Jennifer Fugo - Gluten Free School

Jennifer and I have been working together for a few years now. I remember our first call with Jen (I was driving to the beach for the day because that’s what you do in Florida) and I instantly knew it would be a great partnership. The lines of communication are always open, we have fun with the work we do and we hold each other accountable in a great way.

It’s important to remember that everyone’s goals are different. The first step to success is knowing what you want to accomplish. Then we can work together, as a team, to bring those goals to fruition. I encourage you to read through Jen’s responses as a learning tool.
-Daffnee

Jennifer’s Questionnaire
In as many sentences/paragraphs as you’d like, why do you wake up every morning and do this work? What is your goal and what motivates you?

A few reasons why I get up each morning and do this are…

–Leaving the world in a better state than how I found it. I know this might sound super noble, but it’s something I truly believe in. I genuinely care about the value my clients get from working with me or learning something on my site that makes their life easier.

–Freedom — to work from wherever I want. To work (to some degree) whenever I want. To travel to see family on the other side of the country and still be able to work.

–Being thoughtful. I have the ability to donate a small portion of my time to two organizations — a GF/DF food pantry and a cat rescue organization. I can help pay for the care required for our three rescue cats. I can take my mom out for a really nice meal or a trip to NYC. I can surprise someone in a way they weren’t anticipating.

–To tell the truth. I think that people deserve to have a sane, reasonable perspective on health matters that doesn’t involve scaring the bejesus out of them. If I can offer a glimpse of sanity and realism in the online wellness world, then I would feel like I’ve done some good at the end of the day.

What are the top 1-3 things that you feel have driven our success as a team?

–Hands down — weekly meetings are key. It allows me to keep the messages and marketing consistent as well as to talk through problems and troubleshoot issues so they aren’t let go for too long.

–Brainstorming on topics that would be applicable to my avatar for upcoming blog posts and lead magnets. This also means we identify some good long-tail keywords to go after for SEO.

–Trust. It was hard at first letting go of the reigns because I thought my system was the best. Once I realized it was better to let Daffnee and her team do what they do best, I could then give some constructive feedback. After a couple of months, the process was fine-tuned and they have really excelled in using my voice in SM posts. I rarely have any feedback, but when I do have an idea to improve posts, it is implemented immediately and I deeply appreciate that I’m heard.

What is one piece of advice you would offer someone who has either just started out in their online journey OR who has been at it for awhile? What is something valuable you learned and would share with others?

Be yourself. Genuinely share what is meaningful about your life (within boundaries you can accept). People want to know that you really get what they are going through. If you can connect with them on a basic level of the pain they feel (or fear), you can then build trust.

And learn to push through moments of resistance when you just really don’t want to sit down and do the work. The closer you get to the finish line, the harder a project is to finish especially when you don’t have a deadline.

What is a fear or reservation you have had at some point during your journey in the online space? Does it exist still in any form? How do you cope or move past it?

I’ve previously worried that the only way to “make it” online was to be an affiliate for people who have ginormous lists. I do not believe that anymore and frankly I’ve become a lot more picky about being an affiliate for other people because being an affiliate isn’t about making money.

It’s about being a gatekeeper for my tribe. If I show them random stuff just because I’ll make money from it, they’ll get annoyed. So I work hard to curate what I share and show so that it stays in line with my avatar. I also had to disconnect myself from the people who only wanted to get to know me in order to get me to be an affiliate for them. I value genuine reciprocity and look for that is another entrepreneur.