Meet Jansen O. Young

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jansen O. Young and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jansen O., what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind the success of my brand so far has been my passion. When starting this journey I did not know exactly where I was going, or how to get there but I did know I was passionate about creating a gothic/spooky brand. When it finally came time to get started, the data did not support this concept. I have learned through starting a business though, that sometimes you just have to start and figure the rest out later. I started in a totally different area, that I was not sure I was passionate about. However, I was passionate about having a business and being an entrepreneur. This felt like my baby, and I handled it with care. Shortly after launching my first product, tragedy struck with a product defect. I was devastated. I wanted nothing more than to make it right for every person that had purchased and experience this defect. Again, I leaned into my passion of caring for others. Needless to say, I not only fell in love with the niche I landed in, I found a way to merge it with my interests of a goth brand. It’s not about what you serve, it’s about who you serve. As soon as I learned that, I knew I could follow my passion project. There have been countless times as an entrepreneur that I have woken up wishing someone else could just do my job for me today, days that I have had to be a self starter and manage myself even when I didn’t want to, because ITS HARD! At the end of the day, being passionate about what I am doing has created the space and motivation I needed to keep going, even when it’s hard.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Is anything in life worth doing easy? HA!

Hmm, My story is not linear to say the least. If I had to highlight a few things, I’d start with the fact that, my initials spell J.O.Y: Jansen O. Young. and I feel like I’ve lived 10 lifetimes in my short life so far. I guess I knew I always wanted to start and run my own business and dreamed about a lot but I did not know where to start. After many failed attempts to approach my dad as an investor I was even more discouraged. He really wanted me to go to college, probably because he knew how hard this lifestyle is. So, I started college…… SO MUCH COLLEGE!!!!!! College lasted a long time for because it was interrupted by a life altering tragic event on July 20th 2012 when I lost my boyfriend in a shooting. This really changed the trajectory I was headed down, I not only lost myself, but I lost my ability to find joy. To make a very long story short, you can read more about it on my blog, 10 years later I graduated with three degrees and two professional licenses. Ultimately I have a bachelors degree in Biology, with an emphasis in Animal Science and a specialty in Exotic Animal Training and Management.

In short, I’m a zookeeper.

Its my passion, there is that word again, I guess passion really drives me. I love animals, I work with animals, I have animals, I care about animals, I want to save animals they encompass everything I do. Because of this, I wanted a change, I wanted to start a business that had nothing to do with animals! So naturally, I have a gothic pet brand.

When I did start doing the market research, I found that the data showed going into the bug niche would be a great place to start, and I found a lack in the market given my background working with animals. I digress.

All this to say, going to college for 10 years for a degree in animals, though it is my passion and I love them, I think was never the full plan, but after the shooting I lost so much of my vision that I did not know what else to do but continue with college. Though working with animals has been such a huge blessing in my life, it took a long time to realize it was all just part of the journey. I like to say I’m always on a journey to finding myself and finding JOY.

I still work part time for a non-profit wildlife conservation organization, I do feel like everything up until this point has lead me here which is why I started “Finding JOY Enterprises”. My journey, nor my business journey has met its final form, and that’s ok, we are figuring it out as we, and enJOYing the journey. No matter the end result, it will always be conservation forward, and have some way to support wildlife or animals even if that is not in physical products.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The best thing about LA, is that you can never run out of things to do!

The first thing I would need to check are if there are any pop-ups and what is happening in town that week that they need to see, like what shows might be playing at El Capitan, or Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Is it an Emonite week?

I love brunch, so we are probably hitting a different brunch spot each day they are here, I love Grand Central Market, and The Last Bookstore!

Exploring LA, and eating the food like an LA street dog, is the best part! It just depends what city we are in to determine that day’s plans!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Wow! There are so many!

I guess I’ll start with my dad, who I grew up my whole life watching as an entrepreneur himself. I watched more how to videos on the internet than I care to admit. Hired business coaches, and took courses, and I have read so many good books on this topic like: “10x Is Better Than 2x”, “The gap and the Gain,” “Burn The Boats” and one of the best being “12 Months To A Million” just to name a few.

However, none of this would have been possible without the tremendous support of a small group of friends, my family for always jumping on call when I needed help, and of course, my incredible husband who has moved hundreds of heavy boxes, repacked packaging, and been my math teacher when my numbers don’t math.

Seriously, Thank you Danny, I know from the beginning this has been a rocky road, but there is no one I would rather travel it with.

Website: Authenticjoy.net

Instagram: AuthenticJOYShop

Facebook: facebook.com/authenticjoyshop

Other: personal: Joy7149 on instagram Linktree: https://linktr.ee/authenticjoyshop 

Image Credits
Denise Johnson Sarah Garrett Marina Andreichenko Chelsey Diaz