Episode 444: What a Slow Summer Taught Me About Money & Life

Jamila Souffrant 0:02

In whatever season of life that you're in, remember that, most likely, it's temporary. Everything at some point becomes a memory. Even today, me talking, sitting here with you, like in a few minutes, I have to get my kids. It's a memory. It's it's something that happened, and it's enjoying the current moment for what it is, and if it's not something, you can enjoy sitting with it and there's sometimes sitting with the feeling is enough.

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Welcome to the journey. To launch podcast with your host, Jamila Souffrant as a money expert who walks her talk. She helps brave juniors like you get out of debt, save, invest and build real wealth. Join her on the journey to launch to financial freedom in 54321,

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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 journey 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/jump

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start, to get your guide right now. Okay, let's hop into the episode.

Jamila Souffrant 1:44

Hey, hey, hey, journeyers, welcome to the journey. To launch podcast. I'm your host, Jamila Souffrant, and I'm, I mean, oh my gosh, it's been quite some time, I feel like since I've been on the mic, since I've recorded a podcast episode, especially a solo one, and so I'm happy. I'm excited to be back and to share with you what's been going on. Now, if you are looking for strict financial tips and advice, this is not going to be that kind of episode. I'll definitely tie in some observations and some lessons that I know will help you on your journey, because it's been helping on mine. But if you really are new and just want some financial tips and advice, there are hundreds of episodes that you can scroll through on my journey to launch podcast feed that you can find, but stick around. I hope you enjoy this episode. So as I mentioned, it's been a bit of time, if you're listening to this in real time, it's September 2025,

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mid September, and I essentially took off the whole summer, which I typically do where I don't really work in the summer. Love that for me. And I want to talk about how a little bit of how I made that happen. I'm going to do a, probably a more detailed episode on how I set these up, these almost short sabbaticals and be more detailed there, but I'll just give you a quick rundown on what I've been up to, what I'm looking forward to over the next few months, and things that I've just I've just been enjoying and learning. So quick reintroduction or introduction. My name is Jamila Souffrant. I'm the host of this podcast. The journey to launch. Podcast started this back in 2017

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can't believe it's been that long. And I'm also the author of the book your journey to financial freedom, a step by step guide to achieving wealth and happiness. Get that anywhere. Books are sold, by the way, if you have not bought it yet, and so my whole thing is talking about reaching financial independence. Fi for short, I stumbled upon the fire movement, the financial independence retire early movement, when I had a long commute, commuting from Brooklyn to New Jersey, and I said, Nope, this is not going to work, working forever or working to just retire when I'm older, in my 50s or 60s, is not going to cut it. And essentially, I found out about the fire movement and podcast and just blogs, and learned so much about how people were transforming their lives through their finances, using money as a tool to live the life they wanted, and that's what I talk about. I talk about the journey to financial independence and how you can achieve actual freedom along the way. And I really feel like what I've been able to accomplish in my life is a testament that this can work. And while I know everyone has different starting points and different things that are helping them or not helping them get to their goals. I do know, and truly do believe, in my heart that there's freedom available more than you currently have, that you can unlock once you start the journey. So that's what the podcast is about. That's what the book is about. And I've been sharing my journey, my personal story along the way, from the beginning, and I think.

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That's really how I first connected with what I call journeyers. So you're listening to this. You might be an OG journeyer, which means you're on this path with me to financial independence and living your best life, and maybe you're a new journeyer. But I always felt like that connected me to journeyers and my audience, because I don't have it all figured out. I don't want to have it all figured out. I almost feel like, once you have it all figured out, it's done, like, maybe that's when you get called back. But I enjoy not knowing it all, and while it can be scary and it can create a bit of a imposter syndrome of not knowing everything, but people think you're supposed to know everything, I'm actually okay with that. I'm okay with admitting that and learning with you. So what's been going on? I have been relaxing. I feel like for the last year and a half, I've almost been relaxing. I haven't been working as much. I haven't been in productivity mode, in hustle mode, and that's been great. It's been really awesome. I feel like the summertime is especially a time where I really try to set boundaries and not work as much, and that's because I have three kids, and, you know, they're pretty young. They're at the ages where, I mean, I hope they always need me, but need me in a way, and I want to be more present with them. And so they are off in the summertime. They don't go to summer camp anymore. We stopped that a couple years ago just because the price, the cost of it, was just really expensive. And my husband, he's a teacher, so he's off in the summer, and then I can create my own schedule, so we're just like, we're gonna just enjoy our summers together, and that's what we've been doing for the last couple summers, which is why I don't like to work, I don't like to have meetings, I don't like to schedule interviews. It's probably why, if you been around for a bit, I you hear I do reruns in the summer months of podcast episodes. So most of the summer months, I kind of go through my long catalog and pick out the episodes I feel like people need to hear again, or maybe you missed because it was so far back when. So I hope you've been enjoying those episodes. If you've been tuning in. I also send out weekly newsletters still, so that still goes out make sure on my newsletter list so you don't miss actual updates, because I still do things in the summer, and I still give out tips, and especially in a newsletter. So go to journey, to launch.com/join

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to make sure on my newsletter list, so you don't miss any real time updates on what's going on or things that I'm offering. Okay, back to the summer. So for me, the whole point of getting on this journey before knowing that I was going to do journey to launch full time before it became almost like my second career, in a way, entrepreneurship. I pursued this financial independence goal because I wanted options. I didn't want to have to work for anyone, and that includes myself,

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and I'm decoupling, not wanting to work with being so called, what maybe people feel as like lazy when you're not being productive. Because I sometimes feel like, Wait, am I not supposed to be doing more? But I really realized that throughout my journey, the whole point of this was not to become a, you know, have the number one podcast in the world and the number one best selling book. I really started this so I can accomplish my goals of having options and not working if I didn't want to, having flexibility, being able to be around more for my kids and more for myself, quite honestly. And the further I get along on this journey, the older I get, I realize that I'm actually living the financial freedom lifestyle that financial independence gives you meaning, not necessarily that I have all the money in the world. It's not that I never have to work again, more to come on that in future episodes and setting that up, but I don't want to have to do things I don't want to do. And it still stands the same when it comes to my business. And I've been having a balance between working and bringing an income to help support, you know, our expenses and our life. We live in New York City, Brooklyn, three kids, and it's not cheap, and I don't want to be super frugal. I don't want to hold back in a way in which we can't enjoy our lives. And I've realized on the journey, there's a way to balance that out and to have that but you know, you have to make sure you are starting at solid a solid ground, and you have the foundations, which is why I talk about the journey, or stages, where you are traveling through to reach complete financial independence, but you have to go through these certain stages to get there. And depending on your intensity, depending on your income and your expenses, that's going to determine how the journey looks for you. And I'm at this.

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Stage of my life where, because I'm a bit older, a bit more, I would say, established, you know, had the foundation set, I'm able to have more options now. So with that, my days, especially in the summer, there, was super fluid, super unscheduled, which I loved. We would wake up and work out, essentially, you know, I I like working out. I like running and being active in my body. And my kids are very active. My husband is very active. So that's something we enjoyed as a family together. And the boys play basketball. So I have two sons right now, 11 and nine, and so in New York City, there's tons of basketball tournaments in the summertime. So we were busy with that. And then with my daughter, you know, I was introducing her to a bunch of new things which was really exciting, like horseback riding, tennis, golf. So I was kind of running around and taking her to those things throughout the week. And, you know, I'm so blessed and lucky to be able to have that kind of flexibility, where I don't have to clock in, and was able to spend that time for myself, doing what I wanted to do, but then also, like exposing them and being with them, and I know it's not something especially for parents who have to work, especially outside the home, and have to be in office by a certain time that that is not that's a luxury, you know? That's a blessing that I do not take lightly. And so because I know that I'm blessed in that way, I want to be able to enjoy it, you know? And so that's what I've been focusing on, is not feeling guilty about the lack of work, but to embrace it, and to know there may be a time maybe things will start coming up where I will get busy again, and it's things I actually want to do. So it's like, great. But also, you know what? Enjoy this season, even if this slow season takes years, it's okay, because I have been there was a time where I was hustling and doing the most in my 20s and my 30s. And sometimes I know it feels like when things are slow or not going in a way, maybe where other people expect it to go for you or even you, you feel like, wait, what's going on? But you have to, like, look back at your resume, look back at what you've accomplished, which is what I have to remind myself, is that you've done a lot to get here, to afford yourself the opportunity to chill and so relax and enjoy it. So with that, I really didn't even come into my office. My office is in my basement all summer.

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I think the first time I did come down here was the beginning of September to do something. And I was like, wow, this is amazing. I was, first of all, I was like, let me make sure no one's in my office. Like someone could have been living in here. I wouldn't have known, because that's, that's how much I did not even walk through to look into this room. And so that actually felt really, that felt good to be able to do that. And with that, you know, I realized that financially, the reason that I'm able to do that was one. Let's be upfront. I have a partner who brings in a consistent income. You know, I always like telling y'all the the real because so many people leave certain things out when they're telling you about their life and how to accomplish things. And I feel like one of my lessons or observations for you will be that to make sure you are looking at who you're getting advice from, because it's not always going to be the same position as you, right? And so part of my reason for being able to do some of the things that I'm doing is because having a stable partner with a stable income who has health insurance, right? So I don't have to hustle as I would if I was a single parent who needs that income to pay for certain things, or needs health insurance that I need to pay for, right? So that's my privilege, or the asset that I have in this end on that end that helps me do this. But of course, there are other things that I'm doing or I've done to set myself up in that way.

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Hey, journeyers, if you are loving this podcast, then you will love my book, Your journey to financial freedom, a step by step guide to achieving wealth and happiness. I wrote this book for you. This book is for you if you want a clear and enjoyable path to having more money options and a rich life. This book is for you. If you hate your commute and the fact that you need to seek approval or permission from a boss, I hated that when I worked this book is for you. If you weren't born into wealth, you didn't marry rich or won the lottery, but you still want freedom. This book is for you. If you're at a crossroads, a major decision or event is imminent. Maybe a career change, marriage, starting a family, pressures are reaching a tipping point, and the discomfort and the desire for more can no longer be ignored, and this book is for you. If you find yourself zoned out at meetings, looking out the window or daydreaming about the life you truly want, so go pick up.

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Your journey to financialfreedom.com so I can show you how to map out how to get from where you are today to where you ultimately want to be. And enjoy the journey while you're on the path, head over to your journey to financialfreedom.com

Speaker 1 15:14

to see where you can pick the book up. It's available on Amazon, bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, your local bookstore everywhere go to your journey to financialfreedom.com to get the book now

Jamila Souffrant 15:30

being able to budget. And I say that word very lightly, because I have not been budgeting. Gasp, a financial educator or expert, quote, unquote, that has not been budgeting. I should do an episode about that too, because I been able to now be be so fluid and on it with knowing what needs to be paid for paying off our credit card every month that the

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strict dollar for dollar budgeting does not work, or does not apply, or does not feel in alignment with where I am right now. And so doing that, but then still being able to pay myself consistently, even while I wasn't working, was very important, and so I had to set that up. I had to set myself up before the summer started to be able to do this. That meant doing some upfront work, making sure we picked out the episodes that were going out, communicating with my assistant on what needed to be done. And you know, there are some things I did log in to do, but it was very, very light work. And so it does take planning and preparation. And that is something that whether it's a sabbatical, or if you want to quit your job, or you're an entrepreneur, like you have to if you want to not be stressing all the time, these are things you plan for. You plan for in advance. And that's the beauty of discovering the financial independence movement for me, and I think for a lot of people, when they come into the awareness of what this is, is because, yes, you want freedom now. I know you want it now. I wanted it. You know, that's the thing, gift and curse. When you find out about it, you want it right away. But in order to do it the right way without being stressed out. You have to set a plan for yourself. You have to set things up in motion so that when you are experiencing the freedom or you have you, you have the ability to, let's say, quit or take the other option. You have security. You have money saved up. You're not stressed because of debt and all the things. And so that was really important before the summer started, is to sit down and see, okay, in my business income account and savings account, how many months do I have without bringing any money for the business? Can I stretch this out? Okay, a year, a year and a half. And so that allows me to also look at my expenses, just like you would in a personal budget, my business expenses, to see, okay, what can be cut out if I'm not going to be working as much? What services can I not have? What expenses that just don't make sense for my business right now? Can I cut out I did a lot of trimming in my business to just be able to operate at a very baseline level so that I can enjoy this. And the same would apply to your personal finances. So if this is something that you are thinking about, right, you can start setting this up for your next summer, or whatever that next sabbatical you want to have, whether that is just maybe taking a month off of work. If you work in a traditional environment, or maybe it is you are also a teacher, and you can kind of have summer months off, but you want to travel and do something else, thinking about that ahead. How can you set that up for next year? I want to talk about now just some observations and lessons, hopefully that will be helpful to you as you are entering or living your season of life. For me, it feels like a new season, just because my kids were in New York, so kids, their kids, start school kind of late here compared to other places, they started in early September. And so we are in a new routine. My oldest is now in middle school, and then I have my two younger still in elementary school, so that has changed the dynamic of also what our day starts out looking like and what it ends like. And so I wanted to talk a bit about, like the season of life that you may currently be in, and how to navigate that, whether it is a fruitful season or a season of unknown or despair, right? Like there's so much that you know people are going through, especially with the environment that we're living in today, so much right, that you get inundated with from the outside that going back to self and realizing and finding out what you truly want from life is important so that you can live the life that.

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You want. And so going back to just lessons observations, I definitely felt that, and I'm still feeling this, this almost a slowdown of not being productive, of being able to sit with it and enjoy it. It's hard. It's not actually not easy, even though it's something that you know I've been doing for a little bit now, it's like, there's still, like, these thoughts that pop up in my head, like, you can be doing more? Should you be doing something else? Like you're wasting a lot of time here? Jamila, like it's been all day you didn't do you didn't send one email, you didn't write down one thing you have not done. Like you have not done one thing for journey to launch today. And so I'm like, gosh, you should. You could be doing more. And I think that is just a condition of being someone who worked a lot, and the society we live in that tells us to go, go, go. And so when we do have the opportunity to rest, even when it's extended, we need to fall into it and appreciate it, because you don't know when the rest is done. I can get a call, maybe an email tomorrow that can change everything and put me back in busy mode in a good way, right? Because I do want to stay firm on not being busy, just for busy sake, or not working and doing things I don't want to do. But also, you never know when that can happen. So whatever season of life that you're in, remember that, most likely it's temporary. Everything at some point becomes a memory. You know, today, even today, me talking, sitting here with you, like, in a few minutes, I have to get my kids. It's a memory. It's it's something that happened, and it's enjoying the current moment for what it is. And if it's not something, you can enjoy sitting with it and there's sometimes sitting with the feeling is enough. Acknowledging the feeling is enough. So whatever that feeling is for you, I would encourage you to acknowledge it and just be aware. Awareness is the first, first step. The other thing I wanted to share is that

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the season of life you're in, or wherever you are right now, especially when it comes to just life, so that's family, right? If you have kids or no kids, a partner or no partner,

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debt or no debt, there, there's so much happening in this world where, like, how am I supposed to adult and do all the things? There's so much happening, right? And then you have the complexity of nowadays, being able to see what other people are doing, and the highlight reels and all the good things and bad. And I think there's, you know, people are, I see people also showing the real, or what we can assume is real in their lives, but there's so much going on, and you're gonna have so much input from others about, like, what you can do, what you should do, where you don't know what they really have going on. So for example, for me, while I'm able to do what I'm doing like this, is not something I could have done in my 20s in the way that I'm doing it now. One, I wasn't married in my 20s, I didn't have kids in my 20s, but I didn't have the foundation set. So maybe I could have been living a totally different life, and it wouldn't have been this path. But, you know, I'm able to coast in this way and reach that level four of the journey, or stages that I talk about in my book, Your journey to financial freedom, which is called the commander stage. It's being work flexible, because I did all the other stages. I went through all the other stages first. And if you look at my stage like, oh, you know, I want to not work the summer, or I don't want to work at all, or I want to chill before you have gone through the proper stages, you can put yourself in even a bigger hole. And I know that the instant gratification of wanting to do things is key. I think that's the issue with a lot of why so many people feel unhappy is because there are things in their current environment that they can't change. They want to change it right away, but you have to know where you currently are and your capacity to do things so you don't set yourself up for failure. So that means understanding the stage you're in. So I call it the journey of stages. I'll quickly just go through it in case this is your first time hearing them. But the first stage is the Explorer stage. That is where you are just looking to get on the level where you're not spending more than you are earning. That is baseline. You want to get out the red you don't want to put things on credit card to survive every month. That is the Explorer level. That's journeyer stage one. Journeyer, stage two is what I call the cadet stage. That is where you're getting out of consumer debt. Journeyer, stage three is the aviator stage, that is where you're out of consumer debt and you are focused on building your assets. So that is that's investing in your retirement account.

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Accounts, your investment accounts, building up your fu fund, so you can quit your job or change jobs. And then the fourth stage, the commander stage, of the journeyer levels, which is the stage I'm in, is the work flexible stage. That is the stage where you don't have to work if you don't want to. But it's not forever. You know you do need to work at some point, but you can be flexible with the way in which you bring in money. You can take breaks. You can take a lower paying job. If you need more flexibility, you can essentially just have more control and time freedom. And then the fifth and final stage is the captain stage. That is where you have reached complete financial independence. Now the stage depending on where you are right now, and by you can take a quiz, if you're not sure which stage you're in, go to journey to launch.com/quiz

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that should work, but you can also find that link. I'll put that in the episode show notes, the stage you're in, there are certain steps you have to take care of first. Now that doesn't mean you can't enjoy your life and you can't enjoy freedom. That was the whole point of my book, is, how can you enjoy the journey while on the path? Right? And so it's not to say because you're an explorer or a cadet in the earlier stages your life is done and you just have to toil and you can't enjoy the fruits of your labor. That's not it. It's about understanding what needs to happen first so that you can reap the benefits later, and knowing then who you're whether it's taking advice from or following even with, even forget online just with friends, knowing the distinction and difference is important. I know for me, having kids, especially this age that they're in has definitely shifted my priorities in how intense I want to be with work. It just has. And you might talk to someone who has, for example, I know there are other parents who don't have the can't afford to not go in and be go all in to make money so they can support their family. Or maybe, you know, someone who's doesn't have kids, but is taking care of a family member can have the same responsibility. But I can't compare like my journey of where I am in my stage of life, where I am financially and being a mom and wife to someone who maybe has none of that. Maybe they're single, they have more flexibility, that journey is going to look different. So it's just really important to understand where you currently are, what you should be doing or not doing, so that you can get to the next stage.

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Also just want to, I think, just end on this last reflection. I thought that I had about feeling, I wouldn't say, uninspired, but feeling, you know, that spark of energy is gone in something,

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I think, Oh, nikayla from side hustle Pro, actually listened to her. She had a recent episode where she talked about this. She talked about her mojo, losing her mojo a bit. And I really, I loved that episode. I resonated with that a bit in terms of just feeling like, you know, I know, like there's a lot happening, whether it's kids, husband, wife, and then on top of that, like running a business, like being an entrepreneur. It's not easy, and feeling this level of what do I do next? You know, I had a big push for my book, my book, Your journey to financial freedom, came out in 2023

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and I did a lot of work up to that point to get the book out. And once the book came out, and, you know, it's doing well. I was just like, whoo. It almost felt like, Okay, I'm done, but not like done in my business or with my work, but it just felt like I accomplished this big, big thing. And look, I just didn't want to do anything else, like I didn't want to keep pushing to find the next thing. And at one point, I think I felt that way I felt when I first realized that this was going to be my business. It did feel like, well, how big can I grow this? And now I definitely feel like I'm in a place where I don't It's not that I don't want it to grow and I don't want to make money, but it's just not something I care about right now. And so I'm still working through those feelings on what this is, because I do have, I mean, I know that the work that I do, you know, I get, the messages I get, the emails I get, the DMS. I'm sorry if I haven't responded. I do get overwhelmed with responding. You should see how many emails I have unread in terms of personal emails and text messages. Okay, I just, I There must be something with my brain, but I know that this work matters, and I am trying to find a way in which I can bring you this work and this message in a way that still aligns and honors with where I am in my life right now. And so I'm working through that I do not have the answers. I don't know.

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Yeah, I do know I have I have more to share, I have more to teach, I have more to tell, and you'll be hearing more of that. So I'm excited to be back. You'll be hearing, hopefully, some a newer episode. No, for sure, you'll be hearing some new episodes. I have a bunch of interviews scheduled. I'm really excited about the unknown, but I think that there is more to do. Just not sure what that looks like, but I'm still here, journeyers, I'm still here. I'm still on the journey with you. And again, if you're new here, scroll back to some of my solo episodes where you can literally hear me from the beginning, whether it was a starting deaf podcast to me quitting my job, and think you'll get a sense of how far I've come since I've started. But I am excited to see what happens next, and I'm I'm excited that you're on the journey with me. So if you want the episode show notes, just click the More description. Wherever you're listening to this you'll see more information. You can go to journey, to launch.com that is the website for the podcast and your journey to financialfreedom.com. Is the book website. You can get the book anywhere, pick it up. Keep supporting have exciting news, by the way, coming up about the book. So stay tuned for that, but there's going to be more to come. Just not sure what that looks like yet. Let's work through that together. But I'm excited to share that with you now 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/jump

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start.

Jamila Souffrant 31:48

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 podcasts, 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 co worker 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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