Announcer: 0:02

You're about to tap into the digital marketing strategies that separate thriving law firms from the ones trying to keep up. Join Jennifer Goddard as she breaks down the roadblocks holding your practice back and reveal the insider tactics attorneys are using to scale past seven figures. From cutting-edge digital marketing tips to exclusive interviews with industry leaders, we're giving you the playbook to attract higher quality clients, dominate your market and build a firm that runs like a growth machine. Your next breakthrough starts now. This is the Marketing Lawcast.

Jennifer Goddard: 0:39

Hi and welcome to the Marketing Lawcast. I'm Jennifer Goddard, ceo of Integrity Marketing Solutions. Today, I want to share something I've never shared publicly before. It's not just a business story, it's a life story. About one year ago, I received a devastating healthcare diagnosis I had a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer and in what felt like the blink of an eye, I had to walk away from the business I had spent decades building. But here's the thing the business didn't fall apart, it got stronger. Today I want to take you behind the scenes of what happened, how I made the decision to step away, what it taught me about healing and about leadership, and why I believe that letting go quite literally saved my life.

Jennifer Goddard: 1:35

It all started early last year. I had knee surgery after I slipped and fell on the stairs, and so I was recovering from that knee surgery by swimming, one of the few ways that I could rehab gently. My husband, david, and I were on vacation in Sedona, arizona. After a swim, I got out of the pool, I changed my clothes and that's when I felt it a lump in my breast. Many years ago, I worked in hospital marketing and because of that background I promoted countless mammography screening clinics. So when I felt that lump, I knew exactly what it was and I knew that I didn't have time to procrastinate or deny. I needed to move quickly. I didn't even wait to get home.

Jennifer Goddard: 2:24

I started making the appointments while I was still in Sedona and then came the diagnosis. I already really knew in my heart that it was a breast cancer, but I wasn't prepared to get that diagnosis by email, not a phone call, not a consultation. It came through my email and the diagnosis was a metaplastic triple negative breast cancer. Now, what I learned? Very quickly because I got this by email I went straight to Google, which might've been a mistake, but what I learned was this is one of the rarest types of breast cancer. In fact, less than 1% of all breast cancers are of this type. The other thing I found on Google was studies that showed the five-year survival rate for this cancer was zero. That stopped me cold. Literally everyone in the studies had died before five years. Now, one of the reasons that I say that going right to Google might have been a mistake was the studies that I saw at first were a little bit older, like maybe five years ago. Since then there have been some breakthroughs, particularly in the field of immunotherapy. So the more recent studies are showing about a 50% survival rate, which is still pretty dismal.

Jennifer Goddard: 3:50

But when I saw that I thought, okay, I just need to be in the top half of the class, and I have never not done that. But that was a little bit of bravado. You know, I really was scared and I was sad. I hated the pain that I was causing my family, but I never believed that I would die. I started praying and I prayed for complete healing and I started making decisions to give myself the best possible chance of survival. We called a family meeting at my home and my sons, james, who is our chief growth officer, and Mike, our creative director, came over and I told them the truth. This was serious. I would be starting treatment immediately and James would need to take over the business. I tried to reassure them that I would still be involved, I would still be helping behind the scenes.

Jennifer Goddard: 4:49

But just two weeks into chemo I was in the hospital with life-threatening sepsis. I couldn't help, I couldn't lead, I could barely sit up, and I'll never forget the look on my son's faces as I told them the prognosis. You know, I've spent my life trying to protect them. And now, here I was, the one delivering the worst news that they had ever heard Chemo was relentless. If you've never experienced chemotherapy, it's just a word, and that's how it was. To me it was like, okay, people go through chemo. I had no idea what that meant, because my cancer was very aggressive. The chemo that they threw at it was everything plus the kitchen sink. It was the most aggressive chemo protocol that we have.

Jennifer Goddard: 5:39

I couldn't sleep. I was almost constantly sick. I moved into a separate bedroom with a power recliner chair so that David could get some sleep and I could get some rest by sitting upright, which is the only way that I could rest. I couldn't rest at all laying down. But even in these darkest hours I created rituals. I spent hours in prayer, in meditation and in reading scripture. I built a meditation playlist on Apple Music. I made these Facebook Reels little morning messages with scripture and music and a photo, and in the early morning hours I would send them to James and Mike and to my brothers, ron and Bill, and to my business partner, kyle, and then I shared them on Facebook with my friends. Some days it felt like all I could do was survive, but even then. I didn't want to survive in isolation. I shared. I stayed connected.

Jennifer Goddard: 6:41

It was really important to me that I not be ashamed of this or embarrassed of this or that I keep it a secret. I wanted to be sure that I shared this journey with my friends and allowed them the opportunity to support them During all this time. I told you I made a playlist on Apple Music and one of the songs on that playlist really sustained me. It's called Don't Give Up on Me by Brandon Lake, and the way that Brandon wrote the lyrics to this song it's as if God is talking to us, is talking to you, talking to me. So the lyrics are God speaking. So when he says don't give up on me, he's saying don't give up on God. And the lyric that really anchored me, that I really turned to all the time, was you ain't seen what I promised, child. We're just getting started. That became my anthem. I knew that this was a journey and not the end. I just believed that and I held on to that. There was one moment very early on that really captured everything about what this journey would become for me.

Jennifer Goddard: 7:53

Right before I started chemo, I made the decision to shave my head. We knew that I was going to lose my hair. The chemo that I was going to go through causes hair loss, and though some patients are able to use something called an ice pack to preserve some of their hair, or maybe all of their hair, with this particular chemo regimen, that was not appropriate. So I was definitely going to be losing my hair and I didn't want to just sit around and wait for it to fall out, you know, in clumps and just. I just didn't want to see that as something that was happening to me. So I wanted to take back a little bit of control. I wanted to say this isn't happening to me, I am walking through it with purpose. So I made an appointment with my beloved hairdresser, arlene, and my son, michael, took me to that appointment.

Jennifer Goddard: 8:42

Now, as I said before, michael is the creative director at IMS. He's also funny, he's fiercely loyal and he's usually the one cracking the jokes to keep everyone else strong. That day he sat with me as Arlene prepared the clippers and just as she was about to begin, mike looked at her and said shave mine too. I will never forget that moment. In a single sentence, he showed me exactly what love looks like. It wasn't just symbolic, it was strength, it was solidarity, it was saying we're in this together. I'm not just watching you walk through this, I'm walking with you.

Jennifer Goddard: 9:23

I always believed that God had more for me to do, that this was not the destination, this was the journey. And here's where I want to go deeper. I've always believed that the mind and the body are not separate. Our thoughts, our emotions, our stress they all affect healing, not just in theory, but in real, measurable, physiological ways. So when I got this diagnosis, I knew I couldn't just push through. I had to create space to heal, and not just physically but emotionally, spiritually and neurologically, and that meant letting go of the business completely. I wasn't half in, you know, checking my emails from the infusion chair. No, I stepped away.

Jennifer Goddard: 10:13

And a year later, when my oncology surgeon reviewed the pathology report from my surgery, she was literally shocked. I had a complete pathological response. There was no trace of cancer left in my body. When I said she was shocked, she said to me I'll be honest, I didn't expect this. When I learned that you were the CEO of a national marketing agency, I assumed your job was incredibly stressful. I thought that would interfere with your outcome. And when I told her that I had walked away from work for a full year and James and the team had handled everything, she looked at me and said well, I think they saved your life. Let that sink in.

Jennifer Goddard: 10:59

Letting go wasn't just a leadership move, it was life-saving. You know, healing does not happen in isolation. I had an entire network what I call my army of angels, supporting me. Friends that I hadn't actually spoken to in decades suddenly showed up Every week. Not a week went by that I didn't receive cards or gifts or messages from people that I've known since kindergarten my very best friend from elementary school, friends from high school and people from all over the world who have known me through Integrity Marketing Solutions, my brothers, ron and Bill. Integrity Marketing Solutions.

Jennifer Goddard: 11:43

My brothers, ron and Bill, came out to Estes Park and we had a circle-the-wagons retreat. We spent three days in Estes Park and we laughed, we told stories of our childhood, we cried a little, we hiked in the Rocky Mountain National Park and we laid out how we were going to fight this. My oldest brother, bill, is an electrophysiologist, cardiologist, and he was going to take the medical resource and, as it turned out, the chemotherapy did cause me cardiac complications and Bill literally saved my life on more than one occasion by knowing exactly what to do and telling me here's what you need to do, sis, and we had planned that out during that retreat just in case that would happen. My brother Ron is the spiritual anchor of our family and he stayed with me through long nights. He offered the prayers and the wisdom and his presence to actually be there with me.

Jennifer Goddard: 12:45

There was this song that was also on my playlist. It was one that my brother Bill had sent me the first day that he learned of my diagnosis. I strongly recommend this if you're going through any kind of a healthcare challenge or any kind of a personal challenge or you know someone who is. There's a song it's called Rescue, by Lauren Daigle, and there's a line from that song. This lyric really embodies what I saw with my support network God saying to me I will send out an army to find you in the middle of the darkest night. I get a little choked up just even talking about that, because that's what it felt like that I had this army that God had sent out to find me in the darkest night and I was never alone. That's what they were an army of angels. But you know, it wasn't just my immediate circle who showed up. There's one story that makes me laugh still and cry a little at the same time.

Jennifer Goddard: 13:42

Last October I was supposed to be inducted into my high school's Hall of Fame. Such a big honor for me, and under normal circumstances I would have flown back to Kansas City, shaken every hand, given a speech you know the whole thing but I was just too sick to go. So I asked my business partner and best friend, kyle, if he would go in my place. And Kyle, he just didn't hesitate. He suited up, he traveled to my hometown, he did the school tour, he attended the ceremony and he took photos of everything and he represented me as only my best friend could.

Jennifer Goddard: 14:21

Now here's the part that still gives me chills. I learned at the very last minute that I could invite two guests to the Hall of Fame dinner and I thought that Kyle shouldn't have to go through that alone. So I reached out to two old high school friends, bill Stille and Paul Mara. Mind you, this was the day before the event, but they didn't hesitate. They both dropped everything, threw on suits and ties and they showed up for me. They sat with Kyle and they told stories about me from our school days. Many of those stories were hilariously unflattering, I will say, but they made sure that I was celebrated, even though I couldn't be there. That meant the world to me, and I think it meant the world to Kyle too. It reminded me that even when you're absent, when you literally can't show up for your own honor, the right people can still carry your presence into the room. That's community, that's legacy and, honestly, that's grace.

Jennifer Goddard: 15:23

While all of this was happening in my personal world, something amazing was also unfolding at Integrity Marketing. The business didn't crumble, it thrived. Revenue at first stayed steady, but then it started to climb. We had, like, no client complaints, very low turn rate, our marketing campaigns continued, leads kept coming in and James he was actually having fun. I watched as my son stepped into leadership and owned it. The team rallied. There was no drama, just commitment, loyalty and grit. They didn't just fill in the gaps, they ran with it, and I could not be prouder of all of them. So let me speak directly to my fellow entrepreneurs business owners, law firm owners, high achievers If you think that you can't step away from your business or from your firm, even for a week, please hear this your business is a ticking time bomb if you haven't built the systems, the team and the culture to survive without you.

Jennifer Goddard: 16:37

If you haven't done these things, you need to start yesterday. If you have the wrong people on the bus, you know, you already know that. Fix it. Fix it now. If you don't have documented systems, start now. Document and refine those systems and practice following those standard operating procedures. Practice following those SOPs and make sure that they are correct, that they are efficient and that they are up to date. Start all of this yesterday. Even if you never face a crisis like I did, your clients still deserve your very best every single day, and your future self, she, will thank you for building something that doesn't rely on your constant presence, that doesn't rely on your constant presence just to function. Today I am cancer-free and I'm easing back into the business, not to retake control, but to support James and our team, to bring back to the business what I've learned over this past year and to share that with you. In coming episodes of this podcast, I'll be diving into how to systematize your firm for long-term growth, the surprising truth about succession planning, how to build a team that shows up like owners, not employees and, yes, the mindset practices that supported my healing and can support your leadership as well.

Jennifer Goddard: 18:09

If you're listening to this and you're facing a battle of your own, whether it's in business or in your personal life, I want you to know that you're not alone. There is an army out there for you, too, but you have to let them know. You cannot keep your challenge, you cannot keep your journey to yourself and expect that your friends and your network are just going to read your mind and know what you're going through. You have to let them in. You can build an army, you can lead an army and you know what. You can be an army of one for someone else.

Jennifer Goddard: 18:48

If you're facing a challenge, I want you to know that you are not done yet. You haven't seen what's been promised. We're just getting started. So, as I wrap up, if this story meant something to you, be sure to catch the next episodes. I'm going to walk you through the systems, the culture and the mindset that made this kind of resilience possible, and please share this episode with someone who needs it, someone walking through a personal crisis, a health challenge or a season of leadership that they didn't ask for. Let them know that they are not alone, and this doesn't have to be the end of the story. If you want to learn more about what we do at Integrity Marketing and how we help law firms build businesses that can thrive in any season, visit our website, imsrockscom. We're still standing, and the best chapters are still ahead.

Announcer: 19:52

That's a wrap on this edition of the Marketing Lawcast. Thanks for joining us Head over to imsrockscom. If you're ready to skyrocket your firm's marketing, don't hesitate to book a free strategy call with our team right on our website. Here's to your success.