4-20: Entrepreneurship Decoded: Lessons Resilience, Evaluation and Goal-Setting

Ready to unlock the secrets to entrepreneurial success? Join us as we sit down with seasoned entrepreneurs, Jennifer, Jack, and Staci spill the beans on the top three habits for business growth. From setting clear-cut goals to tracking progress, The Dempsey's make a compelling case for meticulous planning, especially at the start of the year, as a building block for long-term success. 

But our conversation doesn't end with goal-setting. We shift gears to explore the less talked about, but equally critical elements of an entrepreneur's journey - resilience and evaluation. Get ready to learn why commitment, a strong 'why' and the knack to bounce back from adversity are instrumental for any successful business. Jennifer offers sage advice on how to deal with tough times by extending grace to oneself and the importance of fostering a culture of kindness. So prepare to be inspired and equipped with invaluable insights to shape your own entrepreneurial journey.

Nuggets Include:
* Consistent habits create consistent results
* You need buy-in
* Seek ways to grow you and your team

Email us at: TwoDaughtersAndTheirDad@gmail.com

Please download our Best of Nuggets eBook here.

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Jennifer Faith Dempsey has been in the beauty industry for over 10 years. For the last 5m years, she has owned J. Faith Hair Studio. She brings her experience on how she balances entrepreneurship and motherhood. Check out Jen’s blog.

Staci Joy Dempsey is an insurance agent, a mom, and a busy non-profit volunteer. She truly understands what it means to be an entrepreneur. Staci serves as the podcast's host.

Jack Dempsey is the dad who heads up this busy family. He is a founding partner in Dempsey, Weiss & Associates, an Elmer, NJ-based insurance and investment firm that began more than 30 years ago.

Transcript

Staci Dempsey: 0:00

Hey there and welcome to the Business of Business podcast. Here we are, two daughters and their dad, seeking to inspire and educate you to follow your dreams of being in business by teaching you the business of being in business. The good, the bad, the humor are all parts of our unique perspective as an entrepreneurial family. Well, hello there, everyone and welcome back. I am here once again, thankfully with Dad and the sister Jennifer. Good morning to the both of you. Good morning.

Jack Dempsey: 0:30

Good morning.

Staci Dempsey: 0:33

I might have had a few more cups of coffee than them so far, so we'll just, we'll get them caught up here, guys. All right, let's do this All right, we're revin, we're revin.

Staci Dempsey: 0:41

So I'm super fired up today because today we're going to share with you all our top three, we believe are the top three habits of entrepreneurs and highly successful people. Now, this, your top three, might look a little bit different than us, but this is our podcast, so we get to pick what we think are the top three Let me just calm down a little bit, but anyway. But we do want to talk to you guys today about what we think are the top three habits that all entrepreneurs and really, when we think about it, anyone that wants to accomplish anything should really focus on these three areas. So, jennifer, I want to start with you, because our number one but we're listening is number one.

Staci Dempsey: 1:28

It reminds me of when you were telling us the story about you were are your second year into business and you were like dad, should I have a budget? And I just remember thinking, yeah, jen, but I didn't say that then. But our, you know, but what we're listening is number one is setting clear goals and tracking progress, and so, as we were talking about that, that was the first thing that came to mind. Was you sharing? Like, should I have a budget? Maybe?

Jennifer Dempsey: 2:04

maybe you should Listen I am number one.

Jennifer Dempsey: 2:06

I am always a hairdresser first, don't? I know I fool a lot of people because I wear a lot of hats, but I am a hairdresser, so don't forget that. But yes, I live, breathe. Goal setting, I mean, that's just how I operate, not only in my personal life, but absolutely inside of my business. You know, I think that's what's really great about starting off just pure passion, just I don't even have to make any money, I just want to do it. And then you know, after a while, you're like okay, I need to get on track here and set a budget and set some goals and really be able to track my growth here. And that's when you really start to get control over your business instead of your business controlling you. At least, that's how it happened for me. So, yeah, I think that all entrepreneurs have to set goals, have to track goals, have to plan for the future. And you know, when we're talking about this, it makes me start to think.

Jennifer Dempsey: 3:11

You know, even early on in my business, I would call dad, like, oh, my goodness, this month is so slow. And he would always be like well, what happened last year? And I'm like, well, yeah, let me go. Let me go back and look at what we did last year. Okay, you know it's all relative, maybe it. You know I'm feeling it. I'm feeling the feels. But it's way different when we have our goals and numbers on paper. Hard-print numbers don't lie is what they say. So, as you guys know, the beginning of the year is what works best for us. So we have huge, you know, with my staff, we have a huge day full of um, vision boards and planning and goal setting. So Just call me Jennifer, goal setting Dempsey from now on.

Jack Dempsey: 3:56

Okay, sounds good to me. I like that. I'm gonna introduce her now. This is my daughter, jennifer, goal setting. Dempsey, we call her goal setting.

Staci Dempsey: 4:16

Jack the man Jack the fish yeah that's right for another day.

Jack Dempsey: 4:21

Well, let me just jump in here because, again, I you know it almost feels like you want to say, and I think maybe I'm hearing some of our listeners say, when we say the number one habit is goal setting, and I could almost hear some of the listeners going duh, you know the course of it, but you know, it's amazing to me as I talk to other business people. You know how quickly Goals can get lost and how quickly they get like, yeah, I have a goal, but you know, right now I'm just trying to do this and this and this. You know, you know you might just be trying to survive your first A year in business because you know you had so many unexpected things happen, or you know, whatever the case may be. So I'm gonna say something here that I think maybe some of our listeners have heard before and I'm gonna say this. But I'm gonna say to my two daughters Don't say anything About me bringing this up again and I'm getting that.

Jack Dempsey: 5:30

Look, goals are important. Systems have to go along with them. I have seen over and over again people set goals but they don't lay out the roadmap. They don't lay out what has to be done on a day in and day out basis to get to those goals. That's the challenge of goals is, if you don't have a system that you do every day, just like Jennifer said, I'm having, you know, the month is slow. Well, what was last year's month like? Was that slow too? It might be just the trend of the year. You have to have systems. You have to know what you can track on a daily basis because it you know, goals can be Important, but they can be frustrating if you don't have a way to measure on a frequent and consistent basis, and that's what systems do for you, depending on your type of business. So, yes, goals are number one, but if they're not Coupled with systems, you're gonna struggle. You're gonna struggle with you know how to Structure your day, day in and day out in your business to ultimately hit those goals.

Joel Dempsey: 6:45

Dempsey Weiss and Associates is a multi-line insurance agency successfully meeting the insurance and financial needs of the landscaping, business, contractor and agricultural community in southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania since 1989. To learn more, visit us at wwwdempsiweisscom J-Faith Hair Studio. Centrally located in southern New Jersey, j-faith Hair Studio is the place to go to become the best version of yourself. Confidence in your appearance is always important and a great hairstyle is an absolute necessity.

Jennifer Dempsey: 7:17

Visit J-Faith Hair Studio comm to book your appointment today but it really goes hand-in-hand with creating habits, right, having a System on how to create successful habits. And so, if we're just looking at goal setting, now, this has become a habit, right, the first of the year, come together, you sit down with, with your business, and you create goals, maybe for the year, maybe you do it every month, maybe you do it a quarter. Whatever that habit is, you have to have system, a some kind of system to make it successful.

Jennifer Dempsey: 7:52

And you it has, and the number one way to have successful habits is to be consistent, because there's no way we can have successful habits without consistency. Consistent habits create consistent results. That's what's key.

Jack Dempsey: 8:11

Yeah, another thing that you said to Jennifer, that is, when you talk about your goals and then you're, but you're involving your team in your goals and the goals of the organization by also establishing their individual goals and how, by having them established individual goals, feeds into the bigger goal. So, again, depending upon your business, first of all, in all businesses, you need to be communicating what your goals are, consistently communicating what the goals are. And if you break those down, hey, our goal this week is X and you, however, you measure that goal, or for the month or whatever makes the most sense. But if you set these goals but are not communicating to your people why they're important and what they need to do, I mean not even why they're important to the business, but why it's important for them as individuals, as part of your team, and so you know, because, again, you need buy it, and I see that's and I say that because that's one of my week areas we can set goals and I can be excited about them and we communicate them early on, but it starts to fade next thing.

Jack Dempsey: 9:37

You know the business of your business and next year you haven't communicated or connected with your team on where you stand. You know? Hey, we're doing great Congratulations. Hey, we're behind. You know we got to pick it up, whatever the case may be, so being committed to communicating and including your team is critical. Love it.

Staci Dempsey: 10:01

Well, let's roll right into our second. What we believe is the second habit for entrepreneurs, and that is constantly growing and learning. And I say that because Jennifer just had a learning day yesterday right with your salon, which is something that you do on a consistent basis and something that we strive at Dempsey Ways to implement on a consistent basis. And what's also exciting is that we're starting to get some additional support from the company about just constantly growing and learning, because things are ever changing. No matter what industry you're in, you're always going to need to learn and know something more, and I would suspect that you've done a lot of growing and learning in 35 plus years of business.

Jack Dempsey: 10:54

I tell people all the time I mean, yeah, I mean experience is great, but you know, if you're still not committed, if you're in business and running a business and not committed to keeping up with what is going on in your industry, in the economy, all the things that are happening, you're going to be out of business. And so you have to stay committed, you have to kind of, you have to be the engine of your business that promotes continuing education and also walks it out. And what I like about Jennifer is it's not just about her, but it's about her team. Again, you know, because I think that is also one of the benefits people, good employees, good people on your team they want to grow. If they're good, they want to grow.

Jack Dempsey: 11:58

And I think, as an entrepreneur, you need to be seeking ways and looking ways, not only to grow yourself, because you must, but also investing in your team to make sure your people are growing and you know and what they're doing, because people want that. They, you know, they want money. Obviously they want income, they want benefits. But I think what a lot of people are looking for now is, you know, I'm looking to become better. So that again, and where in my career and what I'm, you know, and what I'm pursuing, and so when they find that they're with an organization that's investing in them, in that way, you're going to have good people and you're going to retain them. So not just for yourself, but for your team.

Jennifer Dempsey: 12:49

Yeah, it's funny, I just said that to my team yesterday. I'm like I created this habit for you guys, right, it's you know, we're in the salon once a quarter on a Monday, all day plugged in. We got the morning about business, the afternoon is about the craft of doing hair, the talent, the skill. So, you know, in my world we've kind of built that habit in for our employees. But I think it's important to recognize, as entrepreneurs and as leaders in our business, how important it is to continue to. You know, for me it's two-sided. It's I'm still behind the chair, so it's, you know, working on the craft and it's the business and creating habits on making sure you're giving, you're learning what the consumer wants next.

Jennifer Dempsey: 13:43

So, like I've said before, you know, 2023 got to be on social media.

Jennifer Dempsey: 13:47

So if we got entrepreneurs out there like, oh, I can't do technology, well, you got to learn, or you got to hire somebody right, online, being able to do stuff online, whether it's order food, make appointments online, learning how to do that, learning software, evolving your business to what's to come.

Jennifer Dempsey: 14:08

Giving we're now back to giving our customers water and glasses right. So continuing to evolve the business. I know that there's something on the horizon for my business when it comes to pricing and our menu. I'm aware that it's there and I'm aware that it's coming. So I'm preparing now for that major change and just really trying to learn as much about what's to come as it's getting closer. So it you know, there's always something to learn inside of your business. There's always, you know, learning how to build a budget right, I didn't know how to do that a few years ago, so, and I think for entrepreneurs, I think that kind of feeds us too, like that day to day can get monoponous for us sometimes. So learning, growing, it kind of keeps us excited and engaged inside of our business.

Jack Dempsey: 15:06

What does monoponous mean?

Staci Dempsey: 15:08

Yeah, and it's great that the world in which we live in what's monoponous mean?

Jack Dempsey: 15:11

I don't even think that's a word.

Staci Dempsey: 15:15

Ha, I wasn't going to say anything, I was just rolling with it.

Jack Dempsey: 15:18

You shouldn't say anything.

Jennifer Dempsey: 15:19

I know Get it, please cut it out.

Jack Dempsey: 15:23

Now leave that in. We just create a new word.

Staci Dempsey: 15:26

No, you have to leave it in. The good, the bad and the funny. She's a hairdresser, y'all. Yeah, she did.

Jennifer Dempsey: 15:34

Take it out, Janet, please no.

Staci Dempsey: 15:37

It's raw and uncut for our listeners. Okay, she does your hair, she doesn't. She uses spell check. Okay, how about it? Moving right into habit number three, which Jennifer was very persistent and resilient in making up that new word that we all just, we're all just going to assume that we know what she meant, but rolling into to have it. Number three being resilient. Being persistent, like if you have lived through March of 2020 when COVID hit. If you want to talk about having any form of resiliency through a pandemic, you know that that was one way to do it, but but being just being resilient, being persistent, being consistent. You know when you, when you don't have you know when you have to build those habits, you're. We're living off of the habits that we're creating. We're living off the systems that we've created that help us remain resilient, because you know it's hard out here. It's hard and a lot of capacities, but there's also a lot of free, a lot of free words.

Jack Dempsey: 16:53

Well, that's a good point and one of the things I always like to remind myself of, and I want to remind our listeners that resilience and this is a word, by the way stick to it. Those kind of things are critical, no doubt about it. However, you know you need to add another aspect to resilience and that's evaluation. You know, just because if you set a course and you know you've set goals, you just need to make sure that, along the way you're evaluating your system on how you're getting there, you need to evaluate, potentially, the goals. Maybe maybe they weren't the right goals. So it doesn't mean that you give up, but it does mean that you use wisdom in the fact that, as you're evaluating your progress, as you're evaluating the goals, hey, if you're, if you're, way ahead of your goal, all right, well, that's great, but maybe the initial goal was way too small. Conversely, if you're really struggling to you know, to hit those numbers, well, especially early on in your entrepreneur journey, you know you have to be able to make some adjustments in there. So evaluate.

Jack Dempsey: 18:21

I always say that you, at some point, you just got to go, you got to go, you got to get it going. So you go, evaluate and adjust, you know, because you can't. You can't wait for everything to kind of look perfectly clear, because you'll never start. So get started, set goals, evaluate as you go and then make adjustments, because that's not lacking resiliency, that is being a good business person in how you again approach these things, because we all can put stuff on paper just doesn't mean we're correct in how we came to those numbers. So again, that would be my recommendation Couple that with resiliency.

Jennifer Dempsey: 19:16

Oh man, I love that you said that, dad. There's no lie that I've been vulnerable with the podcast, my family, that this year that we're currently in, in 2023, seven years in business has been the hardest year for me, for a lot of you, a lot of different ways, and I think that for me, what it comes down to is that commitment that I not only made to myself a long time ago, but the commitment that I've made to number one, my dad, number the business, the, my employees, my family, my daughter. In those hard times, that's really what keeps you, keeps you afloat and keeps you going. You know, like Dad said, you could have a plan, have a goal of. You know, this year we're gonna grow X, y and Z, and then it just blows up in your face for one reason or the other. You know, I spent a lot of time training my staff, you know.

Jennifer Dempsey: 20:27

And then it becomes very difficult when maybe that training has fell short or someone decides to leave your business and so you kind of sometimes the business gives you pushback. You know it can be very difficult in certain times to say, okay, let me keep going. Sometimes you have to give yourself a break, give yourself some grace, because business is hard, it's very hard, and I think early on, when I opened my salon, we were talking about there's no rule book, there's no book on like this is how you open a business, this is how you run a business, you know, and that's why we started this podcast to talk about, have really honest conversations about hardships, about the good, about the bad, and you know, it's not for everybody. Not everyone is built to be an entrepreneur, because it is hard. But we always kind of circle back to what's pushing us forward, what's our Y and what.

Jennifer Dempsey: 21:22

You know, me and Stacy were having this conversation when we were at the park the other day. It's like there's something about us, our family, that we just wanna do a good job, not necessarily for you, but for us, Like I wanna wake up, I wanna do a good job, I wanna be proud of myself, and not everybody has that. So business being an entrepreneur is so, so, so hard. So I think for me it just always comes back to the Y, and I made a commitment a long time ago and I'm gonna see that through.

Jack Dempsey: 21:57

Bill, great point, real quick Stacy. You know resiliency. The headwinds are gonna come, no doubt about it. And so what you know really, what feeds, what's the fuel that feeds your resiliency, your ability to, you know, really face these headwinds in life and business. And it's your why, just like you said, it's that you have to have a strong why in order to be resilient, persistent in times, because, again, the headwinds are probably gonna come daily, so you know they're gonna come when it's unexpected, so you have to be ready for it. And the why is what really fuels that?

Staci Dempsey: 22:46

Wow, this has got really deep. This is deep. I love it. Golly Eesh. Well, with all of that said, that was amazing. So we hope that you all have enjoyed this conversation today. We hope that you guys will do your check-in, we hope that you will implement your top three habits and we hope that you will share what your top three habits for being an entrepreneur or a successful person are. So until we see each other again, be kind to each other and be kind to yourself. Bye-bye. Thank you all for listening today. If you have questions you would like for us to answer on the podcast, please email us at twodaughters. That's T-W-O. Twodaughtersandtheirdadatgmailcom. And until we can be together again, please be kind to each other and, most importantly, be kind to yourself. We wanna thank you for listening today. Please subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave us a positive review. And we wanna say thank you to our sponsors, dempsey Ways and Associates and J-Faith Hair Studio.