535. Grit, seeking validation, and the importance of failing - with Jess Ekstrom

May 7, 2020

Jess Ekstrom, founder of micdropworkshop.com and author of chasingthebrightside.com, discusses the importance of grit, learning from failures, seeking validation, and the value of time spent on meaningful work. They also explore the challenges of building a brand, the power of journaling, and introduce the Growth Day app for personal development.

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ANECDOTE

College Startup That Survived A Scam

Jess started Headbands of Hope in college with scrappy resources and goodwill.
After wiring $10,000 to a factory that vanished she pivoted, bought two headbands with a $200 grant, and launched the site.

INSIGHT

Optimism Fuels Grit

Jess links optimism directly to grit and persistence when facing setbacks.
She says optimism is the secret ingredient that keeps entrepreneurs moving after failures.

ADVICE

Plan For Worst, Then Return To Hope

Prepare for worst-case scenarios by asking what you'll do and who can help you.
Then stop ruminating and return focus to what could go right.

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In This Episode You Will Learn About:

How to react once you’ve been ripped off
How optimism leads to grit
Learning from your failures
Spending too much energy wanting validation
How time spent on things that matter is never wasted

Resources:

micdropworkshop.com
chasingthebrightside.com
Instagram: instagram.com/jess_ekstrom
Facebook: facebook.com/jessekstrom
Twitter: twitter.com/jess_ekstrom
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jess-ekstrom-59160342

Show Notes:

In this quickie, I’ve invited Jess Ekstrom to get some much needed social interaction. The founder of Headbands of Hope, she’s an amazing, inspiring entrepreneur — and she knows about the grit it takes to start a business. We talk about grit and optimism, making mistakes, and moving forward.

Guest Bio:

Jess Ekstrom is the founder and CEO of Headbands of Hope, a company she started as a junior in college in 2012. For every headband sold, a headband is given to a child with cancer.

Her first brush with success was selling all of her toys on eBay when she was twelve. Since then, Jess has been featured on the TODAY Show, Good Morning America, the Hallmark Channel, Inside Edition, Vanity Fair, Forbes, and People Magazine ran an exclusive on her when her book was released. Jess is a regular guest on QVC.

More importantly, Headbands of Hope has donated over half a million headbands reaching every children’s hospital in the United States and in fifteen countries.

Her book Chasing the Bright Side debuted as a #1 New Release on Amazon and Apple picked her audiobook as their Must-Listen of the month. She thinks it’s because of her Bill Nye the Science Guy impression she did when she was narrating.

Jess is also a professional speaker and founder of Mic Drop Workshop, an online course with the mission of empowering more women to share their message as a speaker.

Some of her career highlights have been...

Hosting proms at Children's Hospitals
Being dubbed "The Ultimate Game Changer" by Women's Health Magazine
Making the Under 30 Women to Watch list by Business Insider
Being named a “top motivational speaker” by Forbes
Donating over half a million headbands to every children's hospital in America and 15 countries
Making it on CNN when she finished The Krispy Kreme challenge (where you eat a dozen donuts and run 5 miles)
and teaching her dog to sit, stay and shake

Jess and her husband, Jake, travel around the country in their Airstream with their dog, Ollie.