Business, Lifestyle, and Sparking your Light with Jaclyn DiGregorio
“This is about zooming out and asking yourself, `what do you want your life to look like?`”
Take a hard look at your life right now - your business, your relationship. Is everything how you want them to be? If you said yes, wow! What a journey it must have been, huh?
When the things in your life are not exactly what you want, that's okay. Getting everything in alignment is a process of life that takes time and a whole lot of hard work.
In my recent podcast, I had the pleasure of having the wonderful Jaclyn DiGregorio - a motivational speaker, life coach, and best-selling author - as my guest. We talked about how she started her business from her dorm room at Georgetown University and how that led her to help and nurture the same success for other women.
Like any other success story, Jaclyn’s highs came with their lows. She went through a series of failures with her business ventures that eventually led her to the path she is on now.
Her first idea was to make plates that promote healthy eating. She started waitressing on campus and saving up money for it.
“I was able to order the plates with a little bit of help from my parents and my waitressing money. Midway through the year, the plates came from overseas, and by the time they came, I sort of realized that they weren't going to work.”
Jaclyn realized the plate business was a failure. The shipment took nine months, only for her to receive broken plates.
Jaclyn then went on Kickstarter and raised $20K to help her build the app. She went to different sororities to talk about her eating disorder to raise awareness for the app she was developing.
Unfortunately, the app failed. Jaclyn almost gave up.
“I gave it my all and nothing is working, I should just get a job. Especially when the comparison kicked in. I was seeing some of my friends get their own places and have these great well-paying jobs. Here I am, I was 22 or 23 at the time, feeling like man, nothing's going my way.”
Being the true warrior that she is, Jaclyn went on a personal development journey. She came across a question in a book she was reading that asked, “What is working?”
“The first thing my brain said was nothing is working, everything is failing, and it's time to give up. And then I thought, that can't be true. Something must be working.”
And something did. While the app failed, her speeches didn’t. “I think we all are born with gifts and talents— and to figure out what they are and lean into them is really beautiful.”
Jaclyn then started emailing her speech to colleges and charged $1,000 for it. In 2018, she made $11,000, and $110K the next year. Today, she has bigger goals to achieve and believes that a 7-figure total is possible.
“When I think about the things that we're teaching and the conversations that we have, like in this moment, but in so many moments that come, we can affect so many people and change so many people's lives. And that's why I'm doing it.”
Look at the bigger picture you envision your life. It doesn’t matter how small or big of a step you take, as long as it is a step forward. Just start.
Change the way you think, manifest good things, and take a step forward every day— and soon enough, you’ll see a light spark in you.
For the full episode, listen here.
To contact Jaclyn
https://www.instagram.com/jaclyndigregorio/