The Dayton area continues to see a steady stream of entrepreneurs, bringing new innovations and outlooks to various industries in the region. But how should future women business owners navigate their journey from employee to employer?
The gap between industry employee and entrepreneur is only one jump away. Jen Papadakis, social media entrepreneur, said Dayton’s supportive network of businesswomen and startup centers will catch local innovators in their leap of faith, just as they caught her.
Papadakis’ personal turning point followed a year-long fight with cancer which inspired her to jump-start her business venture, Jen Gets Social, in 2019. The company helps local small business owners and nonprofits grow their business through business coaching, LinkedIn thought leadership as well as social media campaigns and strategies.
“Once you face death at a really young age, you understand that the only thing that truly matters is living each day as authentically as possible,” Papadakis said.
From her company’s official launch in September 2019, Papadakis said she quickly gained a client base and climbed to almost six futures by March 2020.
Panic from the pandemic cost Papadakis her entire client base, but she sought recovery soon after. Now the company is well over its six-figure revenue mark with Papadakis hiring a team of contract workers to facilitate work.
Jen Gets Social saw a 400% increase in its second year of business and Papadakis said she is on pace to double her revenue in 2022. She said steady demand for services has even prompted her to become more selective in taking on campaign projects and additional clients.
Papadakis attributes her growth, success and quick recovery in large part to her large network of local businesswomen who have recommended clients to her and offered words of advice, worth their weight in gold.
Expanding a local network can be as simple as virtual connections through Facebook groups or LinkedIn connections, which Papadakis called the No. 1 tool in modern business. But she also encourages women to participate in local events such as DBJ hosted Mentoring Monday or Bizwomen gatherings.
Additionally, Papadakis stressed the importance of utilizing local startup service groups like Aviatra Dayton who helped her at the start of her journey and financial groups that can offer support and business advice.
However, Papadakis said women pursuing their own business ventures often have to reprogram themselves. Women entering the entrepreneurial space as a second career can often carry with them the political climates of the workplace, something they have to shake off in pursuit of success.
“When you own your business, it does not pay for you to let people speak over you,” Papadakis said. “In other fields, it sometimes does. That’s just how it is. But in business, it forces you to be your best self and rise to a challenge.”
Reprogramming learned habits, putting away pride in pursuit of help or advice and taking a financial leap into an unfamiliar space can all be challenging for women entrepreneurs. The key to riding the waves and surmounting the challenges within them will take time and flexibility, even with the help of peers, Papadakis said.
Businesswomen unable to make an immediate leap can ease into their new career can utilize other talents through part-time work. Papadakis said a successful business will, at the beginning, involve patient pursuance in times of low demand with the anticipation that a boom in sales will come with time.
The frustrations of the beginning of a business and the challenges are part of the path to success. Papadakis said businesswomen should allow themselves to be frustrated, but the important piece is to breathe and utilize local tools and professionals to carve a path forward as she and many others did throughout the pandemic.
A woman’s innate understanding of the reality of a situation will allow them to flourish in the startup space as they perfect a balance of intuition and industry data and logistics. Papadakis said she would have liked to have trusted herself and dove into the entrepreneurial waters sooner in life.
“If I had known how easy business was back when I was working in the ivory tower, or in any other position, I would have done it sooner,” Papadakis said. “But you don't know how easy it is until somebody kind of shows you the ropes and you ask the right people.”
Papadakis is a past DBJ Forty Under 40 honoree and a professor of social media at The University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications. She also sits on various nonprofit boards in Dayton and Columbus.
Papadakis will pursue serving a broader audience through teaching workshops in 2022. More information on her first workshop, LinkedIn Leadership, can be found on her website or on social media.
Jen Gets Social
Founded: 2019
Owner: Jen Papadakis
Employees: 1; additional contract employees
Website: www.jengetssocial.com
Service: Social media campaigns and strategies, LinkedIn thought leadership and business coaching
