Welcome to invest in yourself the digital entrepreneur podcast. Join the podcast mogul Phil Better as he interviews successful entrepreneurs that make their living in the digital world. Now let's join your host Phil Better and his special guest today on invest in yourself the digital entrepreneur

Welcome to another exciting episode of Invest in Yourself, the Digital Entrepreneur podcast. I am your host with the most feel better. And today, we're joined by an extraordinary guest who has made a remarkable impact in the business world from Northeast to Southeast. Our guest today is a beacon of leadership and innovative and innovation across a vast spectrum of business communities from Philadelphia to New York City and down to DC to the vibrant regions of Greater Atlanta and Charleston, South Carolina. Her influence extends from small and mid sized businesses to the ranks of Fortune 1,000, providing strategic insight that drives sustainable growth and revenue. As the CEO of Junction Creative, an award winning strategic agency, she masterfully blends the rigorous analytic approach of business consulting firm with the dynamic creativity of an advertising agency. Under her visionary leadership, Junction Creative has partnered with over four fifty companies, crafting robust strategies that feel long term success. Her innate ability to connect and inspire makes her not just a respectable leader, but one of the most instantly likable personalities in the industry.

And I can she is amazingly likable. Like, oh my God. We we met five minutes ago. I'm I'm already in love with her. In today's episode, she will share her invaluable expertise on building revenue generating strategies, the art of combining business acumen with creative execution, and the secrets behind her consulting success. This is an episode you won't want to miss, filled with actionable insight and powerful lessons for entrepreneurs and business leaders alike. So please join me in welcoming the phenomenal Julie Kolrelik to Invest in Yourself, the Digital Entrepreneur podcast.

Thank you. Thank you.

I was I I was stressed the whole way down. I'm like, I know the name's coming. Practicing it in my head. Julie, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here today.

I'm I'm excited because, like, you've worked with over 450 companies. You've written a book, Dare to Become. Yeah. You're you are a shining light for entrepreneurials in the world, and I'm so excited to have you here. So we're gonna jump into it. What made you decide to be an entrepreneur? What was the the catalyst that made Julie the amazing entrepreneur she is today?

Yeah. So I tell people my story is probably a little, different than most. So, you know, growing up, I wanted to be a journalist. I thought I would, go down the route of writing stories my entire life for newspapers, which we never which now we no longer hold. No. But, you know, my experience working for my parents who were small business entrepreneurs, I really got a taste for, one, what it was like to run a business and two, really what it provided to them. And so as I started my corporate career, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do or what type of business I wanted to start. And through some experiences that I had working for other companies, I, I wouldn't necessarily advocate for this, but I I quit my job and started my business the very next day.

So not a traditional path for sure.

What mo like, so you were in the corporate world, and you're like, okay. This is not for me. You grew up in an entrepreneurial household with your parents. So, obviously, you you had that that flavor of entrepreneur before most people generally do. When you quit, did you feel like you were getting freedom or were you like, I'm I'm I'm doing something insane?