Building a Business One Conversation at a Time

Building a Business One Conversation at a Time

This week I'm taking you behind the scenes of my MBA journey and sharing what it's really like to build a business from the ground up. Over the past few weeks, I've completed the Pivot Accelerator, conducted customer discovery interviews, refined my ideas, and made my very first sale. Surprisingly, the biggest lesson wasn't about making money—it was about listening. In this episode, I share: * What I learned from more than a dozen customer discovery calls * Why I completely changed my approach after the accelerator * How I narrowed dozens of ideas into three offers worth testing * What it felt like to receive my first paying customer * Why collecting feedback is more valuable than chasing perfection * The mindset shifts I'm working through as I learn to build a business that truly serves moms I'm also sharing the behind-the-scenes reality of balancing entrepreneurship, graduate school, and parenting through one of the hardest weeks our family has faced. If you've ever wondered what it actually looks like to build something people want—not just something you're excited to create—this episode is for you. Thanks for following along as I build Calm & Colorful one experiment, one conversation, and one family at a time.

Pivot Accelerator Five Interviews In, and a Big Shift in How I Think

This week has been intense in the best possible way. For the Pivot Accelerator, I had class on Monday, class on Thursday, office hours on Saturday, and eight interviews scheduled across the weekend. By the time I walk into tomorrow's class, I'll have completed all five interviews required for the assignment—and then some. One of the biggest wins this week wasn't just the interviews. It was finally feeling confident enough to put my slides in front of real people. After meeting with mentor Brian and getting feedback during office hours, I felt ready to test my ideas instead of endlessly tweaking them. The interviews have been fascinating. Not just because of what people are saying, but because of what I'm learning about the research process itself. A few days ago, I printed more than 150 pages of interview transcripts from research I conducted last year and went through them by hand. Highlighter. Pen. Notes in the margins. Looking for themes, quotes, emotions, and patterns. What surprised me most was how much I noticed that AI didn't. For a long time, I would upload transcripts and let AI summarize the findings. It was fast. Efficient. Easy. But my mentor challenged me on something important: I was delegating my thinking. That hit hard. This week has been a reminder that AI can support thinking, but it shouldn't replace it. The real insights came from sitting with the data myself, noticing the nuances, and making sense of it through my own lens first. Tomorrow's class is focused on reviewing interview findings, identifying moments of "heat" or strong emotion, and deciding whether to pivot or persevere. As it turns out, I misunderstood the assignment and completed five interviews when they only expected one or two before this session. I'm not mad about it. Now I have a deeper pool of data, stronger confidence in what I'm hearing, and plenty to bring into the discussion. One unexpected lesson came from interviewing a friend who had purchased a toddler tantrum kit from someone else. I'll be honest—that one brought up some feelings. Why didn't they come to me? The answer could be a hundred different things. Maybe I didn't have the exact offer they needed. Maybe they didn't know I offered something similar. Maybe they simply found another solution first. I don't actually know. But moments like that reveal where our assumptions live, and that's valuable information too. That's what this whole process is teaching me: customer discovery isn't just about learning about your customers. It's also about learning about yourself, your business, your blind spots, and your opportunities. Tomorrow is Class 3. Another interview. A board meeting. More learning. And honestly? I'm loving every minute of it. The support, the mentors, the community, the repetition of the lessons until they finally click—it's exactly what I needed. For now, I'm off to review interview recordings and look for the moments that made people lean in, light up, or get emotional. That's where the real clues are. Have a calm, colorful day.

I Was Asking the Wrong Questions (and I Didn't Even Know It)

A real-time reflection from inside a 2-week pivot accelerator: realizing the real problem wasn’t the customer interviews—it was the lack of hyper-specific problem focus. Breaking down how broad targeting diluted feedback, why “3-cycle testing” changes everything, and what it looks like to rebuild clarity through sharper customer discovery, MVP thinking, and ruthless niche selection.

BONK, BONK , BONK Business feels like Moana's chicken right now

In this episode, I’m sharing a very real behind-the-scenes update on business, burnout, hormones, motherhood, messaging, and feeling completely stuck. I talk about: * realizing there’s a certain time each month where my confidence drops and everything in my business suddenly feels confusing, * the HUGE aha moment I had with my mentor about how my messaging accidentally drifted into “I can fix you” energy, even though that’s completely opposite of what I believe, * why customer discovery calls lit me up more than anything else, * the difference between a product problem and a go-to-market problem, * applying for One Day MBA’s Pivot Accelerator program, * and honestly… what it feels like trying to build a business while also being a mama, running community playgroups, navigating hospital stays, exhaustion, and real life. Also: I compare myself to Hei Hei from Moana for approximately five minutes, which honestly feels deeply accurate right now. If you’ve ever felt like: “I know I’m meant for this… so why does everything feel so messy?” this episode is for you.

I'm the Reason My Business Isn't Growing (A Founder's Honest Confession)

For months, I’ve been questioning whether I should pivot my business, shut down my classes, or completely change direction. On paper, some things aren’t working. The numbers don’t fully work yet. The classes aren’t truly profitable yet. And after running the viability calculator with my mentor, I had a moment where I thought: “Why hasn’t anyone told me to pivot?” But this episode turned into something much deeper. Because the truth is… the biggest thing standing in my way might actually be me. In this episode, I’m sharing: * my fear of being “salesy” * what another founder said that completely shifted my perspective * what happened after Korbin’s ICU stay * the grief, exhaustion, and life circumstances behind the scenes * why I keep stopping myself even though I deeply believe in this work * and what I’m doing to finally get out of my own way This is probably one of the rawest episodes I’ve recorded. If you’re building something meaningful while also carrying real life, grief, parenting, fear, exhaustion, and self-doubt… this episode is for you. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Curious about Oneday MBA — the program I talk about throughout this show? Check it out here: https://oneday.org/us/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=jessica-brittani-referral [https://oneday.org/us/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=jessica-brittani-referral] Subscribe so you don't miss the messy middle of building a business as a mom. Calm & Colorful: https://www.calmandcolorful.com [https://www.calmandcolorful.com] Join the free Calm & Colorful Circle community for founders + mamas building alongside me If this episode resonated, please leave a review — it helps other founder moms find this podcast. #FounderMom #OnedayMBA #WomenInBusiness #PodcastForMoms #CustomerDiscovery