Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan.
Hi Jordan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve basically been working my entire life. My parents owned a retail store when I was growing up, and I started working there when I was 11. By that age, I was sometimes running the store by myself. I learned very early how to talk to people, understand what they were looking for, and communicate in a way that connected with them.
My professional career has been a little all over the place on paper. I started in politics and then spent the next 15+ years working across marketing, communications, brand, growth and strategy. I’ve worked with corporations, startups, nonprofits, founders, authors, public figures, legal teams and plenty of businesses that don’t fit neatly into any of those categories.
The common thread has always been communication. I’m fascinated by how people understand each other, what makes someone pay attention or take action, why certain messages connect and others don’t, and what happens when communication breaks down.
That interest has taken me in some unexpected directions. In 2022, I started The Couples Coach after realizing how much of my corporate work involved helping founders and business partners communicate better with each other. I’d always been interested in relationship therapy but had no interest in becoming a therapist, so I started testing some of the communication frameworks I used professionally with couples I knew. I loved it. The situations were obviously very different, but I was surprised by how many of the same principles applied. That eventually grew into a separate couples coaching business focused on helping people communicate better in their relationships.
Then, in 2024, my role at Scribe Media was eliminated and, for the first time in basically my entire life, I stopped working. I took a bit of a sabbatical and eventually started interviewing for what I assumed would be my next corporate role. But the further I got into that process, the harder it became to imagine myself doing any of those jobs long-term. I could do the jobs, but I wasn’t particularly excited by them.
Meanwhile, I kept thinking about what I would build if I worked for myself.
That became JGM Consulting. I knew I wanted to stay solo rather than build an agency, and I wanted to create a business that gave me the freedom to work on interesting problems with interesting people. Today that can mean helping a founder figure out their positioning, working with a team on a communications or reputation issue, developing messaging, preparing for a crisis or launch, or helping someone figure out why their marketing isn’t working before they spend more money on it.
I also started Bash Accessories, a semi-fine jewelry brand, as a creative project and a chance to build something completely from scratch. In my consulting work, I’m typically coming into a business where a lot already exists — the product, the audience, the brand, the history — and helping figure out what needs to change or where to go next. With Bash, I got to start with a blank page and build an ecommerce brand from the ground up. It’s given me a completely different perspective on the decisions my clients are making because I’ve had to make all of them myself.
So my career still probably looks a little random from the outside. But to me, there’s a pretty clear thread through all of it: I’m interested in people, communication, and solving problems. I’ve just found a lot of different ways to make a career out of those things.
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Feel free to pull from my website About sections as well:
JGM: https://www.jordangrenadiermurphy.com/about
TCC: https://www.thecouplescoachaustin.com/about
Bash: https://www.bashaccessories.com/pages/about-bash
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-grenadier-murphy/
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not. One of the harder parts was something I didn’t expect: figuring out my professional identity outside of the companies I worked for.
For most of my career, I was very comfortable being the person behind someone else’s brand. I was building the strategy, shaping the messaging, speaking on behalf of companies and helping other people figure out what they wanted to be known for. I hadn’t spent much time thinking about what I wanted to be known for myself.
Early in my career I helped grow a political consulting agency that eventually shut down, and I had to regroup. Later, I designed a role for myself at a company that grew 4x while I was there. That company eventually shut down, went through a rocky acquisition, and my role was eliminated. I had to regroup again.
There was something very strange about having 15+ years of experience and still feeling like I had to reintroduce myself.
I’m far enough removed from those transitions now to appreciate what they taught me. I’d spent my entire career thinking about brands as something companies build, and I understand now that we all have some responsibility for building a professional identity that belongs to us too.
I wrote more about that realization in a recent LinkedIn post
Having to regroup more than once wasn’t particularly fun, but it forced me to think differently about what I was building.
As you know, we’re big fans of JGM Consulting. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
JGM Consulting is a strategic marketing and communications consultancy. I work with founders, executives, organizations, and public figures to figure out what they need to say, who needs to hear it, and what needs to happen next (especially when they’re making a big decision, preparing for an important moment, or about to spend a lot of money executing something).
Most of my clients don’t come to me saying, “I need a strategic messaging consultant.” They come to me saying, “Our marketing isn’t working,” “We’re about to launch something and I’m not sure we’re explaining it well,” “We need to respond to this sensitive situation and don’t know what to say,” or “We’ve grown, but our brand hasn’t caught up.”
That’s usually where I come in.
Sometimes that means developing the positioning and messaging for a business. Sometimes it’s figuring out why a marketing strategy isn’t producing results. Sometimes it’s preparing for a launch, media opportunity, major announcement or crisis. And sometimes a client comes to me asking for one thing and, after we dig into it, we realize the real problem is something completely different.
That last part is probably the best way to explain what sets my work apart. I’m much less interested in selling someone a particular marketing tactic than I am in making sure we’re solving the right problem. If you’re about to spend any amount of money on PR, advertising, a new website, or a big campaign, I want to know that the strategy and message underneath it are strong enough to make that investment worthwhile.
I’ve spent 15+ years doing this work across politics, publishing, nonprofits, startups, corporate organizations and businesses at very different stages of growth. That means I’ve seen a lot of versions of the same underlying problems regardless of industry, and I can usually get up to speed quickly and start asking the questions that help us figure out what really needs to happen.
The way clients work with me depends on what they need. I offer focused projects around brand messaging and marketing strategy, communications intensives for things like launches, media appearances, and crisis preparation, and longer term strategic advisory and fractional support.
https://www.jordangrenadiermurphy.com/fractional>
The goal isn’t more marketing for the sake of more marketing. It’s making sure you know what you’re trying to accomplish, what you need to communicate to get there, and that you’re spending your time and money on the things most likely to move the business forward.
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What I’m most proud of is when the work gives someone clarity they can keep using long after our engagement ends. I don’t want a client to need me in every meeting or call me every time they have to make a marketing or communications decision. I want them to leave our work together with a clearer understanding of what they’re trying to accomplish, who they’re trying to reach, what they need to say, and how to evaluate the opportunities in front of them.
I’ve also gotten to do this work with an incredibly wide range of people and organizations. The problems can look completely different on the surface, but I really enjoy being the person someone calls when they need another brain in the room to help them figure out what to do next. It’s really the biggest compliment when someone trusts me with this work.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was silly, independent, and couldn’t wait to grow up. I loved being involved in everything. I did dance and theater, volunteered, ran my school’s morning announcements, was involved in student council, and was student body president two years in a row. I genuinely loved working, loved having responsibility, and liked being busy.
Even when I was really young I liked playing office (I was the boss), playing school (I was the teacher), and restaurant (I was the owner).
For most of my childhood, I thought I’d grow up to be an actress (fun fact: I auditioned for Barney at the same time as Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato). I think I associated acting with all the things I was naturally drawn to: imagination, storytelling, creativity and getting to play with different ideas but pretty quick into my career I figured out how to use those elements in other ways.
I asked friends and family how they’d describe me growing up. Heres’ what they said:
Mom: vivacious and wise beyond my years
Sister: smart
Best friend: a leader
Pricing:
- Hourly Consulting starting at $250
- Communications Intensive starting at $3,500
- Marketing Strategy starting at $3,500
- Brand Messaging starting at $4,500
- Fractional Support starting at $10,000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jordangrenadiermurphy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordangmurphy/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-grenadier-murphy/
