For this week's edition of our RISK project, I spoke to Jana Franklin, a serial entrepreneur with a relentless hunger for accomplishment and an extraordinary track record of opening successful Fantastic Sam's and Jimmy John's. A year ago, she switched gears from franchised businesses and launched a proprietary firm, CEO Concierge, matching executives with hand-selected, highly qualified virtual assistants. This newest business endeavor is a true passion project, one that’s benefited from a combination of Jana's tenacity and commitment to producing exceptional service and her partner Reyna Nebeker's organizational and process-based skills.
At the start of her entrepreneurial journey, Jana was eager to take on any new challenge that was thrown her way and expanded her scope of business quickly as she opened location after location. But she noted that she's found time to take a pause and truly evaluate her business strategy. As time has gone on, she's found resilience in her work ethic and the success that it's created for her.
As the oldest child in her family, Jana grew up playing sports, involving herself in school activities, and enjoying a robust social life with various groups of peers. Her openness to life experiences was further developed by her parents investing in her intellectual and worldly advancement, which instilled a sense of curiosity in her from a young age. She lives by several mottos, one of which is that "you never know unless you try," and Jana's capacity for risk is largely defined by her outlook on regret: "I'll regret not taking the leap, but I won't regret taking it.".
Jana recognizes that success is preceded by several small failures and mitigates the risk of losing faith by slowing down, taking time to reflect, and relying on her trusted network when need be. There's a necessary balance between observing what could have gone better and then laying it down to rest so that we can move on. Most importantly, practicing gratitude and mindfulness has helped Jana keep everything in perspective as she continues to challenge herself and add to her long list of accomplishments. Check out the highlights of our conversation below!
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