We recently connected with Dr. Franceska Jones and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dr. Franceska, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear your thoughts about family businesses.
Growing up, I attended school with a few families that owned third and fourth-generation businesses. I admired how it brought families together for a common goal. I also looked at my family and saw many of those characteristics, even though we did not formally own businesses. So, my perspective on family businesses took on a unique lens. Fast forward, my husband and I have always wanted to continue what we saw in our families by building our legacy. Even before marriage, my husband and I started a business, Tax Solutions Inc. Not conventional, I know! But starting that business added a different dimension to our relationship. It deepened our communication and shared vision. So, when it came time for pre-marital counseling, there were “typical” marriage issues that we had worked out due to us being in business with each other. Now, being in business with one’s spouse is no easy task. There are times in our relationship when we are out of sync and not communicating as we should. It would be easy to allow that to spill over into our businesses, too, and it has at times. But, having a common goal that is bigger than what we are facing at the time in our relationship is like a glue that keeps us together, committed, and strong. My husband became a real estate agent over six years ago, and while that is his business, we operate like a partnership on many aspects of his business.
Similarly, Jones Consulting Firm is my business, but he is a vital part of the management and operations of my business. We move as a unit. If he is in real estate, I am learning about his industry. We both sharpen our skills together in tax law and preparations for our clients, and he has a Master’s in Nonprofit Administration, just like me, to assist in my business. We are the real-life representation of a “power couple,” not in the normal sense, but in that we add power to each other. That same concept trickles down to our daughter Phoenix. She is inspired daily to expand her horizons and learn how to be an entrepreneur like her parents, so much so that she has co-authored a book with us about having parents who are entrepreneurs at six years old! So, do we want her to join our businesses? yes, of course, but we are leaving ample room for her to build her legacy as she would like. Our family business is building businesses! I have seen family businesses that turned out great and those that have not. We eat the fish and throw away the bones when looking to others for examples of family businesses. We are writing our own story on what a family enterprise looks like.
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.
Who is Dr. Franceska Jones? For starters, call me Dr. J! I am a problem solver! God has given me a unique mixed bag of skills. I have earned a bachelor’s degree in business, Economics, and Political Science from The Ohio State University, a master’s degree from John Carroll University in Nonprofit Administration, and a doctorate in Education from Morgan State University! I would like to say that I was super intentional in the degrees that I got, but I cannot take credit for that. God had a plan to make sure I understood business, how the world works, how to make money, and how to acquire knowledge and leadership. I solve problems; I execute for my clients. Primarily in nonprofit consulting through Jones Consulting Firm. My doctoral research centers around understanding what makes people give their time, money, and treasures to a cause. I literally wrote the book! So, I am an expert fundraiser. Outside of my primary business, I provide solutions to educational institutions through training and teaching; with my husband, we build businesses!
We have owned Tax Solutions Inc. together since 2014. In doing that, some women contacted me, asking how I was accomplishing everything. They want to know how do I find peace. So, in the spirit of solving problems, I have started coaching women to find inner peace, balance, and productivity through my YouTube Page, content on my social media pages, blogs, group coaching, retreats, and any other way I find that helps women find a balanced life! I recently published my first book, “Conquering Graduate School,” in September of 2023. I have a 90-day journal called “Harmony Within,” dropping before the end of 2023, and two children’s books I co-authored with my daughter and husband. I am busy with my purpose! My brand is about solving your problems holistically, that brings about balance. I am most proud to say I am living in God’s purpose for my life. For that purpose, I am helping nonprofits become sustainable, training our educational institutions to serve our students better, and helping individuals find inner peace and productivity through my resources and coaching programs. I thank God for allowing me to have the lived experiences I have had to be purposeful for others.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
The first business my husband and boyfriend started was Tax Solutions Inc. in 2014. It was definitely a side hustle! My husband and I worked for a major tax company while in school for our master’s degrees, along with what seemed like 100 other jobs. For some historical context, my husband and I graduated college during a recession. It was difficult to find careers during that time. So, with my nice new college degree, I was working at the mall at a clothing store, I was a tutor for a local school district, he worked at a dollar store and had his landscaping business while we both went through classes to be tax professionals. He was hired as an office manager at his location, and I was an admin, then a tax professional. In those roles, we say how much money clients were being charged for tax preparation and how little we were being paid. So, during one of our many nights doing homework for school, we started our “side hustle” of doing taxes. We bought some $30 software and did five friends and family tax returns in our dorm rooms at John Carroll University.
I think there was a frenzy that began; we started analyzing what we would do differently when we were at work for the large tax company. So, the many ideation sessions lead to formulating a business plan. One we still have and refer back to it to see how much we have grown. We both worked multiple jobs, and we tried to put some part of what we earned toward our growing business to grow our marketing to get more clients. Our business grew because of the power of word of mouth. Taking good care of the clients you already have will yield you more clients down the road. We scaled our business by not draining it when we started making money. We make sure our business is not broke! So, you have the money to expand, scale, and bring in help. We started for zero, but putting away $1 from each client payment and increasing what we left in the business versus what we paid ourselves was a sacrifice when you are broke! But we are better off now because of that temporary discomfort. To this day, our businesses have no debt. Now, while that is all good, we are in a place where we are open to taking on “good debt” to expand our enterprises further and continue to grow. We understand the importance of using other people’s money, tools, and resources to grow our businesses. Some key milestones that stick out were at the end of each tax season; we could see how much we had grown. But I think my husband would say that in 2016/2017 when I was pregnant with our daughter, he and I stopped looking at Tax Solutions Inc. as a “side hustle” or seasonal business. We made the leap of faith to commit to the business year-round and find ways to make money outside tax season. Having a child fueled us differently. So, for all of the subsequent businesses that we have started, we have taken less time to make them formal businesses because of our experience with our first business.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Building my social media audience required me to leave my comfort zone. I tried for years and did not see the results that I was hoping for. I realized that I was in a place in my career where I needed to invest in my personal brand. I hired a brand developer. Manny Hall founder of Manny Hall & Associates, worked with me to identify my brand. He taught me to be strategic with what I was posting and where. As a small business owner, it is scary to pay someone else for something you think you can do yourself. But that is only a part of it. I am a good student/client. I am a college professor and teach marketing and consumer behavior, so I should know how to do these things for myself, right?! Yes, but I cannot always think of myself as the smartest person in the room. I followed his recommendations and implemented his strategy without pushback or an unwilling spirit. If I paid him to develop my brand, I should do my part! As a result, I went from having under 2000 followers on Instagram to over 31K engaged followers; Facebook has grown to over 6.7K followers, and I have an active email marketing plan and a YouTube page that is growing. Investing in yourself and your business brand is critical.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thejonesconsultingfirm.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/franceskajones/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/jonesconsultingfirm21/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franceskajones/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYEOTDxwevcrrxfOd7irWlg
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/thejonesconsultingfirm/?hl=en www.taxsolutionsinconline.com
Image Credits
Mary Kazmir-Photographer