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Take
ROSS JAMES
ASHLEY HAYWOOD 22
CHI ILOCHI
ROSS JAMES
PO WERI N G INFINITE AND S US AI N ABL E
O P P O R TUNI TI E S
Leadership in any job role is important, especially in management positions that are the facilitators of a company's success and growth. It requires you to strengthen your leadership muscle to develop, support, encourage and motivate a team, as well as model a high standard of practice, knowledge, and care.
For some, passion is the key element in leading people. However, it's also important for people to understand and seek inspiration from that passion. It is only then they can understand, envision and execute the ultimate goal of the company.
A true leader enthuses those around you and brings out the best in everyone to reach newer heights by catapulting their ideas. One such dynamic and passionate leader is Ross James. Ross James brings with him over 30 years of experience in the ITC industry and is the CEO and Founder of Accloud who is on a mission to change the world of business, for good.
He believes in giving people around him opportunities to
grow and lead in their own right and become an inspiring leader. Through his platform Ross aims to encourage entrepreneurs to use Accloud's powerful business management tools by facilitating trade and access to capital. In his own words he regards this as a “breakthrough, low-touch commerce solution, for an evermore mobile world.”
HIS ESSENCE OF LEADERSHIP
Being a leader includes training your eye for creativity while seeing and doing things differently. It also involves using your imagination and thinking 'outside of the box.'
powered vehicle of both fun and responsibility as he realized he can build a trailer for his brother to experience the joy of speeding down the hill together.
He didn't want to enjoy the journey alone, so he proceeded to build a 22-foot long where he invited every child in the street to sit and feel the exhilaration.
Although his engineering masterpiece was knocked down due to fear of risking the lives of every child, he was able to discover and explore his skills as a leader.
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ORIGINALLY THE IDEA BEHIND ACCLOUD WAS “ACCOUNTING IN THE CLOUD.” BUT THE REALIZATION THAT WE WERE CREATING A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY WITH ITS OWN NEEDS AND SPECIAL CAPABILITIES ALLOWED US TO MORPH THE IDEA INTO AN END-TO-END PLATFORM TO ENABLE B2B TRADING AND ACCESS MICRO-FINANCE AND SEVERAL OTHER SERVICES, NOT PREVIOUSLY AVAILABLE IN THE EMERGING ECONOMIES.
Ross has always shown initial sparks of leadership in his initiatives from his younger years. Recollecting one such incident he shares his excitement of building a billie cart at the tender age of 9 years.
That billie cart — a simple platform with four wheels and a moveable front steering column — turned out to be a self-
Instances like these gave him the con idence to inspire others, have a clear vision, think creatively and most importantly, have a problem-solving approach in adversities.
MAKING THE SMALL, MIGHTY
Founded in 2015, under Ross' leadership, Accloud aims to empower Small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) with stateof-the-art cloud-based
management system tools. He implored the possibilities and need of a speci ic, unique and sustainable solution for such companies in high growth markets.
The idea behind Accloud's name was “accounting in the cloud” where the intention was to create a virtual community of entrepreneurs. This was especially useful when the World Bank
announced the crisis in the SME job creation market. Thus, Ross set out to create an end-to-end platform to enable B2B trading along with accessible micro inance services. This expanded the growth for inancial inclusion that helps such businesses to actively participate in the formal economy by ensuring more employment and social wellbeing.
Four years later, Accloud is rolling
out a full suite of mobile- irst business management and accounting tools, while offering SMEs access to affordable capital and entry to new markets. However, behind B2B trading and micro- inance is a powerful accounting engine that simpli ies many business tasks and improves the collective productivity and pro itability. With international expansion plans in place, Ross has also launched in India to
CA N G E XCE PT ION A L
complement government initiatives that are bringing millions of rural citizens online.
Being the founder and CEO, Ross inspires his team and partners by talking about the vision. He especially focuses on the depth of social impact that he can encourage by lifting communities out of poverty into prosperity.
Currently, he also oversees the role of the CTO which includes dedicated involvement in technical issues while making sure the direction of the company is clear and consistent. He is excited for his head of development, Ian, to take up more responsibilities in this role as he has been an integral part in building the platform and growing the company.
While Ross' vision is quite extended and complex, he's trying to reduce the friction by enabling this in the simplest form possible. He says, “We are multilingual and want our users to be able to achieve complex business tasks on mobile devices, so we spend a lot of time paring down these tasks to the minimum we can.”
With added rich functionality below the skin, Ross understands that this can be overwhelming for early adopters or new users of these business tools. The temporary solution for this is to hide what they can, so that new users can grow into the platform at their pace.
Another important aspect of his business is the fact that a major portion of his target customer
base operates outside the formal economy. This could be a hindrance in implementing new, brave and unique ideas. As a result, he is committed to bridge the gap between great business ideas and formal education with focussed effort and persistence.
BUILDING A MORE MOBILE WORLD
One of the most rewarding things to do as a leader is to inspire others by leading by example. In fact, all leaders that inspire their team motivate them to be the best that they can be, try new ideas and work hard. Such a leader creates a legacy that extends beyond a lifetime.
Subsequently, creating something from scratch is not easy as it takes tremendous energy, persistence, and capital. Having lived in Ukraine for 4 years leading his development team, Ross understood the importance of minimizing capital requirements, and respecting cultural differences of emerging economies.
This was a tough phase for him as he hailed from Australia and never had the chance to witness snow, let alone be plunged into25C temperature in peak winters. But Ross found strength in such challenges and did not deter from facing these obstacles along the way.
Infact, Ross was instrumental in developing distributed technologies during the early stages of Internet adoption. He used his expertise to support low
Business Management Tools Tax Compliant Global Market Place
ABOVE ALL YOU MUST BE NIMBLE AND BE PREPARED TO SPIN YOUR IDEA IN A HEARTBEAT. OPPORTUNITIES CHANGE AND MORPH CONTINUOUSLY. YOU NEED TO BE ABREAST OF THEM AND HOW YOU MAY CREATE NEW OPPORTUNITIES WHERE YOU HADN’T SEEN THEM BEFORE.
bandwidth capacity even through thick client applications. He has always been a natural leader, and especially in the technology arena, he has been able to pick market opportunities quickly and consistently by developing new business ventures.
In the current world leaders face regularly new challenges in their positions. The most common obstacles are the internal roadblocks that stunt leadership growth and development. For Ross, the biggest roadblock in his journey was the collapse of a particular Australian fund.
It resulted in a multi-faceted problem, with devastated investors losing large amounts of their capital. This further gave rise to uncomfortable questions about the possession of the principal amount of the fund, increasing chaos about the ownership of shares and inally, the disruption of many impending business plans. Things went south when travel issues brought on by the global pandemic made it more challenging. But both problems have opened many new doors that didn't previously seem accessible.
Despite achieving all the success in over three decades, if there's one thing that he would change would be the opportunity to raise far more capital in the beginning and ensure a broader team base.
HIS TIMELESS ADVICE
With the vision that the size of a business shouldn't limit its potential, Ross is mobilizing business management by giving entrepreneurs the tools to grow and ind capital, trading, accounting, and tax solutions in a customized and easy system.
Through his rich and diverse experience, Ross' advice for emerging and aspiring leaders in the current changing market is to “be nimble and be prepared to spin your idea in a heartbeat.”
He believes that one must make the most out of every opportunity before it slips out of your hand. He also adds, “You
need to be aware of them and how you may create new opportunities where you hadn't seen them before.”
ENROUTE TO A FLOURISHING FUTURE
Leaders are in leading positions because they have faced the ups and downs before reaching success in their professional lives. For too many leaders their success is hidden in their selfre lection. In fact after a certain point of time, leadership development becomes easier with self-re lection.
Ross and his company, Accloud are currently poised for high growth in central Asia and plan
to expand their business plans in Africa. Later on, he intends to begin the roll-out in Latin America. “Our platform is very economical for our end users and incredibly scalable, so we look forward to the challenges of high growth,” he shares.
Subsequently, he continues to act on the feedback that will help to fast-track the results. “Our team's mission is to make a sustainable change for the better in the emerging and highgrowth economies,” he concludes.
ASHLEY HAYWOOD
Embrewing Success in Every Step
What according to you makes one a transformational leader? How do you integrate the same thought into your leadership?
A transformational leader is one that can transform lives and the Earth through their leadership. For me, this includes being impeccable with my diligence in sourcing ingredients and materials ethically and making products that truly bene it my customer's health and wellbeing.
Talk to us about your growing up years. What is your earliest memory as a leader that you can remember?
I was certainly a bit bossy as a young girl, which served me in some ways but not others. I was proactive with my friends, did well in school, and loved asking questions. Good leaders are the ones that aren't afraid to ask the questions everyone else is thinking but are too afraid to ask.
What started your love for Tea? How did this love go on to become the start of Embrew LLC?
I've always loved tea, and just a little bit sweet. I found myself sweetening my cup the same way every single time and thought there should be a lightly sweetened tea bag that was already out on the market. After over 10 years of looking for one and coming up empty, I set out to create the irst high-end, lightly sweetened, tea bags and Embrew was born.
What makes Embrew stand out from the crowd?
Each Embrew tea bag has loose-leaf grade tea and natural sweeteners inside, so it simpli ies the tea experience for those looking for premium lavor, but cringe at the thought of a grocery store tea bag or messing with loose leaves, infusers, or sticky honey. This is a big upgrade that no one else in the tea space has.
Being an entrepreneur, speaker, mother, and wife, how do you ensure work-life balance?
I ensure I have balance and avoid burnout by setting boundaries for myself in all aspects of my life allows me space to be me and do things just for me. I decide upfront how I want to spend my day, and make sure I don't compromise what I want to do versus what I “should” do.
What is the approach/process followed by you in order to ensure optimal quality in all your products?
We source our teas from different farms all over the world. The world is a huge place, but by buying directly from growers who we know by name, we've brought the human connection back into the process. Buying Direct-Trade products allows us transparency into the supply chain and ensure the farmers are respecting the land,
Founder | Embrew
the plants and the people working hard to make a living. This means our customers have visibility as well so you can feel good about the farms you're supporting.
How is this different from the other tea products?
The majority of the growers who aren't part of a Fair-Trade Coop or selling directly to the manufacturer only receive about 10-15% of the money customers pay for the product, sometimes even less. This is because there are multiple hands buying and selling the raw materials through a long, cumbersome supply chain that drives up the prices and drives down the portion paid to the
farmers.
Most companies boast highquality tea, but as we all know, it's certainly a matter of taste.
Here's what we DON'T do:
1) We DON'T used overly processed, shredded, low-quality tea leaves.
2) We DON'T buy our products only knowing the country of origin where farming practices may be questionable for the environment or for human consumption.
3) We DON'T used bleached brew bags. Only unbleached bags with no tag, string or staple to reduce waste
and allow for composting.
We DO use high-quality tea leaves from growers with careful farming practices and use all compostable or biodegradable packaging.
What has the journey been like for Ashley Haywood over the years?
Every moment is full of different emotions, levels of motivation, and focus—but what's constant is looking for opportunities to give tea-loving people more me-time without having to clean up an infuser or mess with a sticky honey bear again.
Looking back, what would you have done differently if you were to start again?
If I could go back, I wouldn't change much, since I've learned a great deal from the journey. But I would tell me start-up entrepreneur self to have con idence in the building of something great. To love the process, not just focus on the endgoals.
What has been the biggest roadblock during your journey? What has been your biggest learning?
Time has been my biggest roadblock, along with my mental attitude. I never realized how much
my own expectations of myself hurt my progress of building the business with joy. Having the right headspace and intrinsic motivation is critical in trusting and building a business when you have no idea what you're doing.
I've learned time and time again that trying new things is good, even if they don't work, it's part of the process to get you to the thing that does inally work.
Finally, what does the future look like for you, both personally and professionally?
I'm working on an e-book about the dangers of caffeine, adding more speaking engagements this year, and focusing on PR
opportunities for Embrew and my personal brand. This will allow me to grow the business in a sustainable way without continuing to waste money on digital marketing that doesn't offer a good ROI. Personally, I plan to learn more about the tea herbs I can grow in my own backyard, chase my new obsession with mushrooms, and learn to move my body in more luid and feminine ways with acrobatic dance.
Chi Illochi
What according to you makes one a transformational leader? How do you integrate the same thought into your leadership?
One is a transformational leader when their being and overall person can inspire and help another attain all that life has to offer for them. I believe my commitment to help and inspire others in everything is how I integrate that thought process into my way of leadership.
Talk to us about your growing up years. What is your earliest memory as a leader/entrepreneur that you can remember?
I believe I've always had a spirit of entrepreneurism. My earliest memory as an entrepreneur was making my own comic book and selling it for ive dollars.
Looking back on that memory, I realize now that I was sowing seeds for who I grew into today.
What prompted your interest and subsequently your foray into the fashion industry?
My interest in the fashion industry was prompted through self-expression. Fashion has always been the way I've expressed myself, subsequently I decided to make the decision to become a fashion stylist.
What was the idea that led to the formation of Styling By Chi? What is your vision through this company?
The idea that led to the formation of Styling By Chi was “paying it forward”. I realized the tremendous impact fashion had on my mental health and quality of life and I wanted to share that with others through
fashion styling. My vision for my company is to heal, help, and inspire as many as I can through fashion and style.
What does a day in your life look like? How do you ensure worklife balance?
A day in the life for me looks pretty chaotic, some days I'm pulling for upcoming photoshoots, other days I'm responding to emails, and hopping on Zoom calls. I must say I've gotten better at ensuring worklife balance over the years, I do so by giving myself weekends off to hang with friends and family.
What has the journey been like for Chi Ilochi over the years? Looking back, what would you have done differently when starting out?
The journey for Chi Ilochi over the years has been beautiful, eye opening, and worth it. Looking back, I would've made sure to believe in myself a bit more when starting out. Life would've been a lot easier if I realized sooner that I deserved everything God gave me.
What are the challenges that you had to face during this journey?
I've faced many challenges along this journey of mine, but I'd say the biggest challenge was a few of my friends passing away before they could see my success. This challenge has been my hardest, and is one I struggle with to this day. What brings me peace and comfort is knowing that their spirit lives through mine in all I am and all I do.
What would be your advice for aspiring and young women leaders and entrepreneurs?
My advice for aspiring leaders and entrepreneurs is to bet on yourself every time. You are already worthy as is. Your peers don't de ine you or your success, you do.
Finally, what does the future look like for you and Styling By Chi?
The future for myself and Styling By Chi looks like healing; abundance, styling the BET // Grammy Awards, and helping those around me elevate as I do. For me, that's what the future is all about.
In Conversation with TYLER BRAY A
VALUE-DRIVEN LEADER
How would you describe your leadership style? Who is your inspiration in terms of leadership?
I have a value-driven style. One of my core values as a leader is empathy. That extends to my team, and my customers. I believe setting that example brings out that side of my teammates, which is how it reaches my customers. As for leadership inspiration, that comes from an ideal, an imaginary leader in my mind’s eye. I’ve assembled traits and values like empathy, decisiveness, passion, and I try to step more fully into those traits with every decision I make.
Talk to us about your growing up years. What is your earliest memory as a leader/entrepreneur that you can remember?
One of my earliest memories as a leader has a strong personal
component. I was 13 years old, and my mother got divorced. I had three younger siblings, one of whom was just a baby. I basically had to step up and be a man at that moment. And there you have relevant childhood and early entrepreneurial thinking in one.
What prompted your interest in trailers? What was the pain point you wanted to address through your business?
Can I be perfectly honest? I had no interest in trailers. I had a passionate fascination and powerful interest in opportunity. My step-dad owned a trailer parts company, and I jumped on the opportunity I saw. The market gap I perceived was a lack of digital options for consumers throughout the industry. The trailer business was still mostly brick and mortar at that point. I focused on merging the best of the old ways with the new options modern consumers expect.
What is the approach followed by the organization to ensure optimal results?
To sum it up: believe it in your team, believe in your people. Know that you can’t do anything by yourself, and nobody can. Give your team creative freedom. Remember, work is 50% of life on average! Good leaders create an enjoyable work situation. They focus on alignment, which is where you take personal goals people on your team have, and you align them with the goals of the business. You harness that positive energy to sail farther together.
Being the Owner, what role do you play in the day-to-day proceedings of the company?
I point, they shoot. I make big picture decisions, then I support every single person on my team. That’s why I work so hard to understand their internal goals. We
have a concept called saucing here. A teammate proposes an idea. I always encourage that, and avoid a lat out no as much as possible. Instead, I’ll “sauce” the idea. Like adding a spice, garnish, or new ingredient so that it its neatly into the overall mission.
What does a day in the life of Tyler Bray look like? How do you ensure work-life balance?
What is work life balance? Work is my life, but here’s the thing: I love every minute of it. I follow the low of what demands my attention. Getting a call? I take it. There’s a problem to solve? I solve it. I have too many ventures to follow any
sort of rigid schedule, so I trust my instincts when prioritizing.
In the current changing business landscape, what would be your advice to young entrepreneurs?
My irst piece of advice is simple: business never changes. The tools and accouterments of business change (digital versus analogue, tech developments) but business is about people skills. What do the human beings on your team need? What do the human beings who are your customers need? Sure, maybe in 200 years we will all be working with robots instead of people, but that’s still a little sci- i. Even then, that fundamental reality of clear, empathetic communication and
honest problem solving will always be the key to successful business.
What does the future look like for TK Trailers Parts?
The future is disruptive. It’s unknown in details, but think agility, adaptability, and above all, a commitment to those values of empathy and trusting people. Think disruptive, but positive.
A Trailblazer in Hemp Farming
Sometimes it's dif icult to get off the 'corporate
wheel' when it is accompanied by an attractive paycheck and upward mobility. The path to success is a straight one and many of us are caught in that corporate low. And in the midst of building our career or succeeding, we often leave things behind that were near to us; things that we were passionate about. Only a handful of people go back to pursue the thing they loved after joining the corporate world. For them, most of the time, it just takes a little push or a nudge to go back to their hidden potential.
The same nudge came into the life of Franny Tacy when she was in the pharmaceutical industry. Spending over a decade in the industry, Franny realized that maybe she was in the wrong 'pharm.'
With Farming and Agriculture both in her blood, Franny knew exactly what she had to do. She bought land, built her farm, and set-up a business around it. And now after nine years into her business, Franny has made the hemp industry notice her progress and has become the only woman in North Carolina to do so in the last 75 years.
Franny is currently regarded as a leading authority on hemp, participates in the North Carolina State University Hemp Studies, has a TEDx Hemp Speech, and is a nonpro it founding member of the Women in Hemp.
Known as an inspiring farmer who has evolved into a catalyst for the United States hemp scene, Franny has built Franny's Farmacy into a vertically integrated brand that is involved in growing and processing hemp as well as manufacturing, distributing, and franchising. Franny's
Farmacy currently has eight CBD dispensaries spread across four states, all with the goal of providing easy and safe access to high-quality products from seed to shelf, with an emphasis on hemp and health.
GOING BACK TO THE ROOTS
Earning the nickname of 'nature mama', the childhood of Franny developed on a farm riding horses, planting gardens, feeding animals, running through the ields, without any supervision. Even when her parents separated, and Franny was moved to the city, she would spend weekends and summers on the farm with her dad.
Her love for farming grew even stronger, which led her to obtain a bachelor's degree in forestry from the Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Franny sustained her love for farming even after completing school and went to live on a farm with her friends and some animals. After some jobs with the Forest Service, earning advanced degrees in education, and teaching for six years, she moved to Asheville, NC, and spent over a decade-long career in pharmaceuticals, leaving all her agricultural roots behind.
However, after creating a prosperous yet unsatisfactory career in pharmaceuticals, Franny heard a calling back from her roots. Franny's agricultural background, as well as her professional career in sales and marketing, had prepared her for the miracle that was about to unfold in her life. Hence, came the year 2012 when the heart of all Franny's future businesses began with the purchase of a farm. It was a three-year process on her path of turning 'Pharma to Farm' before she quit her
corporate career to focus on building a new business.
After planting hemp plants for food and iber in 2017, Franny unknowingly became the irst female hemp farmer in North Carolina in more than 75 years.
Franny switched her production focus from cannabis to hemp varieties and established her irst Franny's Farmacy Dispensary in downtown Asheville in 2018. The Franny's Farmacy concept has implemented innovative organic farming, a network of ethical partner producers, and traceable seed-to-shelf hemp and CBD products to improve the health and wellbeing of its CBD dispensary consumers.
THE ORDEALS OF CANNABIS
While Franny's dream of creating a nationally recognized brand in cannabis was a dream come true, it was also full of challenges. Franny's has led the way by setting industry standards for 'seed to sale' with much resistance from short-term capitalists without a purpose beyond pro its. She asserts, “I have grown my business and brand just as I have my farm with strong roots and foundation so that no matter what storm, legalities or competition, we will continue to grow.”
The biggest challenge for Franny has been the legal system and the operation of such a business in an illegal and unregulated market. This hurdle took no time to teach Franny that things in this industry do not progress fast or without any help.
As such, being the irst one in a completely new industry, not to mention, illegal at the time, Franny had to igure it all out on her own. She, however, turned this hardship into her motivation and brought Franny's Farmacy into the world of franchising to help, educate, and empower others.
Self-learning from all these experiences, Franny advices the same and asks young and aspiring leaders to charge and ind mentors, advisors, partners, and collaborators that align with their mission and values
She asserts, “At my time if there had been anyone to be a better advisor and collaborator, it would have been a great bene it. Fortunately for anyone entering the cannabis industry now, these advisors exist so I advise everyone to ind your aligned partners.”
SHARING THE KNOWLEDGE
For Franny, it is clear that education is a fundamental value for Franny's Farmacy. She also admits that knowledge gives us the power to make the best choices for ourselves and our loved ones. Hence, to educate and empower people, she has taken the assistance of digital media to disseminate the understanding of her offerings.
Franny's Farmacy has a YouTube channel, social media channels, and provides regular updates of information on its website dedicated to all things hemp. Through these channels, she helps the world to know more about CBD and hemp from farming to product testimonials, dosing, how it works in our bodies, and more.
In terms of establishing complete transparency, Franny makes sure that her Farmacy is a 'seed to shelf, hemp and health' brand that prides itself on offering traceable products to the farm and crop they originated from. The brand has also engaged a state-ofthe-art Blockchain technology and is fully transparent with the vertically integrated supply chain.
The fact that Franny has a master's in Education, a Ph.D. coursework with the Smithsonian Institute for 'Teaching with the Brain in Mind', and a Farm Camp business as well, learning becomes inspiring.
FUTURE EXPANSION
Going forward, Franny will continue to offer the best of products directly from her farm and empower people to understand all about CBD and hemp. For her short-term goal, she has set her eyes on opening the next 10 dispensaries/ territories across multiple states alongside launching two new product lines by the end of 2021. And for the long-term goal, Franny seeks to establish more product lines and expand more not only in the US but also internationally.
On the personal side of things, the in luential leader is embedded in all things hemp and has Franny's brand expansions in hemp for iber and hemp for food.
Jesse Nicassio J e s N i c
Jesse Nicassio s s e c a s s i o Improving Fitness with Innovative Equipment
Atransformational leader is
an individual who puts the people's needs before theirs. That's where it starts and that's where it needs to continue. Most leaders truly start for the better of people, solving issues, coming up with alternatives but are lost overtime when money overshadows the love for the business. A true leader will always keep their passion, love, and what the people need before the money. Leaders will have to change their direction but always need to keep their integrity.
Creator of the world's most versatile itness and therapeutic training tool, Jesse Nicassio is an embodiment of
this transformational leadership. He believes that you can't enter a profession thinking that this is a great way to make tons of money. You have to love it. He regards that there is a way to lead employees and run your business without sacri icing your name. That's a leader and when this leader keeps innovating to help improve others, people will believe in you and respect you and what you have to offer.
A BENEVOLENT LEADER
Jesse has always been involved in sports. As a child he remembers playing many sports. He was an
active kid who did not sit still. His parents encouraged him to begin playing sports all year round to contain his high energy levels. When he was young, he had two goals. One was to play in the NFL and the other was to be an inventor. And he achieved both.
Out of college, Jesse was picked up by the St. Louis Rams and played for the Rams and Colts. It was an amazing experience which taught him so many lessons. He is a thirdgeneration inventor following his great grandfather who invented the orange cone and snap on puzzle mats and now decades later, he sells and installs those puzzle mats.
Jesse started working-out in middle school, so he had the drive and passion for itness. His mind was always running so his creative juices were always lowing. At the tail-end of his footballing career he invented his irst product called the EZ Kicker Football. From there he invented his famous product the 'MASS Suit'. This launched him into the athlete product market and eventually led him to selling all athletic and itness products which he has used throughout his life. Jesse has actual experience and knowledge of what and how to use certain itness equipment. He is not just an average salesman like many others out there.
Jesse uses his knowledge to improve the health and itness market to allow individuals to live a happy and healthier lifestyle. By creating itness classes and routines, he has given thousands the chance to lose weight and get on track to looking and feeling the way they dreamed of. With the science of his training products, Juke Performance and Jesse have entered into the markets of helping people with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Cancer and other special needs or diseases. His extensive research and work has put him in the ield of helping out wounded soldiers and others who have suffered traumatic injuries.
BRINGING MORE FITNESS INTO YOUR LIFE
Juke Performance was created with Jesse's background and experience in sports. He has worked and played with some of the best athletes and trainers and has used top of the line equipment, thus giving him a strong foundation to create an athletic/ itness equipment company.
Juke Performance has helped people in many ways but the product that stands out the most is the MASS Suit. MASS Suit is one of the most dynamic products on the market. The Suit improves athletes and itness enthusiasts in their speed, strength, power, agility, and endurance. It is used by athletes across different sports. You can wear it in the pool, on a bike, out for a run, and during your high-performance trainings.
Jesse mentions that this is truly one of the greatest functional training products on the market. Having worked with professional athletes in the NFL, NBA, MLS, UFC, and PGA, he feels remarkable what each athlete feels while wearing the Suit. After training in the Suit, you will feel sore in certain areas the following day. That will tell you where you need to concentrate to improve strength and ultimately decrease the chances of injury.
INSPIRING JOURNEY TO SUCCESS
The biggest roadblock Jesse faced while starting his new business was lack of funds. The funds to keep the wheels turning. It costs a whole lot more than what most think to start and run a company and money is a hard thing to come upon. “I did not come from money or was given money. I had to earn it myself or go out and ind it. Everything else that you think is a roadblock you just ind a way or learn it yourself,” added Jesse.
“My journey has not been easy. It's been a long journey. I knew that this stage of my life was going to be a lot of learning and educating. Every year we improve but it's a lot of hard
work, failures and discovering new ways to improve,” said Jesse.
At Juke Performance Jesse pretty much wears all hats. He tries to delegate tasks but oversees all projects when it comes to the inal decision. He handles most of the marketing along with their marketing director just because he loves marketing and providing concepts which are then handed over to the graphic designer. He likewise handles sales and personal relations. He also helps in designing the gyms and installations and builds some of the equipment, so he knows how it's built and if anything goes wrong how to ix it. Jesse even drops simple products off to meet clients in person and to talk with other owners. “All CEO's need to remember that they are never too big to do the grunt work,” asserts Jesse.
ADVICE FOR ASPIRING LEADERS
Jesse strongly advises to follow your ideas and passion until the end. An idea without execution is just an idea. “I hear all the time; I had that Idea, or I have an idea. So many people waste their time and money to get a patent and never do anything with it. Don't be one of those people,” said Jesse. He further added that along the way if you bring your idea to life there will be tons of haters and people telling you 'no'. Don't listen and move on to the next. Also, prepare yourself for stress and lack of money!
FUTURE ENDEAVORS
Jesse assured that the future looks bright for him as well as Juke Performance. They have many more
stages to complete. They are working on the third stage right now with the growth of the company.
“Who knows where that will lead us but we have a couple more stages to complete after this? You may ind us in the tech world one day,” added Jesse.
Jesse asserted that he will always want to keep selling and developing products, but he is not old school and loves innovative projects. He believes that one has to keep up with the times but also not abandon our past because people love simple products. “You won't bench press a computer or your smartphone.
People will always want dumbbells, barbells and the MASS Suit to further their strength and speed!” explained Jesse.
