Introducing Jackson Scott Advisory: An Effort in Self-Love

And for those who are curious to know how Jackson Scott Advisory (JSA) came to be...

This is an effort in self-love.

If I truly name it, this has been twenty years in the making. As early as high school, I knew two things about myself: I was motivated by helping others make themselves, their communities, and their circumstances the best they could be; and I was my best self when I had the space and autonomy to build, create, and innovate.

The combination of drivers led me to search for and try so many different things. From almost giving my mother a heart attack as she worked to convince me not to follow my 17-year-old self’s dream to ‘postpone’ college enrollment after already being accepted, to instead begin earning the 1500 credit hours needed to get my cosmetology license, ‘do’ hair, and open a salon; to creating and implementing a full-blown, funded, and staffed academic outreach program for low-income neighboring community students at my university that still existed a decade after my graduation; to starting a content creation side-hustle (proudly complete with my first business email address and self-created website) providing ghostwriting services for some influential folks wanting to tell their stories. Those were all excellent learning experiences, perfect in the moment, but none of those things fully aligned with my longer-term purpose.

Although I always had feelings of wanting to ‘do my own thing,’ I never fully trusted the idea of diving 100% into an independent venture. I found great comfort in the stability of employment and being a part of something professional that was already existing and established.

I tried to align my “help and create” personal drivers with employment situations by searching for the workplaces that uplifted those, and found myself singularly drawn to nonprofits and social enterprises.

In these organizations, the work is guided by mission first, profits second. They also typically had a communal element to them, providing space for individual creation and contribution beyond the job description. My career trajectory and experiences have been great, but there was still something tugging inside of me that made me know none of these spaces gave me all of what I needed. It’s taken exposure, some maturity and a lot of self-reflection to now understand that the unnamed thing always tugging inside was something called “entrepreneurship” that I consistently pushed down inside of me.

"That value for me, and for so many brave souls who have followed their entrepreneurial tug includes the value of honoring oneself in pursuit of purpose.

The textbook definition of entrepreneurship is “the activity of setting up a business or businesses, and taking on financial risks in the hope of profit.” But Wikipedia more accurately captures the meaning for me, as “the creation or extraction of value, which may include other values than simply economic ones.” With this definition, the true essence of entrepreneurship is front and center: value. That value for me, and for so many brave souls who have followed their entrepreneurial tug includes the value of honoring oneself in pursuit of purpose.

Wikipedia’s definition also explains that “entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business.” Risk is appropriately called out in entrepreneurship, not just because of the financial risk that undoubtedly comes with refusing to put your economic stability in the hands of typical and traditional full-time job with a steady paycheck and all-too-real (and awesome) health benefits that are literally critical to life, but also the risk of putting yourself out there. The risk of hoping that at the very least, those closest to you (and dependent on you) understand your need to take this path. A risk that maybe you just won’t get it right.

I began to lean into better understanding my purpose and my talents (God-given, studied, and practiced), and over the past year and a half, my little notion for Jackson Scott Advisory (JSA) began to form into a bigger reality. What began as another side-hustle started to feel like something I should really try. Something I shouldn’t skimp on, and instead give 100%, just to see if it fulfilled me in a way that I believe it will.

So I did what I do: bought notebooks, wrote out a plan, created Google spreadsheets with more plans, tested the waters to see if I could make enough money to cover my adult bills with it, got the buy-in and support from my (wonderful) husband, and got the opinions and encouragement from my best friends, my sisters, and my mother (the baddest sister circle out here). All the while, I was still holding on to my employment for the stability and financial freedom I also am very driven by.

I was burning myself out and making myself totally anxious trying to go-hard for both. It was not possible to keep up that way. After a year of crazytown and doing too damn much, I knew I had to choose a path. My pragmatic self consistently whispered in my ear “girl, keep this good check and chill!” while my high-school cosmetologist self screamed, “NO! Do this for yourself, and for all the other entrepreneurs and leaders you can help make a difference in the world.”

I knew I wanted to go all the way with JSA, but could barely even bring myself to say that confidently, aloud. I was scared to jump all the way in.

"Self love is listening to your inner voice. It’s simple, and the hardest thing to take action on.”

My push over the edge finally (and fairly anticlimactically after all the angst) came the summer of 2021 from a documentary I watched. In it, singer/songwriter Alicia Keys says, “self love is listening to your inner voice. It’s [both] simple, and the hardest thing to take action on.” I don’t know if it was the timing, the work I’d recently begun with an amazing life purpose coach, the inner back and forth screaming for a definitive direction, or all of the above, but hearing that message is literally when it clicked.

How could I NOT do this? I owed it to myself and my creator.

That was six months ago. And between then and now, while preparing for 100% focus on JSA and sharing the decision publicly, I’ve admittedly still wavered. I’ve had quite a bit of doubt putting myself out there. But today, I’m stepping out and doing it by faith.

What I have FINALLY come to, after so many years of not fully knowing the how, or even exactly the what, I am doing what my inner self will be fed by, knowing I gave it my all. The risks are not enough to keep me from giving Jackson Scott Advisory a full effort. This is my effort. This is my self- love, and I’m on a mission to help mission-focused leaders grab-hold and lean into yours too.

Thank you for taking the time to better understand my story, and I hope to see you on the journey!

With much gratitude,

Jackson Scott Advisory, partnering with nonprofit and mission-driven business leaders to create organizational health, operational efficiency, and sustained high-impact. Visit us at www.jacksonscottadvisory.com to learn more.