"How many of us are still accepting the substandard treatment?" How Jessica Wilson teaches her audience to assert their rights |

Discover the strategies the self-advocacy expert Jessica Wilson uses to sell coaching, tell her story and inspire people to advocate confidently for themselves.

On 17 July 2020, Jessica Wilson was diagnosed with stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer. She was 32 years old without a relatives or a history of breast cancer gene.

"I visit my oncologist's office for my first appointment, and realize that he's not a person with the same enthusiasm for keeping me healthy like I do." Jessica remembers. "He showed up to my appointment 40 minutes late -- no explanation, no apology."

"Immediately my brain switches into self-preservation mode. If you don't consider whether I will survive or not, and my treatment is in your hands ... Then I'm in need of changes. I immediately started speaking up, speaking out to any person who will listenfor example, to my doctor who recommended me and to my breast surgeon and to anyone else -- 'Hey, this isn't working for me.'"

Her doctor kept pushing a standard course of treatment. "Maybe what I have isn't standard," Jessica thought. "Maybe I should think outside of this space."

Soon after, Jessica switched doctors and hospital networks to find the medical staff that was listening to her. "I am convinced that if I not been there, I would not exist today. It's not a regret at all," she says.

The story sparked an inquiry for Jessica who else might be experiencing this?

"Having experienced that incident, it gave me the realization how many accept such subpar treatment, either due to the fact that they don't know other way or because they're afraid and they don't know what they should do?"

Jessica realized that there would others out there who were in similar circumstances, and some of whom may lack the courage or knowledge to speak up on their own in the manner she had.

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

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

Tell your doctor when you're in need of extra time to discuss or contemplate something.

Be prepared to ask lots of questions -- as many as you'll need to comprehend what your doctor is explaining to you.

"I looked around and realized that I've definitely had to advocate for myself," Jessica explains. "When you look at life 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 greatest impact in the areas of employment, medical and personal relationships.

To address these issues, Jessica launched her coaching business, Advocacy Alley.

Presently, Jessica helps members of marginalized groups learn to build confidence and stand up on behalf of themselves in all aspects of their life. Jessica is also popularly known as Jess the IE -- an "industrial engineer by trade , and the guru of intuition by love".

"I work in finance for an important home improvement store, and I'm also doing this as a side job. Since I am passionate about one thing as well as the other one has more passion. I'm passionate about making the processes, people and technology more effective. Additionally, I'm excited about folks getting the treatment that they need."

Continue reading to discover the ways Jessica made use of her enthusiasm for process improvement -- and her site -- to begin her coaching career, share her story, and empower others to advocate on behalf of themselves.

21 Questions that Every Patient Should ask their Doctor

Jessica is a highly successful industrial engineer. She's an intuitive thinker and complex problem solver. She has a passion for improving processes and understands the value of putting together an efficient game plan.

So, with the help of a business coach that's exactly what she did.

"I have all these items in my possession. How do I tie this to form a neat bow that I can package? The effect that I'd like to achieve. What steps will I need to complete to get there?"

"How do you navigate the delicate zone of "I don't want to appear rude, but I have to show force'?" Jessica describes.

"This is me. This body. That's what I'm prepared to accept. That's what I'd like a second opinion on. The process started there and I've now packaged the idea -- but how do I communicate it for the public to see?"

Giving away free tools is an the ideal way for young creators to get started on their business.

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

"This is something that could meet my requirements. This is something that I could grow into."

"I enjoyed the cost difference ... I did not have to get all the way to the highest level to ensure it meet my requirements. I appreciated the flexibility of everything, and [the interface was extremely user-friendly. I went through the 14-day trial, then I realized, "Ooh it's a blank space. There are no limits to what you can do with it.'"

Initially, Jessica used to host her downloads for free and provide information about her one-on-one coaching services. In the process of developing Advocacy Alley, she built her own website.

"Over time, it's continued to grow to where my entire website is ['ssales and landing pages," Jessica describes.

"The blog is mostly to follow my breast cancer journey, since I'm not certain where to find people like me that are diagnosed at the age of 30- just completely young, having just started your own family." Jessica shares. "What goes through our minds?"

Jessica makes use of its course builder tool to build her own blog and to share her latest posts. "The features for courses are robust enough to provide me with everything I want. I need to be able post my posts with the possibility of folks to leave commentary," she says.

Each blog post is set up as a lesson in . Visitors can read Jessica's posts right on her site by previewing each lesson and are able to sign up to make comments and receive regular updates.

The versatility of the all-in-one platform allows Jessica can set up all of the web-based features she needs.

"There might not be a document on paper that will be what I'm seeking, but I've been able modify the system in order to make it work and meet my needs for everything," Jessica shares.

Learn how to make it work for your own business as a creator. Register to get a 14-day free trial  for your business, or visit our latest demo.

"I wanted to get classes available because I wanted to reach the greatest number of people that is possible."

This class is designed to help those who've recently been diagnosed and must figure out next steps -- without going down the Google tunnel of the worst-case scenarios.

"I was aware that I wanted to develop a plan for folks to anchor themselves to ensure that their minds don't get lost, no matter what the diagnosis can be," Jessica explains. "Sometimes you just need something to keep your feet on, something that can guide you to ensure that you don't spiral."

Although she intends to keep providing one-on-one coaching sessions, the online course will help Jessica scale her impact to help to reach more people.

"I was aware that I needed to make sure that I had courses available because I wanted to impact as many people as that I could. I am able to only handle so many people one-on-one and can only handle so many things.

It's something that an infinite amount of people could participate anytime -- whether I'm immediately available to work one-on-one or not. And actually get that same sort of effect."

Hospitals can sponsor course enrollment for a specific number of patients or hire Jessica as a consultant, and interact directly with her. "That way, I can be the most effective."

The art of building an audience "If you're not uncomfortable and uncomfortable, then you're not advancing."

"While you're still trying to build your email list You can't simply email people," she says. "I must also remain active and visible through Facebook and other social platforms."

At first, putting herself out there via social media wasn't something that came from the inside.

"Being creative has made me to stand present in front of the camera, at the center of attention. It's not easy, and at first it can be a bit unsettling and uncomfortable. If you're not comfortable and uncomfortable, then you're not expanding.

Then I made myself go live with zero people being present, and with only one person watching -- it didn't matter. This was more an exercise for me. If I'm able to complete it just once, I could do it over and over. It was basically pushing myself to become comfortable being uncomfortable."

The author explains that coming up with things to write about is simple -however, creating regularly and posting them on an already packed schedule is challenging.

"There are just so many things that I want to give away. I don't think I've had any roadblocks with creating information that I want to share with people," she shares.

"If you're looking to establish a following, they have frequent visits to your page. So to get around that, I started trying to figure out ways of batching posts ... instead of becoming long and rambling Let's break [a blog post] up into three posts. So I'll have three of the five posts I have for this week."

"You are able to make image posts, you can make [Instagram] Reels and be funny, you can do Reels as well as be professional ... basically anything you can do to make it more diverse in how users can possibly find your profile," she recommends.

Jessica's suggestion for young creators: "Follow your passion, and you'll earn money."

"Mindset is the key. If you begin to feel like you'll never be prosperous, you will never be. There are great days where you're all excited, but there'll be days where you're just like, 'I just don't have the desire to.' And they're both okay."

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

If you're a creator who's only beginning to get started , Jessica encourages you to begin by taking in small steps.

"Don't be concerned about getting the most beautiful and stunning web page set up initially. Just worry about those separate pages per product. Focus on having [those pagesconstructed first. As your product suite grows, when you expand, and as your company expands and expands, you are able to build additional pages."

Today, Jessica offers one-on-one coaching, free resources, an online course for individuals as well as healthcare professionals, and three social media platforms that are active -- and she's only starting to build her presence.

The creator's journey is a marathon, not a sprint.

"You aren't required to become millionaire overnight. Find your passion and money will follow."