It was 2020 and I was on a mission.
I set my sights on being selected for the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI). It’s an incredible opportunity designed for U.S. Latino business owners who generate more than $1 million in annual gross revenues or have raised at least $500,000 of external funding. If selected, I would be part of a nine-week immersive program where I could learn, network, find mentorship and learn how to access and manage capital to scale my business further.
The problem was that in 2019, my revenues from my business weren’t $1 million; they were $854,000.
I applied to the program anyway, hoping they also took other factors into account. I have come a long way in my 16 years of business, from immigrating to this country as a teenager, to surviving cancer twice, and starting my business at the age of 23. I had never had an opportunity to return to school after receiving my associate’s degree in marketing, so being part of a program from such a prestigious university would be such an honor for me.
After a few months of waiting for a reply, I looked for the contact information for a professor at the University to connect personally and explain why I was a lifelong learner and ambitious entrepreneur who was perfect for the program. When I finally connected with the professor, I told him my story and what the opportunity would mean to me and gave me a reply that hit me like cold water in my face.
“Jackie, your story is great, but this program is about economic impact.”
As we hung up from our talk, I felt conflicted. Part of me was angry. I had dedicated my life to storytelling, which had certainly created economic impact for my clients! The other part of me was inspired. If they were measuring economic impact by the numbers, I would get them numbers!
$I Million or Bust
I have never been as motivated by money as I have been by helping others. I get more satisfaction from creating results for clients than I do for collecting the fee. I felt I was already a winner, no matter what the numbers said at the end of the year. But to hit the million-dollar mark, I knew I had to focus.
It was May 2020, and I only had seven months to get to my goal. I rallied my team, including my accountants, and took a closer look at my business practices and numbers. We reconnected with past clients and pursued new opportunities. I worked tirelessly to “provoke the numbers” by coaching the team to lift our level of service, increase our creativity, and generate and bring in referrals.
By November 2020 it happened. I had hit the $1 million mark, and by December we closed at $1.1 million, in a pandemic year.
One More Time
In January of 2021, I bet I was the first application to SLEI. I rejoiced when they accepted me, along with the required, notarization from my accountant that I had indeed hit the million-dollar goal.
In the program, I was like a kid in the candy store, sampling knowledge from various areas of business, marketing, and entrepreneurship. I loved every minute of it and felt honored to be in the company of the other entrepreneurs. There were 77 of them, each owning multi-million-dollar businesses across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
As graduation time drew near, they asked me to interview for a speaker’s spot at the graduation ceremony. I was one of 15 candidates. I was overwhelmed when I got the call that I would be the sole student speaker! To share my story on that stage, before a group of such distinguished contemporaries, was an unforgettable moment. It was a full circle moment of magic. All my hard work had paid off!
Still Serving
Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of presenting at Stanford Graduate school of Business to an audience of fellow graduates, two webinars with over 1,500 registrations and other presentations on business marketing strategy and branding. I’ve also helped our program create the curriculum for their corporate procurement program to help multi-million-dollar companies find their voice.
If that wasn’t enough, I was hired by the Latino Business Action Network to be the coach for their very first corporate procurement program to guide 33 companies. I did not realize how much knowledge I had acquired about corporate procurement throughout my years in business. When I was invited to speak on a webinar to them, I volunteered to offer a robust cache of resources for the participants to help them find their voice, and develop their capability statement, manifesto, and value proposition. I provided video tutorials, checklists, worksheets, templates, and more, just to serve the program in a more meaningful way.
Throughout my life I have found if I just do a little bit more, I can achieve the kind of amazingness that I can then pass on to others. Remember the professor who told me that the program was all about impact? When I left our conversation, I told him I was determined to make it into the program and when I did, I would let him know. And so I did.
With a box of chocolates and a special note I thanked him for igniting a fire I didn’t know I had inside me. I told him that in 2021, as the program was winding down, I had already exceeded my million-dollar goal and this year, my business is projected to reach $1.2 million.
A New Mindset
It’s funny. After completing the program, I did not reprise my 2020 aggressive pursuit of revenue, but I still exceeded my year-end goal. I think what has changed in me most is my mindset. I’m now inspired to help others achieve seven figures, just as I will continue to grow as an entrepreneur.
I am now part of the meager 2.6% of women entrepreneurs in the U.S. who have exceeded the $1 million mark. I still believe that stories matter immensely, but I also now understand that when they’re coupled with economic impact, you can affect even more change in the world through job creation and creating opportunity for magic to happen to others.
Those who know me personally understand that my heart and my mind are tightly intertwined. When I began flying airplanes, I united the whimsy for flight with the pragmatic need to achieve in order to become the aviator I am today (#pilotina). I can now use that same template to help others succeed through the magic of storytelling and the strategy of entrepreneurship. I’m blessed and grateful that God revealed the formula to me, and I can now combine my inspiration with economic impact. They both lead to amazingness!
Jacqueline Camacho-Ruiz is the CEO of JJR Marketing (www.jjrmarketing.com) and Fig Factor Media LLC international book publishing company (www.figfactormedia.com), founder of The Fig Factor Foundation (www.thefigfactor.org), creator of Today’s Inspired Latina book series and international movement (http://www.todayslatina.com), author of 29 books (www.jackiecamacho.com), international speaker, and sports airplane pilot. Jacqueline speaks to hundreds of audiences about marketing, servant leadership, finding your passion, and achieving success in business. She has addressed the United States Army, BP International, United Airlines, Allstate, and Farmers Insurance among other corporations to share her inspiration.
If you or an organization you know needs as speaker, please get in touch with us at https://www.jackiecamacho.com/contact.