018: Teen Entrepreneur Jordan Johnson On Putting Passion Into Action
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Summary:
This week, Executive Minds is honored to be joined by teen entrepreneur Jordan Johnson, founder and Chief Cookie Creator at Jordan’s Cookies. Jordan started her entrepreneurial journey at just eight years-old, and now, as junior in high school, runs her own business of shipping fresh baked cookies all around the country. Her mission is simple: To make the best cookies on the planet. Jordan is a great reminder to all of us launchers that you don’t have to wait for anyone’s permission to put your passion into action.
Welcome to episode 18 of the Executive Minds Podcast.
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Three Takeaways:
1. Your customers tell you what they want…when you ask. When you’re launching, it’s easy to get tunnel vision and forget about the folks on the other side—your customers. Jordan initially included a feedback card with her cookie orders so that customers could help her perfect her recipes. This let her know exactly what to improve and what was just right. Jordan may not have known it, but she was in the Validate stage of the Launch Loop, testing her prototype with objectivity and adapting based on that data.
2. Build a business that makes sense for your life. It’s hard to scale without having the right business model and systems in place. Jordan knew that between the seasonality of cookie sales, and working full-time as a student, she couldn’t create a sustainable business. So she created corporate relationships for businesses to order cookies year-round, creating more opportunities for re-orders—which means more consistent revenue. On top of that, she decided to make it clear that cookies will only be delivered on certain days of the week, allowing margin in her life for school, friends, and family.
3. Let yourself fail. This lesson is especially important when it comes to parents and their kids. Jordan’s mother knew that it would have been easy to to be protective, not wanting to see her daughter possibly fail. But she also knew that supporting Jordan’s passion and being her biggest cheerleader was the best thing she could do as a parent, whether she failed or not. They need to learn how to face obstacles on their own, which is really great training for adulthood, too.