JJ Jank
Chief Brain Hacker/CEO at Desert Diva LLC
Small Business
Education: Rutgers University - New York University Stern School of Business
Long Beach, CA, USA
Biography
JJ is a productivity consultant helping business owners make more profit in less time and with better systems. Her goal is to help entrepreneurs, especially women, reclaim their time, energy, and attention away from busy-ness and towards joy… without sacrificing profits. She can be found on her website, www.jenniferjank.com, as well as on LinkedIn.
During her tenure as a financial planner, she began to explore behavioral finance in order to better serve her clients, and continues to research the neuroscience behind productivity.
JJ holds a BA in Physics from Rutgers University and an MBA in Finance from New York University.
She is a speaker and author known for her engagement with the audience even on virtual calls and the ability to distill complex topics so that everyone can understand them.
Recent speaking engagements include: SBDC national conference, PIHRA annual conference, American Women Business Association, Coachella Valley Women’s Business Center, REC Innovation Lab, “CEO Chat” at RVN TV and She Leads and Creative Conversations podcasts. Previous speaking engagements have included: Invest Like Her, Riverside County Bar Association, California Trial Academy, National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association Western Conference, and others.
Publications she is featured in or written for include: PIVOT, Brainz Magazine, Journal of Divorce Financial Analysis, Coachella Valley Weekly, and others.
Passion
Neuroscience! I have lots of passions including animals, hiking, reading, going to the theater or to a museum, and long in-depth conversations with my friends.
Best Story
I was talking to a client who wanted to take her accounting practice from tax returns all the time to a fractional CFO business (more interesting, higher margins.) I had mentioned the importance of NOT working when you want to break through a plateau - that is, taking time for friends, family, hobbies, and all kinds of fun activities.
We were talking about reading (which can also help you extend your attention span) and how she could cut back just a little on binge watching at night to read instead. She told me that sometimes she just wanted to veg out and I told her she could do that with books too. She said, "Wait - I don't have to read business books all the time"?
gave her "permission" to read whatever she wanted guilt-free, and she was amazed! And helping my clients (and audience) realize that they can take time out for fun stuff whenever they want - productivity actually requires that you give your brain a break!
Origin Story
I have always been productive, able to concentrate on what I was doing and to finish ahead of time. Then I had a very nonlinear career in corporate America that included a variety of topics like project management, financial software, and financial planning.
That led me to neuroscience, because I wanted to understand why our clients didn't do as we recommended, even though our suggestions were logical and they agreed to everything in our meetings.
As I researched more about the brain, I discovered how I'd always been so productive, by working WITH my brain instead of against it. There are a lot of common assumptions and practices in modern business culture which are bad for the brain, and therefore bad for productivity. I like to talk to people about how to work smarter instead of longer or harder. So much of being effective at work requires knowledge of the brain.
During the pandemic people started to recognize the benefits of having a life outside work, but still making money. And thus productivity consulting was born!
Featured Video
Featured Book
I am willing to travel
More than 100 miles
When it comes to payments
I generally get paid for speaking but make exceptions
Topics
Best Story
I was talking to a client who wanted to take her accounting practice from tax returns all the time to a fractional CFO business (more interesting, higher margins.) I had mentioned the importance of NOT working when you want to break through a plateau - that is, taking time for friends, family, hobbies, and all kinds of fun activities.
We were talking about reading (which can also help you extend your attention span) and how she could cut back just a little on binge watching at night to read instead. She told me that sometimes she just wanted to veg out and I told her she could do that with books too. She said, "Wait - I don't have to read business books all the time"?
gave her "permission" to read whatever she wanted guilt-free, and she was amazed! And helping my clients (and audience) realize that they can take time out for fun stuff whenever they want - productivity actually requires that you give your brain a break!
Origin Story
I have always been productive, able to concentrate on what I was doing and to finish ahead of time. Then I had a very nonlinear career in corporate America that included a variety of topics like project management, financial software, and financial planning.
That led me to neuroscience, because I wanted to understand why our clients didn't do as we recommended, even though our suggestions were logical and they agreed to everything in our meetings.
As I researched more about the brain, I discovered how I'd always been so productive, by working WITH my brain instead of against it. There are a lot of common assumptions and practices in modern business culture which are bad for the brain, and therefore bad for productivity. I like to talk to people about how to work smarter instead of longer or harder. So much of being effective at work requires knowledge of the brain.
During the pandemic people started to recognize the benefits of having a life outside work, but still making money. And thus productivity consulting was born!