With over $100M in completed projects, 17 years of experience and clients spanning across two continents, Jen has identified a unique pattern for success. This pattern, which she calls “The Anatomy of Success,” integrates both the material and spiritual planes creating an innovative, holistic approach to both leadership and life.
Jen combines her 17 year career in corporate, start-ups and entrepreneurship with 26 years of study in diverse and varied aspects of spiritual inquiry to assist entrepreneurs and executives in gaining greater internal congruence. Her work clears the way to more easeful relationships, more effective leadership and a more elevated experience in both work and life.
She balances the complexity of top-notch leadership and real-world success metrics by utilizing ancient principles, spiritual technologies and subtle tools with strategy, business and leadership methodologies and 3d tools. The key focus areas of her consulting work are Leadership & Team Management, Interpersonal Relationships and last but not least, Personal Well-being. The guaranteed results of this work will save you time, energy and money. It will transform your leadership – not only personally and professionally, but also your relationship with yourself. Work will no longer be at the expense of you and your personal life, instead you’ll access ways of merging and harmonizing work and life.
Jen brings a bold, humorous and highly efficient approach to leadership consulting for executives, founders and entrepreneurs who want to elevate…. well, everything.
Her work has been featured in The New York Times, National Geographic, SoHo House, The New Yorker and many more.
Company: Original Parti
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company
Jen McKelvie: I’m a Leadership Consultant assisting entrepreneurs and executives in gaining greater internal congruence; clearing the way to more easeful relationships, more effective leadership and a more elevated experience in both business and life.
I believe that we are currently swimming in the border waters between what leadership has been and what it must become. I believe that true leadership is never formulaic and that in order to be a great leader, we need to do the internal work of deep healing. I believe change happens fastest in a top down manner and also from the inside out, which is why I focus my energy on facilitating transformation for leaders in upper management, executive and founder levels. I combine 26 years of diverse spiritual development studies with a 17 year career in corporate, start ups and NYC construction.
My work is way beyond traditional consulting and is of unique value because I skillfully combine energetic tools with leadership and business. It’s not mindset or mindfulness, it’s a whole new way of being, relating, leading and creating that I am so honored and proud to bring to the world.
A bit about me personally, I was born to American parents in Germany and have moved over 30 times in my 40 years. I retired at 39 and recently relocated from Upstate New York to Europe. I’ve done a lot of exciting solo travel and have been to 40 countries. I was the only woman working on a few NYC construction sites and I was in a leadership position…so that was a wild ride and taught me so much, I’ve also started two businesses. Through it all my goal has always been liberation and so I’ve been on a diverse and deep spiritual journey that has helped me not only get through it all but has also been the foundation for why I’m successful, happy, healthy and in love.
I love to talk about spiritual technologies and how they intersect, inform and support business and entrepreneurship!
What were the most significant challenges you faced during the scaling process, and how did you overcome them?
Jen McKelvie: I have an intentionally small business structure, and I intend to keep it that way (a few of my biggest values are simplicity and freedom), but I consult for many people who are scaling or who have scaled incorrectly and need help steadying the ship.
The three biggest challenges I’ve see and have helped leaders through is:
1. Scaling for the wrong reasons
2. Scaling too fast
3. Not scaling from solid ground – this one is the most critical as you must be solid in your why, your how, your who and your what in order for scaling to be an enjoyable experience instead of one that leads to financial trouble, burnout and pissed employees.
I mostly either see founders raise a bunch of capital and then try to steer their ship in too many directions too fast or I see founders who have burned through their personal cash because they have no personalized plan so attention and resources are spilling all over the place.
How did you ensure that your company culture remained intact as your business expanded?
Jen McKelvie: The company culture can’t really remain intact…and that’s the point. A good scale should have the goal of making everything better for everyone, it should be a win-win-win. Where most companies go wrong is they instill the expectation that ‘nothing will change’ but firstly that goes against Universal Law – Change Is The Only Constant and secondly, the entire point of scaling is to grow (ie change). When founders/ execs are truly honest about the changes that they see coming, are planning and hoping for, etc, then there can be a dialogue about how the culture will change and in what ways. This dialogue also allows for employees to provide input, express concerns and make decisions that are best for them (stay or go).
The company culture is influenced by so many variables but one of the best ways to ensure a smooth transition is to have seriously candid, transparent and humble conversations with all parties involved – because being authentically heard and considered is one of the fastest ways to get people on-board.
What strategies did you employ to maintain quality and customer satisfaction while scaling rapidly?
Jen McKelvie: The strategy needed here again is communication and honesty.
There is nothing wrong with saying ‘We’re growing and we’re doing our absolute best to not drop the ball anywhere, but we might. So let us know if something doesn’t meet your expectations and we will make it right, right away’. But so many people like to pretend they have got everything under control and don’t have the internal self-sourced safety to be able to admit to what is really going on. People just want to know what’s up. You get a lot more grace and loyalty when you are honest. Not fake corporate honesty, but ‘I am a human and I have/will/am making mistakes’. This acceptance of your (and everyone else’s) humanity takes a profound amount of work that it is my honor to facilitate in the world. It is the work that ensures smooth transitions, loyal customers and employees, an incredible product, personal satisfaction, more money, more energy, more time.
Can you share a specific turning point that was crucial for your business’s successful scaling?
Jen McKelvie: A turning point for me was to step into a level of power around what I was paid for. For a long time I was hired because I was great at both leadership and the actual doing of things. When I did the internal work of healing etc, I was able to easily transition to being paid for what I know instead of what I do.
One of my favorite graphics for this is an invoice for plumbing. It reads: Total $100 for plumbing work. Breakdown: $1 doing the work. $99 knowing what to do.
When I allowed my internal system to take ownership of the fact that what I know is more valuable than anything I could ever do, my business soared, resulting in my ability to retire at the age of 39.
How did you manage the financial aspects of scaling, particularly in securing funding and maintaining cash flow?
Jen McKelvie: This might be annoying to hear, but again, when it comes down to it, this is an internal game. There are a million different pieces of advice on HOW to do these things, and that’s great and helpful… but only if your system (mental, energetic, nervous system) is on board with this type of thing being available to you. You can of course always force it, and a lot of business owners do that. And then they get divorced or burnout and/or the business burns down because something gained from force, requires force to sustain. Something gained naturally, requires nothing to sustain except more naturalness.
Often when business have trouble with finances or cash flow, it is actually a trauma response from whoever’s energy the business is intertwined with. This is complex, but the business is always showing you, you.
