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Hey, what is up?
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Welcome to this episode of the Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.
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As always, I'm your host, brian LoFermento, and if there is a type of entrepreneur that is nearest and dearest to my heart, it's the type of entrepreneur that truly embraces one of our founding principles of a rising tide lifts all boats, and that's why today we are joined by an incredible entrepreneur who truly believes in the power of bringing people together, in the power of collaboration, in the power of creating a community where everybody can flourish and do their best work, and she does this even when it comes to physical spaces.
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So let me tell you all about today's guest.
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Her name is Noelle Jackson.
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Noelle is a dynamic entrepreneur and the visionary founder of OfficeLogic, which is a premier hybrid co-working space in Miami, florida.
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She was born in Jamaica.
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Noelle has always had a passion for business and innovation.
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She's an accountant by profession we're gonna hear how that plays into the way that she operates and she's been a serial entrepreneur all of her life, successfully managing various ventures.
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And I'm excited to hear that backstory as well, because, just in the little that I already know about Noelle, it seems to me like she sees opportunity everywhere Opportunity for herself, opportunity to help others grow and opportunities, just to make the world a better place.
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Before founding OfficeLogic, she owned and operated a modest custodial service business that served many of Miami's iconic buildings.
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Recognizing the need for a centralized hub to support the city's burgeoning tech and business community, she launched OfficeLogic at the end of 2022, which is located in the heart of Miami.
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Her goal was to create a vibrant collaborative space where entrepreneurs, investors, government officials and service providers could come together to innovate and grow under one roof.
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Officelogic quickly became a cornerstone of Miami's tech scene, hosting organizations such as Lightship Capital, shrimp, society Venture Miami, argent Strategies, one7 Tech, local Leaders Collective, just to name a few.
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We're all going to learn a lot about the abundance thinking behind Noel's success, so I'm not going to say anything else.
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Let's dive straight into my interview with Noelle Jackson.
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All right, noelle, I'm so excited to have you here with us.
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First things first.
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Welcome to the show.
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Thank you so much for having me on your show.
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Heck.
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Yes, noelle, you've got a lot to live up to today, because I think the work that you do is incredible.
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You're a builder at heart.
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Walk us through your background.
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Who the heck is, noelle?
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How'd you start doing all these cool things?
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So?
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So, of course, uh, you mentioned, I'm Jamaican by birth and, um I, who I am, I believe I've always been at.
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At around six or seven years old, my dad in Jamaica liked to show us the beauty of Jamaica, so he would take us to the different tourist spots, and one of the places he took us to was this place called Green Grotto Capes, and he took us there.
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I fell in love with it, and at six or seven years old, it was a two hour ride away from our home.
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The entire way back, all I could think of was oh my goodness, we need to put a restaurant and a hotel here, because this is the perfect location for that.
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Everyone would love it.
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And I came up with a business plan on the ride back with my dad, and you know, we didn't develop the hotel and the restaurant, but we did.
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What he did do for me was that night.
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He gave me a notebook and a pen and he said that one of my ideas would come to fruition one day.
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And he said every time I have an idea, write it down, because he knew that that was my calling being a visionary, if you want to call it that.
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So that's my start.
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I've always been this way.
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I can't look at anything without thinking how I can collaborate, make it better, and I think that is the entrepreneurial mindset right.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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That's why I love that part of your background.
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I come from an immigrant family as well.
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My mom's family immigrated to the United States from Albania.
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Noelle, I would argue that's a bit of our unfair.
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Advantage is that we come here because we see that opportunity.
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It sounds like your dad nurtured that from a very young age.
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Talk to me about that mindset, because sometimes I feel like I see things that others don't.
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People call me an eternal optimist.
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I want to hear from your perspective how that's played into your day-to-day life, as well as obviously set you up for success as an entrepreneur.
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Absolutely.
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I mean, it has the positives and the negatives.
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So, you know, my family, because they're the ones closest to me, have heard every idea that has ever come into my head, have heard every idea that has ever come into my head.
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I don't tell them anymore.
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I've learned, and so for them it's like oh, there she goes again with another idea.
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What does she think she's going to change the world?
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And honestly, I really believe that I can.
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I think right now I'm in a vehicle that has the ability to make a difference, not only within our community, at the hub, locally in Miami, nationally in the United States, but also globally, and it's you know.
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I choose not to stop my mind and my heart from the visions that and the and what I see for the future.
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Now, lately, since I've started the hub, I've got a lot of buy-in, which to me sometimes is very dangerous, because when I tell people the big vision and I explain it to them and they buy into it, it just fuels me even more.
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It makes me want to create more.
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It makes me want to create more.
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It makes me want to see the results that I already see in my mind as to where we can take this and how we can bring a global community, create a global talent pipeline and do really really great things.
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Yeah, noelle, you use that word, vision, and when we talk about visionary, I feel like it's a word we throw around quite loosely in the world of entrepreneurship, but it definitely applies in your case, because you just said it right there and I'm going to keep piling on to that point of seeing things that others may not.
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I've always loved that quote of we don't see things as they are, we see things as we are, and so, noel, when you see those possibilities, that's a reflection of you.
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Talk to me about where that comes from.
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I want to hear the intentionality and the strategic part of your mind, because what you've built in Miami and I know there's a lot more to come from you in the future that doesn't happen by mistake.
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It's a blueprint that you've set and you've taken action on.
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What does that look like?
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Do you take weekly time to yourself to just think as an executive?
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Do you think of these things while you're in the shower or while you're grocery shopping?
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Where do these visions come from?
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So I'm not extremely religious, but I am religious.
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That's number one.
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And if you want to just go back a little bit, I started this because of my janitorial company.
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So I was an accountant during the market crash 2006 to 2008.
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There I did have a laundromat.
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I started I was operating the laundromat on my own and then without working in accounting, and then we had the side business, which was a janitorial custodial business.
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And I tell you that because that's the reason that I'm here.
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I wasn't sure why I was doing janitorial work, why I had that business, because I always thought, man, I'm an accountant, I should be doing something else.
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But the path that's the path that led me to where I am, because my company actually cleaned.
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This built the trust that was built.
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They normally work with multimillion dollar agencies and here they were negotiating with a modest cleaning company to take over a million dollar space.
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So I bring you to that because I really believe that this is all part of the path that I'm supposed to take, that I am fulfilling my purpose.
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I am fulfilling what I'm supposed to be.
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I had this conversation a couple of days ago with a few members that what is our purpose in life if not fulfilling our potential, our God-given potential, to its fullest.
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So I really do believe that me being here and being obedient to trying to get everything as much as I can done in this lifetime is a part of it.
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Once we saw this space, once I saw this space, it was just real estate, but it really came to life with the people, with the community, and it also allowed me to realize that I built a place where I finally belonged.
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I am the awkward person, I am the one that isn't sure exactly what to say or when to say it, and I normally say the wrong things, quote unquote.
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But here, once I had the community and I had the people in the space, I realized that there are a lot of founders just like me that need the support, the community, the education, and so I just started building on that because I saw a need.
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So I guess entrepreneurship is about resolving problems or finding solutions, and every issue that I've had as an entrepreneur my entire life, I've put that into play to make sure that I can provide to the members and our community here all the support services that they need in order for them to succeed, because I've been in their place, I am in their place and if I can make that road a little easier, if I can open doors and make it a smoother transition for them, I want to do that.
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So I hope I've answered your question.
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Yeah, for sure, noelle, because I'll call out a part of your answer that I really deeply appreciate and I think we need to have this conversation more publicly, not only in entrepreneurial circles, but societally is that you acknowledge how important every single step you took before what you do today plays into what you do, and as someone who I remember when I graduated college so, noel, I majored in economics and finance.
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What do I do today?
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I host a business podcast where I don't talk about economics and finance whatsoever.
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However, it laid those building blocks.
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It shapes the way that I see the world.
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It shapes my understanding.
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Those four years, both inside and outside the classroom, really helped shape who I am today, and that impacts how I show up behind the microphone.
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It shapes how I show up in my own businesses and in service of others, and so hearing you even talk about being an accountant during the financial crisis, that shapes the way that you see the world.
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Noelle, I'd love to hear, with that, hat on for all those people who are thinking oh, when I transition to full-time entrepreneur, I'm leaving behind everything that I've ever known.
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But you're actually bringing it with you is what I'm hearing in your story.
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Talk to us about how all those different hats you've worn plays into the way you show up today.
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Well, without the accounting background which I believe I had to have, I wouldn't be able to understand the numbers as well as I do, and you know that.
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Saying hairdressers shouldn't do their own hair, accountants shouldn't do their own books completely true.
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However, understanding what the numbers mean, being able to move money around, being able to even help some of my founders here, I think is huge.
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Yeah, go ahead.
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No, and then with the janitorial company, the custodial company, being able to do because I've always been a small business and I'm going to throw a fact in here that there's 3 million small businesses in Miami or 3 million businesses in Florida, and 98% of those are small businesses.
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So when you look at the GDP of Florida, it's made up of small businesses.
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I've been a small business my entire life, you know I haven't gone over the five million and so therefore, a lot of what these small businesses go through, I had to learn to be able to get to where I am.
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So I've taken all of that with me and I apply it every single day.
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Yeah, I love that.
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All right, we're throwing around the word small here, but I'm going to interject so that listeners get a little sense of the scale of what you're doing.
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In Miami, your space is over 24,000 square feet, Noelle.
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You are building a physical space where people come together.
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That's no small feat, because I think about how many businesses just start a website and you know they sign up for GoDaddy and they spend $10 to get a domain name and then they use a free website builder and that's their business.
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Noel, you bit off a huge chunk to work on in getting into the real estate business and getting into something that is a physical space for so many different people to come together.
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How intimidating was that.
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If you take us back to that decision, it must have been a holy cow.
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What am I doing moment?
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It was so initially I did have some investors and then the market changed, the economy changed a bit and they pulled out.
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So it was do I move ahead or do I do I pack it in and do something else?
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And I did have a couple different options that I was considering in terms of what would my future look like.
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And you know what direction did I want to go in?
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And I remember there was a professor at University of Miami and I was having a conversation with him and I was telling him well, you know, I'm at this crossroads, what should I do?
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And you know I told him, I said do I move forward or do I pack up and figure something else out?
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And he looked at me and he goes are you looking at me to give you an excuse to stop or to quit?
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And I was like, oh my God, I'm not looking for an excuse, I really want to do this.
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And so, as long as the door is open, I'm gonna go through and I'm gonna keep on moving to the next step, the next stage, the next phase and, um, anytime I get to that point where I'm like, should I continue?
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This is really really hard, um, and I think, am I looking for an excuse to say stop, or do I really want this?
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Do I really believe in what I'm doing and am I going to move forward?
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And I don't want to ever regret anything?
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So I'm in this for the long run.
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I'm in this until the end, whatever that is, and I hope the end is 2030, 100 years from now, that what I'm creating is actually legacy.
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Not legacy for me, not Noel Jackson's legacy, but legacy for every single founder that comes through here, their families, their employees and on and on.
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So what we have here is an engine that generates future entrepreneurs, that helps stabilize businesses, that lengthens the time period that these businesses are able to survive.
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When I look at my janitorial business which is still kind of limping along now, because all my focus is on this I've had the janitorial business for over 18 years.
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That's unheard of, unless you're looking at monster companies, very, very large companies.
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So when you look at most small businesses, their lifespan is zero to five, zero to 10, if any.
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How do we make that lifecycle longer?
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How do we allow more sustainability for these businesses?
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And that's what we're doing here.
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So I do want to touch base on this extremely heavy lift.
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So you know, as a custodial company or janitorial company, you don't have overhead in the tens of thousands, if not close to hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars.
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If you look at it annually, overhead is nominal.
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So going taking that jump from something that is in the maybe tens of thousands of dollars in terms of overhead to hundreds or a million of millions of dollars in overhead is a huge leap and it has definitely been a struggle it.
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You know I one thing that you're going to find out about me is I'm extremely authentic.
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One thing that you're going to find out about me is I'm extremely authentic and I won't even lie for anything because I can't remember it, but I just keep on moving forward and the easiest way for me to do that is just to be honest and straightforward.
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So that's what you're getting with.
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The answer to your question is that this hasn't been an easy journey.
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It's been actually extremely difficult to be able to do that jump from a business that did not have this much in overhead to basically a million dollars in overhead.
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How I'm doing it and I still don't have any investors and I am still the only solopreneur.
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So how I'm doing it, I really believe a lot of it is faith, but it's also hard work strategy and I'm bootstrapping and I'm the hardest working woman in Miami that I know of right now.
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I put everything I have into it because I really believe in what we're doing and the impact we're making.
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Yeah, I love that, noelle.
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Honestly, huge kudos to you, because just having done as much research as I have about what you've built, it's clear to me how much work goes into it.
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And I love that story you offered us about the professor because it reminds me of my favorite Martin Luther King quote ever, where he said you don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
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And it sounds like you're willing.
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And obviously part of that quote, layered into it, is, of course, that faith of hey, I need to keep counting on the fact that I'm going to take the actions, that the right things are going to fall into place for me to continue on this journey.
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When you talk about that mission, it's so central to your messaging, noel, because it funny here we are talking about a physical space in Miami, but it's so clear to me that you're not selling a space, you're selling an environment where people can come to flourish.
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Talk to us about the importance of that vision and that mission and why it's not just about the actual location that you're talking about.
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Certainly so for the space.
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The space is gorgeous, it's centrally located, but again, like I said, it didn't become what it is right now until the people came and initially we opened up for free.
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We did the freemium model.
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I let everybody come in and work for free, which was crazy, so I'm making absolutely no money, but my space is full.
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But once the community started coming in and I realized what they needed, it was clear, very, very clear, and every day it becomes clearer as to exactly what's needed for all of our founders and they let us know.
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In terms of the community, it started with me just trying to build community within the hub, which is what everybody affectionately calls a space, and then the external community started coming in.
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So we're bigger than our walls here.
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So we've expanded outside into the city of Miami and you know not even the city of Miami.
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We have members that are from West Palm Beach, as far north as Tallahassee.
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I've had people come down and I've had I have people coming from New York, I have people coming from Texas, and so we are this place where people can.
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They can collaborate, they have a support system and it's important that they find like-minded people in one location and it's more inclusive than exclusive.
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If I wanted to make this place exclusive, it could be easy Saying we're only focused on one vertical or one type of you know, it could be women founders only.
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I don't want to do that.
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We have to be inclusive and we are.
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What I like to think of it is a community of communities.
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There are so many online communities out there that don't have homes, and I want to provide a home for all of those communities and their members.
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In our ecosystem is a lot of siloed communities, and it's important that everyone because we're in a capitalist country everybody has the ability and they have the right to create what they envision in their dream.
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However, if you have a hundred siloed communities, none of them talking to each other, how are we moving our ecosystem forward?
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We need to bring all of these communities together, be more cohesive.
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I want to be the glue for everyone.
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As we bring these communities together, we become stronger and people then believe and can feel that they belong to a tribe.
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When people come to Miami, if they don't settle into a community that supports them, they're going to leave.
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If people go anywhere and they can't settle into a community that supports them, they're not going to be comfortable and they'll go where they find that community.
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And that's what I'm trying to create here that we bring everyone together and so everyone has a place and we don't have to compete for the community, for the audience, because there's enough to go around.
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So I really do believe in abundance and I believe that a more cohesive ecosystem it doesn't matter what state, what country.
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It's important for us to be able to grow.
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What we're doing.
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It's innovation at its best.
00:23:16.509 --> 00:23:29.798
I have members that are from two different countries, that didn't know themselves, didn't know each other before they got here and are now working on projects together before they got here and are now working on projects together.
00:23:29.798 --> 00:23:30.077
It's amazing.
00:23:30.077 --> 00:23:40.268
I have an artist that's coming here for Art Basel and she has one artist in one country painting a canvas.
00:23:40.268 --> 00:23:52.701
She sends that canvas to an entire other country and an artist in another country paints it without meeting each other and they create one beautiful piece of artwork.
00:23:52.701 --> 00:24:14.067
I I really believe that our world is not as large as we think it is and if we start being more cohesive, if we start working together, we can create absolutely beautiful artwork together yes, noelle, I'll you what I'm getting chills hearing you talk about this, because this is the view of inclusiveness that I think we all need.
00:24:14.126 --> 00:24:19.256
This is the one that I want to amplify, because what you're talking about makes the world a better place.
00:24:19.256 --> 00:24:25.240
It brings people together, and it doesn't matter what countries we're from, it doesn't matter what types of businesses we're creating.
00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:30.480
All of it is just we all are in this together and more goodness reaps even more goodness.
00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:41.442
It's that snowball effect that we get to enjoy, and so, speaking of that, I really want to learn some of your little tips and tricks and strategies that you use, because part of that is you hit the nail on the head.
00:24:41.482 --> 00:24:48.324
When I moved to Los Angeles in my mid twenties, for example, I had to find my people, and fortunately I found people that made me feel at home.
00:24:48.324 --> 00:24:59.901
But I think we've all been to networking events, for example I'll call those out for a second where you walk in and nobody greets you, nobody says your name, and you just feel like, would anyone even notice if I left?
00:24:59.901 --> 00:25:02.935
And so obviously that's not what we want to do when we create community.
00:25:02.935 --> 00:25:10.789
Noel, what are some of those ways that you and your team, and even I'll actually say probably your members play a key part in this.
00:25:10.789 --> 00:25:14.065
How do you make people feel so welcomed once they come into the hub?
00:25:15.815 --> 00:25:21.288
Well, the one thing everyone needs to know when they come here, someone's going to talk to you.
00:25:21.288 --> 00:25:33.058
They're going to ask you your name, where you're from, what you're doing, name where you're from what you're doing.
00:25:33.058 --> 00:25:35.491
You know, before I started the hub, I really didn't like when people would come up to me and say, well, what do you do?
00:25:35.491 --> 00:25:37.179
Because I was like they don't want to know about me.
00:25:37.179 --> 00:25:39.487
They want to know what I do here.
00:25:39.487 --> 00:25:49.328
What you do is really important because we want to know if there's someone that we need to connect you with that can help you in your business and along your journey.
00:25:49.328 --> 00:25:54.464
So we want to know more about your family and stuff like that.
00:25:54.464 --> 00:25:55.326
That's important.
00:25:55.326 --> 00:26:03.576
But when you come here, our goal is to support you in what's going to help you sustain your life, your family, your future.
00:26:03.576 --> 00:26:10.317
And so one of the first questions know what's your name, how are you and what do you do?
00:26:10.317 --> 00:26:13.823
What are you into, what is your passion?
00:26:13.823 --> 00:26:20.478
And that gets people talking, and between all of our members?
00:26:20.637 --> 00:26:37.064
I don't think any of them, because we've been very good in building a culture that resonates with our new members, and so once they're here, then it's a matter of something different every single day of the week.
00:26:37.064 --> 00:26:45.557
We've slowed down now for the rest, for the end of the way the year, but normally every single day there's something different going on.
00:26:45.557 --> 00:26:51.904
In addition to that, we have events, and the events are very impactful.
00:26:51.904 --> 00:27:06.298
So once a new member comes in, they come to some of our workshops, they come to some of the events, but then they're communicating and they're collaborating with all of our other members and before you know it, they're just a part of us.
00:27:07.820 --> 00:27:12.068
Yeah, Noelle, hearing you talk about this stuff I mean, you know we talked off air beforehand.
00:27:12.068 --> 00:27:18.599
I live just across the state of Florida from you in Tampa.
00:27:18.599 --> 00:27:22.536
What I'm really hearing and thinking is this is something that's so big that it actually hearing you talk about it makes me want to live in Miami.
00:27:22.536 --> 00:27:25.622
It makes me want to find my proverbial home.
00:27:25.622 --> 00:27:31.019
As an entrepreneur, as a person, I know that all this stuff trickles into every facet of our life.
00:27:31.019 --> 00:27:33.384
When we find community, it's truly that important.
00:27:33.746 --> 00:27:39.159
And so I want to ask you this big question as we come towards the end of our conversation today, and that is what's that big vision?
00:27:39.159 --> 00:27:44.238
Because to me, hearing you talk about this, I hope the city of Miami is tooting your horn.
00:27:44.238 --> 00:27:55.263
I hope that they're showing that as a beacon to the entire country and to entrepreneurs all over the world, saying if you want to find your home, it's here, there's, there's the hub, and this is something special that we have here in Miami.
00:27:55.263 --> 00:27:56.796
What's that big vision?
00:27:56.796 --> 00:28:02.179
Thinking about cities and governments getting on board with your mission and you being that beacon for the world.
00:28:02.179 --> 00:28:05.446
How big of dreams do you have for it, Noelle?
00:28:10.095 --> 00:28:12.144
of dreams do you have for it, noelle?
00:28:12.144 --> 00:28:13.470
Oh my, my vision is huge.
00:28:13.470 --> 00:28:20.017
My vision, well, let's start with the physical building.
00:28:20.017 --> 00:29:06.919
I mean, the goal would be to be able to take over and I'm putting it out there and own not just our building but an entire two blocks and, instead of creating just an innovation center, having an innovation park where we can have Miami doesn't have its own convention center, the convention center is in Miami Beach but to be able to have our own convention center, our own e-commerce center and commerce center and have a hotel co-living and, of course, the innovation center where we have our innovators, our dreamers, our visionaries here creating in the different verticals, whether it's med tech, ed tech, fintech, any of the different verticals we're here creating, developing the future.
00:29:08.359 --> 00:29:18.986
Now, that's the local large vision, but I also have a global vision and the global vision I started with.
00:29:18.986 --> 00:29:24.108
There is a company which I won't name now, but we're finalizing the contract.
00:29:24.108 --> 00:29:49.355
It's in South America and they have 700 co-working locations and it's for us to be able to stream our workshops, our events, do our Google Cloud workshops, programming in the 700 locations where we have larger reach and be able to bring our entrepreneurs together.
