Listen to today's Podcast HERE - Victoria L Women's Holistic Health Strategist
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Victoria L (00:01.551)
Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Victoria Elle, your women's health and wellness strategist. I am really excited today to introduce you guys to Jill. So Jill wrote this amazing little book that is daily affirmations, little guides every day. It's called The Journey to Happy, Healthy, Wealthy and Wise. And I'm just, I'm loving it. I read it every morning as part of my daily morning routine.
and I'm just excited to have you here, to be honest. And so Jill is an inspiring mom entrepreneur, a podcaster, and like I said, the author of her newly published book. I have had the privilege of adding this book into my daily routine and I am absolutely loving it. I've been able to find each morning a great little takeaway.
and some sort of passage that just seems to resonate with whatever it is I need that day, somehow, magic, you know, the magic of universe. So guys, please welcome Jill, and her business is called Grow Like a Mother, which I also really love that name. And it's such a privilege to have you on the show today. So to kick things off, Jill, could you share a bit with us about your journey?
how you found yourself, how you became this amazing mom entrepreneur in this space. I'd love to hear from you.
Jill Wright (01:25.902)
Yeah, well first Victoria, thanks for having me. This is such a thrill to be on with you. I'm so glad that we got connected. My story's kind of an interesting one. I went to business school. I always thought I'd be an entrepreneur, but I never really found my calling. So I fell into hospitality and event management and stuff like that. And I had this whole career in hotels, catering, event space.
Victoria L (01:32.375)
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (01:51.214)
And after my second child was born, I decided that I was going to finally take the leap into entrepreneurship. And it wasn't to be like a mom coach, it was to open a consignment store for women's clothing. So I quit my job and I was like, okay, I'm gonna do this. I've got a friend who has a model that she's really successful out in the East coast. And I felt really good about taking control of my life and my schedule with two small kids. It felt really heavy.
Victoria L (02:18.093)
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (02:20.652)
And there was a lot going on at the time. And I thought, you know what, I'm just gonna go for it. It's time. And then, you know, I got my little retail space and it was just around the corner from my house. I didn't have to travel downtown, feeling so good. And then, and that was set to open April 1st, 2020. And of course we all know what happened to retail businesses in 2020. And so I started this journey with so much enthusiasm and excitement.
Victoria L (02:42.093)
Mmm.
Yeah.
Jill Wright (02:50.35)
And it got hard real quick and it was like obstacle after obstacle. And then that summer, um, my son was diagnosed with autism and that required a lot of appointments and learning and adjusting, right. In life. And I didn't think I'd need to hire anyone in the store, but because I was required elsewhere, I did. And then the money was flowing out of the business. Like I couldn't even, right. Keep the doors open. And then there were shutdowns and blah, blah, blah.
Victoria L (03:05.911)
Mm -hmm.
Victoria L (03:15.567)
Mm. Yeah.
Jill Wright (03:19.854)
It turned out to be a crazy experience. And meanwhile, like I'm going through really bad postpartum depression at the same time. And so I ended up, I ended up shutting that business down pretty quickly after it started. But the thing that I took from that experience was that I wasn't really interested in the clothes. I was interested in the community space I was building. I had women from all walks of life, all ages and stages who came into the store and they would just chat.
They would bring a coffee, they'd hang out, they'd look at the shelves, but we would talk. And that's what I really loved is making those connections. So that kind of planted the seed for me in terms of, okay, I like entrepreneurship, I like the freedom it gives me, I like connecting with women, where can I take this? And so I started my podcast Grow Like a Mother on the heels of that entrepreneurship journey, having gone through the whole cycle of like conception to completion of a business.
Victoria L (03:53.069)
Mm -hmm.
Victoria L (04:16.301)
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (04:17.39)
And my life was in such turmoil, I had anchored myself into personal development just so that I could have like some kind of rope to tether myself to myself as I was going through all of this. And so the podcast really started as like personal development for moms. And I'm in my third year of that, it's expanded. I've sort of really honed into working moms.
Victoria L (04:32.119)
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (04:45.396)
moms who are running their own businesses or have an idea or doing a side hustle, right? Who are interested in that personal development journey. And yeah, that's kind of how it all came to be.
Victoria L (04:50.957)
Mm -hmm.
Victoria L (04:59.183)
I love that. Yeah, and I love your podcast too. It's so real and it's like honest conversation and the couple ones that I've been able to catch into, I just, I feel I got so much out of right away. You know, it was really great. Yeah, it's good. I'll make sure to link for you guys so that you can grab a listen as well. And I think there's so many moms out there who can.
relate to that desire for the flexibility for creating alignment in their lives with their values. You know, so many of us I know I wanted to get out of the corporate workspace because I was I was exhausted and it didn't align with what I wanted for my family. So I totally understand that. And I love how on social media you've
described yourself as unapologetically independent and an introverted mom, which kind of don't sound like they go together, but can you share with us how you managed to really step out of that comfort zone to create your podcast and to just embrace what it was that you wanted for yourself to move into that space of entrepreneurship?
Jill Wright (06:09.614)
Mm -hmm. It wasn't an overnight quick journey. I'll tell you that it took a lot of small changes and a bit of a process. I feel like I'm very introverted. I didn't know that about myself for a long time. But the way that I identify as an introvert is that my source of energy, how I refill my cup comes from inside, not from external. So,
Victoria L (06:17.709)
Mm -hmm.
Victoria L (06:35.597)
Mmm.
Jill Wright (06:36.206)
As I've gone through this journey of motherhood and having lots of external stimulus, it took me a while, but I've realized I need to fill myself up quietly by myself. I don't fill myself up by going to gatherings and socializing as some people do. Some people are extroverts and they get their energy from external. So once I realized that about myself, I was like, oh, okay.
Victoria L (06:47.343)
Hmm.
Victoria L (06:55.789)
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (07:00.758)
What else can I learn about myself that's going to help me stay balanced and focused and aligned so that I'm not losing my shit all the time with these little ones who are, you know, crazy as little ones are? You know, let's just call it like it is. It's wild time when you've got two little babies and like, I don't know, my husband at the time was working nights and weekends. So it was like I was solo parenting all the time. It was wild. And so...
Victoria L (07:09.261)
Hmm.
Victoria L (07:13.463)
Yep.
Victoria L (07:17.217)
Yep.
Victoria L (07:25.517)
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (07:27.95)
I didn't feel like the podcasting and putting my voice out there was a challenge because I've always loved conversation and sharing and teaching. But the challenge for me in overcoming my like out of my comfort zone and growth and all of that came with stopping the focus on external things and like the comparison to others and.
Victoria L (07:50.477)
Mmm.
Jill Wright (07:54.19)
the shoulds and the expectations that were placed sort of externally and shifting that so that it was coming from within instead. That was the biggest shift in comfort because it was uncomfortable for me to say what I wanted or to even acknowledge what I wanted, right? Or what I was feeling or these realizations that would come through like, oh, I actually need to do things this way to be a better mom and to have more energy and calmness and centeredness. So,
Victoria L (08:06.989)
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (08:22.382)
I think that's kind of where it came from. And the personal development journey throughout was my through line. I would just learn one thing, listen to someone, hear about something else, read a book, find a new mentor. And at some point along the way, it might've been Lisa Nichols who said, there's no comfort in your growth zone and no growth in your comfort zone. And I was like, oh, you're supposed to be uncomfortable doing this. It was like, oh, I'm doing it right. You know? Yeah.
Victoria L (08:30.253)
Mm -hmm.
Victoria L (08:39.983)
Yes. Yeah. Right? Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you talk about how it's a process, right? I think so many of us compare somebody's like step 500 to our step one. We don't end up being comfortable talking on a podcast.
the very first podcast we ever do at all. Like if I listen back to my first podcast, I'm like, oh my Jesus, I sound horrible. Like I'm stuttering and I'm so scared. And I think it's really important to acknowledge that it is an amazing process if you're willing to step in and go through the growth. And like I said, learn who you are and what it is that you need, right? If you are an introvert and you need to be inside yourself to fill that cup, then that's okay. And just allow that.
You don't have to be what other people expect of you. So I love that. And I love that you share that quite well on your social media. You're just, this is what I need, this is what I do, and you need to do the same. Not the same as what you're doing, but like step into it, right? Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (09:48.846)
The same for yourself. Yeah, exactly. And it's like, you just need to acknowledge it's going to take some time to make the changes in your life. That was something I struggled with a lot. It's like, it takes practice. And you're not always going to get it perfect if you're trying to like implement something new, whether it's a habit or a mindset shift or starting a business or getting good at public speaking, like...
Victoria L (09:59.887)
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (10:14.286)
You're gonna suck. You're gonna suck for a long time and you need to sit with the uncomfortableness of being bad at something in order to get good at it, right? And that's something I learned along the way too and it served me so well. Yeah.
Victoria L (10:15.663)
Mm -hmm. Yep.
Victoria L (10:22.221)
Mm -hmm.
Mm hmm. Yeah, I think that's a really important lesson. Yeah, because in embracing that discomfort is definitely like that is how you grow. That is your personal growth right there is if you're comfortable, you're not growing, right? You're just cozy in a blanket. You're not doing anything.
Jill Wright (10:43.054)
which sounds nice, but like, it's not serving you well.
Victoria L (10:46.445)
Yeah, and sometimes we need to be cozy in a blanket. But if you're trying to grow somewhere, you need to get out of the blanket, right? So now I'd love to dive into your book. It is I absolutely love it. I really, really do. I'm so grateful that we were able to connect and I have a copy of this book. Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind the book? How did you like how did you come up with all these amazing little little
little things for our readers every single morning. It's just amazing. I'd love to hear more.
Jill Wright (11:16.814)
Yeah, well, thank you for the enthusiasm about it. It makes me so happy that it's helpful and valuable. It actually started just as a word doc on my computer in my early 20s when I was dealing with anxiety. I would forget my tools because I was into personal development then and I was in therapy and learning all these things that could help me when I was feeling anxious or overwhelmed or stressed, right? But then I would get into a situation where I felt those things and
Victoria L (11:23.277)
Mm -hmm.
Victoria L (11:33.231)
Mmm.
Jill Wright (11:46.254)
the portion of your brain that can access that information gets turned off when you're in fight or flight, right? That's just how the body works. And so I thought, okay, I need to have somewhere that I can easily access these tools. So when I'm feeling crazy, I go over and I'm like, okay, right, yes, try this thing. And so over, you know, 20 years, I just added to it and added to it. And every time I heard a podcast, I would write down a note in my phone if there was a nugget of something that was like, okay, this feels resonant. And I...
Victoria L (11:50.871)
Mm -hmm.
Victoria L (12:01.901)
Mmm.
Jill Wright (12:15.918)
I started to include advice from like my mom or my friends or different things that I learned along the way intuitively. And so a few years back, I would say after the entrepreneurship venture, you know, 1 .0, I separated from my husband and started really living into my own self. And that's when the book came, the book idea came up and I was like, you know what? This has helped me so much.
Victoria L (12:40.399)
Mm.
Jill Wright (12:45.518)
I feel like this could really help other moms. And so I started to organize it into the four pillars of happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise. And it took a bit of time to sort of say, okay, does this tidbit or this affirmation or this piece of wisdom fit in here or here? And once I had those sorted, I struggled a long time with, okay, well, how do I present this? Because I personally love those little page a day calendars, you know? And I will...
Victoria L (12:48.591)
Mm -hmm.
Victoria L (13:11.885)
Mm -hmm. Yep.
Jill Wright (13:13.806)
I have like a bunch of them right here next to me in my office and I would just peel the ones that resonated and stick them up. But then the ones that didn't resonate that day would go in the garbage. And I'm like, no, this wisdom needs to be like accessible because it's not gonna always hit you that day, but it's gonna hit you another day where that's valuable. So I ended up putting it into this format where it's still like a page a day kind of read. But.
Victoria L (13:15.375)
I'm going to go ahead and close the video.
Victoria L (13:31.949)
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (13:39.566)
you can keep it as a companion guide. And so I hear a lot of women keep it beside their bed at night so they either flip through it first thing in the morning, literally like flip to any page. It'll give you a piece of advice or a thought provoking question, an affirmation or a quote from somebody that relates to the passage and it's two minutes of the day and you can use that to sort of anchor yourself through the day or use it as like a.
Just a come back home moment, you know? So that's kind of how that all came together.
Victoria L (14:09.743)
Mm -hmm.
Oh, I love that. Yeah, and I'm sure everyone's gonna be really anxious to try and get their hands on a copy of your book. It's I did have it right here beside me. And then I cleaned up before I started the podcast. And now it's like way back over there and I can't reach it. There it is. Awesome. Oh, yeah, that's that's great. Yeah, I find. So I usually just.
Jill Wright (14:28.814)
I always have one handy because it's like I'm always flipping through it. Like I still use it as my tool, you know
Victoria L (14:40.527)
I am like a chronological person. I like everything to be in order. So I go through day by day. I don't do like the open to whatever page, but I did have the other day, I just kind of picked it up and the bookmark came flying out. And so it was before I got the little magnetic one. And so the book and I just opened it up and I just happened to take a glance at what the reading was. And the affirmation was,
Jill Wright (14:44.206)
Yeah. Nice.
Victoria L (15:06.121)
exactly in that moment what I needed to hear to get out of my head to get back into where I needed to be in that moment. And I was just like, okay, I'm taking a screenshot of this and I'm putting that out there because holy crap, that was amazing. And I always I believe the universe is always doing stuff like that for us. But I really appreciate that you've been here today to share or to share a little bit of insights with us. I'd love for you to just if you have any really
good little nuggets of wisdom to give that mom that maybe is considering, you know, developing a self developing or looking into entrepreneurship or anything to kind of step out of that comfort zone. If you have any nuggets that you'd like to share, love to hear them.
Jill Wright (15:50.094)
Yeah, of course. I mean, two things come top of mind. The first thing is that you need to... They're both related, actually. It's finding the space. You need to find the space in your mind and in your calendar to be able to make any change because, let's face it, our lives are chock -a -block busy. Like, there is no moment in the day where I'm just like, huh, I wonder what I'll do now, you know?
Victoria L (16:01.005)
Mmm.
Victoria L (16:15.247)
Yeah, right. Yeah.
Jill Wright (16:15.278)
And I'm sure that we can all relate to that. There's no like free time unless we claim and create that free time, right? So the first step in doing anything and bringing anything into your life for me is finding the space.
Victoria L (16:21.677)
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (16:31.854)
This means you need to start listening when you do have a quiet minute to yourself, whether that's in the bathroom, in the shower, that's where I first like on the drive. Those are the moments that I first started being intentional about realizing, oh, I'm by myself. No one's talking to me. What do I think? What do I feel right now? Right. And starting to tune into that intuitive voice, because that's going to be your compass and your guidance as you're starting any journey. But it's not loud, because to me, intuition is just the truth of what.
Victoria L (16:32.591)
You need to start listening.
Victoria L (16:45.933)
Mm -hmm.
Victoria L (16:54.573)
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (16:59.854)
is your soul, right? And truth doesn't need to be loud and yell at you because it just knows it's always there. It's not proving anything, right? So you need to get rid of all of the extra noise to start to listen and practice that. And then once you have an idea of like, okay, this is the direction that I'm being called to go in or this thing I'm being called to learn about, or I'm really interested, it turns out in, for me, it was Scottish history and now I'm learning Gaelic like a
Victoria L (17:08.813)
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (17:28.302)
just different things like that, right? But then it's like, okay, how do I create the time to do that? So a lot of the work that I do when I'm coaching is how do we figure out how to create the time based on what's in your life externally and what your internal preferences are? Because I have a quiz coming out in a couple months, I'm working on it. It's about the five super mom types. And so I've kind of...
Victoria L (17:28.993)
Oh wow.
Victoria L (17:34.639)
Mm -hmm.
Victoria L (17:53.495)
Mmm.
Jill Wright (17:54.422)
narrow down these different types of moms into like different archetypes. So something that works for what I call the squirrel super mom, who's someone that's like easily distracted and like can't really focus on a task. The time management tips, right, that are going to work for you are going to be so different than let's say the statue mom. And the statue mom is someone who is like so overwhelmed that they can't even begin anything. They're like, I don't know. Right.
Victoria L (18:11.137)
Yep.
Victoria L (18:20.695)
In that freeze
Jill Wright (18:23.566)
And so I've sort of developed these five characters or types of supermoms and the time management strategy really needs to be uniquely curated for you. Um, but it's possible to find these time periods. So those are the things that I would say if you're, if you're curious to start a journey, a self development or a business journey or a health journey, or you're looking to change your life in some way, first, get quiet and really identify what is it that you want, what's calling you. And then.
Victoria L (18:37.519)
Mmm.
Victoria L (18:51.023)
Mm -hmm.
Jill Wright (18:52.334)
Get some help figuring out how to create the time to do that, right? Whether that's doing research on your own, watching some YouTube videos, listening to some podcasts, reaching out for help, doing some free programs, doing some paid programs, whatever it is that's gonna support you, because you can create the time. We all can, we've all got the time.
Victoria L (19:06.031)
Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I love that. I and I appreciate that you're taking the time to create the archetypes of the mother because it's so true. I've taken courses, you know, to help me learn time management and to help me learn how to, you know, put my life in order. And I'm sitting listening to the course I've paid good money for and I'm like, this doesn't work for me.
Jill Wright (19:35.086)
Right.
Victoria L (19:35.215)
at all. So I absolutely love that. I can't wait for that to come out. I'm really interested in that because I can feel like I would be the squirrel person for sure. That would be me.
Jill Wright (19:44.334)
Yeah. Yeah. And the thing is too, like we can change because I have personally been all of these archetypes. So it's like, oh, OK, I can totally relate. And I feel like we're all at some point a little bit of everything depending on the season. But it's really fun. A, everyone loves a quiz, right? But just to feel like validated when you land on like, yes, I knew I was a squirrel. OK, what can I do? Right. Yeah.
Victoria L (19:50.733)
Mmm.
Victoria L (19:59.873)
Yep.
Victoria L (20:04.707)
Yeah, yeah, I love that. Okay, so before we wrap up, can you let us know where we can find your podcast, where we can get a copy of your book, how to get ahold of you, all that kind of good stuff.
Jill Wright (20:18.222)
Yeah, thank you. I'd love to invite everyone to come to my website. That's where you're going to find everything. It's jillwright .ca. There's a little tab for podcast. You can listen to it on Spotify or Apple or wherever you just click. The book information is there. There's free resources and everything is on the website. But if you're a social media junkie, like most of us are, I'm on Instagram and Facebook at Grow Like a Mother.
Victoria L (20:44.975)
And I will make sure that it is all linked in the show notes as well Jill thank you so much for being here today. I really do appreciate that you have taken the time to Come and to inspire and empower Moms everywhere. I know that there's a lot of people listening that are going to take away some really good nuggets from from your advice and
I just want everyone to remember that as you build your strategies to start to create your life that aligns with your values, it's going to take time. Like Jill said, it's going to take time and you're going to have to step out of your comfort zone. So use the resources at hand and find people to help you along the way. It's so important. All right, guys. Thank you so much, Jill, for being here. And until next time, everyone, take care and be well.
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