Episode 7: Agency Building A to Z with Jamie Danielle Owner of J Danielle & Co and Estate Hire

Danny: Hi, Jamie Danielle thanks so much for joining us on the Podcast.

Jamie’s: Thank you. I’m so excited to be here.

Danny: So I mean, I’m I’ve been really excited to talk to you because you’ve had Jay, Danielle and Co. For quite some time.

Jamie: I have. Yes, I started my business way back in 2,006.

Danny: Wow!

You actually also have a new business called Estate Hire.

Jamie: Yes, very exciting. I am launching a new staffing company called Estate Hire and J. Daniel Company has been really local San Diego, Southern California and estate hire will be throughout the Us. And so we’ve kind of got everybody that we’re working with right now and getting it all together. So it’s super exciting.

Danny: That is really exciting. I I’d love to talk to you about both of them. And so actually, my mind is going to first.st Why not just take Jay Danielle and Company, and make that one national.

Jamie: You know, I thought about that, and that’s a great question because I have been in the San Diego area for nearly 20 years. I have my clientele here, and I don’t wanna confuse them. I have just people that I’ve worked with for years that know Jay Daniel Company. And another thing is at Google placement, because I’ve been around for 20 years. I’m like Google placement. And the minute I change that there could be some issues. So just from that standpoint, also, my social media has been around for 8 years like, I start changing things. And I worry about about still kind of being on top. So and also a state higher. I like the idea of something that’s like totally fracked and just it’s it’s kind of energizing. So while I have J. Daniel and Company and my built in sort of clients and staff, it’s it’s exciting to launch something new with new ideas and new people. And yeah.

Danny: Well, that all makes a lot of sense, because really what could happen then is like, you know, while talking about Jay, Danielle and Co. As a national brand. You might like lose some of like that local essence that like peep that you pride yourself on, and.

Jamie: Yes. Exactly. Yeah.

Danny: So how did like? How did you get into this industry? In the 1st place.

Jamie’: So I moved to San Diego in 2,006. I moved from Boulder, Colorado, and I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. I had a theater background, and that’s like I did a lot of local theater in San Diego. But it’s kind of not paying the bills, you know. So I responded to an ad for someone looking for a personal assistant. I thought this would be a really fun opportunity. The hours. We’re kind of part time. So there’s this restaurant that’s been in San Diego forever called Saffron. It’s a Thai restaurant, and the owner of that restaurant is an esteemed chef. Who has been on good morning, America, and kind of all over and she needed an assistant for her. She had multiple cookbooks. For her cookbook tours. Also to manage the people in the kitchen like the little Thai ladies. There’s something called pounding where they take a mortar and pestle, and they’re on the ground, and that’s not okay for food safety. So like to tell them the sweet little ladies. Come on, let’s bring your mortar and pestle up on a counter. So so yeah. So that was my 1st introduction to being a sort of personal assistant. And I fell in love with it. I loved it. It was different and creative, and at the same time I also fell in love with cooking. I would assist her on all of her cooking classes, and I learned so much about thai cooking. And so I was. I ended up like cooking all the time like recreating these recipes. I took her cookbook, cracking the coconut, and I would make recipe after recipe after recipe and then, like I with my theater background. There was like another opportunity  to interview bands at this big event that was happening in San Diego. So I did that while I was doing that there was a chef named Chef Larry, who was sort of a local celebrity chef that I got to interview, and we just totally hit it off. And he’s like, Hey, I’m starting this radio show, I can see, like you’re so passionate about cooking. Would you like to come on my radio show, and I was like sure. So I did that. And then he offered me a place on the radio show. And so all of a sudden my life was just like immersed in cooking, so I was his personal assistant, and then I sort of went into private stuffing. I found an agency he was able to get me these great jobs. And I was like, this is like the coolest thing, and I was a novice cook, but it really like being in a kitchen working for a family 8 HA day. You have to be on it and studying food and recipes all the time. So it was like a crash course rather than going out and getting a culinary degree. It really like shaped like me as a cook, a private chef for families. So I’m so sorry. This is a long, winded story, but.

Danny: I love it. You’re doing great. I love this because really I’m wondering, like as like a placement agency like on the other side of it. Now that you’re there, would you? Would it be hard to actually place someone that like doesn’t have like an official school? You know, culinary background with a family that’s looking for a private chef.

Jamie: You know what you just have to be totally transparent, and say, Hey, this person is super passionate about cooking. They are a novice. You know, and also they may not go in as like a top sal top top salary top tier salary as a private chef who’s worked, you know for years and in in restaurants and things like that, so that might be appealing to someone, a little bit of a lower salary and and yet they just have to be open to it. Now, when it comes to like a nanny that doesn’t work. But someone who’s worked with kids before and it’s same with a housekeeper. But with a chef who is sort of a home cook who’s had a lot of like home experience. And Kate, maybe a little bit of like catering, and has the passion that could work. So yeah, that’s totally something that we’re open to. As long as the clients open to it.

Danny: How do you? So? Okay, I cut you off. So how did you leap from private chef to opening an agency.

Jamie: Okay. So I was doing the radio show. We were interviewing chefs from all over the world like top chefs. It was amazing. And local chefs in San Diego. And I would let them know. You know I was a private chef. This is what I did, and they were also interested in how I got this sort of dream job where you’re not working weekends. You’re not working evenings. You’re getting paid really well compared to working in a restaurant.

And so, you know, I was always saying, Oh, I I went through an agency, and if I hear of any jobs I’ll let you know trying to connect people that way. And then sort of a light bulb went off. And I was like.

Why don’t I open an agency and try to find jobs for for all of these people that are looking for this like quote, unquote, like dream job that I had and so I what I did was I was working for a family full time, and I thought, you know what the only thing that can hold me back is if I’m paid like, really? Well, yeah. So I went to the family, and I’d been working for them for 2 years, and I said I would like a salary increase. I would like double what I’m being paid right now. Are you willing to offer me that? And they said, no, and I said, Okay.

Danny: Wow!

Jamie: Yes, and they and I said, Okay, and so what I did was a quick pivot. I found I put flyers up all over town, and decided to deliver meals to families, so that I would have time during the day to work on my business.

I found 3 or 4 clients right off the bat I so I would be in my kitchen cooking meals for families that I was going to deliver to you, meanwhile taking a break and going and answering an email or answering the phone. So I I did that for like 2 years. And it was crazy. But it helped being able to pivot and still keep that sort of income. Really helped me launch my business and be able to take it to to something where I could do it full time.

Danny: Now I’m like, did you say that you asked for double? And they said, Okay, or did they say no way.

Jamie: Sorry. No, they didn’t say they. They just said no.

Danny: And then what didn’t? What happened like were you like? I have to leave then.

Jamie: I was like, I’m sorry that people give me like 2 weeks notice, and they were okay with that. And you know, the funniest thing happened like 5 years later I ran into them at the grocery store, and they were like, Oh, my God! We should have paid you that you were the best chef we ever had. And I stayed for 2 years. Most chefs like it was a difficult position.

I would stay for like a few months at a time that I would hear like sort of through the grapevine. So it all worked out.

Danny: I understand it as a as a former nanny the difficult positions that like where there was like turnaround, I was like, yes, give me that I want to conquer this.

Jamie: Yes.

Danny: There’s a lot. If you can do that, there’s a lot of camaraderie, or like a bond that you can create there. And it’s it’s everlasting that family. I love them.

Jamie: Yes, yes, totally. Isn’t that so great when you are there families that I used to work for, that I am still in contact with, and it is so special. Yeah, there was a family that I that I did private shopping for for really like part time and their son was like 2 at the time. He just graduated high school, and it’s like to look back and be like, Wow, you know, like they, I’ve we’ve stayed in each other’s lives because we were. It’s so intimate. When you’re working for a family, you just you kind of become part of the family. So, yeah. And you know what they ended up being my 1st client, my 1st staffing clients.

Danny: I was. Gonna ask you if that kind of worked that way for you, if.

Jamie: Yes.

Danny:… you were able to to do that.

Jamie: Absolutely. Yes, they were my very 1st stabbing client. They asked me to find them a nanny, and and I did, and then I found them another chef. And yeah, so so that really works out. And by the way, the the family that I worked for full time, that didn’t give me that salary increase did come back

Jamie: like, maybe 3 years ago, and ask for a chef recommendation. So even if it’s not like the most perfect, you know situation when you leave you still like I don’t know. You still kind of have that bond so.

 

Danny: That that chef Larry saw on you that was like you need to be on the radio like. Clearly, there’s something natural there that people are like they love, and they’ll look like you’re there’s it’s impossible for you to burn a bridge clearly.

Jamie: Thank you. But I you know what I think. That also goes along with just going the extra mile for people. And that’s something that when you start in this business. It’s tough, and you just have to work really hard, like, I would literally go and pick up candidates that their car broke down. I would go and pick them up and take them to their interview. Like you. You really need to just do everything you can do to make it work. A couple of years into it. I I had the Mickelson’s as clients, and they were looking for a Nanny and I had this tiny little office. But I turned it into like a concession stand, basically, like I brought in snacks and drinks and had the right music going, and just like fresh flowers for Amy Mickelson when she came in to meet with candidates and making sure that they had something to drink and double triple checking, making sure the Nanny’s going to show up on time. And is dressed appropriately, appropriately. You just there’s you just have to do that because this level of clientele is like just used to that. So you so you have to give that level of service? And it feels good, too.

Danny: When you did. I have to ask like with when you started placing nannies for, or like sorry like the staffers for the 1st families that you would like the families that you had worked.

Jamie: Yes.

Danny: Was that hard and like being like I’m gonna charge you for this.

Jamie: That was not hard, because it is hard work.

Jamie: So you have to have your fee set and done, and you have to send over your your contract. And I would recommend working with an attorney to get a really good contract. But I have. That’s the one thing like I’ve always stood behind my fee. My fee has slowly increased over almost 20 years, but I, because of the amount of work that goes into a placement. I mean, you’re interviewing so many people, not just for that position, but all the time. And you’re screening. And it’s not just their credentials or their accolades. It’s their personality also. So it’s there’s so much goes into it. So you are so worth the fee that you charge them. So yeah, no, that part was never hard but like the the hardest part for me, I think, is like just making sure you have that right placement. It’s never been about the money it’s been about. Is this the person? Because I’ve been in that situation where I’ve worked with a family, and it’s changed. My life like, is this person going to fit in their family and make their home place like, are they helping, are they? I just want every client to be so excited about the person that they’re hiring, and I want it to be, you know, a lifelong relationship like I like I’ve had with my clients like that’s the goal. The goal isn’t the check. At the end of the day. The goal is really to change people’s lives on both sides.

So yeah, it’s really rewarding when you think about it that way. This is also isn’t a business where you’re going to make a million dollars, you know, if you’re going into it just for the money. It’s probably not the right business.

You make a great living. But but you really have to be passionate about about changing people’s lives for the better. That has to be like the driving reason. You do this.

Danny: Well, I think that. So how do you find these amazing candidates.

Jamie’s iPhone: Well, now it’s great, because I’ve been around for so long, so I might have a nanny I placed. She has a sister, an aunt and a dad, I mean, there’s so many within the family a lot. I’ve had tons and tons of referrals. Just. You’re always recruiting like I go into a store, and if someone just blows me away like I’ll hand them my card.

I’ve done crazy things, though, like I have gone into private gated communities and put up signs housekeeper needed because I want the top housekeeper. So I’m in a gated community where I’m getting calls, and they’re like, you cannot put your signs in our community. So yes, I I you have to. You have to think outside of the box and really try to find the best of the best. I will see a team of housekeepers cleaning house, and I will stop my car and give them my card friends who have had nannies, who are like just like so happy I’m like, get me their contact, you know, like you just recruit every way you can, but you seek out the best sort of the best of the best.

Danny: That’s I love that. You went into gated communities and put up signs looking to steal away somehow. Maybe just part time jobs, housekeepers, you know.

Jamie: Better opportunities. You know you’ve got great people, and like there are always better opportunities out there. And when I have a position that’s paying $40 $50 an hour for a housekeeper. I’m like, I’m gonna find the best housekeeper out there. I mean, this is such a great opportunity. And you know, it’s a nice family. So so yeah, you just you just really have to kind of think outside the box when it comes to that.

On top of like, everything is digital. So like going using your Crm and going out, you know, on different job sites. Like that’s really important.

And to follow up with that, you want to have a great website. You want to have great social media because they’re not seeing you face to face.

They are seeing your digital footprint, your presence online. And that is very, very important. So you want to make sure that that all looks as professional as it can. So so yes, that’s you know, the the sort of crazy marketing I did in the beginning like that’s been great. But also like really going out there and and doing using every avenue you have online and through social media to recruit is super important.

Danny: Well do you get it? Where families ask you like, how are you recruiting.

Jamie: Oh, my gosh! All the time! Yes.

Danny: And,so how do you answer that? Do you feel like you’re giving away your secrets? Or are you feeling like you’re just being like, yeah.

Jamie’s iPhone: This is how we do it. No, you know, I feel like you can’t really give away secrets.

 My motto has always been. Whoever the best candidate is for that family is great, whether they find them through another agency, whether they find them online themselves. It’s going to happen the way it’s supposed to happen.

I know I’m doing my best to prevent or to show them like these are the top candidates that I have who, I think will be amazing for you and your family. But you know, maybe they just don’t work out one of them like you never know. So if they find someone else through another agency or by themselves, I’m okay with that. 

I’m not like. I’m gonna like, try to just keep these clients all to myself, and you know I’m just a little bit more open when it comes to that. I think that there’s room for everyone and working together, and collaborate collaborating is awesome. And it’s what this business like really needs. I feel like it can be pretty isolating. So working with other agency owners is great.

Danny: Well, then, to actually stumbled back into something that I wanted to ask you about when you started your own agency, and you were placed originally from an agency? Was there any competition, or like weird feelings about that.

Jamie: He asked me to join forces with him. Actually. So, yeah. So I had an article that was written up in the paper.

This was after maybe 2 years of of me being in business, and he saw that article, and he knew me very well. So he asked to have lunch, and I had lunch with him, and he said, Hey, I’m getting close to retiring. Would you like to work together to join forces to do this together. And I thought about it but I was kind of like I don’t know.

He didn’t always send me out of the great the best like he would kind. Sometimes he would send me out. I was a private chef, but he’d send me out on a position that was like a private chef, but really a nanny.

You know, So I didn’t. I just ran my business differently. Let’s just say that. So so yeah. And he he was a wonderful human being. But we ran our businesses differently. So, so, yeah, that was that was fine. And again, yeah, he was now a competitor. Which was fine. It was fine.

Danny: So like, how do you avoid those like pitfalls of kind of doing that thing that he did? And I think a lot of agencies kind of get into, you know, doing sometimes of sending somebody on like of it’s not really a fit or reaching out to someone trying to convince them like that. This is good opportunity for them, or something like that. How do you are you avoiding? That? Is that just another one of those things that you’re just able to not actually have, like as a barrier for you.

Jamie: I think the most important thing is just transparency. So when you’re working with a candidate being completely transparent about everything about the position, if they want you to get down and scrub the toilets, you tell them this is  this may be what you have to do. You just have to be because you don’t want any surprises, and you want this to be a long term fit for everyone. So so that’s why it’s super important to let them know, or you even know, you know, the last person didn’t work out, because there’s a housekeeper that’s already there. That’s been there for 20 years, and she’s difficult. You tell your candidate there’s someone there that’s difficult. And we know that someone left because of that person. So you have to be able to roll with the punches. You have to really be ready for this.

Danny: Can I ask you, where? So where do you invest? Like the most amount of your time and and money or energy in.

Jamie: I have a team now. When I started for years I was just doing this solo but now I have a team. I have someone who does all of my interviews and she was a candidate of mine for years and years, and I just adored her. So I asked her if she would like to come on with the company. So she does all my reference reference checking and then I have Megan, who has been with me for, I believe, 8 years, and she kind of runs day to day operations.

Working with the clients and the candidates personally every day. So for me that that has been amazing, being able to have 2 people to kind of take the load off so as far as what I am investing in, I’m investing back in the company with support. which means everything.

So I’m not a 1 woman show, you know, just spinning my wheels. I have. We have a small, intimate team, and we all work together. To just, you know, do better for our clients and our candidates.

Danny: It seems like the way that we’re conversing is that you’re probably picking up the phone a lot. I feel like, like, Do you do a lot with emails, or are you calling your candidates and clients like? It? Seems just like, very. It’s very compelling talking to you.

Jamie: Oh, thank you. Now I am so Megan’s on the phone emailing every day. My clients that are like personal friends and things like that like, it’s, yes, I am on the phone. I’m emailing. If anything comes up. If someone’s not happy.

I call them immediately, and you know, try to work through the situation with them. Same thing goes with my candidates. I have candidates that I’ve had for nearly 20 years.

And they reach out they can. They have my cell, they can always reach out to me. You you just need to be available always for your, for your clients and your candidates.

And speaking of the candidates that I’ve had for like 20 years. So one of my very 1st positions that I placed was a housekeeper with the Wheat family in La Hoya and the gal. That was sort of the estate manager at the time. She is now working with me on a State hire. One of my very 1st laundresses that I placed is now working with me on a estate hire and an assistant that I’ve known for gosh, 15 years she is. She’s doing the territory in Lake Franklin, Nashville, Tennessee area.

So building relationships has really been an important part of this business, and it’s so cool to now see it like kind of all come together where these I had these long term relationships, and they’re able to like help grow this new business estate hire out.

 

Danny: With the Estate higher and like growing nationally. How are you picking those locations to like? Start off in or like bloom.

Jamie: So it’s where we have boots on the ground. So, yeah. So like, Gloria is in Arizona, and Liz is in Tennessee, and Anya is in Texas. So it’s it’s where we have boots on the ground with people that we’ve worked with for years.

So we know that they’re going to give the same level of service that we’ve always given.

Danny: Is there like different like tools that you’re or like? What tools are you using to even like run your agency, I imagine at this point. It’s way past Google Docs.

Jamie: Google, Doc is great in the beginning. I mean, I was like pen and paper in the beginning, you know. So no. Let’s see, what tools do we use? We use? We have a great Crm that we’re using. I was, I want to look into engine hire for a State hire because I think that that we could really work together, and that would be super beneficial. A new as a new Crm for our business.

Danny: Well, I I appreciate the plug for us, but I’m all you know. We’re just really trying to help people.

Jamie: That’s great.

Danny: If you have, like the goods on some other software, it even if it devastates us, we’d I’d love for every agency to know.

Jamie: Let’s see, I’ve used recruiting there. And a good person who can really build out your back end system to have so have a custom website. So to have your candidates and clients on the back end of your system is super important. But really like having having a good developer who can work on your the back end of your website when you’re just starting out.

That’s huge. Like, I launched my website. I think, I went on Craigslist. I was like looking for somebody to build my website for like $50, and I found one, and he did it for $50. So you don’t need that was in the very beginning. You don’t need something robust. Just get a landing page. To go on Squarespace, build a landing page just to get your feet off the ground.

I wouldn’t worry about like everything you need to get started. You literally just need, like yourself and maybe a landing page maybe start a little social media

But really, just going out and networking is is so important. And yeah, don’t. You’re gonna make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes.

And so I I would encourage people not to like get so caught up with everything you need in the beginning because it’s all gonna work out. And yeah, yeah, just get out there.

Danny: I think that that’s great worth of wisdom. I think a lot of people in every industry tinker a lot on a website or something that’s much more fun to do. And it’s immediate satisfaction. But it’s the truth is like, you’re right like you need like a cell phone and email and a landing page. And then you need some shoes to get out there.

 

Jamie’s iPhone: Yes.

Danny: Things happen.

Jamie: Yes, exactly, exactly. And and with no fear.

Don’t be afraid and be, and just be honest about everything. That’s how you’re. Gonna that’s how I’ve been in business for nearly 20 years is just being completely transparent. And you know, standing behind the people that you’re representing. And that goes for the clients, too. You know, it’s important to vet your clients and make sure that they’re great families that people are going to want to work with. I’ve absolutely said no, to the clients that have come along. That may have, you know, a not so good reputation. So you gotta look out for your candidates as well. So yeah.

Danny: That, Jamie, thank you so much for sharing all of your wisdom. You’re so knowledgeable. Yeah, just thank you so much for doing that.

Danny: Where can more people learn about you?

Jamie: They can learn about. Let’s see social media. I’m@jdanielle.staffing estate hire will be launching soon. And J. danielle.com is my website. Yeah. So you could probably just Google and and find me and my team, my awesome team. I have to give a shout out to Megan and Lisa, because I wouldn’t be here without them.

Danny: Yeah, sorry. No, I I meant to say like that. That’s amazing that you’re giving them a shout out.

Jamie: Oh, no, there, yes, you can’t do it alone. I mean, you can for a while, and then and then you need you need some help. So yeah, and it’s so great to just work with people and collaborate and bounce ideas off other people. So so yeah, do it as long as you can, I guess you know, spinning your wheels, and then and then, real or just in the beginning, try to try to find some support so, and you can find support in networking groups as well. And you know, there’s so much information out there on how to launch a business and your web. Your podcast is amazing, like, how cool that you’re giving this to people to teach them what they need to do to launch their own business so great. That’s very cool of you guys to do that.

Danny: Well, we appreciate that, but it’s really it goes back to people like you that are willing to share and give. You know your wisdom away. And, like you said, it’s the removing the competition barrier to know that, like, you know, doing it together is really.

Jamie: Yes.

 

Danny: Well, thanks again. So much for giving us your time. .

Jamie: You too. I appreciate it. Thanks so much.