Meet Jamie Van Cuyk of Jamie VC!

I’m overjoyed to introduce you to Jamie Van Cuyk of Jamie VC! Jamie launched her business in the Spring of 2018 to bring her leadership skills to small business owners & help them hire the right team members. She’s made becoming more visible & vocal a big priority recently so she can share that business owners don’t have to face hiring and training a team alone. She’s a mother, wife, & super passionate business owner.

I hope you enjoy getting to know her & hearing her stories about how she approaches entrepreneurship. Enjoy Jamie’s words & stay boss. xx -Gina

Tell us about yourself and what you do!

I am a small business consultant who specializes in hiring and team management. I help high-performing business owners learn how to hire, develop, and retain the team members they need for business growth and success.

How did your business begin?

After finally making the leap into entrepreneurship, I quickly decided that the business I started with my husband was not for me. I wasn't ready to go back to corporate, but I knew that I needed to find something else for my entrepreneurship adventure.

When I left corporate, the company I left asked me to stay on as a contractor to help with a few leadership development projects. These projects helped me realize that helping others learn how to become better people leaders was my true passion.

My first plan was to become a corporate leadership consultant. However, I kept finding myself talking with small business owners. During those conversations, I kept hearing "I never had to hire or manager employees until I had to do it within my own business" or "now that I have to hire and manage employees within my own business, I have learned how much support I had in corporate. It's very different to do it when you don't have the guidance and support of others."

I kept trying to find resources for those small business owners and found that there were very little. Almost everything out there had a corporate, climbing the ladder motive and did not directly speak to small business owners.

This made me realize that a need existed to help small business owners learn how to hire and grow their teams in a way that made sense for small businesses, and I could fill that need.

What's 1 challenge you've faced and how has it effected your business? What did you do to overcome it?

Visibility - most business owners do not know that there is someone out there to help them in this area. If they don't know that I exist, they cannot hire me.

I do my best to stay visible by joining networking groups, being guests on podcasts, and being active on social media platforms. I also have a YouTube channel and blog posts so I can help provide answers when people are searching.

What's 1 success you've had since you’ve created your business? How do you feel when you look back on it?

Hiring can be a very overwhelming activity for any business owner. The success I am most proud of is having multiple business owners who came to me with unease and negative feelings about the hiring process later say that they now feel confident and prepared each time this business allows them to hiring another employee.

Seeing this shift in clients leaves me feeling accomplished. It makes me realize that I am doing the right thing because not only can I help my clients get through the hiring process, I'm able to show them that when you are fully prepared and trained that hiring is not as scary as they believe.

What's the best piece of advice you could give someone looking to start a business?

Take time to talk to your audience. You are an expert which often puts you on a different side of the subject than your audience.

Far too often we start talking to our audiences with the assumption that they have the same views and knowledge as us on the subject. Most of the time, they don't. When we are able to connect what they view to what we offer by putting it in their words, we are able to make the deeper connections and turn people into clients.

What's a pivot you've made in your business?

So many! Most recently, I changed my packages to switch to what my clients really need versus creating my packages based on what other consultant's offer.

When are you at your happiest?

When creating strategies for clients. I love being able to create strategies that are unique to them and their businesses. I love being able to mold the proven hiring and people management techniques to their situation, business, and personalities.

What do you tell yourself when things get difficult?

Focus on the wins. Every day, we have wins. Even on the rough days, they are still there. Celebrate the wins even on the bad days.

Whats 1 personal goal you've set for yourself this year?

Always make sure I have the right balance between family and work. It's easy to let my work take ALL THE TIME because I love what I do. But my goal is to make sure I'm giving the needed time to my family.

Sometimes this means days/weeks that are heavy in work, and other days it means days/weeks that are heavy in family.

What's 1 business goal you've set for yourself to accomplish this year?

Grow my network with the right people. As an introvert, networking takes a lot of energy.

My goal is to push myself to find the right people to add to my network and not just settle on adding those who seem like the easy adds. It also means not being afraid to say no to groups and events that do not fit my goals.

What's the first thing you do on a Monday morning and why?

Set my goals for the day and week. I keep things simple. I pull only 2-3 items or action steps off my to-do list each day/week because I know I cannot do it all. On Monday I set my goals so I can feel accomplished on Friday.

Where can you be found + what will you typically be up to on a Friday night?

At home! For years now we have had the tradition of making homemade pizza and watching a movie as a family on Friday nights.

Finish these sentences: 

My go to karaoke song is… don't have one! I love to preform, but karaoke has NEVER been on my enjoyment list. I'd rather support and watch.

My favorite cocktail is… I love wine. For a mixed cocktail, it will probably be anything that has wine in it. I love a good Champagne Sangria.

My favorite quote is… "Does it need to be done right or does it need to be done by you? You can always train someone to do it right." I randomly said this on a mastermind call a while back, and it has been my signature quote ever since.