June 12, 2025 • 29 mins
Jennifer Johnson transformed her childhood thrift shopping experiences into True Fashionistas, a thriving consignment business that uniquely combines luxury and mid-market merchandise with furniture and home decor in a single location. After overcoming a business partner's betrayal, she expanded to a 13,000 square foot store with 50 employees while building a personal brand as an author and coach.
• Started with empty 1,800 square foot store that filled within two weeks
• Business partner left after two months, opening competing store and poaching staff
• Expanded to 3,600 square feet within a year, later adding furniture store
• Built brand through community involvement and hurricane relief efforts
• Conducts regular audits of business processes to eliminate customer friction points
• Gradually transitioned to personal brand with podcast and book "Grace and Grit"
• Learned $25,000 lesson about thoroughly vetting business partners
• Maintains philosophy that setbacks happen "for you, not to you"
• Created "personal board of directors" with professionals and mentors
• Recommends "The Power of We" by Kyle McDowell for building company culture
Share this episode with a fellow unnoticed entrepreneur who might benefit from Jennifer's wisdom about resilience and community-building.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jennifer Johnson (00:00):
I had fond memories of growing up and I
grew up in a very poor family.
We lived on a farm.
Lots of kids didn't have moneyto buy new clothes, so my
grandmother and I would go outgarage selling and we would find
clothes that I liked and thatmaybe didn't fit me, but her and
my mom would fix them up tomake them fit me.
So she really instilled in methis kind of thrill of the hunt
(00:24):
find things that you don't haveto pay full price for.
So when we moved to Florida, Iwas like I'm starting my life
all over essentially is what itkind of felt like and I just
decided let's do this thing,let's start this business.
It was doing what I had in myhead, which was combining the
(00:45):
luxury items so think brandslike Chanel and Gucci and Prada
with your mid-market stuff, yourJ Crew, your Lululemon stuff.
Like that.
You were either really high endor you were that mid-market area
On top of it.
Nobody was doing furniture andhome decor in the same store.
Either it was all clothing orall furniture and I was like why
(01:08):
does this not exist?
So, as any entrepreneurunderstands, if you see a hole
in the market, you plug thathole.
You figure out how you can fillit.
And I went we're just going todo this and just one day started
it.
And here we are today.
Jim James (01:35):
My guest today has built one brilliant business
already, started in 2011.
And then she decided that shewas going to build another
business based around herpersonal brand.
She's an author of an amazingbook called Grace and Grit and
we're going to hear how she hasmanaged to build one business
and then a personal brand andthe one regret that she's got
when she spent $25,000 onsomething.
We're going to Naples, florida.
(01:57):
We are talking to JenniferJohnson.
Tell us a little bit about theorganization and the size,
because you've built a verylarge business.
Tell us a little bit more theorganization and the size
because you've built a verylarge business.
Jennifer Johnson (02:07):
Tell us a little bit more about the scale
of the business.
So it started out very tiny.
It was 1,800 square feet Openedwith a completely empty store
and story surrounding that?
Because I opened my businesswith a business partner and I
didn't have the money at thetime because I was trying to
sell another business.
She had the money, I had thebrains.
So we go into business together.
(02:27):
We open with an empty store.
People thought we wereabsolutely nuts.
They're like she's opening thisstore and there's no clothing
in here.
Within two weeks we were full.
Jim James (02:38):
And that's people bringing merchandise or things
that they don't want anymore.
What's the business model?
Are you needing to give themcash when they bring it in, or
are you holding on consignmentand you sell it on their behalf?
Jennifer Johnson (02:50):
We do a hybrid , so we do both.
You can choose the cash optionor you can choose the
consignment option.
So that's how we started thebusiness 1800 square feet.
Two months into the business,my business partner comes
knocking on my door at 10o'clock on a Sunday night.
She wants out of the business.
We didn't have the money.
Well, we ended up cashing outmy husband's 401k and my first
(03:13):
clue should have been would notsign a non-compete.
Literally the next day, shesigned a lease on a space in the
same center that we're in andopened up a store exactly the
same as mine, took all of myemployees except for one.
At that time I thought it wasthe worst thing that could ever
(03:34):
happen.
I hired a consultant to come into tell me that we were going
to be fine.
Because I didn't believe it.
And, honestly, the best thingthat ever happened to the
business, because after that,within a year, we had knocked
out a wall, expanded to 3,600square feet, so we doubled the
size of the store.
And then, within a couple ofyears after that, we added
(03:56):
another store within the samecomplex selling furniture and
home decor.
I looked at something thatcould have been a detriment.
It could have been somethingthat took us out completely, but
I didn't let it.
I put my foot to the gas anddidn't look back.
I put my blinders on and didn'tpay attention to what she was
(04:18):
doing, and I just did my thing.
Jim James (04:22):
Jennifer, what a brave story.
And, as you say, it's aboutmindset, isn't it?
And whatever she has done willbe between her and her maker.
But fantastic that youpersevered and, frankly, also
that you had a husband who wasfull of support for you, because
another person might havedecided to call it a day.
Jennifer Johnson (04:41):
Oh yes, it was extremely stressful.
The one tangible thing that gotme through all of that the most
important part when you're in athat's yours is to make sure
that you're surrounding yourselfwith your personal board of
directors.
That's what I call it.
My personal board of directors.
It is people that are eitherpaid, like my accountant and my
(05:03):
attorney.
It is people that are eitherpaid like my accountant and my
attorney, or it's somebody thatI know that was in business and
is perhaps retired, or somebodythat's currently in business
that can help me with hey, Iwant to sit down that they'll
mentor me.
That is so important that it'sreally a must in your business.
It's a tool in your toolkit.
Jim James (05:23):
Yeah, and we're going to talk a bit later on about
your $25,000 investment.
That didn't go quite as planned, but we won't get to that just
yet.
But so you expanded.
You've got office furniture,you've got home furniture.
How did you go about buildingthe brand?
Because you said you've beenable to expand.
Great, but in a funny way,unless you're an entrepreneur,
(05:46):
you go, oh, they expanded.
And you go, oh, that's fine,you kind of assume.
But as an entrepreneur I'm like, okay, but how did you expand?
Because actually there's astory behind you needing to
knock walls down.
Presumably you didn't knock thewall down that went to your old
business partners unit.
I thought you might havethought about doing that, but
presumably your attorneywouldn't let you do that Exactly
(06:06):
.
Jennifer Johnson (06:07):
Yeah.
Jim James (06:10):
So how did you build the brand and it is
truefashionistascom, by the way,and anyone that wants to go to
my YouTube channel, theUnnoticed Entrepreneur, will
also see some of the screenshares but truefashionistascom
is an amazingly content, richand well laid out website as
well.
Jennifer, tell us about howyou've built the brand and got
(06:30):
people coming to you.
Jennifer Johnson (06:32):
So I will tell you that it's one word
community and what I mean bythat is is we planted ourselves
within our community and justgot involved.
We dug our feet in, we grewroots here.
So that looks like manydifferent things.
That looks like, yes, we wentout and we supported the little
(06:55):
league baseball games and theCub Scouts and Girl Scouts and
all of those things.
But we were visible in ourcommunity and that means I'm on
the board of many differentnonprofits in town.
We do a lot of differentphilanthropic things with our
business in our community.
We are here for our communityand, as a result of that, people
(07:21):
refer you because they come toknow you, they know what you
stand for and they want to dobusiness with somebody who is
going to be a pillar in theircommunity.
And it was that one simple wordand it sounds simple, but with
that came a lot of work.
It came up doing a lot ofdifferent things.
(07:43):
For example, challenges that weface here in Naples, florida,
is we have received been on thereceiving end of a lot of
hurricanes.
Jim James (07:53):
It's almost a byword for hurricanes, isn't it, where
you've either got alligators orhurricanes?
Jennifer Johnson (07:59):
We have become , with every hurricane that
happens, a drop-off spot forhurricane supplies for our
community.
But we don't just become adrop-off spot.
We actually take it a stepfurther and we go out and
deliver in our company van thesupplies that these people in
the community that have beenaffected by the hurricane that
(08:21):
they need.
We make sure it gets to thepeople on the front lines.
I mean, it didn't start thatway.
We did it out of the kindnessof our hearts.
That's why we do it, but it's acommunity building thing again.
Jim James (08:34):
That's really lovely to hear.
And, of course, you're alsofulfilling a community purpose,
aren't you?
By moving goods from peoplethat don't need them anymore to
people that do need them butwouldn't necessarily have the
budget or the appetite to buythem, as you were a child, right
, and I didn't grow up with alot of money when we were kids.
We now have, of course, moreand more thrift stores in the UK
(08:56):
, but your model is reallymaking it into a proper
commercial enterprise, whereasin the UK, thrift stores already
are a charity, whereas inAmerica it seems as though we
have a real business modelaround the buying and selling of
things.
Jennifer Johnson (09:10):
Yeah, and we do.
But we also have aphilanthropic component of that,
because if you bring stuff intous that we don't take for
example, it may be out of seasonor we don't sell this brand
very well we donate it to alocal thrift store and they get
every single thing that we don'tsell this brand very well.
We donate it to a local thriftstore and they get every single
thing that we don't take.
So we are still doing good inour community by giving it to
(09:33):
that charity, who then in turn,can sell it and make money for
their charity.
Jim James (09:39):
Jennifer, that's really wonderful and what you've
also done through your hardwork since moving to florida is
get a lot of media coverage.
So you talk about community,but there's also been publicity
in there.
So for anybody that wants to goto fashionistacom you can also
see.
They havea press website andcnn, abc.
(10:01):
Uh.
Us news time you've got gulfshore business best life, so
you've got.
And CNN, abc.
Us News Time You've got GulfShore Business Best Life, so
you've got national and Iimagine, regional and citywide
press as well Woman Home, forexample.
Can you just tell us a littlebit, jennifer, about your media
outreach?
Have you done that yourselves?
(10:21):
Have just the media beencustomers and said, hey, this is
a great story, tell me about it?
Jennifer Johnson (10:27):
Sure.
So all of what you see was allabout cultivating relationships.
That's, ultimately, what it wasabout.
I met one reporter.
Somehow someone had given me anarticle or a request from a
journalist and I responded tothat request and then I was
(10:51):
published.
And then I used that to be likehey, you know, in my emails or
whatever it was, I put it on ourwebsite saying, as seen on, and
I just started buildingrelationship after relationship,
and then one person found outand another person found out
(11:11):
blossomed what started it okay,and for people that aren't
familiar, there are websites,like it's called, help a
reporter out Harrow, wherejournalists do send out what
they're looking for.
Jim James (11:24):
You can buy PR newswire, if I'm not mistaken,
and, jennifer, I, as you've done, once a journalist meets a
reliable and credible source andone that writes back with good
pictures and so on, they referyou to other journalists, don't
they?
So that's fantastic.
So you've been able to buildthat relationship in the
community, plus with thejournalist community as well.
(11:45):
So, plainly, really greatskills is we've got a lot going
on that would help the customer,be it bringing you the goods or
buying the goods from you towork with you.
(12:06):
Can you just talk us throughsome of the strategy of, if you
like, the on-site, because I'mimagining a lot of customers are
having their first interactionwith you online.
Jennifer Johnson (12:19):
Correct.
So we try to make it asfrictionless as possible,
whether you're shopping thewebsite or you're wanting to
consign with us, because you canship to us.
If you don't live by us, youcan ship to us anywhere in the
country and for us it wasn't awhite picket fence, right?
(12:41):
We've mapped this all out andit's very easy for someone to do
.
Just sit and think about yourbusiness and what touch points
you have with your customer andfrom that you can find and build
a process around.
How am I going to make thiseasy for my customer to?
Because, as we all know, themore barriers you put up for
(13:03):
your customer, they're going tostop and they're not going to go
further.
So you have to find out how tomake it frictionless and it just
has come with a lot of time anda lot of looking at all of our
processes and we look at all ofour processes at least twice a
year and all of our positions.
So we go and we do an audit ofevery position in our company
(13:26):
and we have about 50 employees.
Jim James (13:27):
Yeah, when you say a position as in, like a role or a
job title.
Jennifer Johnson (13:30):
Yes and say what are you doing?
Let me watch you work for anhour, let's see the process.
Is there something in theprocess that we had created?
That's a friction point?
Or is it something that anemployee adapted over time,
because we may say this is howwe want it, but an employee
(13:51):
maybe threw something else inbecause they thought it was a
shortcut or they thought it wasa good idea and muddying the
waters?
Jim James (13:59):
So for anyone that wants to go to fashionistascom,
you'll see.
What Jennifer has also got, forexample, is a pop-up that gives
you a 10% off your order, forexample, straight away, and they
have a rewards program as well.
So not only have you reducedthe friction, but you've got at
(14:19):
least two hooks straight awaythat would either give me a
reward or a loyalty of some kind.
Jennifer, I'd have to ask youabout AI, because we talk about
processes and AI, and AI andautomation is changing that.
How have you changed or adoptedAI within True Fashionistas?
Jennifer Johnson (14:45):
Mainly I use it more in my other business
than I do In True Fashionistas.
We use it sometimes to write anemail, write copy for a social
media post.
We don't call them newsletters,but we send out emails several
times a week so we use it tocraft a copy.
(15:06):
Essentially, I know that asoftware that we use have been
trying to use it for pricingpurposes and for us, the size of
business that we are ourstore's about 13,000 square feet
right now and we probably have300,000 products in our store
it's very hard to get an AIprogram right now at this stage
(15:28):
that can price stuff.
So we still rely on our oldalgorithms, which I guess is
still kind of AI, but we mainlyuse it in True Fashionistas as
copywriting.
Jim James (15:38):
Okay.
So on the marketing side, yeah,so let's j ust think about what
comes along, because you've nowstarted to transition and share
what you know with otherentrepreneurs.
So we're going to move intosort of Jennifer Johnson part
two, which is moving into her asan author.
(15:58):
She has an amazing book and shealso has an amazing business
with an academy coaching.
She's one of thoseentrepreneurs that's
transitioning from having onebusiness to having a personal
brand whilst retaining theoriginal company.
(16:20):
Very clever thing to do,jennifer.
Take us through why you havestarted to migrate into your own
brand first.
Jennifer Johnson (16:32):
A coach per se and I've been told by so many
people you have so muchknowledge up here.
Share that with other people.
And for a long time I wasreluctant because, again, I know
people talk about that impostersyndrome but it's a true thing.
It doesn't matter how manybusinesses you've started or how
much money you have in yourbank account, people still feel
that way.
(16:52):
So I was feeling like, oh, Idon't know, it's not time.
And then all of a sudden I feltit.
It became time for me to stepoutside that and stake my claim
and say I have a lot ofknowledge that I can share with
other people.
I can help other people nothave to go through.
All of the pain that I wentthrough trying to figure out how
(17:14):
I was going to run thesebusinesses is not for nothing.
I can teach this to someone.
I can teach the system andthat's really it.
Podcast.
Without the legal case, I'mhoping Without the incarceration
, I mean exactly, and I did thefirst season of my podcast and
that's really how my personalbrand started and after I got
(17:36):
done with that first season, Ifelt empty.
I felt like this is still notwhat I have up here, but I
couldn't extract what I had uphere and put it on paper or a
website.
I couldn't figure it out.
The second season of my podcastwas really when I realized, oh
my gosh, this has to be allabout small business.
(17:56):
I mean, I talk about smallbusiness and entrepreneurship
all of the time and somethingjust clicked and then the layers
kept being added on and it waslike a perfect symphony.
After a while, somethingbeautiful came out of it and
that's where my business istoday.
You have to be patient.
Jim James (18:19):
And you've got now a new website called at Jennifer
Ann Johnson, okay, and of courseI'll put Jennifer's details.
And it is again pretty in pink,luscious in pink.
You have the confidententrepreneur and you know,
obviously I've got the unnoticedentrepreneur.
So you have got the smarter,better name of shows, because
you're covering people, but alsothen you've built yourself into
(18:43):
a new brand.
Rather than talk about whatyou're teaching, which, although
that's important and valuable,we are going to come to your 25
000 moment, but I'd love to talkto you about what I've been
terming this sort ofconstructive distancing, because
when an entrepreneur starts tomove away from the company they
founded, people inside thecompany and customers especially
(19:06):
as you played a large role inthe community start to wonder if
there's something wrong, evenwith the company, if you're not
interested.
How have you dealt with thedegree of separation and how you
make that happen withoutundermining the confidence in
the first business?
Jennifer Johnson (19:24):
So again, that was also messy.
When I started out, I put babysteps, I put my toe in the water
, I dipped it in just a littlebit and then it just started
building from there.
So it was a gradual thing.
It wasn't like I'm done in thebusiness, I'm not coming in ever
again.
I built it to the point it isnow gradually, and I think that
(19:45):
was the key, because I stillshow up in my store a couple of
days a week for a few hours at atime, because back when I
initially started I thought Icould go all in, and so for a
matter of about a month I reallydidn't show up in my store at
all.
And that's when I realized, oh,I'm getting these questions
(20:05):
like did you sell the business?
Does Jennifer even existanymore?
And that made me realize okay,this needs to be a gradual
process.
It can't be something where Icold turkey and I'm done.
And even to this day, fouryears later, I'm still coming
into the store a couple of daysa week.
I'm still present, I'm stillhere, I'm still around.
It doesn't appear that I'vecompletely walked away, I've
(20:27):
completely abandoned ship, and Ithink that's the key you have
to still have to show up foryour original business, but yet
leverage that your main businessthat you started is the reason
why you can have your personalbrand.
Jim James (20:43):
And presumably there's some succession planning
as well.
Otherwise, there's a vacuum inthe organization where the
decisions you used to take on aday-to-day basis are needed to
be made in just two or threedays or hours that you're in the
office, right?
Jennifer Johnson (20:59):
Yeah, and that was probably the hardest part
for me, because it wasseparating myself, my identity,
from my business, because somany times as entrepreneurs, we
are our business and you know,it's kind of like raising kids.
That's how I think of it is.
You know, when your kidsgraduate from college and you've
(21:20):
invested everything of yourbeing into your children and
they go off to college, peopleempty nesters are often lost.
They have no idea what to do,and that's very similar in
having a business is to stepaway and allow other people to.
Delegating is really theessence here is you have to be
(21:44):
able to delegate things that youdid before to someone else and
be okay with it being done 80%of how you would have done it.
Jim James (21:54):
Yeah, I think that's exactly right.
So there is, as you say, thismindset change of letting go,
and that the new team as wellsee it as an opportunity to fill
in some of the space that youleave.
And now you've got your book.
How difficult was it to writeGrace and Grit which looks
beautiful, by the way?
(22:15):
Again, a pink number.
We're certainly not shy ofusing pink.
Yeah, Was that something thatyou wrote yourself or did you
have a ghost writer?
Jennifer Johnson (22:25):
So I wrote it myself.
I have a publisher, but Ithought it would take longer.
It took nine months fromsitting down writing it to
actually having a copy in myhand and being able to sell it,
which I don't know if that'squick or not.
I think it's probably quick.
The book is a part story ofpersonal stories, yet combined
(22:48):
with core values and with thetwist of business I started with
.
I have a background in, I havea history that I wanted to share
with people, and it'sovercoming a really significant
challenge in my life, and that'swhat it was all going to be
about and it turned into.
(23:11):
How did I get through that?
Well, I got through that.
Figuring out who I was as aperson, a la my core values, and
then how I got through thechallenges in my business was
very much the same.
And so it weaved it all inbeautifully to show people that
with your core values that canget you through so much.
Jim James (23:28):
And, as you say, then that's probably why it didn't
take so long, because it wasready to come out Exactly Now.
Speaking of coming out,jennifer, I am going to now
touch on this lesson that you'velearned, this $25,000 lesson.
Tell us a little bit about that, because you know, I love to
hear what other people have donethat they've learned from.
(23:49):
What would be that for you,this $25,000 ticket?
Jennifer Johnson (23:53):
Again, I didn't think that I had the
ability to do this marketingstuff on my own and, oh my gosh,
I needed someone to tell meexactly how to do it.
And I had found this companyand been following them for a
while and went okay.
Well, it looks like they have alot of people who are behind
them.
That made me really go wow.
I really have to make sure that, whatever I put my toe into
(24:16):
whether it's a coaching programor working with another company
I have to really vet them andmake sure that they're going to
work for me and I'm going to getout of it what they say there's
no empty promises.
Big mistake, but you know whatI have this saying and one piece
of advice.
Jim James (24:36):
Okay.
Well, yeah, we're going to moveon to your one tip as an
entrepreneur, so why don't yousegue for me without me having
to ask the question?
Jennifer, there you go.
Jennifer Johnson (24:45):
Out of that came the whole premise that
things in life and in businessdon't happen to me.
They happen for me.
They are there to teach me alesson.
I just have to have thewherewithal to have my ears open
to be able to listen.
And I listened to the lessonthat was being dealt to me at
(25:08):
that time and it was sure youvet everybody that you work with
.
Don't take somebody's word forit.
You do the work and you figureout if they're going to work for
you.
So things in life and inbusiness happen for you, they
don't happen to you.
Jim James (25:20):
That's great, jennifer, and I think this other
thing about takingresponsibility for your
decisions, which you've donethere, and not beating yourself
up about it, is also reallyimportant, letting yourself say
well, that happened, I'velearned and I move on, and we've
all spent money on somethingthat we could have spent it
somewhere else and maybe had abetter result, but you've moved
(25:42):
on.
So if there was a podcast and abook, we've got Grace and the
Grit, so I'm going to put thatin the list, but I am going to
press you to talk about anotherbook or podcast that you might
recommend.
Jennifer Johnson (25:56):
So I'm going to go with book.
It is called the Power of weand Kyle McDowell is his name is
the gentleman who wrote thebook.
From that it teaches you reallyhow to build a culture within
your company.
And one takeaway from that bookis when you're standing with
your employees shoulder toshoulder and you're doing the
(26:19):
same things that you're askingyour employees to do, you're not
asking them to do somethingthat you're not going to do,
because if you stand with themshoulder to shoulder, there's
not as far to fall.
You're falling together andyou're working together.
You're working side by side.
That was a powerful lesson tome.
I've always operated my lifelike that.
(26:40):
I'm not going to ask somebodyto do something I'm not willing
to do.
But it put it in words for meand in a concept and I went wow,
that's powerful.
Jim James (26:52):
That's the Power of we, by Kyle.
Jennifer Johnson (26:54):
McDowell.
Jim James (26:56):
McDowell, so we'll look that up and put that in the
show notes.
Jennifer, if someone wants toget more of you and your time,
you have an academy, you haveyour book, you have your podcast
.
Where can they find you?
Jennifer Johnson (27:11):
The easiest way is my website, which is
jenniferannjohnsoncom.
I am also on Facebook.
I'm heavily on Facebook.
I'm also very much on LinkedInas well.
Jennifer Ann Johnson on both ofthose platforms, jennifer.
Well, I'm also very much onLinkedIn as well.
Jennifer and Johnson on both ofthose platforms.
Jim James (27:26):
Jennifer, well, I'm connected with you now and it's
wonderful to be connected to aconfident entrepreneur.
I'm normally talking as theunnoticed entrepreneur, so it's
been a joy to have you and tohear really your emphasis on
community and that it startswith people, I think is
wonderful, and that you'retaking responsibility for the
decisions that you've taken andthat you're continuing to grow.
(27:48):
Thank you for joining me allthe way from Naples in Florida.
Jennifer Johnson (27:53):
Thank you so much.
Jim James (27:54):
Jennifer Johnson.
The True Fashionistas storethat she's built there is
incredible, and you can sellyour merchandise or clothing to
her from wherever you are in thecountry.
Thank you for joining me.
I'm the unnoticed entrepreneur.
Jennifer is the confidententrepreneur on this episode.
Share this episode with afellow unnoticed entrepreneur,
(28:16):
because this show is for you andfor someone that you might know
that needs the kind of wisdomthat Jennifer has shared with us
today.
So until we meet again, I justencourage you to keep on
communicating.
I had fond memories of growing up and I
grew up in a very poor family.
We lived on a farm.
Lots of kids didn't have moneyto buy new clothes, so my
grandmother and I would go outgarage selling and we would find
clothes that I liked and thatmaybe didn't fit me, but her and
my mom would fix them up tomake them fit me.
So she really instilled in methis kind of thrill of the hunt
(00:24):
find things that you don't haveto pay full price for.
So when we moved to Florida, Iwas like I'm starting my life
all over essentially is what itkind of felt like and I just
decided let's do this thing,let's start this business.
It was doing what I had in myhead, which was combining the
(00:45):
luxury items so think brandslike Chanel and Gucci and Prada
with your mid-market stuff, yourJ Crew, your Lululemon stuff.
Like that.
You were either really high endor you were that mid-market area
On top of it.
Nobody was doing furniture andhome decor in the same store.
Either it was all clothing orall furniture and I was like why
(01:08):
does this not exist?
So, as any entrepreneurunderstands, if you see a hole
in the market, you plug thathole.
You figure out how you can fillit.
And I went we're just going todo this and just one day started
it.
And here we are today.
Jim James (01:35):
My guest today has built one brilliant business
already, started in 2011.
And then she decided that shewas going to build another
business based around herpersonal brand.
She's an author of an amazingbook called Grace and Grit and
we're going to hear how she hasmanaged to build one business
and then a personal brand andthe one regret that she's got
when she spent $25,000 onsomething.
We're going to Naples, florida.
(01:57):
We are talking to JenniferJohnson.
Tell us a little bit about theorganization and the size,
because you've built a verylarge business.
Tell us a little bit more theorganization and the size
because you've built a verylarge business.
Jennifer Johnson (02:07):
Tell us a little bit more about the scale
of the business.
So it started out very tiny.
It was 1,800 square feet Openedwith a completely empty store
and story surrounding that?
Because I opened my businesswith a business partner and I
didn't have the money at thetime because I was trying to
sell another business.
She had the money, I had thebrains.
So we go into business together.
(02:27):
We open with an empty store.
People thought we wereabsolutely nuts.
They're like she's opening thisstore and there's no clothing
in here.
Within two weeks we were full.
Jim James (02:38):
And that's people bringing merchandise or things
that they don't want anymore.
What's the business model?
Are you needing to give themcash when they bring it in, or
are you holding on consignmentand you sell it on their behalf?
Jennifer Johnson (02:50):
We do a hybrid , so we do both.
You can choose the cash optionor you can choose the
consignment option.
So that's how we started thebusiness 1800 square feet.
Two months into the business,my business partner comes
knocking on my door at 10o'clock on a Sunday night.
She wants out of the business.
We didn't have the money.
Well, we ended up cashing outmy husband's 401k and my first
(03:13):
clue should have been would notsign a non-compete.
Literally the next day, shesigned a lease on a space in the
same center that we're in andopened up a store exactly the
same as mine, took all of myemployees except for one.
At that time I thought it wasthe worst thing that could ever
(03:34):
happen.
I hired a consultant to come into tell me that we were going
to be fine.
Because I didn't believe it.
And, honestly, the best thingthat ever happened to the
business, because after that,within a year, we had knocked
out a wall, expanded to 3,600square feet, so we doubled the
size of the store.
And then, within a couple ofyears after that, we added
(03:56):
another store within the samecomplex selling furniture and
home decor.
I looked at something thatcould have been a detriment.
It could have been somethingthat took us out completely, but
I didn't let it.
I put my foot to the gas anddidn't look back.
I put my blinders on and didn'tpay attention to what she was
(04:18):
doing, and I just did my thing.
Jim James (04:22):
Jennifer, what a brave story.
And, as you say, it's aboutmindset, isn't it?
And whatever she has done willbe between her and her maker.
But fantastic that youpersevered and, frankly, also
that you had a husband who wasfull of support for you, because
another person might havedecided to call it a day.
Jennifer Johnson (04:41):
Oh yes, it was extremely stressful.
The one tangible thing that gotme through all of that the most
important part when you're in athat's yours is to make sure
that you're surrounding yourselfwith your personal board of
directors.
That's what I call it.
My personal board of directors.
It is people that are eitherpaid, like my accountant and my
(05:03):
attorney.
It is people that are eitherpaid like my accountant and my
attorney, or it's somebody thatI know that was in business and
is perhaps retired, or somebodythat's currently in business
that can help me with hey, Iwant to sit down that they'll
mentor me.
That is so important that it'sreally a must in your business.
It's a tool in your toolkit.
Jim James (05:23):
Yeah, and we're going to talk a bit later on about
your $25,000 investment.
That didn't go quite as planned, but we won't get to that just
yet.
But so you expanded.
You've got office furniture,you've got home furniture.
How did you go about buildingthe brand?
Because you said you've beenable to expand.
Great, but in a funny way,unless you're an entrepreneur,
(05:46):
you go, oh, they expanded.
And you go, oh, that's fine,you kind of assume.
But as an entrepreneur I'm like, okay, but how did you expand?
Because actually there's astory behind you needing to
knock walls down.
Presumably you didn't knock thewall down that went to your old
business partners unit.
I thought you might havethought about doing that, but
presumably your attorneywouldn't let you do that Exactly
(06:06):
.
Jennifer Johnson (06:07):
Yeah.
Jim James (06:10):
So how did you build the brand and it is
truefashionistascom, by the way,and anyone that wants to go to
my YouTube channel, theUnnoticed Entrepreneur, will
also see some of the screenshares but truefashionistascom
is an amazingly content, richand well laid out website as
well.
Jennifer, tell us about howyou've built the brand and got
(06:30):
people coming to you.
Jennifer Johnson (06:32):
So I will tell you that it's one word
community and what I mean bythat is is we planted ourselves
within our community and justgot involved.
We dug our feet in, we grewroots here.
So that looks like manydifferent things.
That looks like, yes, we wentout and we supported the little
(06:55):
league baseball games and theCub Scouts and Girl Scouts and
all of those things.
But we were visible in ourcommunity and that means I'm on
the board of many differentnonprofits in town.
We do a lot of differentphilanthropic things with our
business in our community.
We are here for our communityand, as a result of that, people
(07:21):
refer you because they come toknow you, they know what you
stand for and they want to dobusiness with somebody who is
going to be a pillar in theircommunity.
And it was that one simple wordand it sounds simple, but with
that came a lot of work.
It came up doing a lot ofdifferent things.
(07:43):
For example, challenges that weface here in Naples, florida,
is we have received been on thereceiving end of a lot of
hurricanes.
Jim James (07:53):
It's almost a byword for hurricanes, isn't it, where
you've either got alligators orhurricanes?
Jennifer Johnson (07:59):
We have become , with every hurricane that
happens, a drop-off spot forhurricane supplies for our
community.
But we don't just become adrop-off spot.
We actually take it a stepfurther and we go out and
deliver in our company van thesupplies that these people in
the community that have beenaffected by the hurricane that
(08:21):
they need.
We make sure it gets to thepeople on the front lines.
I mean, it didn't start thatway.
We did it out of the kindnessof our hearts.
That's why we do it, but it's acommunity building thing again.
Jim James (08:34):
That's really lovely to hear.
And, of course, you're alsofulfilling a community purpose,
aren't you?
By moving goods from peoplethat don't need them anymore to
people that do need them butwouldn't necessarily have the
budget or the appetite to buythem, as you were a child, right
, and I didn't grow up with alot of money when we were kids.
We now have, of course, moreand more thrift stores in the UK
(08:56):
, but your model is reallymaking it into a proper
commercial enterprise, whereasin the UK, thrift stores already
are a charity, whereas inAmerica it seems as though we
have a real business modelaround the buying and selling of
things.
Jennifer Johnson (09:10):
Yeah, and we do.
But we also have aphilanthropic component of that,
because if you bring stuff intous that we don't take for
example, it may be out of seasonor we don't sell this brand
very well we donate it to alocal thrift store and they get
every single thing that we don'tsell this brand very well.
We donate it to a local thriftstore and they get every single
thing that we don't take.
So we are still doing good inour community by giving it to
(09:33):
that charity, who then in turn,can sell it and make money for
their charity.
Jim James (09:39):
Jennifer, that's really wonderful and what you've
also done through your hardwork since moving to florida is
get a lot of media coverage.
So you talk about community,but there's also been publicity
in there.
So for anybody that wants to goto fashionistacom you can also
see.
They havea press website andcnn, abc.
(10:01):
Uh.
Us news time you've got gulfshore business best life, so
you've got.
And CNN, abc.
Us News Time You've got GulfShore Business Best Life, so
you've got national and Iimagine, regional and citywide
press as well Woman Home, forexample.
Can you just tell us a littlebit, jennifer, about your media
outreach?
Have you done that yourselves?
(10:21):
Have just the media beencustomers and said, hey, this is
a great story, tell me about it?
Jennifer Johnson (10:27):
Sure.
So all of what you see was allabout cultivating relationships.
That's, ultimately, what it wasabout.
I met one reporter.
Somehow someone had given me anarticle or a request from a
journalist and I responded tothat request and then I was
(10:51):
published.
And then I used that to be likehey, you know, in my emails or
whatever it was, I put it on ourwebsite saying, as seen on, and
I just started buildingrelationship after relationship,
and then one person found outand another person found out
(11:11):
blossomed what started it okay,and for people that aren't
familiar, there are websites,like it's called, help a
reporter out Harrow, wherejournalists do send out what
they're looking for.
Jim James (11:24):
You can buy PR newswire, if I'm not mistaken,
and, jennifer, I, as you've done, once a journalist meets a
reliable and credible source andone that writes back with good
pictures and so on, they referyou to other journalists, don't
they?
So that's fantastic.
So you've been able to buildthat relationship in the
community, plus with thejournalist community as well.
(11:45):
So, plainly, really greatskills is we've got a lot going
on that would help the customer,be it bringing you the goods or
buying the goods from you towork with you.
(12:06):
Can you just talk us throughsome of the strategy of, if you
like, the on-site, because I'mimagining a lot of customers are
having their first interactionwith you online.
Jennifer Johnson (12:19):
Correct.
So we try to make it asfrictionless as possible,
whether you're shopping thewebsite or you're wanting to
consign with us, because you canship to us.
If you don't live by us, youcan ship to us anywhere in the
country and for us it wasn't awhite picket fence, right?
(12:41):
We've mapped this all out andit's very easy for someone to do
.
Just sit and think about yourbusiness and what touch points
you have with your customer andfrom that you can find and build
a process around.
How am I going to make thiseasy for my customer to?
Because, as we all know, themore barriers you put up for
(13:03):
your customer, they're going tostop and they're not going to go
further.
So you have to find out how tomake it frictionless and it just
has come with a lot of time anda lot of looking at all of our
processes and we look at all ofour processes at least twice a
year and all of our positions.
So we go and we do an audit ofevery position in our company
(13:26):
and we have about 50 employees.
Jim James (13:27):
Yeah, when you say a position as in, like a role or a
job title.
Jennifer Johnson (13:30):
Yes and say what are you doing?
Let me watch you work for anhour, let's see the process.
Is there something in theprocess that we had created?
That's a friction point?
Or is it something that anemployee adapted over time,
because we may say this is howwe want it, but an employee
(13:51):
maybe threw something else inbecause they thought it was a
shortcut or they thought it wasa good idea and muddying the
waters?
Jim James (13:59):
So for anyone that wants to go to fashionistascom,
you'll see.
What Jennifer has also got, forexample, is a pop-up that gives
you a 10% off your order, forexample, straight away, and they
have a rewards program as well.
So not only have you reducedthe friction, but you've got at
(14:19):
least two hooks straight awaythat would either give me a
reward or a loyalty of some kind.
Jennifer, I'd have to ask youabout AI, because we talk about
processes and AI, and AI andautomation is changing that.
How have you changed or adoptedAI within True Fashionistas?
Jennifer Johnson (14:45):
Mainly I use it more in my other business
than I do In True Fashionistas.
We use it sometimes to write anemail, write copy for a social
media post.
We don't call them newsletters,but we send out emails several
times a week so we use it tocraft a copy.
(15:06):
Essentially, I know that asoftware that we use have been
trying to use it for pricingpurposes and for us, the size of
business that we are ourstore's about 13,000 square feet
right now and we probably have300,000 products in our store
it's very hard to get an AIprogram right now at this stage
(15:28):
that can price stuff.
So we still rely on our oldalgorithms, which I guess is
still kind of AI, but we mainlyuse it in True Fashionistas as
copywriting.
Jim James (15:38):
Okay.
So on the marketing side, yeah,so let's j ust think about what
comes along, because you've nowstarted to transition and share
what you know with otherentrepreneurs.
So we're going to move intosort of Jennifer Johnson part
two, which is moving into her asan author.
(15:58):
She has an amazing book and shealso has an amazing business
with an academy coaching.
She's one of thoseentrepreneurs that's
transitioning from having onebusiness to having a personal
brand whilst retaining theoriginal company.
(16:20):
Very clever thing to do,jennifer.
Take us through why you havestarted to migrate into your own
brand first.
Jennifer Johnson (16:32):
A coach per se and I've been told by so many
people you have so muchknowledge up here.
Share that with other people.
And for a long time I wasreluctant because, again, I know
people talk about that impostersyndrome but it's a true thing.
It doesn't matter how manybusinesses you've started or how
much money you have in yourbank account, people still feel
that way.
(16:52):
So I was feeling like, oh, Idon't know, it's not time.
And then all of a sudden I feltit.
It became time for me to stepoutside that and stake my claim
and say I have a lot ofknowledge that I can share with
other people.
I can help other people nothave to go through.
All of the pain that I wentthrough trying to figure out how
(17:14):
I was going to run thesebusinesses is not for nothing.
I can teach this to someone.
I can teach the system andthat's really it.
Podcast.
Without the legal case, I'mhoping Without the incarceration
, I mean exactly, and I did thefirst season of my podcast and
that's really how my personalbrand started and after I got
(17:36):
done with that first season, Ifelt empty.
I felt like this is still notwhat I have up here, but I
couldn't extract what I had uphere and put it on paper or a
website.
I couldn't figure it out.
The second season of my podcastwas really when I realized, oh
my gosh, this has to be allabout small business.
(17:56):
I mean, I talk about smallbusiness and entrepreneurship
all of the time and somethingjust clicked and then the layers
kept being added on and it waslike a perfect symphony.
After a while, somethingbeautiful came out of it and
that's where my business istoday.
You have to be patient.
Jim James (18:19):
And you've got now a new website called at Jennifer
Ann Johnson, okay, and of courseI'll put Jennifer's details.
And it is again pretty in pink,luscious in pink.
You have the confidententrepreneur and you know,
obviously I've got the unnoticedentrepreneur.
So you have got the smarter,better name of shows, because
you're covering people, but alsothen you've built yourself into
(18:43):
a new brand.
Rather than talk about whatyou're teaching, which, although
that's important and valuable,we are going to come to your 25
000 moment, but I'd love to talkto you about what I've been
terming this sort ofconstructive distancing, because
when an entrepreneur starts tomove away from the company they
founded, people inside thecompany and customers especially
(19:06):
as you played a large role inthe community start to wonder if
there's something wrong, evenwith the company, if you're not
interested.
How have you dealt with thedegree of separation and how you
make that happen withoutundermining the confidence in
the first business?
Jennifer Johnson (19:24):
So again, that was also messy.
When I started out, I put babysteps, I put my toe in the water
, I dipped it in just a littlebit and then it just started
building from there.
So it was a gradual thing.
It wasn't like I'm done in thebusiness, I'm not coming in ever
again.
I built it to the point it isnow gradually, and I think that
(19:45):
was the key, because I stillshow up in my store a couple of
days a week for a few hours at atime, because back when I
initially started I thought Icould go all in, and so for a
matter of about a month I reallydidn't show up in my store at
all.
And that's when I realized, oh,I'm getting these questions
(20:05):
like did you sell the business?
Does Jennifer even existanymore?
And that made me realize okay,this needs to be a gradual
process.
It can't be something where Icold turkey and I'm done.
And even to this day, fouryears later, I'm still coming
into the store a couple of daysa week.
I'm still present, I'm stillhere, I'm still around.
It doesn't appear that I'vecompletely walked away, I've
(20:27):
completely abandoned ship, and Ithink that's the key you have
to still have to show up foryour original business, but yet
leverage that your main businessthat you started is the reason
why you can have your personalbrand.
Jim James (20:43):
And presumably there's some succession planning
as well.
Otherwise, there's a vacuum inthe organization where the
decisions you used to take on aday-to-day basis are needed to
be made in just two or threedays or hours that you're in the
office, right?
Jennifer Johnson (20:59):
Yeah, and that was probably the hardest part
for me, because it wasseparating myself, my identity,
from my business, because somany times as entrepreneurs, we
are our business and you know,it's kind of like raising kids.
That's how I think of it is.
You know, when your kidsgraduate from college and you've
(21:20):
invested everything of yourbeing into your children and
they go off to college, peopleempty nesters are often lost.
They have no idea what to do,and that's very similar in
having a business is to stepaway and allow other people to.
Delegating is really theessence here is you have to be
(21:44):
able to delegate things that youdid before to someone else and
be okay with it being done 80%of how you would have done it.
Jim James (21:54):
Yeah, I think that's exactly right.
So there is, as you say, thismindset change of letting go,
and that the new team as wellsee it as an opportunity to fill
in some of the space that youleave.
And now you've got your book.
How difficult was it to writeGrace and Grit which looks
beautiful, by the way?
(22:15):
Again, a pink number.
We're certainly not shy ofusing pink.
Yeah, Was that something thatyou wrote yourself or did you
have a ghost writer?
Jennifer Johnson (22:25):
So I wrote it myself.
I have a publisher, but Ithought it would take longer.
It took nine months fromsitting down writing it to
actually having a copy in myhand and being able to sell it,
which I don't know if that'squick or not.
I think it's probably quick.
The book is a part story ofpersonal stories, yet combined
(22:48):
with core values and with thetwist of business I started with
.
I have a background in, I havea history that I wanted to share
with people, and it'sovercoming a really significant
challenge in my life, and that'swhat it was all going to be
about and it turned into.
(23:11):
How did I get through that?
Well, I got through that.
Figuring out who I was as aperson, a la my core values, and
then how I got through thechallenges in my business was
very much the same.
And so it weaved it all inbeautifully to show people that
with your core values that canget you through so much.
Jim James (23:28):
And, as you say, then that's probably why it didn't
take so long, because it wasready to come out Exactly Now.
Speaking of coming out,jennifer, I am going to now
touch on this lesson that you'velearned, this $25,000 lesson.
Tell us a little bit about that, because you know, I love to
hear what other people have donethat they've learned from.
(23:49):
What would be that for you,this $25,000 ticket?
Jennifer Johnson (23:53):
Again, I didn't think that I had the
ability to do this marketingstuff on my own and, oh my gosh,
I needed someone to tell meexactly how to do it.
And I had found this companyand been following them for a
while and went okay.
Well, it looks like they have alot of people who are behind
them.
That made me really go wow.
I really have to make sure that, whatever I put my toe into
(24:16):
whether it's a coaching programor working with another company
I have to really vet them andmake sure that they're going to
work for me and I'm going to getout of it what they say there's
no empty promises.
Big mistake, but you know whatI have this saying and one piece
of advice.
Jim James (24:36):
Okay.
Well, yeah, we're going to moveon to your one tip as an
entrepreneur, so why don't yousegue for me without me having
to ask the question?
Jennifer, there you go.
Jennifer Johnson (24:45):
Out of that came the whole premise that
things in life and in businessdon't happen to me.
They happen for me.
They are there to teach me alesson.
I just have to have thewherewithal to have my ears open
to be able to listen.
And I listened to the lessonthat was being dealt to me at
(25:08):
that time and it was sure youvet everybody that you work with
.
Don't take somebody's word forit.
You do the work and you figureout if they're going to work for
you.
So things in life and inbusiness happen for you, they
don't happen to you.
Jim James (25:20):
That's great, jennifer, and I think this other
thing about takingresponsibility for your
decisions, which you've donethere, and not beating yourself
up about it, is also reallyimportant, letting yourself say
well, that happened, I'velearned and I move on, and we've
all spent money on somethingthat we could have spent it
somewhere else and maybe had abetter result, but you've moved
(25:42):
on.
So if there was a podcast and abook, we've got Grace and the
Grit, so I'm going to put thatin the list, but I am going to
press you to talk about anotherbook or podcast that you might
recommend.
Jennifer Johnson (25:56):
So I'm going to go with book.
It is called the Power of weand Kyle McDowell is his name is
the gentleman who wrote thebook.
From that it teaches you reallyhow to build a culture within
your company.
And one takeaway from that bookis when you're standing with
your employees shoulder toshoulder and you're doing the
(26:19):
same things that you're askingyour employees to do, you're not
asking them to do somethingthat you're not going to do,
because if you stand with themshoulder to shoulder, there's
not as far to fall.
You're falling together andyou're working together.
You're working side by side.
That was a powerful lesson tome.
I've always operated my lifelike that.
(26:40):
I'm not going to ask somebodyto do something I'm not willing
to do.
But it put it in words for meand in a concept and I went wow,
that's powerful.
Jim James (26:52):
That's the Power of we, by Kyle.
Jennifer Johnson (26:54):
McDowell.
Jim James (26:56):
McDowell, so we'll look that up and put that in the
show notes.
Jennifer, if someone wants toget more of you and your time,
you have an academy, you haveyour book, you have your podcast
.
Where can they find you?
Jennifer Johnson (27:11):
The easiest way is my website, which is
jenniferannjohnsoncom.
I am also on Facebook.
I'm heavily on Facebook.
I'm also very much on LinkedInas well.
Jennifer Ann Johnson on both ofthose platforms, jennifer.
Well, I'm also very much onLinkedIn as well.
Jennifer and Johnson on both ofthose platforms.
Jim James (27:26):
Jennifer, well, I'm connected with you now and it's
wonderful to be connected to aconfident entrepreneur.
I'm normally talking as theunnoticed entrepreneur, so it's
been a joy to have you and tohear really your emphasis on
community and that it startswith people, I think is
wonderful, and that you'retaking responsibility for the
decisions that you've taken andthat you're continuing to grow.
(27:48):
Thank you for joining me allthe way from Naples in Florida.
Jennifer Johnson (27:53):
Thank you so much.
Jim James (27:54):
Jennifer Johnson.
The True Fashionistas storethat she's built there is
incredible, and you can sellyour merchandise or clothing to
her from wherever you are in thecountry.
Thank you for joining me.
I'm the unnoticed entrepreneur.
Jennifer is the confidententrepreneur on this episode.
Share this episode with afellow unnoticed entrepreneur,
(28:16):
because this show is for you andfor someone that you might know
that needs the kind of wisdomthat Jennifer has shared with us
today.
So until we meet again, I justencourage you to keep on
communicating.
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Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.