The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson
Jennifer is a multifaceted entrepreneur while also actively involved in her community. She owns True Fashionistas (Florida’s largest lifestyle resale store), CooiesCookies, Pink Farmhouse (online store), and Confident Entrepreneur, which encompasses her podcast, blog, motivational speaking, and coaching business for women entrepreneurs. Jennifer is an inspiration to other women business owners - showing it's possible to be successful in business while also making a difference and giving back to her community. Jennifer lives in Naples FL with her husband and twins.
The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson
Simplifying Success: Downsizing Small Business with Michelle Borders
Michelle Borders, co-founder of Naples Network Services, shares her journey in navigating the challenges of downsizing a small business. She discusses the pitfalls of over-diversification in IT, the stress and customer dissatisfaction that can come from expanding too broadly, and the importance of focusing on core strengths. Michelle offers insights on balancing business with her spouse and challenges the societal pressure for constant growth, advocating instead for a simpler, intentional approach. Join us as she highlights the benefits of understanding limits, transparent communication, and the pursuit of a balanced, fulfilling lifestyle.
Visit us at jenniferannjohnson.com and learn how Jennifer can help you build the life you dream of with her online academy, blog, one-on-one coaching, and a variety of other resources!
Today we welcome back into the studio Michelle Borders. She is the co-founder of Naples Network Services, and last time we were talking all about networking and I just admire your networking abilities, michelle. Welcome.
Michelle Borders:Thank you, Jen. I'm so happy to be here again. Yes.
Jennifer Johnson:I want to talk about small business downsizing. Some people look at it and say you know what? I don't want to get smaller, I want to get bigger, but bigger isn't always the better way to go. Would you mind sharing your story with our audience before we really delve into this topic?
Michelle Borders:Sure, I would love to, because I think everyone's encouraged to grow, grow, grow, grow, but it's seldom discussed that you could choose to get smaller.
Michelle Borders:And here's my story, I'll say my husband's family. So we were moving along with our IT business and my husband's family had a flood in their home up north twice while they were down here. They were seasonal and he had the idea to create this product called myenvirocom. So he researched it and we ended up partnering with Conditioned Air and they changed the name to my Comfort Monitor and they so they put their own spin on it and they went to China and got parts for it and really tried to get it in the high rises and things like that. So people that were seasonal could get a notification if they had a flood or a temperature change, and the idea was the property managers could see that Okay. So that was one way that we expanded. And then another way, my son went away to school and we started Hurricane Development Studios and they did websites and they were doing all these different things and we had all these college students at the.
Michelle Borders:University of Miami working with us and it just became so hard to manage the IT and then manage. My husband's sister worked for us and she came from big corporate and wasn't in love with working out of the house and just having to be so disciplined and things like that and we hired a kid that was out of college and maybe didn't have the skills and sending him out and having.
Michelle Borders:So it was just too much diversification and, um, the product nest came out and technology moved ahead and you kind of have to have to get into the high rise and things like that. Even condition air, a 50-year company, had had so and so that kind of like was stressing us out. Then, like all these relatives and kids, and we had a kid in Miami that was suddenly unresponsive and she was in the middle of doing a client's website and wouldn't respond and we had to get a lawyer and we just eventually decided that it would be much easier to just be Kevin and I. So we talked about earlier partners. We partnered with StickBoy. They take the big things, the software. Their company Vector takes the websites All those college kids are doing their own thing now.
Michelle Borders:His sister is working for Arthrex, a big company like she really wanted to do, and it's him and I and it works smoothly and we're happier, much happier.
Jennifer Johnson:Isn't that funny, though. We think that we want it all, and then we bite it off and it's too much, and then we realize that we're better just the smaller, and you can make more money doing that sometimes right, you're not wasting your resources and really the clients are happier, because we lost a client because of that kid that was not as experienced as he should have been. Right, and you're dealing with other people and you're responsible to yourself. Right, You're accountable to yourself, so you know I have to do this.
Michelle Borders:But it is scary, though, because your clients do get used to Kevin's sister or my son, and then you're like, oh no, especially the ones that they connect with better. Everyone does not connect the same with everyone.
Jennifer Johnson:So how do you think small businesses should look at whether or not they should grow or they should stay the same, or they should downsize? How do you know? Well, if they're super unhappy, they're stressed out pulling their hair out, right?
Michelle Borders:And I think if you're doing three totally different things, like I said we started to do that's too much. At least it was for us.
Jennifer Johnson:And I mean I know they say diversification is great and that's a great insulator with the economy and everything. But it sounds like you know there is a point at where you can get too diversified.
Michelle Borders:Absolutely, and there there is a point where you can be too stressed out and is it worth it? Isn't it worth it? But I think the thing that mostly concerned me was the clients. Obviously, you want them to be happy and you want them to be okay with. Oh well, they may have to wait for Kevin.
Jennifer Johnson:Right, but on the other side it could be a slippery slope, because you have all these employees and they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, so then that upsets that customer, and then they tell somebody you know that whole saying like if somebody's unhappy, they tell like seven people, if they're happy, they tell one. Absolutely Right, so you risk that as well, right?
Michelle Borders:So I think you just have to be honest, because I kind of I do consider my clients my friends because we're a family company. So I say, if that's for you, if you want to feel like you're my family, and so the way to handle it is to just be honest, and if they want to stay, they stay, and that decision should make it better, right.
Jennifer Johnson:And it's certainly not a sign of failure at all. It's a sign of knowing your business and knowing you.
Michelle Borders:And I have to share. So my neighbor, he's a builder and I saw him while I was walking the dog and he said, Michelle, I thought of you the other day because he had the opportunity to get this big client and he didn't really connect too much and he chose not to take the job. And he said and I thought of you, because some people stay small, because they don't know what they're doing, but you stay small intentionally and, coming from him, because he's bigger. Someone might consider him a small builder, but he's a, you know pretty successful.
Jennifer Johnson:He's a big, small builder.
Michelle Borders:Yeah, and coming from him, he didn't have to say that, right, so but that's very true.
Jennifer Johnson:It's so true. You know being intentional about everything that you do is going to get you to where you want to be.
Michelle Borders:And you could still be award-winning. Absolutely, gulf Shore business, best in business. The number one spot was by a company with over 30 employees, but we still got like the second or third.
Jennifer Johnson:I mean, look at that, that's amazing. And you're a company of two. It doesn't matter your size, you could be very powerful.
Michelle Borders:And it also doesn't matter where you work, because, especially after COVID, it became more acceptable to work out of your home. For a while it was like, oh, you work out of your home, but now I'm like, yeah, I'm lucky Everybody wants to work out of their home.
Jennifer Johnson:now it totally changed.
Michelle Borders:Right, and we're always setting people up to work out to be able to do that Right.
Jennifer Johnson:So and now it's become a kind of a you know a token like oh, I get to work from home. You know everybody wants that. Yeah, not for everyone. Right, Absolutely Right. Is your closet overflowing? Or maybe your kids closets are as well? Or maybe you just want to redecorate your house?
Jennifer Johnson:If you're wondering what to do with all that stuff that you've accumulated, well, bring it all to True Fashionistas. They'll sell your unwanted items for you. Take away all the hassle by doing all the work, and all you have to do is sit back and collect your money. You can reach out to them online at truefashionistascom, or come into their store or check them out on Facebook or Instagram, and that's truefashionistascom. Welcome back, friends. We are in studio with Michelle Borders, the co-founder of Naples Network Services, and we are talking about small business downsizing and how it's not a bad thing at all, and I'm curious to know how it works, or maybe how it worked for you when you decided you know what we're going to downsize our business. How do you tell your employees? When do you tell your employees? When do you do that?
Michelle Borders:Well, and also we didn't suddenly it wasn't everyone was gone either, it was little by little, by little. I don't know that it was intentional, that it was just going to be us two ending up that way. I don't know that it was intentional that it was just going to be us two ending up that way. But as I guess you address the worst problems first and then go from there and try to be completely open and honest with the other people that are still there and do whatever you can for them, but also you care about the people that aren't going to work with you anymore, so you do whatever you can to help them.
Jennifer Johnson:I mean, again, it's the golden rule treating people the way you want to be treated. That usually works for everything, right? It sure does. It certainly does. And somebody had said there was a platinum. Do you remember the platinum rule? I remember hearing that somewhere and I can't remember what it is, but it tags along with the golden rule. Okay, but I agree the golden rule Take care of them how you'd like to be taken care of, right, Right.
Michelle Borders:Even in tough situations.
Jennifer Johnson:Right, how about minimizing the effects on your customers as you're doing that downsizing? Now, like you said, it wasn't like overnight. We turned the switch off and decided we're going to be a person in a company of two. It happened gradually, but how do you prepare your customers for that? Because some people don't get the choice of doing it gradually. You know, like when COVID hit a lot of people, I remember me it went down to my husband and I because that was all we could do. Right, you know what? How would you handle that?
Michelle Borders:Again, I would be honest and and it was hard when people called and asked for certain people that were no longer there. That was hard and I just had to be polite and as honest as I could and I I don't. I don't think we lost anyone, yeah.
Jennifer Johnson:That's you were open and honest.
Michelle Borders:Right, but it is hard to not have other people to, let's say when Kevin is in the field and someone calls and needs help. It would have been nice, like it used to be, where I could just have someone else help.
Jennifer Johnson:but it's worked out. Did you notice like people talk about growing pains when they grow their business? Were there pains, downsizing, like you said, that wasn't a great example. Were there other things that came that were unexpected? Or maybe not just challenges, maybe some very positive things that came out of that?
Michelle Borders:Well, I'll say there were some. We couldn't get at this website that was being created and we had to get a lawyer, and also another website that was being created. The programmer was blocking it. It was this whole thing with GoDaddy and it was not fun.
Jennifer Johnson:It was being held hostage.
Michelle Borders:It was someone that didn't live here. And that's the thing with all these remote workers, you don't have that much control, right? So getting that intellectual property, getting access to it, getting someone else that could and I did end up getting an intern through the Naples Chamber. That was with Lorenza Walker. She was a student there and the first thing I said is you have to be responsible and responsive. It's so important I'm still using her to this day. Oh my gosh, yeah, it was years ago. She's about to graduate from FGCU and she's so good ago.
Jennifer Johnson:She's about to graduate from FGCU and she's so good, but see, okay, there goes back to that connection. Like none of the conversations that we have, they all are about your connections. You know, going back to what we were talking about on the last podcast that we did together, it's about connections Like you're still working with that person today.
Michelle Borders:Yeah, and we got our website redone and I said we have to. She has to be able to get in there and change it, cause I'm not taking. I still want to work with her. So they did. They gave her access to it and, um, I met with her for coffee recently and I'm going to try to help her find a job in her field as a programmer.
Jennifer Johnson:How has your life changed since you changed the trajectory of your business?
Michelle Borders:I would say that Kevin and I get along better, believe it or not, right, I know you would think you would get along worse because you don't have as much help. But really we know we can trust each other. We know we're both giving 100%. We know we're good with working out of the house. It's not like we're going to disappear and we're going to wonder where the other person. You know what I mean. It's better we can trust each other.
Jennifer Johnson:So you know this is unrelated to the topic, but it just occurred to me because I work with my husband as well. What challenges or what positives are there with working with your spouse? I just threw that at you because I'm like you know what, as we're on that topic, because you know, I know at times my I sit across from my when I'm in my home office. I sit across from my husband like we're sitting right now. He wants to kill me. I type really fast and it's annoying to him. He's like go somewhere else.
Michelle Borders:Well, we're so lucky because we have two buildings, two houses that are next to each other. So he works in the other one. So that's what keeps us married, right? Yeah, it's really so. That's nice. But also over the years I've learned like not to be too pestery about oh, did you get back to this person? Or like sometimes I'll just put things on his calendar even though I don't know if he's done it or not. But it's safer to just put it on the calendar than be like did you do this?
Jennifer Johnson:Did you do?
Michelle Borders:this, did you do this Right? And I think I've just learned to relax, because before I guess I would just more like being a naggish wife instead of being a coworker, and I should just realize it will get done and I don't need to be nagging.
Jennifer Johnson:I need to like you know, I know Zip it yeah, I know you know what it's worked. It works. I have to, so get better at that, because I'm that person. Did you do this? Yeah, how about this? Did you do that? When are you going to do it? That's it, it's. When are you going to do this? Well, when I get around to it.
Michelle Borders:So I have to learn to just put it on the calendar and then we have a color code. So if it's orange, it's done. Yeah, out of the office is dark green. So yeah, it's colors. So I said can you orange some of that stuff out, and that way I don't have to.
Jennifer Johnson:Right, you can see it as a glance and you know exactly what's happening. So positive things with working with your husband. I need the cricket machine. It's so funny Well.
Michelle Borders:I'm here. I feel like it's flexible and he always knows what the schedule. We know each other's schedule. He's not gone all the time.
Jennifer Johnson:It's great, I like it. And, like you said, I heard one thing from you before you can trust him. Yeah Right, like you've got each other's back and you know that. Like. You both want the best for your marriage and your business, exactly Because you've got each other Right, sunny and Cher, I got you babe Right. Yeah, it's that whole thing.
Michelle Borders:And I understand that, yeah, and I'm grateful and I'm sure you are that it works for us, right it does. Maybe it wouldn't work for everyone.
Jennifer Johnson:Right, I mean, there are days, like I said you know I don't like my typing skills, but you figure your way through it. You get through whatever the rough spots are and it makes the brighter spots even brighter, Absolutely so. It has been wonderful having you on again today. Is there anything that we missed in wanting to talking about downsizing that I didn't?
Michelle Borders:It's not a common thing to do. Everywhere you look, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, but I am much happier and I am thrilled to connect with anyone that wants to talk about it or help in any way that I can, because we are functioning better.
Jennifer Johnson:It was the best decision for us, and you would be such a great resource to our listeners If they want to connect with you. How can they do so if they want to?
Michelle Borders:The best way would be email mborders@ naplesnetworksservices. com. I'm on LinkedIn, I'm on Facebook and I'd be happy to help any way I can.
