We had a great honor of having Jackie Steinmetz, the founder of Accelity Marketing , come for our March Fireside Chat. Over 30 women filled the house, eagerly anticipating hearing about the journey of a woman from the neighborhood who successfully launched a business and made it.
As we do with every meeting, we kicked off the meeting with our sponsor, by Mor Bakery & Cafe – Redefining Gluten Free , passing out their tasty bakery items which will be sold at their new gluten-free kitchen at 2018 S. 1st St. in Bay View. Our well-fed audience was ready to hear Jackie’s story so we introduced ourselves and heard her story.
On Accelity’s website, Jackie’s describes herself as a kayaking fanatic focused on client strategy, success and growth. While we did not delve into the kayaking, Jackie’s drive and desire to solve problems and help clients reach their goals were motivated us all.
Jackie ventured into the world of startups after leaving a technical marketing background to launch a business, with her husband, selling vegan cookies. After successfully building and selling that business, Jackie’s key takeaway was that if you had the choice to grow a business in a field in which you have a knowledgeable background or not, choose the former. It is a lot easier and more fun!
After her exit from the vegan cookie industry, Jackie happily returned to the world of STEM as a marketing consultant. She launched her own firm and used her experience shortening sales cycles to help startups be smarter about their marketing. Jackie was so successful, that in just under two years, she renamed her consulting business Accelity Marketing. She continued to steer Accelity’s course while moving to a bigger office and hiring more staff to meet the needs of her growing base of clientele.
Speaking of hiring, Jackie ensures Accelity’s core values of ownership, transparency, passion, creativity, excellence, fun, growth, and ownership are met with new hires. If they make a hiring mistake, are rarity these days with her fine-tuned hiring process, she fires fast in three months as she cares about having her staff meet the needs of every, single customer and increasing their bottom line.
As a sales person, Jackie truly values her clients, both those retained and those freshly acquired. She knows her client and how they are funding their purchase. As many paying out of their own pocket, she realizes that they really trust her with their money and is honored to take on the responsibility.
Here are some great takeaways from Jackie on growing a business:
- Treat your client’s money as if it were your own.
- Honesty is invaluable.
- Go with you gut.
For women, she found the following valuable:
- Women should be honest with each other as women.
- Even though is is a big struggle, learn to say no and to put yourself first.
- Earning respect is key.
When asked how we could help her, she asked for referrals of B2B SaaS (or Business to Business
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)) clients. We obliged to send them her way.
Overall, she knows running Service Businesses and Startups are both tough and rewarding business. She is thrilled she took on the endeavor and hopes move of us will join her, especially in the world of technology.
Thanks for your visit, Jackie!