We recently connected with Jenn McMillen and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jenn, thanks for joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
I’ll tell you the fake story for how I came up with a name for my business, then the real one. The fake story: as many Texans know, the word for “fire: in Spanish is incendio. It actually means “conflagration,” which is a raging, out-of-control fire, but “fire” will do just fine. Our tagline for Incendio is Igniting Customer Relationships, and our logo is a heart (for customers) with flames (for the igniting). Since we are a firm that designs a lot of loyalty programs for companies, it made sense and it hung together nicely from a branding perspective. The real story: it’s the spell for making fire in the Harry Potter books. I don’t want people to think I’m nine years old, so I usually tell the first one!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m Jenn McMillen and the founder of Incendio, where my specialty is building kickass loyalty programs and increasing topline revenue by building and fixing customer programs. My team and I help companies solve their CRM, loyalty, and customer experience challenges, mostly by building customer loyalty and other behind-the-scenes programs. You’re probably a member of some of our clients’ programs: Dave & Buster’s Rewards, myGNC Rewards, Chipotle Rewards, NASCAR Fan Rewards, PetSmart Treats, etc.
I founded Incendio about seven years ago, after exiting my job at Michael’s Arts & Crafts as their VP of Loyalty, CRM and Analytics in May 2015. I am an accidental entrepreneur, as I had zero plans to start a company, but the chairman of GNC’s board called me and asked me to fix GNC’s loyalty program. I thought I’d do some consulting for 6-8 weeks then take the summer off, but ten months later I was still working for them.
I’m a nationally known loyalty & CRM expert, and most people know me professionally for being the person who created GameStop’s PowerUp Rewards program, which has more than 35-million members the last time I looked. I built the program and launched it, changing GameStop’s entire marketing strategy and creating a multi-million-dollar annual revenue stream for the company.
In addition to PowerUp Rewards, I have created and/or run several well-known loyalty and subscription loyalty programs in addition to PowerUp Rewards, including United Airlines’ Silver Wings Plus, Vail Resorts PEAKS, Payless ShoeSource Points, Neiman Marcus InCircle, and one of the first big national loyalty subscription programs in the 90’s, Blockbuster Rewards. Plus, I belong to more than 100 loyalty programs, but I’m very fun at a dinner party.
Have you ever had to pivot?
COVID was a game-changer for us, in many ways. The first hit we took was financial. We went without a single dollar of revenue for the first six months of the pandemic. In a six-day span, every single one of our clients put their projects on hold indefinitely. Funding loyalty and CRM projects took a backseat, as businesses–many retail and entertainment-based–were desperate to get anyone through their doors, let alone create a special set of benefits for a select group of customers. So, we waited….
Second was that I had to take a hard look at our business model, which was all project-based. For the first five years, I had the luxury of picking the projects I wanted the team to work on, the duration we were willing to work, and the type of clients we wanted. In the words of one of my advisors, I was running a “lifestyle business.” That is true. During our downtime, I have overhauled the business to a continuity model, with monthly recurring revenue and annual contracts to provide income if we should ever face extended down time again. I applied for, and received, a PPP loan which I completely plowed into the business. We put up a new website; created a sizzle reel; overhauled the look of all of our customer-facing materials, including our PowerPoint templates; created a database from the 5,000 business cards I had sitting in a box; added a position to the team for someone to manage our prospecting strategy to ensure that there was something going out monthly; and hired a PR firm to manage our social presence.
It was a scary leap for me to spend the entire loan, since my conservative financial nature says, “Save it to have a cushion!” I’m happy to report that all that work and money invested into the business is paying dividends. Midway through 2022, we’re already double where we were for the entire last year, so it’s thrilling to see the investments of time and resources pay off!
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I’m a big reader, and I try to balance out reading for pleasure with reading for growth. I have been influenced by many books, three of which I’d love to share, in no particular order.
1. Atomic Habits by James Clear. Two of the best pieces of advice from this book that I repeat daily are “good habits make time your ally” and “you fall to the level of your systems.” The underlying theory of the book is that if you can get 1% better every day by making small changes, then the compounding of those small changes will add up to life-changing results over time. It’s true! Many people make the mistake of trying to go all-or-nothing, which is why small, easy changes are an easier path and ultimately more rewarding. Think about what swapping one apple for a handful of cookies would add up to over a lifetime.
2. Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss. This is a big book, about 700 pages in hardback, but it’s not meant to be read cover to cover. Instead, it’s a book divided into three sections–healthy, wealthy, wise–where he lets icons, billionaires, and world-class performers share their habits, tactics, and routines for success. It’s full of household names like Malcolm Gladwell, Kevin Costner, and Arnold Schwarzenegger and very readable. The stories shared really represent “the best of the best” so it’s like a master class cheat sheet on being better in the key areas of life. Tim Ferriss also wrote The 4-Hour Work Week so he’s obviously doing something right!
3. Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson. I’m not kidding! I read this book when I was 26 years old, and it changed. my. life. Pretty much all of the things my parents valued when I was growing up were not smart long-term choices, such as keeping a big chunk of your cash in real estate. It blew my mind and taught me the strategies I needed to become financially secure. By the time I was in my mid-30’s, I had more money put away for retirement than one of my parents. By my mid-40’s, I was a millionaire. This book (and the guidance of my financial planner who supported the strategies outlined in the book) has been life changing. I give it as a gift to new high school grads, newly single friends, and anyone else I think could benefit. Don’t let the Dummies moniker fool you, this is smart stuff.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.incendioworks.com
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jennmcmillen
- Twitter: @incendioworks
Image Credits
Headshot: Greg Windle 2019