Join us today as successful business owner Jo Ilfeld shares with us how she started a business, sold it and then reinvented herself as a biz coach to share with others how they can become successful just like her.

Jo's Bio

After graduating from Yale, and dipping her toes in the consulting field, Jo decided to delve deep into how people make decisions for her PhD thesis in Business from UC Berkeley.  After finishing her PhD in Marketing, Jo joined together with a business partner to start Let’s Go Strolling, an ecommerce site for strollers, baby gear and juvenile products!  Amusingly, Jo thought she knew something about running a business from her PhD, boy did she have a lot to learn!

Jo quickly realized that while knowing the marketing field helps, it’s certainly not enough knowledge to run a small business and especially to make it successful!   Jo realized that in running her online retail business, she was working all the time!   Daily you could find her checking email on her Smartphone while her kids were playing at the park, responding to emails on her open computer while making dinner, and she almost always stayed up late at night to work.

Jo FINALLY began to stop and wonder, “Was this why I started my own business? To work all the time?”  After realizing that she was no longer running the business of her dreams but was instead chained to her email and her computer – she reaching the end of her rope and knew things had to change.  Jo began strategizing and found creative ways to simplify her business and her days.  Through trial and error she discovered the tricks that all successful entrepreneurs already know – when to delegate, how to drop the time-intensive to-dos with the lowest payback, and what easy marketing strategies can bring in thousands of dollars with very little effort.  Surprisingly, Jo went from working 6 days a week to working 3-4 days a week and yet the business continued to grow to sales of over 1 million and she actually earned more money. 

Eventually Jo realized that instead of devoting her work time to running her own business, she would rather help coach other business owners to live the life of their dreams – own a business that rocks and still have the time for a life.  Jo successfully sold her business (during the height of the recession) and is now bringing the same passion she had for running her business to helping her clients succeed in THEIR own business. 

Jo successfully guides business owners through the process of assessing and putting their strengths to work in their business, as well as using advanced time management tools so they can work smarter, not harder.  Her clients often find they are conquering their stress and business burn-out, growing their business, earning more money, gaining more visibility in their market, all while better balancing their work and life responsibilities.  Because when it comes down to it, Jo believes we start a business out of love AND a desire for freedom and it’s important to fully live into that dream.