248 God, values and purpose in business with Jess Lopes

SJ: Hi there and welcome to another episode of the Christian Women in Business video podcast. It is so great to have you here. Now, we are just three weeks out until conference, which means the countdown is day by day.
And today we are We have the privilege of interviewing Jess, one of our amazing speakers. So, let’s go through the intro and then we’ll get you settled in for the episode today. So, Jess is an entrepreneur and passionate about people and purpose. She has 14 years of experience working for multinational corporations and retail industry leaders in Brazil.

The South American market and Australia. So yes, Jess is from South America, just so you know, Jessica’s passion is to be applied through entrepreneurship, mentoring, leadership, and consulting, helping people and businesses clarify their purpose. and find the numerous benefits that can occur. She’s pursued a Bachelor of Marketing and Advertising, a Master of Business Communications, and most recently a Diploma in Leadership and Management.
And she is now the founder and director of Insights Out, a branding and marketing agency, and JLopes. co with purposeful consulting. Her biggest mission through a business is to strengthen brands and their legacy and her favourite thing to do on the weekend is go to church just to cover new hiking spots, which I love all the pictures that you share by the way in Tasmania and spend time with her family and friends.
So welcome to the show Jess Lopes.

Jess: Yay, thank you very much. But this lovely introduction and it’s, yeah, it’s so special to be here. It’s we have been talking about this conference for quite a few months and oh my gosh, we are only three weeks away. It’s so exciting and I’m so grateful to, to, yeah, to this opportunity to share some things with you guys.

SJ: Yeah, that’s awesome. And I know you’ve got an array of knowledge within the marketing and the branding space, but before we get into that. Are you able to tell us a little bit about yourself and your story and your journey with God and how you got to where you are today, so our listeners and delegates can get to know you a little bit more?

Jess: Yeah, 100%. Well, as Sarah mentioned, I am from Brazil, so I was born in South America and the very first 10 years of my journey. Like working with marketing in the South American market. But just a few weeks back, I think it’s, it’s worth mentioning when I was just going through my teenage years.

And you know, when you get to that stage of what do we do for uni and all of that, it was quite an easy journey for me because when I was watching TV, I used to enjoy the commercials more than the programs themselves when it came to picking a degree, it was. pretty easy for me to go for marketing and it has been 10 years from there.

But then after 10 years, just climbing the ladder, I got into a position in Brazil where I was already in a senior position. But if I want to kind of take a step further, I need to speak English. All the companies that I wanted to work for would have this as a requirement and I could pick no English, like zero.

SJ: Wow. That’s crazy.

Jess: I know. And actually, that was the reason why I decided to move to Australia, but the intention was only, you know, do kind of six months of general English and to just, yeah, improve or learn what I, what I could in six months. And then I spent my first season in Australia in Brisbane, which was so lovely and warm.

And I met some amazing people. But then after that, that’s far. It’s kind of six months. I got a job in marketing in Sydney, and I was like, Oh my goodness. I think it’s such a good opportunity. I cannot go back to my country now. And then I moved to Sydney, and I was just falling in love with Australia every day.

And then I decided to become a permanent resident. And I was now I’m here. So, let’s take the journey. And then the lawyer, I was going through those consultations, and he told me the only reason, the only way for me to get a permanent residency would be moving to a region of Australia because a marketing specialist is not something they need in New South Wales or Queensland.

And then I just packed my car and got in the spirit of Tasmania and started and moved to Tasmania without even visiting before. So, it was a little bit of a rush. Crazy move. But in the very first kilometres driving down from the airport to Hobart, I just had that sense that I should be here. And just the beauty of Tasmania.

I don’t know how many of you had the opportunity to visit this place. Yeah, I have been to Tasmania. It’s beautiful.
Jess: It’s especially wilderness and everything. And it’s funny because that time I wasn’t walking with God. I had a season in my life for around 10 years that I walked away. So, I had, you know, my beliefs, but I wasn’t leaving it.

I wasn’t having a relationship with him. And then that step moving back from palsy was the very first step of walking back to him. And I remember I was looking around in Tasmania and I was saying to myself, oh my goodness, this is God’s house. He lives here. That’s where he dwells. And that was the very first beginning of, you know, just drawing closer to him.

And then just a few months living in Tasmania, I was well, we all faced COVID. So of course, my life was upside down. And then at that point, even though I was working in marketing as an employee When COVID happened, everything changed, and I couldn’t do the work I was doing as normal. And then during that period, I started developing projects to help small businesses to navigate that moment.

So just helping them to clarify. If I look at what it’s important now, how can you tell your clients your story? How can you share what you’re going through, what you’re going through and have that kind of community sense and collaboration sense? So, by doing those things, I was just finding myself and saying, oh my goodness, look at all of those tools and the projects that I’m creating.

I cannot the highlights actually because through that journey, that’s when I had the realization that I needed to start a business. And then, I didn’t know where to start because I had never had that desire to be a business owner or anything like that, but I just couldn’t. Do not hold me and do not help those businesses.

So, it’s like, okay, this is a mission. I need to keep going. That’s why I started running workshops and teaching small businesses how to clarify their brands, and how they can position themselves so they can run their marketing strategy. And in this moment, I actually, it’s when I found the CWIB community.

And oh, I don’t. I don’t think I would have been where I am today without that, like, it was, I always mentioned this to every single person, the very first conference I attended in Sunshine Coast back in 2021. Yes. Yes, there was a point in life, you know, those moments in life where everything happens to that point and then from there, everything else is different.

That was the conference. Oh, okay. So, it is very like, I’m not saying this because I’m a speaker now, it’s my life journey. And I remember driving from Sunshine back to Brisbane, and I was crying all the way every single day. Transcribed by https: otter. ai I was just, there was, I cannot explain, but everything I learned through those three days and the way that God was speaking to me and the confirmation He was bringing about everything that I was doing was just different.

I was feeling like I am a different person. I have clarity of where I’m going, and I know. What I’m going for, and I will go for it, regardless of how painful it will be. I will go for it. And, and I was, yeah, I cannot say thank you enough for everything that the community has done to my journey so far.

But this is so yeah, the business is, we are only three years old for two and a half years. And so many learnings the first year, oh my goodness, how many challenges and, you know, we, we need to stretch ourselves very much because of course I’m confident in marketing and branding, but don’t talk to me about finances and accounting.
And so, there’s so many things that it’s involved in the business that I could receive support to be where we are. And yeah, and life happening in between, moving to Tassie also gave me the chance to meet my husband my current husband, and we got married here. I mean, he was in Sydney, and I was in Tasmania.

We met via an online app, but we got married in Tassie and we are now expecting a little boy which is due in December.

SJ: That’s so exciting. That’s so good. Thank you so much for sharing. So, what happened? Let’s just go back a bit. There are lots of exciting things happening right now, but let’s just go back a bit.

So, you’re in the car, you’re driving back to the airport. Once you got back to Tasmania, what was the first thing you did? Like, what was your first move? Can you remember? 

Jess: I’m talking to people that I was holding back. I’m sending emails. I was holding back publishing content that I was holding back planning for five years that I was holding back.

I think before that time I kind of don’t need to be big like we can do is small and it’s fine. But I think when God gives us a vision that was What happened to me like the assurance he gave me of this vision is big and this is what I’m doing And I think there was learning it’s fun because also when I came back I wanted to take action and make everything happens in one month, but then having my mentors and Walking with him and understanding that his time is not my time was also very important because it was an overwhelming moment of understanding his desires and his plans for my life and what he wants to do through me.

But then, from there, understanding that this would happen in his time, not in my time, was another journey as well.

SJ: We always think everything’s going to happen in a couple of days. Like, okay, this is it, and it’s going to happen right now, this hour, let’s go. Like, so many of us do that, and it’s, you’re right.

Jess: Like, you gotta wait, you gotta wait. But then, even though I knew, and even though I knew things would not happen quickly, I started positioning myself as if it was happening. So, I wasn’t waiting for the big client to start talking to people as I already have the big client. You know what I mean? I wasn’t I was kind of positioning myself in the place that I want to be, not where I am at the moment, but having that vision. And so, I think the conference gave me the confidence to position myself in like visualizing the future ahead and not be taken by the circumstances or what is happening right now but looking forward towards the future.

SJ: Yeah, that is so good. That is so good. So, Jess as she mentioned, she came to the conference, what did we say? 2019 as a volunteer. Cause we had the online aspect to it, and we were like, who’s young and confident that we’ll be able to handle jumping on with the new software and volunteering and interacting with our online delegates?
And Jess just was like, yep, let’s do this. And then 20. What was that? 

Jess: That was 2021.

SJ: Sorry, 2021 was that one. Yeah. Cause then 2022 was last year and we ended up having it completely online. Yeah. Yeah. So, then Jess volunteered from Tasmania because we were all stuck at home. That was like a whole adventure in itself, that conference. Like, if we hadn’t gone online with, for those who didn’t know, there were massive floodings that happened that year. Like we all made it to the house that we were recording conference from and then like the gates opened and there was major flooding, and we were stuck in that house for like four or five days. Like people couldn’t get back to Brisbane, people couldn’t fly out, so it was a good job that we didn’t have the conference in person with like 100 or 100 women or so come into this one space and getting stuck.

It just meant we, and the speakers were stuck in this really beautiful house, which none of us minded. But yeah, so then Jess volunteered. But that conference too, so sorry, it was 21, 22, and now we’re coming into 23. And, you know, we just, I’ve seen Jess grow in her business, like from when she came to that first conference and seeing bits and bobs of what’s been happening.

And just seeing her grow and her business grows has been an absolute pleasure. And it’s like, it gives you one of those, Oh, tight feelings. You’re like, yeah, she’s doing it. She’s going for it. And then, yeah, you met hubby. And then the next thing you were married. And then I look on social media, like two days ago, everything’s just happened in like a couple of years for you. It’s been amazing and it’s been magical and I’m happy for you. Yeah. So, like now it’s okay. Well, you’ve got this business, you’ve got married and now you’re going to have to try and figure out how to be a business owner and be a parent as well.

Jess: Like yeah, all the different challenges that might come with that. So yeah, there’s a different season ahead for sure. And to be honest, like what you’re talking about, being a volunteer back in 2021 and 2022, I have something very special to share about that experience because, for you guys, you’re just seeing, like, I have been, I was a volunteer, but I wanted to share what happened in the back end, like in my side as being a volunteer those years, but I will leave this for the conference because it’s just, it has a special place in my heart. And I want to share what was happening in my journey of travelling from Tasmania to Sunshine to be a volunteer. Like I think what part of what God was doing was also part of that like being a volunteer was also part of the way he was speaking to me.

SJ: That’s amazing. I haven’t shared that in three weeks. Yeah. Okay. I’m excited now. I’m like, I’m all ears, but I’ll wait. I’ll wait. And another thing that came to mind when you were speaking too, is the faith journey that you kind of touched on a little bit not in the sense of you refinding God, which is amazing, but the faith, the faith steps that come in the journey of business. So you feel like with each stage of business and each level that God brings you to because I do feel like there are different levels of faith, and we’re all on a different journey, we’re all in the different places of the faith, and we’re all, you know, we’re all individual, we’re all unique, but there are different steps where you feel like you’ve got the faith, and you’re trusting in that, and you’re like, okay, I’ve got the hang of that now there was just something you said in your story, and I can’t remember which bit it was, but it just triggered it.

I thought with, you know, the different faith steps that we’re in. So, you’re already acting like you’ve got a successful client and you’ve got successful like the big client, or you’re seeing yourself as your future, but living it now kind of thing. Yeah. And then with that comes the faith levels and then you feel like you’ve got your hang off like that particular season or that particular faith level. And like, God will throw a spanner in the works of the next level of faith. And I know for me this year, I thought, okay, we’re here now, God, like, I thought I’d reached the destination of faith.

And I’m like, No, actually, I’m down here, and we’re about to put it up a notch, and it’s going to take a lot of faith, and it’s going to take a lot of praise, and a lot of work, not worship, but a lot of praise and a lot of prayers to break the barrier of what this next faith step is. But I totally could relate to when you were, like, just experiencing that journey and where God’s kind of yeah. It’s just interesting. I know that God’s got just one in your life and I’m excited to see what happens next with that. So, we’ll leave that kind of stuff to a conference, right? I will keep my mouth shut now.

Jess: No, but I just want to share, like, as you mentioned about, you know, behaving like I already have the big clients and I think taking the, the steps that faithfully it’s part of the process because just two weeks ago, really, I just finished the project to a client that I pitched for two years ago, and I just met them, and I was like, hey, guys, the work you are doing is amazing. Our values are so aligned just that, you know, you’re positioning for sustainability and helping the world and all of that. Can I rebrand you because you look ugly?

I didn’t say in those words, but then we didn’t move ahead. They were they were grateful but didn’t go ahead, but I just sat with that, you know, I was like, God, whatever it is in your time, and that’s fine. And then two years later, which was two months ago, they got back to me saying, can you please do a rebranding?

And I was like, oh my goodness, I didn’t ask now. So, you know, I mean, the faith is things like that. Two years ago, I could have defined this as, oh, it’s a failure. Oh, I’m not enough. Or, oh, and it’s not the, what we are doing now, it’s so much better than what I, I would have delivered two years ago. So, and his timing is, is just perfect.

SJ: Yeah, that’s so good. That’s so encouraging. How exciting. That’s awesome. It is. Again, yeah, like you said, back to the timings as well, like you couldn’t have predicted that that was going to come and then here it is two years later and with no effort from your side either. Like that’s a beautiful thing. No effort from your side. Always gonna love that kind of stuff. Yeah. So, talking of branding and all that kind of stuff, are you able to share five tips on your craft, which is branding and marketing for our listeners today? So obviously Jess is going to be doing a workshop.
It’s going to be a lot more in-depth and practical on the weekend itself at the conference, but today Jess is going to share her top five quick tips if you like.

Jess: Yeah, let’s do it. So, tip number one, again, as Sarah explained, I will take you through the, give you the tools. To, apply this, but just from a top-level kind of perspective, I think tip number one is business versus brand.
They are two different things. Business is when you build a business, it’s. Not the same as building a brand. They are both important and they both have your specific value in the market, but by building a strong brand, you are also increasing equity for your business because your brand has value. So, it’s important to have that mindset that building a business and building a brand are two different focuses that you have to have, You cannot forget, you cannot say, Oh, I have the best, I want to, you know, have hired the right people and having the right software and the quality of my products are high.

All of that, you must think about the process and operations of your business, but you also need to think about those things about your brand. How am I, how am, how am I communicating? What am I sharing? How, how am I, how is my relationship with my client? How do they perceive my brand? So, they are two different things that work together alongside each other, but it’s important to understand the difference.

Yeah, cool. Number two. So, your values are not a marketing strategy. This is so important to highlight because when we talk about values, we are talking about who you are, the very core of your business, what your businesses stand for, and what you believe, and we never define your values Based on your marketing strategy or how it will sound good for our clients.

So how it will be a good promotion for your marketing campaign on social media? So, every time we are talking about values and purpose, we need to always, always come from the inside out and never define how it looks good for your marketing strategy. Or how it would be part of increasing your sales or anything like that.
It has to be real. It has to come from the heart and has to be from the inside out. And the right clients will align with you. If they are the right clients for you, they will be there regardless of what you have, when your values are real and from the heart. Tip number three. Less is more. So, when we talk about marketing, if you are not sure and you don’t know what to do and just a shout-out to Mary Fox she touched a little bit on this when she was talking about Canva, and she mentioned this.

If we have too many options, too many colours, too many options for typography and all of that. Just be simple and effective. So less is always more. If you are not sure, go to the ones that are the simplest and it’s straight to the point. Nowadays, everybody knows we receive so many ads, and so much content and our lives are so busy, so we need to help our clients to understand our message, to understand how we are helping them, and we need to be straightforward as much as we can.

Tip number four is progress over perfection, and it applies very much to your marketing strategy and for your marketing efforts, because something that I hear a lot about, a lot from business owners, is talking about, how overwhelming it is to create your marketing content, how painful it is, how long it takes.

And this is not something you should be overthinking because, in reality, marketing is about testing and learning. If you don’t test if you don’t apply if you don’t go for it. You will never learn what works and what doesn’t work. You will never know how people will respond to that. And we, it doesn’t matter your budget.

I’m taking this to big campaigns. You know, if you have 20, 000 to invest in your media plan and you do all the research to understand your, customer and everything you are still at the end of that campaign, you will go to their results and learn from what worked better or not, and at the same way, if you have 20 to play on Facebook ads, you need to apply those 20 and then test and learn.

So do not overthink don’t, don’t try to be perfect, but just keep moving and progress is more important than perfection. And the last one is social media will not replace relationships. Please do not rely on your social media content to be what defines the success of your marketing strategy and what you are doing for your business.
Social media is a support tool. It’s something so important for everything you are doing in your business. But more important than that is your pitch. Is who you are, is the emails you send, is the networking events you attend, it’s, it’s being there and being present. As I mentioned before, the progress of perfection is present and constant.
So do not over. I feel people feel too much stress about social media is like, If I don’t have the right number of posts, if I’m not posting every week, I’m not going to succeed in business. And this is not real. And I can testify even for my business social media, I have to be present.

I am about social media. I know that, but who is paying my bills? Who, who is the clients that it is actually. have the money to pay for my services? Are they hanging out on Instagram every day? If they are not, why am I spending so much of my time doing it? So, if it takes you three hours to create one Instagram post and you are not seeing that return on investment, take that three hours and write emails to business owners in your city.

Reach out to people that are your potential clients. So just yeah, understanding the time and efforts that you put in on social media and how much of an importance you give that to your business.

SJ: That’s awesome. I love that. I did a freebie the other year about, I think it was 50 different ways to market your business that are not on social media.

I think it’s still in the freebies of the Christian Women in Business website if you’re keen to download that. It is very, very overwhelming. And there are so many channels out there now that you think, oh, am I meant to be part of all of them? And yeah, it gets crazy. So, let’s just, it is overwhelming.

And then there’s, do I do posts? Do I do a single shot? Do I do videos? And then. Just the thought of a video overwhelms people as well. I mean, so I’ve lined it up that you’re going to go first, and we’re going to work out values and that kind of side of marketing. And then we’ve got another lady called Jess joining us too, who’s going to be taking us through social media.

So, it’s going to be interesting to see the flow-on effect once people have worked out their values, How can we simplify this enough to make social media not feel so overwhelming? That is my main thing, is to not make it feel overwhelming, because you’re right. You do still need it. You still need a presence. But like, how do we balance this out? And actually, do you need a presence? Like, is this going to work with your business? Yeah. Okay. So, let’s quickly recap. Number one is a business. Versus brands. So, they’re two different things. True. They’re both important, but building a strong brand is building your equity.

And I think that’s a really beautiful way of putting it. And I couldn’t agree more. How do you talk to your staff? How do you build the culture of your staff? Because then that outlays out to your customers as well. Number two is your values. Your values are not your marketing strategy. Values are who you are and what you believe.

Number three is less is more. So, keeping your marketing simple and effective, which is what I’m hoping will get as a result from the conference for people that will go away with clarity and be at ease and not feel that marketing is overwhelming. Progress over perfection. Another thing we want to nail at the conference is for people to leave knowing that they can make progress and not be if they come into the conference with like, Oh, I’m not sure about this.

I’m not sure about that. And the perfectionism side as well. Feel like we need to get everything right they leave knowing that they’ve got a plan and they can move forward and they’ve got an understanding more. But about your point test and learn through your marketing from the tiny steps from the 20 to the 100 to the video to the post, whatever it is, the blog post copy even doesn’t overthink it.

Keep it simple. test and learn from it. And number five, as we’ve already mentioned, social media will not replace relationships. It will support, but it doesn’t replace. So, the more, the most important thing you can do is build those relationships and let go of that stress.

SJ: And as Jess mentioned, if it does take you three hours to build, to write an Instagram post, or even build the courage to do a video, don’t stress yourself out over it. It’s not worth it. Like go and do something that works for you and that’s productive. for you and your personality and how much energy you’ve got and all that kind of stuff. So, thank you for all those, they were epic.

Jess: No worries, my pleasure. 

SJ: My next question, and you’ve already spoken about this a little bit, is how do you incorporate God into your business?

Jess: Yeah, I think in everything. I don’t see the sampling that it’s more incorporating more into the business than in other circumstances, everything it’s some, some of the things that you’re. Who shared in one of the conferences was bringing him into the business and talking about business with God.

That’s something I have never done before the conference as well, because, for me, God was like, you know, you talk about your spiritual life and your growth as a person and all of that. And then like learning about God, how do I do this about this staff member? Or how do I deliver this project? It’s something that I took from the conference as well and applied and it worked for me because when I came back from the conference, I told God, this is not my business anymore.

I give it back to you. It’s yours. I don’t wanna be the c e o, you are the c e o. Can I be your manager, and can you please give me the strategy on how I can do that business for you? Because at the end of the day, I don’t know what to do. So, if you don’t tell me, it will be a mess. So yeah. And I think people as well, like, I’m very grateful for my church community just being around people, it’s a way that I hear God very much.

Not only within the church walls but outside of the church as well. You don’t need to be Christian for me to see God through you because you know, we are all image of God. And that’s something that I always hear from him as well in the marketplace. Through meetings and events and things, it’s, yeah, I see him speaking to people very much in different ways.

SJ: Oh, that’s so good. I love that. Okay. So next question is what’s your Bible verse for this season and why?

Jess: My Bible verse for this season is Romans 12, 12, which has been for a long season, which is to be joyful in hope. And I take this to my heart for everything in business and life, because never life is flat and It’s okay and always happy.

So, I face challenges every day. Big challenges, small challenges, but I try to take them to heart as trying to be joyful because I know the hope, I have is in Jesus. So regardless of how horrible that situation was, how hard that client was, or whatever it is, my hope is in him, and I can be joy, I feel joy and be joyful through him, that everything that Jesus has overtaken and has, you know, Won’t go to death and resurrection.

So, what could bring more joy than that? So, I try to, yeah, focus on being joyful in hope because I know who my hope is. And that’s it. 

SJ: Oh, that’s beautiful. Cool. Well, I’ve noted that down and you are, you’re very joyful. It comes out in everything that you do. It’s very nice. Oh, that’s cool. Awesome. Okay. Well, thank you so much for all that you’ve shared today, my friend. It’s been an absolute pleasure to interview you here. Some of the back end of the story. I’m still very eager and keen to hear the other story now.

Jess: I can’t wait for the conference.

SJ: That’s awesome. So, if our listeners wanted to find you and connect with you before the conference, I’m guessing you said you do have a presence on social media. So where can our people find you?

Jess: Yeah, well I would say LinkedIn is my first go-to in terms of communicating and updates is where I keep most of my content. So, you just type Jessica Lopez, and I will be there. And if you want to have a look through my business and what we’re up to, it’s inside-out marketing. The same is true for LinkedIn and Instagram. And yeah, you might, if you go to. You can see the website as well. You can find in the Christian Women’s Business Community all the links that make it easy.

SJ: Yes, totally can. Do you know that our directory is one, is the second most visited page on our website? Like we get thousands of views on the directory. So, you know, come, and support the women in the membership. Like if you’re looking for a business to do something for you, go and check out the directory. That’s what it’s there for. And members, make sure your directory is up to date and you have a photo on there because people aren’t going to click if you don’t have a photo. That’s right.

Jess: You don’t think that person is real.

SJ: Yeah, that’s right. She’s this imaginary person. That’s awesome. All right. Well, thank you so much again, Jess.
It’s been an absolute pleasure. Loved all of your story and everything that you shared. And seriously, I can’t wait to see where God takes you next. Is there anything else you’d like to share with our listeners before we leave today?

Jess: No, just really thank you for this opportunity for this talk. And I’m So looking forward to the conference in three weeks.

So can I wait to be in person with everyone and just people, you know, it’s not online anymore. So, it’s very exciting that we are going to be together. So, I look forward to meeting everyone.

SJ: Lots of hugs all around. Yes. All right. Well, I’m SJ, you’re listening to the Christian Women in Business video podcast, and I can’t wait to speak to you next week.