Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Stewart.
Hi Jennifer, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve lived in St. Louis for the last 22 years, so I suppose I can now say that’s where I’m from. I’ve lived in Missouri my whole life. I’m a musician – flute and singing – so I went to school for Entertainment Management. However, I’m one of those people that moved away from my degree pretty quickly once out of school. I worked at a financial management firm for 7 years in client service, but the culture was becoming too corporate. I didn’t feel like I was making a difference in anyone’s life with the work I was doing. That’s what fueled my desire to open my own business – to make a positive difference in my clients’ lives every day. I also wanted the freedom to make my own schedule, and have time to volunteer.
So, in 2011 I started my first company. I started a professional home organizing company, but I shifted to business productivity pretty quickly, focusing specifically on technology organizing and training. As a business owner, I realized how much more fulfilled I felt helping to make my clients’ lives happier.
In 2015, I was approached by 2 other organizers in my professional association. They wanted to start a partnership. We were all working in the area of business organizing, so this made a lot of sense. The partnership opened at the beginning of 2016. One partner decided to leave after 1 and ½ years for personal reasons.
The second partner left in 2020 to start an ADHD coaching business. I now own the company by myself.
Throughout this journey, I’ve had the freedom of time to travel with my husband, volunteer with my niece, play in a flute choir and sit on two non-profit boards. I would never go back to working for someone else – I’ve made many of my dreams come true by owning my own company.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’ve had a very bumpy road since 2011, but every bump has given me lessons to grow and increase my confidence.
The first bump was a couple of months into owning my first business. I wasn’t resonating with home organizing, but I had an organizing company. A colleague referred me to a friend of hers to do computer training and technology organizing. I thrived with this new client, and a new business concept was born. I now had a technology organizing company.
The next bump was a few years later when my company wasn’t making enough to cover the bills. I made the hard decision to get a part-time job, and although it was a juggling act, it was the right decision. Having the steady pay gave me the confidence to try new tactics to find new clients, no matter how long it took.
The third bump in the road happened when I closed my own company and started the new one with 2 partners. Partnership was harder than expected, and there was some internal conflict to work through.
The loss of the first business partner was subsequently the fourth big bump in the road to my current situation.
Throughout the next portion of the road trip, I had to revisit the second bump of getting part-time jobs periodically to make ends meet.
The fifth significant bump wasn’t quite as big, even though it was the loss of my final business partner. We left on good terms. However, that was a tough transition for me due to imposter syndrome creeping in. We knew the split was going to happen, but it happened several months sooner than expected. I hadn’t had time to adjust to the idea of being on my own again.
The final bump was when I finally beat that imposter syndrome when I did a rebrand at the beginning of 2021, and the business has been thriving ever since.
As you know, we’re big fans of Gateway Productivity. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Gateway Productivity provides technology and productivity training. We help entrepreneurs and small businesses eliminate technology frustration and stress by patiently training them to use their technology efficiently. We also provide productivity training and consulting in the areas of task and time management.
Gateway Productivity is unique because of what we offer. I have very few colleagues out there offering technology and productivity training, especially for the specific niche of businesses. And we are 100% client-centric, meaning that we customize to what the client needs, and we always work together with the client, rather than dictating what they should do.
I specifically bring compassion and patience to my work with clients. I strive to be a helping hand to entrepreneurs and small companies who are having trouble understanding how to best use their technology or how to be productive. I help them get their email and digital file organization under control, learn new operating systems, such as Windows 11, and feel less frustrated and confused by the technology they use daily.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I expect to see more people move into this industry over the next 5-10 years as technology changes exponentially. With AI exploding right now, I think we’ll see many people looking to technology experts to help them navigate the new options that are just now starting to appear.
In the world of technology and productivity training, I expect that there will continue to be very little of this training in schools, especially how to organize your technology, plan your days, and be productive with all the new, often distracting, technology out there.
I see this training being needed at every age with productivity training needs growing as more of the workforce are addicted to their devices and struggle with time and task management.
Pricing:
- 3, 6 & 9 hour packages are available – the more training you invest in, the more you save
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gatewayproductivity.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifercstewart/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/gatewayproductivity
