We recently connected with Jessica Stellwagen and have shared our conversation below.

Jessica, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.
“You can’t do good business with a bad partner!” I heard this nearly a decade ago and for whatever reason ,it struck me as something to always remember and never ignore no matter how compelling the possible venture was.

When my sister, Melissa, and I opted to build Bodify, this statement was front and center in my heart and I knew with a resounding YES, that we could build an incredible business because we’d be incredible partners to each other, our team, and our clients.

No matter how many discussion we hard regarding the possible venture we always came back to the same conclusion. First and foremost, our relationship as sisters had to remain paramount. It had to override all personal desires, ego, and selfish quests. It had to be the guiding force behind every decision. We trusted that if we did this, Bodify and our team would thrive and our clients would always benefit.

Owning and running a business with my sister has been the single biggest gift and adventure of my life. We continually inspire each other to be our best, step up when necessary and step back when appropriate too.

Like any business relationship, it is critical to know your role, play in your sandbox and not encroach on the other person’s. I truly think because the owners are sister’s we’ve also embraced a “family” mentality for our team. If there is anything we are tremendously proud of, it is our team. They are the most loving, kind, hard-working, compassionate, dedicated, and talented group of people we could ask for. And in an industry that constantly struggles with turnover we are beyond thrilled to have each and every Bodify Babe we hired still on our team today!

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
From a young age, my sister and I always knew we wanted to run a business together. But our interests and passions never collided until we found CoolSculpting. From the moment we personally experienced how powerful and effective the technology was at removing stubborn fat, we knew we wanted to build a fat-freezing empire, employe a group of individuals who had hearts of gold, and help people close the gap between the body they had and the one they wanted with the world’s #1 non-invasive fat reduction treatment.

We built a rock solid business plan and started to reach out to friends, family and a few investors to raise the money we needed to open our doors. Everyone said yes and things seemed to fall into place effortlessly. For us, these were just all indications that we were on track and doing what we are meant to do.

From day one, we’ve had a vision of being the type of organization clients, competitors, and staff talk about with the upmost respect and admiration. We believe there is enough fat to freeze for us all to win and have always had an abundant mentality and a genuine focus on uplifting anyone who walks through our doors. We love what we do, we stand behind the technology, and we feel we can truly help people.

Nothing makes us happier than putting our hearts into everything we do, from our website, to our text messages, emails, phone skills, office environment, confirmation calls, treatment day, hand-written thank you cards, etc. and we earn the trust of our clients and have the opportunity to transform their bodies and increase their confidence. We know there are a lot of choices when it comes to CoolSculpting providers and we firmly believe we have to be wildly different and better than everyone of them to earn our clients business and hard earned dollars.

We believe if we are kind, authentic, honest and deliver on our promises that we will continue to thrive and grow!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Growing up my dad and mom both ran businesses. I heard my dad say over and over again, “if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself!”

While I love my dad’s drive and dedication to being an incredible business owner and doing everything perfectly and by himself, I had to make a conscious effort to let this belief go. It didn’t serve me and it having it would have kept Bodify small and stolen potential from our team.

We believed that it was our role as owners and leaders to attract people with heart, and give them the tools, resources, processes, and systems necessary to thrive on their own. It was our role to inspire, motivated and cheer our team on.

Letting go, learning to hiring those who have strengths I don’t, and trust that my team can do the job and often BETTER than me, has been the most fun, rewarding and exciting lesson I’ve learned.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I worked for a local company helping small legal firms build their practices online. I loved my work, the team, and the roles I had within the company. My boss, and owner of the company, was and still is one of my favorite people on the planet and best mentors I’ve ever had.

As time passed, I began to feel a need to go out and build my own dream. I wrestled with this for months because my boss was incredible, he poured some much time, energy, and passion into my development and I knew he valued my presence and would want me to stay.

And then I remembered something someone once told me, as a boss the greatest compliment you can get is to foster the growth of an employee and encourage them to pursue their own dreams and passions when the time and opportunity is right.

I’ll never forget when I went to tell Stephen I was leaving. I was shaking and started to cry. I told him my reasons and my plans, he looked at me and said “every fiber in my body wants to fight like hell to keep you, but at the end of the day I know if I ask you to stay, and you do, I’ll be robbing you and the world of something much bigger than you’re doing here.” The only thing you have to promise, is to stay in touch.

It was the kindest and most inspiring thing anyone has ever said to me and truly shaped me as a person, boss, and human!

And with that, I made the single biggest career move. I left a company where I had a safe, secure and awesome job to jump into the world of entrepreneurship!

Contact Info:

• Website: thebodify.com
• Instagram: @bodify
• Facebook: @thebodify
• Linkedin: @jessicajohnson
• Twitter: @bodify
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1ytl2NnTdf8No7CP4Ib0g
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bodify-phoenix-2?osq=bodify

Image Credits
@thisisnickdotcom @Jenniferhalenphoto