We're talking about that seemingly delicate balance today of being successful in our work as entrepreneurs and living well and fully at the same time. Our guest today is Jean Collins, who's chronicled her journey and the approach that changed her life and work in her memoir, âTwo Feet In: Lessons from an All-in-Life.â
Well I do love this concept of an all-in-life where you have both feet in, none of this one foot on either side of the line or any of that. So let's go two feet in on this conversation today. Jean Collins is an award-winning interior designer. She left the corporate world behind to find her true self through design and through internal reflection. Some of the awards Jean has swept up are Architectural Digest AD Pro 2024, Feature Designer. She won the 2022 Lux Magazine Red Award and she was recently nominated as an HGTV Designer of the Year.
Welcome to Resilient Entrepreneurs. It's the podcast where we speak with business owners and entrepreneurs from all around the world, from all walks of life, in the hopes that something you hear today will leave your business a little richer. We're your co-hosts Vicki and Laura, from Two Four One Branding, supporting new entrepreneurs as you launch your business and offering you the tools you need to succeed.
Itâs why we invite experienced successful entrepreneurs like Jean to share her wisdom with you on this podcast.
Just before we talk to Jean, we ask you one small thing, it's something that will make a big impact. Show your love for this podcast by subscribing on the platform you're listening or watching on right now and by doing so you'll help others to find a fantastic resource for themselves. Thank you guys for getting us past the 10,000 download mark.
Jean,it is an absolute pleasure to share our platform with you. Hello.
Oh, thank you, Vicki and Laura. It's so nice to meet both of you.
Jean , thank you so much for joining us today and I want to tell you, I've had the pleasure of reading your book and you are a spectacular storyteller. I was so engaged from page one. So I want to, first of all, start by saying that and thanking you for telling such incredible, really deep stories of resilience from childhood. And I'd love to ask the first question on this podcast, what childhood experiences can you share that has taken you on the journey you are today. I think this is going to be a hard question for you because I know there are so many. There are so many. There are so many, but is there one that you would say, you would like to share that really had the most impact to who you are today and where you sit now in your journey?
Wow, that is such a good question because if you've read my book there are a lot. I think the one that stands out the most because to me it was a pivotal awakening in terms of my place within the town and the society in which we lived. So I was very fortunate I grew up in a town of great affluence in Connecticut, however, we were not. My parents were divorced and this was back in the 70s when people didn't really get divorced and my mother moved us from New Jersey to Connecticut, so we moved about two hours away from my father. This was before phones or anything so I would only see my dad every other weekend and really no communication in between. And so, my mother moved us to a town that had lots of wealth, and we're talking old school wealth. And I never knew that we were not wealthy until one day my mother used to take us to this store called the Rummage Room, which still exists and we would walk down to town and we would go to the store and we would be allowed to buy something. And I bought a skirt and I was so proud of this skirt and it was orange and red and I loved this skirt, and I wore it to school and someone asked me where I got the skirt. And I said proudly I got it at the Rummage Room and all the girls laughed. And they said, âOh, that's the secondhand store, no one shops there. You must be poor.â And it was my first realisation about money and wealth and where we fit in that social status and that needless to say carried through me all into adulthood because I was raised with a mother who always used to say, âWe cannot afford it, we cannot afford it, we cannot afford it.â And that to anyone who understands the power of those mantras to you when you're younger, that carries on way into your later years and a lot of therapy to really figure out how to break that down and to feel like my worth and value as a human is not defined by my financial status, because at an early age you get marked by your value as a human being related to how much money you have and that is not true. And it took me decades to break that and recognise that my value is not tied to how much money I make or don't make.
So interesting, resilience in the financial realm, as well as the emotional, what that would have done for you at that time as a kid. And so you talk about this, I like to call it a family cycle that you've broken when it comes to the financials and what money means. So do you also find that when you are successful in business in the early stages and you see the money coming in, do you have a story around the money?
I think you always do. It's impossible to leave that story. And so I still work really hard now to define my success based on different metrics and the success of my businesses and my platforms and my story and what I do is based not just yes, financial success, because I need to be able to live, but also trying to make it more broad and make it be the impact that I have on other people's lives and that is success as well. And then also the life that I've managed to create for myself and looking inward and recognising that the success of my businesses falls on multiple pillars because those things will go up and down. The business could be really successful and then not. I mean, I'm in a service business, right? So you could be really successful one month and not the next, or one year and then not the next, and so it's trying to really remind myself that success is not defined just by the financial part of it, but also recognising that I've been fortunate that I have worked really hard in my careers and I have had a lot of financial success, but then realising now at this stage in my life that it needs to be more than just that, because it does.
Yeah, it does. The roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship is something that anyone who's ever been on this journey certainly understands and it can be quite rocky and quite scary at times. So what's your mindset when times are really rough? Like maybe you have a couple of months where things aren't going so well. What was it like for you in the early days before you reached the level you're at now?
Yeah. So I think any entrepreneur will tell you, you are always worrying about where's the next piece of business is going to come from and I am too. You're always worrying, it's like you take on more staff and, âOh, am I really going to be able to generate enough revenue to pay for this additional person?â Or you make an investment in equipment and am I really going to be able to make enough money to pay all of this? And so I think that fear is real for any entrepreneur, no matter how successful you are. It's just scaled up or scaled down based on the size of your business. So I think that's all very real. I spend a lot of time on mindset work and really focusing on the bigger picture of what I'm doing and trying not to focus so much on the how is the money going to come, or when or in what way, but reminding myself of all that I've accomplished in such a short period of time and all the times that things were rough. I talk about in my book, there was a period when I was writing my book where the business was losing money and I was completely depressed and would cry every time I drove down the street. And here I am writing a book about how the fact I'm living my best life. And I said to my therapist at the time, I can't even write. How can I write about living my best life? I am crying driving down the street, not knowing why, because I had slipped into this great sense of depression because I felt like a failure because the business was losing money. And once I started to tell some of my friends that the business was taking a loss, all of a sudden I started to have a little freedom from that acknowledgement and the reality is that the business was taking a loss, but the business was taking a loss because A, I did pay myself and B, I invested heavily in advertising that year for my business, to try to grow my business. So I had invested in the business to get it to grow. So when I looked at different metrics, like what's your profit margin percentage and what's your profit margin relative to your income and your sales. Different metrics that are applicable to my business, those numbers were really strong. And so I had to change the way I looked at it and once I started to tell people about what I was struggling with, all of a sudden I started to feel better. And then literally two weeks before the year was about to end, I got a huge piece of business, huge. Made it so the business made money, everything was great. So you just never know. So you kind of have to remind yourself, just stay the course, and if you're good at what you're doing and you're doing the right things and you're being fiscally responsible with your business, don't let yourself get stuck in the mindset trap that is easy, but it's work. I work at it.[b]
That is such good advice because having been in a business that was losing money and in a situation emotionally where I was very depressed because of it, the only thing you can look at is that bank account going down every week, every day, every month, and then wondering, how am I going to pay these bills because they're still there and it becomes this big trap of an energy trap of, it just sucks you into that wormhole of despair. Look at different metrics to say, âActually I'm doing well, there's a reason for this happening and it's strategicâ, it changes everything.
It does, and that's why it's important if you don't understand the bookkeeping side of your business, it's important to find some coaching to understand that because those metrics are the things that matter. And yes, was I spending more money than I was making? I was. But when I looked at some of the other metrics in terms of how I was running the business, I was actually doing a really good job based on the benchmarks for our industry. And so I was like, okay, I know how to make money at this industry, I just need to recognise that if I hadn't invested all of that money in advertising and marketing, I wouldn't be in this position, but I also wouldn't be in the position of the exposure that I got, such as the awards that I've had. I've only been in business for four years. So that takes an investment to get yourself out there. Once I changed the way I looked at it, it was different. and I did always pay myself too. So I have lots of entrepreneur friends, and I always say to them, Profit First, read that book if you haven't read it. It is so important to pay yourself, even if it's not a lot, it's so critical to pay yourself, and don't look at it as the business lost money because you paid yourself, you are a valued employee just like anybody else. And so that I think from a mindset perspective also helped me.
Yeah, and let's talk about that. What helped you shift your perspective was when you started to tell people. Because I think that's a trap that a lot of entrepreneurs fall into is that fear of telling people anything that's going on in your business. We kind of fake it till you make it and you have all this. But it doesn't work, right? It leads us to depression, it leads us to struggle and stress and it comes out in different ways in our life. So what's some advice you have for a young entrepreneur who's in that right there in the mud? They're feeling stuck, they don't know who to turn to. You mentioned some coaching, you've mentioned therapy. What else or what other advice would you strongly recommend that someone can do to help themselves to move through it?
Find a networking group. So, I have several networking groups. I have women in business networking groups, I have women entrepreneurs, I have female interior design networking groups. So I have different networking groups and find a networking group because the reality is there are so many other people that are in exactly the same spot that you are, or they were there a year ago or two years ago. And so they can get you a sense of inspiration by talking to other people and also get you resources of other people and I found that entrepreneurs are such a special breed of people. And I come from corporate America and corporate America is not like this. Entrepreneurs are so willing to help other entrepreneurs. You automatically are part of a club that you didn't know you were joining, and if you find some sort of network, they are everywhere out there. They're out there on Instagram. They're out there, small business associations, different affiliates related to your industry. Just join a group and you will find your people if you are open to it. And so I have leaned so heavily on the people that I know in those groups, even just finding resources to help me solve business problems, just someone to call when I'm having a really bad day because they can relate to it. But then I also give that back to them. They can call me if they need, I'm really good at marketing. If they need marketing help, they call me and Iâm their sounding board for that and it just helps if someone else to talk to, and someone else just to be your cheerleader that'll be like, âNo, you're doing this right. You've got this.â And sometimes it's just so nice to have another entrepreneur be like, âYou've got this, you are going to succeed. You've got this.â And it can mean everything.
It would be pivotal, absolutely. Especially in a time when you were just describing things weren't going well, you're crying driving down the street, imagine having that community at that time and someone just calls you and says, âHey, let's do this. We've got this.â It's so important. And Jean, look, I'm dying to get into more about the book and the whole concept of Two Feet In. But my first question is, because you mentioned you're good at marketing and you're talking about exposure, let's talk a little bit about your podcast strategy. This is not your first rodeo on podcasting. So tell us what's the importance of podcasting for you and your strategy? And what would your advice be for others?
So, when we were talking about this before we started recording, so podcasting for me is something if you'd asked me five years ago, if I would A, be on podcast, A, would I be an entrepreneur? I would have said, no way. B, would I be on a podcast, be an author? Absolutely no way. And C, would I be starting my own podcast? There is absolutely no way I would be doing that, and all of those are true. And so I've leveraged the power of podcasts after I launched my book in July. I wanted to use the podcast platform as a way to see if the messages from my book would resonate with the public and would resonate with people. Because I had a long-term goal of really becoming a speaker and using this platform to speak and to really wanting to reach other women and help empower women through my story. And that's why I wrote my story. And I thought if I can empower one woman to take control of her life and feel like she lived a better life as a result of my story, then I will have succeeded. And so I've used the podcast platform as a way to talk about all of my passions. So I talk about interior design, I talk about being an entrepreneur, I talk about being a single parent, talk about being a female in business, I talk about changing careers, I did a major career shift at 50 and then now own two businesses, now a third that's launching next month. I would have never in a million years, and how did I do it? How did I reach? How did I grow? How did I grow my Instagram following? How do I find clients? And then also something that's so important to me, which is all the internal, and what have I done for myself? And how have I focused internally on who I am? What is my purpose? What do I want my life to be like? What am I eating? What am I drinking? How am I exercising? What's my life like? Life work, balance. And so podcasting has given me the platform to be able to talk about all of those things because there are so many podcasts out there. And part of the other reason why I did it was to find out, I had this inkling that I wanted to launch a lifestyle brand as an umbrella for all of my passions with the purpose being to empower women to live all in, and I wanted to see if that platform would resonate and if there would be an interest and podcast hosts would have an interest in that. And so I used it almost as a testing ground and a place to start my talk track and to meet different people. And I've gotten back so much more than I ever could have imagined. I have met some of the most incredibly fascinating people and entrepreneurs who are doing such great work that I've been able to partner with both professionally and personally. So to me, podcasting is like the gift that keeps on giving and I never thought I would be doing what I'm doing, but I meet people like you that have such power. And I feel like we're so fortunate to have such power in our platforms to tell our stories and to help other people and inspire them through the journeys we've been on.
So I'm totally with you, Jean. Podcasting is absolutely my favourite thing. I love to listen to podcasts and I love to have the opportunity to talk to amazing people like you and get your story out there to help the next generation of entrepreneurs who are trying to figure this thing out. And just to know that there is a community, just like you're saying, there is a network of people that want to help you and I love what you said about entrepreneurs are those type of people that want to help because that's really, really true. And I just wanted to drill that point down. If you are out there listening and you're trying to figure it out, reach out to another entrepreneur, somebody who's just a couple of steps ahead of you where you're trying to get to. I guarantee you they're going to open the door because we've all been there, we know exactly what it feels like. So that's amazing. And I love that you've written this book with the idea of speaking more. And I think that's what a lot of people don't realise, the value of having a book and being an author can do for you. It can open you up to so many other stages and places to share your message because it's such a powerful condensation of your life, your thoughts, your beliefs, your values, who you are as a person. And it then gives you so many things to talk about too on podcasts and on stages, right? So if you are the type of entrepreneur or a business leader that wants to speak more, a book is a great place to do that.
So I want to talk about that transition point because that's where a lot of people have fear is transitioning from corporate job, the nine to five, the safe job, the paid leave and the paid vacations and all of that net that feels like it comes with it, which I put all in air quotes because we all know that's crazy, it's not true. But, tell us what that transition was like. Why did you leave corporate America to take on this whole new crazy journey?
Well, I was forced, so I got fired. And I had worked in corporate America for 22 years, and I was the Vice President of Sales, and I ran a sales team for a public company in advertising. So I always say my boss was Wall Street, and when you do that, you are only as good as your last quarter. And it was a job filled with, I worked 24-7 and travelled and reported to Wall Street, and it was filled with so much stress. I was very fortunate, I really enjoyed what I did. I loved my team. I loved, I believed in what we sold and I was very financially successful and had more success than I ever could have imagined both in my career and in moving up the ladder and also financially. And then in January of 2020, I got fired. And I was part of a restructure, which I was part of that restructure. And I knew I'm restructuring myself right out of a job here and I did, I restructured myself right out of a job. And the reality is, it was the greatest gift because it was a shove into facing the reality that it was a lifestyle that I didn't want to live anymore and I was so, so stressed. And the impact that stress was having on my life, both physically and emotionally and mentally and with my relationships was really taking a toll on me and ageing me very quickly. And so since I was at that crossroads, it was right before COVID, I was turning 50 that year, it forced me to really look inward and I think if it had happened five years earlier, I might not have made the same choice and been able to have quite the same inward reflection. But I kind of changed my mindset around it and I was like, okay, I did that for 22 years, I was incredibly successful, more successful than I ever could have imagined. I have another 20 years left to work, I'm a single parent, I'm easily working till I'm 70 here, I'm not retiring anytime soon. So if I have another 20 years to build a career, imagine how successful I could be if I was really passionate about it and I really loved it and imagine how good it can feel to wake up every morning and love what you do and be really excited about what you do. And so I set out on a journey to figure out what did I love? What did I enjoy doing and what would make me happy? And I decided interior design was my hobby and so I made the decision that I was just gonna do a total 180 pivot and I was gonna become an entrepreneur and I was going to launch my own design firm because I was too old to go work for somebody else, I decided. So, âOkay, we're going to do it. We gotta jump all in, we're doing it.â And I went back to school, and I got two degrees in interior design at the same time that I started my firm and had to figure out how to be an entrepreneur and how to run a business and how to be an interior designer. But it gave me something so purpose-driven because I love what I do. And writing the book came after that. I wrote it, I decided about a year and a half ago that I was going to write a book because everyone said my stories and my path were really inspiring. And I thought, wow, if I could just inspire one other woman to make a change or think a little bit differently, we're only here once. And it's so nice to have such passion for what I do and such inner peace. And everyone says your energy is amazing. And if I could just give like a tiny little piece of that to somebody else, and they can then feel empowered to make their lives better, then that's such a gift. And I feel like I have that and I have that platform so therefore, I ploughed through. I mean, hey, trust me, there were so many people when I changed careers that were like, âYou're going to do what? You're not an interior designer. You're not an interior designer though.â I'm like, âI know I'm not, I wasn't an author either but now I am and it is amazing.â If someone had said to me, are you creative? I would have said no way, but the reality is I actually am. I just can't draw, but I am in so many other ways. And so once you take the stereotype away of what society thinks you should be, and what box you should be in and you let your skills come out and you let yourself become your true self, it is amazing what we can do as humans, like unbelievable.
So inspiring, so inspiring, Jean. And is this principle of having two feet in, is that the driving force, the foundation of your success?
It is. When I was writing my book, I had a friend say, âYou approach problems slightly differently than other people do, and when you make a decision about what you're going to do, whether that's with your career or for your relationships or whatever it is, you are all in, like you are totally two feet in.â And I was, well, yeah, because once I make that decision, I don't look back and I don't second guess myself. And once that decision is made, I turn off the negative self-talk and the chatter that's going on and I just move forward. And I think that's a skill set that not everybody has and they, a lot of times don't make the decision and don't move forward because the fear and the self-doubt and the chatter stops them from ever moving forward. They're one foot in, one foot out, one foot in, one foot out, and I don't do that. And so part of my book and the lessons in my book is explaining how I don't do that. And the things that I do to help with my mindset and to help me make decisions and journaling and the resources that I've tapped into. So It's not like I'm just making rash decisions. I am making smart decisions, and when I make them, then it is full steam ahead in that direction.
So in that, have you ever made a misstep? Have you ever put two feet in some quicksand? Has there been any failures or has it just been lessons?
No, no, I think everything is just a lesson. I don't look at it like anything is actually a failure at all. I think if you make a decision and you start something and it doesn't work, that just means that wasn't the path that you were meant to be on and I really am pretty good at looking at what was I supposed to learn. I'll use my first marriage as an example and we dated for eight years, and then we got married and six months later, I asked for a divorce. And it was you just got married. And it's well, but I hadn't woken up to some of the signs that I had married my mother and that was not going to work for me. And then once I realised that, should I have not gotten married in the first place? Yes, I shouldn't have. But I look at it like I had to go through that process and through that journey in order to then be able to see what I saw in that relationship and how bad that was going to be for me in the long term. So I just look at it all as it's all part of the lesson and none of it's a failure and if it takes me down a road that's slightly different, if I had launched my book and no one liked it, but yet one person did, that would be a success then that would be great. If I can launch my book and a million people buy it, then that is beyond my wildest dreams and that would be amazing to know that I could touch so many people with my story. So I think when you start the journey, if you're starting the journeys with your heart in the right place and your intention in the right place, then the path is just the lessons in how you get there.
So Jean, is there a formula for Two Feet In or is it more an ethereal combination of what works for different people?
It's a little bit more of what works for different people and where you are at different times. So sometimes people say to me, âI know I don't wanna do what I'm doing now, but I don't know what else I wanna do.â And so I'll say to them, okay, it doesn't have to be like me. I was this drastic 180. Why don't you take these baby steps towards identifying what are your passions? What makes you happy? Focus on a hobby, devote some time to that hobby and maybe over time that can become a side gig and then that side gig grows and then all of a sudden that side gig becomes the real gig and work your way there gradually if also if you don't have the financial means, I was fortunate that I could invest in myself and invest in my business to be able to launch my own business and not everybody can. But that doesn't mean that can't still be a goal. You shouldn't feel like you are so stuck that you can never get there. That just means you have to go about it slightly differently and that means that becomes your side hustle, that becomes your side passion. And I always approached it not in terms of how is this choice going to make me money? I always looked at it differently. How is this choice going to bring me purpose? How is this choice going to fulfil my need for life work balance? How is this choice going to result in me feeling the way I wanna feel about my life and my contributions? The money and how you make money at those choices will come second. So the finance part of the work became the back burner, and then I was able to focus on things that really have so much more meaning. And then when you're doing things, when you're doing them for a purpose and you have intention behind what you're doing, it's amazing the opportunities that come to you. And now people come to me and say, âWould you speak here or would you do this or would you do that?â I'm like, yeah, okay, yeah. Sure. Yeah, that's like kind of a dream of mine. And that's when it's really cool. Because yeah, can I get paid for it? Yes. And that's amazing. But it's also so much bigger than that.
And we've talked about work-life balance and as an entrepreneur that's quite often a difficult balance or formula because we love what we do as you've just described. It doesn't feel like work, it's just exciting and we're getting paid for it. Yet, you've also talked about journaling, so you have a lot of energy. Is this energy always here? Is there downtime? What's your view on work-life balance or life-work balance?
So I have a really strong view on that. So after I got fired, I made a conscious decision to say, I don't know why we call it work-life balance. Everyone does, every article is written about work-life balance. I was like, I am changing that narrative and it is life-work balance and there's a whole chapter in my book about this. And I 100% live my life with life coming first and work coming second. And that doesn't mean that I don't work. I work all the time, my brain never stops working, but I make different choices as a result of that. And so a perfect real life example, two weeks ago, I had completely over committed. I had committed to meet a client at five o'clock. I had committed to go to an upscale gallery event at six o'clock in a different town where they had to get all dressed up and the client meeting was at a construction site with dust. So I'd committed to go to this gallery event. I had to be there between 6 and 6.30 all dressed up, black tie, very formal. And then I'd also committed to going out to dinner with a friend after the gallery event. And I was so anxious all afternoon because, and in between I had to come home and feed my dogs because there's no one home to do that. And I was so anxious because I had so overcommitted and each one of these things were important and they each mattered. But at the end of the day, I cut out the gallery event because I had to meet with my client and I chose to have dinner with my girlfriend instead of the gallery event because it wasn't possible to do both. And I hadn't seen my girlfriend in a month and I just thought, I'm going to the gallery event because it's a networking event and it might be great and I might meet somebody that could really help my business and my platform, or I might not. And sometimes you just have to say no. And I chose the life and the life was my friend who I hadn't seen in a long time and that was important to me. And honestly, it was quite fine, and she was so happy that I made her the priority. So where the old me would have cut her out and would have chosen the gallery event, and so it's just a different, slightly different mindset of making slightly different choices at certain times and making sure that I fit in enough time in my life for the friends and for the family and for me. I exercise every single day and that often means I don't actually start work of interacting with clients until 10, but that's me time and that is so important to me and who I am. Why be an entrepreneur if I can't journal, meditate and work out in the morning. Why? If they want to see me at six o'clock at night, I'm happy to do that, but that means my morning is me. And making that a priority because that's what keeps me centred and that's what gives me wellness. So that's how I really do, I walk the walk and talk the talk on the life work balance part for sure.
Yeah, I love that. And that is definitely something so many of us struggle with, finding the time to get everything in order and have everybody happy. And as a mom, I get it too. I constantly feel like juggling, but the best part about being an entrepreneur for me is that I can go to sports day without asking a boss, can I go to sports day? I just go to sports day and I have a great time. Sometimes I bring my laptop because the reality is I might need to do some work while I'm there, but that's okay too. And I think that's what, for me, is the best thing about being an entrepreneur. But for you, what do you think is the absolute best part of being an entrepreneur?
It's that. But I'll take it one step further. I'm responsible for my stress, and I can dial the stress up and dial the stress down based on the amount of work I take on or how quickly I commit to get certain things done for clients. And so I control the stress knob, where I feel like when I worked in corporate America, someone else controlled the stress that I felt and the timelines that were put on me and if I went to go to be with my daughter the entire time, I was waiting for them to call, waiting for them to Slack, how many emails are piling up while I'm here, I wasn't present at all. And so now that I'm my own boss and I can control the stress and I can control the schedule and I can control the calendar, I also can be much more present. And that is an incredible gift because our kids grow up so fast and it goes by so fast. And to not be present and not enjoy it is just a waste. And stress kills us, it just does. Stress will just physically kill you if you're not paying attention to it. I would say those are the best things.
I love that dialing the stress knob. I love just that thought of that because it's so real. That's so amazing. So let's just ask one more question about resilience because of course we are the Resilient Entrepreneurs so we must ask you, what do you think is the one thing that truly helps someone to become resilient?
Journaling about the times that things have worked out in the universe has provided. I find any time I have any doubt or I am lacking confidence in something if I just sit down and really it's a brainstorm dump and it takes a little while sometimes in the beginning when I start to do it, but really think back to all the times that it did work out okay, and that the universe did provide and then that reminds me it's okay. You're going to be okay, you will be able to bounce back, you will find a solution. And then sometimes I will go for a walk, and when I go for a walk with whatever that challenge is, if I'm outside in nature and I'm walking, it is amazing how I will solve that problem while I'm walking. And I'll come home and I'll be like, Oh my goodness, I figured it out. I know what I'm going to do. Right. And so I find for me it's journaling, meditating, going for a walk and really just reminding myself of all the times that things do work out okay, because they do.
They do. And I have a favourite expression, Jean, everything will work out in the end, and if it hasn't worked out, it's not the end.
Ha, I love that one, that's a good one. Yeah, that's a good one.
We're coming to the end of this episode of Resilient Entrepreneurs and we do have a question for you, which is you asking us a question. We've been doing this just recently and it's kind of fun for our guests to ask us any question at all about anything. So you're the interviewer and we're in the hot seat.
I love it. Okay. So my question for each of you would be the same, and it would be what specifically do you do for inner wellness for yourself? So Laura, I'll start with you.
Mmm, that's a good question. For inner wellness, I think you and I are very alike because you just mentioned two of the things that I absolutely do when I'm stuck. The journaling and the walking in nature, absolutely huge. And the journaling is something I've been fairly new at. I think over my lifetime I've always journaled here and there, but I never took it very seriously or used it frequently but recently, when I've been dealing with some personal challenges. I've been just using free journaling, whereas I don't think I can read my handwriting it's so bad. But that is not the point to reread it. It's the point of just getting it out of my brain, that movement of just hands and mind and just letting it go really, really fast and just dumping it, dumping it on paper so I can get it out of my head. Because I found that a lot has been trapped up in there recently, I think there's a lot going on in the world and everything too that just feels very overwhelming. So that's helped me release a lot and be able to just be calmer, more centred, sleep better, all that good stuff. And certainly I'm like you, when I have a deep problem and something I can't quite figure out, if I just go for a walk, it's that head space, I think without all the distractions that gives you the time to process and even if you're not like actively thinking about the problem, somewhere along the way, the answer like pops in your head and it's your subconscious has just been working back there. So I, too, use a lot of that for my inner wellness. And so thank you, that's a great question.
Good, I'm so glad. I'm glad those work for you too. Vicki, how about you?
Oh, it is a great question indeed and so my inner wellness is going to be three pronged. One is nutritional, the other is emotional, and the other will be spiritual. So nutritional first, I've made some changes in the last six months to what I eat, how I eat, when I eat, and it's a lifestyle change, complete lifestyle change, and I feel incredibly nourished inside because of it. That'd be the first one, because then I noticed changed the spiritual wellness and the emotional wellness. Incredible change from gut health to brain health to everything health. So then the spiritual wellness is yoga. Usually it's a practice that I do at home. It's not a consistent practice, but it's there when I feel the need to call in that boost. And then my emotional wellness is that I am a life coach, and so I coach myself or I'll get coached.
There you go. I love all of those. Nutrition, we could talk for another hour about nutrition and gut health in our 50s.
Oh, hello.
I've changed my diet so drastically twice in the last two years and it is amazing how it impacts your life when you change your lifestyle around how you eat and what you eat, and even though I thought I was eating so healthy, but I was not, my body was not liking it at all. And it is truly unbelievable how you can make some changes and have more energy and to your point sleep better and your skin gets better and it's mind blowing. It really is unbelievable. Yeah.
I love this phase of life because I think it's making us very, blinders on, focused on health and really our best selves because you can't, there's no room for anything else. Exactly. We've got to be a hundred percent in and thinking about it all and holistically because yeah, there's a lot of changes. I'm sure we're all pretty similar in that stage and going through it. So I feel you, I get you. I'm sure there's other ladies out there who know exactly what we're talking about without getting in too much of it. Because yeah, we're there. We're right there with you. So thanks for sharing that. Thanks for asking that question because we should all be thinking about that question.
Thank you for the opportunity to ask it. You guys had great answers, so insightful. So that's helpful and it's good for your listeners to know a little peek into you too. That's why I love that you do that.
Yeah, thanks. Well, we hope so. And hope we get to know us a little bit better as they're getting to know our amazing guests like you. And I just want to wrap up by saying thank you so much. This has been an amazing conversation from a woman who is very resilient. You have to go read her story because she just gave you a little tiny taste of her life story. There's so much more behind what makes Jean such a resilient person, human being, and no doubt has huge things to come. Because I think your book is magnificent. I think your speaking is phenomenal. The fact that you love to do podcasts and have a podcast coming out. We'll link everything we can below in our show notes so that people can connect, find you and learn more about your story because the stories that we have and we share, we open the door for others to tell their story and it is really important to reach out to speak to people. We talked about that today, about being vulnerable, getting help, sharing, so that others can help you with your perspective and just don't stay stuck in the mud. Two Feet In and go for it. It's brilliant advice. It's a brilliant conversation, Jean. Thank you so very much.
Thank you both so much, Laura and Vicki. It was a pleasure. It was such fun to talk to you. So wishing you the best with your podcasts and your week.
Same right back to you.
