Career Coaching Secrets

The Profit First Coach: Jessica Rosario's Strategies for Business Growth

• Davis Nguyen

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Rexhen Doda interviews Jessica Rosario, an executive coach and owner of a janitorial company. Jessica shares her 8.5-year journey coaching service-based business owners to grow beyond hobbies. She highlights LinkedIn and speaking engagements for client acquisition, emphasizing value-driven email marketing and a "business audit" approach. Jessica is expanding to coach with her husband, targeting family-owned service businesses, and invests in personal growth (e.g., Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business). Her advice: discipline, focus, and a growth mindset to overcome challenges like brand shifts and client perception of coaching as a cost.

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Jessica Rosario:

Most rewarding when you're seeing your teams or your clients transform right in front of your eyes, not only going from a solopreneur, one person, two people team to really developing their business as a full blown on business. My coaching clients usually say that they that I have a way of making them feel like they're actually running a business rather than running a hobby.

Davis Nguyen:

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Nguyen, and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to seven and eight figures without burning out. Before Purple Circle, I started and scaled several seven and eight figure career coaching businesses myself and consulted with two career coaching businesses that are now doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or just building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Rexhen Doda:

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm your host, Regan, and today's guest is Jessica Rosario. Jessica is an executive coach and champion of women's empowerment. She has 25 years of experience in financial services industry and a thriving janitorial services company in Orlando. Jessica brings a rare blend of strategic business acumen and heartfelt community leadership. As the owner of exclusive cleaning services and an alum of prestigious Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program. She's not only built a successful business, she's also become the guiding voice for anyone looking to launch and scale their own service-based business. Jessica is a certified integrator and an advocate for EOS and the Profit First Method, and deeply passionate about personal development, leadership, and mentoring the next generation. And it's my pleasure to have her on the podcast today. Welcome to the show, Jessica.

Jessica Rosario:

Thank you so much for having me, Rajen.

Rexhen Doda:

It's a pleasure, Jessica. So tell me a little bit more about what inspired you to become a coach and then start your own coaching business.

Jessica Rosario:

Absolutely. So as you mentioned, I spent 25 years in corporate and in that process of working in corporate banking, I developed the passion to work with small business owners who were looking to get started from the ground up. And that led me to doing some business consulting as well as coaching business owners who are high performing leaders to be able to grow and scale their business.

Rexhen Doda:

And so right now with your coaching business, it's been about eight years and a half that you've started it independently?

Jessica Rosario:

Yes.

Rexhen Doda:

Cool. And which part of the coaching journey do you find the most rewarding since you started your coaching business?

Jessica Rosario:

Oh, great question. Most rewarding. When you're seeing your teams or your clients transform right in front of your eyes, not only going from a solopreneur, one person, two people team, to really developing their business as a full blown on business. My coaching clients usually say that that I have a way of making them feel like they're actually running a business rather than running a hobby.

Rexhen Doda:

And when it comes to your clients, is there a specific target group that you typically work with?

Jessica Rosario:

Yeah, absolutely. It's service-based business owners. And it's interesting because throughout the years, I've always coached service-based industries. But in the last few years, I found that after the pandemic, I started to attract a lot of women who were exiting corporate, who are looking for that purpose and passion-driven role. And because they either couldn't find it or didn't exist, they just started to create their own. And so a lot of the women that I've coached throughout the years are in that transition space of exiting what they've been doing for so many years into truly stepping into their power and stepping into their purpose as they continue to grow a business. Most recently in the last year or so, because we have a thriving janitorial company and I was also part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business National Cohort, I started to grow again in the inside of the service-based industry and being so by those business owners who are in the daily hustle, but also looking to grow and scale their business in ways that they can leave a legacy business for either their families or children and so on.

Rexhen Doda:

And generally, when it comes to finding these clients or finding you, which marketing channel is working best for you right now?

Jessica Rosario:

LinkedIn is one place that works really well for me. I've leveraged that quite a bit and I've done it organically without paid ads. The other thing is speaking engagements. So I do quite a few speaking engagements that attract a good amount of people into my email list. I'm always all about building my email list. So that's been really the main source. It would be through speaking and visibility.

Rexhen Doda:

And when it comes to LinkedIn, is there a specific strategy that you're applying or like posting content? How have you grown the profile or like the types of impression? Do people just reach out to you?

Jessica Rosario:

It's a combination of things. Some people do reach out to me, but I ensure that I look at my email marketing as a full 360 type of process. So I'm referring people on LinkedIn to my email list. I'm referring people on my email list to LinkedIn. And so it helps with algorithms and just build organic growth. I do post articles on LinkedIn every month, and I'm always looking to add value in any which way that I possibly can.

Rexhen Doda:

And when it comes to the email list, are you running some strategy there to keep your list engaged?

Jessica Rosario:

Yeah, well, just like any person that is reading through emails, I am one of those big people that I like to look at a good blend, right? So it's not just about selling, selling, selling through email. I like to see that value is being added. I like to see that if somebody has a question about something, they can just hit reply. and get an answer to their question not going through this loophole of customer service that you know, the email sometimes go unresponded to. And it happens with even the best emailers, the best people that are sending emails today. And so it's really important for me to keep it personalized and not just an approach to just sell a product. I like to invite them into my community. If I have an event going on, particularly if it's an event through another organization, I've done some speaking engagements through the Small Business Administration and through SCORE. So So letting them know that they can access some of these resources also through those government agencies. And so it's all about the ecosystem of your business, ensuring that regardless of what channel you're looking at, that they're looking at similar things, that you're adding value, that you're also offering your product, that you're offering your, in my case, I offer a business audit for anyone that wants to start working with me. and they don't know where to start, it's a really great way to just position their journey in a way that we can identify exactly what's working and what's not working in their business. And so it's all about having a good mix.

Rexhen Doda:

I really like that. So doing the audit especially, I feel like that is a very good strategic method to even helping them out. So it gives some value to them analyzing where their weak spots are. It also helps you out in a way that you get to know if these clients would be also a good fit for working with you as well. So it also works in a way as a qualifying mechanism in a way. So yeah, cool. Exactly. Moving away from marketing, looking to the future, do you have any goals that you're working towards for the years with the coaching business?

Jessica Rosario:

Actually, recently, within the last six months or so, my husband and I have started coaching together other business owners. And so we have a lot of dreams and things behind that. And so it's all about we're in that planning stage right now. We've done some things with local organizations and local trades organizations as well that focus on business. being a married couple and building a family-owned and operated business. So that's something that's definitely coming down the line.

Rexhen Doda:

So is that going to be still within the coaching industry or are you thinking of like a service-based?

Jessica Rosario:

It's going to be still within the coaching industry, but the target will be service-based industries, janitorial, plumbing, HVAC. Those are some of the folks that we're seeing right now.

Rexhen Doda:

I see. So kind of like an upgrade of the current business that you have is just like having your husband also in the team, working together. Interesting. I really like that. Yeah,

Jessica Rosario:

we both bring in a different, you know, like our own unique skill set, right? I'm more of the strategic planner, productivity, high performance leadership. And he is more on the sales and nurturing the clients and building relationships. And so he's all about that nurture side. And so we both add something very unique to the table.

Rexhen Doda:

That is amazing. I wish I could have a similar setup too. So cool. Yeah. When it comes to investments within the coaching business, has there been any investment that you feel that you've actually gotten a lot of value from and it has helped your coaching business grow? And that could be any coaching programs, masterminds, community, or whatever it is that you feel like actually it helped you grow your coaching business.

Jessica Rosario:

Absolutely. I mean, it comes in so many different ways. You have investment of money, but you also have investment of time. Right. And so it's a combination of things. I am a minority women business enterprise certified through multiple agencies here locally in central Florida. And so I do leverage the WeBank certification, which is for women business entrepreneurs. I do leverage local county certifications and statewide in the state of Florida. WeBank being a national certification. as well. And so, of course, there's a cost involved to all of these, but there's also been other coaching programs and things that I've invested in throughout the years, particularly with my certification in executive leadership and high performance. And then in addition to those is the elite and prestigious selection processes of programs like the Goldman Sachs. I literally just graduated from the Goldman Sachs program two weeks ago, and it was an incredible, incredible experience that I highly recommend to those who qualify because you do have to go through a rigorous selection process and qualification process to be in the national cohort. So there is an investment of money and there's also an investment of time. And those that don't do either need to consider at least one because I think it's really important for the growth of any business owner. I think when we talk about I'm a huge fan of John Maxwell. And so when we talk about your capacity to grow, your business will grow to the level of your capacity. And he calls it the law of the lid. And so where your lid is, that's exactly where your business is going to meet. And so if you're looking for your business to grow, you also need to grow yourself. So I don't step into any day thinking I know all the things. I step into any day knowing that there is something new for me to learn every single day.

Rexhen Doda:

Absolutely. That's a great mindset. And I wanted to ask, when it comes to the Goldman Sachs graduation, that is typically focused only on the financial services. No,

Jessica Rosario:

not at all, actually. There are people from all industries, all avenues. And each cohort tends to be a little bit more industry specific, each group, each section. And so that way they don't have a group that's 40 coaches, because every group was about 40 people, 40 business owners. And so in my group, we had a little bit of everything. We had therapists, we had... We had physical personal trainers. We had consultants, construction. So it's a combination of things of all the industries. And it's just an incredible program to help you navigate through the foundational parts of your business so that you can prepare yourself to scale and grow.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you for sharing that. And as you were explaining that, I was thinking in terms of investment. So coaches always are investing in themselves, right? And then when it comes to the clients who need to hire coaches, do you feel that right now there could be that mindset of, oh, I think I can figure this out on my own, or maybe they don't believe in coaching? Do you ever get that feeling?

Jessica Rosario:

Oh, yeah. All the time, especially when funds are limited. Right. People look at it as a cost rather than an investment. And that's really a shift in mindset. Are you in a fixed mindset or are you in a growth mindset? So those that never goes away. I think throughout the years I've been coaching for about eight years now formally because I was coaching prior to that. But that feeling never goes away. I've seen a combination of those who won't invest because they don't believe in it. But I've also seen those that do invest and are burned by investing in programs that were highly priced and didn't deliver the results that they were looking for. So people base their decisions on experiences. And that could be one of the reasons why they don't.

Rexhen Doda:

Do you think, or is there a way that you're doing this? Meaning, is there a way to how we can help them understand the real value of coaching?

Jessica Rosario:

The way I look at coaching is what have you done in the last 90 days that have brought you success? And I'm a huge fan of the 12-week year, which with EOS, they talk about 90-day rocks. So they're similar in concept. But I always tell someone when they're considering working with me, it's like, what will your next 90 days look like? And let's compare that result that you're looking for to your last 90 days. Did you have any traction in the last 90 days? Did you do a debrief at your last quarter and identify what worked, what didn't work, and what you need to do differently? And then if you didn't, are you planning on stepping into the next 90 days in the same way? And so knowing that if you have not been able to achieve success in the last 90 days to the last two years, and it's not where you want to be, then what do you need to do differently? And whether that's working with a coach, working with a consultant, or even working with an accountability group, sometimes they know exactly what they need to do. They just don't have the accountability. And so they don't have the discipline to be able to take that next step. So the knowledge of the coach is not necessarily what leads them to success what is their point of need how do you meet them where they are identify the gap and then from there move forward

Rexhen Doda:

thank you thank you for sharing that actually so getting them to think um so of course you could do it on your own how has that been working out for you so far Not to say to put them on a spot or anything like that, it's just to try and understand if there's something that maybe they might be doing wrong or just like, yeah, I really like that. And when you think about your coaching business right now and also with your goals of potentially having your husband working together, what would you say is the biggest challenge that you're currently facing in further scaling your coaching business?

Jessica Rosario:

biggest challenge that's a great question so in the last six months or so i started to to refine some of the the products that i had that i have um from a women only style and approach to attract family owned and operated, which can be husband and wife teams, or it can be just male or just female. And what I found my biggest challenge to be was that while I was implementing these great products and achieving great results with a family owned and operated business like a janitorial business or HVAC. And I had the same exact package focused on working with a coach in some type of way, shape or form. It was two completely different results. And as a coach myself, and I'm sure that a lot of people that are listening to this episode will know that The biggest success that coaches experience is our client's success. And so when I saw the success to be so different, right? someone who's just getting started with building a coaching business versus someone who's getting started in a service-based industry and the results being so different, that's what led me to doing a complete shift and change in how I coach and how I position myself as not only as a business coach, but as a business consultant because of the experience, the hands-on experience that we've had. And so the biggest challenge was being able to see my brand not only as a brand that attracts women in business. At the end of the day, I am a woman in business. I am women business enterprise certified, but I also have a lot of expertise in the service-based industry. And so the brand had to do a completely different shift. And so that's what I'm in the process of doing right now. It's doing a full-on rebranding. That's also been really evident with some of my speaking engagements, the people that I've connected with, some of my discovery calls. The first thing that men would ask is, do you coach men? And so I knew there was a challenge with my branding and how I was positioning myself, the spaces where I was speaking versus spaces where people were finding me. And so that's been one of the biggest challenges right now, being able to really be able to work on all the things because I want to do it all and do it all overnight. But the reality is that my team, I have a couple of people on my team that support me and my business. And so they can't do it all. So we're We're definitely identifying the areas that are those quick wins, those low hanging fruits and those priorities so that we can focus on that next thing.

Rexhen Doda:

Cool, we actually did a similar thing when it comes with our coaching business, my consulting offer, we were going through rebranding as well, not specifically focused on rebranding the target audience and widening that up, but mostly rebranding our messaging, all of our assets and how the image of our business was being shown to our clients. So that is one of the things that we've gone through as well. And so when it comes to, so far with many years of experience, is there any final advice you'd like to give to other coaches who are looking to scale their impact?

Jessica Rosario:

Yeah, discipline. Anything that you do in your business requires discipline. And whether it's this business or another business, It requires discipline. And that discipline looks different to different people. And I would say one of the biggest ways is really putting on those blinders so that you don't get distracted by what everyone else is doing or everyone else that has an opinion on what you should do with your business. If you don't feel good about your business, about your coaching, about your approach or your messaging, chances are there's a gap. And so listen to that intuition and identify how you change that so that it can make you feel good. But that requires discipline. I've worked with many clients in the past few years who they come to me and they have this list, this laundry list of 15 things that they want to do in their business. But the reality is that Some of it is not even moving the needle in their business. And so we take a look at that list. And what's that 80-20, right? 20% of what's on your list is what's really going to make an impact in your business. That other 80% is usually noise. So drilling down on what that looks like is key, but that requires discipline. And it also requires a coach to say to you during our calls, how close is that getting you to where you need to be? And I know that that question hurts and sometimes we get really distracted, but it's so essential in really staying focused. I don't want a coach to yes me to death. I don't want a coach to give me a laundry list of things to do. I want a coach that can get me that quick win, that can help me focus, that can help hold me accountable, and that can help me stay disciplined to get to where I need to be. And so those are the things that I personally look for and what I would recommend.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank you. Thank you so much, Jessica. And for anyone who wants to find you or connect with you, you can go into our LinkedIn, Jessica. rosario.fortis. They'll be able to find you there. And they also should be able to find your website, jessrosario.com, right?

Jessica Rosario:

Correct.

Rexhen Doda:

Cool. Is there any other way that people could connect with you apart from these two?

Jessica Rosario:

Those are the main ones. They can always call our business line, 407-602-8101. And they'll get either myself or someone on the team. But the best way is through the website or LinkedIn.

Rexhen Doda:

Thank

Davis Nguyen:

you. Thank you, Jessica.