We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jennifer Maggiore. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jennifer below.

Jennifer, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I founded Catalyst Cos. because there was something missing in my own experience as an entrepreneur. I started my first business when I was in my 20’s because I wanted the flexibility to make my own schedule when my husband and I were ready to start a family.

I was fortunate to quickly build my reputation and book of business as a marketing consultant. But by the time we had our first son, I lacked the freedom I tried to build for myself. I fell into the trap that society sets for us – we as women find our identity and self-worth in our work, but we expect ourselves to be able to give 100% in each role: entrepreneur, mom, wife, daughter, and friend.

Then, life was turned upside down – just before our son’s third birthday, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Miraculously, after an eight-hour surgery and hospital stay, he was healthy as ever. We would’ve happily given everything we had to make him better – little did we know, that’s exactly what we’d do. Even with insurance, we owed tens of thousands of dollars in co-pays. And this was just at the start of the Great Recession – we found ourselves – both self-employed with a mountain of debt – scratching for work.

We made the difficult decision to downsize from our family home into a condo and consolidated our businesses into one small, inexpensive (code for sketchy) office space. My obsession with turning our world right side up led to working night and day, sometimes seven days a week. My team would start their mornings with emails from me, sent at 3am, lining up the day’s goals. Meanwhile, I was trying to be a good mom and wife, ignoring many of my own needs.

I would eventually be diagnosed with an autoimmune disease – I will never know for sure if the stress of that time caused my illness, but I have my suspicions. At the time, I was nearly physically incapacitated. My husband had to help me get out of bed in the morning and I couldn’t walk more than a few feet without chronic pain. With limited energy, I could no longer pull all-nighters working and then run around with (by then) our two boys. I hit the wall.

Thanks to therapy, mindfulness, and medication, I learned to do a better job of managing my health and happiness. As self-care took center stage in my life, my company had evolved to something more meaningful – working with legacy-driven women entrepreneurs and corporate teams to meet big goals and make big impacts.

That’s when I had the idea – couldn’t we marry both self-care and success for our clients? No more self-sacrifice, burnout, or finding our entire self-worth in our work. Our tagline is Mind, Body, Soul, Business – because they’re equally important for a successful business leader. What good is it to meet goals and make money if you have poor health and failing relationships? Today, we offer a completely unique model, with one-to-one and group experiences that include world-class business consulting and self-care modalities like aromatherapy, meditation, massage, and yoga.

My husband and I recently celebrated 20 years of marriage. A few years ago, we bought a new home – but we have continued to house our businesses in the same location, because as it turns out, we are as good at business partnership as we are at life partnership. This past year, we purchased and renovated a commercial building including retreat space for my clients, and we’ve expanded into ecommerce with products that support a healthy entrepreneurial lifestyle. I like to think our story is a testament to what can happen when we make self-care a greater priority.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I founded Catalyst Cos. and the Catalyst Retreat Center to help our clients do their best work after witnessing the sacrifices they made for the success of their businesses and careers. I also know the struggles of burnout firsthand.

In 2005, I began my career as a solopreneur marketing generalist after graduating with a degree in Business-Marketing. I went on to become one of the first social media specialists in the country. My professional experience includes starting and selling an apparel company and founding an award-winning digital media consultancy that has since merged with Catalyst.

Our client list includes Fortune 500 companies, nationally recognized brands, renowned industry leaders, authors, and speakers. After two decades of working with thousands of entrepreneurs and corporate teams to grow their businesses, two things became apparent. 1. Businesswomen and female entrepreneurs generate higher revenues, create more jobs, improve startup performance, and give back to their communities; and 2. they often do so through significant self-sacrifice.

Today, we help clients take a comprehensive approach, emphasizing mental, physical, and spiritual wellness coupled with hard skills, including strategic planning, effective marketing funnels, efficient operations, and competitive products and services. Our experiences include one-to-one and group programs that help our clients define and meet goals and make bigger impacts and our online store offers the products we use every day for harmony of mind, body, soul, and business.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

We are small but mighty – we each wear many hats. The fast-paced environment is fun and exciting, but it can also lead to burnout. Our company culture is a priority – we want our team to take care of themselves, just like we want our clients our to take care of themselves. Big picture, we work hard to support our team members with retirement and benefits, and taking time when they need it. We incorporated self-care, mindfulness, and meditation into this year’s staff retreat – we have to walk the talk. Day-to-day, we often eat lunch together and plan relationship-building outings like going to an escape room and a city-wide scavenger hunt. Each one of our team members makes a significant contribution and we want to make this a workplace they look forward to coming back to every single day.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Society teaches us to worship at the altar of self-sacrifice. I used to think that staying up late to work or working on vacation as a business owner meant I was successful. Actually, that’s the opposite of success. We shouldn’t live to support our businesses, we should build businesses that support us and our lifestyle. For example, my family loves to travel and we’ve always enjoyed visiting Seattle. We stayed there one summer to escape the summer heat in Phoenix, and I hosted client retreats while we were there to generate income and pay for the stay. That has been a powerful and life-changing lesson.

Contact Info:

• Website: catalystcos.com
• Instagram: @jennmaggiore
• Facebook: facebook.com/catalystJenniferMaggiore/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermaggiore/
• Youtube: youtube.com/@catalystcos
• Other: [email protected] 480-270-5395