"How many are you allowing subpar treatment?" What are the ways Jessica Wilson teaches her audience to speak up |

Mar 23, 2022

Find out how self-advocacy coach Jessica Wilson uses to sell coaching, share her story, and empower individuals to be able to speak up for themselves.

On July 17, 2020, Jessica Wilson was diagnosed with stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer. She was aged 32, with no family history or breast cancer gene.

"I go into the office of my oncologist to make my first appointment and I discover that he doesn't have the same passion for keeping me healthy the way I do." Jessica remembers. "He showed up to my appointment 40 minutes late -- no explanation, no apology."

"Immediately, my brain goes into survival mode. If you don't seem to consider whether I will live or die, and my treatment lies in your own hands ... that's when I must make a change. I began speaking out immediately and letting anyone who would listen -- to my referring doctor and to my breast surgeon, to everyone to say, 'This doesn't work for me.'"

The doctor was always pushing for a standard course of treatment. "Maybe the condition I'm experiencing does not meet the standard" Jessica thought. "Maybe I need to think beyond this particular space."

After a while, Jessica switched doctors and hospitals in order to discover the medical staff that was listening to her. "I strongly believe that, had I been there for a long time that I would not have been alive now. I'm not regretting it at all," she says.

The incident prompted a question for Jessica her: What other people are experiencing this?

"Having gone through that experience and observing it, I got the realization: How many people who are out there accepting this poor treatment due to the fact that they don't know other way or because they're afraid and don't know how is best"

Jessica knew there had to be other people out there who were in similar circumstances, and most of them might not possess the confidence or know-how to advocate for themselves the way she did.

She wanted to share lessons she had learned from her own experience:

It is possible to remain firm when rejecting treatment or a test you're not interested in, even the doctor you consult with suggests that there's no alternative.

Talk to your doctor if you require additional time to talk about or contemplate some issue.

Do not be scared to ask plenty of questions -- as many as you need to understand the explanations your physician is giving to you.

"I looked around and realized, obviously I've needed to be a champion for myself." Jessica explains. "When you think about the world in general, there's a need to advocate for yourself everywhere."

Her idea was narrowed to the three areas where she sees self-advocacy having the most effect on the public: employment, medical, and personal relationships.

With those foci in mind, Jessica launched her coaching company, Advocacy Alley.

In the present, Jessica helps members of the marginalized communities to gain confidence and advocate on behalf of themselves in all aspects of their life. She's also often referred to by the name Jess the IE -- an "industrial engineer by trade and the guru of intuition by love".

"I manage finance at an important home improvement store, and I'm also doing this on the side. Since I am passionate about one thing and the other is more of a passion. I'm passionate about helping people, processes as well as technologies more effective. And I'm also passionate in helping folks get the help they deserve."

Continue reading to discover how Jessica used her passion for improving processes -- as well as her website -- to start her coaching career, tell her personal story and inspire others to advocate for themselves.

21 Questions that Every Patient Should ask their Doctor

Jessica is a highly successful industrial engineer. She is a naturally logical thought-leader and an expert in complex problem solving. She is passionate about improving processes and understands the power of creating a solid game plan.

And with the help of a business coach that's exactly the way she went about it.

"I have all of these things lying around. How do I tie this up into a neat bow, which I could then package? This is the effect I'd like. What small steps do I need to take to get there?"

"How do you navigate the delicate zone of 'I don't want to be inconsiderate, but I need to be forceful'?" Jessica describes.

"This my body. This is what I'm willing to accept. What I'm looking for is an opinion from a different source. It started from there after which I've put together this item -- how can I communicate it to the masses?"

Offering valuable free resources is a great way for budding creators to start building their business.

To start reaching that audience, Jessica needed a place for her online download.

"This might be a good fit for me. I think this is something I can grow into."

"I loved the difference in price ... It was nice to know that I did not have to get up to the very top of the line to make it be suitable for my demands. I liked the flexibility of the system, andit was very friendly to use. I went through the 14-day trial then I realized, "Ooh, this is a completely unfinished space. The possibilities are limitless.'"

Initially, Jessica used to host her downloads for free and provide information about her one-on-one coaching services. While she was developing Advocacy Alley, she built the website, as well.

"Over time, the site has grown to the point that my entire website is ['s] landing pages and sales pages." Jessica describes.

"The blog is mainly to follow my battle with breast cancer because I'm not sure whether there is a place for folks like me, that are diagnosed at thirty years oldnot even young enough, beginning your first family," Jessica shares. "What goes through our minds?"

Jessica uses the course builder of's to build her own blog and share new posts. "The features for courses are robust enough to allow me to get what I need. I'd like to put postings up with the possibility of folks to leave commentary," she says.

Each blog post has been designed to be a learning opportunity . Visitors can read Jessica's posts through her blog by previewing the lessons and are able to sign up to make feedback and get regular updates.

The flexibility of 's all-in-one platform allows Jessica can set up all of the features on her website she requires.

"There may not be something that on paper literally says what I'm looking for however, I've managed alter the system to make it work and fulfill my demands for everything," Jessica shares.

Find out how you can benefit your business that you are the creator of. Join us to get a 14-day free trial , or check out our weekly demonstration.

"I had a desire to make courses out there because I wanted to impact the greatest number of people possible."

The course is geared toward individuals who've been recently diagnosed and need to figure out next steps -- without going down a Google tunnel of the worst-case scenarios.

"I knew I wanted to create a program for people who want to be anchored in order to not get lost, no matter what the diagnosis can be," Jessica explains. "Sometimes there's nothing that you can anchor yourself to, to help guide your steps to ensure that you don't spiral."

While she plans to continue providing one-on-one coaching sessions, the online class allows Jessica scale her impact and assist many more clients.

"I decided to get courses out there because I wanted to impact as many people as that I could. I can only work with so many people one-on-one and only manage so many things.
With the course, it's an activity that a vast number of individuals can participate in anytime no matter if I'm ready to do one-on-1 work or not -- and in reality, get the same type of impact."

Hospitals can sponsor course enrollment to a set amount of patients. They can also hire Jessica for consulting to work with her directly. "That is how I am able to make the biggest impact."

Establishing an audience "If you're not comfortable and uncomfortable, then you're not advancing."

"While you're still working to grow your email list You can't simply email folks," she says. "I also have to still be present and visible via Facebook and other social platforms."

The initial process of putting herself online on social media didn't come from the inside.

"Being an artist has required me to stand in front of the camera, at the center of attention. At first, that's a little bit unsettling and uncomfortable. But if you're not uncomfortable it's not a sign that you're growing.
So I forced myself to perform the live stream with no one in the audience, or with just one person watching -- it didn't matter. It was more of an exercise for me. If I'm able to accomplish it one time, I can repeat the same thing a million times. So it was pretty much forcing myself to get comfortable being uncomfortable."

The author explains the process of coming up with ideas to share is easyHowever, generating regularly and posting them on an already packed schedule is hard.

"There are a myriad of items I'd like to share. I don't think I've had any roadblocks with creating information that I want to share with people," she shares.

"If you're trying to build a following, they have frequently visit your site. To overcome that, I started trying to figure out ways of batching content ... In lieu of getting so long-winded I'll break [a piece of content] up into three posts. So I'll have three of five posts for the week."

"You can do your images, you could use Instagram to do Reels and be funny You can also do Reels and be professional ... basically anything to try to diversify how users can possibly find you," she recommends.

Jessica's advice for new creators: "Follow your passion, and the money will come."

"Mindset is essential. If you believe that you'll never become successful, then you won't succeed. There are going to be wonderful days when you're all enthusiastic, but there will be days where you're just thinking, "I do not want to.' And they're both good."

"Take one day to do absolutely nothing related to your job and then see how refreshed you feel afterward," she recommends.

If you're a creative just getting started with , Jessica encourages you to take things by taking one step at a.

"Don't worry about having an amazing website set up at first. You only need to worry about these individual pages for each item. Concentrate on getting those pagesinitially built. Later, when your product portfolio grows when you expand, and as your company grows, you can add additional pages."

In the present, Jessica offers one-on-one coaching, free resources, an online class for people and healthcare providers, and three active social media channels and is just starting to build her presence.

Remember, the creator journey is a race rather than a sprint.

"You aren't required to become millionaire overnight. Follow your passion, and you'll be rewarded with money."