Jen McFarland

Founder

Cary, NC

My Role

Jen partners with small businesses and teams as they plan, assess, and improve the digital solutions that help them succeed. After 25 years of working with technology and communication strategy, she can help you tackle tough topics all the way from implementing AI to setting up web hosting and digital experience design.

What I love most about my role

I like working on lots of different tasks and problems. The diversity of small business ownership and the needs of my clients keeps me on my toes - in a good way.

How I define success

To some extent, it's just "am I paying myself every month?" (And yes, I am). I do want to be able to grow my business, hire people, offer more thought leadership for the community, but these things need to make sense with other priorities. I have to work to maintain a reasonable "scope of success" for right now.

The best piece of business advice I ever received was

I don't recall the source of this but I have a reminder by my desk that, "You can do anything, just not everything."

What would I tell my younger self

Believe in yourself. Keep learning new skills. Take good notes.

What 2B Bolder mean to me

I suffer from a lot of anxiety and self-doubt, often called "imposter syndrome." I think 2B Bolder is about trusting yourself, believing in your expertise, and the value you offer.

Years of Experience

I recommend you focus on developing these 3 skills to succeed in a role like mine

Explaining complicated concepts in an approachable way (sidebar to this is deciding what info really needs to be described).
Failing with minimal damage.
Getting started.