Hi, my name is Jenni Gritters!
If you met me seven years ago, you’d have met a very different person. In 2016, I was a journalist working for an online media company as an editor, pulling 12-hour days on a laptop while covering politics and activism. I experienced chronic shoulder and neck pain, and near-constant insomnia. I was focused on performance, hustle and proving myself.
Then everything changed.
In 2018, I was laid off from my full-time job as an editor at a large media company. After nearly a dozen job interviews, I realized that I couldn’t go back to full-time work without risking my mental and physical health. Instead, I decided to launch my own writing and editing business. I created a business plan, onboarded clients, and nearly doubled my full-time salary within a year. When I wrote about my 6-figure year, the post went viral.
Since then, I’ve launched two additional businesses: A community platform and podcast business called The Writers’ Co-op, which I co-founded with another journalist in 2020 and exited in 2022; and JWG Coaching, where I offer coaching and education for creatives interested in running sustainable businesses.
My writing business is still a big piece of my work puzzle, and all three businesses together have now brought in more than $700,000 in revenue and counting, since 2018. The money I made working for myself also allowed me to take two long maternity leaves, and it helped my family buy a house in the woods. In 2023, my husband left his toxic job as a critical care nurse; my work was able to support us through that transition, too.
I help passionate creatives build businesses that support their lives.
How did I get here?
My undergraduate degree in psychology (and the book I ghostwrote about emotional agility) primed me to address the psychological needs that often underpin our deepest desires.
My masters degree in journalism from Boston University taught me key skills like interviewing, reporting and close listening, which are invaluable in coaching conversations.
My 200-hour yoga and meditation training program schooled me in how to center myself during anxious moments, which is knowledge I pass along to both my coaching and writing clients. It also got me interested in the ways we can take control of our own daily experiences.
My experience working in the journalism industry — and getting laid off— has given me a very close, very painful look at why clarity, empowerment and boundary setting are requirements if you want to work within our capitalist system without serious mental health effects.
Launching three separate companies has taken me through ups and downs so drastic that I’m able to empathize and strategize with self-employed folks at many stages, as well as recommend best business practices.
My professional coaching certification from IPEC schooled me on how to work with clients to push through barriers and make progress fast.
And I’ve also taken numerous continuing education trainings focused on money mindset, energy leadership, authentic branding, relationship mediation, financial systems, and beyond.
Here’s what I know from personal experience: The “standard” way of working fails to serve most people.
I’ve lived it. I’ve experienced the migraines, the existential angst, the anxiety, the burnout, the stress no vacation can fix.
I know firsthand that it’s possible to build your own escape route.
You can create a business of your own that brings fulfillment, pays the bills, serves your clients, and adapts as your needs change.
You can create a business that feels sustainable — easeful, even.
I’ll help you do it.