December 9, 2024 • 24 mins
Summary:
Jennifer Bennett, a third-generation woman entrepreneur, shares her inspiring journey from real estate to founding Get Desky, a company that empowers entrepreneurs to automate their businesses. She discusses her challenges, including imposter syndrome and the societal pressures on women to balance career and family. With a wealth of experience managing multiple companies, while raising her children, Jennifer emphasizes the importance of efficiency and problem-solving in entrepreneurship. She also highlights how her family's legacy motivated her to embrace her entrepreneurial spirit and break free from the shadows of her predecessors. As she prepares to share her knowledge through speaking engagements and new books, Jennifer encourages listeners to build their businesses with joy, reminding them that true success is not just about achievement but also about finding fulfillment in the journey.
Key Takeaways:
- Automate to Elevate: Jennifer explains how automation can free up time and mental energy for entrepreneurs to focus on their passions.
- Boundaries Matter: Learn why setting boundaries with emotions and stress is crucial for sustainable success.
- Imposter Syndrome Breakthrough: Overcoming self-doubt starts with recognizing your value and stepping out of the shadows.
- Building with Joy: Success without joy is just existing—find ways to enjoy the process and celebrate the journey.
- Legacy and Impact: How a lineage of strong women entrepreneurs inspired Jennifer’s vision for her business and family.
Show Notes:
The latest installment of Grace in the Grind features a riveting conversation between host Jim Burgoon and his guest Jennifer Bennett, a third-generation entrepreneur and founder of Get Desky. The episode commences with a warm introduction, where Jim sets the stage for a dialogue that promises to be both enlightening and personal. Jennifer shares her unique family history, highlighting the entrepreneurial spirit that runs in her blood, mainly through her grandmother, who bravely navigated the business landscape at a time when women faced significant barriers. This rich narrative provides context for Jennifer's journey and reflects the broader theme of resilience among women in business.
As the conversation progresses, Jennifer recounts her path into entrepreneurship, beginning with her foray into real estate at 23. She candidly discusses the various roles she has juggled—entrepreneur, wife, and mother—and the challenges that come with them. The dialogue touches on the nuances of balancing personal and professional life, especially the expectations placed on women to excel in multiple areas simultaneously. Jim and Jennifer delve into her experiences with imposter syndrome, revealing how external validation often dictated her sense of self-worth. A turning point in her career came when she realized her value and left a role where she felt unappreciated, ultimately leading her to establish a business that focuses on helping other entrepreneurs automate their processes.
The episode takes a reflective turn as Jennifer discusses the importance of setting healthy boundaries and prioritizing joy over mere existence in the pursuit of success. Her candid admission of using alcohol as a coping mechanism during stressful times resonates with many listeners, offering a glimpse into the vulnerability behind the entrepreneurial facade. She shares her journey toward healthier stress management techniques and the realization that true fulfillment in entrepreneurship comes from achieving milestones and enjoying the process. With practical insights and heartfelt anecdotes, this episode serves as an empowering reminder for all aspiring entrepreneurs, especially women, to embrace their journeys, seek joy, and find strength in their...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Grace in the Grind,the podcast where we dive deep into
the journeys of heart centeredand purpose driven leaders and entrepreneurs.
We're here to equip andencourage you on your journey.
So let's get started and findthe grace within the grind.
This is Grace in the Grind.
And now your host, Jim Bergoon.
(00:23):
Welcome to Grace in the Grind.
We're here to empower, toencourage, and to equip Christian
entrepreneurs to do all thatGod has called them to.
And today, my guest and areally good friend of mine, Jennifer
Bennett, she's here from Get Desky.
And I'm just grateful thatyou're here to have a conversation
with me.
Welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me, Jen.
So with that being said, youare the best expert of you.
(00:45):
Why don't you give us like aquick intro to who you are and what
you do?
Oh, man, I do so many things.
I'm a wife, I'm a mom, and I'ma third generation woman entrepreneur.
But if I'm being totallyhonest, probably my favorite hat
to wear is wife and mom.
Sweet.
Now what about you sayingthird generation entrepreneur?
What is that and what doesthat look like?
(01:05):
Yeah.
So I am a third generationwoman entrepreneur.
That means that my grandmotheractually owned businesses before
it was totally legal in theUnited States to own businesses.
So when she said when you.
She so is illegal to ownbusinesses, what business did she
have?
First and foremost, bars in Houston.
(01:26):
So the establishment itselfwas not illegal.
It's the right for women toown a business was not legal in the
United states until the 1980s.
And she owned these in fromthe 60s through the 90s.
Okay, so she owned bars in Houston.
60s, 90s women were illegal tohave those things.
(01:47):
So second generation wouldhave been your mother, did she take
over those bars?
No, she helped run them whenshe was in high school.
However, my parents have aconsulting firm where they helped
build power plants.
And so she was remote work before.
Remote work was cool.
My dad would travel the worldand build power plants and my mom
would run the business side,like the admin stuff, the books and
(02:12):
things like that, while shewas at home mothering me as well.
Okay, so this is interesting.
So you have the illegalgrandma, like she's has an illegal
business, which is actuallysuper cool.
Technically, was not illegal.
It was just women had to havemen on the documents to be able to
own them.
And her bars were not illegalper se, so she was not doing anything
(02:37):
illegal.
But legally, a woman could not100% own a business until the 1980s.
So the business itself waslegal to have, legal to operate,
things like that.
So I don't want y'all tothink, like, my grandmother was a
criminal.
Yeah, I don't want.
I don't want them to thinkthat either, but I find that fascinating.
So your grandmother was inthere, which is, like, awesome, because
(02:59):
that's pretty cool and very,like, a rebellious thing.
I love that.
That's.
She's like a new hero.
And then mom didadministration while your dad did
power plant consultation.
So what inspired you in allthese stories to really got get into
entrepreneurship?
So what inspired me wasactually through my own struggles.
(03:20):
I started doing real estatewhen I was 23.
And so many real estate owner,business owners, when they first
start out, like, they don'tquote, unquote, tell, you're a business
owner.
But my mom kept subtly saying,jen, you're a business owner.
Like, you're 1099, you're abusiness owner.
Don't let them, like, try tosplit hairs with you.
(03:41):
You're a business owner.
And so it took me essentiallyworking three jobs for two of which
were by my previous broker toliterally work myself to death to
then be like, I can just runmy own company.
At the time, I was pretty muchhelping him run a brokerage.
(04:04):
I was doing deals myself.
And then I was helping hisbusiness owner, his business partner,
create all these ads for allof these different people all over
the world.
And so I essentially wasaround all of these business owners
all the time, even as a kid.
And so it finally just dawnedon me.
My mother was like, can wejust start something already?
(04:24):
Like, literally, you'reworking yourself to death and you're
not going anywhere.
And so I think in Christmas,around Christmas time of 2020, we
finally sat down and we werelike, okay, what are we going to
name this?
What are we going to do with this?
And we really launched it outthere for the first little bit.
(04:45):
I'd say probably for the firstthree months.
My mom hated the name Gadusky,but it's.
It just essentially has grownon her.
And now, like, we absolutelylove it.
We have multiple differentways that we help business owners,
and we get to go and travelaround and meet all these really
cool people and do some reallycool things with our clients.
(05:06):
So let's dig into that for asecond because I want to make sure
that the audience doesn't miss.
Because what was just saidwas, I was a real estate agent at
23, wanted to start something,and then went into Git Desky.
So let's take A moment andjust to explain to the audience what
get really is.
So Git Desky does twodifferent things.
So it teaches entrepreneurshow to automate some of their prospecting,
(05:31):
which we have a tool for that.
And then we also teachentrepreneurs how to automate and
set themselves up to beoperationally free until they get
to the part to where they needother people in their business to
operate certain things.
Because, yes, tools are powerful.
Yes, you can automate a lot,but you still do need manpower once
(05:55):
you get to a certain level torun it.
So the other side of that iswe will actually come in and be your
fractional manager and yourstaff for that altogether.
So it's taking the best offractional management and the best
of VA staffing and meshingthem together.
(06:15):
Okay, so how did you go fromreal estate to this?
Well, that journey took meabout 16 years.
So it took years to my momhitting me over the head with a frying
pan and being like, you'reworking yourself to death and you're
turning into an alcoholic tobeing like, hey, let's do that along
(06:35):
the way.
I learned as you do, you getto be really efficient when you're
running three differentcompanies all at the same time, while
also being a wife and a mom.
During that time, my husbandwas also traveling, so I had to learn
how to be exceedinglyefficient with every minute of my
day.
And what came out of that wasme being able to be hyper efficient
(06:58):
to where most entrepreneursare not.
Because a lot of theentrepreneurs that I meet, they're
like, oh, I got this new thingand I'm going to learn about it.
And I'm like, why?
Because I need to do it myself.
Why?
And at some point you do needto know so that enough to be able
to know if the person you'rehiring or the person that you're
doing is doing what theyshould be doing, but only to the
(07:21):
sense of that they'reexecuting it to what you're doing.
You don't need to know theintricate details and all the features
and all the different thingsthat your CRM does.
You don't even need to knowall the features that Slack does.
You don't need to know all thefeatures of all these things that's
literally taking up bandwidthfor where you can go out and do the
best thing of you.
(07:42):
That's brilliant.
That's awesome.
I love how you put that.
You had three companies, atraveling husband, some kids, and
you're becoming super efficient.
That alone, I want to take asecond and honor you for.
For being an incredible womanentrepreneur who is doing these things
and managing the behind thescenes stuff.
Because a lot of people willpick and choose whether it's managing
behind the scenes or being up front.
And you were able to balancethe two.
(08:03):
So first and foremost, I wantto honor that and honor you in that.
This brings me to a questiontoo, and I think this is going to
be super beneficial for our listeners.
It took you 16 years to dowhat you're doing.
What was preventing you fromjumping, long.
Story short, on imposter syndrome?
When I was growing up, I wasfortunate enough to have parents
(08:24):
that allowed me to be in thatinner circle.
A lot of parents, even in theentrepreneur space when they were
there was this kind ofseparation between family life and
business life.
And my dad really did not like that.
Anytime we would come and wewould visit him when we were out
of school and stuff like that,and the VPs or whoever else would
(08:49):
be there, my dad was like,okay, that's fine.
We can, we, I can go to this.
But my wife and my daughter iscoming too.
There was no separation inthat instance.
I got to go to a lot of theplants and see some of the stuff
that was happening there, someof the stuff they were building or
rebuilding or whatever,planning all sorts of different phases.
(09:11):
And so I really got to seebehind the veil.
But the other thing that didis it.
And it.
This is no fault to him, is itmade it to where his shadow got cast
really big.
And for the longest time, ittakes you a little bit of time to
realize that you can createyour own shadow.
And so it just took a while of my.
(09:32):
It was literally, my mom waslike kicking me to the curb of, you've
got more info and moreknowledge and more things than you
think you do.
You need to get out there andyou need to share it.
And so you.
So imposter syndrome dadcasting a big shadow.
At what point was therevelation that you said, I need
to get out of this shadow?
(09:52):
And then how did you actuallyget out of that?
So what really the tippingpoint for me was is that the two
guys that I was working for,that I was essentially working under,
I was helping them manage andgrow their business and operating
it.
They were starting anothercompany and they didn't want me to
be a partner in it.
(10:14):
They essentially told me thatthey didn't know me well enough and
they didn't know that if Iwould be a good business partner.
And so that kind of was thetipping point of, hold on, I'm giving
My life away, essentially forthese two that don't appreciate me
enough to know what I'mactually doing for them.
And so that was the first,like, real taste of that.
(10:37):
They tried to later on saythey were sorry and give me a feel
good one.
But that point, the, the seedhad already been sown and so I, I
separated from them.
So with that being said, thenthis brings up two lines of questioning
I have and one of how did younavigate or what were some of the
(10:57):
challenges of being a woman in business?
Because you had a lot of greatexposure to a lot of these circles.
You're a woman, you're in business.
What were some of thosechallenges you faced that may not
typically be talked about?
So one of the things is the society.
So growing up in the societythat I grew up in, we were girls
were always subtly pushedtowards two different things.
(11:19):
You could either be a reallygood wife and a homemaker was.
Was how they put it, whichmeant you, you stayed at home, you
managed the home, and then youtook care of the kids.
You did all of that.
You could be really great atthat, or you could go down the career
path, build your career andthen do your family and all that
(11:39):
stuff later.
But there really was no lineof like, you can do both of them
at the same time.
And that was something that Ialso struggled with a little bit,
was trying to do both at thesame time.
But then when I was sittingdown and I was really writing my
story, I realized that I didboth of those at the same time.
My oldest, who's now 19, whowill be launching her business probably
(12:01):
in the next year, is.
She was three when I got myreal estate license.
She.
So I was already a wife and amom at that time.
And I did those.
I did all of them together.
And I would take my kid and Iwould literally tell her, okay, you
have to sit under my cubiclewhile I do office time.
Because that's what wasrequired of the brokerage that I
(12:23):
started out with, was I wantedto do desk time or office time.
Basically any of the callsthat came into the office, I could
take those and they were my leads.
And I was like, here's alittle portable DVD player.
Here is a coloring book.
And I use, I use the mom voiceof, you better not make any noise,
(12:44):
distract anybody else.
You have to stay under my cubicle.
Here's all your stuff.
We're here.
And I did that for a long time.
And so I was, I navigateddoing both of those at the same time.
And so I Just learned that Ihad to just be able to solve problems.
I couldn't just look at a problem.
And as I tell both of my girlstoday, you need to build a bridge,
(13:05):
not a brick wall.
If you see a problem, youbuild a bridge over it.
You don't put up a brick walland say, okay, I can't get through
this.
You build a bridge to get over it.
And it really comes down tothat is how many times do you see
an obstacle?
And you say, I can't do that.
Instead of saying, okay, howcan I go around it?
How can I go over it?
How can I go under it?
(13:25):
How can I navigate through it?
And that really allowed me toopen my eyes to what was actually
really possible.
At what point did you find.
Did you wake up and say, wow,I've had some success?
Like, you were really able torecognize your own success.
Was there a point in that timethat happened?
It has came several times inseveral different ways.
(13:46):
One of the first times that Ireally sat down and thought about
it was during.
It was still when I was doingreal estate was I had a broker from
Houston, which is only twohours from me, called me and says,
hey, I think I met you onetime once somewhere.
And my cousin wants to buy arental house for her son in college
(14:07):
tuition.
You should help them.
And she called me and she has.
She since referred severalpeople to me.
My license is inactive now,and I still all the time just get
people every once in a whilethat want real estate help.
And so it's a nice reminder ofall the different people that I sowed
seeds into of helping.
(14:28):
I have past clients that havecome back to me, and they're like,
hey, my daughter wants to buya house now.
And I'm like, I it, but myfriend can.
And so I think that was thefirst time that I really realized
the power also of just doingright by people, not being nice to
people, but actually fully,full stop doing right by people.
(14:50):
And that sometimes means thatthe people may not actually know
that you're doing right bythem in that moment.
One of the.
One of the things that Ialways told my daughter is I don't
mind being the bad guy rightnow so that I can be the good guy
later.
That's really powerful.
So then with that being said,so you're recognizing success.
(15:11):
You've overcome challenges.
You're.
You have a moniker of reallygood success as a female and in entrepreneur
and a mom and a wife.
And all these things you hadmentioned earlier that your mom had
mentioned had mom had toldyou, don't become an alcoholic.
So can you unpack that alittle bit more?
Towards the end, when I wasrunning those three companies at
(15:32):
the same time, the stress ofhaving to run multiple of those companies,
we always go to some sort ofcoping mechanism.
And my husband, because he'sjust the good guy, he is and he knew
that I loved margaritas.
He would make them for me whenhe was there and it would be pitchers,
not small ones like the big 2liter ones.
(15:54):
And it got to a point to whereI was drinking a lot of those.
And it was mainly due to thestress of running the companies.
My family life for the mostpart is pretty good.
I have a husband that if Itell him I want steak and potatoes
for dinner, you can bet yourbottom dollar it doesn't matter if
he's going to work 15 hours,I'm going to have steak and potatoes.
(16:14):
Not because he, I'm, you know,that demanding, but that's just because
that's the level of love thathe has for me.
And my mom was like, shepretty much knew the writing on the
wall also too of these peopledon't see the full value that you
have and that you can give to someone.
(16:35):
And so that was that.
Part two of knowing that shewas right and I had, she had to let
me go through that.
So it's one of those thingsyou have to let people, if you tell
somebody something and theydon't really listen, but you're seeing
the writing on the wall,sometimes you have to let them go
through that and then support them.
That's really good.
So like dealing with stresswith alcohol, margaritas.
(16:59):
How have you grown in yourability to deal with stress now?
So now I actually have a safeguard.
So I, I love boundaries.
It's one of the things I knowyou and I had connected on multiple
times of like, I have healthyboundaries now.
One of them is if I have highemotions in any direction, I don't
even drink alcohol.
So even if I were to sign myhighest paying client tomorrow, I
(17:23):
would not say, hey, let's gopop open some champagne or something
like that and let's go havemargaritas, let's go drink a beer.
I actually won't do that on ahigh or a low or stress or anything
like that.
Some of the other things thatI do is I actually just detach myself
from the situation.
So I will fully walk away.
(17:43):
Like I'll shut down and I'llcome back tomorrow.
I think we limit ourselves inour ability to relieve stress when
we Allow ourselves to sitthere and stew instead of receiving
the emotions.
Letting them be like, hi,waving them as they pass by and then
letting them go.
(18:04):
That's good.
That's really good.
So then what would you say tosomebody coming up?
Like, just say some of ourlisteners are young adults, 20s,
and they're just coming up.
What are some of the adviceyou would give them?
Looking back as the successfulone who's been through a lot, what
are some pieces of advice youwould give them?
Starting out?
Don't give up.
Sometimes your mother is moreright than you care to admit.
(18:27):
And that doesn't mean thatit's your actual physical mother,
but it can be that maternalperson that is like a mother to you,
that if they're saying, jim,hey, dude, like, really think about
this, maybe you do need to sitdown and you really do need to think
about it.
I don't want to say moms arealways right, but they're pretty
(18:47):
close.
If you have a good mom.
Yeah, if you have a good mom,they're pretty close.
Yeah.
And then you're never too oldto learn something new.
My mom is three and she helpsme manage my Facebook group.
I'm teaching her how to managemy local Facebook group that I have
that has almost 27,000 peoplein it.
(19:08):
So you're never too old tolearn something new, to take yourself
to the next level.
That's incredible.
That she's helping manage a27,000 member Facebook group as an
older lady.
That is incredible.
That's absolutely incredible.
So, yeah, definitely not tooold to learn anything.
So being teachable, I think,is a huge thing.
(19:30):
So what is the vision you have?
So we've gone through a lot ofdifferent things, and as we start
landing the plane of thisparticular episode, the past, what
you've been doing, what you'recurrently doing, what is the vision
for your future?
For Git Desky, for whateveryou're looking at in the next five
to 10 years, what is it thatyou're wanting to accomplish or the
impact you're trying to make?
I.
(19:50):
So I have a few different things.
So one, I just launched theInner Circle.
And the vision for that isthere's so many entrepreneurs that
they need help at the verybeginning to just set up their business
to where it will actually runon the backside without them having
to manually do so many things.
And a lot of people don't knowall the tools that are available
(20:14):
to them, and then they don'tknow that they can manipulate them.
And so I want to give that tothem I want them to have the knowledge
and the expertise that I havein bite sized ways.
Speaking seven times next yearwhich is really interesting because
for the last 20 years I didnot public speak at all from a really
(20:36):
just random weird,coincidental thing that happened
a long time ago.
So next year I'm going to besharing a lot of my secrets, a lot
of my knowledge.
And not just knowledge that Igained from my own experiences but
knowledge that I gained frommy grandmother who has since passed
my dad be and some of his friends.
I've had some of the most epicexperiences from my dad's friends
(21:00):
to this day that that Iwouldn't have been able to have if
I hadn't have had my dad buildthose relationships with people.
So I'm going to be sharing alot of different secrets that are
gatekeeped a lot and it'sgoing to be really interesting to
see.
And I'm also writing two more books.
Oh, two more books.
How many books have you written?
I have written two books.
(21:21):
So I have one that's calledElevate youe Influence the Digital
Guide to Ambitious Entrepreneurs.
And then I have the Hiring guide.
So to the listener we justwant to make a brief moment to tell
you all of that stuff.
We will link in the show notesto make it super easy for you to
go grab.
I highly recommend that you gograb those.
(21:41):
The books.
I've known Jennifer for alittle while now.
I even joined her in her circle.
And so because I'm excited tobe part of this and so I want to
see.
I want you guys to check itout too.
So with that being said, howdo people find you?
They can find me on at.
What is it?
It's Jennifer Bennett, my linkin my bio so you can find that on
Facebook.
(22:02):
So I have it.
I think it's.
What is it?
Www.get jenniferlinkinbio andI'll send it to you guys and we can
post it below cause that'llhave all of my free resources.
You can get it's free 15minute crash course with me.
It'll have the link to my books.
It'll have the link to myinner circle.
(22:24):
All the ways that you canconnect with me as well.
Awesome.
And as a side note, we willlink that all in the show notes for
you guys to for quick and easy access.
Now this is the part of theshow as we start landing this plane
where I ask my guests ifyou've listened to the show for any
length of time or at leastmore than one episode that we Do
a hashtag wisdom bomb.
And if you follow me at Leadwith Jim on Facebook, you will see
(22:46):
them all.
I do one just about every dayand they're just little nuggets of
wisdom that says, hey, this issomething you can use in your life,
like a portable truth to takeit out and use it now.
So with that being said, I askevery guest to drop a wisdom bomb
for our listeners.
So if you would be ever sokind, what kind of wisdom bomb would
you give us today?
(23:06):
Oh, I have a note of wisdombombs, just so you know.
I know.
I keep them.
I keep them just because of that.
And I posted this one recently.
It says, but building anempire without joy is just existing.
Ooh, say that one more time.
Building an empire without joyis just existing.
(23:28):
That hurts.
Because how many people outthere are building and not enjoying
what they're building?
Oh, that one's a hard one.
So thank you for that.
Thank you for sharing that.
And guys, for you guys who arelistening, make sure, as a friend
of the show, make sure you goand rate.
Review this.
And I just want to remind youthat we are here on Grace in the
(23:48):
Grind to help the Christianentrepreneur to be equipped to empower
and to encourage.
Do all that God's created youto do and to get you out into the
world and actually make theimpact that you're here and wired
to do.
And Jennifer, I just want tothank you for being on the show today.
It was such a wonderfulconversation and to the audience,
thank you for listening andbeing hanging out with us to this
point.
(24:09):
So with that being said, makesure you go ahead and check out some
of the other episodes.
This has been Grace in the Grind.
Whether you're a Christianleader looking for guidance or an
entrepreneur seekinginspiration, it's Jim's passion to
equip and encourage you.
Make sure to check out Jim'ssolo episodes where he shares practical
(24:30):
leadership insights groundedin a biblical perspective.
We hope you've enjoyed the show.
If you did, make sure to,like, rate and review and we'll be
back soon.
But in the meantime, find uson social media at LeadWithJim and
you can also hit the websiteat www.leadwithjim.com.
(24:51):
take care of yourself andwe'll see you next time on Grace
in the Grind.
Welcome to Grace in the Grind,the podcast where we dive deep into
the journeys of heart centeredand purpose driven leaders and entrepreneurs.
We're here to equip andencourage you on your journey.
So let's get started and findthe grace within the grind.
This is Grace in the Grind.
And now your host, Jim Bergoon.
(00:23):
Welcome to Grace in the Grind.
We're here to empower, toencourage, and to equip Christian
entrepreneurs to do all thatGod has called them to.
And today, my guest and areally good friend of mine, Jennifer
Bennett, she's here from Get Desky.
And I'm just grateful thatyou're here to have a conversation
with me.
Welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me, Jen.
So with that being said, youare the best expert of you.
(00:45):
Why don't you give us like aquick intro to who you are and what
you do?
Oh, man, I do so many things.
I'm a wife, I'm a mom, and I'ma third generation woman entrepreneur.
But if I'm being totallyhonest, probably my favorite hat
to wear is wife and mom.
Sweet.
Now what about you sayingthird generation entrepreneur?
What is that and what doesthat look like?
(01:05):
Yeah.
So I am a third generationwoman entrepreneur.
That means that my grandmotheractually owned businesses before
it was totally legal in theUnited States to own businesses.
So when she said when you.
She so is illegal to ownbusinesses, what business did she
have?
First and foremost, bars in Houston.
(01:26):
So the establishment itselfwas not illegal.
It's the right for women toown a business was not legal in the
United states until the 1980s.
And she owned these in fromthe 60s through the 90s.
Okay, so she owned bars in Houston.
60s, 90s women were illegal tohave those things.
(01:47):
So second generation wouldhave been your mother, did she take
over those bars?
No, she helped run them whenshe was in high school.
However, my parents have aconsulting firm where they helped
build power plants.
And so she was remote work before.
Remote work was cool.
My dad would travel the worldand build power plants and my mom
would run the business side,like the admin stuff, the books and
(02:12):
things like that, while shewas at home mothering me as well.
Okay, so this is interesting.
So you have the illegalgrandma, like she's has an illegal
business, which is actuallysuper cool.
Technically, was not illegal.
It was just women had to havemen on the documents to be able to
own them.
And her bars were not illegalper se, so she was not doing anything
(02:37):
illegal.
But legally, a woman could not100% own a business until the 1980s.
So the business itself waslegal to have, legal to operate,
things like that.
So I don't want y'all tothink, like, my grandmother was a
criminal.
Yeah, I don't want.
I don't want them to thinkthat either, but I find that fascinating.
So your grandmother was inthere, which is, like, awesome, because
(02:59):
that's pretty cool and very,like, a rebellious thing.
I love that.
That's.
She's like a new hero.
And then mom didadministration while your dad did
power plant consultation.
So what inspired you in allthese stories to really got get into
entrepreneurship?
So what inspired me wasactually through my own struggles.
(03:20):
I started doing real estatewhen I was 23.
And so many real estate owner,business owners, when they first
start out, like, they don'tquote, unquote, tell, you're a business
owner.
But my mom kept subtly saying,jen, you're a business owner.
Like, you're 1099, you're abusiness owner.
Don't let them, like, try tosplit hairs with you.
(03:41):
You're a business owner.
And so it took me essentiallyworking three jobs for two of which
were by my previous broker toliterally work myself to death to
then be like, I can just runmy own company.
At the time, I was pretty muchhelping him run a brokerage.
(04:04):
I was doing deals myself.
And then I was helping hisbusiness owner, his business partner,
create all these ads for allof these different people all over
the world.
And so I essentially wasaround all of these business owners
all the time, even as a kid.
And so it finally just dawnedon me.
My mother was like, can wejust start something already?
(04:24):
Like, literally, you'reworking yourself to death and you're
not going anywhere.
And so I think in Christmas,around Christmas time of 2020, we
finally sat down and we werelike, okay, what are we going to
name this?
What are we going to do with this?
And we really launched it outthere for the first little bit.
(04:45):
I'd say probably for the firstthree months.
My mom hated the name Gadusky,but it's.
It just essentially has grownon her.
And now, like, we absolutelylove it.
We have multiple differentways that we help business owners,
and we get to go and travelaround and meet all these really
cool people and do some reallycool things with our clients.
(05:06):
So let's dig into that for asecond because I want to make sure
that the audience doesn't miss.
Because what was just saidwas, I was a real estate agent at
23, wanted to start something,and then went into Git Desky.
So let's take A moment andjust to explain to the audience what
get really is.
So Git Desky does twodifferent things.
So it teaches entrepreneurshow to automate some of their prospecting,
(05:31):
which we have a tool for that.
And then we also teachentrepreneurs how to automate and
set themselves up to beoperationally free until they get
to the part to where they needother people in their business to
operate certain things.
Because, yes, tools are powerful.
Yes, you can automate a lot,but you still do need manpower once
(05:55):
you get to a certain level torun it.
So the other side of that iswe will actually come in and be your
fractional manager and yourstaff for that altogether.
So it's taking the best offractional management and the best
of VA staffing and meshingthem together.
(06:15):
Okay, so how did you go fromreal estate to this?
Well, that journey took meabout 16 years.
So it took years to my momhitting me over the head with a frying
pan and being like, you'reworking yourself to death and you're
turning into an alcoholic tobeing like, hey, let's do that along
(06:35):
the way.
I learned as you do, you getto be really efficient when you're
running three differentcompanies all at the same time, while
also being a wife and a mom.
During that time, my husbandwas also traveling, so I had to learn
how to be exceedinglyefficient with every minute of my
day.
And what came out of that wasme being able to be hyper efficient
(06:58):
to where most entrepreneursare not.
Because a lot of theentrepreneurs that I meet, they're
like, oh, I got this new thingand I'm going to learn about it.
And I'm like, why?
Because I need to do it myself.
Why?
And at some point you do needto know so that enough to be able
to know if the person you'rehiring or the person that you're
doing is doing what theyshould be doing, but only to the
(07:21):
sense of that they'reexecuting it to what you're doing.
You don't need to know theintricate details and all the features
and all the different thingsthat your CRM does.
You don't even need to knowall the features that Slack does.
You don't need to know all thefeatures of all these things that's
literally taking up bandwidthfor where you can go out and do the
best thing of you.
(07:42):
That's brilliant.
That's awesome.
I love how you put that.
You had three companies, atraveling husband, some kids, and
you're becoming super efficient.
That alone, I want to take asecond and honor you for.
For being an incredible womanentrepreneur who is doing these things
and managing the behind thescenes stuff.
Because a lot of people willpick and choose whether it's managing
behind the scenes or being up front.
And you were able to balancethe two.
(08:03):
So first and foremost, I wantto honor that and honor you in that.
This brings me to a questiontoo, and I think this is going to
be super beneficial for our listeners.
It took you 16 years to dowhat you're doing.
What was preventing you fromjumping, long.
Story short, on imposter syndrome?
When I was growing up, I wasfortunate enough to have parents
(08:24):
that allowed me to be in thatinner circle.
A lot of parents, even in theentrepreneur space when they were
there was this kind ofseparation between family life and
business life.
And my dad really did not like that.
Anytime we would come and wewould visit him when we were out
of school and stuff like that,and the VPs or whoever else would
(08:49):
be there, my dad was like,okay, that's fine.
We can, we, I can go to this.
But my wife and my daughter iscoming too.
There was no separation inthat instance.
I got to go to a lot of theplants and see some of the stuff
that was happening there, someof the stuff they were building or
rebuilding or whatever,planning all sorts of different phases.
(09:11):
And so I really got to seebehind the veil.
But the other thing that didis it.
And it.
This is no fault to him, is itmade it to where his shadow got cast
really big.
And for the longest time, ittakes you a little bit of time to
realize that you can createyour own shadow.
And so it just took a while of my.
(09:32):
It was literally, my mom waslike kicking me to the curb of, you've
got more info and moreknowledge and more things than you
think you do.
You need to get out there andyou need to share it.
And so you.
So imposter syndrome dadcasting a big shadow.
At what point was therevelation that you said, I need
to get out of this shadow?
(09:52):
And then how did you actuallyget out of that?
So what really the tippingpoint for me was is that the two
guys that I was working for,that I was essentially working under,
I was helping them manage andgrow their business and operating
it.
They were starting anothercompany and they didn't want me to
be a partner in it.
(10:14):
They essentially told me thatthey didn't know me well enough and
they didn't know that if Iwould be a good business partner.
And so that kind of was thetipping point of, hold on, I'm giving
My life away, essentially forthese two that don't appreciate me
enough to know what I'mactually doing for them.
And so that was the first,like, real taste of that.
(10:37):
They tried to later on saythey were sorry and give me a feel
good one.
But that point, the, the seedhad already been sown and so I, I
separated from them.
So with that being said, thenthis brings up two lines of questioning
I have and one of how did younavigate or what were some of the
(10:57):
challenges of being a woman in business?
Because you had a lot of greatexposure to a lot of these circles.
You're a woman, you're in business.
What were some of thosechallenges you faced that may not
typically be talked about?
So one of the things is the society.
So growing up in the societythat I grew up in, we were girls
were always subtly pushedtowards two different things.
(11:19):
You could either be a reallygood wife and a homemaker was.
Was how they put it, whichmeant you, you stayed at home, you
managed the home, and then youtook care of the kids.
You did all of that.
You could be really great atthat, or you could go down the career
path, build your career andthen do your family and all that
(11:39):
stuff later.
But there really was no lineof like, you can do both of them
at the same time.
And that was something that Ialso struggled with a little bit,
was trying to do both at thesame time.
But then when I was sittingdown and I was really writing my
story, I realized that I didboth of those at the same time.
My oldest, who's now 19, whowill be launching her business probably
(12:01):
in the next year, is.
She was three when I got myreal estate license.
She.
So I was already a wife and amom at that time.
And I did those.
I did all of them together.
And I would take my kid and Iwould literally tell her, okay, you
have to sit under my cubiclewhile I do office time.
Because that's what wasrequired of the brokerage that I
(12:23):
started out with, was I wantedto do desk time or office time.
Basically any of the callsthat came into the office, I could
take those and they were my leads.
And I was like, here's alittle portable DVD player.
Here is a coloring book.
And I use, I use the mom voiceof, you better not make any noise,
(12:44):
distract anybody else.
You have to stay under my cubicle.
Here's all your stuff.
We're here.
And I did that for a long time.
And so I was, I navigateddoing both of those at the same time.
And so I Just learned that Ihad to just be able to solve problems.
I couldn't just look at a problem.
And as I tell both of my girlstoday, you need to build a bridge,
(13:05):
not a brick wall.
If you see a problem, youbuild a bridge over it.
You don't put up a brick walland say, okay, I can't get through
this.
You build a bridge to get over it.
And it really comes down tothat is how many times do you see
an obstacle?
And you say, I can't do that.
Instead of saying, okay, howcan I go around it?
How can I go over it?
How can I go under it?
(13:25):
How can I navigate through it?
And that really allowed me toopen my eyes to what was actually
really possible.
At what point did you find.
Did you wake up and say, wow,I've had some success?
Like, you were really able torecognize your own success.
Was there a point in that timethat happened?
It has came several times inseveral different ways.
(13:46):
One of the first times that Ireally sat down and thought about
it was during.
It was still when I was doingreal estate was I had a broker from
Houston, which is only twohours from me, called me and says,
hey, I think I met you onetime once somewhere.
And my cousin wants to buy arental house for her son in college
(14:07):
tuition.
You should help them.
And she called me and she has.
She since referred severalpeople to me.
My license is inactive now,and I still all the time just get
people every once in a whilethat want real estate help.
And so it's a nice reminder ofall the different people that I sowed
seeds into of helping.
(14:28):
I have past clients that havecome back to me, and they're like,
hey, my daughter wants to buya house now.
And I'm like, I it, but myfriend can.
And so I think that was thefirst time that I really realized
the power also of just doingright by people, not being nice to
people, but actually fully,full stop doing right by people.
(14:50):
And that sometimes means thatthe people may not actually know
that you're doing right bythem in that moment.
One of the.
One of the things that Ialways told my daughter is I don't
mind being the bad guy rightnow so that I can be the good guy
later.
That's really powerful.
So then with that being said,so you're recognizing success.
(15:11):
You've overcome challenges.
You're.
You have a moniker of reallygood success as a female and in entrepreneur
and a mom and a wife.
And all these things you hadmentioned earlier that your mom had
mentioned had mom had toldyou, don't become an alcoholic.
So can you unpack that alittle bit more?
Towards the end, when I wasrunning those three companies at
(15:32):
the same time, the stress ofhaving to run multiple of those companies,
we always go to some sort ofcoping mechanism.
And my husband, because he'sjust the good guy, he is and he knew
that I loved margaritas.
He would make them for me whenhe was there and it would be pitchers,
not small ones like the big 2liter ones.
(15:54):
And it got to a point to whereI was drinking a lot of those.
And it was mainly due to thestress of running the companies.
My family life for the mostpart is pretty good.
I have a husband that if Itell him I want steak and potatoes
for dinner, you can bet yourbottom dollar it doesn't matter if
he's going to work 15 hours,I'm going to have steak and potatoes.
(16:14):
Not because he, I'm, you know,that demanding, but that's just because
that's the level of love thathe has for me.
And my mom was like, shepretty much knew the writing on the
wall also too of these peopledon't see the full value that you
have and that you can give to someone.
(16:35):
And so that was that.
Part two of knowing that shewas right and I had, she had to let
me go through that.
So it's one of those thingsyou have to let people, if you tell
somebody something and theydon't really listen, but you're seeing
the writing on the wall,sometimes you have to let them go
through that and then support them.
That's really good.
So like dealing with stresswith alcohol, margaritas.
(16:59):
How have you grown in yourability to deal with stress now?
So now I actually have a safeguard.
So I, I love boundaries.
It's one of the things I knowyou and I had connected on multiple
times of like, I have healthyboundaries now.
One of them is if I have highemotions in any direction, I don't
even drink alcohol.
So even if I were to sign myhighest paying client tomorrow, I
(17:23):
would not say, hey, let's gopop open some champagne or something
like that and let's go havemargaritas, let's go drink a beer.
I actually won't do that on ahigh or a low or stress or anything
like that.
Some of the other things thatI do is I actually just detach myself
from the situation.
So I will fully walk away.
(17:43):
Like I'll shut down and I'llcome back tomorrow.
I think we limit ourselves inour ability to relieve stress when
we Allow ourselves to sitthere and stew instead of receiving
the emotions.
Letting them be like, hi,waving them as they pass by and then
letting them go.
(18:04):
That's good.
That's really good.
So then what would you say tosomebody coming up?
Like, just say some of ourlisteners are young adults, 20s,
and they're just coming up.
What are some of the adviceyou would give them?
Looking back as the successfulone who's been through a lot, what
are some pieces of advice youwould give them?
Starting out?
Don't give up.
Sometimes your mother is moreright than you care to admit.
(18:27):
And that doesn't mean thatit's your actual physical mother,
but it can be that maternalperson that is like a mother to you,
that if they're saying, jim,hey, dude, like, really think about
this, maybe you do need to sitdown and you really do need to think
about it.
I don't want to say moms arealways right, but they're pretty
(18:47):
close.
If you have a good mom.
Yeah, if you have a good mom,they're pretty close.
Yeah.
And then you're never too oldto learn something new.
My mom is three and she helpsme manage my Facebook group.
I'm teaching her how to managemy local Facebook group that I have
that has almost 27,000 peoplein it.
(19:08):
So you're never too old tolearn something new, to take yourself
to the next level.
That's incredible.
That she's helping manage a27,000 member Facebook group as an
older lady.
That is incredible.
That's absolutely incredible.
So, yeah, definitely not tooold to learn anything.
So being teachable, I think,is a huge thing.
(19:30):
So what is the vision you have?
So we've gone through a lot ofdifferent things, and as we start
landing the plane of thisparticular episode, the past, what
you've been doing, what you'recurrently doing, what is the vision
for your future?
For Git Desky, for whateveryou're looking at in the next five
to 10 years, what is it thatyou're wanting to accomplish or the
impact you're trying to make?
I.
(19:50):
So I have a few different things.
So one, I just launched theInner Circle.
And the vision for that isthere's so many entrepreneurs that
they need help at the verybeginning to just set up their business
to where it will actually runon the backside without them having
to manually do so many things.
And a lot of people don't knowall the tools that are available
(20:14):
to them, and then they don'tknow that they can manipulate them.
And so I want to give that tothem I want them to have the knowledge
and the expertise that I havein bite sized ways.
Speaking seven times next yearwhich is really interesting because
for the last 20 years I didnot public speak at all from a really
(20:36):
just random weird,coincidental thing that happened
a long time ago.
So next year I'm going to besharing a lot of my secrets, a lot
of my knowledge.
And not just knowledge that Igained from my own experiences but
knowledge that I gained frommy grandmother who has since passed
my dad be and some of his friends.
I've had some of the most epicexperiences from my dad's friends
(21:00):
to this day that that Iwouldn't have been able to have if
I hadn't have had my dad buildthose relationships with people.
So I'm going to be sharing alot of different secrets that are
gatekeeped a lot and it'sgoing to be really interesting to
see.
And I'm also writing two more books.
Oh, two more books.
How many books have you written?
I have written two books.
(21:21):
So I have one that's calledElevate youe Influence the Digital
Guide to Ambitious Entrepreneurs.
And then I have the Hiring guide.
So to the listener we justwant to make a brief moment to tell
you all of that stuff.
We will link in the show notesto make it super easy for you to
go grab.
I highly recommend that you gograb those.
(21:41):
The books.
I've known Jennifer for alittle while now.
I even joined her in her circle.
And so because I'm excited tobe part of this and so I want to
see.
I want you guys to check itout too.
So with that being said, howdo people find you?
They can find me on at.
What is it?
It's Jennifer Bennett, my linkin my bio so you can find that on
Facebook.
(22:02):
So I have it.
I think it's.
What is it?
Www.get jenniferlinkinbio andI'll send it to you guys and we can
post it below cause that'llhave all of my free resources.
You can get it's free 15minute crash course with me.
It'll have the link to my books.
It'll have the link to myinner circle.
(22:24):
All the ways that you canconnect with me as well.
Awesome.
And as a side note, we willlink that all in the show notes for
you guys to for quick and easy access.
Now this is the part of theshow as we start landing this plane
where I ask my guests ifyou've listened to the show for any
length of time or at leastmore than one episode that we Do
a hashtag wisdom bomb.
And if you follow me at Leadwith Jim on Facebook, you will see
(22:46):
them all.
I do one just about every dayand they're just little nuggets of
wisdom that says, hey, this issomething you can use in your life,
like a portable truth to takeit out and use it now.
So with that being said, I askevery guest to drop a wisdom bomb
for our listeners.
So if you would be ever sokind, what kind of wisdom bomb would
you give us today?
(23:06):
Oh, I have a note of wisdombombs, just so you know.
I know.
I keep them.
I keep them just because of that.
And I posted this one recently.
It says, but building anempire without joy is just existing.
Ooh, say that one more time.
Building an empire without joyis just existing.
(23:28):
That hurts.
Because how many people outthere are building and not enjoying
what they're building?
Oh, that one's a hard one.
So thank you for that.
Thank you for sharing that.
And guys, for you guys who arelistening, make sure, as a friend
of the show, make sure you goand rate.
Review this.
And I just want to remind youthat we are here on Grace in the
(23:48):
Grind to help the Christianentrepreneur to be equipped to empower
and to encourage.
Do all that God's created youto do and to get you out into the
world and actually make theimpact that you're here and wired
to do.
And Jennifer, I just want tothank you for being on the show today.
It was such a wonderfulconversation and to the audience,
thank you for listening andbeing hanging out with us to this
point.
(24:09):
So with that being said, makesure you go ahead and check out some
of the other episodes.
This has been Grace in the Grind.
Whether you're a Christianleader looking for guidance or an
entrepreneur seekinginspiration, it's Jim's passion to
equip and encourage you.
Make sure to check out Jim'ssolo episodes where he shares practical
(24:30):
leadership insights groundedin a biblical perspective.
We hope you've enjoyed the show.
If you did, make sure to,like, rate and review and we'll be
back soon.
But in the meantime, find uson social media at LeadWithJim and
you can also hit the websiteat www.leadwithjim.com.
(24:51):
take care of yourself andwe'll see you next time on Grace
in the Grind.
Host
Jim Burgoon
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