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

Jai, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?

This is such a relevant topic for me right now as it is on my top five list. I’ve set a deadline and a target date to do a client appreciation event. All of my private clients have been word of mouth and referrals and I am really grateful for that. I am also really grateful for how much they trust me to take good care of their business with them.
My father transitioned towards the end of last year and being able to be out of the office for the extended time that I needed for my family was critical. All of my clients were compassionate and supportive and I never had a worry about whether or not I would lose their accounts because of my extended absence. I knew that I wanted to do something to celebrate how much they mean to me and how their support of my life outside of work grounded me during a time of great challenge and pain. My clients include me in events and celebrations that occur within their teams and share aspects of themselves that allow me to not just be their business consultant and thought partner, but their friend as well. I cherish that.
One of the best things that I had done for me was a large amount gift card out of the blue to say thank you. This same client, along with her team of consultants, also sent me this incredibly thoughtful comfort box of items after my father’s transition. The gesture was unexpected and I made a note to consider how I wanted to commemorate what it meant to me. And I am going to make sure that I celebrate my other clients as well!

Jai, 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?

I am in the process of renewal right now. And I want to take a moment to encourage and remind everyone that you get to choose who you are every day!
I started on the human resources path in 1994. I wasn’t really focused on becoming an HR professional, but I knew that I was good with people. A “people person” to use outdated terms. I continued to find a measure of success and satisfaction in my work, but I was not really fulfilled. I did the work well, I got my HR certifications and I made progress. I found myself starting off well at the jobs I got and then really disliking them by the time I resigned. In the beginning, I thought that I was just looking for the right “fit”. Then I began to understand that there would never be a right fit with someone else’s vision/company.
When my first child entered kindergarten, I got a rude awakening that confirmed this thought. I was so excited to be able to go on field trips and to do reading circles and to go have lunch with my daughter. I shared that with my boss at the time. When she told me that I would not be able to do that due to my work schedule, I was stunned. I was already divorced and had to really fight not feeling guilty because I was a single parent. I decided that I did not want a company to dictate what kind of parent I would be. So I quit the next day and began freelancing my HR skills. I have never regretted that decision. My HR skills have been the largest part of my career platform until recently.
Now that I am an empty nester and my baby adults are into their own thriving lives, I am getting back into the truest and most fulfilling part of work for me. I have always wanted to be a writer. I know that is true because I have always been a reader. I don’t just enjoy reading. It is not just a hobby to me. Reading was a way to escape. Or a way to learn something new. Or a way to explore an interesting subject. Or a way to find a solution. Or a way to feel supported, empowered, encouraged and not so alone. Being a person who can put words on a page to help others through these feelings is a blessing to me. Reading and writing opened up the pathways to all kinds of worlds for me and it brings me so much joy! I am now building my writing platform. Make sure to click on my links for my blogs, books, podcast, and digital products!

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

There have been several lessons that I have had to unlearn. Most of them were centered around the arrival of new knowledge along with an elevated sense of self-of being able to own my power.
I have held many limiting beliefs when it comes to financial abundance and wealth. I come from a community that did not glorify having money. I’m sure that there were people who had it. LOL. I thought we did when I was growing up. The truth was that we were a middle class family in the piedmont region of North Carolina in the country. Both my parents worked outside the home, we were heavily involved in church, family, and social activities and we took vacations from time to time. When I began my first job at the local drug store (pharmacy), I was excited about making and using my own money. I quickly got the lessons about how hard it was for a rich man to get into heaven and that credit was useless. In my father’s words, “if you don’t have the money to pay for something, you don’t need it.” I let those indirect messages build a financial lifestyle that I am even now working to destroy and recreate. I don’t have to be a teacher to have a good job and make good money. That was something my father wanted for me. And for his generation, that was a great goal. It was not mine though. I turned down teaching scholarships when I graduated from high school and headed to college on a full academic scholarship. That was my first real indication that people out there had lots of money.
It was many years later when I realized that I could be one of those people. In truth, I am still discovering that today.
I listen to a lot of podcasts, YouTube university, and I read a lot. I read a lot. A lot. I have always been confident in my ability to learn. I heard a social media mentor, Arlan Hamilton, say recently, “did you know that you could be taught to be a millionaire”? I have been working hard to unlearn the unhelpful and untrue financial stories that I have held that have limited my wealth potential!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had to make a hard pivot from the human resources career that I thought I was going to have when my oldest child entered kindergarten. I had been working as a human resources coordinator and was finding some success. I had two small children at the time and was a divorced single parent. But I had a good job. When I got my daughter into the elementary school that I wanted for her, I was excited. I was ready to go on field trips, and to bake cookies for the class, and to eat lunch with my daughter. My boss was, well, I guess she thought she was being gentle. I will never forget her words. “We support our parents here and we like that you want to be involved in your child’s education. Unfortunately, you’re only going to have about 8 hours a month to do things like that.” I was stunned and disillusioned to say the least.
I went home that night and wrote out my resignation letter. I delivered it the next day. I did not want any job to dictate to me what kind of parent I could be for my kids and I felt that I had to make a decision. That was a pivot. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that decision was the catalyst that always gave me the ability to know that I could take good care of my kids without having to sacrifice who I wanted to be as a parent.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jaiconsulting.carrd.co/
• Instagram: @soulsistah71
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JackieStaton1971/
• Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-staton
• Twitter: @Sistahsoul71
• Other: https://www.clippings.me/jaiyvette
  https://yvettesoulle.medium.com/