Nicole Jordan:
I believe in service, and we are a company of service that caters. That's how I live my life and my career as a consultant, project management, that customer experience, that's number one.
Sam Saperstein:
Welcome to season three of the Women On The Move podcast. I'm your host, Sam Saperstein. Women On The Move is a global initiative at JPMorgan Chase designed to help women grow their businesses, improve their financial health, and build their careers. In the first two seasons, we spoke with a range of business leaders about gender equality, and the leadership lessons they've learned throughout their careers. I highly recommend you go back and listen to those episodes, if you haven't already.
Sam Saperstein:
In season three, we're focused on female business owners. While many business owners are struggling during this pandemic, women and people of color have additional challenges. We wanted to tell their stories of resilience and grit, and how they're meeting the needs of their customers and communities.
Sam Saperstein:
Like many people in the food services industry, Nicole Jordan faced a sudden drop in demand for her catering company during the COVID-19 pandemic. Determined to adapt her business and take care of her staff, Nicole turned to non-traditional funding sources to change her company's focus, and turn to prepared meals. I spoke with Nicole about her experience during the crisis, and her hopes for the future of her business. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Sam Saperstein:
Thank you so much Nicole, for joining us on this podcast, it's really great to have you on.
Nicole Jordan:
Thank you for having me, I really appreciate the invitation.
Sam Saperstein:
Can we start by you telling us about the business, when you started it, and what you focus on?
Nicole Jordan:
Absolutely. So Nicole Jordan Catering is the name of our business, and we are a full service catering company, here in the city of Chicago. We are located in McKinley Park, and we do everything from dinner for two to dinner for 400, and all things in between. Yeah, we cover a lot of ground. We have been in business a little over four years, it'll be five years next March, officially, which is the same time that I actually left corporate America to start the business.
Nicole Jordan:
It's been a long time coming. I think this has actually been an effort that had been about 15 to 20 years in the making, which started in my other career life, being in health and welfare benefits, administration, and consulting. Then, moving into technology and project management in the HR space. But, after undergrad I worked for a number of years, and instead of going to business school I went to culinary school.
Sam Saperstein:
Ah.
Nicole Jordan:
In 2005, much to my mother's excitement, making that decision. Went to culinary school with the desire to be an entrepreneur, because I knew that's what I wanted to be, and I'd landed on wanting to do that in the food space. I love entertaining, I love cooking, I come from a line of great cooks including my mom and my grandmother, who actually was a cook for the Knickerbocker Hotel for 30 years. Went to culinary school while working full-time as a consultant and traveling, and decided to start a business at that time, which I did as a weekend warrior. But was not quite ready to make the leap into full on entrepreneurialship, so I put that effort on the shelf some years ago, with the desire to come back to it.
Nicole Jordan:
In 2014, made that decision to start making the preparation to where I am now.
Sam Saperstein:
Nicole, in March when you were staring to see what was happening with the pandemic, and clients were canceling events that they had booked with you, what was your reaction? And, what was the feeling at the time? Were things changing for you overnight, did you feel like you had time to think things through?
Nicole Jordan:
It happened pretty quickly. At the end of February, very beginning of March, that first week, I'd gotten a couple of cancellations. And then, literally, into that second week it flipped on a dime, it was an avalanche, literally. One came after the other, every day, that whole week. All the stuff for March literally was wiped out by the end of that week.
Nicole Jordan:
April, all of it came down. And so, by about the 13th, the last day the team was together in the kitchen, we were delivering to a client, we were in the midst of delivering, and they were calling us saying, "Don't come."
Sam Saperstein:
Oh no.
Nicole Jordan:
That whole week, it was the building ... For me, it was a panic. But I'm like, "We're going to still keep doing the stuff that's on the books." But, by the time we got to that Friday, literally everything between mid-March and June had been canceled. Like I said, the client that we were delivering for on that Friday, we did a day-long session for them, as my porter was delivering the breakfast, they were calling me saying, "We're not going to be there. You can leave it there, in the building, for those who are there. You do not have to bring the rest of the day's food." We ended up donating it to a shelter, we cleaned up the kitchen, and I had to send my staff home.
Sam Saperstein:
Oh my goodness.
Nicole Jordan:
Yeah. It was the panic, it was a little bit of anger, and a whole lot of, "Oh my God, what am I about to do?" In that moment, you just feel wow, very emotional. But, I had to pull myself back together really quickly. And that evening, I really started my other brain, my other corporate brain started going. How do we sustain, how do we get through this? Because my initial goal was just how do we get through whatever this is, and then work to get to the other side.
Sam Saperstein:
You announce that you were going to pivot the business to more prepared meals. So I'd love to understand what went into that decision? And what did you have to do to get the company ready, and to get your employees ready, to make such a change?
Nicole Jordan:
So when I actually started my business in 2016, when I was doing this now full-time, I actually had a meal service for a year. It was parallel to our catering, but the catering outpaced the meal service and so I put that on the shelf to really explore and run with my catering clients and that effort.
Nicole Jordan:
I still had a lot of the information, as far as our platform that we used online for meals within our website, embedded, so I started to unearth that very quickly. I put together a menu. And thought about okay, we could do this on a very controlled basis, so that I would not necessarily need my whole stuff. Because I had to send my entire staff home, and this would allow us to be able to do some things, but it would be on a much smaller scale so I would at least have a few staff members to be able to help me. But also, be mindful of the fact that we don't know what we don't know with all of this, so social distancing and all of the things that come with it.
Nicole Jordan:
So I rolled it out, very quickly. I attribute that to being a very skilled multi-tasking project manager in my former life.
Sam Saperstein:
What did you notice, in terms of what people were needing at this time, during the crisis? We weren't going to work, we weren't going out as much. I found, and I'm in New York, getting food was getting more difficult, we didn't want to go to the stores, or the stores were very busy. You couldn't really order online very easily, from some of the stores that used to deliver. So, what were you hearing and seeing, in terms of people's need for getting food easily?
Nicole Jordan:
Well, all of the things that you mentioned are things that I had been hearing. On top of that, at least here in Chicago, you had a lot of companies, or restaurants, rather, who were flipping to heavy takeout, or really delivery base. You have the fast food restaurants, you have your fast casual and different restaurants, but there was still that missing need that I was hearing in terms of that home cooked meal. The thing that you want to do, but you got parents who are working, you got individuals who don't have kids who are working, kids are in school, online meetings, and your day is still full, just navigating all that's happening in the world, plus still trying to manage some semblance of normalcy in your home.
Nicole Jordan:
The missing piece was, "I really want that prepared meal, that is home cooked, it's nutritious, it's good," without feeling like it's not so egregious, then if I ordered from said other location.
Sam Saperstein:
Nicole, you've had a lot of experience with different financing options for your business, including self-financing. Can you talk about that journey, and the different kinds of things that you tapped along the way?
Nicole Jordan:
Absolutely. I started out solely financing through personal funds, savings, 401K investments, and that evolved into doing things like crowdsourcing through Kiva.org, getting external funds. My parents, they did some contribution later on. And then, that evolved into I actually did get other loans through financial organizations, but not the traditional bank.
Nicole Jordan:
It's very important to, as you start out as an entrepreneur, be on the right page and foundation with your finances, and getting the help that you need to have your accounting, your bookkeeping in order, and understanding. I spent a lot of time struggling with that, so it did not position me to go to a traditional bank and be able to secure funds for my business, so I did take some alternate routes. What I have evolved into now is I've had the opportunity to, with the pandemic, get support and assistance because of the compromise that happened to the business, and losing revenue, and things being thrown a little off kilter. I've been able to secure loans and grants.
Sam Saperstein:
Tell me about, how do you keep aware of lending sources out there, or other sources of funding? How do you make sure you're keeping abreast of what to go after, and what's available?
Nicole Jordan:
There's a lot out there, and keeping track sometimes can be a challenge. But, the great thing about what I've been going through and experiencing is I've developed really great relationships with certain organizations, like Axiom Chicago. They have been a really great funnel of information, support, entrepreneurial care. I did a program with them called the Neighborhood Entrepreneurial Lab, where I was able to really work through some things in my business, get a mentor, and start to be in a pipeline for information as it comes out, as it relates to loans and things like that.
Nicole Jordan:
I have a great alumni network, and through the Founders Forward, doing the work I'm doing now with a couple of JPMorgan mentors, and getting really great guidance on how I'm navigating into this new space of the meal service, and marketing, and branding, and exposing myself more to an even broader client base. There's really been great information and support there, too.
Nicole Jordan:
So really aligning myself, and leveraging those networks, those organizations, including the [Steans 00:11:50] Foundation, who does a lot of work in Chicago, in North Lawndale, they've been a really great help to African-American small business owners. So that has been really the key, for me, in alignment, and really seeking out and having a relationship with these various organizations and different programs that I've done, that provide a wealth of information that is out there. That has been super beneficial to me.
Sam Saperstein:
As you said, you've recently joined the Founders Forward program, which is a mentorship program that we have, pairing female founders with our employees for mentorship. Why is mentorship so important to you, as an entrepreneur?
Nicole Jordan:
It's absolutely critical. Entrepreneurialship sometimes can feel like a very lonely path, and sometimes you feel like you're toughing it out alone. And, you're really not, but each entrepreneur's path is unique. But there are those who have insight, experience, guidance to give, and are giving it freely.
Nicole Jordan:
Pre-pandemic, I had really been desiring to have what I call my own advanced advisory board of mentors. I had been really speaking into this for a while, and it's really coming into fruition now, where I have mentors in a lot of different areas. I mean, from the legal profession, I have mentors who do executive coaching for Fortune 500 C-level clients, and I have mentors who are in the food space. So what I've done, kind of strategically, too, is really focus on the needs I have, and what I need to have poured into me.
Sam Saperstein:
You know, being on the other side of this, and mentoring entrepreneurs, and having my colleagues also mentor entrepreneurs, we talk about the fact that a lot of women who are in these programs will often be hesitant to ask for help. They feel they're taking too much of people's time, they don't want to ask of too many things, or almost reluctant too, even though that's part of the process and we've made people available. What would you tell another female entrepreneur, in terms of taking advantage of those mentors, and asking for their time?
Nicole Jordan:
Do it anyway, do it afraid. I've been there, I've felt the same way. And we sometimes feel like I can figure this out, why can't I figure this out? Or, I should be able to do this. It's really not about that. You need other perspectives, sometimes you just don't know what you don't know. Or, you have blind spots. There's no bad, wrong question at all, and there should be no hesitation.
Nicole Jordan:
I mean, I've literally lived with some of those same feelings, in terms of seeking out understanding things from a financial perspective, or getting assistance in certain areas. What I realized is there is freedom in having a voice, and giving a voice to that because it will help to expedite things, number one, in terms of dealing with issues or situations. And someone has been there, so why not leverage that sage advice, wisdom, and experience?
Sam Saperstein:
Where would you like to take the business from here? Either in the environment that we're in right now, and hopefully well beyond. What are your dreams and visions?
Nicole Jordan:
So, I have a few for the business. The meal service, one, obviously with that being debuted. I'm also rethinking and reimagining how our catering looks because the pandemic has impacted what we do. Gatherings of people is what we gravitate towards in our business to serve, and serve good food. So looking at how people are gathering will shift how we present offerings, so I'm looking at that as well. We're going to start focusing on the small, intimate gatherings, and preparing and creating packages and services that are geared towards that as well. We want to be able to be nimble with the marketplace, and with the conditions that are driving the changes in the marketplace.
Nicole Jordan:
One other area for me, which is an offshoot of the business, it's food adjacent but it's more customer centric, and service centric, is I'm a huge person about service. I talk about it all the time, in addition to food. I really would love to create an offshoot of the business that really focuses on working with small business, as it relates to the ROI on customer service.
Sam Saperstein:
The consultant in you, coming back out. You would actually advise other small businesses on the client service element, customer experience element?
Nicole Jordan:
Correct. Particularly, I have a heart for food businesses, food based businesses, so that would be ...
Sam Saperstein:
Right there.
Nicole Jordan:
Right there, that's my sweet spot. But businesses in general, small businesses. I love to say we are small, but we are not small minded. How do we think bigger about our businesses? I find that our small businesses, we are caught up in our day-to-day, we are caught in up building the plan as we're flying, and being in it. From personal experience, from going through this myself, I see that. I have the luxury, or the benefit, of the career I had, which carries forward into what I'm doing now. How do I merge those two, to help others?
Sam Saperstein:
I think there's so many people who take their passion into their small business, but don't necessarily have all those business skills that you've been able to develop with your corporate career, consulting, and everything else. What would be the one or two things that you would advise small businesses to think through, as they're building?
Nicole Jordan:
Operationally, your procedures, how you do what you do. It's very important, I think. When you're in that build and do mode, sometimes that gets lost as you're trying to create. How do you best qualify, quantify those steps, that processes, what you do? Because that really translates into the experience of your customer, right? If you are consistently doing a thing, how do you know you're consistently doing it if you don't have it documented, or you don't have a process for it, or you're not trained? You can't do it yourself if you want to grow, you have staff. Are they doing it consistently? You have to really get a handle on that, that's so critical.
Nicole Jordan:
It could start with the basics, and you can build from there. So being able to do that is a huge priority. It's a make or break, to some extent, for businesses, especially as you look to grow.
Sam Saperstein:
Yeah.
Nicole Jordan:
That's number one.
Nicole Jordan:
Then, number two is the financials, out the gate. I'm not an accountant. I studied economics in college, but I am nobody's accountant. But starting out, seek the help starting out, don't take it on yourself. Unless you are an accountant, don't take it on yourself because that's a very important piece, because you want to also think about being positioned in that way, from a financial standpoint, because that impacts with how you engage with financial institutions, your ability to crowdsource. Or, need to. Or, your ability to talk to a CDFI, a community lending organization, and be able to get funds, or get financing, or start to build relationships. Having your finances, and starting from the start with that in a good place, is the other critical thing.
Nicole Jordan:
If I could add a number three to the one and two, build relationships with organizations in your area. Be it a chamber, a CDFI, SCORE, there are so many people who want to see you thrive in business. You have to take the active steps to look up and find those things, but they are out there, and people are willing. And there are resources that free that are out there. I stress that, because that's the entrepreneur's favorite word, free, that are out there, that are people who work to make sure, and to see that businesses can thrive. I stress that for entrepreneurs, to really go after those organizations, those opportunities, programs that exist, because they are a great lifeline.
Sam Saperstein:
Another critical component obviously, to your business, is the talent in your staff. How do you think about finding great people, training them, and keeping them engaged?
Nicole Jordan:
That's been a challenge for me, too. I've had really great people come and work for me. I'm a hard boss, I'm just going to be honest, I'm a tough one. But, I have people who, thank goodness, see the heart of what I'm doing even on my rough days. I believe in the service, I believe in everyone coming and being of service as well, so I've been very fortunate in the people who have come and worked for me and stayed, who are great with my customers. I'm always getting compliments. "So-and-so was really great with us, they handled us with such care." I mean, I always get compliments on my people.
Nicole Jordan:
I think my challenge within staffing has been, as I've moved quickly, and the business has moved quickly and grown, is developing more senior staff. So having an executive chef, or how do I develop, or how do I attract staff that are now going to be management, and cascading, and now perpetuating what I espouse in terms of my business, the philosophies, our mission, our goal. That is the challenge for me, because now me, it's me and then everyone else. But now, I need to have people who are in between, as we're looking to do more things. So looking and thinking about that is a challenge, and how do I attract that talent.
Nicole Jordan:
That's new territory for me because, as a small business owner, you have to have your arms around everything. So it's a part of relinquishing, and trusting as well.
Sam Saperstein:
I hope you have many advisors on your board, then, helping you think about that.
Nicole Jordan:
I'm currently getting coached on that right now.
Sam Saperstein:
Let me ask you this. How are you taking care of yourself, and feeding yourself, during this time? What are your self care tips?
Nicole Jordan:
Oh, wow. I am what I call a recovering workaholic. I'm such a driver, so I spent a career working hard, and then became an entrepreneur. It's true, they say you work 80 hours a week to not have to work. Which, I think for me, you work 120 hours a week to not have to 80, because I've lived that 80 hour life.
Nicole Jordan:
So I had been on this pace for the last four years, I've just been going, going, going, going, going. Relentless. My body was taking a toll, the effects were showing up. So that had been on my radar, that I need to figure out some balance because I can't keep the pace up, in trying to grow the business and just be on it, on it, on it. Then, when all of this happened with the pandemic, literally everything came to a complete stop. So the body in motion stays in motion, a body in rest ... I didn't realize how much rest I needed.
Nicole Jordan:
So the pandemic actually brought some good things in my life. It brought to the forefront the absolute need that I have for self care, so I'm carrying that into what I'm doing with the business going forward. I can do all the things, I just don't have to do all the things at once. I'm looking at how I pace myself, how I'm leveraging my resources, and what's reasonable in terms of how much business that we will take on, as the business starts to come back. And then, how I also start to add on team members, who are also going to be able to lead so that I'm not the only one manning, in that regard.
Nicole Jordan:
From a self care standpoint, my skin has got a lot better, lost a little weight, drinking a whole lot more water. I'm just being, honestly, more mindful. I think this experience has definitely taught us that we have to really take care, and have a level of appreciation, for what we're going through, or the life that we have, rather. I can be all work, but there has to be balance. That was a huge lesson, and I'm pulling that forward.
Sam Saperstein:
Great reminders.
Sam Saperstein:
I really love how you think about your business, and I wish you continued success, and particularly through this time. So thank you Nicole, it's a pleasure to talk to you.
Nicole Jordan:
Thank you, I appreciate the time. This has been an honor for me.
Sam Saperstein:
Many thanks to Nicole Jordan for joining us today, and opening up about her path to entrepreneurship, and how she quickly restructured her business during the pandemic. Nicole shared many gems of advice for entrepreneurs, particularly surrounding funding sources, and getting your business affairs in order. We hope you find the information helpful.
Sam Saperstein:
The mission of Women On The Move is to help women in their professional and personal lives. Our goal is to introduce you to people with great ideas, inspiring stories, and a passion to make a difference. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe so you won't miss any others. For JPMorgan Chase's Women On The Move, I'm Sam Saperstein.