Jackie Hermes

Accelity

We help B2B software companies grow faster with bold sales and marketing processes that actually work—not the “push content and say a prayer” method that many agencies use.

We’re different. An agency born from software, our team has years (and years) of hands-on experience working with high-growth B2B software companies.

Want to know how we do it? Check out the links below.

Founder & CEO

Just A Girl Inc.

Advisory Board Member

gener8tor

Startup Mentor

Golden Angels Investors

Advisor

The Commons

Mentor

Building Brave

Mentor to Female Professionals

Women's Entrepreneurship Week

Women's Entrepreneurship Week is an event series that spark business and economic growth by showcasing, educating and connecting women entrepreneurs and professionals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and beyond.

Learn more at https://www.wewmke.com/

Co-Founder

Sweet Monkees

Sweet Monkees are delicious dairy-free cookies made with healthy ingredients, found at select Milwaukee area grocery stores and Milwaukee-area events. I built this business from the ground-up, marketing and successfully selling to over 10 grocery chains over 3 years. In 2014, I sold this business to focus on Accelity.

Owner

Zywave

I managed the marketing department at Zywave. As product marketers, we focused on go to market strategy and brand awareness. In addition, my team created joint sales and marketing communications and demo materials to speak to clients in a meaningful way. The marketing department also manages zywave.com content and Zywave's social media presence.

Head of Marketing

The Market Analyst is a marketing and product management role. I was the analyst on Zywave's best selling product—Broker Briefcase Benefits. In this role, I studied market developments and maintained an understanding of the constantly changing field. In addition, I conducted won, loss, exit, and other partner interviews to gain a deeper understanding of Zywave's broker clients. Another key piece of this role is analyzing product performance monthly to identify hot topics, product usage trends, and focus for content to reinforce product roadmap.

Market Analyst

I worked to brand Zywave as a premiere Milwaukee employer and expand local awareness. Presented at speaking engagements on local campuses, at job fairs, and other volunteer opportunities. I was part of a task force that pioneered Zywave's social media presence by writing vision documents, evaluating reporting tools, holding company-wide training sessions, and creating pages on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin.

Recruiting Consultant

GE Healthcare

Worked in the cardiology department to expanded Computed Tomography marketing library by coordinating image layouts and text in customer brochures, Powerpoints, and other materials. In addition, I founded the Marketing Path program to enhance associates knowledge of the role of Marketing in Healthcare. My team led a business improvement project that concentrated on increasing Net Promoter Score in the cardiology department. Finally, I provided sales support for 14 Account Managers who exceeded an sales target of $56 million in 2008.

Sales & Marketing

Growing B2B software co's w/ marketing that *actually works* | founder + CEO @ Accelity | built from $0 to 7-figures with no funding

It all started in 1986 in Lansing, Michigan.

Kidding. (Well, not really, but that’s not how I’m going to start this story.)

I started my entrepreneurial journey with cookies. Really. A vegan cookie company… and I wasn’t vegan (I gave it a shot and dang, it was hard!). I turned four cookie recipes into a business—designing packaging, finding a kitchen and making the cookies, eventually outsourcing production, then selling and establishing distribution to 12 grocery stores around Wisconsin.

The cookies taught me how to hustle. As a 24-year-old MBA, I definitely didn’t picture myself hoisting up tents at farmers markets to hand out $5 bags of cookies, or being the demo lady at the grocery store, but there I was. I still had a full-time job running the marketing department at a SaaS company, and a baby.

I’m so grateful for that experience because the money I made helped me start Accelity. What began as a one-woman consultancy blossomed into a kick-ass team of 20 and counting and a group of amazing, loyal clients all over the US.

LinkedIn has been a HUGE contributor to our growth over the past few years. I got talked into—okay, almost forced; I really, really didn’t want to do it—publishing videos about my entrepreneurial experiences in mid-2018 and have steadily grown an audience since. The LinkedIn community has given me so much love and support and I could not possibly be more grateful for the opportunities.

Outside of my professional life, I was a foster parent for two years and two of my three beautiful kiddos were adopted in Milwaukee. People always ask about hobbies and to be honest, I don’t have many, but they include: lots of travel, fitness, exploring Milwaukee and playing a whole lot of Star Wars Trouble with my kids.

Many years ago, I asked my daughter what she wanted to do for high school graduation. She said “go to Paris.”

Here I sit, writing this post, on the plane home from Paris. During this trip, I did a lot of reflecting.

The last decade was a ride for all of us.

There were so many beautiful parts, challenging parts, fun parts, and hard parts. Such is life parenting a teenager. I made a some good decisions and a lot of mistakes. And we came out a strong, bonded family.

We survived the high school years, and it was more complex than that. Learning how to parent the first teenager in the house is a challenge—let alone one that you meet at eight years old.

We adopted Olivia at age nine. And I am so dang proud of the person that she has become.

She is a strong, smart, mature and beautiful young lady that’s off to college in a few short months.

Really crappy things happen to good people—good people like her.

And she decides every day to use those things as an example of what not to become.


She is living proof that your past does not define you.


And given the necessary supports,

You can have the future that you want.

❤️




(Btw, yes, she approved this post and photo!)

There’s a dark side of entrepreneurship that no one really talks about. Did you know… 👇

72% of entrepreneurs are (directly or indirectly) affected by mental health issues, compared to 48% of the general population. [Forbes]

Approximately half of all CEOs get less than six hours of sleep every night, and founders during the early stages of a startup get even less. [Entrepreneur]

…but don’t fret! Entrepreneur also says you can stop insomnia by not checking email after 7 p.m. K. 😅

Entrepreneurs often share character traits that make them more vulnerable to emotional swings.

"People who are on the energetic, motivated, and creative side are both more likely to be entrepreneurial and more likely to have strong emotional states," says psychiatrist and former entrepreneur Michael A. Freeman, who is researching mental health and entrepreneurship. (This is ME to a T.)

"Entrepreneurs have struggled silently. There's a sense that they can't talk about it, that it's a weakness." [Inc.]

If you’re anything like me, you put a TON of pressure on yourself. And even when you know you’re not 100% mentally or physically—you don’t give yourself a break.

You don’t want to let people down. You don’t want to miss that deadline, cancel that meeting. You pride yourself on following through and doing the things you say you’ll do. You always show up for others, even if that sometimes means you don’t show up for yourself.

So you push through. “Just keep swimming,” as Dory would say. (It's a Finding Nemo reference... get it? 🐠)

While that’s a nice sentiment, it’s not always possible.

I've had a lot going on personally the last couple of months, and I am in a busy, busy, busy season right now. As in, I need every extra minute to get the work on my plate done.

Personal life challenges were not on my agenda. (Are they ever??)

Sometimes, you have choice but to cancel meetings. Pause projects. Push deadlines.

Sometimes, I straight up delete some tasks on my to-do list. I say “no” to a lot of people that ask me for things. (They do so very nicely, I might add—making it even harder to say no.)

And guess what?

The world doesn't end.

If you’re reading all of this, I hope your main takeaway is that you deserve a break.

Many of us are living high-stress and high-pressure lives.

Really, who cares if someone judges you for taking care of yourself and your people.

You cannot sacrifice your own mental and physical health to meet the needs of others.

Take a break. Before your body forces you to take one.

#StressAwareness

When the work is rewarding, the wins are amazing—and the lows don’t feel as low.

New challenges are a lot more exciting to navigate.

The stress doesn’t feel as hard to cope with.

“Yesterday” deadlines are less difficult.

(This is how I’ve been feeling in my work life lately. Is this what alignment feels like?!)


No matter what you take on… there are always positives and negatives. Highs and lows. Wins and losses.

There are two sides to every coin.

You might as well find what you really want to do if you’re going to ride the ups and downs that come with every single business or job.


I had a really inspiring conversation with Samantha Kozuch on my podcast about:

🔸 Riding the highs and lows of entrepreneurship (Samantha has started five businesses in 10 years!)

🔸 What alignment means and how to find it in what you do

🔸 Mindset and personal development for people who don’t believe in the “woo-woo” part of it

🔗 in the comments!

I believe in my core that 90-95% of the way to a perfect product, fast, and DONE is the best method.

You’ll achieve results faster and enjoy the process more if you stop agonizing over perfection.

No one notices that last 5% of tiny tweaks except you.

Whatever is slowing you down…

Let. it. Go.

This especially applies in your marketing.

I see so many founders and marketers agonizing over every little detail and holding up their campaigns for MONTHS.

(This should go without saying but no campaign in market = no results)

Publish. Test. Iterate.

What's one thing you've been agonizing over that you can move forward today? 👇

#B2Bmarketing #entrepreneurship

PSA: Entrepreneurial employees are not a threat to your business.

Actually, they’re extremely valuable if you know how to treat them.


Working at a startup or growing company of any kind requires a very specific set of characteristics:

You must be accepting of risk, hard-working, and willing to perform and adapt in an environment that is constantly changing.

Entrepreneurs often have these characteristics inherently. 

Here two tips to keep them happy within your company:


(1)

Encourage them to have a personal brand.

Even better, let them work on it during company time.

Most companies will say *absolutely not* to this one.

At Accelity, we’ve found that when employees have personal brands, it increases prospect and client confidence in their skills while growing company awareness, increasing web traffic and speeding up the sales process.

Sounds like a win-win to me.


(2)

Support their entrepreneurial endeavors.

No, REALLY support them. Don’t just say you do.

Buy from them when you can. Make it clear that you have zero issue with them using their time outside of work to build on their own.

As long as their work is done and done well—what does it really matter, anyway?


We’re in the era of the side hustle. If you have a team where no one has one…

Consider your policies and how they may be interpreted by employees.

Consider whether your team feels like they can be open with you.

It’s possible that you don’t know the whole truth.

And it’s not too late to change your work environment if you want to.



♻️ If you got value out of this post, please repost!

👉 For more tips on how to develop and challenge entrepreneurial employees at work, check out my podcast this week:

The Art of Entrepreneurship Episode 230. Keeping entrepreneurial employees happy in your company: is it possible?   🔗 in comments! 🔗


#Entrepreneurship #B2Bmarketing #LinkedInTopCompanies

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