Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Alexis T. Jones, M. A., CCC-SLP, Founder of Adaptive Accents, located in Atlanta, GA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I help clients achieve their definition of communicative success by providing tangible techniques, strategies, and practices that yield measurable results. My clientele includes but is not limited to adolescents, high school, collegiate and professional athletes, emcees, podcast hosts, business professionals (ranging from individual contributors to C-Suite executives), and also domestic and global corporations that seek accent modification services, executive communication coaching services, or customized curriculum (for a team-specific outcome) as professional development.

Tell us about yourself

When I was a little girl, my family would take trips to Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, my mother's birthplace, to reconnect with relatives and our heritage. I was always intrigued by what I came to understand years later, as the Gullah language spoken by the natives on the island. As I matriculated at the University of Georgia then the University of Memphis as a Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology major, my intrigue of regional and national origin accents, dialects, creole languages, and the international phonetic alphabet began to grow.

In 2007, a year after completing my graduate degree, I completed the Compton P-ESL (Pronouncing English as a Second Language) Accent Modification Training Certification at The Institute of Language and Phonology in San Francisco, CA. After gaining five years of invaluable experience as a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist, I created Adaptive Accents in 2012 to focus more heavily on the importance of effective communication as it relates to accents and dialects and to serve under-represented populations.

Providing clients with the tools necessary to help them break down communication barriers, boost confidence, and flourish in their personal and professional communicative environments while maintaining their true selves is what motivates me. Adaptive Accents' mission is to educate clients and the world that accents and dialects are not deficient--they are simply different.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is introducing varied organizations and industries to accent modification and executive communication coaching services that might not have otherwise been exposed.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

One of the hardest things about being a business owner is creating a work-life balance. I'm sometimes challenged with finding an appropriate stopping point when on a roll and, other times, finding the initiative to keep going when I'm feeling tired, lazy, or overwhelmed.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Create a thorough business plan (if you haven't already), and follow it.
  2. Create goals and celebrate your successes, no matter how small.
  3. Be open to investing in team members of the appropriate expertise that tackle time-consuming or overwhelming tasks so that you can devote quality time and effort to the tasks you do best.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.adaptiveaccents.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adaptiveaccents
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adaptiveaccents/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adaptiveaccents/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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