Episode 392: Lessons from a Laid-Back Summer: Family, Finances, and Future Plans

Jamila Souffrant 0:02

I always tell you, go look at your numbers. Now, sometimes looking at the numbers, especially when things are not as great, can be scary and not reaffirming, but at least looking at the numbers allows you to confront what is happening. T minus 10 seconds, welcome to the journey to launch podcast with your host Jamila souffrant as a money expert who walks her talk she helps brave journeyers like you get out of debt, save, invest and build real wealth. Join her on the journey to launch to financial freedom. 54321, you. Week one.

Okay, listen up. Finding ways to increase and supplement your income is something I love talking about. Like we all want to hopefully make more money in a way that feels good. So I'm excited to team up with former journey to launch podcast guest Terry Ijeoma, to share her live one day intensive from zero to your first trade. It's happening on September 21 at 12pm Eastern time. It's a live training. So that's this Saturday, September 21 at 12pm Eastern Time, where you'll learn the basics of investing in the stock market, how to open a brokerage account and choose the right broker for you and how to select Buy and Sell your first stock. Now, Terry has helped 1000s of people do this already. I know journeyers who have taken her previous course, trade and travel and have done really well, or just have learned so much. And so when Terry said she was doing this intensive training for one day, and it's going to be live taught by Terry. I was like, Okay, I'm going to share this again with my audience, so you can go to journey to launch.com/terry to check it out. Remember, it's happening this Saturday, September 21 at 12pm go to journey to launch.com/terry to check it out. That's J, o, u, r, N, E, y t, o, l, a, u n, C, h.com/terry, T, E, R i, if you want the episode show notes for this episode, go to journey to launch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this episode in the show notes, you'll get the transcribed version of the conversation, the links that we mentioned, and so much more also, whether you are an OG journeyer or brand new to the podcast, I've created a free jumpstart guide to help you on your financial freedom journey. It includes the top episodes to listen to, stages to go through to reach financial freedom resources and so much more. You can go to journey to launch.com/jumpstart to get your guide right now. Okay, let's hop into the episode. Well, well, hello there, journeyers. It's Jamila souffrant, your chief launch officer, as I like to say. But Hi. It's been a minute since I've done a solo episode. Since I've, you know, I always like to say, I'm recording this episode in my office. I'm looking at, you know, my walls and all the things on it, and it's just me, but I know this will eventually get to your ears. So I try to imagine, you know, talking to a group of people so that I can stay engaged and have the energy to do the solo episodes, because they're they're a little tougher than maybe the interviews, where I can bounce questions off of someone else. And quite frankly, I just think interviews are a bit easier when you have a solo episode and you're just talking by yourself. You got to carry the whole show. So here I am. I wanted to do a solo episode because it's been a minute since you've had new episodes. I know a couple new episodes started running, but I wanted to just give you updates on what's been going on with me and some lessons I've learned through some experiences through the summer, and what I'm preparing for next. So this is going to be just an update. If you are looking for more financial tips, and if you came here for like, strictly like Jamila, give me the financial independent information. Have tons of episodes where you can go back and find that. But if you want to learn a little bit more about me, if you are not sure who I am yet, or if you've been following me for a while and you want to get updated, stay tuned. I also find that sharing my own experience and my own journey is one of the reasons why I've been able to connect so well with journeyers. So by the way, journeyers are what I call people on this journey to financial independence and freedom. That's what I call you guys, if you're on this journey with me. So I always find that when I do meet you in real life, the things you appreciate, even just the comments, like, if there's a feedback from the podcast or just on social media, it's like, wow, I actually like to hear from you, because you're like my homegirl, or someone that I actually know in my real life, sharing. What's going on. So that's what I'm going to be doing today. Here is just a quick overview of what I'll be talking about. And then I always like to break down like lessons learned and things that you can apply to your own life and journey, and those applicable advice or tips that can also benefit you. But what I'm going to be talking about is just summer break. So I know we are now in September, if you're listening to this in real time. But you know, for us, especially in New York, our summer break is a little bit later than some states. So my kids were off at the end of June, and we had July and August off. So I'm going to talk a little bit about how not only they had a summer break and weren't in school or camp, but I had a summer break. I hardly worked this summer, and I wanted to talk more about how I prepared to do that, like how I prepared to almost take time out of my business, how things went handling kind of the uncertainty of like business and finances. I'm going to share that with you, and then just what we did this summer, also going to share some cool things that I'm going to be doing, like running a half marathon. It's going to be my first half marathon, so I'll talk more about that later, but I'm going to be running in the reggae marathon. It's a marathon or half marathon, and race held in Jamaica, the beautiful island, my home island, of Jamaica, that's going to be in December. So I'm going to be sharing more about that and how I'm preparing for it, and then some other upcoming events and projects that I'm working on. So let's jump back a little bit summer vacation. So this summer, we did things a little bit differently. We did not send our kids to camp. Now, typically my kids right now are 10, eight and six all two years apart, very full of energy and life. And so for the past, I'd say, at three years, we were sending them to a camp, just because I always felt like I cannot hold their attention in the summertime. I don't want them to be just home on their iPads or watching TV. And in the past few summers, I've been busy with projects. So last summer I was busy writing and finishing up my book, Your journey to financial freedom. So I was in the thick of last edits, and it was just a lot. So I just knew that, you know, they're going to go to camp. And in previous years, I just felt like, I don't know how to entertain them, so they need to go to camp. And this year, we were feeling a bit like, well, especially me, I shouldn't say we, because when I first saw my husband, like, hey, maybe we shouldn't send them to camp. He was like, what, what are they gonna do all day? But I said to myself, as the summer was approaching, when, you know, I had to give in the final balance for camp payment. I was like, you know, like, it just feels like a lot. It feels like one a lot of money. Have three kids, so sending them to this camp is a lot of money. And also, I knew that I wasn't going to be that busy this summer. Things have been pretty slow for me, business wise, quite honestly, 2024

so I knew that it's not like I had, like, Major, big projects that I knew about, and I'd be super busy and I couldn't, and I needed my full attention, and I needed to be in my office most of the day. I knew that wasn't really the case. I also knew, you know, my husband, he's a teacher, so he is typically off in the summer, and so I thought, you know, we both are going to be home. We both are not that busy. I mean, we like to do our separate things. He likes to work out. I like to work out. We kind of loved, that's the thing I loved about the summertime and when they went to camp, because it felt like we were on our mini vacations every day, because we dropped them off, and then we could do whatever we wanted without the kids. So that meant going to the beach without them. It meant him going to work out for as many hours as he wanted. Me doing my own thing, working out and working on my projects. Us going out to eat randomly in the middle of the day. So it felt really good when they were in camp and we had all that free time. But I said, you know, like, I just feel like there's something about this time frame, like in their lives right now, at their ages, that it feels pretty special to have them home and like, why not try? Like, we can figure it out they're paying they're playing competitive basketball right now, the boys and so that requires and involves a lot more practice. So I was like, we can use this as an opportunity for them to get more workouts in at on our own pace. You know? We can use this as an opportunity to try different things, and then, quite honestly, the cost that it would be to send them to camp, we can use that money for other things this summer, for trips. And you know, it's not that I thought we would be actually saving money, because I knew once they were home, we'd probably have been a bit more on going out to eat and trips. But I thought, like, I think that's a better trade off. So we decided no camp, and went with it, and I'm happy to report we all survived, and it wasn't that bad again. I know we have the luxury of being two parents who I have a flexible schedule. I can choose what I want to do, and so I barely worked. And then my husband, because he is a teacher, he was off. So I know not all parents can have that luxury of choice. And I feel very blessed. We feel very blessed to be able to to be with them in this way. Also, I keep thinking about their ages and at how some point they're going to be, you know, whether they have jobs, summer jobs, or are more busier and they, you know, we cannot have them, I wouldn't say, under our control, but you know, we have more influence of them or over them at these ages that it just felt like a really special time to be together and to do more fun things together as a family. So we made that work, and it did work. It worked really, really well. Now, the thing about it is I knew that if I was going to have them home, that I wanted to be available to them when needed. So it's not that we had to have things planned out every day, but I didn't want to have to be pulled into work. And so before taking the summer off for the most part, I prepared by really looking forward in the business like what needed to happen. So for example, the podcast now I've always prided myself on releasing an episode every week, a new episode every week, for years. And I think maybe it was a couple summers ago that I stopped doing that. In the summertime, I started to do reruns, because I wanted to give myself some grace in, you know, allowing the catalog, this, what I think amazing catalog of interviews and information to breathe a bit. And so maybe there are some episodes people didn't hear, or just me taking a break and not having to record. And so I knew I didn't want to record any interviews in the summertime. And so looking forward, I looked at, Okay, how many episodes do we need to have on deck, and how can we get those selected for listeners and then edited? You know, maybe some things, if the episode aired four years ago or three years ago, there may not be some pertinent information in there. So do we edit those out? How does that look? And then also, just for the other parts of my business, which are social media. So promoting things on social media promoting episodes, and my newsletter that I send out every week. How do I prepare for those things to be ready to go without me sitting at my desk needing to do that? And so a big part of that always is having help, hiring and having people who can help me, and I think as a business owner, sometimes especially small business, especially if you're not earning a lot of money or things are slow, you do go through that. Should I just do it myself and not pay that person to do it? Or should I pay the person to do it and free up my time? Now I know sometimes people will say, Well, if you can use your that time that you would spend doing that task to do a money making task or to do a higher level CEO task. So instead of you scheduling the email or doing that mundane task that someone else can do, you can be thinking of the bigger vision and doing that work that only you can do. You should do it. But honestly, sometimes it's not about me replacing or giving someone else my work so that I can go do something else and keep myself busy. It's just giving out work and paying people to do the things I don't want to do so that I don't have to do anything. And sometimes that's a stretch, because you know you feel like, or you're you're made to feel like, well, if you're going to pay someone to do this, or if you're resting and not doing any work, like that's bad, like you should be productive, you should be optimizing your time. And so I've had to sit with this summer not really having much to do, and spending money, paying other people, like my social media team, paying my assistant to do work where it's like, I could easily do that and save money, but I also knew that the investment to have them help me allows me that space and time and energy that I need to just be which doesn't have a value on it. It doesn't have like, oh well, this is going to make the business X amount of money. You know, I have no clue how much being relaxed, and what I like to say, chilling, chill in. I actually came up with this because the you know, the phrase being burnt out, or burning out, you're doing so much, doing so much. And I'm like, I don't ever want to be burnt out again. And I've been there before. So the opposite of burn is chill, and then the opposite of out is in. So I don't want to be burnt out. I want to be chill in get it. And so I feel like, you know, I've been working on being comfortable in that position of chilling, and I don't have, you know, a monetary amount that, or investment, what that becomes when I do that, and, quite frankly, when I slow down, income has slowed down. So 2024 has been a very slow year in terms of income, even 2023 except for my book advance, which was very lovely, very nice, things have been pretty slow for the business. And I anticipated that because I knew that. I was focusing on writing the book in 2023 in 2024

you know, for me, I also still kind of kept that same energy of I really loved the creative process of just creating work behind the scenes, not having to, like, show up on social media and do, do, do and grow, grow, grow. So I think I felt like that has translated into income being slow, but I also knew that we were financially prepared for this. So we financially are prepared to have slow income months and years for my business, and reminds me, though of all the work that it took to get to this point. So I do want to talk a little bit about that so it wasn't just preparing to take off. In terms of work, but it was also preparing and continuing to assess our finances of Okay, so if things are going to stay the same, where income is going to be moderate for the business and I'm not going to be doing as much work, what does that look like for our family income? What do we need to change? What do we need to do differently? Do we need to do anything differently? And I want to share just some things I did or that I'm still doing, to assess that we are doing okay. Because I know a lot of you too, sometimes are in these positions of income fluctuating, or maybe there's a life event that requires you to change something about your finances. And so things just if they're things are not as safe anymore, or maybe you are an entrepreneur also, or someone, if you have a partner, is looking to quit their job. And so you have to think about these things. And I always say, like, the major thing that we have done that has helped us so much is the saving part of our financial journey, and so having a big emergency fund, having that fu fund, allows us so much more wiggle room than if we didn't. So if we did not save as much as we did before I quit my job, and even in the abundant months of my business, or years of my business, because there were some times a couple years ago where the business was doing very well income wise. And while we, you know, I don't, I wouldn't say we spent more as a family in those years, or even as a business. I felt like I tried to keep things pretty tame and level. It was because I was looking forward to, okay, yes, the business maybe made almost half a million dollars this year, but I'm not going to spend all that money. I'm going to save or invest more than half of what I can that, take home, pay, and then also save an account for the business, for the years and times when things are slower, like now, and so having that account, looking at that account. So the other thing that I think we don't talk enough about is you can have all the money in the bank account and kind of have those safety nets, but if you don't feel like you are currently bringing income and you have to take out so that your savings is going down, that that is like psychological feels like, you know, things are going in reverse, even though that's why you save the money. I know for me, every time that I do take money out of my savings account or fu account, it does feel a little bit like, Wait a second. I'm used to this money like increasing because I'm saving into it, but now it's decreasing because I'm pulling from it, but also reminding myself, wait a minute, this is what this money is here for. It's to help save you. It's to help give you comfort, to give you a parachute, a soft place to land when maybe you need just a little extra help. And so leaning into that part of my life for the last couple years feels very similar to when I quit my job, actually. So when I quit my job back in 2018 that's when I had my daughter. The business also was not making a lot of money, but we had saved up money to help cover expenses during the time in which I was going to build up some income and find ways in which I wanted to to make journey to launch work, and I remember distinctly, even though we planned on pulling money from those accounts to help cover our expenses, because my husband's income doesn't cover everything, when, like, by month six and seven that we were doing that I was like, Oh my gosh,

I felt scared, because I'm like, Well, what if This keeps going? What if I never make money in Journey to launch? What happens then? And so I would not be telling the truth if I don't say that I don't have moments of that now, where, while we are okay financially, we would have to make some big changes, whether it is me figuring out something else in terms of income or changing our expenses if some of the things that I'm working on right now don't pan out right. And so the things that I'm doing to make sure, even when I get nervous, that I don't freak out too much, is I look at the numbers. I always tell you, go, look at your numbers. Now, sometimes looking at the numbers, especially when things are not as great, can be scary. And not reaffirming, but at least looking at the numbers allows you to confront what is happening. And so when I look at my numbers and I do the math, and I see we have a couple more years left, if things are still kind of slow, it allows me to feel better, because I say to myself, well, things have always worked out for you. You have amazing projects and things happening behind the scenes right now, and you've always found a way to figure it out. And I feel like there's so much wealth inside of me, whether that's my ideas or my knowledge, that I can, I can make something happen, and this confidence that I have, and, you know, as I'm talking to you, it's coming out. I'm almost like, you know, some like an athlete that, like, you know, you forgot who you are, and then, like, they're talking to themselves about to go in the game. I feel like that's kind of what's happening now, like I'm reminded of who I am in this moment, because things have always worked out, and I've always been okay, and the wealth of knowledge and ideas and the amazing things that continue to happen, even to this day, so I don't want you to get it twisted, like, oh my gosh, like, Jamila is like, not doing that well, it's not that. It's more of like, things are actually going really well, but they're different than before, which is okay. And this confidence that I have in myself, I feel like that is the kind of confidence and wealth that I would love, and I hope that you as a journey or have for yourself, even if things are tough or uncertain for you, right now is thinking back to all the times that it worked out, and all the times in which you figured it out, and leaning into the fact that you are smart, you have ideas and a wealth of knowledge within you, whether that is, you know, maybe, if you work in corporate America, and you know, there's some projects that you can can do more of, or raise your hand to participate in, or maybe you have your own business, you are your best asset. And if you've been listening to this podcast or you just found it, then investing in yourself is that internal work that I talk about. It is the idea of not working to burn out, or realizing the internal work and the tangential things you need to do to earn more or to feel better in your life, but that is the wealth and regardless of what is happening around us that we cannot control, right? Like, there's some things we can control in terms of, maybe, especially if you're a business owner, maybe selling something, putting yourself out there more, but there's so many things that you can't control. Like, a big part of my business a couple years ago was brand partnerships. Now that is not as much of an income source for me right now, but I'm also not going out and pursuing brand partnerships. I never did that. Usually, brands would come to me, which is the way I like it. But if I, if I needed to, and I wanted to, I could pursue brands and or pitch ideas, but I just don't want to do that yet, and so I want you to think of all the ways in which there is probably things you could do to whether that's earn more or supplement income or work less based on the knowledge you have with it within you, and maybe you haven't decided to deploy that Knowledge yet, but know that it's within you to help you and save you when you need it. And that's the kind of thinking that gets me through these slower years months, is falling back on me as my best asset, falling back on the solid financial foundation that I've created for myself and my family, and knowing that we're going to be okay. So that's kind of like how we've been navigating, kind of the slower year of Journey to launch. But I got to say, like, if I could be like this going forward throughout the rest of my career, or working and being maybe a forward facing brand as I am, this is how I'd want it to be, honestly, like, I love my pace of work right now. I love not having to work in the summer. Like this is, that's my plan. Moving forward is, how can I set myself up so that when it's July and August, I'm not doing anything, and when there are major breaks with the kids, I'm not I don't have to do anything. I don't even have to show up, because things are already in place, working a couple hours a day, like even now, is which, which is kind of like what happens is, is my sweet spot. Like, I love how that feels. And so I'm not complaining in terms of work. I don't want more work. More money is great. But I feel like leaning into this and realizing, like, this is what I'd actually want my financially independent life to look like. I'm literally living it right now with the flexibility that I have is like part of realizing the dream and journey that I set upon, or that I embarked upon years ago, is like I wanted to get to this place, and I'm here now. So now it's just a matter. Of trusting the process and falling back on the foundational financial skills and all the things we've set up for ourselves. So this summer was great. You know, the kids survived. We survived. We did a few trips before this was happening in late June. We did a Pokemon conference called card party, which is awesome. So if you have any kids that love Pokemon, I would definitely check out card party with this. That was our second year of going. We probably will go again, but it's a Pokemon event for just Pokemon lovers and creators. And my boys, they have a blast every time they go. And it's put on by Pat Flynn, uh, so Smart Passive Income, the very popular podcast. So check it out if you have kids that love Pokemon. So we did that. We did Disney World again, because the Pokemon conference card party was in Orlando. So I was like, if we're in Orlando, might as well go to Disney. And that's the kind of flexibility that I love with my time and money that we can do. So we did that. We also went to Jamaica. So that was a really nice trip. So I was born in Jamaica, and bringing my kids back there was like, high on the list of things to do, because they haven't been my oldest son went when he was one, but he doesn't remember that. And then my other kids never went. I have family back there. I have a sister that lives in Jamaica, a couple brothers. And so we made a plan as a family, like, let's go there. Let's hang out with my sister, my nieces and nephews, and really show the kids like island life. And so we did a lot of touristy things. We did all the touristy things. Like my sister is such a G we were driving all over to seeing all the, you know, hot spots towards hot spots like Dunder or fall Ys falls, a lot of beaches, and so we did a lot, but we also stayed local. We stayed with my sister. So I felt like my kids got the best of both worlds. They got to really experience Jamaica, like the real Jamaica, especially being with some someone who lives there and can show us, you know, she's like, whenever we approach someone, like, don't talk, because if you talk, they're going to charge you more. They don't know you're American. Let me talk. And so I just, I love that the kids got to experience that, and they had a blast. So that was fun. We went to Atlanta, and I'm just like, this is a life. This is a life that I've always wanted, and I'm living it. And so we did have a great time, and I can't wait for next summer where we're not confined by, you know, school and school times and waking up early, and we can just do our own thing. So that was really, really fun. 10 out of 10 recommend. And I know, again, that some parents just can't do that because you're working, and you have to work. And you know you don't have the luxury of maybe taking time off. But really, if there is a way for you to plan, you know, some extended time off, and you know financially and whether you're going somewhere or not, and you have kids, or maybe you don't to think about how you can plan that in your life or dream it in your life. So what 10 years ago, when I started to have kids and I was working while I knew what I wanted my financially independent life to look like, which involved me doing whatever I wanted. I could not have specified, like, the like, the exact things that I'm doing now, but I knew, you know, like, wow. Like, there is some part, there's some alternate universe in which I get to wake up and choose what I do. And at that point, when I started my journey to financial independence and journey to launch, I didn't exactly know how I was going to get there, but I knew that, that I just followed the steps in front of me because I knew that's what I ultimately wanted. So if you're more in a beginning phase, as I like to say, the journey or stages or phase of you feel very far away from being able to have this flexibility. Keep at it. Keep at it. Because I always say, like I did not know how quickly things could change for me when I started, you know, I felt like it was taking a long time to kind of get to where I wanted to be. But then as I started to still do the work to educate myself, to immerse myself in the topics that I wanted to learn more about, put myself out there more with my business, things started to snowball in a good way, and I was able to quit my job earlier than expected, able to kind of reap the benefits of financial independence without being, you know, a millionaire, having millions come into my household, you know, as as income. And so just keep at it. You know, have hold those dreams that you have and the flexibility that you want your life. Hold it, hold on to them, and do the work internally and externally to get yourself there. And you'd be surprised how you might find yourself next year, in a couple years, in the position that you're dreaming of or thinking about you.

Jamila, hi, Jamila, here, host of this podcast and author of the book, your journey to financial freedom, a step by step guide to achieving wealth and happiness. Just a few years ago, I was in a job I didn't like, with a long commute, feeling stuck. I knew there had to be a different, better way then I found the pathway to financial freedom and financial independence. Today, I have more money options and freedom than I ever thought was possible, and in my book your journey to financial freedom, I'll show you how you can achieve that too. You'll learn how to spend and save responsibly, all while enjoying that spicy Margarita and exercise guacamole. Determine where you are on the journey, and evaluate your spending and saving goals accordingly. Quit your job, retire early or reach financial independence. My book your journey to financial freedom, a step by step guide to achieving wealth and happiness, is out now and available on Amazon bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble and more. You can leave and listen to the audiobook narrated by me, go to your journey to financial freedom.com. To get a free bonus when you order the book and see all the places to buy it once again, go to your journey to financial freedom.com. Okay. Next thing I want to talk about is I'm doing something really, really exciting. I mean, it's also the most, I wouldn't say most, probably, you know what it feels like. The most challenging thing I've done, or ever done, other than giving birth, is I'll be running in a marathon. So it's actually a half marathon, which is 13 miles, and it's called the reggae marathon. So you can go to reggae marathon.com to learn more. It's happening on December 8, 2024 they typically have it every year around that same time. But it's a half marathon, 10k and 5k in the grill, Jamaica. And I, you know, I talked about, and have talked about my running escapades on the podcast before I picked up running back in the pandemic. I feel like a lot of people may have started to run in the pandemic because gyms were closed and, you know, when we were able to go outside, I felt like so many people started to go outside with and to walk. And so I never considered myself someone who'd want to run, even when I was active before kids. You know, I usually just did, I did CrossFit. I used to be a gymnast, so I did gymnastics as a child, but I used to, like, really, just do, like, weight training. And so when the pandemic happened and there was no gym, I started to run, kind of with my husband, and even him, he's very fit and in shape, so I wouldn't actually run with him. I'd just drive to the to the park with him, and we'd separate because I didn't want to feel like I was holding him back or having to keep up. But I really reluctantly started to run. And I remember like when I tried to even just run a lap, how hard it was and how out of breath I was, and I was like, Oh my gosh, I cannot do this. And eventually I worked myself up to running a mile, then two miles, and then three. So I started to run in three mile increments, like over, like that would be my run. And so from 2020 I've started to occasionally run. And in some years, I lean on running more. So I definitely feel like in 2020, and 2021, I was running maybe three times a week, three, four times a week, and then when the gym opened back up, I was back to the gym, kind of going back and forth. But running was something even when I was running the miles, like even three miles, I would say, All right, I am not running anymore. As soon as I heard three miles, like the app that says three miles, I would like stop done, because I'm like, I'm not training for a marathon. I'm not trying to run faster, I'm not trying to run further. I don't feel a runner's high. I don't know what runner's high is. This just feels miserable, but I do feel good after, but during. I don't like how this feels, like, in terms of like, being out of breath, but I'm gonna run just because I like the benefits of it. And then as the years went on, you know, and I have a really good friend, shalia, who also started running around the same time, but she, like, wants to run further. She's like, you know, maybe I should run a marathon. And so whenever she told me that I'm like, good for you, I'm just running my three miles and stopping and, you know, then I found out about the reggae marathon and got in touch with them, or they got in touch with me, and I'm like, Wait, this is the opportunity to, like, run in my home island of Jamaica. And it's a stretch. I mean, you know, they have the 5k 10k and half marathon. So I could, typically, I could do a smaller race, but I'm like, this is this opportunity to actually push myself and run further? So I decided that I'm going to run the half marathon. I have three months, about three months to train, if you're listening to this in real time, which means I have to up my mileage. So my tip. Go three miles where I just like stop, I have to run further. And as I've been training, so it's been about a week now that I've been running further. So I've been I ran five miles on Monday, then seven miles on Wednesday, and I ran five miles today Friday of when I'm recording this. And every time I run more than three miles, and I set that intention to run more than three miles. I do it because once I set an intention, I'm like, I'm not gonna let myself down. But it just reminds me, when I go back to be the beginning of the running journey, how I never thought I never wanted to, and I never thought I wanted to run further than that, but because now I have this external goal that I've shared also publicly. So sharing it with you on the podcast, I've shared it on social media, I am so motivated to succeed at this goal, and it reminds me just of any goal or journey that we're on, whether it's financial or just think about anything that you're trying to accomplish is, is that starting it sometimes you don't even know that one it's going to be a goal. And then when you set the goals, it's like you rise up to meet the level of needed activity and work to reach that goal. So once I know now that I have to run this marathon, I have a training regiment in place or that I want to follow, and I know that if I'm going to succeed at running this race and finishing it, that I need to do that work right now to get there, and while I'm running mentally. I mean, physically, yes, it's tough, but I would say the hardest part of running is mental because once I know I've started and I hit maybe the three mile mark, I'm like, Okay, I've been here before. I've hit three miles. I've run the four miles before. That means I can do it again. And so that mental toughness or confidence in me already having accomplished that task of running allows me to have confidence in myself that I can go further. And so that's why I think the journey to financial freedom, or just any journey that you're on, is so the mental part of it is so important. Because if I was running and the whole time I said, I can't do this, I've never done this before, I'm gonna stop, I wouldn't make it pass. I wouldn't have even continued to run after that first mile when I first started. And even as I run now like that, the longest I run now is seven miles. And in that, first of all, in that still in that third, fourth mile, I'm thinking to myself, This is so hard, but I'm gonna do it. But even after my seven miles, I still cannot fathom how I'm going to run 13 miles, but I also know that two three years ago, I couldn't have Fathom running seven miles. So it's really just a matter of showing up and conditioning myself to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, being comfortable with being pushed and if I if I could run three miles when I thought I couldn't, and if I could run now seven miles when I thought I couldn't, and now I've set this goal to run 13 miles past history has shown that I could do this. So just like when I, you know, I talked about just before, with figuring out, you know how to go through slower months and down times in your finances, in life, and thinking back to you accomplishing something before that was hard, or going, getting through it, it's like having that confidence in yourself is so important. Having people on the journey with you is so important. So my friend, Shelia, is also running in the marathon, and now having her like knowing that she's my accountability buddy. And when you know she says, All right, so tomorrow, you're running seven. I know that. Okay, so she knows I have to run seven. I'm gonna run it. And so it's really important to share with someone that you can trust within the journey, or even if you you know if they're not in person, but you meet them online for getting inspiration from other people who are also on similar journeys. You do not underestimate how powerful that is, because I don't know if I'd be as motivated if it was just me and I didn't share it. So the other thing is sharing things with people I shared it publicly on my Instagram, on journey to launch, and Jamila souffrant that I'm running, and now I feel like, even if I didn't want to do it, like I'm not backing out, like I shared it, I shared it with everyone, I got to do this. And you know, my best friend is running with me too and training. I can't let her down. Can't let myself down. And so these are the things, these are the I'd say themes, that I feel like, whether it's running or finances or life like that, they're so similar in being able to push yourself. So yes, I'm running in the reggae marathon. And what's really, really cool about this moment is the marathon is on December 8, 2024

my book your journey to financial freedom, which, by the way, if you. Not picked up the book you can go to your journey to financial freedom.com. My book came out on December 5, 2023 this is when I say like I just feel like sometimes, how can I lose? How can I lose in life when I feel like there are so many signs and just divine moments and not even coincidences, but, you know, coincidences and just things that happen that seem to like not be connected, but that are connected. So I feel like I get to run 13 miles on the 12 month or around the 12 month anniversary of my book being out in the world, and I get to run it back in my home island of Jamaica. If you have read the book or follow me for a while, you know how it like important being Jamaican and coming here from Jamaica, and how big, big. That's a big part of my story, and who I am just being raised by my single mom, who was so young when she had me, but like, immigrated here from Jamaica, and so to be able to, like, run on my home, I home island, kind of like to celebrate that one year anniversary of the book being out, also was, like, a no brainer for me to do it. So I'm just like, why not? And what's really cool is that before I actually, really knew that I was going to do the half marathon, when it was a six month book anniversary launch date. So back when it was six months after the book came out, I ran six miles. So I did do that. So even though I typically only ran three miles that day, I said, You know what? This is a six month. This marks the sixth month that the book hasn't been out. Why don't you just run six miles today? And I ran six miles, and then now that I have this opportunity to run 13 miles on the 12 month anniversary, so one extra mile, but who's counting? Like this is divine, this is supposed to be and so I go through my life, I try to go through my life looking for the nudges from God, from trying to look at the opportunities and the obstacles, trying to look at the lessons, really, trying to find the silver lining. And because of that, life feels more magical. So that's another thing that I would encourage you to do, is to find the magic in your current life, right now. And you'd be surprised, like, how many things you'll you know, even the small things that remind you, okay, this is where I should be, or I am on the right track, or maybe it's a nudge to say, Hey, you're falling off a little bit. But Be open. Be Keep your head up and be aware of the like miracles, the small miracles happening around you, and acknowledge them. I feel like when I acknowledge those these divine things, like more of it happens, or I just feel more gratitude about where I am and confirmation that I'm on the right path. So I encourage you to do that too. So running in the reggae marathon, if I don't think it's too late to join me, if you want to come, that's reggae marathon.com. I'll be sharing more about my training over on Jamila souffrant and journey to launch as we get there. But I'm so excited to do this. Okay, couple other things. I'll be at the well read Black Girl Book Festival on October 26 so I'm really excited about that you can go to journey to launch com slash w r B G, journey to launch com slash w r B G, it'll just take you to the well read Black Girl festival on sale site where you can buy tickets for the festival. But it's happening in Queens, New York on october 26 and I'm really excited, because the well read Black Girl brand is such, I mean, it's such an amazing platform, which is really founded on showing, showcasing and promoting just reading and literary like just powerhouses, Whether that's fiction nonfiction books like black people writing books and encouraging black women to read them. And so I was asked to be a part of this festival. I'm so excited, and I'll be talking. And one of the things that I'm really excited about is there are so many other amazing authors that are going to be there. One being I got to say Sophia Sinclair, who wrote the book How to say Babylon. I picked up her book going to Atlanta over the summer, and it just struck me the cover the title, because I immediately like, knew, like, Wait, this is something. Something is calling me to this. And it's really based, it's a memoir based in sharing how she grew up in the raw safarian household, and how she had to overcome or break through from that to become who she is, and just the teaching that she does about the Rastafarian culture, it spoke to me right away, just because my father was a Rastafarian, and we're Jamaican, and this is, you know, a Jamaican woman. It. Just like sharing her story. And this is another confirmation, and just divine. I feel like timing, because when I was asked to be a part of this festival, and then I started to see who was going to be there, I'm like, wow, I literally just picked up her book before I knew that she was going to be also speaking at this festival. And how great is that? And like, how amazing is again, me going back to my home island and having all these connections to this story in my life, like again, confirmation. So I'm really excited to speak at the festival. I hope to see you there. You can go to journey to launch.com/w R, B, G. I'll have all the links and things that I'm mentioning in the episode show notes. Check out all the authors, the amazing authors that are going to be there. Get their books, get my book, and you can get signings. You can meet us in person and hear our chat. So I'm really excited about that. I also have some exciting projects that I am working on. One of them, if you are in you know, if you're on my list and kind of in the know, you may know about this, but I'm working behind the scenes on a new community. It's called Freedom quest. Right now we are in beta, so that means behind the scenes we've been, we've had this community, and it's been going well, it's the one, it's like, the one thing I did over the summer in terms of showing up and working, did a couple lies within the community. So basically, this is an online hub for journeyers who want to reach financial independence, who want the community aspect and that support that is so needed when you're on this journey. And so we've been working on that. In the background, there will be a more public opening. So we did a very soft opening to people who are currently in the community, but we're going to be doing a bigger one. Doing a bigger one in either late fall or, you know, early winter. So stay tuned for that. I'll definitely be talking about it more. And I'm also, I'm really excited about this personal project that I've been thinking about. I can't share it yet because I feel like I have a lot more research to do. And it really, it's, it's not that closely related to the personal finance part of what I do, but I feel like, if this project happens, I feel like it would be even more impactful than what I'm even doing now. So I'm really excited about it, and I'll share that as I feel comfortable. But I'm hoping to be able to work on that behind the scenes a lot, and you know, see where that takes me. All right, so how was that rambly solo episode updating you on my life. I hope you enjoyed it. If you aren't new to journey to launch and me and the podcast and all that you know, check out other episodes. Scroll through see if there's something that speaks or sparks your interest. Share this episode with someone who maybe can benefit from it. Go to journey to launch.com for more information. Go to your journey to financial freedom.com. To check out my book and stay tuned, because we got a lot of great content for you. Coming up, new episodes, new interviews and new things to share. Okay, until next week, keep on journeying. Journeyers, don't forget, you can get the episode show notes for this episode by going to journey to launch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this and you can still grab your jumpstart guide for free to help you on your journey to financial freedom by going to journey to launch.com/jumpstart you. If you want to support me and the podcast and love the free content and information that you get here, here are four ways that you can support me in the show. One, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast wherever you listen, whether that's Apple podcast, that purple app on your phone, your Android device, YouTube, Spotify, wherever it is that you happen to listen, just subscribe so you are not missing an episode. And if you're happening to listen to this in Apple podcasts, rate review and subscribe there. I appreciate and read every single review. Number two, follow me on my social media accounts. I'm at journey to launch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and I love, love, love interacting with journeyers. There three, support and check out the sponsors of this show. If you hear something that interests you, sponsors are the main ways we keep the podcast lights on here, so show them some love for supporting your girl. Four. And last but not least, share this episode, this podcast, with a friend or family member or coworker, so that we can spread the message of Journey to launch. All right, that's it until next week. Keep on journeying. Journeyers. You.

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