Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Lynch.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
For as long as I can remember, I knew I wanted to start my own business, but I was missing a key part – the idea! During college, I was inspired by numbers and the law and decided to get my CPA and go into Forensic Consulting. I spent four years at a Big 4 accounting firm in forensic services – work was always interesting and it brought me to many different cities – an incredible experience for my first job out of college.
I started to feel like something was missing so I went back to my alma mater, Babson, for my MBA. While back in school, I finally felt like I had the time to invest in myself and make the changes in my life I’d been thinking about making for years. I started experimenting with meditation, different types of exercise and keeping a journal.
At the same time, I noticed people around me saying “I really wish I exercised more” or “I really need to try that meditation thing” – which I’m sure I had been guilty of myself. I noticed a wish epidemic! Everyone wakes up with these great intentions of taking care of ourselves, but life gets in the way, and all of a sudden, it’s the end of the day and we didn’t follow through.
My entrepreneurship classes had me in the zone of identifying problems and opportunities and this wish epidemic stood out. I thought about what has enabled me to make changes in my life – I have the support, inspiration, and most importantly, the TIME to get good content and find things that are FUN and interesting for ME. That led me to start Wish Route!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Deciding to leave my well paying steady job to go back to school has probably been my biggest challenge to date on this journey. I didn’t know what the outcome would be and I feared I would invest in myself and not live up to my own expectations. While I was making the decision, a mentor of mine shared that his guiding principle in life is to take the opportunities he may one day regret not taking.
The chance that something incredible could come out of going back to school was an opportunity I didn’t want to turn down. I decided I would not let fear control my decision. I took the leap of faith and saying no to fear at that moment has actually made me much more resilient in all the daily challenges with Wish Route since then.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Wish Route is your accountability buddy that helps you build healthy habits around exercise, nutrition, and mindfulness. As you make healthy choices, you earn points towards surprise gifts. Real people support you the whole way so you always have the accountability and support you need to keep going.
We are still in development but working with test users to refine our programming and the feedback has been fantastic. If you would like to be a test users sign-up at wishroute.com. 🙂
We are the place to go when you want to take the first step towards a wish. Many of our users describe us as the encouraging friend with all the best recommendations. We save users time by curating content from many different sources which lead to incredible variety. We also provide users accountability through check-in texts and incentives which keeps users motivated and enjoying the journey.
I’m so proud of the incredible team that has gotten behind the Wish Route vision. Many of them are contributing on top of their full-time day jobs and are making an incredible difference for users.
What were you like growing up?
I’ve always known I wanted to be an entrepreneur – I got my first taste of entrepreneurship at 10 years old. I created and presented a business plan for my parents. I told them I wanted to breed hamsters and sell them to my friends. My parents were always very supportive but also very smart. They bought me 1 hamster (so no breeding!) to start so I could learn about hamsters.
I always dive into a subject and learn quickly and unfortunately, day one, I realized I was terrified of hamsters. By day 3, it was clear the business would not work. We found another home for the hamster and I put that business plan back on the shelf. Despite my first venture being a failure, I took a lot away from the experience and have prioritized doing things I loved since then.
I created a summer camp after my freshman year of college when I couldn’t get a summer job in my hometown. I made more money in those two weeks then I would have made in a summer of minimum wage work. A consistent theme has been a love for my supportive family and a passion for learning and experimenting. I hope that never diminishes.
Pricing:
- In the future, we aim to charge $20/month for the Wish Route service
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wishroute.com
- Email: hello@wishroute.com
- Instagram: @wishroute
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WishRoute/
- Twitter: @wishroute
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
