I have to be honest, I read books in the past and listened to podcasts but my real inspiration came from watching other entrepreneurs share their stories on Instagram or at events. I reached out to many of them to ask for advice and that was more customized to what I was doing. Seeing a real life example gave me more impetus than any book could do.
The STATS
Side or full-time hustle? Full-time List the founders Jacquie Court & Ramona Gornik-Lee How many hours a week do you work on this hustle? 60ish # of Employees? 1 When did you start? 2019 How much did it cost to launch? Since we’re a social company – the costs weren’t as much as the hours! Approx $3K for all our start up costs. What were your funding methods and ballpark amount raised? Bootstrapping the whole thing so far! Annual revenue? Not much but we’ve made a major shift to launch a new division which will provide more revenue. Approx $10K to date. Projected revenue? Next year hopefully around $80K Any call to action? I’m definitely looking for support from any interns who are interested in sharpening their teeth on design and community management. Social: Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SHE2.0Group Instagram: @she2dot0 Twitter: @she2dot0 Website: www.she2-0.ca