Jennifer Magee shares her personal journey through the world of architecture, design and real estate development on her way to becoming a location-independent business owner. She opens up about how she navigated repeated business failures and continually implemented the lessons learned until she eventually selected the right business partners, built the right team, and started landing Fortune 500 clients. She talks about how she built her architectural design company, Retail in the City, with a virtual infrastructure that she can run from anywhere in the world while serving clients like Saks Off 5th, Barnes and Noble, and The Sharper Image. As a digital nomad who chooses to live in different time zones across the world for extended periods, she discusses how she structures her workday in order to manage her international team effectively while optimizing her own lifestyle design. Jen also explains why her two most effective techniques for stress-relief over the years have been 1) Dancing (more than any other form of exercise) and 2) Spontaneous travel. She tells the story of how she took a last-minute trip to Peru by herself to do a multi-day hike to Machu Picchu and ended up with a private entourage and cook attending only to her! Jen also names the celebrity she would most like to have dinner with and what questions she would ask at that dinner. She then shares her most influential book, her most impactful productivity app and, after travelling to over 50 countries, she recommends her top 3 travel destinations of all time.
Episode #05: Landing Fortune 500 Clients, Dancing to Relieve Stress and Running an Architectural Design Company While Traveling the World with Jennifer Magee
Episode Summary
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About the Guest
Jennifer Magee
Jennifer Magee is the founder and owner of Retail in the City, an architecture and design company based in New York City. Over the past 10 years, Jennifer has designed and planned over 10 million square feet of retail space for over 100 different clients – including widely recognized and acclaimed projects such as the duty free shops at JFK Airport in New York City, Saks Off 5th Department stores, Barnes and Noble bookstores, the Sharper Image, and many more. She’s has also designed millions of square footage of retail space outside the U.S. in countries ranging from Russia to China to the Caribbean island of Barbados. And she has built her business so that she can run it from anywhere around the world with total location independence. She has utilized that to travel to over 50 countries.
What You'll Learn
- The early stage of entrepreneurship is lonely, chaotic, exhausting and financially stressful. Prepare for that, and surround yourself with people who can support you through it.
- You have to build a team that knows that they are doing, that you can train and stay positive with, and that are invested in helping the company grow.
- The most effective ways Jennifer relieves stress are 1) Spontaneous Travel because it immediately generates a new perspective and 2) Dancing because it requires both mental and physical energy.
Links From the Episode
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LIFE/WORK/TRAVEL PROGRAM THAT MATT AND JENNIFER WERE ON WHEN RECORDING THIS INTERVIEW
JENNIFER’S COMPANY
BOTTLE OF WINE SHARED IN THIS EPISODE
TOP BOOK JENNIFER RECOMMENDS
TOP APP JENNIFER RECOMMENDS
TOP PODCAST JENNIFER RECOMMENDS
JENNIFER’S FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME
CELEBRITY WITH WHOM JENNIFER MOST WANTS TO HAVE DINNER
PLACE WHERE MATT AND JENNIFER WERE CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW
JENNIFER’S TOP 3 TRAVEL RECOMMENDATIONS
JENNIFER’S TOP BUCKETLIST DESTINATIONS
OTHER TRAVEL DESTINATIONS MENTIONED
- Argentina
- Austria
- Barbados
- Bilbao, Basque Country
- Bordeaux
- Budapest
- Cambodia
- Chile
- China
- Hvar, Croatia
- Europe
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Iceland
- Seoul, Korea
- London
- Los Angeles
- Macchu Picchu
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Morocco
- New York
- Peru
- Portugal
- Rome
- Russia
- Belgrade, Serbia
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Granada Spain
- Madrid, Spain
- Seville, Spain
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Thailand
Check Flight Prices to Any of These Destinations
CONTACT OF FOLLOW JENNIFER
Time Stamped Show Notes
[3:03] JENNIFER’S JOURNEY FROM EMPLOYEE TO BUSINESS OWNER
- From Teaching Architecture in Tennessee to Working in New York City
- Working at Different Size Architecture Firms and Learning the Business
- Going Back to Graduate School
- Trying Her First Start Up and Failing
- Working for a Company that Dissolved During the Meltdown of 2008
[10:47] BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR AND MAKING THE LEAP
- Wanting to Change the Architecture World
- Early stage struggle of being an entrepreneur
- The blunt reality of her loneliness, chaos and financial stress as a business founder
[14:00] SUCCEEDING AS AN ENTREPRENEUR
- Pure Ambition Was a Primary Driver
- Learning to Delegate and Get Other People to Implement Your Vision
- Learning to Build a Team
- Jennifer’s breakthrough “I made it” moment
[19:15] PRODUCTIVITY HABITS AND STRESS REDUCTION TECHNIQUES
- Preparing for the Entrepreneurial Roller Coaster
- Dancing to Relieve Stress
- Spontaneous Travel to Relieve Stress and Inspire You
- The Most Impactful Advice She Has Ever Received
- Jennifer’s Productivity Habits and Day Structure
- How She Manages an Internationally Distributed Workforce Across Time Zones
[28:30] HOW SHE RUNS AN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN COMPANY REMOTELY
- How She Built an Architectural Design Company with a Virtual Infrastructure
- How She Runs Her Business While Traveling the World
- Jennifer’s Niche Positioning of Her Business
- How She Adds Unique Value and Differentiates Her Business in the Marketplace
- How Architectural Design is Really Only One Part of Her Value Proposition
[31:10] TRAVEL AS A CENTRAL PART OF HER LIFESTYLE
- What do Travel Means to Her
- The Value of Travel and Why it is so Central to Her Life
- Why the Architecture Profession Encourages Travel
[33:30] MATT AND JEN SHARE TRAVEL STORIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
- Jen’s Spontaneous Travel Adventure to hike Machu Piccu in Peru
- Jennifer’s Top 3 Travel Destinations
- Matt’s Year Studying Abroad and Living in Ireland
- Matt’s Recent 3 Months in Spain
- How Matt Almost Getting Kicked Out of the Schengen Region
- Matt’s Summer in Serbia and the Croatian Coast
- Jennifer’s Top Bucket List Destination
[52:04] THE LIGHTNING ROUND
- The Top Book Jennifer Recommends
- The Top Productivity Tool Jennifer Recommends
- Jen’s Favorite Movie of All Time
- The #1 Celebrity Jen Would Most Like to Have Dinner With
- The Podcast Jen Recommends
[106:05] HOW TO CONTACT JENNIFER
- Jennifer’s Social Media Handles
- Jennifer’s Website
