We recently connected with Jacqueline Mercier and have shared our conversation below.

Jacqueline , appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

To become successful, is to take a leap of faith, believe in yourself, have experienced mentors by your side and build a solid base framework to narrow down your mission and vision. You can learn to be a great leader. You can learn how to balance finances. You can learn all the important key components of running a successful business. But, if you do not have faith in yourself, and great mentors to support you along the way, it will never work.

A lot of successful figures, including myself, are risk takers. We make mistakes, we fail, we start again, and we keep persevering. We believe in ourselves, our mission, our vision and we are humble enough to recognize it takes an entire team of stakeholders to make a business successful. Stakeholders can be your family, your mentors, your partners, your staff, or just about anybody who has a stake in seeing you and the business become successful.

Jacqueline , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Little did I know that the corporate experiences I had, actually made me an excellent business-minded individual. In early 2022, I was laid off from a very lucrative paying job and it was the push that I needed to take a step back, reevaluate, focus and start again. For the first time in my life, I asked myself, what did I want? I already have over 30 years of experience in office management, project management, HR, event planning, C-Suite support, medical services and finance. When I chose to work for myself, I initially started an independent insurance brokerage, but it did not work out. I failed my first time out as a self-employed business owner, but I learned a lot about myself, my strengths and my weaknesses.

I still have the insurance broker business, but it is more of a side gig for friends and family now. Nex, I bought into a small start-up, and I am loving it. My business partners: Lisa and William Gates, have been great mentors. We built a business to business (B2B) concierge service from a vision to an active and thriving business, called East Valley Concierge or also known as Concierge4B2B. East Valley Concierge provides a storefront of services for other businesses that need more time to focus on what matters most.

We provide employment placement, HR, payroll, tradeshow and event planning, C-Suite support, business strategic planning and many other services. We are not industry specific. As an example, some of our clients are large companies in the Aerospace field, medium-sized businesses in the restaurant industry, and small local businesses in the service industry. We help solve business problems for our clients by understanding their needs and providing specific services with value, integrity, respect and honesty. We like to get to know our clients so we can bring value to them. If we can’t help them ourselves, we find the right resource for them to move forward.

What makes us different is that we offer all these services under one umbrella. We provide value and quality because we deeply care that our clients continue to be a thriving business and become even more successful. We become stakeholders in their continued success.

Most importantly we are grateful for our faith in God, in each other and in ourselves.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

During an 8 month period of time, I lost a relationship that was supposed to last a lifetime; my aunt that lived with me died from Alzheimer’s complications; I was laid off from my very lucrative job; I lost my nephew by heart through an incredibly tragic situation; I lost my high school buddy and I lost my uncle unexpectedly. This series of events in such a short period of time knocked me to the ground.

I turned to God, my friends, and my family for support and guidance. I was grieving so deeply for so many losses that I couldn’t see forward. You see, I have always been the fixer in the family and now I was broken. Does this sound familiar? I have shared and spoken with many people that have similar stories.

So here’s what I’ve done so far to recover. First, I turned to God. I had stopped going to church after graduating from high school and never really considered going back. My business partner, and one of my closest friends of 12 years, was always gently asking if I wanted to check out her church. So, when my world crumbled and I needed a higher power than my own, I took a leap of faith, literally, and started attending services again. I am also involved in volunteering at the church and attending groups within the church.

Second, I took time off to deal with the trauma I had experienced.  My friends and most of my family supported this decision, even though I am the primary income maker in my household.

Third, I re-evaluated my professional world. Did I want to continue to work for corporate America or did I want to become an Entrepreneur? I chose to become a self-employed business owner. My first attempt failed miserably, but my second attempt is pretty great so far.

Fourth, I had to do something with my grief, so I sought counseling and then I co-founded a non-profit for senior adults 55+ in honor of my Aunt. Golden Roller Skates is a 501c3 non-profit that provides a memoire legacy program via video, audio and published recordings. Golden Roller Skates also provides a bucket list adventure program. We established Golden Roller Skates to promote positive mental health, preserve dignity and provide companionship. It really is something I’m deeply passionate about and very proud of.

Fifth, I needed to work on professional development that was outside of being an employee and focused on being a leader. I am a proud member of the class of 2023 Mesa Leadership Program. I have learned so much about my city and myself in this program. I have met and made important connections and friends. I have learned that my leadership style is that of a Servant Leader. Up until this year, I would never have dreamed that I had a servant’s heart, but serving my community in so many ways has brought great joy amongst the tragedies to my life.

So my story is this, I fought to just breathe. I fought to be allowed to grieve. I fought to be allowed my faith in God and myself. I fought to learn how to be a leader. I fought to stand again.

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

When you work for a business or corporation, you are told what your duties are, when you need to do them and there are consequences if you don’t do them. These fundamental things are drilled into you from day one.

I started working when I was 17 and I have never been without a job for more than a couple weeks. I was that person that worked tirelessly and endlessly to make sure my job was done efficiently, above expectations and within the required deadlines and parameters. When I chose to become a self-employed business owner, I had only myself, telling me what to do and when to do it. So you’re probably thinking to yourself, “That sounds awesome”. Actually, it is incredibly hard. My mindset had to change dramatically because the consequences can be completely devastating. I could lose my reputation, my business, and/or be financially ruined.

In my case, for my first attempt as a business owner, I was thinking “I’ll work when I want”. So I didn’t work too hard on my business and it failed. The reality is you work more on a new business than you ever will as an employee for someone else.

Employers already have in place the systems to stay open and successful. I am great at getting tasks done, but not so great with setting the task in the first place. It has been a struggle to get out of the employee mindset into the owner mindset.

There have been a lot of mistakes and lessons along the way but I am so happy with what I have learned and accomplished so far. Changing my attitude from what needs to be accomplished as an employee, to a new mindset of looking at what is the ultimate global view for success and how do I get there as a business owner, has been my greatest hurdle.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eastvalleyconcierge.com. www.goldenrollerskates.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackie.mercier.19
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-mercier-a502b062