Sitting pretty in a pink Cadillac, Darnyelle Jervey was ready to get paid to empower others after creating a booming Mary Kay business and a career in corporate America. The Delaware-native created Incredible One Enterprises, a business to help entrepreneurs and businesses grow their impact and shares her top tips for success.
Name: Darnyelle A. Jervey, MBA
Age: 38
Title: CEO of Incredible One Enterprises, LLC
Location: Newark, DE
Twitter: @darnyellejervey
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/darnyellejervey
Instagram: @darnyellejervey
The gig: I am the CEO of a business optimization consulting firm. Primarily, I offer coaching and consulting to help uncompromising entrepreneurs and business owners experience financial and spiritual abundance in their lives. I get to speak to audiences, coach individuals and consult with companies so that they experience exponential growth in record time. I have an amazing team that supports me and helps me to get my amazing work out into the world.
The journey: From the age of ten, I was clear of the power I possessed. When I would speak, people would tell me I changed things for them. After 12 years in corporate America, including being a vice president at a Fortune 500 financial services company, I realized that sitting behind someone else’s desk was no longer fulfilling for me. So I left to start my own Mary Kay Cosmetics business. During my Mary Kay tenure, I won 5 cars—a Grand Am, two Grand Prix and two pink Cadillacs. The Caddy is the highest honor and less than 1% of the sales force ever achieves it! After receiving my second Cadillac, I realized it was time to live my own dream with God’s help.
Turning passion into profit: When I was ready to launch my consulting business, I began to actively answer two questions: “If you could do anything in the world that would feed your soul and allow you to live in abundance, what would you do?” and “What would you do for free that you know people would pay you for?” I was going to speak, consult, coach and teach others.
Her advice for entrepreneurs: Be willing to do the work. There is no magic pill you can take to go to bed a blunder and wake up a wonder. You have to take consistent action in the direction of your goal to achieve it. Also, write a business plan. Hire a coach to help you create the strategy to exemplify it and work each day on purpose.
Her lesson learned: When I first started Incredible One, I thought that because of my previous success in Mary Kay it would be a breeze to build a ground-up company. That’s not true. I had to learn the hard way that you need a business plan and guidance if you want to do it right.
Her network tip: Have advisors at every stage of the game and make sure that each of them plays a different role for you. And pay some of them so that you recognize the value that they offer.
Her career highlight: Helping more than 80% of my clients achieve their first or next six figures in twelve months or less.
How she unwinds: I love to read and spend time with loved ones. Self-care is very important to me so I get a massage weekly. I also get my hair done each week and a facial every 6 weeks.
Her tech fix: I travel with my iPad mini and have everything I need at my fingertips! My favorite apps include Teamwork PM that helps stay connected to my team and Drop Box so I can access all I need no matter where I am.
Her beauty bag: I still love Mary Kay. My favorites include the Timewise 3-in-1 beauty bar and Even Complexion Essence.
Her power style accessory: I love my Michael Kors purple Hamilton bag. It’s a real showstopper and holds everything I need.
Finding work/life harmony: Set an end to your day, as Stephen Covey advises. I believe in living in the 8’s. Eight hours of sleep, 8 hours to work and 8 hours for leisure and family. I don’t believe in “hustling.” I believe in systems and making time for what’s important. I have balance and get to enjoy all life has to offer because I’ve created a systematic approach. I teach my clients how to do the same.
Her theme song: “Incredible” by Mary Mary.