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

Merel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

My professional path has taken many different directions to lead me to where I am now. In college, I worked in a research lab studying the effects of drugs of abuse on the brain and behavior. I was tasked with taking millions of data points and making it mean something, which was my first introduction to the world of scripting & automation. I loved it. I stayed up late learning to code, polishing the process, and eventually prepping the results for publication. After a few years in research, I wanted to bring my skills to a more client facing environment, so I started working with kids in a residential psychiatry facility. One of my favorite aspects of this job was leading exercise groups, teaching these kids to move their bodies and associate an elevated heart rate with something other than trauma. Eventually, the hardship of this role started to eat at me and that itching for working on the computer came back. I took another pivot to work at a digital marketing company. Hoping to just jump in raw as a web developer, I ended up working on the sales team. I did a lot of theater and music as a kid, so I channeled my inner performer and got the confidence to talk to strangers and sell. At this point, I knew I had a special ability to connect people, a passion for movement, and an unwavering desire to better my community. I left the sales job to start my own personal training business. After countless flyers and social media posts and months of reaching out to friends and strangers, I eventually had a full book of training clients, hosted group classes, and trained members of the Special Olympics, with the tag line ‘exercise as therapy’. With the intention of making access to exercise easier for people, I had an idea for a fitness app. I started writing out specs, details, implementation, and set up meetings with software developers to get the idea going. We all know that voice in the back of your head asking, ‘What is your career going to be? What do you want the rest of your life to look like?” I knew I loved problem solving and being part of something meaningful and let’s face it, I have trouble sticking to one lane. So while being quoted by software developer and thinking of my long term plan, I decided to take myself back to school to become a software engineer – the perfect mix of creativity, problem solving, and countless industries and communities to be part of.

Training by day, coding by night school, and somehow sleeping in between, I was determined to make my plan work. I developed fitness app after fitness app, so much so that it was a running joke between my Bootcamp teachers and I. I attended meet ups, happy hours of companies I didn’t work at, messaged strangers on LinkedIn that sometimes ended in a coffee date or a zoom call, just so I could ask real life people burning questions I had about the industry. I applied to any and every job I could crossing my fingers and my toes that someone would believe in my the way I believed in myself. Just a few months after starting my Bootcamp, I was coding for marketing companies and SaaS start ups (mostly for free). The grind didn’t stop here. I knew I was still such a newbee in the industry so between coding and coaching, I studied and read and networked and luckily found a mentor that was willing to continue my education on weeknights. About a year later, I am proud to say I am a salaried software engineer who still gets to coach on the weekends and be part of startups in the evenings. I am goal oriented but have never lost sight that friends and family and balance are a vital part of the equation. I once heard a quote, ‘Rain dances always work if you dance until it rains,’ and that’s exactly what I did. I took a risk on myself but in the back of my head, I always new I would make it work.

Merel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My previous response gives a lot of insight on this. For background, I grew up in a small mountain town with a very close, supportive family. I guess I got into my industry by always checking in with myself and asking, ‘What do you want and how can you make it happen?’ My family raised me to be strong, stand up for myself, and be respectful of others. In my adult life, if I found myself in a job that no longer suited my goal, I went to the drawing board and figured out how what I wanted and how I could get there. As my mom says, ‘With a bottle of wine and a pad of paper.’ This support also led me to be confident in myself, knowing that I can do anything I set my mind to. If you believe in yourself and you want something bad enough, I believe in you to go out there and get it. I am proud of my ability to work endlessly for something that I want. I am also proud of not letting my career goals take over my life, living a life where family, friends, exercise and travel are still crucial to me.
I pride myself on being able to work relentlessly to achieve a goal. Long hours, little to low pay, and making it work because I know that it will pay off in the future.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Whether it was my personal training business or building my reputation as a software engineer, networking is vital. People want to work with good people so staying true to yourself and your morals is so important. With both industries, I found most success with word of mouth recommendations. I also found that being consistent and confident will get you where you want to be. Remember the quote from before, ‘Rain dances always work if you dance until it rains’.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Yes! Jenna Kutcher’s ‘How are you, really?’ is a book that really stood out to me for female entrepreneurs. She highlights the need of checking in on yourself and getting what you really want out of life while still showing up for the people who mean the most to you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.merejac.dev
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merel-b-jacobs/

Image Credits

Dillon Vibes (athlete picture)