Episode 496: Tiny Home Living w/ Jewel Pearson & Why You Don’t Have To Give Up Luxury To Go Tiny REWIND

Jewel Pearson 0:02

I always want to represent to people of color. You can still build it if you spend some time designing it. And now the tiny houses in the industry, there are some that are focused on luxury. But now I wanted to show people you can still build a home, and it can still be a nice home, and you can still have nice things at a smaller scale, and still be able to save your money, and that's wealth building. That's how you build wealth.

Intro 0:31

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 in

Speaker 1 0:49

54321,

Jamila Souffrant 0:58

Hey, hey, hey, journeyers! Welcome back to another episode of the Journey to Launch podcast. I'm super excited to have you tuning in with me, joining me, getting in this rocket. We're in this rocket together. We're blasting off to financial freedom, to living our best lives. And the way I'm doing that is I'm helping you. I'm bringing you inspiration, information, tools, tips, things that help you feel like one you can accomplish all your financial goals and life goals. Let's be clear. I know this is based out of finances mostly. Like I'm talking about money, but really, my ultimate goal is for you to live your best life. I want to live my best life. We all want to live our best lives. Have the option to do the things we love, so whether that's working in a nine to five because that brings you joy and you're doing good work, or whether that's you starting your own business and/or traveling and or having kids and being a stay at home mom or dad, I really don't actually care what you intend to do with your life as long as you're enjoying it and you feel like you're living it fully. But the way that we do that is by optimizing our finances, understanding our money, realizing how we can use it to our benefit to give us the life we want is what it's all about, and that's what Journey to Launch is about. Okay, so today's episode, I'm actually talking to Jewel Pearson. She actually lives in a tiny home, and what makes Jewel's story for me so inspiring and so unique is that Jewel is someone who's trailblazing in terms of the community for African Americans because she is someone who's prominent in the tiny home community and she's also black. So honestly, for me, when I saw her, when I saw her beautiful home online, it stood out because, again, it's one of those things where wow, I didn't know we did that, and I know that I always actually get questions from all types of people, right? All types of people about tiny home living and some interest in that. But I thought it would be super, super cool to actually bring on someone who maybe you wouldn't have thought or you don't usually see in the tiny home community, like a voice to talk about it a bit more, and to inspire maybe some of us who have thought about it, who are considering it, and even if tiny home living is just not in your horizon, just the concepts, the things she did to get to the point where she can live in a tiny home, I think can be applied to anyone. So I'm really happy to bring you this conversation a little bit more about Jewel. She downsized her lifestyle over the course of 10 years to be able to build a beautiful 360 square foot tiny house, and it was actually on HGTV's show Tiny House Big Living. And how are they now? It's been featured in media outlets. If you see the episode show notes, you'll see her tour of her tiny home, and it's really beautiful. And so I wanted to bring Jewel on and talk about her experience, to answer questions, and to just give us a rundown of what it's like to live in a tiny home. Now, just for a little bit of housekeeping stuff, as always, if you are enjoying this episode, don't forget to tell a friend. To tell a friend, literally, this is how we get this podcast out. It's by word of mouth. It's by that grassroots marketing where you are telling other people about this. They're downloading it. Hopefully, they love it, and then they tell other people. And that's how we build this up. This is how we get more people on the journey. And make sure you're following me on social media as Journey to Launch. I'm on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook as Journey to launch. As always, don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you're listening to this. A lot of you guys actually are listening to this and don't even know really how you are listening to it or how to subscribe. Remember, subscribing to the podcast is free. This is completely free resource for you. This podcast.

Jamila Souffrant 4:36

So when you tell people about it, and maybe you say, "Oh, subscribe, they might think it comes with some sort of fee. It's free, so whether you're listening an Apple Podcast, that's at Purple App on your phone or on your Android device. So you can find this on your Android phone by going to journeytolaunch.com/android, and then it will show you some Android apps that you can listen to podcasts. But also, you can listen to this on YouTube. You can listen to this on Spotify and so many other places. And so, I think one of the biggest thing with podcasts is that people don't really know how to listen or find it. And so, it's really my job as a podcast host, and hopefully your job if you're a listener to help people discover how to use it. If you want the episode show notes for this episode, go to journeytolaunch.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 jump start 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 journeytolaunch.com/jumpstart to get your guide right now. Let's get into this amazing conversation with Jewel.

Jewel Pearson 6:00

Hey, journeyers! Super excited to have on someone I've been trying to tie down get on this podcast for a while now. Jewel, how you doing? Thanks so much for being here. Oh, thank you so much for having me. I'm looking forward to our conversation. How did you come upon the Tiny Home Movement, and what got you inspired to start it yourself? What I referenced as living lighter is something that I've known I've wanted to do since my daughter was headed to kindergarten, and she's actually 31 now. So it's just something that, at the time, as a single mom, and I was a young single mom, and just all of the responsibility of raising a child, I kind of knew that once I was done with that, making sure that she was on the right track and she was successful. That I wanted to live what I've called or envisioned a lighter, easier lifestyle where I didn't have to have so much responsibility, where I could make decisions based on more of what I wanted to do versus things that had to be done versus the needs being able to make decisions more around desires. And so at the time as she was entering into kindergarten, my vision then was that I'd live in an RV and travel the world. Once she was headed off into college, and so we kind of made an agreement. And for as much as you can make an agreement with a five-year-old, she agreed to it. But that once she was done and she had made it, that she'd buy me an RV, and we talked through that all through her school life. As for me, kind of a motivation. I need you to do well here because you've got to buy me an RV, that kind of stuff. And so we would go back and forth, and all of my friends knew that that was kind of my idea. And then as she was headed off into undergrad, and the dream started being at the point where I could start realizing it. I sold my house. Then we lived in Atlanta in a four-bedroom, three-bath house, and so as she headed off to undergrad, I moved to Charlotte to be a little closer to her because she went to school at North Carolina Central in Durham, and I was kind of having mommy anxiety, so I sold the house. I didn't need all that space, but I moved here to Charlotte into a three-bedroom, three-bath condo, and kind of started looking more into RVs. I had gone to RV shows and stuff, but then really started realizing that the RVs that I was interested in, it would require a full-time job plus some to buy the RV and maintain the RV that I was interested in. So I started just trying to figure out what the dream actually looked like, and over the course of the 10 years from selling my house to my actual build, I stumbled on a story maybe about three years before my actual build of a lady who had built a tiny house, and her story kind of resonated with me. She had gone through a divorce and was rebuilding her life and it built her home and kind of in the position where she had lost everything in the divorce and decided she didn't want to be in that position again. That story resonated with me. The fact that she was building something that was smaller, but it was still more of a home than what an RV would represent is something that kind of drew me to it, and then I decided that I was going to build my tiny house.

Jamila Souffrant 9:05

Nice. And so, actually, you said a couple things I want to get back into, and one of the things with that, you made an agreement with your daughter at the time that she would help you or buy that RV for you. What was the motivating factor for that kind of agreement?

Jewel Pearson 9:18

So, for me, it was kind of a goal, like I need you to always do well because then it's going to be my turn. I think as she got older, probably it became more of a joke to her, even though I was really serious, and all of my friends knew I was serious. And so, not necessarily putting the pressure on her, but yeah, this is the goal. You have to do well. So when it's my turn to kind of coast, and that's the way I envisioned it-kind of coasting. And she's done very well. She's actually a Harvard Law graduate, but she still hasn't bought my RV. Uh huh. So I still throw it up. Hey, you owe me an RV. But it was just kind of something that we went back and forth. I need you to do well because then it's going to be. My turn. We kind of kept that between

Jamila Souffrant 10:02

us. You know what? I kind of like what you're saying because I have kids myself, right? Not that you're saying I've done this for you, so you need to do this for me, kind of thing. But I like giving them the almost like because you gave her the responsibility, or you gave her the impression that there was a responsibility not just to like herself, but to her family, which was you, from all the things that you did for her and you're doing for her, that there's going to come a time where you have to pay it forward or pay it back, or how you ever want to describe it. I'm sure, like you just said, she's very successful and hopefully happy with her life and her career. It's probably pushed her to have that kind of. It's not just about me. It's understanding that my mom, my single mom, worked hard to provide for me, and here is how I'm hoping to prepare her one day.

Jewel Pearson 10:45

And that was kind of the thought process. We're working hard. We're working hard together, and like you said, kind of paying it forward. So when it's your turn and you've made it, then don't forget your mother. You know that kind of deal,

Jamila Souffrant 10:56

right? And it's funny because it's not as if you're saying she never ended up buying it for you. It's still kind of a running joke, so it's not like you really are just like, yeah, you owe me this, you have to give it to me. So I like that concept. I never thought of it before.

Jewel Pearson 11:07

Definitely.

Jamila Souffrant 11:08

So you said it took about 10 years from selling your home to kind of finally building what is now your tiny home. You were inspired by someone else you saw whose story you related to. I'm sure there are a lot of people who think that I'm kind of over what society tells me I should be doing, how I should be living. They never make those big changes. So, what really prompted you, or what's that moment that you really said you have to do something different for your life?

Jewel Pearson 11:34

So, for me, I really, really want to just be able to travel, and in order to do that, I realized I wanted to downsize my expenses, and so, kind of like what you said, the what society says. So, growing up, my thing for her was to make sure she had the foundation and a home to reference. So, growing up, she had the four bedroom, three bath house in the nice neighborhood, and then when I moved to Charlotte, like I said, I had the three bedroom, three bath condo because I still held space for her to come home while she was in undergrad. But then, as she was headed off to law school, I kind of felt like I don't need to continue to hold the space for you at this point. You're kind of going off into life, and I don't necessarily expect that you'll need to come back into my home, unless, of course, in the case of an emergency, so at that point I had decided one I wanted to get out of the suburbs. My life was kind of transitioning from mom role into figuring out what's next for Jewel. So I was moving out of the suburbs into more of the uptown, what Charlotte calls their downtown uptown. So I was moving into the downtown area, and at that point I moved into a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment. And part of my thing after I sold my house was I knew I didn't want to own a home anymore. Not that I have anything against home ownership. I still wanted the flexibility to be able to move about and do things a little bit differently. And selling a home is more of an anchor versus a lease. And if I need, you know, I can break a lease. Should I need to break a lease? But there's a time frame there that allows me to make some different moves with the lease. So I moved to the two bedroom, two bath from my three bedroom condo, and moving from the house from Atlanta to Charlotte, I downsized a whole lot. I actually had a two car garage full of stuff that I got rid of. Stuff that you end up having in an attic for 10 years, boxes and closets, stuff that you haven't really looked at. I donated furniture because I had at one point had been married, and so some of the stuff that I had was kind of joint stuff. And I decided as I was moving forward, I just wanted stuff that represented me and my journey, and so I didn't bring any of that stuff with me. And then moving from the three bedroom to the two bedroom, I gifted my daughter a lot of stuff. You're getting started. Here's some stuff to get you started in your place, and that was a way for me to get rid of some stuff. And so I kind of hovered around that two bedroom, two bath for a long period of time. But then, as I was trying to figure out my next move to get to the lighter lifestyle, because in my mind, I was always the extra bedroom in case I had guests, or if somebody stops over, I want to have that guest bathroom. And then when I kind of thought about it, one, I don't always have a lot of guests, and then I'm kind of the neat freak, so my house is usually clean, so you can still use my personal bathroom. And it was just like holding space unnecessarily. So at some point, after having stayed around the two bedroom, two bath, and in between there, I decided one October that I was moving to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, because I didn't want to do winter again. That was just kind of the flexibility of a lease that allowed me to make those kinds of moves, and that was my thought process that I wanted to be in that space to make decisions based on my desires. I don't want to do winter. Let's move south. And so then, when I came back to North Carolina, at that point I ended up downsizing from a two bedroom to a one bedroom, one bath. And that was like, okay, this is space that is comfortable for me. Yes, are still welcome in my space, but it's more of a comfortable space.

Jewel Pearson 14:57

And I again downsized a lot of things from. The two bedroom to the one bedroom, and it just for me has been a process. I think it was easier for me to do over the course of 10 years versus somebody who's looking at a bunch of stuff now and it looks like a daunting task. Of course, 10 years gave me some time to do it, but I'm also the person that I still have some stuff in storage, and I feel like I'm the world market shopper and the Pier One shopper, so I have a beautiful bedroom suit that I'm just not ready to get rid of. And so my thought has been either when my daughter buys a house, it's still going to be mine, but maybe I'll put it in her house for the guest bedroom for when I'm visiting. Or I've said maybe like when I was going into the tiny house, I believe in following a dream. But at any point, should I decide I want to follow a new dream, that's okay as well. And I was like, okay, so if I don't want to do the tiny house forever, I'm gonna want this bedroom suit. I went all around the city trying to get the pieces for this bedroom suit, so it's really important to me. But I feel like what I'm still saving in my house. I built my tiny house. I own it. I don't have a mortgage on it. I pay a lot rental, which is a lot cheaper than anybody's mortgage. And then I pay for storage. I'm still saving versus what I was paying to live in Uptown Charlotte in a one bedroom, one bath. It's a fraction of what I was paying there. So, for me to get to the lighter lifestyle, I want to be able to move a lot freer. I want to be able to travel, and that's kind of what was my motivating factor to get me into the tiny house.

Jamila Souffrant 16:27

And we'll get into kind of the specifics of the tiny house and how big is it, and the layout and things. But I like that for you. It wasn't an immediate, a huge home to a tiny house. You kept downsizing, which then made the idea more palpable, more livable, because it was like, okay, you're slowly able to get yourself comfortable with it.

Jewel Pearson 16:47

Absolutely, and then the other piece of that is I also designed my house, and we can talk about

Jamila Souffrant 16:52

that.

Jewel Pearson 16:53

So it was an easier transition, even going from my apartment to my tiny house because of me designing it.

Jamila Souffrant 17:00

I want to ask what you did for your career, if you can share that, because just wondering how that was weaved into your journey.

Jewel Pearson 17:07

So I am a project slash product manager. Again, I've worked in a financial institution for maybe about 13 years now here in the area. The bonus for me is that I do work from home. I've worked from home since about 2007. I'm still in corporate America, but I do have some flexibility as long as I can get to the internet. I can work so that I'm not tied down to one location.

Jamila Souffrant 17:32

You said you were working at a work from home situation from 2007. Did you seek out that kind of position, like a work from home situation, or were you kind of always in the company that allowed you to do that?

Jewel Pearson 17:42

No, the interesting thing. So I started working in a financial institution when I first moved back to Charlotte in 2005, and interestingly enough, the way I ended up working from home initially was I had blood clots. I had blood clots in my lungs in 2007, and was hospitalized for six days, and just going through the recovery that was, I would say, about from July to March of the following year. Just kind of recovering from blood clots. I had the blessing of being able to work from home during that time as a contractor, and it was the challenge of that recovery and being in a position where I worked with a good team that they were okay with me working from home because it wasn't something that was necessarily common. And somehow since that point, I have been able to stay in positions that have allowed working remotely. The teams that I work with, most of the teams are remote, so it doesn't make sense to have to be in an office when you're talking to people in the north or on the west coast. So it has just kind of worked that way. And now at 11 years of being able to work remotely, I think I would lose my mind if somebody said you've got to come into an office. If I have to look for an opportunity, I'd certainly seek out something remote at this point.

Jamila Souffrant 19:03

Yeah, it seems like for you, that's right in line with your lifestyle. You want flexibility.

Jewel Pearson 19:08

Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

Jamila Souffrant 19:10

You can travel anywhere now, and whether it's with a tiny home or traveling to another country, and get online and work from anywhere.

Jewel Pearson 19:18

Absolutely. So it kind of fell in my lap as a blessing and a bonus, but I appreciate it for sure.

Jamila Souffrant 19:25

And I love how you're still actually working, and so you must enjoy the work you do. But you're still living a downsized life, so you're even able to bring in income and save on a lot of expenses. Housing is most people's biggest expense. Absolutely. Yeah, I'm sure you've been able to really optimize your finances.

Jewel Pearson 19:44

So the thing about that is part of when I envisioned the living a lighter lifestyle. I had certainly been in work opportunities where you want to quit your job, like it's just the most awful situation ever. And I used to joke with my friends that you've got that job and. You really want to stand on top of your desk and tell them I quit, whatever, and walk out. And then, as you get ready to get up out of your seat, you realize, oh, I got to pay a mortgage, oh, I got to feed a kid, all that kind of stuff that makes you sit down and deal with whatever is going on. And so, I had always said that I wanted to get into living in a lighter lifestyle, so that I again around employment I could make decisions where if I wanted to quit a job or if I needed to seek something out I didn't have to make all of those decisions based on what is the salary so that maybe I could pursue something that I enjoyed that maybe didn't pay as much as I was used to making but I could pursue it because I enjoyed it. The funny thing about that is though, I absolutely love my job. So it's been a long time coming, and it's been a blessing. But it's like, okay, there's really no reason for me to quit my job because I enjoy what I do. I enjoy my team. So there was a time a little over two years ago, Thanksgiving will be two years, where I transitioned from a contractor to a full-time employee with the company that I'm with, and there was a gap in employment as they worked things out. And the gap was almost two months. It was supposed to happen very quickly, and I didn't expect that I'd be out of work for a couple of months. But the bonus for me was I was living in the tiny house, and I had to rely on my expenses or less. Unemployment kicked in. Some of my savings kicked in, and I was okay. And it was something that wasn't expected, but because my numbers were lower, it was manageable, even though it was unexpected. So that was the bonus. One of the things that I've had to figure out, which was something that I talk about in the workshops, my tiny house that I built, I paid out of pocket for it. So after building it, there was almost a two-year kind of recoup period, trying to get back on top of my finances. And so it is now just kind of at the point where I'm able to realize more of what I expected out of living in the tiny house, it wasn't immediate realization. It's been more of rebuilding because there was such an outpouring of finances in the beginning.

Jamila Souffrant 22:09

Everything you're describing is the goal of most of us in the fire movement and the financially independent retire early movement. And I know before we I hit record, we're talking a little bit about that, and essentially, what we all want, I believe, even if you don't know you're on this path of being financially independent, is that you want options and you want to be able to work. It's not that you don't ever want to work. It's just you want to be able to do the work that you love, and if you can't, you be able to stand up and walk out of a situation that's not serving you

Jewel Pearson 22:41

exactly,

Jamila Souffrant 22:42

and you can take your time to find the next thing, or to find your passion, or find a way to bring some value into this world. And so we'll talk again more about what the fire movement is and where you see yourself on the path. But that because you've downsized, because you've chosen this life, this lighter life, it puts you in such a better position now to even demand or at least have a priority of this work schedule that you have and working from home.

Jewel Pearson 23:08

Right,

Jamila Souffrant 23:09

I love that. Let's get into the tiny house. So, how big is your tiny house? How many square feet?

Jewel Pearson 23:16

So, if you count the two lofts that I have, the interior space is 360 square feet. I enlarged my screened-in porch, and so my screened-in porch is now another 80 square feet, but it's not heated space. So the interior of the house with the two lofts is 360.

Jamila Souffrant 23:34

So let's get into the design. When you started to build and design this tiny home, I know you said at first you were thinking about the RV,

Speaker 2 23:40

but

Jamila Souffrant 23:41

then why did you decide not to do our RV or the other possibilities of tiny home living?

Jewel Pearson 23:46

So years ago, I'd say I probably have some expensive taste. And years ago, after attending some of the RV shows, I realized the RVs that I really, really like can cost as much as a huge house. So some of them like are in the hundreds of 1000s and up 300, even 500,000. So I just realized and ruled that out quite a few years ago as not necessarily the direction that I wanted to go, just from a standpoint of cost. So when I stumbled on the tiny house movement and the woman who had built her tiny house, it was around 2013 or so, and like I said, looking at her home and realizing I could design it, and it still represent home more than what you could do with an RV. So I can include my artwork and design it so that it looks like a house. It's kind of a smaller version of a house, but it's more of a home than an RV for me, and that was kind of the deciding factor for me when I chose this route.

Jamila Souffrant 24:46

And what about the flexibility of where you can take your tiny home? You mentioned that you're renting a lot. Yeah,

Jewel Pearson 24:52

so I rent in the city of Charlotte. They haven't really figured out what to do with tiny houses, and I feel like it's all financial. So they won't allow me to. Put my tiny house on a piece of property by itself. So I am actually in someone's backyard. Unfortunately, I was able to find someone who has a really nice size backyard, and it's close to the Uptown Charlotte area, which is the area that I'd been in before. So I kind of have the best of both worlds, and so I pay him a lot rental to park my tiny house in his backyard, and a tiny house does offer the flexibility for movability. My house is kind of on the larger size, and when I first built it, I did imagine moving it more than I actually do. But I also am more of a visual person than conceptual. So as it started being built, and I realized how big it is, all of the windows that I have, and then you realize, okay, so all of my money is tied up in this house. I don't necessarily want to move it as much from a standpoint of my own sanity as I thought I would in the beginning. The house itself is 28 feet, so with it being this size, I hire a professional tow driver to move it for me. But for me, that's fine because I kind of feel like Charlotte is the home base, and I won't move my house as much. But I still personally have the flexibility to move myself about, and so I still feel like I've accomplished what I wanted to accomplish with building a tiny house. Now, other people who have the smaller homes, they can hitch their house up and move it more frequently than I can. But if I was going to move my house, most likely wherever I move it to, I'm going to at least be in that spot for at least a year or more if I'm going to go through the expense of moving

Jamila Souffrant 26:37

it. And so, when you said that, Charlotte, and I'm assuming other counties and cities also may have not this issue, but they don't know what to do with the tiny home movement. Say your lease with this lot is up, or the owner doesn't want you there anymore. Is it you would just have to find another owner willing to rent to you a lot, or how does that work?

Jewel Pearson 26:53

So yes, that's what I would do. Every city county has different rules on how they deal with different things, so it is on a case by case basis. There are actually some cities that are very welcoming to tiny homes, if for whatever reason. And there's kind of a gray area. So if the city were to say we need you to move your house, and I always say I'm kind of off the radar. Initially, I tried to ask for permission and put my house on a separate lot because after I built the house, I was in an RV park, and I had some problems with racism, which is a whole different story. But I was planning to move my house then to another lot, and it was a totally standalone lot that was in an area that was zoned for mobile homes. And I went to the city to ask them permission to put my house on this lot, and they initially said, "Yeah, we'd like to consider it because we know tiny houses are coming. And then I kind of think it went up the chain, and somebody just said no, and they came back and said no, it's not an option. So then I decided to kind of go what I would say off the radar, and so there's a gray area as to whether it's actually legal or illegal. And usually, when you end up having problems, it's because somebody has called in to report you. So if the city, for whatever reason, said they didn't want me to be here, or the property owner, like you mentioned, decided that he didn't want me here anymore, I would still do the same thing as I've done, and I actually have found the places that I've moved my home to on Craigslist, and would do the same thing. Find a property owner that would be willing to have me as a host, I might even go back to. I had a wonderful property up in one of the suburbs, and I wanted to be closer to the city. So, if something were to happen, I know I could go back in that direction and park there again, and just deal with it being a little bit out of the city.

Jamila Souffrant 28:38

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 win 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 yourjourneytofinancialfreedom.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 yourjourneytoFinancialFreedom.com 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. Now, why do you think you said money, but why aren't cities and municipalities more welcoming or allowing people like yourself to have tiny homes?

Jewel Pearson 30:16

So, like I said, it varies from place to place. So, there are some places. I don't want to throw everybody under the bus, but there are some places that are welcoming to tiny house communities, and they kind of get it. I feel like some of the cities just haven't figured out. For me, I feel like it's financial. It's my personal opinion. I feel like it's financial, and they haven't really figured out how to tax tiny homes because it's not built on a foundation, and so the city isn't getting all of their money that they would get from permitting and taxes and all that kind of stuff. Now I do pay taxes because my house is built on a 28 foot trailer, and so that trailer is registered through the DMV with a tag and everything. So I pay taxes in that way, but it's still not the same as the property tax that a homeowner pays. My personal opinion is that is the problem. They haven't figured all of that out yet. It would behoove most cities to have figured out because mostly everywhere has a housing crisis, and this would be something that would address that. I just feel like, for the most part, they're behind the times. We're having a lot of conversations with different cities. Some cities are still coming on board, and others are just a little bit slower to get on board. There are some discussions that have happened where, within the international code, which is what most cities follow as far as regulations for home building, there have been some addendums to that code to allow tiny houses on foundations to be built. Because also some cities have some requirements as to how small a house can be, and a lot of cities say it can't be less than 500 square feet and has to have this number of rooms. So there has been some change to the code to allow tiny houses on foundation, and then the next movement is to work on that code to change it to include tiny houses on wheels. The challenge, though, is that with a lot of the tiny houses being built by individual builders and those types of things, and not necessarily being regulated, some of the code needs to be written to make the requirements. Your tiny house has to be built to this particular standard. Blah blah blah. So it's a lot into it. Hopefully, change is coming, and the cities will get on board. Like in Detroit, they have a big movement around tiny homes because they recognize it's a solution for homelessness or it's a solution for the housing crisis. So some cities are trying to get on board.

Jamila Souffrant 32:37

Well, I was actually going to ask you if there's a resource or list, or someone can find a list of cities that are welcoming to tiny homes, so that way, if someone is interested in this and really want to do some more research, they can see, okay, where maybe can I go and live this lifestyle?

Jewel Pearson 32:50

I don't know that there's a master list. There's a site. I don't know the website. Google tiny home community or tiny house community. I think it is that kind of shows some of the cities that are welcoming, the rural areas are generally more welcoming to tiny houses than the urban city areas. But I think the tiny house community site provides some of that information. But then again, it's also going to be based on the person's local area as to what the rules are. I built not necessarily asking permission in the beginning, knowing that it would work out, and there are a lot of people who I guess we would call ourselves the early adopters built, and you'll figure it out. And then there are some people who kind of want to wait until every area or their area is okay with it. And so there's still some people who, if you've got friends and family with property, and definitely if it's not a community with the HOA where somebody's going to complain for sure, but if it's some property out and kind of spread out and that kind of thing, people are still building and just kind of I'm going to build and place it here and we'll figure it out from there without asking permission upfront.

Jamila Souffrant 33:55

Right, right, okay, and I will probably afterwards try to get some of those links and put it in the show notes.

Jewel Pearson 33:59

Okay,

Jamila Souffrant 34:00

okay, so let's get back to your specific tiny home. It's a two-loft tiny home, 360 square feet. What were like the most important things for you when you thought you were designing this home for you?

Jewel Pearson 34:12

And I think that's key to anyone to make sure that you are designing a house that works for you. So I am a little bit older. I've lived in some very nice spaces, and I would probably say I'm pretty particular. And I knew that going into this decision, that in order for me to be able to do it long term, it would have to be something that I loved. And so I did my research, did a lot of research into how to build a tiny house and what needed to go into the tiny house structure because it's very different from building a house on a foundation, and then moved into designing. And my sister is an interior designer, so we kind of partnered to. I paid attention to my space in my early research. There weren't a lot of tiny houses available to visit. There were very few when I. Started the research and was getting ready to build. There was one that was in Tennessee that I went to visit, and it was a 24 footer. And I went to visit it during an open house and kind of realized it was a little bit tighter than what I was interested in. And then kind of made the decision that I was going to build a 28 foot, which would give me more bathroom space. And like I said, I was paying attention to in my one bedroom, one bath how I use my space, where I was most of the time, knowing that it's important for me to have plenty of sunshine and light. So that's why my tiny house has lots of windows. My home usually is the gathering spot for friends. It's a tiny house, but I didn't want people to just x me off the list, and we're not going to visit Jewel. She lives in a tiny house, so I wanted it to still be comfortable. So it was key to me. A lot of tiny houses will build in their couch and build in storage up underneath it. For me, I really wanted a real couch so that it would be comfortable. I also wanted to have a nice sized bathroom in all of my spaces, I've always had nice counter space for my jewelry and perfumes to sit out, and I still wanted to maintain that so that it would still be home for me. And then I also have a walk-in closet. I didn't want to alter my lifestyle so that at this age, I didn't want to feel like I was starting over or making myself so out of sorts that the new normal just wasn't comfortable because I knew that wouldn't work for me. So I have a walk-in closet, and I also wanted to incorporate my art, and so that it would be home. The things that I pared down to that represent home for me, and I would want them to be part of my new space because that's home. And so those were all of the things that I had on my list. One of my researching things was there's an on-demand water heater in a small space. A lot of tiny houses go with just a small water heater tank, and for me, I didn't want to have to time my showers to you know you're going to run out of water in five minutes. So part of my research was figuring out how to not have my hot water run out, so on my list of must-haves was also something related to on-demand water heater. So those were the kind of things. Just over the course of time, paying attention to the things that were home for me, the things that were required, the must-haves and the nice-to-haves. And one of the nice-to-haves was to have an outdoor space, which ended up that was on my nice to have, and that ended up initially with my balcony off of my master loft and my spring dim porch.

Jamila Souffrant 37:31

And again, everyone, well, you're going to be able to see these pictures in the show notes and on Jewel's social media pages, which we'll link. But now I'm curious to know the cost. So, what did it take to be able to do this?

Jewel Pearson 37:43

So, when I built my house, my episode was featured on HGTV, and when I built my house, again, there weren't a lot of houses to compare to at the time. Also, I was figuring out all of this stuff on my own. My builder wasn't helping me with figuring out the cost. So, from the research that I had done, I had compared my tiny house to one that was on the market, and I had doubled what I thought the cost was going to be. So, I had budgeted that my house would cost me about $40,000, and then going into it, windows are very expensive, and I didn't have previous build experience or anyone that I could rely on to assist me with this. So my house ended up costing me maybe about $85,000. In hindsight, I've wondered if I really know how much it was going to cost me, would I still built? And the answer is probably no, or no, not at that time because I didn't necessarily have all of that money put aside, and I kind of had to work through pulling it together. But then on the backside of that, which is also why it took me a little bit longer to recoup my funds. But then on the backside of that, and the research and the things that I know now about tiny houses and building, those numbers were right on point because the house that I compared my house to, the owners had actually built their house themselves, and they had built their house over a course of time. I built my house using all contractors. I built it in three months. I have a whole lot more windows and upgraded things in the house, and so my numbers were right on point for where it should have been. I just didn't know that upfront. And if I were to build my house again now, it would probably cost anywhere from around 100,000 up.

Jamila Souffrant 39:28

What are the options then for people then to get a tiny home? There's the option where you can build it from the ground up, or you can buy. So where does one look to buy a tiny home if that's already on the market?

Jewel Pearson 39:39

There is the option to build it yourself, as I mentioned before, it's not the same as building a house. I always caution everybody to do their research. It's not something. I mean, it kind of looks simple, but as far as building something on a trailer that's going to be moving down the road, I've heard it likened to I think a tornado happening around the house as it's moving down the. So there are some real important things that you need to pay attention to as far as building on a trailer and attaching it to the trailer, and then also as far as heating and cooling and condensation. There's so many things that are involved in it. So I always say do your research. But yes, a person could build it from the ground up themselves, which is going to save them money because they're not paying for contractors, or there are some tiny home builders in the industry now that are building tiny houses. They could work with a general contractor if they felt like they were comfortable enough with their research and working with someone to have the general contractor build it. If they were going to, there is also a site that resells tiny houses. You can look on Craigslist and find tiny houses for sale. My caution, though, for buying a house that has already been built is just that because of what I said, attaching to the trailer and what it went into the house as far as insulation and the materials that were used. You don't necessarily know all of that as you go into it, and if you go to buy a house that's on the market, that's on a foundation, there are some standards that have to be built to that you can kind of know about the house and the inspection, and there's some background. You don't necessarily get all of that information with buying a tiny house, so I always caution people in buying a tiny house and then choosing Joe Blow to build it. As an example, when my house was being built, I connected with another lady in the area who had used a guy that was supposed to be a tiny house builder. And my daughter, as the attorney, ended up having to help her get her money back from the house because it had been built so poorly, and there was nothing that she could have known, maybe you know she had been on site, but he was a builder, and I guess she trusted that he knew what he was doing. But in the end, he didn't. So I always caution someone to do their research and to go into who else have you built for. Let me speak to your references. And when I say built for, built a tiny house for because again it's a different beast from a house on a foundation, so there are many options out there. I just say proceed with caution and try to use somebody reputable versus trying to save a buck and buy this house, and you end up with long term problems.

Jamila Souffrant 42:15

Yeah, it seems like you're saying all these nuances that comes along with owning a tiny home is that you should either, like you said, go to a builder who's experienced, and you can get references for that builds tiny homes, or it really has to be someone specific to tiny home building and just planning,

Jewel Pearson 42:30

right? Or you do the research. So in my case, I had a year and a half of research under my belt, so I kind of knew everything from the ground up of how to build a tiny house, I just couldn't physically do it myself. And then, with developing my plans, I took it to a contractor. And even where he had challenges and we didn't necessarily work as well together, and there were some build challenges because I worked from home, I did have the bonus of being able to be on site all day every day, so I was able to catch things and call them out as things were happening that weren't being done correctly, and I sourced all of the material for my bills because I had done the research and I put in the work. I still was able to guide my build so that my house didn't suffer from working with a contractor that wasn't familiar with tiny house building,

Jamila Souffrant 43:21

right? Now you mentioned that you were in the RV community, or you stayed there for a bit, and you kind of felt like you saw some racism. I want to talk a little bit about that because actually, one of the reasons that you stood out so much for me, and I wanted to talk to you so much, is that you were a woman of color, a black woman living this lifestyle. And I know, like like mainstream media, I usually see white people doing this, but I just love when I see different people, different types of people doing things because it just makes me feel more like I see myself in them. And then hopefully, bringing your story to wider audience can help people feel like, wow, I didn't know that I can actually do this. Like, there's a woman doing this. So, can you talk more about your experience within just the community, and I know it's really important for you to get the word out that people of color can do this.

Jewel Pearson 44:06

Oh, absolutely! That's become one of my passions. So going into the movement, like I said, I built on the front of the movement when tiny houses weren't well known, and kind of my background and growing up in school, I was always used to being probably one of two or three people of color in my classrooms and that kind of stuff. So I really wasn't dissuaded by the fact that there weren't other people of color in the movement at the time. I did try to seek out some people of color, made some connections after I guess maybe a year or so in my house, but I knew I was still building my tiny house, and I didn't see myself in the movement. But I knew that kind of the premise behind what I felt the movement was about worked for me. And then after building the house and being in the movement, and then my house being featured on HGTV, what I kept getting hit with was. Emails from other people of color saying, "Oh my God, I didn't know we were living in tiny houses, and I didn't recognize that this was something that we were doing. Kind of over the course of my journey, I've realized one of the challenges with living in a tiny house with the city's not necessarily being welcoming-you have to either know somebody with some property or put your house in an RV community or more in a rural area. And as a person of color, I also know those areas aren't necessarily safe spaces for people of color. A lot of racism exists in RV communities, and you can white people will tell you that a lot of racism exists in RV communities. And then there wasn't anything that was on my radar at the time. I was just building a tiny house, and life's good, and I'm happy with the world. And then in this tiny house community, ran into a situation where I guess I don't know if it was some drinking. I don't know what was going on, but one of the residents there wanted to use, or it was a guest of a resident that wanted to use the N word and make sure I heard that the N word was being used in a conversation. There was also some challenges in that community, in that the owner of the community was trying to change the community into more of an upscale community, and some of those residents had been there 2030, plus years, and he was actually trying to move them out. And I was one of two people of color there. I was the only full-time person of color in the community. And as he was trying to move people out, he was raising rents. And their point of reference for why the rent was being raised ended up in my lap. Well, okay, so she's here with this fancy house. They actually called it the condo on wheels. She's here with this fancy house, and so they started doing passive aggressive things because they felt like it had something to do with me and me not knowing what was going on. So then they started doing some things as far as parking in front of my front door and parking behind my window, and just some passive aggressive things where I actually had to have a friend who was a cop to come through and ride through on occasion, so that they knew I had somebody watching my back, and then I knew it's time for me to go because this isn't the area that I want to live in. And then, as I have been more in the community and attending events, most of the tiny house community events that are held are out in rural areas. I was a speaker at a tiny house event in Florida almost two years ago, and it was in a rural area in Florida. I stop at a little convenience store to get some water, and the guy there makes sure I know that I'm not welcome in the area. And so I have just tried looking around in the community and realizing there are some people of color in the community, but they aren't necessarily represented. And so a lady early on in the movement, sent me a note, and she said, "You're the Harriet Tubman of tiny houses.

Jewel Pearson 47:44

I know I'm not doing any fraction of a level of what Harriet Tubman has done, but maybe the first person of color that a lot of people were able to resonate with that lives in a tiny house, and with that has come the responsibility as somebody that's more visible in the movement for me to call out the other people in the community to say, "Hey, I would like for you all to focus more on representation. There are people of color in the community, so as you're doing your events and your speakers panels, it's all whitewashed. There are some people of color that are doing stuff in this community that you could be including. That hasn't necessarily been met with welcome arms, and it's kind of something that I've had some trouble over the last years with that message that it's not necessarily being received well. So that has been a challenge for me. But I've taken it from another perspective in that I just want to show my home to people of color because the other thing that I've realized is white people in the movement early on, they had the nice houses, and they decided that they were downsizing. We've done this; we've made our money. We're going to sell the house, and we're downsizing because we want to do something different. And they built their homes accordingly, so they were kind of going to the bones, and that's a lot of the minimalism that was in the movement. But when you're talking to people of color who haven't had and are still trying to aspire to the American dream, which in my opinion doesn't necessarily suit us and fit us, it wasn't dreamed for us. When you're talking to them and they're still trying to get there, a tiny house is a harder sell, and so that's one of the reasons that I have been more open with sharing my home and sharing my story because even when I built my house, I was right on the cusp of where everybody that had built before was, like I said, focused on minimalism. You don't spend but X amount of dollars on a tiny house because you're doing the bare bones and it's you're downsizing, you're simplifying, and I knew I was building a home that represented something different than that. And I was spending way more money than what was my quote fingers allowed or what was okay. But for me, it was I haven't asked anybody in the community to give me any money. So this is my house, and I get to spend my money and build it how I want to. But I also. New for people of color, I need you all to see that a tiny house doesn't have to be the little house on the prairie kind of deal because composting toilets and water storage and those kind of conversations that you're having sound like work, and it doesn't necessarily sound like something for a person of color who might be a couple of generations removed from living in a rural area where you still have well water, and you might have outside facilities, that kind of stuff. Who wants to a couple of generations later from that now talk about okay? I'm going to build a tiny house, and I have all of these same challenges, and I'm using quote fingers for challenges where somebody who has had is okay with maybe downgrading is not necessarily the best word, but they're simplifying to this by choice for a person of color who hasn't had that. Doesn't sound like a good choice because I'm still trying to achieve what somebody else has already had. So I wanted to show my house to say you don't have to give up luxury to go tiny, and that's my tagline. You can still have the nice things. If I had felt like at any point I was downgrading my life. Like I've lived in some really nice spaces. If I had felt like I was taking some steps backward, it wouldn't have felt good to me. I always want to represent to people of color. You can still build it if you spend some time designing it. And now the tiny houses in the industry, there are some that are focused on luxury.

Jewel Pearson 51:19

But now I wanted to show people you can still build a home and it can still be a nice home and you can still have nice things at a smaller scale and still be able to save your money. My thought process is for people of color who are losing their property because they can't afford property taxes or farming is no longer really making the money that needs to be made. Build a tiny house community, or your family build these tiny homes on the property, and so now you're helping that property owner keep their property, and that's wealth building. That's how you build wealth, and that's how people are able to save money. And so the dynamic changes, so that you're able to see. I do see myself being able to do this, and it looks a different way, but it's also appealing to me as a person of color.

Jamila Souffrant 52:06

There's so many similarities between this tiny home movement, and there needs to be a wider representation of different types of people doing this, and how important it is to see yourself and others to see the people doing it as like they look like them, they sound like them because that encourages people to do it, and it's so similar to the FI, the financial independent movement, because it's the same kind of discussion where the people at the forefront they look a kind of way. You know, they're usually like white men in tech. Now, I'm not saying all people in this community are like that, but that's the stories that are being talked about more. But then there are women and black people and Asians and so many different types of people on this journey in the FI space that are doing it, but there maybe are not in the forefront, not yet at least. But I know that there is a big push in our space in the FI space to tell more of these stories. And because for me, starting journey to launch, it was important because I started listening to podcasts, reading blogs about the financial independent movement, and I was so inspired. And while it was amazing, I didn't really see anyone that looked like me or that was reaching out and getting more voices and different types of opinions and the diversity that I wanted to see. Which is why I created my platform because I'm like, well, if I don't see it, I'll just create it, and I make a conscious effort to show all parts of the journey and all the different types of people on this journey, because, like you said, for a lot of people listening, they might think whether it's the tiny home movement or FI, if they just find out about this, right? Like, you know, thinking or coming from a place where not having much, right? So there's a distinction between maybe someone who earns a lot of money and chooses

Jewel Pearson 53:39

a choice, absolutely,

Jamila Souffrant 53:41

right, than someone who's not earning a lot of money who is coming from poverty and there's a lot of psychological mental systematic things that has happened to get them at a starting point that is behind right and so to hear this like stuff it's like wait a second but yeah of course you rich guy can tell me how to do that and it's not relatable but if I'm telling you that I'm doing this like yourself as a single mom, and me being raised as a single mom, we're doing this. We are doing these journeys, and you can too. Get something I'm passionate about because I want more people to see that you can do these things, and it's important for us in this space, in our respective spaces, to talk more about that.

Jewel Pearson 54:17

Absolutely. What I started out doing was kind of pushing against the larger community to say, "Hey, you guys need to be more inclusive, because there is a part of my story. Like initially, when I built my tiny house, racism was not anything that was on my radar. When I got smacked in the face with it in the RV community, when I got smacked in the face with it going to attend a tiny house event, and it's happened a couple of times because the rural areas have more space. And if a tiny house event wants to showcase tiny houses, they need more space. But as I'm driving as the speaker to a tiny house event, and I'm in a rural area, and I'm passing Confederate flags, I know it's not a safe space for me, and I need to be thinking. Around safety and what I've said to the leaders and quote fingers in the tiny house community, this isn't something that you have to think about. It's not your experience. It's not anything that would be on your radar because it's not your experience. But I'm telling you that it's happening. I'm telling you that it's not a safe space. And so my expectation is that you'll adapt to include more people so that you have more representation. My expectation is that you'll ensure that you have safety at your events. Because when I ran into that guy, really, really the the guy at the event that made sure I knew I was not welcome in the area, it floored me, threw me all off of my game, and I was very uncomfortable. I wasn't able to even speak because it was right after the election. It was in an area where it's like, okay, I need to rethink this. I'm not in a safe space. Nobody else in the community could understand that. In fact, I almost want to say I got blackballed because I didn't speak, and the expectation was that you should still have been able to come to speak. And my thing is, if you've never been a black person in a space where you're uncomfortable and you're not welcome. You don't know what that feels like, and in my priority had to be at that point was my safety, not for me to come and speak to people who want to talk about tiny houses when I'm not feeling personally safe. So I've created a space with Dominique Moody. He was also a black woman in this movement, tiny house trailblazers, so that we're talking about those issues. So if you guys don't want to necessarily be inclusive, we're going to create our own space so we can talk about this thing because there are conversations that need to be had around racism. There are conversations that need to be had around safety. There are conversations that need to be had so that we're talking about why this movement should be inclusive for people of color and what this means for you for wealth building, and then like I was saying before, I've always operated in spaces where I've been one of two or three people of color, and I've been okay with that because that's my personality. I'm going to push and do what I need to do, but then in building my house and some of the comments and the notes that I've gotten from people, or people would come to an event and said, "You know, until I saw you, I didn't think this movement was for us. Or you're the reason that I'm now interested in it, or I was interested in it but didn't see anybody that looked like me, so I kind of thought I was crazy and wasn't pursuing it. So then I realized, for some people, that representation is everything, so that they can say, "Here's somebody else that's doing it, just like what you said. And I've had people say my family has thought I was crazy as I've talked about this, and then I go and show them your house, and then they are like, "Oh, I get it. I could live in that. And that happens a lot when I offer tours.

Jewel Pearson 57:34

So when people come to my house, and sometimes it's the husband or it's a person, and their mom isn't feeling the tiny house movement because for them they want their daughter to achieve the American dream, and then they step in my door and it just it happens right at the door where I can see the mindset where they're looking around because usually people say oh you live in a tiny house and they hold their hand together like it's a box and then they hit my door and they say oh I could live here. This isn't what I imagined, and that has been what I've wanted to represent through Tiny House Trailblazers to change the course of the conversation. I'm no longer worried about being inclusive. To me, it's kind of representative of the entire world at this point. I'm not going to be fighting anymore for inclusion. What I'm gonna do is work on this space so that I can represent what this is to people of color. And what I say for Tiny House Trailblazers is we're not being exclusive. We just want to ensure that we're always included, and that's important.

Jamila Souffrant 58:32

Yeah, that's really really important. Another thing that I just wanted to quickly talk about because it so lines well is the financial independent movement. More of that, and for you, what your thoughts of it are? Because you said you didn't really know about it until we started to have the conversations offline, and so now you kind of know a bit about what it is. What are your thoughts? Do you see yourself now consciously trying to pursue this?

Jewel Pearson 58:55

Oh, absolutely. So I guess for me, it was a subconscious thought because I can't say I've necessarily planned for retirement like I should have, and it's not necessarily an opportunity for people of color to plan as our counterparts do. So for me, this was kind of the way to back into retirement with my quote fingers, and I think society is changing where people are now focusing on experiences versus finances and the American Dream, and so it's something that I definitely think is important because you realize life is short, life is stressful, and I want to be able to focus on the priorities. And so, being able to remove a lot of the stress associated with housing costs, like you said, that's the main. That's usually the main suck of your finances. So if you're fixing those types of things, so that you can focus more on life and living and family and the things that really, at the end of the day, are the important things.

Jamila Souffrant 59:49

Right now, I know you are doing a lot of great things in this space. I want people to reach out to you and follow you. So where can they find out more about what you're doing? I know you have some. Businesses around helping people with tiny homes, and then, like you said, some of the spaces where they can actually see your tiny home.

Jewel Pearson 1:00:06

There are a couple of options. So, to follow and find information personally about my house, it's Miss Gypsy Soul, MS Gypsy Soul, and I am I have MissGypsy soul.com. It's my website. I'm on all social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and then more of the Tiny House Trailblazers. Tiny House trailblazers.com is the space that I talked about that has more of a focus on telling the stories of people of color. And again, it's not exclusive, but just being sure we're included. And Tiny House Trailblazers is also on Instagram, Facebook, and we have a website. I do also offer workshops through both of those avenues to talk about tiny houses and to provide the information that a person needs who's interested in the movement and wants to build or buy everything, kind of from A to Z. Tiny house one on one to help somebody who's interested in the movement and help them as far as planning and budgeting and the things that they need to think about, and then the actual build. People always ask, "Well, you know, do you bring your house to these events? And no, it would just drive me insane to have to have so many people in and out of my house. I live in my house; this is home for me, so I wouldn't want lines of people coming in and out of my house. But I do offer the one-on-one opportunity to tour my house and spend time in the space and help somebody understand whether or not this is something that they could pursue. Because for me going into it, that was really important for me actually being able to visit a space. And so I want to be able to offer that for somebody to say you don't have to do the level of research that I did going into the tiny house bill, there are some resources and professionals now that are available, and I want to be able to offer myself as a resource for someone that's interested.

Jamila Souffrant 1:01:52

This is just amazing content information, and I'm so glad we're able to connect Jewel with this. And so I'll link everything Jewel mentioned on the episode show notes for this episode. And Jewel, I just want to thank you so much again for coming on, sharing your experience and your story. And I'm sure a lot of people will be inspired and now looking into tiny home living.

Jewel Pearson 1:02:10

Well, thank you so much for having me. I certainly appreciate it.

Jamila Souffrant 1:02:17

Okay, Jarniers, I really hope you enjoyed that conversation with Jewel, I really found it for me insightful and inspiring to hear how she was living a regular life in a regular-sized home, and yet she still found a way to find happiness. And she's living her best life apparently in her tiny home. Whether tiny home living is for you or not, I really do think you can take some nuggets from Jewel's story and really apply it to your life. Once again, if you want the episode show notes or you want to see Jules' home, if you have not seen it again, that tour that we talked about that she did, you can go to journeytolaunch.com to get links to everything that we talked about. Also, don't forget to at me on social media as Journey to Launch Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook because I love to hear your thoughts on the episode. What you think? Do you think you could live in a tiny home? Let me know. So screenshot, send me a message, share it on social media, tag me. All right, journeyers. Once again, thank you so much for joining me. I'm always happy to come to talk to you, to share information, to connect, and I couldn't imagine doing this with anyone else. So until next week, keep on journeying, journeyers. Don't forget, you can get the episode show notes for this episode by going to journeytolaunch.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 journeytolaunch.com/slash. 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 and 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 coworker, so that we can spread the message of journey to launch. All right, that's it. Until next week, keep on journeying, journeyers.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai