795: The Secret to Staying in Alignment As You Evolve and Change

0:01This episode is supported by What Should I Do With My Money? From Morgan Stanley. Okay, can we just talk about how money is legitimately one of the hardest topics to bring up. Like even when you think you have your stuff together, there's always this really weird awkwardness around it. That's why I am obsessed with this podcast. It actually makes money conversations feel approachable. I recently listened to an episode about affording multiple big life things at once, like a wedding, a house, an IVF, if they were all happening at the same time. And honestly, it hit home. So many people are wondering, can we actually have it all without sacrificing our sanity or our savings?

0:42What I love is that they bring in real experts who help break down these massive costs into actual doable steps. It's like having a money mentor in your ear who gets it. Search for What Should I Do With My Money in your podcast player. We'll also include a link in the show notes. Many thanks to What Should I Do With My Money and Morgan Stanley for their support. You have to be you and your audience will evolve with you if they're really your audience. And some people might fall away and you'll have some attrition and that's fine because we attract what we are. And the more authentic we are to ourselves, the more we align with the right people.

1:19I'm Jenna Kutcher, your host of the Gold Digger podcast. I escaped the corporate world at the age of 23 with nothing more than a$300 camera from Craigslist and a dream. Now I'm running a seven-figure online business that feels even better than it looks, all from my house in small-town Minnesota with my family. Here, we value time as our currency. We mix the woo and the work, and we are in the pursuit of building businesses that give us the freedom to live lives that we love. I've always loved turning big goals into reality, and I'm here to help you do the same. This isn't just a peek behind the curtain.

1:55Come along with me and my guests as we tear the whole curtain down. Every week we tackle practical, no fluff marketing strategies and host honest discussions on what works and what doesn't. Join me and my expert guests for actionable insights to help you grow your dream business with confidence. Pull up a seat and get ready to be challenged, inspired, and empowered. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. Summer is in full swing and with it, I hope comes more time connecting with your community and being with people in real life. And sometimes even just having a slight slowdown like that can cause us to rethink our goals, our values, our mission, our impact, and our purpose.

2:38If you are someone who is finding yourself feeling stuck or out of alignment or questioning what is truly authentic for you or how you want your brand or business to make people feel, then today's episode is for you. And I am so excited to introduce you to Jessica Zweig, a serial entrepreneur who has founded three different companies and recently sold her personal branding agency called Simply Be. She is also the host of a top rated podcast. It's called The Spiritual Hustler. And Jessica is someone who is highly sought after for companies like Google and Nike. She is a true leader in this global community of spiritual women.

3:15And she hosts sold out retreats on business, branding, alignment, spirituality, all across the world. She has a brand new book. It's called The Lightwork, which is about reclaiming your feminine power, which we're going to talk about today, living your cosmic truth, illuminating the world. And that book hits shelves in August. And I've been lucky enough to read it before it came out to the public. And it is amazing. So today we are discussing how to stay in alignment with yourself and your calling, what authenticity really means and the access that it gives people into your life, how to let parts of you that are no longer serving you or the world die and have a rebirth.

3:53And what type of energy you're bringing into your work and how it fuels it and how it also feels in it. Now, Jessica is generously giving away 25 free signed copies of her brand new book just to the Gold Digger community. So head to jessicasweg.com forward slash free book and use the code Gold Digger, which is one word, all caps for a chance to win a free book. That's jessicasweg.com slash free book. We will also link it for you in the show notes and the episode description without further further ado, Jessica, welcome to the Gold Digger podcast. More to do is less time and an infinite number of tools to keep track of.

4:32Gold Diggers, do you ever feel like doing business has never felt harder? Well, the good news is you don't need a miracle to hit your goals. You just need HubSpot. Their all-in-one customer platform can make growing your business so much easier. Imagine this, high quality leads, fast closing deals, wildly happy customers, and more benchmark breaking quarters. It's not a miracle. It's HubSpot. Visit HubSpot.com to get started today. That's HubSpot.com. Jessica, you and I have been through so many different evolutions in the last decade. And I feel like something that you said really stuck with me.

5:15And I've literally been clinging on to it, especially in this iteration of my life. And you said something where you said, I hit a place where I had to acknowledge that the past versions of me were authentic, but they were no longer aligned. Let's start there because I think so many people that are listening can really resonate with that of like, I am no longer who I once was, but I don't necessarily know how to find alignment. And I feel like you are so good at that. Thank you for saying that, Jenna. Authenticity was my brand. That was the name of the game. That was my favorite and only word that I wanted my entire platform to be centralized around.

5:58I had an agency called the Simply Be Agency. It was all about authenticity. I say I wrote the book on authenticity with my first book, Be. and I have been on a very deep spiritual personal journey I've always been on the path but it's really accelerated in the last couple of years and I really look back at that version of myself those many versions of myself and I see how authentic she was being to herself at that time and I think when we craft a business from our authenticity I can't believe I'm kind of saying this, it like, it's a very like linear sort of cerebral way of looking at your, your business, your brand, you're thinking, I want to be fully expressed in this version of who I am.

6:44And you're not necessarily putting your body and your heart into it in the same way that I feel like I am now. I feel like alignment is a physical embodiment experience. It's very feminine. Whereas the authentic version of me was coming from a place of like masculine doing, frankly. And I, I look back at my past selves and I really honor her. She was really trying. She was doing, she was doing great actually, but she wasn't fully in her body. She wasn't really in a sense of personal peace and safety. There was a lot of external proving of my worth versus an internalized knowing of my worth. And as much as I was authentic to what I was doing at the time, building my company that I eventually sold a few years later, there was a point when I really had to reconcile how out of alignment I was.

7:40I was feeling super burnt out, super unhappy. And I was like, but I built this thing that I loved and why doesn't it feel good anymore? And I had to really check in with my body. When I say check in, like go on a deep, deep healing journey from burnout to really get back into alignment with this new version of myself that had grown and changed. And I think we have to let ourselves die. If I can be that bold, like old identities that no longer serve us, I think we have to honor them and let them go. And that can be a very painful process, which it was for me. But I definitely think that authenticity, while it still has its relevance, And it's important to really check in with our bodies to know if it feels true still.

8:31And I don't know if we as women in business get still enough to really check in with that. And so that's been a big learning process for me. Oh, my gosh. Yes. My therapist often all start talking and just talking and talking and she pauses. Where do you feel this? Like, where do you feel it in your body? And then she's like, what is your first memory of feeling this? And it's so interesting because I think so many of us are really good with logic, right? And thinking, but we are really bad at feeling. There's a whole chapter in my book about feelings are meant to be felt. And having a deep feeling child has really been this near to me of like, how often we just kind of push and shove aside and ignore or try to logic our way out of feelings.

9:18And so I just I love that. And I also think, too, this begs to ask the collective of women of like, we also have to give people the permission to let parts of themselves die. And I think one of the hardest things, especially as entrepreneurs or public figures or people growing platforms, is that oftentimes we feel like our audience is holding on to old pieces. Did you experience this? Because you literally sold your company. So talk about that a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. So I ran a business called Simply Be Agency for seven years. It was bright yellow. It had pineapples. It was bold. It was big.

10:00I wrote a book called Be. It was like my life, my identity, my business was all one. And I'm very authentic and true to my community and had taken my community along with me on that ride. and 2022, just to give you the CliffsNotes version after running it for like five and a half years was the darkest and hardest year of my life. I went through a very deep depression, a very severe diagnosis of burnout and really had to face that behind the scenes. And for like a year, wasn't really sharing that story but it was maintaining, right? the brand of Jessica Zweig, founder and CEO of Simply Be. And 23, after a very pivotal trip I took to Egypt where I literally died, my ego and identity and came back new, 23 was my year of healing.

10:54And I felt very paralyzed, Jenna, because I was like, every time I went on social media, I posted so much less. I became very disenchanted with my podcast. I didn't really have any desire to share who I was becoming because the identity online wasn't matching up with like this new version of myself. And so I took a pause actually for like three months at the end of 23. I didn't really post anything on Instagram or LinkedIn or anything. And when I sold my business, it sort of felt like a quantum leap, like a total timeline jump. And I had been working on that deal for six months. Like it's a process to sell your business.

11:34You go through due diligence, lawyers, contracts, negotiations. It's a thing. And I, I hard launched, I hard launched it like in January. And because I had been sort of yoking this new version of myself, this new brand, this new story, I felt so clear that I was going to just tell that story, whether people came with me or not. And I have to tell you, the response has been so, so beautiful. I mean, people have just shown up and clapped for that and have been so supportive of this sort of identity shift. I mean, I will say that I talk a lot about business and branding. I have an email list, of course.

12:17And I've been starting to send out my emails all year. And I had a few people write me saying that they were going to unsubscribe because they didn't want the spiritual content. They wanted more of the business content. I was like, cool. Bye. And I just think you have to be you and your audience will evolve with you if they're really your audience. And some people might fall away and you'll have some attrition and that's fine because we attract what we are. And the more authentic we are to ourselves, the more we align with the right people. And I just, I'm very grateful for my community's response.

12:53It's been for the most, 99%, just such a beautiful reception. And I really think it's because I'm more aligned than I've ever been. And you can sense it. Like people can feel it. And I think that's what's so interesting is, you know, I feel like authenticity has been a buzzword for over a decade. I mean, really when like social media started picking up, it was like, you know, be authentic. And I think that this lens of which we look through that word in marketing and in social media and things like that has shifted over time where it's like, there was a time where it's like show all of your mess, let everyone feel less alone.

13:28And then, you know, authentic turned into like, we need the behind the scenes of how this is happening. And I feel like there is this resurgence or this newness in like authenticity does equal alignment. It doesn't mean access. And I think for a long time, people were confusing access with authenticity. And I feel like, or at least for me now, authenticity means alignment. And it feels different because it's like people don't have to have access to every part of my life in order to connect with it, but they will feel the tension in showing up in ways that don't serve me or them any longer. Do you agree with that?

14:09I completely agree with that. And one thing that I would add to that, I mean, literally this was what my whole first book was about. Really crafting a message that is clear and consistent and shows the strategic parts of yourself that are of service to your community ultimately. And just because you keep certain things behind the veil doesn't mean you're not being authentic. We have the right to keep certain aspects of our lives private. Just because we have public personas doesn't mean we owe our communities, our life in a glass case, you know, sorry, not sorry. And I will never forget way back in the day when like Facebook first came out, this was pre Instagram and I had started my first business.

14:51This was, I've been an entrepreneur for like 15, 16 years, aging myself. I was going through a breakup with my then boyfriend, horrible heartbreak. And I was getting on Facebook pretty much every day, real time updates, passive, aggressive, totally emo catharsis of my pain, hoping he would see it. Yes, of course. You're writing to one person and sharing it with many. Yes. With many. And somebody pulled me aside, a very smart, wise, older friend. And she said, Jessica, I mean, I was so young, but I'll never forget this. She said, the internet is not a place for you to process. You have your therapist for that.

15:30The internet is a place for you to add value. And once you've gotten over this guy, which might take you six months to a year, actually took me like two years to like come back then and offer the value and the wisdom that you gleaned for other women going through breakups. But right now it's all about you and it's not cute. And so that's been a principle of mine coming from the state of authenticity, being in alignment. How can I make this of service? How can this not just be about me? because I think we have a deep responsibility as public people to change the world for the better. And we all touch people and to add positive energy.

16:08And that might sound like, you know, woo, but I think it's everything actually. And we really have a responsibility as leaders to be authentic and aligned in service of our communities if we're public people. Let's be real. as business owners, we know a reliable connection isn't optional. I've had my fair share of slow and lagging internet. And let me tell you, nothing kills your groove faster. It is the ultimate productivity killer. You can't process payments. You can't talk to clients and your team feels stuck waiting on you. Back when I started my business, I learned pretty quickly that things only run as smoothly as your connection does.

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18:12Head to revolve.com forward slash gold digger shop my edit and take 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger. Fast two day shipping, easy returns. It's literally the only place you need to shop from. That's revolve.com forward slash gold digger to shop my favorites and get 15 % off your first order using the code gold digger. Offer ends December 14th. So happy shopping. Okay, so I want to take this in a direction I've been dying to take on my podcast that we haven't even ever covered on Gold Digger. And it is masculine and feminine. And it's so interesting because I posted a story, an Instagram story about this.

18:51And it was so interesting to me because a lot of people understood what I was saying. Some people were thinking it was like a gender thing, which it wasn't. And I want to break it down because you and I are very, very aligned. And one of the things I've been really digging into behind the scenes is that so much of my business was built on masculine energy and masculine doesn't mean manly. It does, you know, I think a lot of times we need to like connect things to what we know. And for me, it's more force is what I think of is like this unconscious belief that I held for so long of, if I just work harder, everything will work.

19:29If I know the game, I can play it. Like, put me in coach. I'm ready. And I think that this yearning and this like uncovering for me has been leaning into this feminine, more flow, more trust, more slowness. And it's interesting because one, I think we don't talk about it enough. And so there isn't a lot of knowing around what does this mean? It's not about manly and womanly or anything in that essence. But also I think that a lot of entrepreneurs may be wired like me, where I had this belief of in my business, I will be masculine in my life as a mother, as a wife, I will be feminine. I will separate the two.

20:09They cannot coexist. And that's literally how I operated. So first, can you just kind of break down like masculine and feminine for our audience? And then let's kind of discuss on this topic. Yes. I love this question. I'm so happy we took it here. Yes. So yes, agree with Jenna wholeheartedly that it is not about gender. It's about values, frequency, energy. The masculine represents, for example, a handful of values, but it's linear thinking, it's assertion, it's externalized worth, confidence, forward action, negotiation, advocacy, knowing your worth, problem solving, all these things that everyone needs, man or woman in business to succeed.

20:54The feminine, also not a gender values, energy, frequencies, stillness, intuition, compassion, beauty, nothingness, play, pleasure, sensuality, right? All of these things men and women can also benefit from. This is what my whole podcast, the spiritual hustler is all about. This has been my journey as an entrepreneur. I was living in the masculine fully. And here's the thing as women, when we're in those like vibrations of power and action and creation and manifestation and strategy. Like the world tells us we're winning. Like I had built a multi seven figure business. I built a 30 person team.

21:38I opened up two offices. I won all of the awards, got a six figure book deal, hit number one. The world was telling me keep going in that energy. Cause I was using and relying on all of those masculine values to get there. And I literally died. Like I found myself on my knees asking myself for what, for what? And I had completely, and even though I'm a spiritual person and have loved, I loved your reframe around the separation of Jenna as the mom versus Jenna as the business woman. I had really been so disconnected from that feminine in essence, because I was so addicted, frankly, to the success and validation and money.

22:21I'm just going to say it like from being so good at the masculine. And I really believe, especially as women, and I'm going to just drop it like it's hot, if that's okay, Jenna, like we are living in a world right now. It's called the patriarchy written by men for men. And I love men. There's nothing wrong with men. We need the divine masculine and feminine together to harmonize this world. But before the patriarchy, only 4 ,000 years of this world called the patriarchy, we lived in a matriarchy actually for hundreds of thousands of years. And this planet was designed from the feminine perspective.

23:01And so just flash forward to 2024 today, and women, especially in business, are trying to play this game written by rules that weren't written for us. and yet we can't sacrifice the need for the masculine to grow, to make money, to make an impact, but we can't deny our inner feminine and there needs to be an internalized, what I call polarity of both. And, you know, that's really what I'm here to talk about and teach more than anything because I want women to thrive as successful business women. Yes, but as feminine bodies. And we need to return to that. We need to reclaim that. And that's what my whole second book's about.

23:46Oh my gosh. I literally was just having a conversation with a friend who, you know, and she was just feeling like just this lack of alignment and burnout. And she was just kind of trying to like logic her way out of it. Like, I just got to get over this. I don't know why I'm feeling this way. And I was like, pause. It's like, you're feeling this way because it's telling you something. And I literally said to her, maybe this is a sign that we're playing by rules that we don't want to play by anymore. And it was just, and I said, I don't know what the game is, but we're also getting nudges and things that we need to not just move through.

24:17Like we need to like move with and like carry that forward. And so it was just like, so interesting what you just said. Cause I was like, yeah, I think we are waking up to that. And what's been so interesting for me is that I think as a mom and like, you know, my kids are home. And so I was constantly going from like one energy to another, like sometimes within seconds. Right. And that really created this like chasm of like feeling like, who am I? And like, I know this version of me and this version of me, but can they coexist? And, and, um, they can. And it's been so beautiful because I feel like the energy in the business is different.

25:00The energy in the household is different. and I just want people to know, like some people have never even considered this, right? For some people, this might be so over their head where they're like, I lost you, but consider what you're working from. Is it force or is it flow? Is it scarcity or is it receiving? Like, can you expand your capacity to receive? What does that look like? Where are you holding on to like mindsets or, you know, that aren't serving you? And yeah, there's just like a beautiful integration. I feel like you really embody that so well. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So my next question is this, and it's something that I think so many people don't even have time for or don't make the time for.

25:42But one of the things that I think is so powerful is your podcast is called the spiritual hustler. And you talk about hustling for meaning and not just money. So first off, how did you get this idea? And second off, why? So it's important to note that when I was 33 years old, after I built my first business, I went broke. I was in$75 ,000 worth of credit card debt. I had zero money in either my business or my checking account, like net negative. AT &T was going to shut off my phone. I was 33 and I had built this business at the time that was externally successful, but internally a mess. And I had to ask my parents to like pay my phone bill for me.

26:28Like it was a rock bottom. And that experience of going broke left a trauma response in my body. It all comes back to the body. And I was unconscious of that, right? I didn't really know what that had done to my system. I knew what it did to my financial life, but I, and I went about it by fixing it, by getting a corporate job for a few years and then saving up some money, paying off the debt, starting my agency a couple of years later. And I realized after being in this business and growing it to sell it for seven years, that even though I was making millions of dollars, I was never really in abundance, Jenna.

27:05I was always running from scarcity because that feeling and that experience of growing broke at 33s just haunted me and was the driver. And this idea of hustling for not just money, which I think has a very grippy, convincing, sort of grabby energy versus meaning. Like I'm making money for what? For not only my wellbeing, but for the world, you know, for your world, for humanity. And I say in my podcast, in the opening credits, like we're hustling from not fear, but from a vibration of love, from trust, from surrender, from receiving that we're hustling for money and meaning that we're hustling from a place of let's all thrive versus I need to survive.