Local Bella Podcast

In this episode of Local Bella, Alyssa sits down with Jenn Wisegarver, founder of We Are Coming, a small business consultant who helps business owners figure out what’s working, what isn’t, what needs to happen next, and most importantly, actually get it done. Jenn’s work spans areas like strategy, project management, business consulting, change management and operations.

Jenn’s approach is refreshingly simple: the perfect plan doesn’t matter much if it never gets implemented.

One of her biggest pieces of advice?

Do the 1.0 version.

It might not be the prettiest or most optimized version yet, but if it gets finished, you finally have something real to improve.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why “done” can be more valuable than “perfect”

• Starting a business before everything is completely figured out

• How Jenn made the leap into entrepreneurship

• Why people often want you before you think you’re ready

• The reality of running a business without a huge financial safety net

• Why systems and operations matter when you’re trying to grow

• Building workflows that actually fit into real life

• Working with busy business owners, parents and small teams

• Knowing what success actually means before starting a project

• Why expectations between a client and consultant need to be clear

• Using analytics instead of running a business purely on vibes 😂

• Designing a business around your priorities and family

• Why social media works best when people can actually get to know you

• Learning from the risks and imperfect decisions that come with entrepreneurship

Jenn also talks about building a business that works around real life. That might mean meetings from the car, kids nearby, voice notes instead of perfectly organized emails, or finding a completely different way to get the job done.

Basically, business, but make it human.

🌐 Website: we-are-coming.com

📸 Instagram: @wearecoming.biz

💼 LinkedIn: Jenn Wisegarver

📘 Facebook: We Are Coming

Local Bella is about the people, business owners, creatives, moms and community builders doing interesting things right in our own backyard.

Real conversations. Real businesses. Very little pretending we have everything figured out.

If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, comment and share it with a neighbor.

Basically, hit all the buttons. 😂

See you around town. ❤️

What does a Chamber of Commerce actually do?

I feel like most of us know of the Chamber… but do we actually know what they do?

In this episode of Local Bella, I sat down with Melanie from the Hoffman Estates Chamber of Commerce & Industry to talk about what really goes on behind the scenes, how they support local businesses, and why being part of a Chamber can be way more valuable than people realize.

And yes, we talked about ribbon cuttings. 😂
But there is a LOT more happening than that.

Melanie talks about what it’s like working with more than 250 businesses, how the Chamber helps connect people to each other, and why just showing up and being part of the community can make such a big difference.

We also clear up something I honestly think a lot of people assume, the Chamber is not part of the Village of Hoffman Estates. They work together, but they are completely separate.

We get into things like:

• What the Chamber actually does
• How membership works
• Why you don’t have to be located in Hoffman Estates to join
• What ribbon cuttings are really for
• Why in-person networking still matters
• How the Chamber helps residents find local businesses
• How they connect businesses with schools and community organizations
• Local events like the Fishing Derby
• Why small business owners sometimes need to get off the computer and actually go meet people
• And Melanie’s reminder that you’re never going to make everyone happy, but you can keep showing up

One of my favorite parts of the conversation was hearing how the Chamber helped connect a local business with area schools so students could learn about career paths they might not have known existed.

That’s the kind of stuff happening behind the scenes that people don’t always hear about.

🌐 Website: https://www.hechamber.com/
📅 Events: https://members.hechamber.com/events
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HEChamber/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hoffman-estates-chamber-of-commerce
𝕏 X: https://twitter.com/HEChamber

Local Bella is basically me sitting down with interesting people in our communities and talking about what they do, how they got there, and all the stuff you don’t always see from the outside.

Just good conversations with good people.

If you liked this episode, subscribe, leave a comment, send it to someone local, or just hit all the buttons. 😂

See you around town. ❤️