Meet The Member: Jenny French

Meet Jenny French, Jenny French Social. Jenny, what made you start your own business?

Would I ever have thought I’d run my own business? No chance! It’s turned out to be the best career move ever though. After 18 years in education and teaching I needed a change and I wanted to find something that combined my existing skills but gave me a better work life balance and could fit around my family.
I did a huge retraining programme in social media marketing and became a social media strategist and trainer. I combined my new marketing skills with my teaching experience and instead of teaching children to read, I now teach business owners how to market their businesses effectively on social media, specifically Instagram.
I set up my business 5 years ago and have gone from training on 4 social media platforms to now niching down into Instagram training for business owners. I help female business owners unlock the power of Instagram marketing to get more clients and customers by teaching them how to do it step by step.
Fast forward to the present day and I’ve now got the job I’ve always wanted with the most amazing clients and I’m so glad I took that leap to start my own business.

What do you enjoy the most about being an entrepreneur?

I love the flexibility of running my own business and deciding my working hours to suit my clients and my family including many of the school holidays off.
I love working with my clients 1-1 and really getting to know them and their businesses.
I also get a huge kick out of my clients getting more business from their Instagram account.

Who or what helps you to stay organised?

Over the 5 years in business, I’ve developed various systems that help me to stay organised and on top of things. My online calendar and linked booking system I could not live without. It saves me so much time and keeps me organised. I do however, love stationery and have a slight addiction to notebooks. So although some of my systems are online, I could not live without my trusty notebooks for all my to-do’s, client notes and my constant CPD I do to stay up to date with all things social media marketing.

Rank these 5 business activities in the order that you find them the most enjoyable:

1. Marketing

2. Putting plans into action

3. Business Planning

4. Finances

5. Admin

What do you enjoy most about being a member of The OEC?

I love the friendliness of the Facebook group community. They are there to cheer you on and also provide support when you have questions. Between us all we can solve most of the questions members have.
I’ve really enjoyed the online networking sessions and made some great connections and business friends.
The Friday OEC Cafe Live is a lovely addition to the virtual Facebook group to meet up in person if you’re based near Manchester. I’ve been to several of them and have found the speakers really interesting and made wonderful connections too.

How has being a member of The OEC helped with your confidence in business?

Knowing you’ve got the support of the OEC behind you should you need them is a valuable asset and I know I could always pop into the Facebook group and ask anything and not be judged and given valuable advice.

What is your top tip for maintaining a healthy business mindset?

For me, I’d say putting in some healthy working hours has helped me a lot as I was falling into the trap of working too many hours as there’s never enough time to do everything that’s needed in your business. Monitoring this regularly is what helps me have a healthy business mindset along with always going back to my why of why I set up my business which was to have a better work life balance whilst doing something I love.

How do you help your clients?

Effectively marketing your business on Instagram can be a challenge but it doesn’t have to be and that’s where I come in.
I take business owners who are confused by how to make Instagram work for your business under my wing and take you step by step through what you need to know. My practical training and support will teach you how to effectively use Instagram to positively impact your business.

I provide 1-1 training and support to help you upskill in all things Instagram and feel confident using Instagram for business.

My services range from a 1 hour Instagram training session to a 6 month training and mentoring programme called Grow your Gram which covers everything you’ll need to know to effectively market your business on Instagram. There are multiple services between those two as well that cover areas such as Instagram Reels, Instagram Stories and content ideas you can use for your brand photos to maximise their use on Instagram.

A very popular service is an audit of your Instagram account with tons of suggestions on how it could be improved which is an Insta Boost as it’s going to give your Instagram a kick up the booty and put your Instagram marketing on the right track.

If you want to take a look through the the wide range of service I offer take a look at this link Jenny French Social.

What have been your biggest business wins over the last 12 months?

I’ve got three.
1. Getting my systems in place to save me time, money, keep me organised and to make purchasing from me easier has been a big win this year and although that took a lot of time and energy was a worthwhile investment.
2. Mid year I had an enormous hiccup in my business where my Instagram account was wrongly disabled by them and I had to fight to get it back. This is a huge source of leads for my business and it was critical I get it reinstated. This was a huge battle and one I’m proud to say I won so that is a huge win!
3. My client base has grown with more one off sessions booked, small packages and my monthly and quarterly clients are ever expanding which is wonderful.
I’m really proud of where I currently am in my business and feel the future is looking rosy.

Who are you looking to work with and how can people get in touch?

I love to work with female small business owners or small teams who need help with their Instagram in some way. I offer my range of services or can create a bespoke service to cater for what you need.

If anyone would be interested to find out more you can find me on Instagram to follow along and drop me a DM or email me via jenny@jennyfrenchsocial.co.uk

Tell us a fun fact about yourself:

I hate glitter with a passion and think this stems back to my primary teaching days where we’d be making Christmas cards for the children to take home and it would travel across the entire classroom and you’d still be finding it in June despite cleaning up thoroughly.
I have been known to open envelopes of Christmas cards and birthday cards, see glitter on them, have a peek at who it’s from and throw it in the bin as I don’t want this getting across my home the way it did in a classroom!