Introduction:
How is it possible that a man just 38 years of age has 26 years of professional experience? Simple, he started when he was 12. He was not tossing newspapers, cutting lawns or even selling lemonade. Jody Jankovsky was testing software and beginning his IT career at the ripe young age of 12, and he learned early that hard work, willingness to learn, try and try again would lead to success professionally and personally.
Jody’s is a story of making the most out of each situation, whether he purposefully walked into it or circumstances demanded it. His successful business is a reflection of good decisions built by experience, good training built by willingness to learn, and good character built by a bumpy road to success. He is an example to young business people with dreams and dedication.
History:
The history of Black│Line Consulting is closely aligned with Jody’s personal history, because he has essentially lived his business since he was 12 years old.
Jody began his career in the information technology industry when a bad economy forced his architect father to turn to a career in software development. Working out of their Bolingbrook garage, Jody tested software, wrote reports and developed solutions from age 12 through high school, all the while attending school, playing soccer and working as a dishwasher in a local restaurant.
By the time he was ready for college, Jody was already supporting himself by consulting with a number of clients to solve their IT problems. Jody attended Illinois State University and walked on the college soccer team to play goalkeeper, successfully balancing school and studies with soccer and work. His five-day-per-week schedule consisted of morning studying, classes, studying and soccer practice, followed by more studying. On weekends, when other students were enjoying campus life, Jody traveled home to meet with the consulting clients of his business, Jankovsky and Associates.
Jody spent the breaks and summers throughout his college years managing a number of consulting clients. In his junior year, he landed a summer internship with AT&T doing important work more typically left to seasoned professionals. Even as a college student, Jody had a strong vision of the future in computers. While most of his contemporaries were focused on mainframe applications, Jody felt strongly that computers were going the way of the PC or microcomputers. Jody followed his instinct which, of course, turned out to be correct.
After college, Jody worked for Arthur Andersen, a huge name in accounting services at that time. He felt a strong sense of duty toward his business clients at home and, with the permission of Arthur Andersen, was able to continue to consult with them on the side.
Jody happily worked 70-hour weeks with Arthur Andersen for three years, but was unhappy with the inability to establish a closer relationship with clients. This was also his experience at his next company, Greenbrier and Russell, for which he worked for 18 months. So in 1993, Jody took his side consulting business full-time with his firm Advocate Consulting, now Black│Line Consulting.
Jody has developed his business model over many years with many adjustments needed to adapt to market conditions and changing technology. He started as the engineer and has evolved into the client’s IT partner: the one who puts the systems in place to develop and grow each client’s business. He found businesses in the small and mid-sized market lacked solid technical counsel and they had difficulty finding the resources to match their varying levels of need. So a business model was developed to provide a central source of technical skills to a market with very few options but great need.
Jody sees his company as an extension of his own character and has learned a great deal on the somewhat bumpy road to his current success. His determination, sense of fair play and willingness to learn has created for him a successful business and, more importantly, a successful man.
Mission/Vision:
Mission Statement: To provide well-designed, high quality and affordable information technology products and services to small and mid-sized companies.
Statement of Quality: The owners and employees of Black│Line Consulting will set the standard of quality in providing information technology products and services. We believe that stability and profitability of information technology rests in attention to detail and strong quality control.
Statement of Ethics: Black│Line Consulting was founded under the principle that we are all accountable to a higher authority by which all our motives and actions will be judged. Therefore, we will conduct ourselves accordingly; knowing that what is just is nobler than what is profitable.
Challenges:
One of Jody’s gifts is his ability to take life’s lessons to heart. As stated, from early on he learned that hard work was the key to success, but other business lessons came to him in unlikely places.
When he began at Illinois State University, he walked on to the soccer team and played goalkeeper behind the team’s All-American. That player was soon forced to leave school for academic reasons and Jody played first string for the next year. At the time, he was happy just to be a part of the team but soon regretted not demanding the compensation that was given to the star player. Jody played well, earning the most improved player award and ending the season with the best Goals Against Average record in ISU history. However, during his last two years of school, the team recruited another high school player and Jody played second to him.
While Jody thoroughly enjoyed the soccer experience and learned from his participation on the team, he identified weak negotiating skills as a hindrance, and that knowledge caused him to hone his skills, which has served him extremely well in business.
After graduation, Jody put his negotiating skill to work at Arthur Andersen where, at his job interview, he told the partners that he planned to continue to consult with his existing clients and that he had a responsibility to keep them up and running. Seeing no conflict, the partners hired Jody.
Three years at Arthur Andersen and another 1-½ years at Greenbrier and Russell taught Jody plenty about business. He felt that his skills as an entrepreneur were not appreciated or utilized to the benefit of client or company, so it was then that he branched out, again, on his own. In 1993 he started Advocate Consulting, his new company – or the next phase in the company he had been operating since high school.
Another challenge Jody has faced was learning to become a businessman instead of just an engineer. His greatest challenge has been to continually switch between the roles of executive and then back to his engineering duties. This is a challenge of moving from performing the technical function; to all-encompassing visionary skills needed to operate a business. Jody believes that business owners can either embrace this challenge and fight their way through – if they don’t embrace the challenge they will remain stagnant and see no growth. Jody has met this challenge as well.
Jody would tell you that he has had a bumpy ride to success. He has educated himself, sought counsel from experts, developed a taste for “crow” on occasion, and learned that ego has no place in business. His pride comes from a well-run, ethical business in which he helps other businesses find their success. His pride also comes in the form of the character he has developed over the years and that is evident in his business and in his personal life. He wants to be good role model for his two sons and sees that as his legacy and purpose.
Community Involvement:
Jody understands that success can also be defined by what a business gives back to the community. To that end, Black | Line donates 10% of its profits to charitable organizations including The Lydia House, Carpenter’s Place and Dupage Children’s MuseumouseH. Additionally, Jody uses his IT and business skills pro-bono to help two organizations that are close to his heart: The Carpenter’s Place and The DuPage Children’s Museum.
The Carpenter’s Place: Originating in Rockford with presence in Aurora, The Carpenter’s Place is a faith-based organization that provides a variety of assistance to the homeless, including employment, housing, health and addictions counseling. Their primary goal is to approach the initiative with a business mind and offering complementing, not competing, services to clients.
In partnership with The Carpenter’s Place, Northern Illinois University has created a database that tracks the success of individual’s recovery plans in the TCP program. The information will allow researchers to determine the best system of intervention for homeless people in order to assist the agency. Jody is the IT professional spearheading the design of the project by providing the software architecture skills.
DuPage Children’s Museum: In addition to monthly financial support, Jody and Black│Line Consulting have also conducted high-level reviews of the museum’s computer systems and volunteered time to help them work out challenges and problems in their system. Jody works closely with museum staff and looks forward to more in-depth participation in other areas.