Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jennifer Malcolm. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Jennifer, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
I started Jennasis as a one-woman virtual assistance firm in 2011. Virtual assistance—even working from home and having flexible hours—was novel when I started. Obviously, it’s much more common in our post-pandemic world, but we did it before anyone else. It started because, like many mothers, I was often conflicted (read: plagued with mom guilt) about reaching professional milestones at the expense of my family. With virtual work, I could have my cake and eat it, too. I forged my own path to accomplish meaningful and important work for clients (and myself!) while doing the things I love: traveling, spending time with my family, and attempting to cobble together meals from the random ingredients in my fridge.
Those early beginnings nurtured the mission and values that Jennasis represents today. On a professional level, we’re passionate about making excellent marketing accessible to all businesses, regardless of size. We’re all about being scalable and flexible to meet clients where they need us most, providing high-quality services and results that make an impact.
That flexibility translates on a personal level as well. Our team is comprised of highly talented experts who share the same goals: striving for professional excellence that doesn’t take them away from the things that matter most. We have stay-at-home parents, careers of aging loved ones, passion project pursuers, and world explorers at Jennasis.
Therefore, our internal mission is to maintain and nurture the flexibility that Jennasis affords our clients and team, and our core values reflect that. We’ve crafted our core values around embracing FUN: Focused, United, and Noble. We want people to enjoy what they do here and feel accomplished, unified, and trusted. We allow our team members to manage their own time and schedules as long as their projects are completed on time and on budget. We don’t have an office space that requires commuting—our team members are spread across the country, from Oregon to Pennsylvania. We’ve found that when we give people the freedom to choose when and how they do their work, productivity is something to marvel at.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
As mentioned, Jennasis began as a virtual assistance firm over a decade ago. I had experienced a significant upheaval in my personal life and needed to reinvent myself. I had noticed that small businesses and entrepreneurs were dropping things—like content, strategy, communication, and finances. As someone in that position now, I know that running a business sometimes feels like putting out little fires everywhere. You’re just trying to keep the metaphorical (and literal) house from burning down, so things like laundry, cleaning, and dinner get missed. Laundry and dinner are just as crucial to your household as putting out fires, and my goal was to ensure they didn’t get forgotten.
As my client list grew, I hired a few freelancers, and together, we took on anything that we could reasonably manage. Eventually, our skill set grew to accommodate graphics, websites, and marketing.
By 2012, we leaned heavily into marketing, but only as assistants. Essentially, the clients would hand us a list of items to accomplish, and we would mark them off. However, by 2015, we began to respectfully disagree with some of the marketing tasks handed to us.
We had been around the industry long enough to have gathered a deeper understanding of best practices in strategy, content, and general methodology. So, instead of assisting, we began to assume a more consultative approach, becoming more of a marketing company rather than a virtual assistance agency.
The transition felt natural and gave us a leg up as, by 2017, we started to offer fractional CMO services. A fractional CMO is an outsourced Chief Marketing Officer who helps businesses (who don’t need or have the capacity for a full-time marketing executive) run their marketing team, craft an overarching marketing strategy, organize and negotiate with vendors, keep an open line of communication with the board, review budgets, and more. The fractional CMO model is reminiscent of our virtual assistance days but with an experienced, consummate focus on marketing. Businesses jumped on the idea of a fractional CMO, and we established ourselves as marketing experts with that move.
To this day, we offer fractional CMO services as well as general digital marketing services to clients, from website care and SEO to content production and social media management. With a team of talented, experienced marketing professionals (
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had a fantastic business mentor who brought to my attention that while Jennasis mirrored my strengths, it also reflected my weaknesses. Even though I was no longer running the business alone, it still displayed the best and worst of myself: my go-getter attitude, unfailing positivity, passion for strategy and problem-solving, as well as my fear of having difficult conversations and accepting criticism or feedback.
I had to face my weaknesses and address them, and I took time to work on those issues individually, through coaching and other means. I also discovered that I could hire out my weaknesses—I didn’t have to have every difficult conversation with a client or face every bit of feedback from team members personally.
In that sense, I had to unlearn holding the reins of Jennasis. I had been running the business singlehandedly for years, and giving up some of the control was difficult. I knew, logically, that I had to do it: not only was I performing tasks that could be easily delegated, but my control was weakening the business because of my personal shortcomings.
It took work, but it made Jennasis so much better. As I “let go of the vine,” we became more collaborative, communicative, and connected. Our clients saw the change; business began to boom at that point. Our team became more well-rounded and robust as I learned my strengths and weaknesses. I had a clearer picture of who I needed to hire. It changed how and why we do things and made Jennasis better in every measurable way.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
This is related to the previous answer. When we’re attuned to a specific issue, we notice it in everything. My strengths and weaknesses (that I worked to improve) became part of our reputation in our market. Integrity, passion, and transparency are strengths of mine, and they are some of the things our clients value us for.
My willingness to have crucial conversations was a weakness, but I (alongside the Jennasis team) worked on improving it so much that it became a genuine part of our reputation. We’ve had times when we missed the mark, made mistakes, had a misunderstanding, and we’re no longer afraid to own up to that and work to make it right. In that same vein, we’re hard workers who stay true to our word and focus on the relational aspect of our business. Above all, we want to help our clients rather than take advantage of them for monetary pursuits. We enjoy getting to know them and their businesses, helping them make a splash in their industries.
Additionally, because of our focus on flexibility (and that our team is dispersed nationwide), we’re literally burning the midnight oil for clients, getting work done while they sleep. We can meet quick turnaround times, be there as much or as little as they need us, and become the customized marketing service larger firms aren’t agile enough to accomplish.
That has been what has built our reputation in the market.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jennasisassociates.com
- Instagram: @jennasis_and_associates
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JennasisAssociates/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jennasis-and-associates
- Twitter: @JennasisAssoc