I'm excited to introduce today's guest! She started her first company at the age of 19. A portrait photographer by trade and a marketer by heart, she built a following of thousands and worked with hundreds of clients. By 20, she was consulting for local and national organizations on marketing strategies, social media tactics, and content creation. By 22, she had graduated from a top private university with a master's degree, specializing in marketing and public relations for the military. By 23, she was the Director of Marketing for an international military program.
She has worked in the military non-profit, corporate, public affairs, and contract sectors. Her military background is diverse for a civilian, as she lived in the barracks as an Army photojournalist, spending a summer rappelling down towers, in the gas chamber, and participating in land navigation training. She is also a former musician manager, using her marketing background to book numerous gigs (including one of her musicians as an opening act on a world tour), live radio shows, talk shows, and newspaper/magazine interviews. She is a former New York runway model, as well as an actress. However, her true passion is serving the nation's military families.
Unable to serve for medical reasons, she made it her goal to help military families and veterans follow their dreams. Using her entrepreneurial success and strong military marketing background, she now consults, mentors, and teaches veterans and military spouses how to use social media and modern marketing practices to increase the success of their entrepreneurial ventures. A patriot to the core, she believes in empowering entrepreneurs with military backgrounds and those in the military sector to live the American dream – let's meet Jenny Hale!
The Notes
- Instead of letting go of her dreams of joining the military when she was unable to enlist due to medical issues from her childhood, she turned that drive into a focus during her collegiate years that would later turn into her career with military company.
- She knew early on that she wanted her whole life to be about the military culture and community, even taking a volunteer position to learn more within that circle.
- Jenny actually contracted the entrepreneur bug very early, as early as elementary school. As her school career progressed, it made it a natural step for her to start her first “real” business while she was in college.
- Being a military entrepreneur is simply different from being a civilian entrepreneur and as such, Jenny has had to learn how to communicate well with both aspects. For instance, in a military family, the husband or wife get relocated every few years with the entire family moving as well, even overseas. With jobs sometimes being difficult to find as the result of these moves, entrepreneurship provides a great opportunity to supplement or even replace income that may not be possible through more ‘traditional' means.
“Anybody can be an entrepreneur, but it's not for everyone.” ~ Jenny Hale
- Jenny is very familiar with the differences between military and civilian families, and one of the skills that is that they're direct. Military spouses are similar in that they've developed a specific set of skills that aren't common with everyone. They're very flexible and they're very good at meeting new people, simply because it's a part of their everyday lives.
“Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, all of these platforms are free to use and a gold mine, especially when you're first starting out.” ~ Jenny Hale
- Jenny actually has two different sides to her business. One is more coaching and 1-on-1 based, the other is where her client outsources it to her because they simply don't want to do it in-house.
“If time is holding you back from your dreams…I'm going to find a way to help you find the time.” ~ Jenny Hale
- It can be easy to worry about being too ‘niched-down' and specific with what you do. But if you are offering it, odds are that someone needs it no matter how specific your offering may be.
Meet Jenny Hale
Jenny started her first company at the age of 19. A portrait photographer by trade and a marketer by heart, she built a following of thousands and worked with hundreds of clients. By 20, she was consulting for local and national organizations on marketing strategies, social media tactics, and content creation. By 22, she had graduated from a top private university with a master's degree, specializing in marketing and public relations for the military. By 23, she was the Director of Marketing for an international military program. She has worked in the military non-profit, corporate, public affairs, and contract sectors. Her military background is diverse for a civilian, as she lived in the barracks as an Army photojournalist, spending a summer rappelling down towers, in the gas chamber, and participating in land navigation training. She is also a former musician manager, using her marketing background to book numerous gigs (including one of her musicians as an opening act on a world tour), live radio shows, talk shows, and newspaper/magazine interviews. She is a former New York runway model, as well as an actress. However, her true passion is serving the nation's military families. Unable to serve for medical reasons, she made it her goal to help military families and veterans follow their dreams. Using her entrepreneurial success and strong military marketing background, she now consults, mentors, and teaches veterans and military spouses how to use social media and modern marketing practices to increase the success of their entrepreneurial ventures. A patriot to the core, she believes in empowering entrepreneurs with military backgrounds and those in the military sector to live the American dream.
Find Jenny: The Military Social Media Guru!
Last Show
Last week, We chatted with Debbie Reber, a New York Times bestselling author and the founder of TiLT Parenting, a website, top podcast, and social media company for parents who are raising differently wired children. This is a great episode to listen to if your little one is differently wired! If you haven't already, make sure you go back and give it a listen!
Next Show
Next week, we're going to discuss health and wellness and homeschooling with Alison Rand. Alison was born and raised in Maine, and moved to Phoenix soon after being married. She is a proud mama to 2 adopted children whom she homeschools. She's built a business around connecting with other moms, and creating healthy lifestyles focused on organic nutrition.