We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jerrica Stone a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jerrica, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

People always talk about that “lightbulb moment” they experience when they come up with their big idea. I didn’t have that. I just knew that I wanted to help people, and that I had skills that could help them. I spent years as a DOO in the nonprofit and profit sectors and saw first hand the repeating issues in almost every company. Then, I joined a “female in business” networking group and realized there was a knowledge gap. As women, we aren’t expected to run Fortune-500s and, in fact, it’s highly celebrated as “glass-ceiling shattering” when a woman is on top. Because of this expectation, we aren’t taught the same business-skills as our male counterparts unless we peruse a business degree. During a network event, I was approached by a woman who asked if I could help her with some workflow and strategy issues in her small business. I agree, and that’s kinda how it started. I started working with more women, and more small businesses.
After a couple years, I started fleshing out what it would look like to do this full time. What did I like and not like about it? Did I have enough going that I could leave my “day job”? When I made the jump, I had a specific offer (workflow and business start ups), but since then the offers have shifted and now I focus on women-owned businesses and focus on internal systems and management control.

SO I didn’t really have that “light bulb” moment, but I definitely felt a pull to help other women succeed, and that grew into a life passion.

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?

I call myself an “operations and systems consultant”, which is just a fancy way of saying I help small businesses and entrepreneurs with their internal systems and operational management. I spent years as a DOO, and hold a bachelor’s in business and an MBA from San Diego State University. I started my business as a necessary entity for my “side hustle” of doing 1:1 consults for entrepreneurs navigating the operations of their start ups. It didn’t take long for it to grow into a full business with over 30 clients/year.
Now, I offer specific services focused around creating a well-oiled machine in businesses. I offer regular consulting for regular issues (efficiency, productivity, inventory management), but also full done-for-you services that designs full CRM platforms for small businesses ready to scale.
By offering education with my services, I really feel I’m fulfilling my mission to help people become their most successful selves!

Have you ever had to pivot?

This story is part personal, part business. I remember when I realized I needed to change what I was doing. I was 27 (2018) and working in a corporate job that I thought I liked, when I was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. It wasn’t very long after that being able to commute to a 9-5 job became impossible. The company I was at didn’t offer any kind of WFH flexibility (remember, this is pre-Covid), so I basically had to leave and focus on my physical health. After a year of treatment and a major surgery, I was ready to re-enter the workforce, but didn’t want to go back to a job that didn’t allow some flexibility.
That’s when I applied for a DOO role for a local non-profit. I thrived in the role, and enjoyed having flexible days to WFH. When the pandemic hit, I was able to fully WFH, and when things started opening back up, I opted to only spend 2 days in the office.

But after Covid, things were different. I had different priorities. I wanted to focus on life outside of work, and not spend all my energy just “surviving”. (I also live in Southern California, so we have a pretty high cost of living that I was trying to keep up with.)
I thought to myself: “Well, I love my job, but what can I do that really allows me to LIVE?” And my side-hustle consulting company was born. Then, I was diagnoses with an autoimmune disorder known as POTS, and I had to once again step away from work to focus on physical health.

That was a the TRUE pivot point. I realized I wanted to put myself in a position to be able to support myself regardless of what my body was doing, so I just into consulting full-time. It felt like all the little things that had happened over the last 5 years was leading up to this. Nudging me closer and closer to the edge of the cliff, waiting for me to make that jump to the “entrepreneur life”. And once I did, there was no looking back!

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I am a “book dragon”. My house is full of books of all genres (it doesn’t help that my romantic partner is also a book dragon!), and I think I’ve read about half of them. There are a couple of books that really shaped my early business-career; “The 360 Degree Leader” by John C Maxwell; an army of Spencer Johnston Books; a handful of HBR’s books on topics like system management, diversity, HR.
But in 2020/2021, after watching the rise of the BLM movement and the push for equity, I started reading books that weren’t just “business books”, but added in social justice work to the conversation.
“The Business of Race” by Gina Greenlee was one of the first that brought this to my attention. The idea of systemic racism in business and entrepreneurship was so overlooked in my formal education.
“When Women Lead” by Julia Boorstin was another one that was catapulted to one of my more referenced. The idea that simply because we’re women, we need to adapt a different approach to becoming successful really stuck with me after I read this.

These two books, and others like them, really pushed me to create my company to be a space that encourages women and educates them in order to help them become their most successful selves and build successful businessnes.

Contact Info:

• Website: Jerricastone.com
• Instagram: Jerricastone_consulting
• Linkedin: Jerrica (Stone) Ignacio

Image Credits
Nicola Barrett